‘But along with what was paid to the shop owner, it is,’ Ray said.
‘Yeah, but money’s so fungible,’ Leo said. ‘Even a so-so defense attorney can show a jury we can’t prove it’s the bank’s money.’
‘Even a so-so State’s attorney can convince them innocent people don’t hide their money in flower pots,’ Ray said.
‘But what we really want to prove is the murders,’ Delaney said. ‘Which ones look the most promising, do you think?’
‘I think we’re pretty close on Joey,’ Sarah said. ‘There’s the threatening conversation from the jail that Greta overheard … and we’ve got the record of the phone call, the number that led us to Cecelia. For Frank, there’s the gun he was supposed to have used to kill himself – we know Joey stole that. There’s Frank Martin’s car – we can get Chico to tell how Cecelia maneuvered for Joey to get that.’
‘Hey, yeah,’ Jason said, ‘and we’ve got the tapes Oscar and I made when we interviewed the shade-tree mechanic who worked on the car, so we can prove he was making regular trips for his “employer” – Cecelia was obviously pulling the strings there.’
‘And I can match that up with the withdrawals my bank people will testify Joey made,’ Leo said.
‘Close,’ Delaney said. ‘But what bothers me is that we can’t prove how Cecelia could get Frank to steal money for her … that seems pretty shaky to me.’
‘Well, I remember something Angela told me,’ Sarah said. ‘She said that after she married Ed, there was nothing Frank wouldn’t do to keep her happy – she said it seemed to be very important to Frank to see Ed happily married.’
‘Yeah, so?’
‘Well, I think Frank must have been afraid, all those years while Ed was growing up, that somebody would dig up that old story about the Boy Scout mother’s complaint, and take Ed away from him. I think Ed was Frank’s reason for living, after his wife died, and Cecelia must have realized that he’d always do anything to protect that relationship.’
‘You know,’ Jason said, ‘we’ve all noticed how secretive these people are. Why don’t we talk to Chico and Luz again? Maybe they’ll admit they were covering up for Frank Martin all these years. If Angela began to suspect something about the money once she found out about Frank and ask questions … that would get Cecelia on her case, huh?’
‘This whole story’s going to be an easier sell if we can line up the forensics for any one of these murders,’ Ollie said. ‘If any of the DNA they lifted out of Joey’s car matches Cecelia, she’ll be toast.’
‘That’s right,’ Sarah said. ‘And what about Angela’s apartment, and everything we took out of it? If Angela was right that Cecelia was snooping through her stuff, there’s a very good chance she might have left some DNA – and it didn’t occur to us to ask for that comparison at the time.’
‘All right,’ Delaney said. ‘So we’re all inclined to keep digging, right?’
‘Absolutely,’ Sarah said. ‘And suspicion of murder one … she won’t be eligible for bail, will she?’
‘No.’
‘So maybe she’ll get sick of sitting in Pima County and start to make deals,’ Jason said.
‘Somehow I doubt it,’ Delaney said. ‘Let’s get back to work.’
Sarah heard Ollie, later that day, tell Leo, ‘You know, it’s surprising how little satisfaction there is at the end of a long hunt like this one.’
‘Yeah,’ Leo said, ‘you keep turning over rocks, and the worms that crawl out keep getting uglier. So after a while you think, what’s the use?’
‘Makes you understand what happened to Harry Eisenstaat, huh?’
‘You see me turning into Harry Eisenstaat,’ Leo said, ‘shoot me.’
SIXTEEN
Delaney didn’t seem to suffer from any feelings of anti-climax. He made a point of talking to the chief about the case, that week while the story of Cecelia’s arrest was running in The Star. And one afternoon he gathered his crew in front of his office so the chief could shake everybody’s hand and congratulate them on the excellent teamwork that had cracked this very troublesome case.
Oscar Cifuentes wasn’t singled out for any special praise, but he certainly wasn’t excluded, either. Delaney placed him in the center of the row and made sure the chief got his name right. Sarah asked Leo later that day, ‘Have you noticed that Delaney seems to be getting friendlier towards Oscar?’