The Innocence Game Part 29

"He said you two were friends. Said he'd trust you with his life."

"Rodriguez is a romantic. It's the Latino in him."

"Is it true?"

"You wondering if you can trust me?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really. Going after Coursey alone might get you killed. Then again, doing nothing might get you killed."

"So you think they'll come after us?"

"They already have."

"What about the FBI or something?"

"What about them?"

"We can turn over the evidence we have and let them start an investigation."

"Is that what you want to do?" His words were clipped. The silence that followed appraised without judging.

"I don't know," I said.

"I wouldn't look to the feds for protection. Not in Chicago."

"What are you saying?"

"What Rodriguez wants to say but can't. You got yourself into something. Get yourself out."

"I think that's what Sarah was trying to tell me."

"Smart woman."

"I'm not sure I could kill anyone," I said and felt a dry patch at the back of my throat. "I mean, if I had to."

"Follow the evidence. Let me worry about the guys with the guns."

"So I can trust you?"

"I'd worry more about ability than trust, but let's hope it doesn't come to that. Speaking of killing, we haven't talked about your buddy in there. Jake."

"What about him?"

"You don't agree with Rodriguez? About Jake looking to drop the hammer on someone?"

"Jake's not a killer either."

"I think you might be right."

I blinked.

"You look surprised," Kelly said.

"I am."

"Cops make mistakes, too. Even cops as good as Rodriguez."

"How about you?"

"All the time. I'd suggest you keep your friend on a loose leash. At least until I look into a few things. Now get out of here. I've got places to be."

And then I was standing in the street, watching Michael Kelly drive away. I walked down the block to the Willows. Jake Havens was sitting on the front porch, peering at me through a stand of trees.

41.

"How did you get here?" I said and sat down beside him.

"Z."

"She call you?"

"She met me at the hospital. Drove up here with me."

I thought about Jake Havens, sitting in the same corridor I'd just left. Standing by Sarah's bed.

"What did Z tell you?" I said.

"That we should hole up here and quit digging around the Wingate case."

"What about the rest?"

"Rodriguez filled me in on the cop. Coursey. Said if I wanted any details, I should ask you." Havens bit off the last few words and looked like he wanted to punch me in the jaw.

"I didn't touch her, Jake."

"Rodriguez believes it."

"How about you?"

"She told me about you and her on the beach."

"It was nothing."

"You think I care? Why were you stalking her?"

"I wasn't ..."

"Really? What do you call sitting in your car, in front of her apartment, in the middle of the night?"

"I'm sorry, Jake."

"Don't be. Just convince me I can trust you."

"I don't know how I can do that."

A couple came out of the front door of the hotel and turned up Surf toward Broadway.

"They asked me for a DNA sample," Havens said, "which means they took samples from Sarah's body."

I looked at the ground and kicked at a rock that wasn't there.

"I told them I wasn't with her," Havens said, "and I wasn't."

"The DNA's gonna come back as a match to me," I said.

"I know. Rodriguez explained it all."

"Do you believe him?"

Nothing.

"Would I be that stupid, Jake? Do I seem that stupid?"

"So your s.e.m.e.n found at a rape is proof you didn't do it?"

"I guess so."

"f.u.c.king great." Havens shook his head, and we sat for a while. I felt nothing but shame. And it humbled me.

"Sarah got in my head," I said. "The two of you got in my head."

"You stalked us, Joyce."

"I didn't touch her."

"Jesus Christ."

"What do you want me to say?" At the end of the day he was either going to help me or not. And I needed to find out which. "Did Rodriguez tell you about the citric acid?"

"He told me."

"What do you think?"

"I think we got them."

"That's right, Jake. We got them. And that's why they attacked Sarah and framed me. Because they're scared."

"They've been scared all along."

"Yeah, well, they've upped the ante big time. Have you met Kelly?"

"He's supposed to protect us or something."

"No one's gonna be able to protect us. They know we're onto something, and they're gonna do what they do. Arrest us. Frame us. Kill us. And if we decide to disappear for a while, they'll wait. We can't live our lives in the Willows."

Havens seemed surprised by the aggressive att.i.tude, but willing. "What do you have in mind?"

"Do you trust me?"

"I don't trust you, but I believe you. About Sarah, anyway."

It wasn't all I wanted, but it would have to do. "I've got an idea of how the Needle Squad worked. Who might be behind this. And what they might be trying to protect."

"So?"

"So we go for it. Get them before they get us. If nothing else, we get them for Sarah." I showed him the envelope of information she'd given me on Sally Finn.

"So you want to try to find this woman, Finn?"

"Not yet," I said.

"I'm not following you."

"We need to start with the first link in the food chain."

"And who would that be?"

"Come on. I'll explain on the way."

42.