Robert B. Parker’s the Hangman’s Sonnet

“Everybody involved was vouching for everyone else and all of it hinged on my vouching for Roscoe. Stan White’s a sharp guy,” Jesse said. “Except for greed and jealousy, it might’ve worked.”

“But how? When the tape was played, there wouldn’t be anything on it. Then they would all be exposed.”

“That’s the beauty of it, Brian. Even if they didn’t manage to destroy the tape, all of their asses were covered because they set up a fall guy in Evan Updike. If there was nothing on the tape, it would be because Updike had fooled them and had kept the ‘real’ tape and the money. They could all point to the mysterious Evan Updike and say he was the Hangman. He was the recording engineer at the studio. The police believed he had stolen the tape in the first place. The safety-deposit box key was hidden in his aunt’s rooming house. The exchange was made in Vermont, where he was born. We wouldn’t be able to prove he didn’t do it. Can’t prove a negative.

“And even though killing Bascom probably wasn’t part of the original plan — my guess is that was Bella’s idea — Updike still worked as the fall guy because we would assume he and Bascom had been in it together and Updike double-crossed his partner. We would be chasing Updike and our own tails while White, Roscoe, and Bella Lawton were taking baths in ten-dollar bills.”

“But was not seeing the messenger on the security footage enough to convince you it was a scam?”

“I also put in a call to Roscoe’s ex. The story he told me about their divorce was a lie. She divorced him because of his drinking, not because of photos she received in the mail. But White and Roscoe had to play up the feud between them so it would look like Roscoe would have no reason to help White out. It couldn’t look like they were cozy or that Roscoe could somehow benefit. I should have seen it coming. Especially after someone took those shots at me in the woods.”

That refreshed Lundquist’s anger over Jesse not reporting the incident, but he asked why that should have alerted Jesse.

“Because when Roscoe would get really drunk, he would talk about his time in the Marines. ‘I wasn’t always a fat slug,’ he’d say. ‘I could move and I could shoot. They wanted to send me to sniper school, but I was a lover, not a killer.’”

Lundquist shrugged. “If they were all broke, how did they get the money to lease the Wickham place? I hear it costs twenty grand a month to rent.”

“Wickham’s a big Jester fan. He agreed to lower the fee and to let them pay after the party.”

“Was there really going to be a party?”

“No. They were using it as a way to get stories in the paper about Jester’s birthday and rekindle interest in—”

“The missing tape.”

“Exactly.”

“The thing is, Jesse, you’ve got Niles cold for Bascom’s murder and stealing the ransom money, but not much else. You’ve got Niles’s statement and a lot of speculation. You might be able to tie the others to the scam, but not to Bascom’s or Curnutt’s murders. Can you prove any of it?”

“I guess we’re going to find out.”

88

Lundquist dropped Jesse and Niles off at the station. One look at Molly and Jesse knew there was trouble, but first they had to deal with Roscoe Niles.

“Book him. Keep him isolated. No one knows he’s here,” he said. “When that’s done, come into my office. I’m getting some coffee.”

Fifteen minutes later, Molly came into Jesse’s office with a file folder in her hand. Jesse was seated behind his desk, sipping coffee.

“What’s wrong?”

Molly waved the file folder and placed it in front of Jesse.

“Forget it, Crane. I’m so tired I couldn’t make sense of anything.”

“We found a Walther P22 in Bascom’s apartment and an oil filter box in the garbage that will probably match the homemade sound suppressor. The ballistics match the slugs the ME dug out of Curnutt.”

“Anything else?”

Molly shook her head. “Nothing you want to hear. Peter also found a slip of paper with a Vermont phone number on it.”

“And when you called it?”

“No answer.”

“Why am I not surprised? How about Bascom’s cell phone?”

“No.”

“The Vermont cops didn’t find one on his body or in the van. We can subpoena those records.”

“There’s this,” Molly said, more upbeat. “I did a quick background check on Bascom.”

“And...”

“Guess who his employer was before he hired on to be the security contractor for Stiles Island.”

“Crane!”

“The Massachusetts Department of Corrections. His last assignment was on the same block as—”

“Curnutt and Bolton. I know, Molly, don’t say it. I should have been a detective.”

Lundquist’s words echoed in Jesse’s head. So far all he could likely prove was that Bascom had hired Curnutt and Bolton, that he’d killed Curnutt, and that Niles had killed Bascom. Niles’s statement was probably enough to implicate White but maybe not convict him. White could claim Niles was lying and point to Evan Updike. To save her own neck, Bella Lawton would back White up and probably walk away. Jesse had an idea about how he might change that, but he had something else to discuss with Molly.

“Take a seat.”