Hacker For Hire (Ted Higuera Series Book 2) (23 page)

It was after two
in the morning, but neither Ted nor Gina had any thoughts about going to bed.
They sat, huddled on the couch in Ted’s studio, looking out the sliding glass
door towards Lake Union. Oscar had long since fallen asleep in Ted’s lap.

It had been ten,
fifteen minutes since either of them had said a word.

Ted had a glass of
merlot in one hand and mindlessly scratched Oscar’s ears with the other. Gina
leaned on Ted’s shoulder and stared up into his face. He was so good looking. She
wanted to start the conversation again, but felt an invisible barrier around
Ted.

It had all been
said. If Jennifer Trask failed, Ted was going to jail. Gina pleaded with Ted to
cooperate with the DA. He could take Justin’s deal and go back to his job at
YTS.

Ted wouldn’t
listen. His misguided sense of loyalty to Catrina was going to cost him five
years of his life.

Stupid, stupid,
stupid.
Couldn’t he see that? What did this Flaherty woman have that was
worth five years?

Gina had broken
her strongest rule for him. For the first time since her divorce, She’d put a
man before her children. She got a babysitter and hustled over to Ted’s place
to be with him. What was next? A tearful courthouse scene? She could see
herself, clinging to her handsome hero while the bailiff pulled him away. She’d
say something stupid like “I’ll wait for you,” like some idiot starlet in an
old-time B-movie.

She knew better
than this. They had no future. Why was she wasting her time?

Her thoughts were
interrupted by Ted’s Blackberry. He picked up the phone and looked at the
number.

“Si, Papa. ¿Porque está arriba tan tarde?”

She hated being on
the listening side of a conversation with his parents. She only heard half of
the conversation and most of the time he spoke in Spanish and she couldn’t
understand a word.

“
Si, es la verdad
.
I called Mama earlier this evening.”

At least he was
answering in English now. There was a long pause.

“I can’t, Papa. My
bail says I can’t leave the state.”

Another pause.

“
No conozco.
I don’t really know. It all depends on whether or not we beat this rap.”

Gina heard his
father yelling on the other end of the phone.

“
Lo siento.
I know I sound like a criminal. I meant it depends on whether or not we get
cleared of the charges. Catrina is doing really important work. She helps
people. I want to help her . . . but . . . she doesn’t always follow the law.
She does what she needs to do to help her clients, even if it means breaking
the law a little.”

This time Gina
heard an explosion on the other end of the phone. She might as well have been
in the same room with them. She didn’t understand a word Papa was saying, but
she couldn’t help but get the meaning.

“Listen, Papa.
It’s late. I need to get some sleep. Can we talk about this later?”

Papa’s tone of
voice softened, even if his volume didn’t drop.

“Okay, I’ll think
about it. Let me call you back tomorrow.
Digas a mama, ‘te
adoro,’ adiós
.”

Ted hung up the
phone.

Gina brushed back
the lock of Ted’s hair that always seemed to be falling in his eyes. “That
didn’t sound good.”

“Oh, you know
Papa. He just got home from work and he’s pissed. He never thought any of his
kids would be in trouble with the law, especially his favorite.”

“What did he say?”

“He wants me to
come home. He wants me to go to work with him in his restaurant. He says that
at least that’s good, honest work. He’s never trusted that what I do is quite
honest. To Papa, honor and loyalty are everything. He’s been bugging me for
weeks, now he’s not asking. He’s telling.”

“But you can’t
leave. That would be jumping bail.”

“That’s what I
told him. He still wants me to come home when this is all cleared up.” Ted sat
silent for a minute. “Maybe I’ll have to. After I finish my prison sentence, I
won’t be able to get a job in computer security anymore. His restaurant may be
the only option I have when I get out.”

“Ted, look at me.”
Gina took Ted’s chin in her hand. “You can’t think that way. You are not going
to prison. We already have two strikes on us. I won’t let you go away. If we
have any chance together, you can’t leave me.” She pulled his face closer to
her.

He leaned into her
and opened his lips. She pressed her face closer and felt in his mouth with her
tongue.

****

The rain slacked
off. A heavy mist still hung in the air. This was just what they needed. There
were no other customers at the Pecos Pit.

Ted chuckled to
himself.
This is what Seattleites call good fall weather.
He had to face
the situation with a little humor.
What’s the difference between winter and
summer in Seattle? The rain gets warmer.
If he wasn’t laughing, he’d start
crying.

Ted and Catrina
sat bundled in their parkas at the outdoor picnic tables surrounding what had
once been a gas station. Now, the best barbeque restaurant in Seattle, it was takeout
only. The picnic tables were a convenience for the customers in warm, summer
weather.
Only an idiot would be sitting out here in this weather,
Ted
thought.
I guess we are idiots.

The dark-colored Crown
Vic pulled up to the curb. There was plenty of on-street parking. Tom Bremen
got out and walked up to the takeout window. In a couple of minutes, he joined
Ted and Catrina.

Ted got his first
look at the homicide detective. He was several inches taller than Ted,
obviously in good shape. His pockmarked faced showed signs of teenage angst.
Man,
in high school, we woulda called him “crater face.”

“I got the pulled
pork, side spiked, hot sauce.” Tom sat down next to Catrina. “What did you guys
get?”

“Pork. . .” Ted
started to answer.

“Tom, cut it out.”
Catrina cut in. “What did you find out?”

Tom took a bite of
his sandwich, chewed and washed it down with root beer before answering. “They
did the autopsy. I had to call in a lot of markers, but I got them to expedite
it. If they hadn’t been looking, they wouldn’t have found anything. It looked
pretty straightforward. He died of a heart attack.”

“What do you mean
‘if they hadn’t been looking’?” Catrina hadn’t even unwrapped her sandwich. “What
did
they find?”

Tom looked at Ted.
“You sure you want to talk about this right now?”

“He’s good.”
Catrina grabbed Ted’s wrist. “He’s in as deep as the rest of us. I could trust
him with my life.”

Ted felt a sense
of elation. He had been forgiven. He was part of the family again. He wanted to
jump up and down. With a conscious effort, he controlled himself. He didn’t
know what to say, so he said nothing.

Tom didn’t look
convinced. After a moment, he continued. “The Coroner found elevated levels of
potassium in the blood. High salt content.”

Ted couldn’t
restrain himself any longer. “What does that mean?” They hadn’t required any
classes in forensics for a computer science degree at the UW.

“Potassium
chloride,” Catrina whispered. “He was poisoned?”

“Somebody did a
good job.” Tom took another bite of his sandwich. “Potassium chloride breaks down
real quick. If you didn’t know you were looking for it, you’d never find it. There
was a small puncture mark on his neck. The doc’s ruling this death
‘suspicious.’”

“Okay,” Catrina
said. “So who would want to kill Metcalf? He was our prime suspect, now he’s
the victim.”

“Yeah,” Ted said.
“If Metcalf was the bad guy, who wanted him eliminated?”

“Who stood to
gain?” Tom asked. “He was locked in a power struggle with Alison Clarke for
control of one of the largest corporations in America. She benefits the most
from his death.”

****

Catrina’s morning
meetings were a pain in the ass. It was just wrong that Catrina and Jeff were
so awake and perky. Ted was miserable at this un-godly hour of the morning.
How
could anybody be expected to function, much less think?
Ted lugged his cup
of coffee with him to Catrina’s office.

“Jenn’s working on
our arrest.” Cat started abruptly. “Let’s not waste time with that.”

“What about Jeff?”
Ted felt like he was running to catch up. “That Petrocelli dude said he had
warrants for all of us.”

“I talked to
Jennifer,” Jeff said. He wore his usual Brooks Brothers suit. He didn’t have a
hair out of place. Actually, he didn’t have a hair on his head. “We went down
to the court house together and posted bail.”

“I said we’re not
going to waste time on the arrest. Jenn will handle it.” Catrina took control
of the meeting. “Let’s talk about what Tom told us. He thinks our client has
the best motive for killing Metcalf.”

“If she did off
him,” Jeff said. “She didn’t do it herself. She’s not big enough or strong
enough. She would have had to get a choke hold on Metcalf to hold him long
enough to inject him.”

“His office was
clean.” Catrina reached for her coffee cup. “No sign of a struggle. Whoever
killed him staged the scene to look like a heart attack. He cleaned up any
signs of a fight, then put Metcalf in his chair, folded him over his desk. It
couldn’t have looked more natural.”

“That means it
must have been a pretty big guy.” Jeff sat back and crossed his legs. “Metcalf
is no lightweight. If the assailant injected him, they probably struggled.
Metcalf probably collapsed on the floor. Whoever did this had to lift him back
into his chair. This wasn’t done by a woman.”

“At least not by
one Alison’s size,” Catrina said.

“Could she have
hired someone to do it?” Ted was coming around.

“I suppose so.”
Jeff gave him an astonished look. “She has money, power. She could probably
arrange anything.”

“Like Detective
Bremen said.” Ted was careful to use Tom’s formal title. “Alison had the most
to gain. We’re pretty sure that Metcalf was the source of the leak at MS. He
was against the Delphi project. He wanted Alison fired so he could get his
company back. Things don’t look good for our client.”

“We’re talking
about a woman here with almost limitless ambition.” Jeff nodded toward Ted.
“She clawed her way up the ladder at MS. Now Metcalf was threatening to take it
all away. That sounds like motive to me.”

“You guys don’t
get it.” Catrina finally weighed in. “You only see the business side of Alison.
There’s a softer side to her. A human side. She’s not like that. I can’t
imagine her ordering someone snuffed out.”

Ted’s Spidey sense
went crazy inside his head.
What the hell is going on here?
Cat was
seeing the softer side of Alison? Cat never saw the softer side of anyone. She
was the most jaded, hardened woman he had ever met. Why would she suddenly
start cutting a murder suspect slack?

“Cat, I think
you’re losing perspective.” Jeff apparently agreed with Ted. “We have to look
at all sides of this. Our asses are on the line. If Alison did have Metcalf
killed and we helped her, we’re complicit. We have enough trouble with the
charges we already have against us. We don’t need murder one too.”

Goddamn it,
Jeff was right.
Why would Cat stand up for Alison?
Think like Chris, be
methodical.
What had they learned about Alison? She was one of the most
powerful women in America, the CEO of one of the largest companies in the
world. She managed to manipulate most people to do her will. The employees at
MS would lay down their lives for her. She had this big feud going with
Metcalf. Metcalf turns up dead. It doesn’t look good for Alison.

Then, Cat steps up
and defends her. Why? Oh yeah, Ted had learned that Alison was having an affair
with that Angie chick. And Cat never wore a dress, never cared about her
appearance, unless was going to see Alison. Could she . . .

“Cat, are you and
Alison . . .?”

“Who else might
have had a reason to want Metcalf dead?” Catrina ignored Ted’s question.

****

Ted refilled his
coffee cup and returned to his desk.
Damn. Cat
wasn’t being straight
with
him
. All hell broke loose when he kept a secret from Cat, but she
was keeping a whopper from him.

He knew damned
good and well that something was going on between Cat and Alison. But what?
He’d heard the rumors about Cat; that she liked girls, but he’d met Tom. She
obviously liked boys too. Maybe she was a switch hitter.

Whatever the case,
she had lost her objectivity. Ted liked Alison for Metcalf’s murder. How could
he prove it to Cat?

Maybe she was just
looking out for herself after all. He was so in over his head. Maybe Gina was
right. Maybe he should cash in his chips and take Justin’s offer. He could still
walk away from this mess a free man.

“Higuera.”
Catrina’s voice startled him from his reverie. “Let’s do some detecting.”

“Yeah, sure, boss.
What’s up?”

Cat sat on the
edge of Ted’s desk. “Where’s the link between Donna’s death and Metcalf’s? What
aren’t we seeing?” Cat asked.

Ted never failed
to notice how well she filled out her jeans. “Isn’t it obvious? Donna was
working for Alison. Spying on Metcalf for her. We have the DVD. Metcalf knew
what she was up to so, he had her offed.” Ted stopped to look at his boss for a
second. Was she going to react? “Metcalf was trying to push Alison out of her
job. When she couldn’t get the goods on him from Donna, she had him offed.”

Amid the busy
background noise of the office, a silence hung between them for a long moment.

“I never knew big
business was like this,” Ted said. “I’d expect it from a Mafia don, but not
from a nice middle-aged lady from Bellevue.”