فصل 17 - بخش 02

17

Alec Pelley wasn’t able to break free of his own family commitments that Sunday until three thirty. It was after five when he reached the Cap City Sheraton, but the afternoon sun was still burning a hole in the sky. He parked in the hotel turnaround, slipped the parking valet a ten, and told him to keep his car close. In the newsstand, Lorette Levelle was once more rearranging her bits of jewelry. Alec’s visit there was brief. He went back outside, leaned against his Explorer, and called Howie Gold.

‘I beat Anderson to the security footage – plus the TV tape – but he beat me to the book. And bought it. I guess you’d have to call that a wash.’

‘Fuck,’ Howie said. ‘How did he even know about it?’

‘I don’t think he did. I think it was a combination of luck and old-fashioned police work. The woman who works in the newsstand says a guy took it down on the day of Coben’s lecture, saw the pricetag – almost eighty bucks – and put it back. Didn’t seem to know the guy was Maitland, so I guess she doesn’t watch the news. She told Anderson, and Anderson bought the book. She says he walked out holding it by the sides, and with the palms of his hands.’

‘Hoping to raise prints that don’t match Terry’s,’ Howie said, ‘thus suggesting that whoever handled that book was not Terry. Won’t work. God knows how many people may have taken that book down and handled it.’

‘The woman who runs the newsstand would beg to disagree. She says that one just sat up there, month in and month out.’

‘Makes no difference.’ Howie didn’t sound worried, which left Alec free to worry for both of them. It wasn’t much, but it was something. A small flaw in a case that had been shaping up as pretty as a painting in a museum. A possible flaw, he reminded himself, and Howie could easily work around it; juries didn’t care much about what wasn’t there.

‘Just wanted you to know, boss. It’s what you pay me for.’

‘Okay, now I know. You’ll be there for the arraignment tomorrow, right?’

‘Wouldn’t miss it,’ Alec said. ‘Did you talk to Samuels about bail?’

‘I did. The conversation was brief. He said he would fight it with every fiber of his being. His very words.’

‘Jesus, does the guy have an off button?’

‘A good question.’

‘Will you get it anyway?’

‘I have a good chance. Nothing’s a sure thing, but I’m almost positive.’

‘If you do, tell Maitland not to take any neighborhood strolls. Lots of people keep a home protection weapon handy, and right now he’s the least popular guy in Flint City.’

‘He’ll be restricted to his home, and you can be sure the cops will be keeping the house under surveillance.’ Howie sighed. ‘A shame about that book.’

Alec ended the call and jumped back in his car. He wanted to be home in plenty of time to make popcorn before Game of Thrones.