I remember this moment perfectly. Her heated words. The stares from anyone close enough to hear what she was screaming at me. And then later, the sounds of the fire truck sirens blasting through the air, the people screaming, the acrid smell of smoke.
The perfect piece of evidence, placing me at the scene in a confrontational moment with the dead woman. Knowing Mr. Smith, there are other shots from other angles that are just as damning and that can be passed along to the Atlanta PD whenever he’s ready. This is just a teaser to whet their appetite.
The back side of the paper lets me know what he wants from me.
It’s a picture of me taken on the same day, but the location is different. I’m leaving a bank a few blocks away from the hotel Amy was staying in.
At the bottom of the paper is a phone number. Retrieving my cell from my bag, I call him immediately.
“I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. You managed to get out of there quicker than I gave you credit for,” Mr. Smith says when I answer, the robotic pitch a bit higher than usual.
“You’ve always underestimated me.” It takes everything in me to inject a touch of playfulness into my voice.
“You will turn over what you retrieved from Amy Holder in Atlanta or you will discover this isn’t going to end pleasantly for you.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and take a silent deep breath. “I explained what happened there. I didn’t get it. It’s gone. Burned up in the fire.”
“Then what is in the safe deposit box?”
I look back at the picture of me on the front steps of the bank. “Please tell me you didn’t set me up with the cops because of this picture.”
“And you are now underestimating me,” he sneers. “I have the video surveillance from the security cameras inside the Wells Fargo branch on Peachtree Street. You rented the box before the Fire Department had fully doused the flames engulfing Amy Holder’s body. You never keep anything important on you, and this would have been the quickest and closest place to safely stash what you retrieved. The only reason we’re even having this conversation is because I don’t know the box number, nor do I have the signature card details.”
“It’s not what you think,” I say. “It has nothing to do with Amy or her death.”
The mechanical growl due to the voice changer makes me cringe. “Now is not the time to play dumb with me. You will go back to Atlanta, but I want you there on Wednesday. There is a room reserved for you at the Candler Hotel in downtown Atlanta. You will be met in the lobby on Thursday morning at ten a.m. by one of my representatives, and he will accompany you to the bank and inside the vault. He will remove the contents of the safe deposit box himself. If what you say is true, and the contents have nothing to do with the Amy Holder job, then we will put this matter to bed once and for all and continue forward as we have. And you will find the detectives in Atlanta will quickly lose interest in you.”
“And I’m supposed to believe you’ll call off the dogs if I show you the contents of the safe deposit box? And what about this job? I’m just walking away from it? For someone who hates failure, why is it okay for this job?”
“With the shit you’re in with me, that’s what you want to know? The only thing that matters is getting back what Amy Holder took. All of it.” He’s quiet a moment and then adds, “At one time you were my best asset and now look how far you’ve fallen.”
“I’m still your best asset and we both know it.”
The loud bark of laughter startles me. “You walked right in and talked to the cops. There’s a file with your name on it now. Did you even put up a fight when they asked for your fingerprints? There’s video of you from that interrogation room. Your composure must be commended.”
His words are like bullets, each one hitting the target.
“How many Judge McIntyres do you have hidden in your pocket?”
I let out a laugh that I hope doesn’t sound forced. “Enough that I can keep dodging the curveballs you’re throwing at me.”
“Unfortunately, Lucca, you made your choice, so now I’m making mine,” he growls.
“Don’t act like you haven’t been setting me up since the beginning. All these years. I’ve been one of your best, yet you’ve just been waiting around for the moment to turn on me.”
He makes a tsking sound. “Of course I have. Do you think I wouldn’t have a contingency plan in place if one of mine gets out of hand? Don’t get sentimental now. This is business.”