A Killing in China Basin - Kirk Russell [101]
She paused, then added, ‘The day I met Jurika at her apartment she asked for another twenty-five thousand. I stalled and hired a private investigator.’
‘Give us a name and a way to reach this investigator,’ la Rosa said, and Lafaye pulled a card from her purse as Raveneau asked, ‘Why did you lie about what happened on the boat?’
‘I told you the God’s truth.’
‘Stoltz knew when to be at Lake Merced.’
‘I set up a meeting through Jurika. I was to meet Quinn there, pay her the twenty-five thousand, and the private investigator was going to follow her when she left, and then with the help of the authorities we were going to go after her. But I was in the hospital. I didn’t make it to the meeting.’
‘Was the investigator there?’
‘Yes.’
Raveneau studied her a moment and then stepped out of the room with la Rosa.
‘Let’s get her to call the investigator and we’ll go talk to him. She can go on to Seattle with the understanding this isn’t over.’
La Rosa’s answer was, ‘If we do that we may never get the answer.’
‘I’ll try her one more time after she calls this investigator and gives him the go to talk to us.’
Lafaye was very willing to do that as soon as they got in the room. Her aide had already found another flight. There was still time for them to make the dinner. Raveneau sat down next to Lafaye and la Rosa steered the aide away. He spoke quietly.
‘Jurika’s murder is still an open question. That’s where this investigation started and where it’ll finish. So nothing I’m going to say to you now clears you on that.’
‘I would never kill any—’
‘Just listen. In order to go forward I need to know how Stoltz knew to be at Lake Merced. If you told him about the meeting with Quinn, tell me now. If it was on the boat you were under severe duress and maybe you weren’t coherent enough the next day to put it all together.’
‘But if there’s a trial I’ll get called to the stand.’
‘There won’t be a trial. I got a call from a doctor an hour ago. Stoltz’s kidneys and liver are shutting down. He’s not going to make it. It’ll stay with us. But I have to know.’
Lafaye looked down at the carpet. She looked saddened, as if disappointed in herself.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I’m truly sorry. But, yes, that’s what happened. He frightened it out of me on the boat and I didn’t tell you when I had a chance. Is that what you needed?’
‘Yes.’
‘I really am sorry.’
Raveneau nodded. ‘We’ll still have questions,’ he said. ‘There’ll be plenty of questions about how it worked with Jurika and Quinn and you.’ He stood. ‘We’ll talk when you get back.’
The private investigator had a few things for them, not a lot but a few things that mattered. The Quinn woman – his words – he believed lived in the Bucks Lake area, was only seeing a trickle of the payments made through Jurika. His client, Lafaye, had paid over two hundred thousand dollars in six years, an amount he considered foolish and unnecessary. It was also enough money to give Lafaye motive to kill Jurika and hope that Stoltz killed Quinn at Lake Merced. But that wasn’t the conclusion Raveneau was coming to.
When the private investigator finished, Raveneau left a message for Erin Quinn at the motel on Lombard, and when she didn’t answer a second message they drove over to the motel and the manager opened her door, showed them all her things were still there, so they decided to wait. When Celeste phoned he left la Rosa and stood outside in the cool air talking to her.
‘What are doing tonight?’ she asked.
‘Watching a motel. So far it hasn’t moved.’
‘Will you be around later?’
‘I don’t know, but things are moving. I’ll see you soon.’
At midnight they called in and got a combination of an undercover officer in an unmarked and a radio car to cover until six in the morning, when Raveneau said he’d be back. If she returned during the night a call