A Killing in China Basin - Kirk Russell [102]
SIXTY-FOUR
Quinn drove the San Francisco waterfront as though sightseeing or looking for someone on the street. She passed the ballpark, crossed the Lefty O’Doul Bridge over Mission Creek and continued south into China Basin. It didn’t surprise him that she drove past the building where Alex Jurika died, or that after passing the building she turned and went back toward the downtown.
Raveneau gave her distance. In a separate car, la Rosa did the same. Morning commuter traffic fed into the city and at this hour many had their headlights on. Raveneau turned his off as the sky lightened and Quinn drove toward Golden Gate Park, and then to the apartment complex where her husband died. As she slowed there, he nodded to himself. He picked up his cell and called la Rosa.
‘Lafaye gave Stoltz Quinn and hoped Stoltz would kill her and that would be the end of her problem. I think her problem is bigger than she told us. I have a feeling it’s more than her board of directors disapproving of her using someone else’s identity to do good works. My bet is she used the Quinn identity for things other than saving the world. I’m guessing she made money with it in a way she now doesn’t want to admit and that’s why she kept paying the extortion money. She paid two hundred thousand dollars and didn’t call the police. Who does that without a solid reason?’
Quinn led them through the Presidio and then on to the Golden Gate Bridge. As she started to climb up the steep grade into Marin County, la Rosa asked, ‘What do you think, is she starting to drive home?’
‘Let’s give her another few miles.’
As he called her cell, Raveneau watched Quinn move over two lanes and take the next exit. When she picked up she said, ‘You want to meet with me, don’t you?’
‘We do. We’d like to meet this morning.’
‘And after that can I go back home?’
‘We can talk about that too. Where are you now?’
‘I’m in Marin in the car and close to the freeway. Can we meet at the motel?’
‘Sure, and we may take you back downtown.’
‘Are you going to arrest me?’
‘What we really want to do right now is talk with you.’
‘I’m sure you do.’
‘Tell me more about Lafaye. Where did she get the money for those first payments?’
‘Where do you think? She took it from the foundation.’
‘Did Alex know that’s what would happen?’
‘Alex was very clever. Alex was a very good read of people.’
‘That’s what I’m gathering. I’m thinking Alex wouldn’t have gone into a rundown building in China Basin at night with someone she didn’t know.’
Raveneau saw her get on 101 southbound back toward San Francisco and pulled back on behind her. He narrowed the gap between them and kept talking. She listened then abruptly interrupted him with an anxious edge in her voice.
‘A private investigator was asking questions about me in a town called Quincy not that far from where I live. He told people the woman he was looking for had extorted large amounts of money from his client. That’s what he was saying to people in Quincy and I knew he wouldn’t be there for just a couple of thousand dollars, so I knew Alex had lied to me. I needed to question her. I had to question her. What else could I do?’
‘You called her and came down to visit and talk it out.’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you get the Ketamine from a veterinarian up where you live?’
She didn’t answer, and he thought again about Lafaye continuing to pay and not going to the police, but searching for Quinn on her own, and Quinn following the money trail back through the questions of the private investigator. Then she