A Killing in China Basin - Kirk Russell [99]
‘Well then, that means my lawyer needs to take over. This will be the last interview we have without him.’
She stood up but Raveneau remained sitting.
‘One more thing, we also believe you’re hiding information that could make you a suspect in the murder of Alex Jurika.’
Raveneau waved the stack of papers he’d brought in.
‘It’s all here.’
‘That’s preposterous.’
‘Is it?’
Lafaye snorted and said, ‘You answer a question for me. I swam in and survived, and you caught him and he was the cop killer. Why is it not enough for you that I’ve given most of my adult life to trying to save lives? Why doesn’t that buy me any credibility?’
When he’d had lunch with her she’d told him she did for overpriced medical supplies what Amazon had done for books. She found a way to get cheap bandages and staple generic drugs delivered to third world countries for pennies. She had alliances with firms producing drugs in China and India and her foundation worked out methods to teach doctors and dentists on a massive scale, webcasting dental and medical procedures as they were performed live. Those watching could email their questions. People called her a visionary.
‘We don’t question that you’ve done good deeds on a large scale, but none of that has anything to do with this investigation. What’s the real reason you went to the boat?’
Lafaye got up and walked over to the windows. She looked out at the park as she answered.
‘I went to buy Erin Quinn’s home address for ten thousand dollars.’
‘And do what with it?’ la Rosa asked.
‘Give it to my attorney who would work quietly with law enforcement authorities to build a case against Erin Quinn for extortion. You have to understand that this woman has threatened me. She’s a nightmare to me. And I had no idea that the man I was going to meet at the boat was Cody Stoltz. I thought that he was an individual like me that Quinn had cheated or was extorting. For separate and unspoken reasons we were both looking for her. But of course I didn’t know who I’d been chatting with all those years. You can imagine my shock when he took off his disguise and said he was Cody Stoltz. He tricked me.’
‘How did he know to be at Lake Merced the next day?’ Raveneau asked.
‘Ask him.’
Her foundation was everything to her. It was her life, her ego, her everything, and so he played that last, after she’d ordered them to leave.
‘You’re going to force us to go public with this.’
‘I don’t see why that would be, but I’ll take it as the threat you intend it as, and I have some advice for you, don’t do anything until you talk to my attorney. He’ll call you this morning.’
He did.
‘What can I do to help solve this misunderstanding?’ the attorney asked.
‘We have information that could cause us to view your client as a suspect in an unsolved murder in China Basin. We need her to fill in some gaps in her account to us. That may clear her of any suspicion.’
‘I know that she would like to clear this up.’
‘She needs to tell us how Cody Stoltz knew to be at Lake Merced.’
‘That’s it?’
‘That’s it, right now. We’ll give her the rest of the day and I’ll give you another phone number you can reach me at this afternoon.’
‘After all she’s been through, do you really think you can twist her arm this way?’
‘Use my cell number, that’s going to be more reliable. Are you ready for the number?’ Raveneau waited a beat and then read the number off. After the lawyer repeated the number, Raveneau said, ‘I’ll talk to you this afternoon,’ and hung up.
SIXTY-THREE
In the mid afternoon la Rosa called him over to her computer.
‘This Lafaye’s foundation website – look at this. She’s supposed to be in Seattle tonight at a dinner honoring the most significant donors to her foundation. They’re giving her an award at the dinner.’ La Rosa threw him a wicked smile.