Countdown - Iris Johansen [16]
He was silent for a moment. “Yes, he told me.”
“He confided a lot of things to you. Because he trusted you. Mike was vulnerable to anyone he thought was his friend.”
“I was his friend. I resent you—”
She opened the driver’s door and started to get out.
“No!” He strode around the car. “If you won’t be reasonable, I’ll have to—”
“I’m not reasonable.” She locked the doors as soon as he got in the car, and took off. “I’m angry and I want answers.”
“You have no reason to be angry with me.” He paused. “Just what do you think I did?”
“I think you set Mike up.” Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I think you worked on him until he was so depressed and scared that he was like putty in your hands. I think you got him drunk and then called me. I think you knew someone was waiting in that alley.”
“Crap. Look, I know Mike said some weird stuff that night, but he was drunk.”
“That’s what I believed until it all came together after the funeral and I was wondering why you were so nervous. There were plenty of parking meters available on that street. Why risk being towed off by parking in the alley?”
“There weren’t any spaces when we got there.”
“When I got to the airport today, I went straight to the Red Rooster and questioned the bartender. He said that it was a slow night and there were plenty of available spaces on the street when he came on duty at seven. You got there at seven-fifteen, right?”
“I’m not sure.”
“That’s what the bartender said.”
“Pull over. I don’t have to take this.”
“Yes, you do.” But she pulled over to the side of the road and turned off the car. “Talk to me. Who paid you to set Mike up?”
“No one.”
“Then you did it because you had a grudge against him?”
“Of course not.”
“Then we’re back to square one.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Bullshit.” She stared him straight in the eye. “You’re scared stiff. I could almost taste it at the cemetery. You weren’t grieving. You were putting on a front because you were afraid someone would suspect the truth.”
His gaze slid away. “The police didn’t think so.”
“They will when I have a talk with them. I’m a cop’s kid. That’s almost family. They’ll pay attention when I ask them to look closer at you.”
“They won’t find anything. It’s not as if I’m some juvenile delinquent. I come from a good family.”
“And I come from one of the lousiest neighborhoods in Atlanta, where whores and pimps and every kind of scum walk the street. That’s how I can recognize scum when I see it.”
“Let me out of the car.”
“When you tell me who paid you and why.”
His lips tightened. “You’re only a woman. I could force you to open this door anytime I choose. I’m just placating you.”
“I’m a woman brought up by a cop who was a SEAL and wanted me to be able to keep myself safe. Joe’s first rule was don’t waste your time if you’re attacked. Assume you’re going to be killed and react accordingly. Kill them.”
“You’re bluffing.”
“I’m telling you the way it is. You’re the one who threatened me. All I want right now is information.”
“You’re not going to get it. Don’t you think I know you’ll go running to the police?” He burst out, “And it wasn’t my fault. None of it was my fault.”
A crack in the armor. “No one’s going to believe that if you don’t go to the police and confess.”
“Confess? Criminals confess. I didn’t do anything criminal. I didn’t know.” He gave her a panicky glance. “And I’ll tell them you lied if you say I—”
“What didn’t you know?”
He was silent. Yet she could feel his sick fear. He was almost there. Push him a little bit more. “You were an accessory to murder. They’ll put you away and throw away the key. Or does this state have a death penalty?”
“Bitch.”
Breaking. Push a little harder. “I’ll go straight from here to the police. They’ll probably pick you up in a few hours. If you tell me what I want to know, I’ll let you turn yourself in and try to schmooze your way out of this.”
“It’s not my fault. Nothing was supposed to happen. They said