Kovacliska - Ashes To Ashes Part 61

"Possibly. Has the wife given any indication she thought he might have a girlfriend?"

"No."

Quinn checked his watch. He wanted Vanlees waiting just long enough to

get nervous. "You get anything back on Michele Fine's prints?"

"Nothing in Minnesota."

"Has Vanlees called a lawyer?"

"Not yet," Liska said. "He's got his logic going. He says he's not

calling a lawyer because an innocent man doesn't need one."

Tippen snorted. "Christ, how'd he ever find his way out of St. Cloud?"

"Dumb luck. I told him we weren't charging him right off on the

accident. I told him we needed to sit down and sort through what happened before we could determine negligence, but that we had to hold him on the Dill He can't decide if he should be relieved or p.i.s.sed."

"Let's go to it before he makes up his mind," Quinn said. "Samyou,Tinks, and me. We work him like before."

"I wouldn't if I were you, Sam," Yurek cautioned. "Fowler, Little d.i.c.k,Sabin, and that a.s.sistant prosecutor Logan-they're all there toobserve."

"f.u.c.k me," Kovac said with abject disgust.

Liska arched a brow. "Will you respect me afterward?"

"Do I respect you now?"

She kicked him in the s.h.i.+n.

"Charm," he said to Yurek through his teeth. "If you were me, I wouldn'tbe in this mess."

GREER, SABIN, LOGAN, and Fowler stood in the hall outside the interviewroom, waiting. At the sight of Kovac, Fowler got an expression as if hewere having angina. Greer's eyes bugged out.

"What are you doing here, Sergeant?" he demanded. "You've officiallybeen removed from the task force."

"My rerequest, Chief," Quinn said smoothly. "We've already established acertain way of dealing with Mr. Vanlees. I don't want to change anythingat this point. I need him to trust me."

Greer and Sabin looked sulky; Logan, impatient. Fowler pulled a roll ofThins out of his pocket and thumbed one off.

Quinn dismissed the topic before anyone could think to defy him.

He held the door for Liska and Kovac, and followed them in.

Gil Vanlees looked like a giant racc.o.o.n. Both eyes had blackened in thehours since the accident. He had a split lip and a wide strip ofadhesive tape across his nose. He stood at one end of the room with hishands on his hips, looking p.i.s.sed and nervous.

Elwood sat in a chair with his back against the wall. Both hands werebandaged. His face was seared red. Without eyebrows his expressionseemed one of perpetual unpleasant surprise.

"I hear you had a little accident, Gil," Kovac said, falling into achair at the table.

Vanlees pointed a finger at him. "I'm gonna sue. You people hara.s.sed me,you let the press hara.s.s me-"

"You got behind the wheel of a truck with a snootful," Kovac said,lighting a cigarette. "Did I buy it for you? Did I pour it down yourthroat?

"Your people let me get behind that wheel," Vanlees began with all thesanctimonious indignation of a master at rationalization. He shot aquick, nervous glance at Elwood.

Kovac made a face. "Next thing you're gonna tell me it's my fault youkilled Jillian Bondurant and those other women."

Vanlees reddened, his eyes teared. He made a sound like a man strainingon the toilet. "I didn't." He turned on Liska then. "You told me this was about the accident. You're such a lying little c.u.n.t!"

"Hey!" Kovac barked. "Sergeant Liska's doing you a favor. You killedsomeone last night, you f.u.c.king drunk."

"That wasn't my fault! That son of a b.i.t.c.h shot a flash off in my face!

I couldn't see!"

"That's what Sergeant Liska says. She was there. She's your witness.

You want to call her a c.u.n.t again? I was her, I'd feed you your d.i.c.k fordinner, you sorry sack of s.h.i.+t."

Vanlees looked at Liska, contrite.

"Liska says you're innocent as a vestal virgin," Kovac went on, "andthat you don't want a lawyer. Is that right?"

"I haven't done anything wrong," he said, sulking.

Kovac shook his head. "Wow. You've got a broad definition of realitythere, Gil. We've got you dead to rights on the DUI-which is wrong bylaw.

I know you were looking in Jillian Bondurant's windows. That would beconsidered wrong."

Vanlees sat down, chair turned sideways to the table, presenting hisback to Kovac: and to the people on the other side of the one-way gla.s.s.He rested his forearms on his thighs and looked at the floor. He lookedprepared to sit there all night without saying another word.

Quinn studied him. In his experience it wasn't the innocent man wh.o.r.efused counsel, it was the man with something on his conscience hewanted to unload.

"So, were those Jillian's panties we pulled out from under your driver'sseat, Gil?" Kovac asked bluntly.

Vanlees kept his head down. "No."

"Lila White's? Fawn Pierce's? Melanie Hessler's?"

"No. No. No."

"You know, I wouldn't have guessed it looking at you, but you're acomplex individual, Gil," Kovac said. "Multilayered-like an onion.

And every layer I peel away smells worse than the last. You look like anaverage Joe. Peel one layer back and-oh!-your wife's leaving you! Well,that's not so unusual. I'm a two-time loser myself. Peel another layerback and-jeer!-she's leaving you because you're a window peeper! No,wait, you're not just a window peeper. You're a weenie wagged You'rejust one big, bad progessive joke. You're a drunk. You're a drunk who drives.

You're a drunk who drives and gets somebody killed."

Vanlees hung his head lower. Quinn could see the man's swollen mouthquivering.

"I didn't mean to. I couldn't see," Vanlees said in a thick voice.

"They won't leave me alone. That's your fault. I didn't do anything."

"They want to know what happened to Jillian," Kovac said. "I want toknow what happened to her too. I think there was something more going onbetween you than what you're telling us, Gil. I think you had the hots,for her. I think you were watching her. I think you stole those pantiesout of her dresser so you could whack off with them and fantasize abouther, and I'm gonna prove it. We already know the panties are her size,her brand," he bluffed. "It's just a matter of time before we get theDNA match. A few weeks. You'd better get used to those reporters, 'causethey're gonna be on you like flies on roadkill."

Vanlees was crying now. Silently. Tears dripping onto the backs of hishands. He was trembling with the effort to hold them back.

Quinn looked to Kovac. "Sergeant, I'd like to have a few moments alonewith Mr. Vanlees."

"Oh, sure, like I got nothing better to do," Kovac complained, gettingup. "I know where this is going, Quinn. You G-men want it all toyourself. f.u.c.k that. His a.s.s is mine."

"I just want a few words with Mr. Vanlees."

"Uh-huh. You don't like the way I talk to this piece of cheese.

You're sitting there thinking I should go easy on him on account of hisprost.i.tute mother used to beat his bare a.s.s with a wire hanger or somesuch psychobabble bulls.h.i.+t. Fine. I'll see you in the headlines, I'msure."

Quinn said nothing until the cops had gone out, and then he said nothingfor a long time. He took a Tagamet and washed it down with water fromthe plastic pitcher on the table. Casually, he turned his chairperpendicular to Vanlees's, leaned ahead, rested his forearms on histhighs, and sat there some more, until Vanlees glanced up at him.

"More of that good cop-bad cop s.h.i.+t," Vanlees said, pouting. "You thinkI'm a dumb s.h.i.+t."

"I think you watch too much TV," Quinn said. "This is the real world,Gil. Sergeant Kovac and I don't have identical agendas here.

"I'm not interested in headlines, Gil. I've had plenty. You know that.

I get them automatically. You know all I'm interested in, right?

You know about me. You've read about me."

Vanlees said nothing.

"The truth and justice. That's it. And I don't care what the truth turnsout to be. It's not personal with me. With Kovac, everything ispersonal. He's got you in his crosshairs. All I want to know is thetruth, Gil. I want to know your truth. I get the feeling you've gotsomething heavy on your chest, and maybe you want to get it off, but youdon't trust Kovac."

"I don't trust you either."

"Sure you do. You know about me. I've been nothing but up front withyou, Gil, and I think you appreciate that on some level."

"You think I killed Jillian."

"I think you fit the profile in a lot of respects. I admit that.

Moreover, if you look at the situation objectively, you'll agree with me.

You've studied this stuff. You know what we look for. You know some of your pieces fit the puzzle. But that doesn't mean I believe you killedher. I don't necessarily believe Jillian is dead."

"What?" Vanlees looked at him as if he thought Quinn might have lost hismind.

"I think there's a lot more to Jillian than first meets the eye. And Ithink you may have something to say about that. Do you, Gil?"

Vanlees looked at the floor again. Quinn could feel the pressurebuilding in him as he weighed the pros and cons of answering truthfully.

"If you were watching her, Gil," Quinn said very softly, "you're notgoing to get in trouble for that. That's not the focus here. The policewill gladly let that go in trade for something they can use."

Vanlees seemed to consider that, never thinking, Quinn was sure, thatthe "something" they were looking for could in turn be used against him.He was thinking of , of how he might cast some odd light on herand away from himself, because that was what people tended to do whenthey found themselves in big trouble-blame the other guy. Criminalsregularly blamed their victims for the crimes committed against them.

"You were attracted to her, right?" Quinn said. "That's not a crime.

She was a pretty girl. Why shouldn't you look?"

"I'm married," he mumbled.

"You're married, you're not dead. Looking is free. So you looked. Idon't have a problem with that."

"She was .. . different," Vanlees said, still staring at the floor butseeing Jillian Bondurant, Quinn thought. "Kind of .. . exotic."

"You told Kovac she didn't come on to you, but that's not exactly true,is it?" Quinn ventured, still speaking softly, an intimate chat betweenacquaintances. "She was aware of you, wasn't she, Gil?"

"She never said anything, but she'd look at me in a certain way," he admitted.

"Like she wanted you." A statement, not a question, as if it came as no surprise.

Vanlees s.h.i.+ed away from that. "I don't know. Like she wanted me to know

she was looking, that's all."

"Kind of mixed signals."

"Yeah. Mixed signals."

"Did anything come of it?"