Page 70 of Dirty Looks

“I didn’t touch her,” he insisted.

“But you know who did?” Martinez asked.

“Evie was a fighter,” Jack said. “She fought her attacker with everything she had. I think she escaped right from under her killer’s nose and he hunted her down like an animal for over a mile until he trapped her in the park. What do you think Everett Lidle would do to you if he found out you’d had a part in the torment of not one, but two of his daughters?”

“Are you threatening my client?” Leonore asked.

“Just ruminating,” Jack said with a grin, but there was a sharpness around the edges that had her tapping her fingers on the legal pad nervously.

“Now’s your chance, Geoffrey,” Martinez said. “The longer you make us wait for information the less likely I’m going to want to help you. You’re going down, one way or another.”

“And what are you going to charge him with?” Leonore asked, rolling her eyes. “You’ve got nothing but a lot of imagination.

“Well, for starters I’m going to charge him with falsifying a statement,” Martinez said. “And then we’re going to add every little thing we can dig up on this English sewer rat. Maybe he’ll get a chance to find out what it feels like to be sold in prison. Get a taste of his own medicine.”

“This interview is over,” Leonore said.

“Fine by me,” Martinez said. “We can go right to the arrest. Hope the cuffs don’t chafe those delicate wrists.”

“Wait,” Geoffrey said, as Martinez started to stand and take out his handcuffs. “I can’t tell you who killed her.” Before Martinez could interrupt him, Geoffrey held up a hand and said, “I don’t know who killed her. But I can tell you who got her out of the house, and who drugged Kitty.”

“Well,” Jack said. “That’s a whole other kind of killer. Start talking.”

Leonore held up her hand before things could proceed. “If this confession suggests that Robert Lidle was responsible for the murder of his wife and grandchild then we have substantial documentation we’d like to submit to discredit this witness.”

“Are you here representing Mr. Higgins or are you just here to make sure there’s no blowback onto the company that keeps you in thousand-dollar shoes and European vacations?” Martinez asked.

Leonore just smiled.

“The phones you have collected with your warrant,” Geoffrey said, seemingly unruffled by Leonore’s betrayal. “I believe all the evidence you need is on those devices.” Then he turned to Leonore. “Your services are no longer needed here. I will retain my own counsel from this point forward.”

“Gosh, Leonore,” Martinez said. “No one seems to want you here today. Give Jerry my regards on your way out.”

“Oh, we’re not going anywhere,” she said, getting to her feet. “Our job is to make sure that every document in that office is protected, and that there is no possibility of espionage through leaks.”

“Then by all means,” Martinez said. “Go be a guard dog. It’s important for people to feel useful. Even attorneys.”

She picked up her briefcase and gave Martinez a sultry smile, and then swayed out the door to a rhythm only her hips knew the music to.

Jack opened the box where all the electronic devices were and pulled out three phones in separate bags.

“This is my phone,” Geoffrey said, pointing to the middle bag. “Everything on Mr. Lidle’s phone is replicated on my own. Even his calls and text messages. I screen all correspondence and then determine what needs his attention. Then I schedule it on the calendar and he’ll return the call or text from this phone.” He pointed to an identical phone on the right, and then he diverted attention to the third phone. “This phone is Mr. Lidle’s personal cell phone. This is strictly for family only. No one else has this number or access. Not even me.”

Jack kept the middle phone in the bag, but turned it on and waited until the passcode screen came up.

“Passcode?” Jack asked.

“5-7-6-9-2-5,” Geoffrey said. “As you can see, there is correspondence between Mr. Lidle, Mr. Goble, and Ms. Nielsen in regards to making a drop. The drop referred to is the child.”

“Evie Lidle,” Martinez said. “Maybe you could say her name so you know that she wasn’t just a drop. Is that how you sleep at night?”

Martinez held his hand out to me and I knew what he wanted. I slid him the file with Evie Lidle’s autopsy report. Andthen he slapped the photographs of her torn and lifeless body in front of him.

“How many times have you been a part of this?” Martinez asked. “Or did it just get out of control this time?”

Geoffrey visibly swallowed and then licked his lips, diverting his eyes from the pictures.

“You think just because you didn’t rape her or beat her that your hands are clean? You knew everything. Twenty-one years you’ve been keeping Robert Lidle’s disgusting secrets. Did you know what he did to his own daughter? How many little girls had he practiced on and sold before he decided his own flesh and blood would bring in a higher price?”

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