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He felt himself shrink and recoil. Would Foreman now suggest or offer to destroy evidence and wipe down the cabin? Where was this going? What was it Foreman wanted?
“I need her to go along with whatever they ask her to do,” Foreman said.
There it was, words hanging between them, as if stopped in space and floating. Boldt’s response determined their power or impotence.
“I need her safe,” Boldt said.
“You walk out of here now, and there’s no record of your having been here. What forensics finds or doesn’t find is a product of what there is to find in the first place. But when the prelims on this cabin come back clean for Liz, you’ll know why. She gets another call, and I’m the first one you contact. She gets asked to do something for these people and she does it. No more substitutions, coach. If they were go
The message didn’t surprise Boldt, but Foreman’s edgy, demanding tone did. The ordeal that Foreman had gone through had taken its toll. Boldt had no idea what it was like to have fingernails pulled, no idea what that did to a person.
“It’s seventeen million dollars, Da
“You’re going to make this decision for her?” Foreman asked. “Without her?”
“You tried to blackmail me a minute ago, Da
“Is that what you’re going to do?” Foreman asked, his voice steady and calm, but belying an undercurrent of raw energy that raised Boldt’s hackles. “Practice what you preach, soldier.”
Boldt felt a severe stab of pain in the center of his chest and nearly buckled over with it. He was living this case, something every detective knew not to do. It caught up to you, this kind of thing.
“You okay?”
Foreman’s voice sounded distant to Boldt. He hadn’t realized he’d gone blind in one eye until the condition cleared like a window shade lifting.
“Lou?”
“Fine,” Boldt lied. But he could see clearly again out of both eyes. His hearing returned to normal, losing that echo. He realized they were like two high school kids who entered into a brawl as opponents, but rose from the pile bloody and shaking hands. “I can’t do what you ask. I’ve got to say no to the evidence tampering, and no to Liz doing anything for Hayes or whoever’s behind this. I’ll take what comes my way is, I guess, what I’m saying to you. You want to play hardball, that’s up to you.”
“It’s not up to me,” said Foreman. “Never has been. If there’s a body out there, I want to find it. Fast. Yes. Because maybe it leads us to who did this ahead of whatever they have pla
“They?”
“Whatever. If Hayes survived, or if he gave up whatever’s necessary to get that money back, then there’s only one person this is go
Boldt knew he was right, though wanted to talk himself out of it. This being Wednesday evening, the bank reception celebrating the merger was now just a few days away. The embezzled money had to be wired out ahead of that deadline or be lost. It seemed hard to imagine that by Monday morning everything would be back to normal.
“There’s stuff I’ve got to do,” he said. “So who makes the call? It’s Wednesday night, Da
“So make the call.”
Boldt saw a flicker of thought register in Foreman’s eyes. Just a flicker, but enough to sense he’d been had. Da
“I don’t like being run, Da
“I suckered into a phony tip or I’d have been here to prevent this. At the very least, to witness it. How do you think I feel?”
“So who did that to you? Not me.”
“Come Sunday night, you and Liz are go
“I wouldn’t count on it.”
“That tape ever gets seen, it’ll sure as hell end her career, and it won’t help yours any.”
“We’ll land on our feet.”
“And I’ll be there to catch you.”
“Sure you will, Da
Boldt raised his phone and called Bernie Lofgrin directly, ready to involve the lab.
He sensed he was making a huge mistake.