“Why don’t you tell me the real reason you want Letty dealt with?”
“I told you already. Call it frontier justice.”
“No. I call it bullshit. I know you, Evan. It all comes down to money, doesn’t it?”
“That crazy Tanya had a will. Who knew? Some Indian woman she met at AA. Who hires a drunk lawyer for estate planning? TanyaCarnahan, that’s who. Long story short, she left everything to Maya, in a trust with Letty named as Maya’s guardian.”
“So?”
“So, when we were together, before things went bad, I put a bunch of my holdings in an LLC and transferred it into Tanya’s name, which I never mentioned to her.”
“As a tax dodge.”
“It’s perfectly legal. Now though, with Tanya dead, my four-year-old kid and her crazy aunt hold title to, like, twelve million dollars’ worth of prime New York real estate. My apartments. And my lawyers tell me I can sue, but unless I can prove Letty killed Tanya, the apartments are held in a trust that Letty controls.”
“But you’re Maya’s legal father, right? Can Tanya just cut you out of the kid’s life like that?”
“Maybe, maybe not. But we don’t need to go into that right now. Let’s get back to Letty. Can you find her, or not?”
“Maybe? I mean, what’s it worth to you?”
“Ten thousand.”
“Bwhahahaha. Seriously. I’ve got a job, you know. I’ll have to take time off, call in some favors, that costs money. Plus, travel, if it comes to that. Plus, if you want me to hire someone to take care of Letty, that ain’t free. I mean, I don’t even know how much it costs to hire a hit man.”
“Christ! Will you quit saying that word?”
“What should I call it instead? A consultant?”
“Whatever. Just get it done.”
“Fifty thousand. And don’t even try and dick around with me. I know you’ve got the money, Evan.”
“Okay. Do it. I don’t want to know any of the details. Just take care of it.”
“And what about the kid?”
“Yeah. Of course. Maya. You’ll see that she’s not hurt, right? Look, I gotta go. Text me when you know something.”
31
THE FBI AGENT TAPPED THEphone and the recording ended abruptly.
“Take care of it,” Letty said, her tone bitter. “That’s what Evan used to tell me when I worked for him. If the cable was out in an apartment, he’d say ‘Take care of it.’ If one of the tenants in a building was making waves, or a mattress needed replacing, my job was to ‘take care of it.’ I’m just another messy inconvenience to him. And Maya? She’s an afterthought.”
Vikki Hill nodded in agreement. “Wingfield sees her as an asset. Like one of his apartments.”
“Do you think he knows he’s not really Maya’s father?” Joe asked.
“Doubtful.” Vikki motioned for the server to refill her coffee. She turned to Letty. “You heard the man, in his own words.”
“We all did. He was hiring you to hire a hit man to kill me. So arrest him. That’s a crime, right? Why do you need me?”
Joe and Agent Hill exchanged a knowing look. “Because it’s not enough,” Joe said gently. “Solicitation for murder is difficult to prove. Even when you have the accused on tape. And Wingfield is careful. He never actually says he wants you killed. Even though that’s clearly his intent.”
“What are you telling me?”
Agent Hill leaned across the table, locking eyes with her. “This sucks, I know. But if you want to put Evan Wingfield in prison, make sure he never threatens you, or your niece or anyone else,ever again, you need to help us, Letty.” She glanced over at Joe, who reluctantly nodded.
