Page 109 of Two Kinds of Stranger

Now, Logan needed another gun.

There was no doubt now that Flynn and his investigators had Novak hidden somewhere. A place that was safe, secure. And, up until this moment, no one had been looking for him, believing him to be dead.

Now that Flynn had just announced Joe was alive, he would know that Logan would come looking.

This time, when Logan made his move on Novak, there would be no element of surprise. They would be ready.

Lake closed the app.

Opened his messages, sent a text to Grace.

I’ll be home late. Have to meet a client.

The reply came in fast.

No problem. I’ll wait up. I love you.

He typed back.

I love you too.

Wherever they were keeping Novak, Lake wouldn’t be too far away.

As much as Logan wanted to stay and listen to the case, taking out Novak was priority number one. He would need to catch up on the case later through the news reports. One other thing occurred to him–if this case started looking bad for the prosecution, Logan could not risk staying in the city. He would need to get away.

But not yet. He had to make sure Novak didn’t testify. Without him, Elly Parker would be convicted. No one would believe her story without a corroborating witness. And, if she was convicted, Logan had nothing to fear. If she was acquitted, the NYPD would come looking for the man with the suitcase who called himself Logan.

He could simply run now, but that would leave his fate to chance. He had to make the last desperate effort to make sure Elly was convicted. He didn’t want the police on his tail. Not now. Not ever. Even if he was in a different country, ten years from now, there was always the chance that the police might get lucky, and he could be hauled out of his bed and extradited to New York to face his crimes.

Logan had never failed to accomplish anything he had set his mind to. He did not intend to begin now.

Quietly, he got up from his seat, left the courtroom and went in search of Gabriel Lake.

43

Eddie

While Bernice called her first witness, I texted Harry and asked how things were going one floor up. I didn’t want to ask Kate. She was under enough pressure. No way did I want to add to that.

I trusted Kate.

I had to keep reminding myself of that. Had to focus on Elly’s case.

There was no denying I was distracted. Half of my head was in the courtroom upstairs, fighting for my ex-wife.

Bernice looked up from a stack of papers on her desk, slid the large-framed glasses from her nose and let them hang round her neck as she stood and called her first witness.

Patrolman John Djawadi was sworn in, and Bernice guided him through his testimony. He responded to a call from one of the victim’s parents. James’s father couldn’t get in contact with him. James wasn’t picking up the phone and wouldn’t answer the door to his apartment. It wasn’t like him. He’d been vilified on social media, lost his job and his friends and his father was worried that James had done something stupid. The patrolman met James’s father at the front door of the apartment building together with a locksmith. The locksmith opened the door, and the patrolman entered first, calling out for James.

He entered the bedroom, found James and Harriet dead on the floor. He got the father out of the apartment and called in the bodies.

‘Officer Djawadi, while you and the victim’s father were in the apartment, did you disturb anything or touch anything?’

‘Just the doorknob of the bedroom. That’s all, ma’am.’

‘After you had secured the apartment, what did you do then?’

‘Like I said, I called in the bodies to dispatch, who said they were sending homicide. I stood outside the apartment and made sure it was secure while I waited for the arrival of the detective.’