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Chapter69
“I DON’T LIKE GETTING PLAYED,”grumbled Decker.
He was sitting alongside Lancaster and Mars in the visitors’ waiting room at the local hospital in Trammel, where Mitzi Gardiner had been admitted into the critical care unit. As with Rachel Katz, they had armed guards stationed 24/7 outside her room.
Though the doctors were hopeful that she would recover, they could not guarantee what her mental state might be when she regained consciousness. One of the doctors had told them, “When abused, the drug she took can have a particularly destructive impact on certain areas of the brain having to do with memory.”
“Well, that’s great,” Decker had replied. “Since we need for her to remember a lot of stuff.”
Lancaster now said, “We found Brad Gardiner’s car abandoned about two miles from his house. He might have been picked up there and taken somewhere else.”
“It never occurred to me that her husband might be a part of all this,” said Decker miserably.
“Playing a role all these years?” said Mars. “That’s a commitment and then some.”
“Agreed,” said Lancaster. “I mean, they had a kid together.”
“I’m not saying the guy doesn’t love her or didn’t want to marry her and have a child,” said Decker. “But I can’t think of another reason why he would have vanished like that, unless he was afraid we were going to find out something.”
“This goes way beyond money laundering, Decker,” said Lancaster.
“We need to find out all we can about Brad Gardiner.”
Lancaster said, “I’ve already started digging. He went to college in Illinois. Moved here about fifteen years ago. Worked at a variety of jobs in the financial sector. Now he specializes in an upscale placement market.”
“Mitzi told me a little about that. She called it a high-end job placement platform.”
“That’s right,” said Lancaster. “Apparentlyhe’s not placing people in low-paying jobs. He focuses on finance, law, high tech, manufacturing, energy, those sorts of fields. They pay the big bucks and he gets big commissions.”
“I wonder how he hooked up with Mitzi,” said Decker.
“You really think this was all arranged after the murders thirteen years ago?”
“She didn’t marry him thirteen years ago. She had to go through her big makeover. She told me that Katz helped her with that. Then Gardiner steps in and marries Mitzi and they have a kid and a wonderful life.”
“And Gardiner came to the area about the same time as David Katz was opening the American Grill,” noted Lancaster.
“Right. Mitzi said her husband knew nothing about her past. Now, either she was lying, or she didn’t know that her marriage might have been a setup.”
“Assuming it was, why would they go to all those lengths to give Mitzi a second shot at life?” wondered Lancaster.
“She helped them by framing her father for four murders. They wanted to keep her in line.”
Lancaster shook her head and said, “Okay, but if they were afraid she might talk, why not just kill her? These folks don’t seem to mind solving their problems with violence. And it’s not like she was a major player in whatever they’re doing.”
“Maybe they were afraid with another murder so soon after the others that people would get suspicious and start digging. With Meryl fingered as the killer, no one looked anywhere else. I know that better than anyone.”
Mars said, “And it worked, apparently, all this time.”
Decker looked thoughtful. “But now, with Gardiner and Katz in the fold, we may be able to find out what’s going on.”
“Well, Katz hasn’t woken up yet, despite what the doctors told us, and Gardiner isn’t out of danger yet,” said Lancaster. “And you heard the doctor about the state of her memory if she does come out of it. I’m not sure we can rely on either one.”
“I agree,” replied Decker. “Ground zero for us is the American Grill. We have to find out what’s inside there.”
“Okay, but we have no probable cause whatsoever to search the place for an underground room,” pointed out his old partner.
“We can ask nicely,” said Mars.
