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“It’s an interesting proposal,” said Jack. “But it’s impossible. She can’t go to London to perform. One of the conditions of her release on bail is that she can’t leave the state of Florida.”
“That’s why the conversation will be between Imani and the grandfather, not Imani and Sergei.”
“I don’t follow you,” said Jack.
“Vladimir Kava owns a huge estate on Miami Beach. I’m sure his granddaughter and all her friends would love to fly over on Kava’s private jet to see Imani perform at Grandpa’s estate. Obviously, Sergei won’t be there. He’d be arrested the minute he set foot on American soil. But the FBI is confident that a conversation between Imani and the old man can elicit the information we need for our investigation.”
“There are a lot of details to be worked out here,” said Jack. “A lot of unknowns.”
“As in any deal,” said Coffey.
“I’ll need some time to sit down with my client and calculate the risks.”
“I’ll give you three days.”
Jack couldn’t imagine it would take that long for Imani to decide, one way or the other. It all depended on how genuine her concern was about Theo. Baking him cookies was one thing. Wearing a wire to talk to a Russian oligarch was quite another.
“I’ll get back to you,” he said, and the video conference ended.
Chapter 25
Jack left his office around four o’clock on Friday, early enough to fight rush hour traffic out of the city and still make it to Doral in time for happy hour.
Judge Cookson’s ruling had foreclosed any possibility of deposing retired Detective Cruz prior to Imani’s trial on murder charges. It did not preclude an interview. The trick was to get the detective to talk without a subpoena commanding his appearance. Had Jack called him cold and tried to set something up, the detective would have surely declined. Jack’s best shot was to bump into him somewhere unexpectedly and strike up a conversation. Cruz’s Facebook page was filled with Friday happy hour photographs from a popular multilevel driving range called Top Golf in Doral. Jack chose to ambush him—er, bump into him—there.
“Hey, what a coincidence,” said Jack as he filled the open space at the bar right beside Detective Cruz.
The Top Golf cocktail bar was on the roof of a three-story complex. The building’s façade looked like an enclosed sports entertainment complex. The rear was open to the elements and faced a driving range. At peak hours, hundreds of golfers hit hi-tech golf balls from private bays on the three terrace levels below the rooftop bar. The object of the game was to hit the targets positioned at various places in the range, and the hi-tech golf ball recorded each player’s score.
Jack had been waiting on the rooftop for nearly an hour before finally finding his target at the bar.
“Are you a golfer, Swyteck?” asked the detective.
“A hacker, like most of us.”
“Well, hack away,” he said as he reached for his wallet to pay for his drink.
“Can I get this round?” asked Jack.
He smiled. “You trying to bribe a witness?”
“Just compensating him for his lost time. I only need five minutes.”
The detective thought about it for a moment, and for whatever reason—maybe because this wasn’t his first scotch on the rocks of the evening—he agreed. Jack left a twenty-dollar bill for the bartender, and the two men found a couple of open club chairs at a cocktail table overlooking the driving range.
“How’s your old man?” asked Cruz.
For all the disagreements between Jack and his father over the years, former Governor Swyteck could always be counted on as an icebreaker when it came to conversations with law enforcement. Jack gave the detective the usual update, then turned to the matter at hand.
“I deposed Shaky Nichols’s former bodyguard at FSP,” said Jack. “His testimony is that it was Imani’s idea to tie the body to a concrete piling in Biscayne Bay.”
“That’s a bad fact for you,” said Cruz.
“Ifit is a fact. Paxton wouldn’t be the first prison inmate to mold his testimony to the prosecutor’s theory of the case in the hope of early release.”
“That’s a very cynical view you have there, Jack. Your daddy wouldn’t approve.”
“You’re right. He wouldn’t. But I have a job to do, and this story came out of the blue. Have you heard it before—that Imani conceived and planned the disposal of the body?”
