Killer Ambition - [76]

I described it all, right down to the texts we’d found on Hayley’s phone and Averly’s purchase of the ticket to Paris using Hayley’s iPad, and concluded with his phone call to Ian. “And he was the one you called when you got the text from Hayley’s phone about the kidnapping. You told him about it in plenty of time for him to-”

“I told him nothing! And you’ll never prove I did!” The fury radiated from his every pore, a palpable heat that made me draw back, momentarily speechless. For long seconds, we stood staring at each other in silence, the air between us thick and dangerous. Finally, Russell turned away, breaking the spell. The light must be dawning for him, I thought, awful as that must be. Words of consolation formed in my mind as Russell walked slowly to the window. But he spoke first.

Turning back to me, in a voice now filled with contempt as well as fury, he snarled, “How stupid are you? It’s that asshole punk Averly! Jesus! Isn’t it perfectly obvious?”

I blinked at the unexpected turn, but recovered quickly to fire back, “What about Ian’s blood on the trunk of Brian’s car? His fingerprint on the bumper? His phone calls to Averly in New York? His hair and fingerprints in Averly’s car? Don’t you see how-”

“What I see is a frame job that’s working! This Averly character-”

“What? Planted Ian’s blood? His fingerprints? His hair?”

“Averly works on the lot and Ian knows him. So he sat in Averly’s car. Big deal. And Ian’s blood and…and prints…” Russell sputtered for a moment as his gears spun. Finally, the gears caught. “How do we know Brian didn’t try to shake Ian down before the kidnapping? How do we know he and Brian didn’t get into a fight when Ian refused to be blackmailed? That kid was just as psycho as his father!”

“But if that’s what happened-and Ian got into a fight with Brian that left him bloody-why not tell you about it?”

“Because he didn’t want to upset me! Because he didn’t think I needed to be distracted by a stupid, crazy boy who believed his delusional father’s stories!”

“Okay, then why was Ian calling Averly in New York?”

“How should I know? He probably didn’t even know Averly was in New York. And so what if he called Averly? That doesn’t mean it had anything to do with Hayley’s…” Russell stopped short, unable to say it. “This is insane! There’s no friggin’ way!” Russell pulled at his hair. “I swear to God, I’ll have your job for this!”

I wanted to tell him that right now I’d gladly let him have my job, but while I searched for something more productive to say, Declan stepped in.

“Russell, I understand why this would be very upsetting news,” he said quietly. “But Rachel isn’t looking for anything but the truth. And if she finds out that Ian wasn’t involved, she’ll be glad to drop the case.”

I was a little annoyed at hearing, for the second time today, how happy I’d be to drop charges against Ian Powers. But Declan’s words seemed to stem the tide of Russell’s umbrage. When Declan finished speaking, Russell gave him a long stare, then fired a look of utter contempt and disbelief at me and turned toward the window that opened out onto the lot. He was still breathing hard, and his hands clutched the sill. When, finally, Russell faced me again, some of the beet-red color had drained from his face, but his eyes still shot angry sparks. “Your boss knows about this?”

“Of course.”

“Fucking civil service lawyers.” With a look of disgust, he picked up his phone and growled, “Have someone escort these two off the lot!”

I finally got to ride in one of the golf carts.

“Whew!” Declan said after he’d pulled out of the studio lot.

“Yeah.” Russell’s alternative scenario that made Averly the bad guy had its flaws, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the defense landed on some version of that. “I hate to do this to you, but I’m going to need you to write up a report of what you heard Russell say. I’ll do one too.”

“Especially that Ian never told Russell about any confrontation with Brian?”

“Yes, especially that part. It’s not impossible that Ian would keep something like that from Russell, but it’s highly unlikely. If nothing else, he’d want to prepare Russell for any problems Brian might cause. It makes no sense that Ian would feel he needed to shelter Russell.”

In fact, if Ian’s defense did try to claim he was just protecting Russell, the weakness in our evidence of motive wasn’t such a problem. If Brian had some proof that Russell stole his father’s script, he would’ve gotten a lawyer. He hadn’t. That meant Brian wasn’t a real threat. So why not tell Russell that Brian had come around talking a lot of unprovable nonsense? And if Brian didn’t pose a real threat, then why kill him? I admit, it was a bit circular, but it did give us something to work with. After what I’d just been through, any little bit of good news was a welcome relief.

“And while you’re at it, put it in your report that Russell denied telling Ian about getting the kidnapping text from Hayley’s phone,” I said.

Declan looked at me. “You don’t believe him?”

“Not for a minute. I think he was on his phone to Ian within seconds.”