CHAPTER TEN

At his arraignment that Monday morning, Riley’s attorney entered a plea of “not guilty” and made a request for bail which was denied. A preliminary hearing to determine if the case would go to trial was scheduled for one week from today. Though not a surprise, Paige’s insides tightened hearing that.

The media was out in full force and pounced when Paige accompanied Sam, Mike, and Hailey from the courthouse. Mike tucked Hailey under one arm and used his other arm to deflect reporters who blocked her path as they made their way down the courthouse steps to where Mike had parked his vehicle.

Sam was as much their target as Hailey. While Paige stood against one pillar, away from the cameras, Sam stopped to issue the statement he’d promised. He provided only the barest details, refusing to respond to questions about specific evidence despite the barrage of questions hurled at him. He spoke of Riley’s innocence and the Bureau’s full support of him.

The murder of a drug addict with a criminal history wouldn’t have warranted most people’s attention, but the fact that a federal agent was the accused murderer had made headline news. Paige felt both sadness and disgust over that.

“The investigation is ongoing. That’s all I can say at this time.” Sam concluded his statement.

Ignoring the questions shouted at him and the microphones thrust into his face, Sam took Paige’s arm and bulldozed their way down the same path Mike had taken moments earlier. The truck looked a long distance away, but then Harmon appeared at the door to the courthouse. He had no such qualms about addressing the media. Reporters scrambled to him and their path cleared.

Sam pulled away from the courthouse. “Will Ledger said that Corbett burglarized houses and then fenced what he stole. We need to check out his fence. See if Corbett brought anything to him recently. I asked Marian to have one of our analysts run down Jeffrey Adams for any priors.” Sam hit the phone button on the dashboard and called the office.

Mrs. Hendershot picked up immediately. “Yes, sir.”

“Marian, did anything come back on Jeffrey Adams or his pawn shop?”

“Yes. In 1996, Adams was convicted in Miami Dade, Florida, for carrying a loaded firearm and for carrying a concealed weapon. He was a member of a gang at that time. He served eighteen months. There are no convictions for his shop.”

Paige faced Sam. “Ledger seemed very certain that Adams was dirty and that Corbett was fencing his stuff there.”

“Yeah. Marian, are Harry and Dom back?”

“Special Agents Platt and DeLuca are at their desks.”

“I’d like to speak with them.”

“Certainly.”

Harry took the call a moment later. “Hey, Sam. Dom’s with me. You’re on speaker. How’d it go with Riley?”

Harry and Dom had been in court as well in a show of support for Riley, but they had received a call from one of their informants who’d claimed to know the man Sam, Dom, and Paige had chased into the woods.

Sam said, “Bail denied. Hearing in one week.”

“Fuck,” Harry said harshly.

Sam grunted. “That sums it up. Did your snitch give us a name on our mystery guy?”

Harry blew out a breath that conveyed irritation. “He had the guy with him when we met him. Not our guy. He wasn’t missing his right hand for one thing and he wasn’t around on the day Corbett was killed. He’d caused a disturbance and was sleeping one off in the Kirk jail.”

“Okay,” Sam said. “We need to follow up on what Ledger told Paige and I about Corbett pawning his take from house robberies. Marian has an address for Corbett’s fence, Jeffrey Adams. Set up a sting with top-end electronics.”

Paige knew Harry and Dom would make the necessary purchases from a retailer in Columbia, then Harry would go in undercover wearing a hidden camera.

“Mention that your items are stolen,” Sam went on, “and that Lonny Corbett told you to take them to Adams. See if mentioning Corbett gets a rise out of Adams.”

“We’re on it.” Harry ended the call.

Later that day, Harry called from his cell phone. Paige was in Sam’s office with him going over the reports from the Corbett murder.

Sam put the call on speaker. “What have you got?”

“Adams bit,” Harry said. “I’ve got it all on camera. Dom’s called for a warrant and he’s locking the place down. He’s waiting for the search team. I’m bringing Adams in.”

“We’ll be waiting.”

A short while later, Harry, dressed in scruffy pants, worn athletic shoes, and sporting a stained ball cap entered Sam’s office.

Harry took off the cap and speared his fingers back through his hair. “Adams is in Room One.”

Sam glanced at Harry. “We’ll let him sweat for a while.”

* * *

The report from the search of Adams’s shop arrived. Paige left Sam and Harry in Sam’s office and went to her desk. She entered the information on the items listed into the databases, searching for any matches with items reported stolen. Hits came back on two women’s rings, a bracelet, a set of baseball cards, three pairs of earrings, and a man’s watch.

The items were reported stolen from house burglaries. Page read the dates on the reports. They were all dated five days before Lonny Corbett’s murder. Gazing at the date, she tapped her fingers on her laptop. Was Corbett the one who’d burglarized these homes and then took what he’d stolen to Adams to fence?

The computer techs had found documents on Adams’s computer where he recorded the items he took in and where he got them. Paige searched Corbett’s name. It popped up again and again. Corbett had been doing an active business with Adams over several years and most recently, two days before his murder when he’d taken the items that turned up in Paige’s search to Adams. Paige felt a surge of satisfaction. They had Adams.

Curiously, there was one exception—the man’s watch. The item was listed in the pawnshop inventory and reported as stolen, but had not been listed in the reports she’d read from the recent house robberies. No, this item was listed elsewhere. She went still. How was it possible…

Sam was waiting for her findings. She’d give him what they had and then she’d take a look at the watch.

Paige joined Sam and Harry in Sam’s office. “Several of Adam’s items match recent house burglaries, all on the same day, five days before Corbett’s murder.” Paige gave Sam a printed list of the items. “Adams kept a record on his computer of where items came from. He named Corbett for all of these.”

“Let’s go get him,” Harry said.

* * *

Sam left his desk and followed Harry in to the interview room. Harry leaned against the wall by the door. Jeffrey Adams was in his late fifties, balding with a neatly trimmed beard. He slumped in the chair at the square table.

Adams had waived his right to counsel, stating he didn’t require representation because he hadn’t done anything wrong. Sam got right to the point. “We have you for felony trafficking in stolen property and receiving stolen property.”

“I’m a legitimate businessman,” Adams said.

“You bought stolen goods from Agent Platt.”

Adams jutted out his chin. “I’m a victim here. I know my rights. This is entrapment.”

Sam shook his head slowly. “You’d better go back and read up on entrapment. You’ll have plenty of time to do that while you’re sitting in a cell. You remember what that was like? From the last time you were in there. It’s been twenty years but the accommodations haven’t changed.”

“No.” Adams jumped up in the chair and then down. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Sam ignored Adams’s outburst. “We also know that you fenced items for Lonny Corbett.” Sam consulted the print out Paige had given him and recited the items Paige had noted. “Your own records show that Corbett brought these to you.”

“If that’s what I wrote then that’s it, but I didn’t know the items were stolen.”

Sam stared hard at Adams. “You didn’t know?” Law enforcement circulated lists of stolen items to pawn shops. Adams’s attempt to plead innocence was laughable. Sam gave Adams a shark’s smile. “Not going to wash. You are responsible for checking the police lists.”

“I missed them.” Adams attempted a self-deprecating shrug that didn’t fool anyone. “Sounds like I need to ask more questions, but that’s it. It was an honest mistake.”

“Honest?” Sam laughed. “Is that what you call yourself?”

Adams shifted in the chair.

“Where did Corbett get this stuff?” Sam said.

“I didn’t ask.”

“Why is that?”

“I didn’t assume any wrong doing.”

Sam said, “Corbett has been bringing you stuff for years. You didn’t wonder where he got it all?”

Sweat popped on Adams’s brow.

“When was the last time you saw Corbett?” Sam said.

“I didn’t kill him.”

Sam repeated, “When’s the last time you saw Corbett?”

“I don’t know.” Adams brought his hands together, clenching and unclenching them nervously. “A couple or three days before he was killed when he brought in the merchandise. I didn’t kill him.”

“Did he have anyone with him?” Sam was thinking of the man Paige had seen in the woods.

“He was alone.”

“What about a man with one hand? Know him?” Sam fired the question at Adams.

“I don’t know anyone like that.”

Sam brought the conversation back. “Your shop isn’t far from where Corbett was killed.”

Adams’s small eyes darted from Sam to Harry and back to Sam. He looked like a trapped rat. “I’m done talking to you. I’ve changed my mind. I want a lawyer.”

Harry pushed off the wall and opened the door. Sam followed him out.

* * *

It was long past the dinner hour when Dennis Berg, Adams’s court-appointed lawyer, took a seat beside his client in the interview room. Berg, a short man in a three-piece suit, straightened his tie and made a show of clicking the locks open on his briefcase as Sam entered the interview room once again. Harry came up behind him and took up his earlier position against the wall by the door.

“You saw Lonny Corbett at your shop two days before his murder,” Sam said without preamble. “And your shop is in the same neighborhood where Corbett was killed.”

Two hard knocks on the door interrupted whatever Adams may have been about to say. Harry opened the door. Sam turned and saw Paige.

Paige met Sam’s eyes. “I need to speak with you.”

Her eyes and her tone were somber. She turned her head and nodded at Harry, including him, then she backed out into the hall. Without a word to Berg or Adams, Sam followed Harry out of the room.

Sam closed the door to the interview room behind him. “What do you have, Paige?”

“We got another hit from Adams’s shop. A man’s watch. Adams noted that he got it from Corbett.” Paige licked her lower lip slowly. “But not from a recent robbery. The serial number matches a watch reported stolen eight years ago during a homicide.” She held out the watch in a transparent evidence bag.

The watch was a vintage designer brand. An expensive piece. Though Sam had never seen the watch up close, he recognized it. He took the bag from Paige then turned it over to view the back of the watch.

My love for you is timeless.

Marian

“Sam?” Harry said. “What’s going on?”

Sam closed his fist around the bag. “This watch belonged to Martin Hendershot, Marian’s husband.”