Torres opened his car door, but didn’t immediately get in. He uttered a small humorless laugh. “I just said in there that I wanted to be helpful. But I don’t have a clue how to do that. It seems that the longer this case goes on, the less I know.”
“That’s not the worst thing in the world. Realizing you have no idea what’s going on is a hell of a lot better than being totally sure about everything—and totally wrong.”
Three minutes later, as Torres’s Crown Victoria was pulling out onto the county road, Hardwick’s growling red GTO was pulling in.
Hardwick got out and swung the heavy door shut with the crashing thump that only vintage Detroit cars make. He cast a sideways glance at the departing sedan. “Who’s the dick in the Vic?”
“Mark Torres,” said Gurney. “CIO on the Steele and Loomis cases.”
“Just the shootings? Who caught the playground murders?”
“He did, for about ten minutes. Then Beckert took over and handed them off to Turlock.”
Hardwick shrugged. “Like it’s always been. Dell calls the shots, the Turd does the work.”
Gurney led the way back inside to the table he’d occupied with Torres. Marika came over and Gurney ordered another double espresso. Hardwick ordered a large mug of Abelard’s special dark roast.
“What did you learn about Beckert?” Gurney asked.
“Here’s what I was told—mostly secondhand stuff, rumors, bullshit. Some of it might be partly true. No telling which part.”
“You inspire confidence.”
“Confidence is my middle name. So here’s the story. ‘Dell’ is a shortened form of ‘Cordell.’ Specifically, Cordell Beckert the Second. Known to some of his associates as CB-Two. Meaning there was another Cordell Beckert somewhere in the family tree. Cory Payne was actually christened Cordell Beckert the Third.
“Dell was born in Utica forty-six years ago. His father was a cop, disabled in a shootout with a drug dealer. Quadriplegic. Died when Dell was ten. After grammar school—I already told you some of this—Dell got a scholarship to a military prep school in the redneck end of Virginia. Bayard-Whitson Academy. Where he met Judd Turlock. And where Judd had his juvie legal problem. I’ll come back to that in a minute. After Bayard-Whitson, he went to—”
Gurney interrupted. “It’s interesting that Beckert never used what happened to his father as a credential for his war on drugs, like he did with his wife’s death.”
Hardwick shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t give a shit about the old man.”
“Or the opposite. Some people never mention the things that affect them the most.”
Marika arrived at the table with Hardwick’s coffee, then left.
When she was out of earshot, he continued. “After Bayard-Whitson, Dell went to Choake Christian College, where he met and married his first wife, Melissa Payne. Cory was born right after he graduated from Choake’s ROTC program. He joined the Marines as a lieutenant, completed a four-year tour, came out as a captain, then joined the NYSP. With his Marine officer background he moved up quickly during the next seven or eight years. The job was first, family a distant second. Along the way Melissa fell in love with painkillers and Cory became a festering thorn in his side, which I told you about.”
“Culminating in the attempted torching of the recruiting office?”
“Right. But there’s something else I was just told by someone who knew the family back then. But it might be total bullshit. See, to do you a fucking favor, I’ve been making a giant pain in the ass of myself, calling people I haven’t spoken to in years, annoying them with one goddamn question after another. They may be making up crap to get rid of me.”
“You love making a giant pain in the ass of yourself. What did you find out?”
“Two, three months before Dad finally sent the little bastard away to the boot-camp boarding-school prison—whatever the fuck you want to call it—Cory supposedly had a druggie girlfriend. He was a large, aggressive twelve. She was maybe fourteen and dealing a little pot here and there. Dell had her picked up and tossed into juvie detention for possession and intent—to make a point to Cory about what happens when you hang out with people Dad doesn’t approve of. Problem is, she was raped in the detention center, supposedly by a couple of COs, and hanged herself. Or so the story goes. Anyway, it was after that that Cory went totally batshit and got sent away to the discipline farm.”
“No blowback on Beckert from the kid’s death?”
“Not even a breeze.”
