LITMIR.BIZ

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he grunted, and grabbed the lists from her. As he examined them, he asked, “How long do we give Latimer before we chase him down?”

      Diana glanced at her watch. It was already nine-fifteen with no word from him. Latimer didn’t strike her as the type who would be late, which could only mean that he had no intention of showing up. She fought back the sudden disappointment and mustered righteous anger. He had not kept his promise. So much for the trust she had felt last night.

      Trust being a funny and fragile thing, she thought as she ran her hand along her right cheek. It was still sore, and this morning she’d woken with a pounding headache. The medication the doctor had given her had eased the pain enough for her to concentrate on her work. Still, every time she moved her jaw, a slight sting reminded her.

      She glanced at her watch again even though only seconds had passed. “At nine-thirty we go after him. If he refuses to cooperate, we’ll get a warrant.”

      It was as if Latimer had heard; a moment later her phone rang. She hurried from the couch and grabbed it. Anger blossomed inside her as the secretary said Latimer’s lawyer was upstairs. “Bastard,” she mumbled under her breath as she hung up the phone, all of her earlier interest in him blown away by the call.

      David picked up his head from the sofa back. “Let me guess—”

      “Latimer sent his lawyer down. Probably to throw up roadblocks so we couldn’t question him.”

      “Testy this morning, aren’t we?” he said, noting her irritation.

      “I don’t like games. He said he’d be here. If I’d thought otherwise, I would have hauled him down here last night.” She walked to her desk, slipped her jacket off her chair and put it on.

      “Especially after the little incident?” She shot David a glare as she headed for the door of her office. Of course she was mad about the “incident,” but she also felt betrayed.

      That sense of betrayal fueled her anger as she and David arrived at the anteroom to the assistant director in charge’s office. His secretary nodded and gave them a tight, uncomfortable smile. “He’s waiting for the two of you.”

      Diana took a breath and knocked on the door. After hearing the soft “Come in,” she and David entered.

      In a chair opposite ADIC Jesus Hernandez sat a middle-aged man. Hernandez immediately identified him as Latimer’s lawyer and the man rose, offering his hand.

      Diana and David shook hands with the man but continued to stand even though the lawyer motioned for them to sit. “Mr. Ruggiero. I wish I could say it was good to see you, but I would have much rather had your client come down as he promised last night,” Diana said.

      The man glanced up at her and then at David. “My client has every intention of presenting himself—this afternoon.”

      “He agreed to come down this morning. Is there some reason—”

      “Mr. Latimer made that concession under duress, Special Agent Reyes. We both know that after the altercation—”

      “Brought about by your client attacking—”

      “My client advises that you struck first. He was only defending himself,” Ruggiero shot back.

      “Your client has a foot and at least one hundred pounds over my partner, Mr. Ruggiero,” David said.

      Hernandez finally joined the fray and brought silence to the room with a sharply barked “Enough.”

      Diana nodded and at Hernandez’s prompting, sat in the chair next to Ryder’s lawyer. David took a seat on the couch. As she sat and listened to her boss’s briefing, she wondered why Latimer had sent a shark rather than come himself.

      The nattily dressed lawyer sat calmly as Hernandez advised them on Latimer’s concerns and his willingness to cooperate in any way he could, including presenting himself in the late afternoon for questioning. The lawyer nodded, confirming each of Hernandez’s statements.

      Ruggiero must have taken fashion tips from an early Godfather movie—his brown hair was ruthlessly slicked back with gel and his silk suit was shiny, the oily sheen in keeping with the unctuous smile he had given her when they met. He had on an overpowering cologne that made her nauseous, as did his tight, ferretlike smile.

      “My client will do everything in his power to cooperate,” Ruggiero replied in seemingly sincere tones, and she wondered how he could lie so easily. Latimer clearly had something to hide, and this man was here to help him do so.

      “Tell me, Mr. Ruggiero. Does your client’s idea of cooperation include attempting to restrain a federal officer?” Diana countered, and gave the man some credit when he had the grace to blush.

      “A misunderstanding, Agent—”

      “Special Agent in Charge, Mr. Ruggiero,” David corrected him.

      Diana shot her partner a glare, hating that he had paraded her title. In her book, titles alone didn’t earn respect. She addressed the lawyer calmly, her tone brooking no disagreement. “If your client doesn’t appear by this afternoon, he’ll leave me no option but to issue a warrant.”

      “My client has rights—”

      “And it’s well within his rights for us to ask him to answer a few questions. If he feels uncomfortable, he has the right to counsel and to refuse to answer. In which case, we’ll charge him as the suspect and hold him for additional proceedings,” Hernandez answered calmly, attempting to stop further disputes. “Do you think your client can come by this afternoon, at let’s say…”

      Hernandez stopped and glanced at Diana to continue. “Four o’clock would be fine,” she confirmed.

      The attorney nodded, rose and walked out the door.

      After he was gone, Diana let out a stinging Spanish expletive. Hernandez whistled beneath his breath. David coughed uncomfortably.

      “Well, what does he think we’re going to do? Chinese water torture or boiling in hot oil? The last thing we want is to lose a suspect due to a technicality,” she said hotly.

      David shrugged. “You and Latimer got off on the wrong foot last night. Maybe that worried him.”

      “And speaking of that, Diana, I understand from your reports that you and this suspect had a physical altercation. One in which you may have suffered a possible injury?” Hernandez glanced at a file as he spoke.

      “Has anyone here checked you out?” he continued.

      “I planned on going down—”

      “As soon as we are done,” Hernandez instructed, and then quickly launched into a discussion of the case and their plan of action for the interrogation of Latimer.

      Diana took a deep breath, her headache having intensified during the interview. She hoped Latimer wouldn’t mess around with them. They needed his cooperation at the club. But something told her that even though he hadn’t been on the up-and-up with them, it had nothing to do with the killings. He was hiding something else. Something more…personal.

      When Hernandez dismissed them, she rose and followed David from the office, the pounding in her head intense and almost debilitating.

      “Diana?” David asked as he noted her discomfort.

      She nodded and forced a smile. “A bad headache. And even if Hernandez hadn’t ordered it, I’d be heading to Maggie’s, anyway, to have her check me out.”

      David smiled a broad ear-to-ear grin at the mention of the staff physician. “Mind if I tag along?”

      His eagerness was a balm. She had long hoped that her friend Maggie would get together with her very nice, but slightly inept partner. “Sure.”

      “Great,” he said, and followed her as she walked down the hall and to the elevator.

      Chapter

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