The Innocence Game Part 28

"Never happen," I said and thought about Jake's altercation with Sarah's ex in Nevin's. The pictures of dead children on his bedroom walls. The hard anger in his voice.

"You don't have to believe it," Kelly said. "What the detective wants is for you to be aware."

"Aware of what?"

"The situation," Rodriguez said. "Kelly's gonna check on a few things about Jake while the three of you are together. Hang around a little and observe. Look, I'm not saying Jake's gonna hurt anybody. Or anything like that. I just wanted you to know. And be warned. Okay?"

I pulled my eyes off my shoes and took a look around the room. There were no easy answers to be found. And I was out of options.

"One condition," I said and held up a finger.

"What's that?" Rodriguez said.

"I want to see Sarah."

39.

The room was small, the couch, uncomfortable, and there was at least one body in the freezer next door. Still, I slept the sleep of the dead in the Cook County Morgue. And didn't mind the irony a bit. Rodriguez woke me at just after eight. We didn't talk much on the drive to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He insisted on speaking to Sarah first. When he came out, he had a tight look on his face.

"How is she?" I said.

"She's fine. I caught her up on most of what we talked about."

"Including who actually attacked her?"

"Yeah. Believe it or not, Coursey's been in to see her twice. Working the case."

"What if he finds out I'm here?"

"That's why we have to hustle. Ten minutes, no more. And if anyone ever asks down the road, the whole thing never happened."

"Is there anything I should tell her?"

"Something that's gonna make her feel better would be nice."

She was sitting up in bed, like she had the flu, except one eye was mostly shut, her lip was split, and a bruise in twisted shades of yellow and purple ran down one cheek and along her jaw.

"Does it hurt to talk?" I said.

"Not too bad." Her voice sounded brittle, almost afraid of itself. I decided to cut my ten minutes to five.

"How long are you going to be in?"

"They're supposed to let me out tomorrow."

I looked around. The room was bare, with just a spray of flowers in a vase by the door. "Is your family coming down?"

"My mom and dad are coming in today. I didn't tell them until last night. Couldn't deal with all the drama."

I moved a little closer. "Listen, I just wanted to say I'm sorry ..."

She shook her head and opened her arms. I held her close and felt her bones under the hospital gown.

"Sarah ..."

"Don't talk about it."

"I was there that night. I shouldn't have been, but I was. They set me up. Set us up."

"I know what they did. And I know why."

"You don't think I attacked you?"

A fragile smile peeked through the catalog of bruises. "Never did."

She settled her head against my chest. My fingers found the pulse along her wrist. I sat on the edge of the bed and counted heartbeats.

"You remember the volunteer work I told you about? Helping women who've been abused?" Her voice was low and m.u.f.fled, like she was in a confessional.

"Sure."

She looked up. "I'm on the other side of that now. And I need to be strong."

"I got you covered, Sarah. Whichever way it goes."

"That's what I told Rodriguez. I think he liked that." She leaned back into me and we sat in the cool darkness of the hospital room. I thought she might have drifted off when she spoke again. "I've got something for you." She reached down to the side of her bed for a thick manila envelope.

"What is it?"

"Something I was working on before everything happened. Detective Rodriguez brought it down from my apartment. I thought it could wait, but maybe you should have it now."

"Sarah ..."

"Jake filled me in on the Needle Squad. Told me you thought the two core members were dead."

"Teddy Green and John Carlton."

Sarah shoved the envelope into my hands. "Read through this." There was a light knock on the door. "We can catch up on the rest later."

I tucked the envelope under my arm. "Are you gonna be all right?"

"That probably depends on what you mean by 'all right.' " A hard light came into her eyes. "Detective Coursey was in here last night. He said he needed to see my bruises, and I let him touch me. Just so he wouldn't become suspicious."

"I'm sorry."

"If that man attacked me, I need to know. And I need for him to pay. Whoever did this needs to pay in a court of law. Can you understand that?"

"I think so."

"Good." The anger softened and Sarah Gold was suddenly, inexpressibly old. She spread her fingers and held her palm flat against mine. "There's no going back, Ian. Not for me. Not for any of us." She paused, giving me room to speak, but I didn't. There was another small knock on the door. "You better get going."

I leaned in and kissed her cheek. It was as cool as clay. I lingered another minute, then shoved the manila envelope under my s.h.i.+rt and headed for the door. On the way out, I took a look at the card on the flowers. They were from Jake.

I told Rodriguez I needed a minute, went into the bathroom, and pulled out Sarah's envelope. Clipped inside were old lab reports on blood typing from the Wingate and Allen murders and hair and fiber a.n.a.lyses from the Scranton case. A different expert had testified in each trial, but the actual work had been done by one forensic scientist. Sarah had highlighted the a.n.a.lyst's name on each of the old reports. SALLY FINN. Sarah had also included a few newspaper clippings. They traced the rise of Finn from lab tech to chief of the Cook County lab in 1994 and then head of the Illinois State Police lab until her retirement in 2005. Sarah had highlighted Finn's name again in one of the articles and written beside it in capital letters: THIRD CORE MEMBER-NEEDLE SQUAD??

I slid Sarah's doc.u.ments into the envelope and stuffed it back under my s.h.i.+rt. Rodriguez was waiting in the hallway. He took me down in the elevator and out a side entrance. Kelly sat behind the wheel of a car idling in the alley. Rodriguez shoved me into the front seat without a word, and Kelly pulled away. Two unmarked cars, flashers rolling, pulled up in front of the hospital. I ducked down in the front seat as Coursey climbed out of one and disappeared through the revolving doors. Then we were gone.

40.

Kelly cruised north on Lake Sh.o.r.e Drive.

"Where are we headed?" I said.

"The Willows Hotel. Used to be called the Surf. You know it?"

"No."

"It's where they kept Richard Speck during his trial. Killed eight nurses back in the day."

"Is that supposed to be funny?"

"You'll have to ask Rodriguez, but I don't think he has much of a sense of humor these days."

Kelly got off at Fullerton and headed up Cannon Drive.

"Can I ask how this is going to work?" I said.

"How what's gonna work?"

I flapped my hands at nothing. "This. Whatever it is Rodriguez wants you to do."

Kelly glanced over. "f.u.c.k Rodriguez. What is it you want to do?"

"Seriously?"

"Uh-huh."

"I want to go after the p.r.i.c.ks who attacked Sarah. Framed three innocent men. And then had them killed in prison."

"The Needle Squad? Or what's left of it?"

"You know them?" I said.

"I used to be a cop. They were the big guns. Never let anyone work on their cases, except for their people."

"Now we know why," I said.

"You think so?"

"Don't you?"

"Who is it you want to go after?"

"Who do you think? Coursey."

Kelly shook his head. "I know Marty Coursey. Dumb as a f.u.c.king doork.n.o.b. Kind of looks like one, too."

"You're saying he's not involved?"

"I'd say he's behind the attack on your friend, if that's what you're after." A pause. "But he's not the one behind it all."

We'd barely driven two miles and already Kelly had me thinking, reconsidering. I'd have to keep an eye on him.

"Who then?" I said.

He shrugged. "Most of 'em are dead. Lead prosecutor. Chief of detectives. But someone's out there. And they got something cooking. Something worth protecting."

I thought about dropping the name of Sally Finn but decided I'd keep it to myself for now. We clipped past Diversey, swung a left onto Oakdale, and came around the block to Surf Street. Kelly found a spot in front of a hydrant.

"Your buddy's in room 302. I put you next door." He tossed over a key card.

"What about you?" I said.

"Don't worry. I'll be around."

"So you're all right with us going after these guys?"

"First, you need to figure out exactly who 'these guys' are. But why not? I mean, who else will?"

"What about Rodriguez?"

"Let me worry about him."