Raveneau left Benhaime in the lobby of the Four Seasons and called Barbara Haney from his cell in his car. He wanted to reach her before Benhaime did.
‘That beep is him trying to get through,’ she said, and paused, possibly debating asking him to hold then deciding against it.
‘You had more communication with him than you told me.’
‘Did he tell you that?’ She didn’t wait for him to answer. ‘Yes, I’ve wanted to end this. He must have told you that I pushed for that. I’ve wanted that for a long time. Didn’t he say that?’
‘He did.’
‘But yes, Inspector, I did lie. I know that’s what you’re driving at. But I’m also the one trying to undo this whole thing. You understand that, right?’
‘Keep going, Barbara.’
‘But I need to know that you believe that.’
‘I do believe it.’
‘That matters. It’s really very, very important.’ He got it. He understood she wanted to undo some of what had already happened. ‘I’ve carried this. I’ve carried this like a weight for more than twenty years.’
Without a pause she said, ‘We were waiting for him along the wharf between the Ferry Building and the pier just northwest of it.’
‘Alan Krueger?’
‘Yes, and he was with another man or he was intercepted by another man, I couldn’t tell. But he seemed to know him. I tried to tell who the other man was but they were far enough away and there was glare. I remember the sun off the glass on the building behind us. We didn’t really know what to do. In my purse was a small set of binoculars but it was awkward and there wasn’t much time to decide what we were going to do. Larry was adamant we meet him alone. We were dealing with Krueger only, so we backed up, we moved away, but it didn’t matter. Alan didn’t give any sign he was meeting with anyone.’
‘Where did you move?’
‘We continued down the waterfront in the direction of the bridge and they were coming toward us and then crossed and went among the cars parked under the freeway. There was a lot there. Well, you know that of course. We assumed the man either arrived unanticipated and Krueger continued with him toward our meeting place so we would see he wasn’t alone. Or he planned all along to introduce us to him. But our instructions were to meet Krueger alone, so for us the meeting ended when this other man showed up.’
She drew a deep breath. Raveneau heard it. What was coming was still emotional for her.
‘So we followed. Larry wanted to know who the other man was but it was more difficult now because their backs were to us as they moved through the cars into more shadowy light. It was a winter afternoon.’
‘But it was sunny.’
‘Yes, yes, there was light reflecting off the windows while we waited for him, but it didn’t last long or there were clouds. I don’t know. It just got darker and they moved past the cars and toward two support pillars for the roadway above. We lost sight of them and we waited for them to come back into view, but they didn’t. You have to understand our view was blocked by a pillar.’
‘The man with him?’
‘I don’t know where he went. He just sort of melted away and yes, I did hear something. I heard a pop, pop, pop, and thought it was a car backfiring, but now I’m sure it was something else. Oh, that’s a lie, that’s a lie, I’m doing it again. Oh, God, why can’t I just do this, what is the matter with me?’
He heard her gasp. He heard something close to a sob.
‘I heard shots. I heard them and when I saw him on the ground I knew that’s what they had been, but I told your inspectors I didn’t hear anything. Our orders were to be truthful to a point but to disengage.’
‘Those were your instructions?’
‘Yes, we called in before reporting the murder. It was presumed your Secret Service would be involved in the investigation.’
‘Where did he go?’
‘The other man?’
‘Yes.’
‘I wondered if he had a car parked in that lot or someone waiting in a van or something and he stayed low and got to his ride. He must have driven off somehow.’
‘How long did you wait?’
‘We were cautious. We proceeded toward the pillars and saw him lying there. When we didn’t see the other man we moved in. You want to know how long, don’t you? It was less than five minutes.’
‘Did you see anyone else watching?’
She hesitated and Raveneau knew he was giving her an opening.
‘Possibly.’
‘Possibly you saw someone else?’
‘Yes, and we were watching everyone of course. We assumed the man meeting with Krueger might have backup or accomplices.’
‘Backup? Did you think he was with the Secret Service?’
‘Until we saw him lying there we thought it possible. There was another man who seemed to be lurking in the car lot. He was taking too long and making too much of a fuss about rearranging things in his car, but he was there before they crossed the street.’
‘You were able to make out his face.’
‘Somewhat. Not well.’
‘You had your binoculars out now.’
Again, she hesitated.
‘Yes, but that man left before we passed through the cars. He backed out and left and we went forward and found Krueger. We checked to see if he was alive. No, Larry checked. I didn’t check. I saw his skull. I saw he was dead. It was obvious he was dead.’
‘Was Larry looking for the counterfeit bills?’
‘Yes.’
‘Let’s talk about the wallet.’
‘Yes, I lied to you last time we met. We left the passports but we wanted the rest of the ID, credit cards, driver’s licenses, and we wanted the counterfeit money. Larry didn’t find the money. It wasn’t in the wallet and we thought the man who shot him took it.’
‘You knew San Francisco police would investigate.’
‘Yes.’
‘So why did you strip his wallet?’
‘We had our own investigation and we turned the effects over. Your Secret Service got them. We didn’t leave the country with any of it, just copies. The actual documents we mailed to your Secret Service office in San Francisco and we confirmed they got them. It was understood they would turn them over to the homicide inspectors.’
‘That’s not the same.’
‘I know it isn’t. I knew what we were doing was wrong. We took evidence from the scene.’
‘Who did you notify at the Secret Service?’
‘Larry made the phone call. I don’t know who he spoke to.’
‘You didn’t ask?’
‘By then I didn’t want to know. I was very shaken by the killing. You have to understand we were pencil pushers. I came from university in accounting and mathematics. Half of what we were always doing was forensics. We tried to figure out where someone had been and where money had traveled. With Alan Krueger we knew something was up. He had acquired a way of disappearing, so we guessed he was operating under other aliases. Hardly unusual, but we were very interested to know where he stayed in Vancouver and under what name, and what kind of offer he would make us.’
‘Who killed Alan Krueger?’
She was quiet a long moment.
‘It’s all you really want, isn’t it? You don’t really care about any of the rest of this.’
‘Who do you think killed him?’
‘Either the criminal elements he was dealing with who didn’t like the exchange rate, or your government took him out because he was playing both sides.’
‘Our government?’
‘Yes.’
‘Barbara, I like you. I like it that you were willing to meet with me and talk and that you want to get this off your chest, but it feels to me as if you’re still holding back. It feels as if you’ve colluded on a new version with Larry that’s missing some details. If I didn’t have the videotape I’d have to look at you as suspects.’
Her voice was much harder as she answered, ‘That’s already been done and I can’t solve the murder for you. I’ve tried to clear this whole godawful thing. I don’t know what else to do. I’m going to say good bye now.’
‘Barbara, wait,’ but she was gone.