Page 50 of Girl, Accused

'Thanks for telling us the truth, Frank, but we're here to find a killer, not a corrupt politician. Do you think Rebecca's backhanders had anything to do with her death?'

Frank found an ashtray on the table and transposed it to the balcony. The minor act ramped up Ella's anxiety because a strong wind could knock it right into the lake. She figured Frank would be mindful of things of value now his sugar mama was gone.

‘I’m not a betting man, but if I was…’

Ella tucked Frank's implications away, rearranging the puzzle pieces of Rebecca Torres in her mind. A corrupt politician getting rich off her position. Hardly a unique story, but it expanded their list of potential enemies exponentially.

‘Who? Any names come to mind?’

Frank leaned against the railing and flicked ash into the tray. ‘No specific names. Rebecca didn't exactly bring home an enemies list for me to review.’

'But she must have mentioned someone,' Ripley said. 'People who opposed her projects questioned her decisions.'

Frank dragged his free hand through his already disheveled hair.

‘I don't have specific names for you,’ he said after a moment. ‘Rebecca kept me walled off from the details. Plausible deniability or whatever.’

‘But?’ Ella prompted, sensing hesitation.

‘But she did mention upsetting some people recently. Said she'd 'stepped on toes that weren't used to being stepped on.' Her words, not mine.’

Finally. Ella felt like she might have hit something concrete. ‘Whose toes might that be?’

'Don't quote me on it, but she mentioned upsetting a few people recently with her power station idea. I saw some stuff in the news about it, too, but that was as far as I looked. The whole thing was another one of Becca's… illusions.'

‘What power station project?’

‘Granville South Power Station. That big bastard down by the bridge. You can’t miss it.’

Ella remembered passing it on the cab ride from the airport. ‘What was Rebecca doingwith it?’

‘Overhaul. Modernization. Smart grid infrastructure.’ Frank pronounced each word with the careful enunciation of someone reciting a foreign phrase. ‘I don’t know the technical crap. Meant to cost six million dollars. Don’t ask me how much of that actually went into the power station.’

‘How many people knew about Rebecca’s kickbacks?’

‘No one other than the people on the receiving end.’

‘The public didn’t know? There weren’t leaked rumors or anything?’

‘I doubt it. The public just had a problem with the power plant itself.’

‘Like who?’

‘I don’t know. Like I said, Becca didn’t give me names. All she said was that some people were being 'unreasonable.' That was Rebecca-speak for anyone who got in her way. The only altercation I ever saw was when some guy in city hall got in her face. I was a plant in the audience.’

‘What did this guy say, exactly?’

‘Like hell if I remember. Something about this new project giving a middle finger to God. Dumb religious stuff.’

Ella snapped to attention. She exchanged a look with Ripley, who nodded to press further. ‘Do you remember what he looked like?’

Frank flicked his cigarette out into the lake, then hesitated before taking out another. ‘No. Sorry.’

‘When did this city hall meeting take place?’

Torres' face contracted with the effort of memory retrieval. ‘It was a Friday night, back in summer. That’s all I remember.’

What struck Ella wasn't what Frank was saying – it was what he wasn't. The careful way he laid out facts without speculation, the cop's instinct for preserving chain of evidence. Even in grief, he was building a case file, one detail at a time.

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