by Laura Snider
“It’s the more likely story,” Ashley said. “Drug deals that go wrong are a dime a dozen.”
“And there’s Officer Jackie,” Tom added.
Katie looked up. A twinge of surprise twisted in her gut. Tom didn’t know anything about Officer Jackie and his blackmailing scheme. Katie and George had been tight-lipped about it. They had finally told the chief, but that was it. All three agreed that they had to keep silent about it until they had more witnesses that were willing to go on the record.
“What about Officer Jackie?”
“If Erica is telling the truth, then Officer Jackie lied in his complaints,” Tom said.
Katie reached into her pocket and produced a disk. It was a copy of the recording that George had found. She had already listened to it with Chief Carmichael and George, but Tom and Ashley hadn’t heard it yet.
“That reminds me. I have something I want you two to hear.” She handed the disk to Ashley, and Ashley popped it into her computer. “Then we can discuss Officer Jackie.”
33
Katie
December 15th – 1:00 p.m.
Katie stood in the hallway of the police department, studying Officer Jackie. Sizing him up. Trying to determine who he was at his core. The young officer sat at his cubicle, sifting through paperwork. On the surface, he seemed so polite, so normal. But then again, that was what people said about Jeffrey Dahmer. Maybe underneath that farm-boy veneer stood a self-centered sociopath.
“Officer Jackie,” Katie said.
He was not on duty, he wouldn’t be until 6:00 p.m., but Chief Carmichael had asked him to come in early. John Jackie looked up. His eyes widened when he realized it was Katie. While she was not his direct supervisor, she was a superior officer, and she had been avoiding him lately. It was her only option since she lacked any semblance of a poker face. She would not be able to hide her disgust, and she didn’t want to tip him off about the blackmail investigation.
“Umm, yes?” Officer Jackie said. He shuffled his documents together and flipped them over so they were facedown on the desk.
Katie nodded to the documents. “What’s that?”
Officer Jackie shook his head. “Nothing.”
Was it just her or had he answered a little too quickly?
“How can I help you?” He looked at her with an oddly intense gaze.
Katie nodded toward Chief Carmichael’s office. “The chief wants to talk to you.”
Officer Jackie’s shoulders slumped forward. There was something resigned about the action. Katie wondered if it had to do with his little side business at The Apartments. But that was not what this meeting was about. They weren’t ready to confront him on that just yet. This was something entirely different.
“Do you know what he wants?”
“Just follow me,” Katie said.
Officer Jackie visibly gulped, nodded, and rose to his feet.
Katie turned and marched toward Chief Carmichael’s office. She didn’t look back to see if Officer Jackie was following. She knew he was.
George was already in the chief’s office. He had brought in an additional chair and set it between the other two. Katie directed Officer Jackie into the center chair and sat beside him so that Officer Jackie was sandwiched between her and George.
“Hey, there, fainting fanny,” George said, clapping Officer Jackie on the back. It was Officer Jackie’s nickname after the mob incident in the courthouse square. It was playful razzing, but this time there was a bit of an edge to the words.
“Hey,” Officer Jackie said. His hands fidgeted in his lap. This was not Officer Jackie’s typical response. Usually he would nod and say something like, “I blocked it for you. You’re welcome.”
Katie studied the rookie officer. His tone and mannerisms were that of someone who had been caught and was resigned to his fate. But what did he think they knew?
Chief Carmichael cleared his throat. “Do you know why I have asked to speak with you?”
There was a barely perceptible shake of Officer Jackie’s head.
A lie, Katie thought.
“No clue?” Chief Carmichael asked.
Again, Officer Jackie shook his head.
“Let me enlighten you, then.” Chief Carmichael pressed a few buttons on his computer, then turned the screen to face his three subordinates.
Katie immediately recognized the image on the monitor. It was the beginning of her body camera video from her initial interview with Erica Elsberry. It was recorded right after Erica discovered Von Reich’s body.
Officer Jackie froze. He studied the screen, then his shoulders relaxed ever so slightly. “What’s that?”
“This is called a ‘body camera video,’” Chief Carmichael said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “You learned about them at the Law Enforcement Academy. Apparently, you weren’t paying attention.”
A laugh bubbled its way up Katie’s throat. She bit her lip to keep it contained.
“I, umm.” Officer Jackie’s shoulders tensed and his back straightened. “I know what a body camera is.”
“Oh, good.” Chief Carmichael swiped at his forehead in an exaggerated expression of relief. “I was worried I would have to go over all the basics with you.”
“No, sir,” Officer Jackie said.
“Let’s do a little exercise,” Chief Carmichael said. “I’m going to start the video. When we are done, we are going to talk about the things we learned. Okay?”
Officer Jackie’s frown deepened. “Okay.”
Chief Carmichael played the video. Erica’s face filled the screen, and Katie began asking questions. It was a short interview. Erica was hostile. It had been the morning before Petrovsky’s sentencing, and Erica blamed Katie for the outcome at trial.
The video ended. Chief Carmichael gave Officer Jackie an expectant look. “So, what did we learn?”
Officer Jackie snickered. “That Erica Elsberry hates Katie.” During the video, his demeanor had slowly changed. His head rose and his back straightened. His arrogance was back.
Katie winced. Partially because of his familiarity with her name. He had called her Katie. He would have called her Officer Mickey if she were a male officer. The other part was the critical edge to his words. He clearly thought the interview was a failure. And he wasn’t completely wrong.
“No,” Chief Carmichael snapped. “We already knew that.” His gaze flicked to George. “Since Officer Jackie is so ignorant, why don’t you explain it to him.”
George nodded and cleared his throat. “First of all, it was recorded.”
“Yes!” Chief Carmichael said, snapping his fingers. “The recording exists. And Officer Mickey here saved it herself. She didn’t wait for it to automatically delete.” He narrowed his eyes and turned back to Officer Jackie. “We record everything, and we save everything. Do you know why?”
Officer Jackie shrugged. He was once again resigned.
“We do that because we don’t always know what will become significant later in a case. And this recording is noteworthy. Do you know why?”
Officer Jackie shook his head.
“It’s important because the picture shows us what Erica Elsberry looks like. We can compare this image to her driver’s license and social media accounts. We know the person talking here is Erica.”
“Okay,” Officer Jackie said, his tone growing defensive.
“It’s also important because we can hear Erica’s voice. We now know what she sounds like.”
Officer Jackie’s lip curled. He was growing irritated. “Okay.”
“Now let me play you a second recording.” Chief Carmichael removed the first disk and inserted another. Then he pressed play.
Katie recognized this recording as well. It was the phone call Officer Jackie had received from Erica Elsberry alleging Ashley Montgomery was a murderer. They all listened with rapt attention. Katie had heard the recording at least fifteen times. But its contents never grew old.
When the recording ended, Chief
Carmichael leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head. “Now, Officer Jackie, what is significant about this recording?”
Officer Jackie answered immediately. “We learn that Ashley killed both Von Reich and Petrovsky.”
“Wrong!” Chief Carmichael shouted. He leaned forward and slammed his palms against his desk. Everyone flinched, even Katie. She almost felt bad for the rookie. Almost.
“We learn that you failed to save the recording. Luckily, Officer Thomanson here found it. Otherwise, this would be completely gone. And then we’d have to go off your word alone. Which, quite honestly, is the word of an idiot.”
“What?” Officer Jackie said, shaking his head.
“Yes. I called you an idiot. And after you hear my reasoning, I’m sure that you’ll agree. The voice in this recording is not Erica Elsberry.”
“It’s not?”
Katie could not tell if Officer Jackie was playing dumb or if he truly didn’t notice. Both wouldn’t bode well for him as a police officer.
“No. You fucking moron. It isn’t. And now you have arrested someone based on a report of an unknown person. We have no way of knowing if the caller’s information is truthful. And since the person lied about her identity, I think it is fair to say that it is very likely faulty information.”
Officer Jackie looked like he was about to burst into tears.
“And then there is the issue of your actions afterward. You didn’t come to a superior officer to provide the information. You unilaterally drafted and filed two complaints for murder in the first degree.”
Officer Jackie hung his head.
“Now,” Chief Carmichael continued. “I want to know why the hell you did that? Why would you completely ignore protocol?”
Officer Jackie covered his face and leaned his elbows on his knees. A stance of complete defeat. “Because Elizabeth Clement told me to,” he said through his hands.
Katie gasped. Elizabeth. She should have known the prosecutor had something to do with it.
“She came into the police department looking for you, Chief Carmichael. The call had ended no more than five minutes earlier. She came up to my desk to say hello. I was the only officer there at the time. I told her about the caller. She told me what to do.”
Katie wondered why Elizabeth was at the police department in the middle of the night.
“I thought her direction was as good as yours, Chief?” Officer Jackie looked up with hopeful eyes.
Chief Carmichael grunted and met Katie’s gaze. “Apparently not.”
34
Katie
December 15th – 2:00 p.m.
Where is it? Where is it? Katie wondered as she dug through police reports.
She had promised Ashley that she would check on Brooke. She knew she had Brooke’s number somewhere. She had responded to more domestic violence calls at the Mason residence than all other Brine families combined. She looked through a few more files, then, aha. She had found it.
She dialed the number, using her cell phone. She avoided the police line because she didn’t want a record of the conversation. Elizabeth, for whatever reason, was siding with Christopher. Katie was already in a bit of hot water with the lead law enforcement officer in Brine County. She did not want to make things worse if it could be avoided.
“Hello?” Brooke answered on the first ring. Her voice was frantic, nearly breathless.
“Brooke?”
“Yes. Officer Mickey, right?”
“Umm, yeah. How did you know it was me?”
“You gave me your number a while back. I saved it in my phone.”
“Oh.” Katie should not have been surprised.
It meant that Brooke had debated leaving Christopher and was creating an exit plan for the future. Katie must have done something in their many interactions to earn Brooke’s trust.
“Listen,” Brooke said in a whisper, “I’ve got to get out of here. I’m trying to get packed and…” Her voice trailed off.
“Are you alone?”
Brooke was silent for a long moment. “No. But he’s passed out. I’m afraid he’s going to wake up before I can get my stuff and…” She began to sob, quietly, but the sniffling tears were unmistakable.
“Hold on. I’ll be there in five minutes.”
Katie grabbed her keys and darted out the door, jumping in her cruiser. Brooke lived two blocks from the police station. It was only a block over from Erica Elsberry’s house. She pulled up out front of the Mason residence without activating her vehicle’s emergency lights. She did not want to startle Christopher awake.
The Mason house was similar in structure to Erica Elsberry’s, but that was where the similarities ended. It was rundown to a point that it seemed virtually unlivable. The neighbors’ houses weren’t much better, but they seemed as though their occupants were at least trying. The Masons’ yard was the only one on the block that had an icy drive and indoor furniture—a couch and a mattress—discarded on the front lawn. If the furniture wasn’t ruined before, it was now destroyed by the elements.
Brooke came to the door, ushering Katie inside. The setup inside the home was the same as Erica’s, with the living room right off the entryway. Christopher lay sprawled out on the living room carpet, completely still. Brooke put a finger to her lips and motioned for Katie to follow.
Brooke led Katie back to the bedroom, which was a complete disaster. Clothes were strewn everywhere. The nightstand beside the bed was overturned, and a heavy wooden dresser lay on its side. It looked like a war had been fought there. It probably had.
Katie’s eyes drifted to Brooke, studying her for new injuries. Her eyes were still bruised, but the ligature marks around her neck had healed. New were three lines across Brooke’s cheek—red, raised, and angry. It looked like she had been scratched with human fingernails, her skin gouged out. Katie bet that if she marched into the living room and scraped the undersides of Christopher’s nails, she’d find them full of Brooke’s skin tissue.
“He did that to you, didn’t he,” Katie said, motioning toward Brooke’s face.
“Does it matter?” Brooke said. She was frantically shoving things into a large suitcase.
Katie began looking around the room, selecting clothes off the floor that looked like they belonged to Brooke. “Yes,” she said, handing several items to Brooke.
“Why?” Brooke jammed the items into her bag without bothering to fold them. “Nobody will believe me. I just…I just have to…get out of here.” She started to cry again.
“So you don’t want to fill out a police report?”
“No,” Brooke hissed.
“Okay. That’s fine. I just have to offer you the opportunity.”
Katie grabbed a nearby bag and began shoving stuff inside it. If she could not encourage Brooke to hold Christopher criminally accountable, she could at least help her get out with as many of her things as possible. With Christopher passed out, likely from a mixture of drugs and alcohol, it could be Brooke’s only chance to get her things out safely.
“Where will you go?”
“To my parents’ place in Florida. Christopher came into a bunch of money lately. I took some and bought a plane ticket. I don’t have my own bank account, Christopher won’t let me, but I’ve figured out how to get into his when I need to. That’s how I realized the money was there.”
Katie stopped packing. “What do you mean by ‘Christopher came into money’? Like, how much money are we talking?”
“One hundred thousand dollars,” Brooke said without pausing in her packing.
One hundred thousand. That was big money for anyone, especially Christopher, who had never kept a decent job in all the time that Katie had known him.
“How did he get the money?”
Brooke paused, grabbed her phone, and pressed a few buttons before tossing it to Katie. The screen was broken with spidery cracks, but Katie could still see what was displayed. It was a Wells Fargo account, owned by Christopher Mason. She scro
lled through recent transactions and noticed the account went from $7.00 to $100,007.00 on December 13th. It was a wire transfer, but it did not say from what account.
“Did someone in his family die?” Maybe it was a windfall. An inheritance from a distant wealthy relative.
“No,” Brooke said. “I don’t think so. I mean, it’s possible, but I doubt it.” She shoved a couple more things in her bag. It was already jam-packed. She sat on top of it and started zipping it, shifting her weight as she tried to glide the zipper closed. “You know Christopher is no Boy Scout. He’s done some drug deals, but that was all small-time stuff. This,” she gestured toward the phone, “is different. He’s never had that kind of money. I don’t know where it came from, but I think he did something very bad to get it. And I’m scared.”
A groan came from the living room. Katie and Brooke froze. Was Christopher waking up? Katie listened intently, but Christopher had fallen silent once again. It was time to get out of there. She did not want to be around when Christopher came out of his drug-induced stupor and realized his wife had taken some of his money and skipped the state.
Katie added a few more items to the bag she was packing, then slid the zipper shut. “Do you have everything you need?”
Brooke nodded and led the way back down the hallway and out to the front of the house. They tiptoed past Christopher, who was still sprawled out on the living room floor, but he had flipped from his back to his stomach.
Once outside, Katie threw both suitcases in the trunk of her cruiser. Brooke got into the passenger seat, and they left.
“What time does your flight take off?”
“Five p.m.”
Katie glanced at the clock. It was already 2:30 p.m., and the nearest airport was in Des Moines, an hour away. Brooke did not have a car of her own, but Katie couldn’t drive her all the way to the airport. There were not enough police officers in Brine for her to ditch duty to take Brooke all the way to Des Moines.
