Schultz had played him again. Hunter needed Schultz to come through with the file, and instead, Cowan had been sent out to deal with his problems. Schultz knew Hunter would come after him for trying to set up Cowan, for using Jasmine, and for feeding him lies. This was his way to sort the problem out.
“Where is she? Is she here? I’ll shoot her.” Cowan waved the gun around.
“Who?”
“The girl. Jasmine. She’s going to testify again, isn’t she? She’s going to testify against me for Lana’s death. That’s what you’re doing here, isn’t it?”
“No. Not even close. The file is in that building, and Schultz told me he would give it to me.”
“No, no, no.” Cowan slurred his words, stumbling as he paced the parking lot. “I asked Schultz whether he did this. I asked him after the raid and he said no, and I asked him after the case, and he said no. He said he had nothing to do with it! It was all Kokkinos. Kokkinos threatened him and forced him to make the testimony. Schultz was scared for his life. That’s why he did it. Schultz is on my side. It was all Kokkinos. He did it all.”
“Of course Schultz would say that. He’s trying to deflect the blame.”
“And Schultz said you would deny everything. He said Detective Holmes is going to be here any minute and you’re going to tell him everything. He said you were sick of me, and you wanted to put me behind bars where I belong. Schultz said you were playing me. He said you’re going to stop me once and for all.”
“And can you see any cops? There’s no one else here. Put the gun away. I didn’t set you up. Schultz lied to you, and he’s lied to me as well. He said he’d meet me here and give me the file, but he’s not coming. He’s played both of us. He’s probably on a plane to the Bahamas by now.”
“That’s not true! Jerry Schultz is my friend! He wouldn’t cross me. It was all you. You wanted to build my trust. You played me from the start!”
“You’re a fool, Cowan. How could that even make sense? You came to me at the start. You wanted my services. And I won the case in court. If I wanted to take you down, if I wanted to see you behind bars, I would’ve thrown the trial. You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.”
Cowan paused and looked down at the weapon in his hand. He swayed side to side, uneasy on his feet. The evening of celebration was showing its effects. He tried to process his feelings, staring at the ground.
A thought tracked through Hunter’s mind. “So Holmes isn’t involved in your corruption racket?”
“That guy? No way. He plays by the book. A straight-laced man. He had nothing to do with it. I paid Schultz to set up the raid, and he was supposed to put 500grams in the room. I asked him to call in the tip-off. I asked him to help me, and he did. When everything went wrong, I knew it was someone else. It was Kokkinos. He did it all.”
“You turned off your own surveillance cameras.”
“I gave them free reign. Schultz set it all up and Kokkinos was going to plant a small amount of drugs, I’d take a year or two in prison, and walk away a few million dollars richer. It was the perfect scam until Kokkinos planted five kilograms of cocaine. He wanted to see me go down. That prick. You’re working with him, aren’t you?”
“Schultz is still playing you. Don’t you see it? He was the one who set this whole thing up. He wanted you to go down. He asked Kokkinos to deliver the larger amount. He testified against you. How don’t you understand? It was Schultz.”
“No, no, no. It was Kokkinos. He took advantage of the situation. Schultz is my old buddy. He wouldn’t do that to me. I trust him. And he said…” Cowan swayed, spat on the ground, and came closer to Hunter. “He said I’d find you here waiting for Holmes. You good guys are all the same. Schultz said you’d found evidence I killed Lana and you were going to turn it over to the police, but I won’t let that happen.”
“You left your exotic dancers behind so you could hang out in a parking lot?”
“I left the dancers so I could stop you from exposing me.”
In his drunken state, Cowan stepped close to Hunter. Hunter moved and pushed him aside.
Cowan fell to the ground, stumbling over his own feet.
“You prick!” Cowan climbed back to his feet, inches away from Hunter. “I won’t let you cross me!”
Cowan raised the gun. Hunter saw the anger in his eyes. Hunter moved his left hand towards Cowan’s outstretched wrist, and moved the gun away. Hunter’s right hand went to Cowan’s collar, and he slammed him against his car door, still holding onto his wrist tightly.
In anger, with the gun held away from him, Cowan fired the first shot.
“I’ll kill you before you speak to the cops!” Cowan yelled. “You’re dead, Hunter.”
Hunter tried to remove the gun from Cowan’s hands, but he wasn’t letting go. Cowan fired again.
Hunter moved Cowan’s wrists. He pointed the gun away from them, trying to shake the gun free. Hunter pushed Cowan’s wrists towards the ground, struggling to free the weapon.
Cowan fired again.
And then he yelled in pain.
The bullet went through his upper thigh. He fell to the ground.
Hunter fell with him, still holding onto Cowan’s wrist.
Blood was gushing out of Cowan’s leg. With his arm pushed away from him, still under the pressure of Hunter’s hand, Cowan fired again.
And again.
But he weakened.
Cowan’s resistance stopped. He let go of the gun.
Hunter slapped the gun away with the back of his hand, and Cowan’s hand went to his thigh. On the ground, he doubled over.
Cowan looked up at Hunter, not saying another word, and then he blacked out.
Chapter 44
The first squad car arrived five minutes after Hunter called them. The EMT vehicle five minutes after that. Twenty-five minutes later, lights were whirling around the parking lot, and it wasn’t long before the area was cordoned off and officially declared a crime scene.
The lot was filled with people taking photos, laying down markers, and scanning the area, looking for clues. Detective Holmes had arrived not long after the paramedics, in enough time to see them declare Rick Cowan dead at the scene.
“It’s a lot of blood. Much more than I’ve seen in a while.” Holmes approached Hunter. “Watching a man bleed out isn’t a pretty sight.”
Hunter didn’t respond. He rested on a step at the edge of the parking lot, leaning forward, elbows on his knees, head down. He did his best to save Rick Cowan, but the bullet hit the femoral artery in his thigh, and there was nothing Hunter could do. While he held pressure on the wound, he watched the life drain from Cowan’s eyes, and his skin turn ghostly pale, before the rush of blood eventually slowed to a trickle. The first paramedics at the scene spent five minutes with Cowan before they accepted the truth. They covered Cowan’s body with a white cloth before they checked on Hunter. They cleaned a lot of the blood of Hunter’s hands and face, before providing a large jacket to replace his blood soaked one. Hunter had seen people die before, but never so close, and never so fast.
“I know this is hard, but I have to ask you questions about the shooting. It’s procedure.” Holmes folded his arms across his chest, and leaned against a pole near Hunter. “What were the both of you doing here, in an empty parking lot, late at night?”
“Am I under arrest?” Hunter lifted his head.
“Not yet.”
“Look at those cameras.” Hunter pointed to the two cameras at both ends of the lot. “They’ll tell you everything you need to know.”
Holmes exhaled, walking forward to sit on the step next to Hunter. “You and I haven’t always seen eye to eye, but we’re on the same team, Tex. We’re fighting the same battle. Everything I’ve ever done in this job, has been to try and take them all down. Sometimes, I have to dance with the devil to get the information I need, and sometimes, I have to cross the border, but I can’t get these guys the traditional way. I have to break the law to bring them do
wn. Trust me, I’m one of the good guys.”
“Trust you?”
“I would’ve done what you did over there.” Holmes nodded towards the body lying under the white cloth. “As retirement comes closer, I’ve been wondering if I did enough. Did I do enough in my career as a cop? Could I have done more? I’ve tried to take down Cowan, Schultz, and Warden for years, and I’ve never gotten close. They’ve always traded out information to stop us touching them. Always wheeling and dealing. Occasionally, I’ve been caught up in it, but I did what I had to do to stop crime. I’ve stopped drug importations, murders, and burglaries, just because these guys have always dealt out when we got close. They’ve been untouchable. If I had the chance, one last chance, to stop them, then I would’ve done what you did.”
Hunter looked at the man sitting next to him. His lawyer instincts told him not to say a word, but he was tired of people like Schultz running their own game. “Jerry Schultz told me to meet him here. He was going to give me a file on my father’s case, a file he buried for thirty years, but Rick Cowan showed up instead. Schultz told Cowan I was going to double-cross him, and he was drunk. Schultz convinced Cowan that he had nothing to do with the set-up. Cowan argued with me, then pulled a gun, we got in a fight, and he started pulling the trigger. I had hold of his wrists, but the fool shot himself in the leg. I tried to stop the blood, but he bled out in minutes.”
“Sounds believable.” Holmes patted Hunter on the shoulder and stood. “I know this isn’t how you planned it, but at least you stopped part of a corruption racket. You finally stopped Rick Cowan.”
“But Schultz and Warden will walk free. Their hands are still clean. And now, they’ll keep doing this to someone else.”
“Guys like Schultz are untouchable. No one can get to them. He never gets his hands dirty. He pays people to do his dirty work. Buys witnesses, buys testimonies, buys people like he buys loaves of bread.” Holmes looked up to the cameras. “I’ll check the cameras, and if they back up your story, then we’ll write it up as self-defense.”
“Schultz will probably get to the cameras before you do.”
“If there’s one thing Schultz doesn’t know, it’s technology. He does all his work the old-fashioned way. He wouldn’t even know to check for cameras. John Warden does all that for him, but usually he just smashes the cameras rather than override the technology.”
A thought crossed Hunter’s mind. He stood. “Holmes, I still have one play left to make, but I need your help.”
Chapter 45
“Such a pity about Rick Cowan, wouldn’t you agree? Such a terrible loss to the community.” Jerry Schultz shuffled into Tex Hunter’s office with a smug arrogant smile. “I read the police report—he hit the artery in his thigh when he shot himself. Bled out within five minutes. There was no way that you or the paramedics could’ve stopped him from dying. Such a terrible loss.”
Hunter didn’t react, sitting behind his desk, staring at the man as he approached. Five days after Rick Cowan shot himself, the police report of the incident was finalized, citing a self-defensive action by Hunter. The only fingerprints on the weapon were Cowan’s, there was no bullet residue on Hunter’s hand, and the surveillance camera in the parking lot confirmed Hunter’s story.
Hunter was open and honest with the police investigation, talking for hours with Detective Holmes, detailing everything he knew about the situation. He’d kept in contact with Holmes over the past week, talking about their options to charge Schultz with a crime.
There weren’t many.
Schultz was clever, always keeping his hands clean, always a step away from the action. He’d played the game of corruption most of his life, and he wasn’t about to let anyone beat him at it.
Hunter spent the previous night barely able to sleep, wondering how many other times Schultz had done this to others. How many other times had he gone above the law to sort out his problems? Hunter was uneasy about letting Schultz into his office, letting him into his inner sanctum, and giving him a voice.
John Warden stepped into the office after Schultz. Hunter liked that even less.
“Not even a handshake for your old boss?” Schultz smiled.
Hunter didn’t. He didn’t flinch, didn’t avert his eyes, staying seated behind his desk, one long leg crossed over the other.
“Ok, ok. I get it. It’s been a rough few months for our relationship.” Schultz moved to the seat opposite Hunter’s desk, awkward as he sat down. “I hope we can forgive each other and come to an understanding. What’s that old saying? All’s fair in love and war. It was a little tiff between us, wasn’t it? Nothing serious, and nothing we can’t come to an agreement on. I’m glad you came to your senses and agreed to our deal. I’ll give you the file, and you give me the girl.”
Hunter leaned forward, reached for his phone, and sent a text message. He placed the phone down, and then turned his attention to Schultz. “Say what you’ve got to say and then get out.”
“Alright, alright, tough guy. Settle down. We don’t want you to shoot us like you shot Rick.” Schultz smiled. He reached forward and unclipped his briefcase. He paused as it opened. “I’m too old to be playing games anymore.”
“You sent me to get shot in that parking lot.”
“Who knows what would’ve happened there?” Schultz shrugged. “We didn’t know what Rick was going to do.”
“You did know.” Hunter was firm. “And that’s why you sent him.”
“Listen, we’ve known each other for a long time, and we’re a lot alike. We’re both willing to do what it takes, we both see the bigger picture, and we’re both hard workers. I hope you can see the similarities between us. We’re the same, you and me. We’re men of action.”
“Get to the point.”
“The point is…” Schultz paused, looked to Warden, and then back to Hunter. “The point is that I don’t want you chasing me. You’re like a hungry lion chasing a zebra, and I’m an old zebra now. I can’t move like I used to. So I’m calling a truce after this deal. When they first asked me to employ you, I was reluctant. I—”
“What?” Hunter interrupted. “Who asked you to employ me?”
“You think I chose to employ you all those years ago? Far from it. People asked me to hire you out of law school. Powerful people. People who had more money and influence than I could dream of. I was reluctant, but they had something on me, and after I hired you, I saw how good it was for business. Having the Hunter name in our criminal law offices was a marketing master stroke. If the client was guilty, of course they would want a criminal’s son on their defense team.”
“Why were you asked to employ me?”
“To keep an eye on you. There were a lot of people who didn’t like that you became a lawyer. They could see what you were doing, they could see how you were going to appeal your father’s convictions.”
“Who were they?” Hunter stood.
“Sit down.” Schultz looked away. “They came after me once. I made the wrong people angry, but I told them I had this file, I told them what was in it, and I’d release it if they came any closer. They backed away after that. That’s why I kept it all these years, I saw the power in it. It was blackmail. Not for you, but for the people who were coming after me.” Schultz took the file from his briefcase, running his finger over the edge. “You’ve got to understand the late eighties were a different time. It’s more than thirty years since your father’s case, and the world has changed a lot since then. There were people who wanted to keep the information quiet and keep the case out of the headlines. There was a lot of anger towards your father, and a lot of the general public needed a conviction. They didn’t want to think there was a serial killer roaming their streets, and your father’s conviction gave them comfort.”
“I was working for you, and you knew I was fighting to free him. You kept that information from me. You kept an innocent man in prison.”
“Life as a lawyer isn’t simple. It isn’t black and white. Our world, ou
r lives, exist in the gray.” Schultz looked down at the file. “I was always taught you should never bite the hand that feeds you. Always respect the power.”
“Who pressured you to keep the information quiet?”
“That doesn’t matter now. It’s too long ago. Decades have passed. I was told to bury the information by people who were looking after our firm. The firm took a chance on you and gave you a job. We gave you a start. And what does it matter now? Your father is almost dead, those eight murdered girls have been dead for decades, and everyone connected to the case has moved on.”
“It matters to me.” Hunter snarled.
Schultz remained seated, tapping his finger on the yellow folder. It was timeworn, and filled with faded pages.
Hunter’s phone pinged with a message. It was Esther. She was ready.
“Who paid you to employ me?”
Schultz smiled. “Follow the trail in the file. You’ll find them. But after I give you this file, I don’t want you chasing me. This is everything Cowan gave me while he was a client of mine. Everything that was passed between us about your father.” Schultz placed the file on the edge of the desk. “Some of it’s useless, trash really. But some of it, well, there was a reason I was told to bury it and there was a reason why people were scared of it coming out.”
Hunter remained standing, holding his gaze on Schultz.
“That’s it, Tex.” Schultz opened his arms wide. “That’s all of it. Everything I have that’s related to your father’s case. I have nothing else to give. So can we now call a truce?”
“You want a truce?”
“I do. I want you to leave me alone.” Schultz looked to Warden. He then closed his briefcase and stood. “I trust we won’t see each other ever again. I’d wish you well, but I couldn’t care less what happens to you. Don’t come chasing me, because I can still make things happen. Now it’s time for you to hold up your end of the deal. Where’s the girl?”
Deadly Justice: A Legal Thriller (Tex Hunter Book 4) Page 21
