Blood Betrayal (John Jordan Mysteries Book 14)

by Michael Lister

  “After you hear what I have to say,” she says, “you’ll be even happier you proposed to me.”

  “Not possible.”

  “So sweet,” she says, leaning over to kiss me. “You make me so happy. I love my ring. I love you. Can’t believe how awful I felt earlier and how wonderful I feel now. I know Chris is going to be a . . . but I feel hopeful again . . . and I’m just so damned happy. Who knew a ring on my finger could make such a difference?”

  “I’m just glad it did.”

  “Thank you for asking,” she says.

  “Thank you for saying yes.”

  “Anytime. Every time.”

  She looks back down at the papers in front of her, moves a few around finds what she’s looking for, then puts the rest back in the folder. “Okay, you ready for this?”

  “I am.”

  “Two things and two things only give Justice Witney’s testimony any credibility at all,” she says. “That he knew where the car was and that the cellphone tower evidence backed up his story.”

  I nod.

  “Without those there’s nothing,” she says, “only his word against Qwon’s. No actual, tangible evidence.”

  “Exactly.”

  “What if I told you I can explain away both?”

  “Really?”

  “Really,” she says. “Aren’t I a great wife?”

  “The best.”

  “Let’s start with the car,” she says. “Guess whose stepdad worked at the airport and who helped him part time?”

  “Ah . . . let’s see . . . How many guesses do I get?”

  “Justice’s stepdad did some general caretaking and light maintenance,” she says. “Name is Carrie Gardner, Jr. Young Witney worked with him on the weekends. One of their jobs was to blow off the parking lot, keep an eye on the cars, and report any that appeared abandoned.”

  “Wow.”

  “Because the stepdad had a different name . . . defense investigator just missed this. Cops may have too, but even if they didn’t, it was in their best interest that it not come out—just like the identity of the Crime Stoppers tipster. I think Witney just happened to see Angel’s car out there. Knew the cops were looking for it. Sat on it until he needed it. Used it when it suited him.”

  “Brilliant work,” I say. “Really fantastic. Thank you for—”

  “You’re bragging on me extra because you’re about to say the prosecution would argue that the fact that he worked there part-time just means he was familiar with it and would have suggested it to Qwon as a place to dump the car. You were, weren’t you?”

  I smile. “It is brilliant work. I mean it. It’s incredible. And of course the prosecution is going to argue that. Doesn’t change how valuable what you’ve uncovered is or that it could have happened just like you say. Probably did.”

  “No probably to it. It did. And what I’m about to tell you next proves it.”

  “Well, let’s hear it.”

  “You know how everyone keeps saying that the cellphone tower evidence fits Justice’s story?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Well, it’s just the opposite,” she says. Justice kept changing his story to fit the cellphone evidence. Look at this.”

  She hands me a transcript of Justice’s first interview. Several passages are highlighted.

  I glance over them.

  “In his first interview he knows very little,” she says. “And that’s after they’ve met with him for several hours before they started recording. No telling what all the told him during that time. But notice how many things he doesn’t mention. He doesn’t say anything about going to St. Andrews or back downtown to get Qwon’s jacket and phone or to Coram’s later when they finish.”

  I look over his statement. She’s right.

  “Why did he say more later?” she says. “Because the investigators got the cellphone records. And they needed to explain why Justice was where he was and Qwon was where he was. They have to have a statement that matches the records so it has credibility, so they say ‘Your phone says you were here during this time and Qwon’s says he was there. How can you explain that? What were you doing here at this time?’ Et cetera.”

  “You’re saying the Bay County Sheriff’s Investigators . . .”

  “Believed the black boyfriend was guilty,” she says, “and worked with the only witness they had to prove it. You can even see in the second interview where they had wrong information about where a certain cell tower was, so Justice says he and Qwon went to McDonald’s on 15th Street, but by the third interview when they realized the tower was in a different location, he changed his story to say they went to St. Andrews to get weed. Look at what he says.”

  I do, reading the passages she’s highlighted in the second and third interviews. She’s right about what Justice says, how he changes his story, and she may just be right about what it means.

  “Why would they go to McDonald’s before they burn the body and then Coram’s right after?” she says. “And notice he doesn’t even mention going to Coram’s until the final interview. Also, Justice is a drug dealer. He was downtown supplying all the kids all night. He had weed. He certainly didn’t have to go buy some from another dealer. But they had to explain why there was a ping to his phone from that tower and that’s what he came up with. He also had to explain why Qwon’s phone showed he was downtown and not with Justice, so he had to make up the story about Qwon leaving his jacket and phone and them having to go back for it. Qwon wasn’t with him. He was downtown like Kathryn and all the others said. So Justice makes up this bullshit story about Qwon leaving his jacket and phone where he killed Angel and them having to go back down and get it.”

  I read some more of Justice’s statements.

  “It’s not just that his story changes,” she says. “It’s the way it changes. It’s how it evolves—but only evolves based on info the investigators have. They realize that Qwon’s phone pinged off the Bayou George tower later that night and they had to account for it. Do you know why it did? Because he spent the night with Darius. That’s where Darius lived. But since they’ve got to account for it, they have Justice say that he and Qwon went for pancakes in the middle of the night after having cremated Angel’s remains. But look at this.”

  She hands me the cell tower records and points to places where she’s highlighted.

  “Isn’t it interesting the places where Qwon’s phone pings off a tower versus Justice’s? Except for when they’re downtown, they’re never together. That’s how you know it’s bullshit. Completely fabricated. The Coram’s Bayou George tower ping is just Qwon’s phone. Justice wasn’t there. St. Andrews was just Justice’s. Qwon wasn’t there. Now listen to his final statement. See how much it has evolved and how much they’re leading him. Hell, he even apologizes to them when he leaves something out they wanted him to say.”

  She opens her laptop and plays the file of the audio recording of Justice’s final interview.

  “Yes, sir, I did. I’s like nigga did you find her? He said ‘Wait ’til you see this shit.’ He drove out of downtown, down Beach . . . toward like St. Andrews, but stops at one of those little pullover places where white people park to look at the bay. We get out, go around to the back of the car and he’s like ‘Wait for it . . . wait for it . . . look at this shit.’ Then he pops the trunk and . . . and . . . Angel’s dead body is laying there all folded up unnaturally and shit. Motherfucker was all like, ‘No bitch gonna breakup with or blackmail me. Look at that. All these little niggas runnin’ around hard with their nines and their Tupac bandanas thinkin’ they street and shit. Not a one of ’em ever put a bitch down.’ I was like why you showin’ me this shit? ’Cause nigga, you gonna help me deal with this bitch’s body.’ I’s like hell no I ain’t. ‘Hells yes you are. I know shit on you, Just. Plus your prints and hair and fibers and shit are in her car now.’ Then the nigga pulls out a camera and snaps a picture of me standing there beside her dead body. ‘You stirred up in this shit now,’ he says. ‘Q
uestion is, you wants to be stirred up to the top or not?’”

  “So that’s why you agreed to help him get rid of the body?”

  “Yes, sir. Didn’t have a choice. Knew everyone would believe his little goody-goody ass over my drug-dealing one.”

  “Why do you think he came to you?”

  “’Couple a reasons. One, I the most criminal element, street nigga he know. And two, he know my uncle owns Legacy.”

  “And what is Legacy?”

  “Affordable direct cremation for cheap ass niggas don’t want to be buried.”

  “Did he say that?”

  “He said a lot of shit. But yeah. He was like, ‘We can burn her, bro. No one’ll ever know.’”

  “So that’s what y’all did, cremated her?”

  “Eventually. First, I was like if I’m gonna do this shit, I gots to be high. So we drove over to St. Andrews to one of my boys. Got hooked up.”

  “You got high?”

  “We got fucked up. Everything after that’s a little you know fuzzy and shit, but . . .”

  “Then what’d you do?”

  “Ah, let’s see. Then we’s headed over to Legacy and Qwon was like, I left my phone and my jacket where I killed her, we got to go get it. I’s like, nigga we ridin’ around in the bitch’s car with her dead body in the trunk and you want to go back downtown where everybody lookin’ for her?”

  “So you drove back downtown?”

  “Part of the way, then we parked and walked the rest of it.”

  “Did you ask him where and how he killed her?”

  “Yeah. Nigga wasn’t real specific. Said he’d been looking for her and got tired. Sat his ass down on one of those benches on Beach Drive that looks out over the bay. She pull up in her car and said get in. Need to talk to you. He was like, everybody’s looking for you. But he got in. Left his jacket on the bench. The phone was in it. Said he had gotten hot and took it off to take a piss. Said she drove to some dark, secluded spot over behind or beside the civic center and parked. He thought they were about to fuck, but she said she was gettin’ back with her ex.”

  “Eric Pulsifer?”

  “Yeah. Said he was like, ‘What the fuck?’ They started arguing and fighting. She told him he wasn’t gonna make trouble for her or mess with Eric ’cause she knew too much shit on him and could turn him into the cops. Also told him she knew he’d been cheatin’ on her and guess what, two can play at that. Told him she’s already fucked ol’ Pulsifer while he was hangin’ with the fags at the Fiesta. Think she hinted that she thought he might be gay. Said he lost it and started beating her ass. Said some shit like she taunted and mocked him. Said he hit like a girl. She was a tough bitch, promise you that. Said she started calling him names and making fun of the size of his dick. Said she thought black guys were supposed to be big, but she could never even feel his little limp dick, even when he gave her all three inches as hard as he could. He said he snapped and lost it and before he realized what he was doing, he was on top of her, his hands around her throat, chokin’ her, stranglin’ the shit out of her, watching the defiance, then fear, then panic, then realization in her eyes, then seein’ the life go out of them. Kept sayin’ over and over he was glad he did it. He’d do it again. How cool it was to see the life leave her big dark eyes. Then he threw her ass in the trunk and drove around trying to think of what to do next—and thought of my black ass and my uncle’s crematorium.”

  “When y’all went back down to get Qwon’s jacket, did y’all see anybody?”

  “Lots of people. All still lookin’ for Angel. Not knowin’ they’s lookin’ at the fuckin’ angel of death right there in the nigga standin’ beside me. We acted like we’s still lookin’ for her just like they was. I remember someone said ‘aren’t you cold’ to Qwon but can’t remember who it was. We pretended to look. He got his jacket. Checked his phone. Had a lot of missed calls. Think he made a few calls. Pretended to look for Angel some more, then someone notice her car was gone and said ah shit bitch just went home, so they went to the party and we walked back to where we’d hid her car and drove over to Legacy.”

  “And cremated Angel?”

  “Yes, sir. Snuck in there late that night. Did the deed.”

  “What did you do with her ashes?”

  “Gave ’em to him. Cleaned out the crematorium. Made sure there were no teeth or bone fragments or any shit like that, gave him the ashes, and got the hell out of there. Have no idea what he did with her remains after that. Said he was gonna make sure to scatter them where no one would ever find them.”

  “What happened next?”

  “After all this, after all I’d done for this nigga he was like, ‘I’m hungry. Let’s go get some chicken and waffles.’ I was like how the hell can you eat? That’s some cold shit. I was like fuck no, nigga, I ain’t goin’ to eat no goddamn waffles after just burnin’ a bitch. He was like ‘Nigga, I own your ass now. If I say we goin’ to eat, we goin’ to eat. If I say you payin’, you payin’.’ So three o’clock in the morning, we drive up 231 to Coram’s in Bayou George and I sat there and watched while that cold ass nigga ate fuckin’ chicken and waffles.”

  “Were you still on Angel’s car?”

  “Oh, ah, no, sir. Sorry. Forgot that. We’s on his. When we went back downtown to get his jacket, we got his car too. I drove it. I was like I ain’t driving the car with the body in the back.”

  “So you had two cars at Legacy?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And when you left Legacy?”

  “He drove her car and I drove his. He went and hid her car and I followed and picked him up.”

  “So you can take us to Angel’s car?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You know where it is?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And you’re willing to take us there?”

  “Yes, sir. I am.”

  31

  I fall asleep—or fail to—reading the transcripts of the polygraphs from the case and wondering how to best deal with Chris.

  He’s going to be a problem, an open sore of irritation and aggravation, of harassment and provocation, for the rest of our lives—or at least the rest of his, and I’m not exactly sure what to do about him. I do know he represents a real threat to the peace, happiness, and tranquility of our lives.

  The polygraphs are a nice distraction.

  After a few control questions, each witness was asked the same questions.

  Examiner: Were you with Acqwon Lewis on the night of January 16, 1999 between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.?

  Darius: Yes.

  Examiner: Did he ever leave your sight for more than a few minutes?

  Darius: No.

  Examiner: Did Acqwon Lewis kill Angel Diaz?

  Darius: No. There’s no way he could have. He was with me all night.

  Examiner: Please just answer yes or no. Did Acqwon Lewis kill Angel Diaz?

  Darius: No.

  Examiner: Were you with Acqwon Lewis on the night of January 16, 1999 between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.?

  Billy: Yes.

  Examiner: Did he ever leave your sight for more than a few minutes?

  Billy: No.

  Examiner: Did Acqwon Lewis kill Angel Diaz?

  Billy: No.

  Examiner: Were you with Acqwon Lewis on the night of January 16, 1999 between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.?

  McKenna: Yes.

  Examiner: Did he ever leave your sight for more than a few minutes?

  McKenna: No.

  Examiner: Did Acqwon Lewis kill Angel Diaz?

  McKenna: No.

  Examiner: Were you with Acqwon Lewis on the night of January 16, 1999 between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.?

  Kathryn: Yes.

  Examiner: Did he ever leave your sight for more than a few minutes?

  Kathryn: No.

  Examiner: Did Acqwon Lewis kill Angel Diaz?

  Kathryn: No.

  Examiner: Were you with A
cqwon Lewis on the night of January 16, 1999 between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.?

  Amber: Yes.

  Examiner: Did he ever leave your sight for more than a few minutes?

  Amber: No.

  Examiner: Did Acqwon Lewis kill Angel Diaz?

  Amber: No.

  There are pages and pages of these. All the same. All about useless for my purposes. The defense team was responsible for these and had a very narrow focus—with one goal in mind, bolstering Aqwon’s defense. Since the tests weren’t admissible in court, the strategy seems to be to either use them to get the investigators to look at other suspects besides Qwon or, failing that, use them in the media to sway public opinion.

  Perhaps the most notable aspect of the exercise besides the limited scope of the questions is who’s not tested—Eric, Justice, Zelda, Paige, Derrick, and others.

  Qwon’s tests take up many more pages—and not only because there are three tests but because there are so many questions.

  Unlike the witnesses, only one of Qwon’s was initiated by the defense team. The other two were conducted by the police and sheriff’s departments.

  Examiner: Is your name Acqwon Jefferson Lewis?

  Acqwon: Yes.

  Examiner: Are you a senior at Bay High School?

  Acqwon: Yes.

  Examiner: Are you a drug dealer?

  Acqwon: No.

  Examiner: Do you live in Panama City, Florida?

  Acqwon: Yes.

  Examiner: Do you like ice cream?

  Acqwon: Yes.

  Examiner: Do you have your own cellphone?

  Acqwon: Yes.

  Examiner: Is Ronald Regan the current president of the United States?

  Acqwon: No.

  Examiner: Have you ever lied?

  Acqwon: Yes.

  Examiner: Are you lying now?

  Acqwon: No.

  Examiner: Have you ever cheated on a test in school?

  Acqwon: No.

  Examiner: Did you kill Angel Diaz?

  Acqwon: No. Absolutely not.

  Examiner: Answer with either a yes or a no only. Did you kill Angel Diaz?