Charlie-316

by Colin Conway

  Clint stared back at him, expressionless. “So?”

  “So, don’t insult me, Wardell. Do what you have to do and shut up about it but have the respect not to lie to me.”

  Clint didn’t reply, and after a few moments, Detective Hill turned and walked away. Clint watched him go, seeing the slight limp of an athlete with old injuries catching up to him, feeling the aura of disappointment and anger coming off the veteran detective in waves. He realized that Marty Hill was one of the closest things to a friend he had in the department. Hell, in his life. A small knot of emotion rose in his throat, but Clint pushed it down. He didn’t have time for it now. He’d have to find a way patch things up with Marty later.

  He turned and headed toward the house.

  Nona Henry came to the front door in her robe, her hair down around her shoulders. “It’s a little late,” she scolded him.

  “Justice knows no clock,” Clint told her, and that seemed to work. She invited him inside and they sat down at her kitchen table.

  Clint carefully instructed her on what to expect. “I’m going to show you what’s known as a photo montage, Mrs. Henry. There will be six photographs of men, two rows of three across. Now, these men will look somewhat similar, and that’s on purpose. If you recognize the man you saw go into and leave your neighbor’s house earlier today, I want you to point to him. If you don’t see him in any of these pictures, it’s okay for you to say so. You need to be sure, so take your time.”

  “I understand, Officer.”

  Clint didn’t bother correcting her. Instead, he turned over the photo montage. Six black faces stared up from the page. All of them were booking photos, and he’d chosen men who resembled Garrett at least a little. He paid particular attention to keeping the skin shade plus or minus a degree, knowing the statistics that said a white person tended to pick the darker skinned suspects if unsure.

  Nona Henry scanned the page for a long while, taking time at each photograph. Then she looked up at Clint. “Can I choose now?”

  “Absolutely.”

  She pointed a bony, aged finger at the number five position. “I believe it was him.”

  “How sure are you?”

  “I would never accuse anyone if I wasn’t sure, young man.”

  Clint allowed himself a smile. “Fair enough, but percentage-wise, how sure are you?”

  She considered, then said, “Ninety-eight percent.”

  Clint handed her his pen. “Will you circle your selection and initial next to it?”

  “Of course.” Nona took the pen and drew a circle around Tyler Garrett’s face, and scrawled her initials.

  Clint thanked her and left as quickly as he came. Once in his car, he pulled away from the crime scene before he had to face any more of Hollander’s righteous anger or Hill’s disappointment. He dialed his cell phone, and Farrell answered almost immediately.

  “Positive ID, Captain,” he reported.

  Farrell sighed with something that sounded like a mixture of relief and dread. “And she’s a solid witness?”

  “Maybe not all by herself. She’s elderly, and we both know what defense attorneys can do with that. She’ll corroborate Pomeroy’s statement, though. It’ll be enough.”

  “All right get back here and let’s talk strategy.”

  “I thought we already had one. Get the ID, and then I bring in Pomeroy to talk. After that, we call state and turn it all over.”

  “Things have changed. County picked up Garrett for his shooting interview. When that’s over, they’ll have to book him on the warrant we issued. I want you to go at him as soon as they’re finished. We need to lock him into a story before he lawyers up.”

  Clint nodded. It was a good plan, though it felt strange to be exercising it against a cop.

  He isn’t a cop, Clint reminded himself. He’s a criminal with a badge.

  “I’m on my way,” he told Farrell.

  Chapter 46

  The day had been full of cat and mouse intrigue. The tension was excruciating.

  Cody Lofton felt like he was in junior high school again and that truly bothered him. Amanda Donahue had gotten under his skin with the simple act of holding his hand at yesterday’s press conference. It had thrown him off all day.

  Lofton reminded himself that this was one of the many reasons why he preferred women younger than Amanda. Above all else, he was always in control. They held no allure in conversational aspects and he didn’t feel an affinity toward them beyond the physical. Once he’d used them, he was free to move on from them, both in body and in spirit. It was easy to forget them.

  With Amanda, however, Lofton felt suddenly upside down. Initially, she was a nobody, just the attractive new assistant to the mayor. Then she became a threat with her recent behavior and now, out of nowhere, she was…something. Lofton couldn’t put his finger on exactly what she was, but she continued to smile at him and find reasons to be near him.

  Is she playing a game with me, he thought?

  He couldn’t tell and that pissed him off. It also excited him.

  The mayor had been away from city hall most of the morning and all afternoon at a new wing dedication ceremony at Fairchild Air Force Base. It was something Lofton hadn’t needed to attend and so his schedule was open. It should have given him time to focus on the media storm still surrounding Ty Garrett, except Amanda found reasons to continually interrupt.

  She wore a white plunging draped dress with strappy high heels. Her hair was pulled back into a bun and she wore cosmetic glasses. Maybe she wore contacts before and the glasses are real, Lofton wondered. Whatever the reason, the effect was intoxicating and that was before she stood next to him with her perfume.

  He couldn’t focus. He tried watching the news to get a handle on which way the winds were blowing, but he couldn’t stay present. His mind kept wandering back to her.

  Lofton pushed back from his desk and stood. Then he dropped to the floor and did a push-up, slowly down for a five count and back up to the starting position. He continued this process until he was nearing thirty, the pain was now excruciating. He hadn’t thought about her for nearly twenty push-ups.

  “Are you showing off?” a voice asked.

  Lofton turned his head and saw her. His arms suddenly trembled, his concentration waned, and he flopped to the floor.

  “Did I do that?” Amanda asked, playfulness in her voice.

  He rocked back to his knees before standing. “I was at my limit,” Lofton said out of breath.

  Amanda smiled broadly and then said, “Chief Baumgartner is on line two.”

  “Tell him I’ll be with him shortly. Want to catch my breath.”

  He watched her walk away and chided himself for losing control and letting her mess with his head.

  Lofton tucked his shirt back into his pants and straightened his tie. He reached for the desk phone but stopped. He saw a blinking blue light on his cell phone. With a quick swipe of his thumb, the phone lit up. It was a text message from Lieutenant Dan Flowers.

  Unknown DB in LL. Believed to be SPD. Don’t know more. Still developing. Will update as I learn more.

  Lofton knew a DB was short for dead body, but LL? He’d never seen that abbreviation from Flowers before. Believed to be SPD. What did that mean?

  He picked up the telephone and heard Baumgartner’s voice. “Lofton, where’s Sikes?”

  “Out at the base. There was a new wing dedication this afternoon. I’m expecting him anytime.”

  “Son of a bitch.”

  “What’s going on, Chief?”

  “One of my detectives was shot and killed earlier in Liberty Lake.”

  LL. Liberty Lake, thought Lofton.

  “Who was it?”

  “Butch Talbott.”

  Lofton wrote the name down, so he could brief the mayor.

  “What was he doing out there? Was he on a case?”

  “I’m not sure. Information is slow in co
ming. It’s going through State Patrol and Liberty Lake PD before it filters back to me. I’m pretty pissed by the lack of communication. Farrell has been out there on and off through the day, trying to keep tabs on it.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m in Ocean Shores, on the coast,” Baumgartner said. “I drove over this morning for a long weekend with my girlfriend. We’re packing the car back up and heading out in a bit. I’ll be home in the early hours. See if you can get the mayor to meet with me tomorrow and send me a time. I’ll make it work.”

  The line went dead.

  Lofton stared at the phone in his hand. A dead cop. Lofton didn’t know the last time the city had heard those words.

  Amanda showed up and leaned against the doorframe. “How was the chief?”

  Lofton looked up and her smile faded.

  “What happened?” she asked. “Is everything all right?”

  “Cody! Amanda! My office!” Mayor Sikes called out to them, his voice full of excitement.

  Amanda hesitated, waiting for Lofton to nod before heading toward the mayor’s office. Lofton hung up the phone and grabbed the piece of paper with the detective’s name written on it.

  When he walked in, the mayor was eyeing Amanda’s outfit, but her look was non-committal. There were no wide eyes nor parted lips from her. She was all business with Sikes. A part of Lofton noticed, but it wasn’t the part currently in control.

  “God, I love the Air Force,” Sikes said excitedly, taking off his jacket and loosening his tie. “Those guys know how to do a ceremony right. Classy folks all the way around. We can definitely learn a thing or two from them on how to promote an event.” His smile faded when he saw Lofton. “What the hell is your problem?”

  Lofton handed him the piece of paper.

  The mayor glanced at it. “Who is Butch Talbott?”

  “He’s a Spokane Police Detective. He was shot and killed in Liberty Lake earlier today.”

  Amanda reached out for Lofton, but quickly pulled her hand back.

  “What happened?” Sikes asked.

  “They don’t know yet, sir. Baumgartner just called me. He’s on the coast—”

  “What the hell is he doing on the coast?”

  “He went to Ocean Shores for the weekend with his girlfriend, but he cancelled their plans and is on the way back now.”

  “What kind of leadership is that? That’s a selfish move on his part. I’d like to get away from this shit storm for a little bit, too, but you don’t see me doing it.”

  Like spending the day at the air base for a dedication ceremony, Lofton thought.

  “We’ve still got the Ty Garrett situation going on and the chief is playing hooky,” the mayor groused. “I would have expected more dedication from Baumgartner.”

  Lofton shrugged. “His people are handling things, sir. Besides, the county should be finalizing Garrett’s investigation. I don’t think there’s much he can do on Garrett’s behalf right now. He did ask for a meeting tomorrow.”

  “I would never go out of town at a time like this,” Sikes muttered. “What was he thinking?”

  Lofton glanced at Amanda who stared straight ahead. A slight curl of disdain was on her lip.

  “No,” Sikes said, shaking his head. “I won’t meet with him. Tell him I don’t have time.”

  “Sir?”

  “I’m going to teach him a lesson. When we’re in the middle of a clusterfuck, you don’t take a break,” Sikes said, pointing his finger at him.

  “There’s a dead officer. You need to meet with him.”

  “Really?” Sikes face turned red. “People are targeting our cops and he’s on vacation? Maybe he’s the reason everything has gotten this far out of hand.”

  Lofton tilted his head and asked, “What?”

  “Are you so dense you can’t see what’s happening, Cody? Tell me you see it, Amanda.”

  She shrugged and shook her head.

  Sikes smacked his desk. “Look! Less than a week ago one of our best cops is ambushed. The best reason we’ve heard up to now is because he’s wearing the badge.”

  We haven’t heard that, Lofton thought.

  “Then a highly decorated detective like Butch Talbott is gunned down in Liberty Lake.”

  Highly-decorated? We don’t even know who Butch Talbott is.

  Lofton made eye contact with Amanda who shook her head. Worry was in her eyes.

  “Which officer is next? We need to put our officers on alert.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Lofton said, hoping to end the discussion.

  “Then we need to get out in front of it with the media.”

  Sikes was so wound up that he wasn’t thinking things through. Lofton didn’t like what pressure had revealed about his boss. “Nothing has been released about this yet, sir.”

  The mayor studied Lofton. “All right, I see your point, but I don’t want to get caught off guard like we were with the Garrett situation. I want you to work on this tonight. Get some ideas down on paper. Let’s meet in the morning and come up with a plan.”

  Lofton pursed his lips and nodded. There was no sense in arguing. He just wanted to be out of the office.

  “Amanda, can you work late with me tonight? I’ve got several things I want to put into action after my day with the base commander.”

  Amanda shook her head. “I’m sorry, sir. I have plans tonight.”

  Disappointment ran across Sikes’ face, but he shrugged it off before dropping into his seat. He then ignored them both since neither served a further purpose.

  Lofton headed to his office where he gathered his laptop and notepad.

  “Need some help?” Amanda stood in his doorway with her purse over her shoulder.

  “No, I’m fine. I’m going to work on this from home.”

  “That’s where I was offering to help,” she said.

  Chapter 47

  As far as Harris was concerned, the interview with Garrett was going well. Despite all of the distractions, Garrett seemed at ease and focused. He answered each of her questions in a timely, thoughtful, and genuine way. Since most of her experience was interviewing emotional victims and witnesses or reluctant suspects, this was a welcome change.

  “We’ve been going for a long while,” she said, glancing at her phone for the time. “It’s getting close to midnight. Do you want to take a break?”

  Garrett shook his head. “No, I’m fine. Thanks for the water, though.”

  She nodded in acknowledgment, then glanced at Dale Thomas, the Police Union President, with the same question, unspoken this time. From his seat beside Garrett, Thomas gave his head a succinct shake. He’d barely said a word since they started, which added another item to her list of reasons why this was going so well.

  Harris checked for the fifth time to make sure the recorder was working. McNutt was recording on a secondary device just to be certain. Thomas had his own recorder sitting directly in front of Garrett. The four of them were the only ones in the room, which wasn’t how she initially envisioned the interview. Garrett had declined any representation by a criminal attorney, and the late hour made it easier to keep out any spectators. She’d fully intended to order out all non-essential personnel, but wondered how much pull that would have if the sheriff or the chief insisted on sitting in.

  “Well, we’re close to finished anyway,” she said. “I just want to review a few key points for confirmation.”

  Thomas broke his silence. “These will be questions he has already answered?”

  “Yes, mostly.”

  “Then why ask them again?”

  “Like I said,” Harris said. “For confirmation.”

  Thomas leaned back, looked over at Garrett and shook his head.

  “It’s all right,” Garrett said. “Whatever you need.” He swallowed, some emotion playing on his face. “It feels good to finally be able to talk about it.”

  Harris let that senten
ce sit by itself for a moment, then glanced down at her notes. She found her bulleted list for her final recap and started down it.

  “Did you know Todd Trotter?”

  “Only as an occasional name that came up in patrol work. I don’t think I’d ever stopped him or dealt directly with him, though I guess it’s possible he might have been present on a call I took or something.”

  “But no direct contact?”

  “Not that I can think of.”

  “That night, why did you stop him?”

  “Reckless driving. He shot out of a side street through a stop sign and almost caused a collision.”

  “Any idea why he didn’t stop immediately when you activated your emergency lights?”

  Garrett leaned forward, looking her directly in the eye. “At the time, I thought he was trying to decide whether to bolt or not. Now that I’ve had a chance to think about it, I think he was purposefully leading me to that spot.”

  “Why?”

  “So that whoever was in that house could ambush me.”

  “Why would someone ambush you, Officer Garrett?”

  Garrett shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe because I arrested them in the past. Maybe it has nothing to do with me personally, just the badge. Or maybe because of my color. That’s why those other two came after me a couple of days later.”

  “Are you saying that the fight you got into is somehow related?”

  “I’m saying I don’t know. No one knows. That’s the hard part.” Garrett grimaced. “I wish we had the answers to some of these questions. It would show people the truth about me.”

  “Going back to the situation right after the vehicle stop,” Harris said. “You said Trotter got out of the car and confronted you. Did he advance toward you?”

  “Only a couple of steps. Then he stood there and yelled at me. He was very agitated.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I told him to get back into the car. He didn’t listen, though. Then he reached behind him, like he was going for a gun or something.”