by E. R. FALLON
“You heard about me from all the way out here?”
“Let’s just say you leave quite an impression.”
“You mean the reputation I have, which is that I’m a pain in the ass? What can I say, I like getting things done. Some people don’t like overachievers. Your buddy, what’s their name?”
“Sammy Nunez.”
“Nunez. I know him. I mean, I never worked with him directly, but I saw him around the department.”
“So, why do you think people call you ‘Dirty Harry’ automatically?”
“Just because of the movie, I guess. Like you said yourself, it’s an obvious nickname. I’m not corrupt or anything like that.”
Harry felt a sudden urge to defend herself, as though with this Maple complaint, her reputation was on the line – again.
Nolan looked at her like he wanted to ask her another question.
But Harry didn’t want to talk about her nickname anymore. “Is that all?” she asked. “Can I leave now?”
Nolan nodded.
Harry got up from the chair and exited the captain’s office. Paul Maple was by the coffee machine making a cup with his back facing her. Officer Carlow sat at the desk behind Maple – her desk – with his feet up. Harry shook her head at his brutishness. She wasn’t a delicate flower and considered herself ‘one of the guys’ but she couldn’t believe the constant lack of manners that Carlow seemed to display since they first met.
Harry walked up to Maple. “Thanks for telling the captain I’m not capable of handling this case. What were the words you used to describe me? I might not be ‘emotionally’ capable?”
He turned around and gave her a grin. How does he get his teeth so white? His old-school movie star good looks didn’t impress Harry one bit. They should’ve called him Mr. Movie, Harry thought to herself and laughed on the inside. He offered to make her a cup of coffee but she declined.
“I’m surprised you didn’t ask me to make you coffee,” she quipped. “I am a woman after all.”
Maple sighed. “I’m just trying to do my job here, Detective Cannon.”
Cannon. Harry was also very aware that others at her old job sometimes referred to her as ‘Detective Loose Cannon’ behind her back. That hadn’t happened here so far, as far as she knew. Her father, a retired detective, thought Harry’s nicknames were great, and she was glad they amused someone. Harry’s father was the reason she became a cop, then a detective. He was also why Harry had wanted to work with police dogs, as he’d introduced her to one when she was a child and she became infatuated with them.
Mickey had done the complete opposite of Harry and their father and gone to college and became a math teacher like their mother. Once in a while Harry would feel a bit guilty that she felt their dad preferred her because she’d become a cop.
Poor Mickey. Harry knew how much he loved Maria. She was the reason Mickey had left the city to move to the rural area where Maria had grown up. Mickey and Maria had been college sweethearts.
Harry hadn’t gone to college. She’d become a cop right after high school and then eventually was promoted to detective. She was one of the gritty ‘old school’ types who looked down upon those detectives who attended college and had degrees in fancy subjects like psychology and criminology. Harry believed that everything she needed to know about criminals she’d learned on the streets firsthand. She viewed Maple as someone who probably had joined the FBI right out of college and had no real ‘street’ experience like her.
Harry stepped close to Maple and got in his face, one of the benefits of being quite tall. “So am I.” She jabbed her finger at her chest. “I’m trying to do my job. Don’t get in my way.”
“Glad we agree on something.”
Harry glanced at Carlow watching them from her desk with a smile on his face. She didn’t know him well but he seemed to enjoy whatever annoyed Harry.
“She was my sister-in-law, the mother of my beloved niece and nephew,” Harry said to Maple. “Of course I want the case to be solved quickly, but I’m not so hotheaded that I’d ever jeopardize our investigation – ever. Believe me, I want this thing solved more than anyone. You don’t know me but I can promise you that. Stay out of my way, Maple, and I’ll stay out of yours.”
“You have my condolences.”
Harry nodded but she didn’t want them from him.
“I don’t think you’d intentionally jeopardize the investigation, but one of the victims was closely related to you and that’s an emotional thing to experience,” Maple said. “Stay away from you? That’s kind of hard to do when I’m leading the investigation and you’re beneath me on the food chain.”
“An emotional thing? You think since I’m a woman I’m going to get all emotional about it? I can assure you that I’m a shrewd professional. Christ, what an ass you are. Why is it that every man around here except for the captain, I think, is a complete ass?” She glanced at Carlow, who was still watching them.
“I can’t believe you called me an ass when I just said you work under me. And you didn’t even try to hide it by whispering to yourself, you just went ahead and said it to my face.”
Harry stared at him in silence. “I don’t believe we’ve ever been properly introduced, although I know your name well.”
Harry stuck out her hand and Maple took it after a moment.
“Paul Maple. And you’re Dirty Harry.”
Harry frowned a little. “People don’t normally call me that to my face.”
“Just behind your back, from what I gather. What’s better, my saying it to your face or behind your back?”
“I get your point. But I’m not going to answer your question.”
“I can’t believe this, but I actually think I’m going to let you get away with calling me an ass, and I never do that.” Maple blushed.
“I’m not interested, if that what you’re implying.” Harry knew she wasn’t blushing and that she would never blush for any man, let alone a man like Paul Maple. “We have to work together and I can accept that. But I’m not your friend. We’re not friends. So, now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about how I don’t like that you went behind my back to my captain instead of coming to me with your concern first.”
“He’s your superior. That’s how we do it at the FBI.”
“This isn’t the FBI. This is a small town police force and we have a different standard here.”
“Aren’t you from a big city? I thought you only started working here recently, like a week ago.”
“Who told you that?”
“Your partner, Carlow.”
Harry glanced at the young officer with his feet still on her desk.
“What? I did,” he said.
“So you must know from working in a large city that if I have a concern about you I’ll go to your superior and not you,” Maple said to her. “That’s how the chain of command works.”
“I bet a brown noser like you would go straight to Internal Affairs about me too if you had the choice.”
Maple’s eyes widened in shock.
“Now if you’d excuse me, Agent Maple, I have a case I’d actually like to solve instead of chitchatting with you by the coffee-maker and water cooler.”
He offered her a cup of coffee again.
Harry loved coffee but she held out her hand and declined. “Some of us don’t need caffeine to succeed in our job.”
Maple gave her another wide-eyed look. “You have some balls on you.” He looked away then back at her. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I’m not really a chauvinist, and I didn’t mean to come across as—”
“Not balls, Maple, ovaries.” Back in the city Harry had been one of many female police, but in this small town, she was the only one. But she had been one of a few women in her class at the police academy and knew how to handle the territory well. “I wouldn’t say you’re a chauvinist. A bit of a cocky jerk, maybe.”
Maple chuckled a little.
Captain Nolan stuck
his head out of his office door. “Detective Cannon, can I see you for a moment?”
“Again? She was just in there,” Carlow commented from Harry’s desk.
The captain gave his officer a withering look.
A woman around Harry’s age entered the police station and looked frantic. She was dressed in clothes an office worker might wear.
Harry immediately went up to the woman. “Ma’am, can I help you? Are you okay?”
Officer Carlow remained at Harry’s desk with his feet still up. Lazy kid, Harry thought.
The woman started sobbing and Harry pulled out the chair of the desk Maple used and the woman sat down.
“Is there something you need to tell us?” Harry knelt to the woman’s eye level. “What’s your name, ma’am?”
The woman could barely cease crying for a moment to speak. “Sharon. Sharon McGuire. I work at the auction house.”
Harry’s gaze met Maple’s and she knew that he was thinking the same thing she was. Here was a woman who could potentially provide the break in the case they very much needed.
Captain Nolan came out of his office and stood next to Harry.
Sharon began to speak, softly at first. “I’ve been staying quiet for days because I’m afraid. I didn’t come to you earlier because I was afraid that if I did then they’d come and get me.”
“You witnessed the robbery?” Harry spoke for her.
How come you didn’t tell us straightaway? She was my sister-in-law. She restrained herself and waited for the woman to continue talking.
“I saw everything.” Sharon hung her head down and nodded with her gaze focused on the floor. “There’s more.” Her voice sounded harsh from her crying.
Captain Nolan encouraged her to continue and Agent Maple offered her some tissues and a cup of water from the cooler, which she accepted.
She wiped her eyes. “I recognized the people who did it. They were my neighbors for a while, but I haven’t seen them around lately.” She drained the paper cup and set it down on the desk.
“People who did it.” So, there are more than one of the bastards. Harry shot up on her feet in excitement. This might meant they were close to catching whomever had killed Mickey’s wife.
“What are their names?” she asked.
“I mean, I think it’s them,” Sharon said. “I’m not entirely sure, but they did look a lot like them.” She kept running her fingertips over the rim of the water cup on the desk like it comforted her.
Harry heard a noise and glared at Carlow rocking her desk chair back and forth on its feet. He stopped immediately.
“Miss? Mrs?” Nolan said.
“It’s Miss McGuire.”
“Miss McGuire, can you give us the names of who you think they might be so we can look into it?” His voice was heavy with urgency.
“The Fishers, that’s their last name. The woman’s name is Joyce. I think the guy’s name is Alan or Albert or something like that. They’re a brother and sister. They look a little older than me but they still live together. Kind of weird if you ask me. It was them, I’m sure now. They shot Dan and Maria.”
Sharon gave Harry her address and Harry wrote it down.
“Did you actually see them shoot your co-workers or did you hear them, hear their voices?” Harry asked.
“I saw them. I hid behind a set of filing cabinets at the other side of the room. They didn’t see me.”
“Do you were eyeglasses?” Maple asked.
Sharon gave him a confused look. “No. My sight is fine. Why?”
“It’s just something we have to ask.”
“It was them, definitely. I know I said I wasn’t sure before but I’m sure of it now. My sight is fine.”
Harry glanced at Maple and then spoke to Sharon. “It’s all right, Miss McGuire, we believe you.”
“Why didn’t you come in to speak with us before?” Maple asked her. “We spoke to the media days ago urging any witnesses to come forward.”
“Like I said, I was frightened. I thought that if they found out who I was, they might try to shoot me too.”
“You’re safe here,” Harry assured her. “They won’t know you were here.”
“At the trial they’ll know who I am. I’ve seen it on TV. I’ll need protection.”
“When they are apprehended, and if they are charged, then, yes, the DA’s office can provide you with protection,” Nolan said.
“What if they’re not charged or they’re not convicted? What happens then, do I still get protection?”
Harry knew the answer was no, but Sharon already seemed so frightened that Harry wondered if it would be best to lie to her for the time being and then break the news over time if it came to that.
Then Carlow butted in. “You don’t get protection if they’re not charged.”
Harry gave him a look that could have knocked the wind out of him. Carlow shrugged sheepishly.
“That’s not true,” Harry said.
Sharon looked at everyone around her. “Who’s right? Her or him?”
Agent Maple took Harry aside.
“Why are you lying to her?” he asked.
Harry shrugged. “She’s talking to us, isn’t she?”
“You really will stop at nothing to solve this case.”
Harry and Maple went back to questioning Sharon. Captain Nolan had already asked Sharon if they could take a statement from her and she had agreed. She seemed to have accepted Harry’s answer.
“Is there someone you’d like us to call for you, to wait for you?” Harry asked her.
Sharon shook her head. “I live alone and I don’t have any family nearby. Dan and Maria and everyone at the auction house, they were like a family to me. I haven’t been back to work since it happened. None of us have. The place has been closed ever since – because you guys are still combing the place over for evidence or whatnot – and we can’t return to work until you’re finished, that’s what my boss told everyone. I wasn’t even supposed to be there when the robbery happened. It was after hours. I forgot something so I went back in to get it.”
“What did you forget?” Harry asked.
She was careful not to push Sharon too hard, but the woman’s admission piqued her interest. She got the feeling Sharon was on the level and was telling the truth but she had to be sure.
Sharon’s face flushed red. “Excuse me?”
“You said you went back for something. What did you go back for?”
“Oh, I’d forgotten my cell phone.”
“Right. Did you make the 911 call in the payphone outside the auction house?” They had been unable to identify the caller.
Sharon nodded.
“We would have appreciated it if you had come forward earlier,” Harry said. “The Fishers have had plenty of lead time on us between then and now.”
“What’s that mean?”
Maple gave Harry a look that told her she should stop reprimanding the witness, but she couldn’t help herself: one of the victims was her little brother’s wife.
“It means it decreases our chances of catching them,” she said.
Harry knew there was a bite in her voice and she couldn’t help that. She had been thinking of Maria and her children. The woman’s reluctance to speak to the police until then irked her.
Sharon hung her head low. “I’m sorry. I was afraid, that’s why I didn’t come forward.”
“If you went back for your cell phone, then why didn’t you use that to make the call? Why did you use the payphone outdoors?”
Maple gave Harry another look but she ignored it.
“My battery was dead,” Sharon said.
Harry found Sharon’s answer a little convenient but she didn’t get a criminal vibe from Sharon and doubted the woman was involved in the monstrous, hardcore crimes.
“They weren’t wearing masks or another kind of disguise?” Harry asked.
“No,” Sharon said. “Well, they had bandanas or something across their mouths but I could see s
till see their features, their eyes. The woman, she’s got red hair, like really red. If I hadn’t known them from when they lived next door to me then I probably wouldn’t have recognized them but I did know them.”
Harry made a note of the hair color.
“But they, the Fishers, didn’t see you?” she asked. “You’re sure?”
“No, I don’t think they did.”
“How come you’re so afraid, then?”
“I’m worried they’ll somehow find out I talked to you. Like someone will sell the story to the newspaper or something. It happens on TV shows all the time.”
Maple smiled patiently at Sharon. “I can assure you, ma’am, anything like that isn’t going to happen.”
Captain Nolan nodded in agreement.
Sharon looked at Harry, as though seeking her reassurance as well. Harry didn’t like making promises to witnesses or victims because even if it was unlikely something bad could happen, there was always the chance that something bad could happen. But she felt pressured surrounded by her boss and the hotshot FBI jerk who could get her ripped from the case at the drop of a hat. So she said, “Yes, he’s right. You have nothing to worry about.”
Sharon murmured, “Thanks.”
“We will have someone give you a ride home when you’re done making your statement,” Harry said.
Sharon sat up and seemed flustered. “I thought I already told you what happened?”
“You did, but we’re going to have someone sit with you and record in writing what you’re saying so that what you said is formally on record.”
“You have to sign the statement,” Carlow said from Harry’s desk.
Harry stared daggers at him from across the room.
“I’ll have to sign it? Will it be public? They’ll know it was me.”
Sharon looked like she might bolt out of the room. Whoever Joyce and Albert Fisher were, they had left one frightening impression on their neighbor.
“The man, he’s a bad guy, but the woman, she’s the worst of the pair,” Sharon said. “A real wicked woman, and she seemed like the smarter one. Maria and Dan tried to stop them, they fought hard. They didn’t freeze or act scared. They were so brave. The woman shot Maria. The man shot Dan even though Dan had a gun with him.”
