Debra Webb - Depraved (Faces of Evil Book 10)

by Unknown

  “During your visit you argued about her accusations against you, is that correct?”

  “Yes.” Dan had recounted the events of that morning numerous times. He was telling the truth. No amount of questioning was going to change his story.

  “You must have realized that the department might have to investigate her claims at some point. Would you agree the visit was most imprudent, Chief?”

  “Yes. I see that now.”

  Frank’s cell vibrated against the table. He snatched it up and made a face at whatever he found on the screen. “I apologize, but I need a moment to take this.”

  Colbert shot him a look over the top of her reading glasses. “Make it quick, Mr. Teller. Our time is as valuable as yours.”

  Frank nodded and stepped into the corridor.

  Dan worked at staying relaxed. “How are you adjusting to the Alabama heat, Lieutenant?”

  Colbert rolled her eyes. “Don’t ask. It’s insufferable.”

  Dan laughed in spite of himself. “It surely can be.” He wanted to ask what brought her south, but opted not to. He rubbed at the tension in his neck. He would be damned glad when this was over.

  “I have an aunt here,” she said as if she’d read his mind. “The last of my mother’s side of the family. She’s not doing so well these days. I didn’t want her to spend her final years without family around her.”

  “I’m certain she appreciates you being here.”

  Colbert smiled for the first time. “Most days.”

  The door opened and Frank walked in, right behind him was Buddy Corlew and Harold Black.

  Before Dan could ask what was going on, Colbert demanded, “What is the meaning of this, Mr. Teller?”

  “Lieutenant Colbert, we have new evidence to present,” Frank announced.

  Dan looked from Frank to the others. Corlew grinned and Harold looked grim.

  “This is highly irregular, Mr. Teller. It had better be good,” Colbert warned, rising to her feet. “Gentlemen, please identify yourselves for the record.”

  “Harold Black, Acting Chief of Police.” Harold glanced at Dan, a sadness in his expression.

  Dan hadn’t found an opportunity to tell him how deeply sorry he was to hear about his wife. The somber news made all this seem damned petty.

  “Buddy Corlew, private detective,” Corlew spoke up next.

  “So, what is this about, Chief Black,” Colbert asked.

  “Lieutenant, Mr. Corlew has found evidence that proves Chief Burnett couldn’t possibly have been involved with the murder of Meredith Dority.”

  “Why don’t we all have a seat and review this evidence?” Colbert suggested.

  The next few minutes were a whirlwind of conversations recorded by Corlew. Dan couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  “I have the witness’s signed statement right here.” Harold passed a copy to Colbert. “I visited him personally just an hour ago.”

  The IA investigator read over the document. “You’re telling me that this witness provided a statement to Lieutenant Roark days ago that cleared Chief Burnett?”

  “That’s correct,” Harold confirmed.

  “You may summarize the statement aloud, Chief Black,” Colbert directed.

  “Mr. Alfred Zacharias lives in the home directly across the street from Meredith Dority’s mother,” Black began. “Due to his physical disabilities he is homebound. He considers himself a sort of neighborhood watchman. From his living room window, Mr. Zacharias watched the exchange between Chief Burnett and Meredith Dority through her open front door. Four or five minutes after Chief Burnett departed, Mr. Zacharias saw another man knock on Dority’s door. This man was tall with dark hair and he wore sunglasses. He drove a black Infiniti with an obscured license plate. Meredith Dority answered the door and the man went inside. The door closed behind him. Five or so minutes later the man left. The man Mr. Zacharias described fits that of the now deceased suspect, Quentin North, who owned a black Infiniti at the time. We’ve also learned that Mr. North took a photo of himself with Dority and sent it to his sister on the same day Dority was murdered. Mr. Zacharias stated that he gave this same statement to Lieutenant Roark that very afternoon.”

  Stunned wasn’t an adequate description of what Dan felt at the moment.

  “Where is Lieutenant Roark?” Colbert demanded.

  “We issued a warrant for his arrest.” Harold stood. “If you have no further questions, I’m planning to make the arrest personally.”

  “You may go, Chief Black,” Colbert said.

  Harold gave a nod and left without looking at Dan. Roark had been Harold’s right hand for more than a decade. This was a devastating blow.

  “Lieutenant,” Frank said, “the IAB should find no misconduct by Chief Burnett and permit him to resume his duties immediately. Clearly, there are persons working to discredit him. Chief Burnett’s outstanding record speaks for itself.”

  Colbert took a moment to consider Frank’s request. “I will need time to review the evidence. There are still a number of outstanding questions. Although, it appears that Chief Burnett’s conduct comports with the department’s protocol with respect to the Dority and Allen cases, which is the only concern of the IAB, I must complete the investigation. I’ll advise you of the IAB’s findings as soon as possible.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant Colbert.”

  When Colbert had left the conference room, Frank shook first Dan’s hand and then Corlew’s. “You’ll be back in office before the week is out, Dan.”

  “I can live with that timeline.”

  Frank grabbed his briefcase. “I have to get back to the office. Thank you again, Mr. Corlew.”

  After Frank was out the door, Dan closed it. “How did you get Roark to come clean?”

  Corlew held up his hands. “That’s a trade secret, Danny boy.” He shrugged. “Besides, I owed you one.”

  Jess had told Dan last week that she’d asked Corlew to look into who in the department was trying to discredit him. Dan hadn’t been too happy about it at the time. It looked as if he’d misjudged Corlew. Maybe the man had changed.

  “Whatever the case, thank you.” Dan thrust out his hand.

  Corlew shook it. “No big deal.”

  “Right.” Dan picked up his briefcase. “What about that other matter I discussed with you.”

  “Are you sure you want to go down that path?”

  “What I don’t want to do is waste any more time. Make the call, Corlew.” Dan wanted this over for Jess and for him.

  “And if you get yourself killed, how am I supposed to explain it to Jess?”

  Dan took a second to get his temper under control. “If you won’t do it for me, do it for her. I’m willing to take the risk if it means a chance at keeping Spears away from her.”

  “You’re just assuming Spears would give me the time of day. I’m pretty sure he knows I’m the one who got his location through Amanda.”

  “Good. Then maybe he’ll respond just to get a shot at both of us.”

  17

  Wellington Drive, Pelham, 1:50 p.m.

  Lieutenant Kelvin Roark lived in a split-level ranch style home in a quiet neighborhood in Pelham that reminded Jess of the Brady Bunch house. The only things missing were the wife and the kids.

  “How much longer before SWAT is in place?” she asked, adjusting her bulletproof vest.

  Roark had been tipped off about his impending arrest and evidently suffered a meltdown. He’d threatened to blow up his house if anyone else dared to enter. Houses within a four-block radius had been evacuated.

  Under the circumstances, Jess understood standing back even if she hated, hated, hated waiting. Especially when the man inside the house was responsible for so much of Dan’s pain. The very idea that he’d known from day one that Dan couldn’t possibly have murdered Meredith Dority made Jess want to barge in there and bust his kneecaps before he was arrested.

  “Five minutes.” Harold Black’s voice was as somber as his ex
pression as he, too, readied to forcibly enter the home of the cop who’d been his friend and right hand for more than a decade.

  “I appreciate your team taking care of this situation,” Black said, as if reading her thoughts. “I didn’t want the men and women he’d worked alongside to be the ones to do this. I’d like to keep what we have to do as respectful as possible. After all, he is one of us.”

  “It might have been nice if he’d showed some of that respect for Dan.” There was a lot more Jess could say, but she left it at that.

  According to the briefing, Roark had been working for weeks, maybe months, to make Dan look bad. He’d held it against Dan for making chief of police instead of Black four years ago. Roark had been waiting for the right opportunity to render a little payback and maybe to see that his friend got the promotion Roark believed he deserved. From what Jess had heard, the man had a history of playing dirty behind the scenes. How had Black managed to ignore his deceit for so long? Giving Black grace, sometimes people saw what they wanted to see. It made life a lot less complicated.

  “If it’s any consolation,” Black offered, “I knew Dan was innocent, and I was doing all within my power to clear up this unholy mess.”

  Jess didn’t doubt Black’s sincerity on the matter. “Let’s just get this done.”

  Harper and Hayes were holding positions in the tree line on the back of the property. Lori would move in from the front along with Jess and Black once SWAT had done its part. Whether Roark actually had a bomb in his possession or not, he was certainly armed. Thankfully, no one else was in the home. Roark’s wife had left him long ago. His two adult children were estranged from him and living out of state. The part that worried Jess the most was the comments he’d made about his health to Corlew. Even a man as seemingly heartless as Roark, had a breaking point.

  Glass shattered, signaling the use of the flashbang grenade to disorient and subdue the suspect.

  “Here we go,” Black said as the battering ram splintered Roark’s front door.

  The adrenaline firing through Jess had her ready to move. A loud pop warned someone had discharged a weapon.

  “Shots fired!” echoed across the communication links.

  “Lord have mercy,” Black murmured.

  “Clear!” seared in Jess’s brain via the earpiece she wore.

  “Move in,” she directed her team.

  The rush across the neatly mown grass and up the steps was quiet. The lack of talk in the house worried Jess. The team commander waited in the living room.

  “Lieutenant Roark is dead,” he said quietly. “He’s in the bedroom. Second door on the left upstairs. He fired one shot into his brain with his service weapon.”

  Black heaved a heavy breath. “Someone call the coroner.”

  Lori was on her cell before Black finished the statement.

  Jess followed Black up the short flight of stairs and down the hall to Roark’s bedroom. Roark sat in a chair next to the bed, his head dropped back, the missing upper portion splattered across the wall behind him. He’d placed photos of his former wife and children on the table next to him.

  Black sighed again, tears dampening his cheeks. “Sweet Jesus.” He shook his head.

  Jess put a hand on his arm. “Chief, maybe you should go on back to the office and let us take care of this.”

  He nodded. “I think that might be wise.”

  When he turned away from his old friend, Jess flinched at the devastation on his face. She was forty-two years old and for most of that time she’d never considered herself a hugger. Public displays of emotion weren’t a part of her way of doing things, particularly with someone she considered more enemy than friend. Since coming back home to Birmingham, she’d found herself hugging more than she had in all the years of her adult life combined.

  Still, she hugged Harold Black. He needed a hug and she was there. Black’s shoulders shook with the pain he felt. When he’d regained his composure, Jess gave him a sad smile. “I’ll keep you posted on things here.”

  Black nodded and went on his way.

  “Crime scene van is en route,” Lori announced as she entered the room.

  “Let’s go through the steps. Make sure he didn’t leave a note or any other evidence we might need.”

  “On it.”

  Jess turned back to the man who had served the Birmingham Police Department for so many years whether always on the straight and narrow or not. Power was a dangerous impetus. His motive for crossing the line between good and evil, no matter how he rationalized it, had cost him everything.

  Today was a bittersweet triumph. Dan had been cleared of any suspicion in Dority’s murder, but a cop had lost his battle with the dark side.

  Jess owed Buddy. He’d really come through for Dan. She hoped the two of them would finally put their past rivalries behind them.

  Her cell clanged and Jess dug it from her bag. Gant calling.

  She hoped they had unearthed a lead to Spears. “You have something new?” Jess asked as she moved around Roark’s bedroom checking for evidence of any other wrongdoing the man had been stirring up.

  “We’re at the Argyle Drive house,” Gant said, sounding as if he were in a hole. “We found Spears’s escape route.”

  Jess was glad to hear it. She still shuddered whenever she thought about the text Spears had sent while they were standing on the back porch at their new house. She wanted that house to be a new beginning with no lingering ghosts related to Spears. She wanted the new life she and Dan had begun free of the SOB.

  “Did you find any evidence that might tell us where he went from there?” He’d escaped, that was clear. What they needed was a trail to follow. Dammit, he couldn’t keep getting away clean.

  “What we found is a message. To you.”

  As much as the news unnerved her, it wasn’t news at all. Spears loved taunting her with his messages.

  “I’m on my way.”

  669 Argyle Drive, Birmingham, 4:30 p.m.

  Lori parked her Mustang in front of the big house. “You okay?”

  Jess nodded. “Sure.” She had Roark’s blood on her new turquoise pencil skirt, and she was damned tired.

  “I know we’re not where we’d like to be on this investigation, but some things took a turn in the right direction today, Jess,” Lori assured her, stepping out of detective mode. She never referred to Jess by her first name on the job.

  Jess wrestled up a smile. “Dan was cleared of Dority’s murder. That’s a tremendous relief.”

  “Spears is getting more and more erratic which means he’s bound to make a mistake that will help us,” Lori went on. “If he’s intent on seeing this through, his options are narrowing. It seems to me there’s a good chance this will be over sooner rather than later.”

  “True,” Jess allowed. “If he was half as smart as he thought he was, he’d have taken off by now.”

  For some reason Jess couldn’t hold back a laugh, and once she started she couldn’t stop. Maybe it was the idea that they were sitting in front of the house Spears had used for months without anyone knowing. Or, perhaps it was the fact that he had murdered so many people right here in Birmingham and they were no closer to catching him today than they had been two months ago. Lori joined her. If anyone was watching or was close enough to hear, they would surely think she and Lori had gone around the bend.

  Jess fell silent. She turned to her friend. “I’m terrified.” She hadn’t said those words out loud to anyone, not even to Dan.

  Lori reached across the console and took her hand. “Me, too.”

  “Eric Spears spent five years—at least—following a specific pattern down to the letter. Even after he deviated from that pattern and started his new game here, every step was precisely calculated and executed.” Jess thought of his most recent crime scenes. “What he did to North and to Campbell was abrupt and frenzied. His kills have always been executed with cold, brutal detachment, never with this hot, uncontrolled emotion.”

  �
��You think he’s really losing it?” Lori asked quietly. “Like over-the-edge, crazy-as-hell losing it?”

  “I think so.” Jess blinked at the burn in her eyes. “I’m scared to death every time I say goodbye to Dan that it’ll be the last time.”

  “I know.” Lori closed her eyes for a moment. “We’ve been worried about Chester. What if Spears figures out where he is? What if he kills Chet? What the hell would I do without him and that little boy?”

  Jess smiled sadly. “Funny thing is, about two months ago we would’ve both sworn we weren’t interested in permanent relationships, much less children.”

  Lori laughed. “Can you believe it? You’re pregnant and I’m biting my nails with worry about Chet’s vasectomy reversal.”

  A frown tugged at Jess’s brow. “Isn’t he scheduled for surgery soon?”

  “He cancelled until this is over. He didn’t want to be out of commission with Spears still out there.”

  “I can understand his reasoning,” Jess squeezed Lori’s hand, “but as soon as Spears is out of the way, he should get the surgery.” She made a face. “This baby isn’t going to have any friends his age if some of my friends don’t start procreating.”

  “Believe me, as soon as things are back in working order, we’re going for it.”

  “Good.”

  “So you think this baby is going to be a boy?” Lori inquired with a look that suggested she thought Jess might be keeping something from her.

  “It’s too early to know. Besides, I don’t care if it’s a boy or a girl. Either one will be great.”

  “I want a girl since Chet already has a son.”

  “Nothing wrong with two sons.”

  “I guess not.”

  Silence settled around them. Jess stared at the official vehicles lining the street in front of the house. Gant was in there waiting for her. Spears was out there somewhere doing the same thing.

  “I believe he’s even more dangerous now.” The words seemed too loud after the moment of quiet. “The very idea that he hasn’t left Birmingham already tells me he’s lost any ability to reason. Otherwise, he wouldn’t continue to place himself at such risk.” In Jess’s opinion, that was the bottom line.