“I’m sorry, I thought you wanted to speak to me.” Chris looked a little concerned.
“We do.” The lieutenant was deadpan.
Andy shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked at his brother. “We’re here on official police business.”
“Okay,” he said with some apprehension, and looked suspiciously at the cops. “What’s going on? Do I need a lawyer?”
“That depends on what you can tell us.” The superior officer showed no emotion.
There was a heavy silence in the room. Andy watched as Sinclair slowly moved around the back of his brother and sat in the chair next to him, then looked at Regan, who nodded.
“Okay, this conversation does not leave this office for the time being.” He looked at them to make sure they both understood. They nodded their heads. “Right. Maria’s gun was used in a fatal shooting.”
“What? Fuck me! She killed someone?” Chris shouted, resulting in his brother waving his hands to shush him.
“Well, I can’t say that I’m at all shocked,” Sinclair added in a smug tone. “It was only a matter of time.”
“No, her gun was used; she didn’t fire it.” Andy looked at the head of security that, in his opinion, was looking rather conceited.
“So, what’s that got to do with me?” his brother asked.
“It was the night of the BBQ at your house.” He glared at Sinclair before looking at Chris. “The night we put it in your safe.”
“I’m confused.” He frowned. “How did that happen?”
“That’s why we’re here,” Regan spoke up. He was eyeing up Sinclair, but diverted his gaze towards Chris. “Andy tells me you have a state-of-the-art security system with cameras everywhere at your house.” Chris didn’t speak, he just nodded at the lieutenant. “Can we have a look at the footage, and see if anyone went into the safe?”
“For sure, anything you need.” He looked at his head of security. “John, can you set this up for them?”
“Absolutely.” Sinclair jumped out of his seat and walked over to his employer’s desk. “Can I use your computer, sir?
“Help yourself, John,” he said, as he stood up and signaled to the officers to follow.
“It was definitely in the safe?” the security expert continued.
“I put it in there myself,” Andy confirmed.
“And it was definitely locked after you put it in there?” he asked.
“I told him to push the quick lock button,” Chris informed him. “The red one. Wouldn’t it show on the log when it was opened and closed?”
“I’m just about to check that.” Sinclair tapped on Chris’s keypad and waited for a second. The screen flashed up the information he was looking for. “Hmm…”
“Have you found something?” the lieutenant asked, as all three gathered round to take a look at the screen.
“No. Wait, let me check again.” He held his hand up to silence them, then continued to tap on the keyboard. “No, nothing. I checked the date and time, but it only shows that the safe was opened at fourteen twenty-two and closed at fourteen twenty-seven on the Saturday afternoon, and wasn’t opened again until the following Monday morning at zero eight eleven.”
“That’s when I went to collect the gun,” Andy told them.
He turned to the detective. “Are you certain it was Detective Hernandez’s weapon that was used?”
“Forensics says the ballistics report give a match to her weapon,” the lieutenant informed him.
“Can you check the CCTV footage for me, John?” Chris asked.
“That will take hours, won’t it?” Regan asked.
“Not really.” Sinclair went back to work. “I installed motion-sensitive cameras. They only record when someone enters and moves around the room.” After a few more entries on the keyboard, he pointed at the screen. “There, that’s Mr. Cooper and his brother on the day of the BBQ.” They all leaned forward to observe the brother talking in the office. “And there is the detective locking the safe. And there they are leaving.”
“I didn’t go into the office for the rest of the weekend,” Chris interjected, and smiled. “I was far too hungover after the BBQ to think of doing any work.”
“And there you are.” The security expert drew their attention back to the screen. “Mr. Cooper enters with Detective Cooper. Mr. Cooper opens the safe and passes the gun to his brother—”
“Yes, we can see all this, Mr. Sinclair.” The lieutenant stopped the running commentary. “But this doesn’t explain how someone got into the house, took the weapon, murdered someone, and replaced it without being caught.” He looked at Chris. “Apart from you, who else has access to the safe?”
“Well, just me and John here,” he answered.
“So that narrows things down considerably.” Regan turned to Andy.
“Wow, slow down, Lieutenant.” He held his hands up. “My brother is a computer programming geek—no offense, Chris—but he’s not a killer.”
“Okay, we’ve narrowed things down even further.” The superior officer put his hand on Sinclair’s shoulder.
“Hey, hey, hey!” he protested. “I was at the office all weekend. Here!” He feverishly pounded the keyboard. “Look, here is my signing in and out log on the database.”
All three looked closely at the screen.
“Do you live at AppTech, Mr. Sinclair?” the lieutenant asked.
“Mr. Sinclair is one of the best security advisors in the country, Lieutenant Regan.” Chris came to his employee’s defense. “One of his conditions when we approached him was that we provide living accommodation for him onsite. He has an apartment on the premises, but still has to log in and out every time he leaves the building.”
“Convenient,” Regan said with some skepticism. “Tell me, Mr. Sinclair, how easy would it be to manipulate these logs on your database?”
“In what way?” he asked.
“Could these logs be erased to cover up somebody’s movements?” he pressed.
“I don’t think you need to answer that, John,” Chris interrupted. “Not without a lawyer present.” He stepped between the lieutenant and his employee. “I think this interview is over now—”
“Hey, Chris, calm down. We don’t need to get lawyers involved.” Andy stepped in.
“No, no need for that just yet, Christopher.” Regan straightened his jacket. “We’re done here, Cooper. I’ll see you in the car.”
Andy had heard many stories about the lieutenant’s knack of ruffling feathers and getting answers, but this was the first time he had witnessed him in action. He had to admit, he was impressed. He waited till his superior had left the office before turning to his brother.
“Pay no attention to him. He’s pissed that someone was murdered in the station and wants some answers now.” He comforted his sibling.
“Well, next time he wants to have a chat, tell him my lawyers will be present.” Chris put a hand on Sinclair’s shoulder. “John’s a good man. If he says he was here, then he was here. And I know I didn’t take the gun out of the safe.”
“Look at it from Regan’s point of view, and let me point something out here, bro.” He pointed at the security advisor, who stared at them. “If you can vouch for him, then you’re framing yourself.”
The startled look on his brother’s face told Andy he had got his message across. He nodded, and left the office abruptly.
***
Regan was standing by the car, looking up at the AppTech building. He looked at Andy as he approached; neither spoke. They got in the car and the detective drove out of the parking lot.
“Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on here, Andy?” the lieutenant barked.
“Sir?” He glanced across at him, then back to the traffic.
“I’ve got kids going missing, gang shootings, prisoners being murdered in my station, and now your brother and his geeky little cop wannabe are lying through their teeth,” he fumed. Andy couldn’t answer. “I’ll tell you now; I think
we have a prime suspect in this case.”
“Sinclair?” He glanced across again.
The lieutenant looked him in the eye. “Or your brother.”
The Genesis Chamber
Chapter 28
Maria had gone over and over the flight manifests on the dates some of the kids had gone missing and had come up empty. She had failed make any kind of connection. As far as she could surmise, there was no distinguishing pattern at all, so decided that she needed another pair of eyes. As Andy was out of the office, and the lieutenant was nowhere to be found, she contemplated going to consult Coop. If anyone could find a connection, it would be the old man. And since she had stopped drinking so hard, she noticed that she got hungry around midday. Her thoughts drifted, and she thought about a cheeseburger she had seen a customer consume at the diner the previous day. That was it; her mind was made up. She stood up and proceeded to pack all the files away. Cheeseburger and fries lingered in her thoughts—oh and of course, the case.
With her files packed into her briefcase, she retrieved her weapon from the drawer, holstered it, and swung her briefcase over her shoulder. She was about to head for the door when she saw Andy and Regan enter. The lieutenant glanced over at her.
“Hernandez, come with me. Now,” Regan ordered, and continued marching briskly towards his office.
“What’s going on?” she asked Andy, who just signaled with his head for her to follow. “I’ve got stuff to do.” Her words fell on deaf ears.
Reluctantly she took her briefcase off her shoulder, put it on her desk, and followed her partner into the lieutenant’s office. The cheeseburger would have to wait a little while longer, she thought, as she entered. Regan was already sitting behind his desk, straightening his jacket and getting comfortable. Andy stood by the door and closed it as she passed.
“Sit down, Detective,” the lieutenant ordered.
She could sense by his whole demeanor and abruptness that this was not going to be a pleasant conversation, so decided to remain quiet, and slowly sat in front of her boss. Her partner sat next to her.
“Does somebody want to tell me what the fuck is going on?” She looked at the two of them.
“We have a ballistics match on the gun that shot Tobin,” Regan answered, then cleared his throat.
“Oh, please tell me we’ve finally got a lead in this case!” she said with some excitement.
“Kind of,” Andy butted in. “The match came back as a positive match… to your gun.”
The office fell silent as Maria just stared at Regan, stunned. Eventually she spoke. “There has to be a mistake. Palmer has fucked up somewhere.”
Even as she said it she knew Palmer wasn’t the kind of guy to make mistakes. She also knew that every guilty perp she had put away at some stage said this very same thing. And finally, above all of this, she knew she was innocent, and somewhere a mistake had to have been made.
“I didn’t shoot anybody!” was all she could muster, as she switched her wild eyes between the two officers.
“We know.” Andy put a hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t patronize me, Andy. I did not do this,” she snapped, and shrugged off his hand.
“I’m not patronizing you. We know you didn’t do this.” He sat forward in his seat and rested his right elbow on the desk while offering his other hand to her. “The shooting took place when your firearm was in Chris’s safe, the night of the BBQ.” He replaced his hand on her shoulder. “We’re just letting you know because IA is going to be called in on this first thing in the morning. They’re going to have to interview you, Maria.”
“Well, that’s just fan-fucking-tastic,” she huffed, as she slumped into the seat like a sulking teenager. “I told you to leave me alone and let me have my gun.” She paused for a moment to catch her breath and gather her thoughts. “You know, now I remember; when you handed it back to me that morning, the bullets didn’t match up.”
“What do you mean?” The lieutenant looked confused.
“It’s kind of an OCD thing.” She sulked. “When I load the bullets into the magazine, I always put them with the number nine showing at the top.”
Both the officers looked completely baffled.
“Here, let me show you.” She unclipped her weapon, dropped the magazine into her hand, and slid the chamber back to release the readied bullet in one fluid movement. “See? If you look at it from behind you can see the number nine every time.” Her superiors examined the magazine, then passed it back to her. She put the loose bullet in the magazine, flipped it around so she could see the number, then slid it back into the weapon and readied it before engaging the safety and returning it to its holster. “That would explain why it was so dirty, too!” she exclaimed. “Mother fucker. So, who was it?”
“We don’t know,” Regan answered.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” She tilted her head to one side in a questioning manner.
“We’ve interviewed Chris Cooper and his head of security,” he explained. “They took us through the security system at Chris’s house. We checked the log on the safe. It showed the time of the safe being opened and closed, but the weird thing is, the log showed nothing until Monday morning, when Andy went to collect your weapon.”
“What about the CCTV?” She looked at Andy.
“It works on motion sensors,” he answered. “No one went into the office after we were in there on Saturday until I went back on Monday.”
“So how the fuck has this happened?” she pressed.
“We’re working on the assumption that the log was tampered with,” Regan interjected.
“You mean someone erased the information?” She showed concern. “Could it be the same person who has infiltrated the database here?”
“We don’t know until the tech department gives us some answers,” he said.
“So, what happens now?” she asked.
“Well, Palmer is off sick today.” Both men turned to her. “So this won’t get reported until the morning. At which point, Internal Affairs will probably be in here, braying for your blood.” Regan paused again. “Unless . . . the head of IA is a poker buddy of mine. I’ll take him to dinner tonight. Explain the situation, and ask him to give me some breathing space.”
“Do you think he’ll go for it?” She sighed.
“It might buy us some time.” He relaxed into his seat. “I’ll tell him that as far as I’m concerned, you followed department procedures. Knowing you were going to be drinking in a non-hostile environment, with other cops present, you did the responsible thing and placed your firearm in the safe of a businessman of good character who was from a cop family.” He nodded to himself. “Hell, even I’d believe you’re a fucking angel after saying that.”
“That’s because I am, sir.” Maria smiled in appreciation.
“Let me be perfectly clear on this, Hernandez.” He sat forward, pointing his finger at her. “You need to get me some answers on this case, and fast.” He looked at Andy. “Cooper will let you know my thoughts on a possible suspect. Now get out of here.”
“You have a suspect?” she asked, surprised.
“Come on, I’ll explain in our office.” He stood up and guided her out of the office.
They walked over to their desks. Maria sat down, and Andy perched himself on the corner so they could chat.
“Okay.” She looked at him in anticipation. “Tell me who Regan has in his sights.”
“It’s not good,” he said, deflated. “He was questioning Sinclair about tampering with the logs and Chris went all defensive. He basically told Sinclair to say nothing until he had a lawyer present.”
“So the lieutenant has got the hots for Sinclair?” She sprang forward like an excited child. “I knew there was something with that slimy—”
“No.” He stopped her. “It’s worse.”
“What do you mean?” She looked puzzled.
“Think about it,” he said. “If Chris is vouching for Sinclair and he lawyers
him up, that puts Chris in the line of fire.”
Maria sat gawking, trying to comprehend what he had just said. “You cannot be fucking serious.”
“Unfortunately,” he nodded, “I am. I told Chris to wise up, but we’ll have to wait and see if anything develops in that direction.”
“Well, I’ve been through the flight manifests from when some of the kids went missing.” She tapped her briefcase and picked it up. “I’m going over to see if your old man can shed some light on this.”
“Promise me you won’t mention this thing with Chris to him,” he pleaded.
“He’s going to find out soon enough,” she said, looking him straight in the eye.
“In that case, we need to take something to Regan to take his mind off my brother.” His phone beeped so he took it out of his pocket, flipped it open, and looked at the message. “All right. I’ll get down to the tech department and tell them to look towards AppTech. They might be able to identify one of the IP addresses as one of theirs.” He walked off, then suddenly stopped. “Call me later if you get anything. Regan needs to be kept up to speed. And one more thing; IA will be gunning for you no matter what the lieutenant says, so keep your head down.” He nodded, and continued towards the elevators.
“Roger that! I’m just going to call Travis and see how he’s getting on with finding the cells at the airport!” she shouted after him, but he had already left the office. She picked the phone up and dialed the number for Travis. “Hey, it’s me. How’s it going?”
“It’s not going to be easy.” He sounded tired. “I’m trying to get a fix by using two other towers to triangulate the position, but the restrictions of cellular use around the airport are hampering my search.”
“Okay, keep at it,” she told him. “When you’ve finished, give me a call. I have something to tell you.”
“Ooh, that sounds a bit suspicious.” He laughed.
“It’s serious,” she said curtly. “I’m going to speak to Coop at the diner, so call me when you’re done and we’ll meet up.”
“Okay. Are you all right?” he inquired.
The Genesis Chamber Page 22
