by Kate Gable
"Could he have done that?" I ask.
"I wouldn't think so, but you never know. He seemed to be such a nice guy, but you never know with people."
"So, your theory is what exactly?"
"Well, he's gone and you found her dead in his apartment. He probably killed her. As to why, I don't know. Just wondering if maybe he raped her and then things got a little bit out of control. Maybe she threatened to call the police and he got scared so he just shot her and then shot himself."
My mouth drops open.
"Shot himself?! Shot himself?!" Medvil yells in my ear. "He never said this before. Call him on it now!"
I hate having this earpiece in. He's drowning out my thoughts with his voice, but in this case, Medvil's voice is like the sound of my own conscience.
"Keep him talking," he continues. "Why? Why does he think that Nick is dead?"
"Um, why do you think that he's dead?" I ask, trying to be as casual and nonchalant about what he has just mentioned as possible.
I don't want to draw attention to having him worry about revealing something unusual, but the other thing that I noticed is that he has already talked about Nick in past tense.
That's usually not something people do unless they have certain knowledge that someone is no longer with us.
"I was just thinking out loud. I don't know. I mean, maybe he just ran away and is hiding out somewhere."
"He hasn't touched any of his money or any of his bank accounts though."
"Well, he probably knows that you can trace that and his phone, so maybe he's hiding out for real."
"He did have a lot of money in his bank account," I say. "Did you know that?"
"Yeah, he actually mentioned that to me."
"He did?" I ask, surprised.
"Yeah, he had a lot of money saved up from being overseas."
"I still don't quite understand how Kenny Tuffin is involved in this. You paid him in pizza to use Nick's card to get money out of his account, but why, if he promised to give you the money?"
"Well, I knew that you'd be tracking his bank stuff and credit cards. I needed to get that money back, so I didn't want it to be traced to me, but I guess you found it anyway."
"Yeah, we did and now you mentioned that Nick might be dead, so of course that sparks my interest.”
Our eyes meet again and I wait for him to look away first.
"Yeah, I know. I was just talking, you know?” Danny says casually, completely unfazed. “I was just so shocked to see that he had murdered Janine that I wasn't sure what was going to happen."
"So, what makes you think that Nick is dead now?"
"I don't think that exactly, but it seems like an obvious turn of events, right?"
"How so?" I ask.
I run my fingers along the outside of the folder and feel the smooth pressure of it on my tips. Another sneeze comes on, but I fight it to keep the tension in the moment.
My eyes begin to water and I press the tissue to my nose, trying to keep everything at bay.
"I think he's afraid. I think he was afraid," Danny says, twirling his thumbs. He intertwines his fingers and continues the circular motion, almost as though it were a nervous tic.
"Afraid of what?” I ask.
I can hear the clicking of his heel on the linoleum floor.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
He’s speeding up slightly with each collision.
"I don't think you'd be surprised if I told you that I think that Nick killed Janine," Danny finally says, bringing his eyes to mine. "He killed her and ran away and maybe killed himself. Of course, it’s just my opinion.”
After Danny utters those words, I look at him for a while. His irises shift just a little, but whatever nervousness he exhibited earlier vanishes and I wonder if it were all an act.
Everything that he told me is hypothetical, but this is how it starts. At first, I get him to reveal a possibility of what could have happened and then we start to etch out the truth.
"Good job," Captain Medvil whispers into my ear. "Keep him talking. Get him to say more."
"Do you have any idea where Nick could have gone?" I ask. "I mean, you two were close."
"No, I wouldn't say that. We were neighbors and kind of friendly, but I didn't know much about his personal life. I didn't even know about Janine."
"Well, you knew that they were friendly."
"Yeah, but I had no idea that he could do something like that."
He leans back in his chair again, the arrogance pulling toward the surface.
"Well, you seem to be one of his closest friends because we couldn't find anyone online or in person that he spent more time with. So, would you have any idea where he could have gone?"
"He did mention Montana, but then again, he also mentioned Mexico."
I nod. He's trying to throw me off course here.
What I still don't know, however, is exactly how many details he's aware of.
Is he covering for his friend?
Is Nick sending him money to protect him for what he did?
Is there something else going on?
"Listen, Danny, I know that you're trying to be helpful, but is there anything else? Is there somewhere he liked to hang out at like a special place that he would go?”
“Well, if you are assuming that he's alive."
"You're not?" I ask.
He hadn't mentioned Nick possibly being dead now a number of times enough to not let me ignore it.
"Yeah. I was worried about that. Nick would have these dark moods. He would get really depressed. You told me how Eve told you about what he said to her. He lost his friend and he felt like he should have been the one who was killed out there in that Humvee. He had kind of a death wish."
"What does that mean?" I ask. "Was he driving too fast? Being reckless? What?"
"I think he just snapped.” Danny shrugs. “That’s probably why Janine got killed. Maybe regret and remorse set in so he couldn't deal with that anymore. He's a very sweet guy. He thinks a lot about people and animals. He has a lot of empathy. So knowing that he did that to his friend, that would be really difficult for him.”
"I feel like you're trying to tell me something, Danny," I say. "You know that you're not going to be in trouble. If you know where Nick is, I can protect you."
Danny casts his eyes onto the Formica table and picks at a crack in the corner. His nails are painted black and chipping off in big flakes, yet he digs into the crevice before looking up at me.
"Nick is my friend and I promised him that I would protect him."
"I know, but you also owe something to Janine's family. They need closure. They need to know what happened to their daughter and sister.”
”Good job. Keep him talking," Medvil whispers in my ear like I don’t know that.
I want him to shut up and stop from distracting me but Danny doesn’t know about the earpiece and I need to keep it that way.
28
I want to keep talking to Danny, but it's also not lost on me the fact that he had already asked for a lawyer.
He had asked for an attorney and I had essentially talked him out of it. It was kind of a casual asking and I don't know exactly if it will stand up in court. But if it does go there and we get an ornery judge, then that part of his testimony can be thrown out along with any other findings that it leads to.
Medvil wants me to keep talking because he forgets about stuff like that. I know that he's the captain, but a lot of his cases have come close to being thrown out on technicalities. That angers him, but that's also what makes him kind of a sloppy detective.
I need to do better.
"You know the other detective? He really freaked me out," Danny says. "I can't believe that he punched the wall like that."
"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. That was so unprofessional."
“Unprofessional would be an understatement. How about violent? Scary? Maybe even a fireable offense, huh?"
&nb
sp; I shrug my shoulders.
"You're telling me that he can't get fired over doing something like that?"
"It would definitely go on his record," I say, "but it's not really up to me.”
“You will testify if I make a complaint, right?"
"Let's not talk about that right now. Let's talk about Nick," I say, trying to gear the conversation back to what I need.
The last thing that I can think about right now is whether or not anything is going to happen to Thomas at a disciplinary hearing.
"You know, Thomas told me that I didn't need an attorney. Is that true?"
"No, I wouldn't say that."
"Shut up!" Medvil yells.
I swallow hard trying to ignore him.
"I mean, that you're right, but it would make things a little more complicated for you. Look, Danny, from how it looks here, you haven't done anything wrong. You're just helping me find your friend who may be responsible for what happened to Janine or maybe not. He may be hiding out for nothing. He might've come home, found her there, freaked out, and disappeared thinking that people would think that he did it, but forensic evidence and circumstantial evidence might point to a stranger altogether. I have no idea. That's why I'm trying to gather all of this information. That's why I'm trying to get to the bottom of this."
Ninety percent of what I said is just a story. It’s a casual kind of thing that a cop tells someone that they interview in order to put them at peace and to keep them talking, but I do realize that I'm making a mistake.
If Danny says something to me now after I told him that he doesn't need an attorney, his lawyer is going to have a very strong case to get that testimony thrown out.
"Would you like something to eat?" I ask. “My stomach is growling.”
"Yeah. I could have some pretzels and M&M’s." Danny smiles. "Also some Sprite if you have an extra seventy-five cents."
"My treat," I say. "I'll be right back."
I head over straight to the video conferencing room where I'm relieved to see the assistant district attorney, Katherine Harris.
She looks tired and overworked from having way too many cases in a day, but she's here and I appreciate it.
"You shouldn't have said that," Katherine says, shaking her head. "You shouldn't have told him that he didn't need a lawyer after the second time that he asked."
"I know.”
“You also do not want to deny them their rights. Anyway, so far, I think you're in the clear. Just get him to say that he doesn't want a lawyer. Get him to affirmatively say those two words, 'No lawyer,' and then keep him talking."
I don't have much time.
I head over to the vending machine, get what he ordered, and grab myself a pack of pretzels and a coffee as well. I wish to God that I could take off this jacket, but when I reach over, I can see that my pit stains are practically down to my waist.
My shirt is drenched. I can't let him see me sweat, quite literally. This didn't just happen from talking to him. I often get sweaty when I'm in a cold room and when I have to interact with strangers.
I have a low grade of anxiety that used to be a lot higher grade and unmanageable, but now has settled into this point. I can relax enough to make it bearable, but I'm never fully relaxed.
I hand Danny his food and we dig in, eating in silence for a few moments. He's ravenous and drinks the Sprite in three big gulps. I know that I need to get him to say that he doesn't want a lawyer, but I don't know exactly how to do that without arousing suspicion.
"Listen, since you asked for a lawyer, I can't really keep this conversation going."
"Oh, okay." He looks a little disappointed.
"Unless you want to. I mean, there's still a few things that I think you can help me with, but I first need something from you."
"What? What is it?" he asks, chewing with his mouth open, crunching loudly and tossing handfuls of M&M’s into his mouth.
"Well, you kind of have to say that you don't want the lawyer anymore out loud. Otherwise, this interview has to come to an end."
“What the…” Captain Medvil yells in my ear, but I reach over and turn him off.
I return my gaze to Danny and wait calmly for his answer.
"Okay. Yeah. That's fine.” He nods, shrugging it off.
"No, you actually have to say it," I say, taking a gulp of my coffee.
Is this actually going to work?
"Oh. Okay. No, I want to keep talking to you without an attorney.” He nods and I want to reach over to give him a big hug, but I don't.
Instead, I give him a casual smile.
"So, I was thinking about something," I say carefully, choosing my words. "I was thinking maybe you're covering up for Nick. Like, you know where he is and you don't want to tell anyone, which would make you an accessory to murder if he did indeed kill that girl. The other thing that I was thinking..." He raises his eyebrows to look at me. "...is that maybe he attacked you.”
"Attacked me?"
"Yeah. Maybe you saw something that you weren't supposed to. Maybe you were defending yourself?"
"No. I wasn't there. I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Are you sure?" I ask. “The crime scene report came back and they found your footprints in his living room."
"What?"
I nod.
"No. I was his friend. So obviously, I was there at one point."
"They're searching your apartment now, but there were two footprints that match your size and style of shoe in the blood just in the hallway leading from the living room. I believe that they're yours."
This is what I've been waiting for.
This is what I've been setting up this whole conversation about. The suspect is caught off guard. He doesn't have time to think.
He doesn't suspect a thing. He thinks someone is on his side the whole time and that's when I can gauge his true reaction.
I can see if he is really surprised that I would think something like that because he didn't do it.
Is he shocked to hear me mention that because in reality, he is involved?
Danny's face becomes white.
Blood starts to drain away from it. He interlaces his fingers again. He starts to nervously stomp his heel on the floor.
It's very quiet at first, barely noticeable, but I know now that it's a tic of his. It's something he does to pass the time the same way he runs his middle finger on top of the nail of his pointer finger over and over again to try to calm himself down.
"Listen, I don't want to put words in your mouth," I say, "but I want to hear the truth from you. I know that you're helping your friend, but I also know that your friend has military experience and a history of violence. The government trained him to be violent and a lot of those people come back from a war and the world becomes kind of a gray place for them. There isn't the same black and white world of right and wrong that we live in."
"Yeah. I was there," Danny says, nods, and swallows hard.
I see his Adam's apple travel up and down the length of his throat.
"It was like what you said. I walked in and I sort of surprised him. I thought we would just hang out. His door was open and that's when I saw her lying there in his bedroom. You couldn't see her from the living room, so I had no way of knowing that anything happened."
"What about the sound from the gunshot?"
"I don't know. There's always ambulances and helicopters outside and people playing their music too loud. I just thought it was maybe a car backfiring."
"So, you came in and what happened?"
"I walked into the living room and I called his name. I saw that the lights were on everywhere, so he must've been home. I took a few steps into the hallway and that's when I saw her foot. I just... I should've just turned around and walked out, but I didn't."
"What did you do?" I ask.
"Nick freaked out. He... No, I can't talk about this,” Danny says.
"Danny, please."
"I can't. I... This is... I ne
ed to talk to Eve. I... I have to talk to an attorney. No, I can't talk to you about this. I said too much."
With that, he gets up and walks out. There's nothing I can do.
I try to catch up with him in the hallway, but it's too late. He knows that I can't arrest him.
What would I even arrest him on?
I don't even know what the story is, but he apologized again and again. Then he says that he can't say anything else.
After he walks out the front door, I head toward Captain Medvil, DA Katherine Harris, and all of the deputies spill out of the video conferencing room.
They stare at me and I stare at them and they begin to clap.
“Good job!” Katherine says with a smile. “You got him to take back asking for a lawyer and then admit all of that. Great freaking job!"
“What do we do now?” I ask.
"We're going to try to find something,” Captain Medvil says. “By the way, that thing about his footprints, that was pure gold, but that was hell of a chance that you took."
"Why? What're you talking about?" Katherine asks.
"We don't have any footprints," I explain. "I mean, none of the stuff from the lab came back yet. I just got this feeling that maybe he was there or he knew something more about it, so I wanted to tell him about some evidence that we had and see what he would say."
"That's a dangerous game you played.” Katherine smiles approvingly.
I inhale and exhale slowly, trying to get my head to stop from spinning. The Advil wore off many hours ago and I know that I'm due for a new dose.
My nose starts to run and I sneeze and everyone in the room takes a few steps away from me.
"I'm really sorry," I say, realizing just how congested I sound and look. "I don't want to get all of you sick."
"Yeah. So, in that case, you better go home," Captain Medvil instructs. "You did good. Let's try to figure this out and get some more evidence. Hopefully we'll get somewhere. Maybe we’ll bring his fiancée in for a little chat, but only after he talks to her a little bit more."
"Sounds like a good plan." I start to cough.
My throat closes up and I know that it's time for me to go.
