Dani’s phone rang. Porter was here and in an interview room. She nodded to Jake and Katie and got up.
CHAPTER 30
FIVE MINUTES LATER THEY WERE looking at Tyron Porter through the two-way glass. Dani spoke to Michaels without taking her eyes off Porter.
“What happed to your cheek?”
She brought her hand to her cheek. “We stepped behind the bar, figuring the enclosed area would be the best place to take him down. We both held up our badges. Before we had a chance to tell him he was under arrest, he hit me and took off.”
Martin took over. “That sucker’s fast. We chased him for almost ten blocks before he ran down an alley that had no exit.” He looked at Porter through the two-way glass. “At minimum, we have him for resisting arrest.”
Dani smiled. “Oh, we have him for more than that.” She put her hand on the door. “Michaels, get some ice on the cheek. Jake you’re with me, but this one’s mine. Katie if something he says isn’t right, tell Martin.”
She walked into the room and leaned against the table with both hands. Leaning into his space she asked, “Why did you kill him?”
Porter jumped up and took a step back, tripping over his chair. “Kill who? I didn’t kill anyone.”
“Really? That’s the position you want to take? We have a witness that puts you in the warehouse at the time of his death. You might as well tell us why you killed him. We might be inclined to go easier on you.”
“I didn’t kill anyone. I swear.”
Dani pulled the other chair out and sat down. She motioned with her hand for him to do the same. When he didn’t move fast enough, Jake grabbed the chair and threw Porter into it. Leaning into his ear he said, “Trust me when I tell you you don’t want to piss me off.”
Porter looked from Dani to Jake and back. “Who did I supposedly kill?”
You could tell he was shaking in his boots, but was trying to cover it. It wasn’t working. Dani shook her head.
“Okay, let’s back up a little. I’m Lieutenant Castello, and that’s Detective Santos. Have you been read your rights?”
He gave a sideways glance at Jake and nodded his head.
“I’m going to need you to speak up. This interview is being recorded.”
Again, he glanced at Jake. “Yes. I know my rights.”
“I didn’t ask if you know your rights. I asked if you have been read your rights.”
“Yes, yes. They read me my rights as they were beating the crap out of me.”
“You look pretty good for a guy who got the crap beat out of him. Not a mark on you.”
“My ribs. I think that bitch broke my ribs.”
“That bitch is Detective Michaels, and since she has a nice bruise on her cheek, I’d say you got what you deserved.”
“I didn’t mean to hit her. Her face just got in the way when I started to run.”
Jake leaned over the table. “I think we’re getting a little off track here. Why did you kill him?” he demanded.
“I told you. I didn’t kill anyone.”
Dani took over again. “Where were you the night of February 16th?”
“I don’t know. Probably working.”
“Is there anyone that can confirm that?”
“Sure. My boss. We punch in and out. They’ll have a record.”
Dani tapped her nails on the table. “We checked with your boss. He says you were off that night.”
Porter shook his head. You could see in his eyes when it registered that he was not getting out of this. Dani gave him a minute to come up with another excuse before she continued.
“Do you watch the news, Tyron?”
“Sure, it’s on one of the TVs in the bar all the time.”
“So I’m sure you heard that on February 16th we lost a detective in the line of duty.”
He relaxed a little, but glanced at Jake again. “Sure. You would have to be dead not to have heard about that.”
“Well, Tyron, as I said, we have a witness that puts you at the place of his death at the time of his death. In my book, that makes you his killer.”
“Or an accomplice,” Jake added. “Either way, you are going away for a long time, so you might as well come clean.”
Jake took an intimidating step toward Porter.
Again, Porter jumped up. “You think I killed a cop? No. No way. It wasn’t me. I swear it wasn’t me.”
He backed himself up to the wall and wiped the sweat out of his eyes.
Dani jumped up, slamming her hand on the table. “Then who did?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Dani and Jake looked at each other and sighed. They knew he wasn’t the guy they were looking for. They knew he didn’t kill Zach. But they also knew that he knows who did.
Again Jake straightened the chair. He motioned to Porter to sit as Dani continued.
“If you didn’t kill him, then who did? And I don’t want to hear the words ‘I don’t know’ come out of your mouth again.”
Slowly he sat, putting his hands on the table. “But I don’t know. I wasn’t in the building when it happened.”
Dani took a calming breath. “Tell us what happened that night.”
He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Some guy asked me to bartend for a private party he was throwing. He said if I kept everyone happy he would give me three hundred bucks.”
“What guy? What’s his name?”
“I don’t know his last name, but his first name is Daren. He comes into the restaurant every now and then. Always flashing a wad of cash, so I knew he was good for the three hundred.”
When he hesitated Jake leaned into his space. “I’m starting to get pissed off. Remember how I told you you didn’t want that to happen?
Porter nodded and continued. “It was double what I usually make on a Friday night so I asked for the night off and took the job. He told me the party started about nine o’clock. I got there at seven to set up. Around nine they started coming in. By eleven, I’d say they were all there.”
“How many?”
“I guess around thirty or forty.”
“Did you know any of them?”
“A few of them came in with Daren, but I don’t know any of their names.”
Again he hesitated.
“Continue,” Dani ordered.
“I was working hard. These guys know how to party. The drugs were flying. I was all over, running from behind the bar to deliver their drinks and clean up as I went. Some guys came in with a girl that had a hood over her head and her hands tied behind her back. I didn’t like that, but they took the hood off and threw her on the couch.”
He rubbed one hand with the other.
“She was yelling at everyone to help her, but no one did. I wanted to, but three hundred buck is three hundred bucks. I needed the money.”
He shrugged. “Since they weren’t hurting her, I let it go.”
“Would you have helped her if they were hurting her?”
He shrugged. “I’d like to think I’m the kind of guy that would have, but I needed the money, so I don’t know.”
When Dani and Jake just stared at him, he cleared his throat before continuing.
“Anyway, around midnight Daren came in. He took one look at the girl on the couch and started yelling at some guy about her being tied up.”
“What guy? What was his name?”
“I’m not sure, but he might have called him Drums. I was on my way out the door when he started yelling. I saw him pull out a knife and cut the ties before I left. I remember that made me feel a little better about what she was doing there as I headed out.”
“Why?”
“Why what?” He rubbed the sweat from his eyes.
“Why were you on the way out the door?” Dani calmly asked even though she was feeling anything but calm.
“The keg was dry. I went out to the van to get another one.”
Again Dani and Jake stared at him.
Jake crossed his arms over his chest. “What made you think it was a gun shot?”
“Come on, man. I wasn’t born yesterday. I’ve heard the sound before.” He hesitated. “Everyone started running out of the building. There wasn’t a door that didn’t have people spilling out of it. I took the hint fast and took off.”
“What about your three hundred bucks? Did you ever get it?”
“No. Daren hasn’t been in to the restaurant and I haven’t gone out looking for him. I want nothing to do with that guy or his friends.”
“Did you ever see this guy Drums before?”
He nodded. “Yes. He was one of the guys that would come in with Daren.”
Dani took a sketch out of the folder she brought in with her. “Is this him?”
Again he nodded.
“I need you to speak up?”
“Yes, that’s him.”
She showed him another picture. “Do you know this guy?”
“That’s Daren.”
She put the pictures back in the folder. “Did you pick up on any other names while you were doing all your running around?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. I can’t think.”
“Why should we believe you? If you can’t think, maybe nothing that came out of your mouth is true.”
He jumped up again, slamming his hand on the table. “I didn’t kill him. I wasn’t even in the building. I swear I didn’t kill him.”
Dani and Jake looked at each other. Jake asked, “Do you believe him?”
Dani sighed. “Sorry to say I do.” Dani stood up and pushed in her chair. “You’re going to work with a sketch artist. You’re going to get us a picture of everyone you can remember.”
When Porter nodded, she walked out.
“You’re still under arrest for resisting arrest and striking an officer. The more people you can remember, the better chance there is the charges will be dropped.”
“I’ll do my best. I promise.”
Jake nodded and walked out.
Dani was talking to Katie when Jake joined them. “Is he telling the truth?”
“Yes,” Katie nodded. “He kept looking over at me. He didn’t seem to be one of them. He was running back and forth to the bar and the people. I think he would have helped me if he had a chance.”
“Would you have a problem being around him?”
She looked through the glass at Porter. “I don’t think so. Why?”
Dani headed to her office. Jake and Katie right behind her.
“I’d like you to sit in with him and the sketch artist. If you can remember who he’s describing it might help get a clearer picture.”
She nodded. “Sure. If you think it will help.”
Dani called Michaels and Martin into her office as she passed through the squad room.
“I need you to set Porter up with a sketch artist. I want at least five faces from him. Then you can let him go.”
“But we have him for assaulting an officer,” Martin said.
“We’re going to believe him when he says it was an accident. We need him out there. Talk to his boss. Make sure he’s on the schedule open to close until we find Zach’s killer. No days off. He doesn’t leave the restaurant for his breaks. You, or someone from this squad, is in that restaurant with him. If someone from that party comes in I want them cuffed and in a room before they can say I don’t know anything or I didn’t do it.”
Michaels laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Katie’s going to sit with him. Hopefully between the two of them we’ll get the guy we want.”
When Martin, Michaels, and Katie left the office, Dani let out a long sigh. “I suppose we should try the clinic again.”
She headed out. Jake followed. Instead of heading straight for the clinic he stopped off at the closest deli.
“We don’t have time to eat,” Dani commented as Jake reached for the door handle.
“Maybe not, but I can see your headache starting. You eat now or we sit here until you take some aspirin and they kick in.” He got out but leaned back in. “I’m pretty sure we definitely don’t have time for that.”
They stared at each other a moment before Dani got out. “Are you ever going to stop being a pain in the ass?”
Jake smiled as he held the door for her.
Forty minutes later they were walking up to the clinic doors again.
“Who’s lead this time?” Jake asked.
“I guess that depends on who can concentrate more.”
Jake held her arm to stop her. “We’re closing in. I got a hundred bucks that says we’re going to have this guy before the weekend is over.”
Dani shook her head. “Two hundred says we have him before the memorial service on Saturday.”
“We’re closing in, but we still have a long way to go. You’re on.”
He opened the door. Dani stepped through first. “You’re lead,” she said.
Dani checked out the waiting room while Jake went up to the reception desk.
“I’d like to speak with Dr. Oberman.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
Jake looked over to Dani and back. “No, but…”
He reached for his badge but was cut off before he could get it out.
“Dr. Oberman is with clients. As you can see there are others waiting that have appointments. You can fill out these forms.”
She handed him a clipboard with the forms.
“When you’re done I’ll be happy to set up an appointment,” she tapped her pen on the desk. “I will tell you that it will be at least three months before I’ll be able to fit you in with Dr. Oberman.”
As Dani listened to their conversation from about ten feet away, her phone rang.
“Three months? I don’t think we can wait that long.”
“Castello,” Dani said when she answered.
“It’s Wilson, ma’am. We’re at the morgue. The Sasakis say the body is not their daughter.”
“Are you kidding me?” Dani said, louder than she should have. “Jake, let’s go. We’re on our way. Don’t let them out of your sight.”
“They said it isn’t their daughter and walked out before we could ask any questions.”
“Get them back. We’re ten minutes out.”
She hung up and opened the door. “Jake, what are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
Jake smiled and turned back to the receptionist. He pushed the clipboard back toward her. “We’ll be back.”
Jake jumped into the passenger seat as Dani started the engine. “What’s going on?”
“The last body is not Kim Sasaki.”
“They made it to Pennsylvania and back already? I thought people on this end of the country were always bitching about traffic.”
Dani didn’t bother commenting, even though she had been thinking the same thing. Four hours to the Sasakis house and back was virtually impossible with the traffic. She mentally shrugged. Impossible or not, Wilson had somehow pulled it off.
Unfortunately, their trip was not as successful. Their ten-minute ride was over twenty. She came to a screeching halt in front of the Sasaki’s as they were storming out of the morgue.
Dani and Jake jumped out of the car and walked up to them as Wilson was trying to get them to stop.
“Mr. and Mrs. Sasaki, I’m Lieutenant Castello and this is Detective Santos. I understand the girl we have is not your daughter?”
“No, she is not, and I don’t appreciate that you ordered us to come here. That girl is not our daughter. Even if she was, it would not be any of our concern. The day she ran away is the day my daughter died.”
He grabbed his wife’s arm, pushing past Dani.
Jake grabbed his arm and held him in place. “What you feel about your daughter is wrong, sir.
If she was my daughter, I would be doing everything in my power and then some to find her. But that is neither here nor there. Right now we are in the middle of a murder investigation.”
He squeezed his arm until Mr. Sasaki grabbed for his hand.
“You will answer the lieutenant’s questions, you sanctimonious asshole.”
“Jake,” Dani yelled. “Stand down now!”
She gave Wilson a look to make sure he didn’t let the Sasakis get away and pulled Jake to the side.
“What is your problem?” she demanded.
“That man is an ass. How do you look at a dead sixteen-year-old girl that could be your daughter’s twin and not feel sorrow for that girl? How could you not want to do everything you can to help figure out what happened to her?”
Dani sighed. “I don’t know. But I do know we are not going to get any answers out of him if you assault him.”
“He deserves an ass kicking.”
“Yes, he does, but not by you. Go get a DNA kit from Peter. And make sure you have your emotions in check before you come back.” She turned back to the Sasakis. “And make it quick,” she said over her shoulder.
She addressed Mrs. Sasaki this time. “Mrs. Sasaki, can you tell me how you know the girl in there is not your daughter?”
She looked toward her husband seemingly asking for permission to answer. Dani was having none of that.
“Mrs. Sasaki, I’m asking you, not your husband. Look at me.”
She turned to Dani and nodded. “When Kim was nine years old she tried to pierce her own ears. Her left ear got infected. So bad that they had to remove a small piece of the bottom of the lobe. It didn’t look that bad. Most people would not even notice it.”
“But you knew the piece was missing.”
“Yes. The girl in there does not have the little notch taken out of the lobe.”
“When exactly did your daughter disappear?”
Mr. Sasaki grabbed his wife’s arm and pulled her away. Dani stepped in front of him to stop them. “Mr. Sasaki, we’re not done here.”
“Yes, we are.” He continued around her.
Jake came back and stood in front of him. “No, sir, we’re not. I believe the lieutenant asked when your daughter went missing.”
Mr. Sasaki drilled Jake with a look. “I’m not sure of the exact date, but I’d say about six weeks ago.”
Fatally Linked Page 23
