Deadly Waters (A Sean McGhee Mystery Book 1)

by T. Alan Codder

  “You can’t do this!” Danny cried, his face turning red.

  “Would you rather I fire you?” Sean asked, his voice soft but full of steel.

  Danny was quiet a moment. “I’ve been an officer for thirty-five years, and you’re going to fire me over this?”

  “No, I’m going to suspend you over this… unless you keep back-talking me.”

  Danny’s mouth went hard. “Yes, sir!” he snapped then pulled his patrol car keys out of his pocket, removed his badge and pistol, and slammed them all on Sean’s desk.

  Sean safed the weapon and pocketed the magazine as he rose. He tucked the weapon, badge and keys into his desk drawer, and then escorted Officer Brady out of the station.

  “Do you want me to call someone to come get you?”

  “I’ve got it, sir!” Danny spat.

  “Go home and cool off, and don’t do something you’ll regret later.”

  When Danny didn’t say anything, Sean turned and walked back into the station.

  After checking Officer Brady’s weapon into the armory, and locking up his badge, Sean wrote a disciplinary notice, attached the photos, and put it in Danny’s file.

  Michelle watched him leave as he stomped through the lobby, looking very alert and professional behind the glass. By tomorrow, every officer on the force would know Danny had been suspended. He’d hated doing it, but sleeping on the job wasn’t something he could overlook.

  -oOo-

  He was scraping the contents of the can into Marmalade’s bowl when his phone rang. He finished emptying the can before pulling the ringing phone from his pocket. One glance at the display told him everything he needed to know.

  “Hello, mayor,” Sean said as he sat the bowl on the floor.

  “Is it true?” Rudy asked.

  “That Officer Daniel Brady was sleeping in his patrol car? Yes.”

  “You suspended him?”

  “That’s correct. Two weeks without pay.”

  “Are you sure he was sleeping?”

  “You want to see the photos?”

  “Shit,” Rudy breathed. “Who took them?”

  “A member of the public.”

  Rudy sighed. “I’ve been on the phone with him for the last half-hour. He’s not happy. He said you threatened to fire him.”

  “He wasn’t happy at being suspended. I gave him an alternative. He liked that even less. I don’t care if he’s upset or not. I won’t have my officers sleeping in their patrol cars.”

  “He said he was sick and on medication.”

  “He didn’t sound sick to me, but even if he was, that’s no excuse. As I told him, if he was that sick, he should have called in.”

  “Sean, I know you’re used to working in a big department, but we do things differently down here. Can’t you just, I don’t know, put something in his file?”

  “I’ve already done that.”

  “Did you have to suspend him?”

  “Do you think it’s acceptable for city employees to sleep on the job?”

  “Of course not!”

  “Then yes, I had to suspend him.”

  “Sean, this looks bad. Suspending an officer? That’s never been done before.”

  “Which is probably why Danny thought it was okay to sleep in his car.”

  “Look, I agree he needs to be disciplined, but suspending him without pay seems a little harsh.”

  “What do you suggest? Suspend him with pay? How does having an extra two weeks of paid vacation send a message?”

  “Can’t you put him on some assignment in the office?”

  “Doing what? Why is it a problem to send a clear and unequivocal message that this won’t be tolerated? He stood right there in my office and the first words out of his mouth were, ‘I know it was wrong but…’ He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he did it anyway.”

  “Sean, this is going to cause problems.”

  “With who? Obviously somebody didn’t think it was appropriate behavior or she wouldn’t have sent me the pictures.”

  “Look, I know you’re trying to assert your authority, but—”

  “You think that’s what this is about, me trying to show my officers who’s in charge?” he snapped, cutting Rudy off.

  “No. But Sean, you’re rocking the boat. You can’t come down here and start—”

  Sean gritted his teeth to prevent himself from lashing out at Rudy. “It seems to me it’s time someone did. This conversation is over, mayor. Officer Brady is suspended. If you don’t like it, have me fired and make Danny the chief. Good night.”

  Sean ended the call and tossed the phone onto the counter and glared at it.

  “What a chicken-shit,” he muttered to the empty room before turning away in disgust.

  Rudy was so afraid someone would be upset he didn’t seem able to do what needed to be done. He was more concerned about appearances than doing the right thing.

  He sighed, opened the ‘fridge, and pulled out the quart of Brunswick stew, spooning half into a bowl. He suddenly didn’t feel like cooking.

  Sixteen

  When Sean arrived at the station the next morning, the mood was subdued.

  Nobody wanted to see a fellow officer suspended, and the rest of the officers probably weren’t sure how the new chief would react to having to do it. No one asked what happened. He was sure they all knew, at least Danny’s version, and he wasn’t going to defend his decision. If the mayor fired him… he gave a mental shrug. He was looking for a job when he found this one.

  He sat down in his office, picked up his phone, and dialed the number he’d memorized over the past couple of weeks.

  “Maggie, Sean McGhee. I’d like to talk with Kevin Harbaugh, today if possible, about the Thacker case. What time would be the least disruptive to your operation?”

  “Either now, around lunch, or just before he leaves for the day. Why?”

  He thought about it. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

  He stood up, and having not bothered to remove his jacket, immediately started out the door.

  “Chief!” Kim called, speaking to him through the lobby speaker.

  “Yeah, Kim?”

  “I brought in some homemade chocolate chip cookies. Want one before you go?” she asked, holding a cookie up and giving it an enticing wave, her voice pitched to sell the idea.

  He smiled, appreciating the gesture. “A little early for me. But if you put one or two back, I won’t complain.”

  She grinned. “I’ll hide a couple so these chowhounds don’t eat them all.”

  -oOo-

  Sean pulled to a stop in front of the admin building of the wastewater plant and stepped out of his cruiser. He thought for a moment and then decided to clip his badge to his belt. He stepped into the building, signed the visitor’s log, and then walked down the hall to Maggie’s office. Harbaugh was in the office with her and he looked distinctly nervous.

  “Maggie. Kevin,” he said with a nod.

  Kevin Harbaugh was a thin, wiry man of about fifty. He had big, sad looking dark eyes, a nose that appeared to have been broken at least once, and his thick black hair was shot through with silver. He was wearing the bright blue shirt all the wastewater employees wore, along with heavy cotton work pants and battered steel-toed boots.

  “Should I get a lawyer?” Kevin asked. He was sitting bolt upright in the chair, clearly on edge.

  Sean shook his head. “I just want to ask you some questions. I’m not here to arrest you, and I’m not accusing you of anything.”

  Kevin relaxed slightly. “Okay, good. I already talked to Deputy Fisher and told him everything I know.”

  “I’ve seen his report.” He shifted his gaze to Maggie. “Is there someplace private where Kevin and I can talk?”

  “Right here,” she said as she rose. She gave Kevin a pat on the shoulder and a smile as she stepped past. “You can sit at my desk if you need to.”

  “Thanks. This won’t take long.”

  As
she exited the room, she pulled the door closed. Sean thought about sitting behind her desk, but decided it would be better if he took the other guest chair.

  “I know you went over this with Officer Fisher, but I want you to go over it with me,” Sean said as he pulled out his notepad with notes from Fish’s interview of Harbaugh.

  Kevin swallowed hard. “Where should I start?”

  “Start with finding the body.”

  Kevin shrugged. “Nothing much to tell. I was out at the Dalton Street lift station when the call came in saying they needed help getting a body out of the ditch. I was close so I came to help. Doyle too. The four of us pulled him out while Maggie called 9-1-1.”

  “So, you weren’t here when the body was found?”

  “No. Me and the other three maintenance guys spend most of our time working at the lift stations. They require more heavy maintenance than this place does.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because they work a lot harder and have a rougher life. Gravity does a lot of the work here so there isn’t as much pumping and, more importantly, the water has had all the trash removed before it starts working its way through the plant. There are a lot of probes and the like that need tending, and a lot more electronic headaches to deal with, but overall, the plant doesn’t take the beating day to day that a lift station does. Storms, that’s what kicks the plant’s butt. Storms with lots of lighting. Aye yai yai,” Kevin moaned dramatically.

  Sean grinned briefly. “Okay, I guess I can see that.”

  “The lift stations are different. They aren’t as sensitive, but they really take a beating. All the lines for an area lead to a lift station. The sewage accumulates in a well until it reaches a certain point, and then the pump or pumps kick on and pump the well out. Gravity then carries it to the next station, or the plant. Anything that goes into a sewer line ends up in those wells, and the pumps have to handle it. Sometimes they can’t. For example, baby wipes are a pain. On the smaller pumps, they get wrapped around the impellers, and when they do, the pump runs but nothing happens. Then the well backs up and we get a high wet well alarm.” He grinned. “A lift station isn’t a nice place to be.”

  Sean nodded. “No, I imagine not. Did you know Boyd Thacker?”

  “Know him? No. Know of him? Yes. All of us here at the plant did.”

  “What did you think of him?”

  “I didn’t like him. Especially after what he did to Maggie.”

  “What’d he do?”

  “As she was leaving one day he was pounding on the windows of her car. She said it scared the crap out of her. Good thing I wasn’t there when he was doing that.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “He and I would have had what my dad used to call a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting. Attacking someone who was just trying to get home, and a woman to boot? That’s not cotton in my book.”

  Sean’s squinted as he tried to figure out the reference. “I think I got that, but I’m not sure. What’s ‘that’s not cotton in my book’ mean?”

  Kevin grinned. “I forgot you’re not from around here. It just means I didn’t like it. There was no call for him going on like he was. I told her she should have run over him. It would have served him right. Her car isn’t very big, but it’s big enough to make a mess outa ya. Anyway, after that happened, one of us guys made sure to go out right behind her and Alex. I don’t know if it was because the police started chasing them off, or us being right there, but whatever it was, he didn’t do it again.”

  “You like Maggie?”

  Kevin grinned. “Yeah. Best boss I’ve ever had.”

  “And you didn’t care for how Thacker was treating her?”

  “No I didn’t.” He paused as his smile slowly disappeared. “Wait a minute. That doesn’t mean I killed him though.”

  Sean gave his head a small shake. “I’m not saying you did. Did he ever give you any problems?”

  “No. The only time I ever saw him was when he was prancing around outside the gate making a fool of himself.”

  “Why were you at the oxidation ditch?”

  “Before the body was found?” Kevin asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Preventive maintenance. We have a program that spits out what PM’s we have to do, along with all the parts required to do it. We get a list each week. Two of the things on the list were to grease the bearings on the screen and check the oil level in the gear boxes on the aerators.”

  “And you did that?”

  “Yep.”

  “And you didn’t see the body?”

  “No. I wasn’t looking, but even if I were, I probably wouldn’t have seen it. He was at the opposite end of the ditches from where I was. I doubt he was there anyway. The operators do rounds every three or four hours. Surely, if he was there when I was, someone would have seen him before they did.”

  “How many days after your maintenance check was the body found?”

  “I had to look it up for Officer Fisher because I couldn’t remember when I actually did the maintenance. It was three.”

  Sean rubbed his chin. “Twenty-four sets of rounds, more or less,” he said as if speaking to himself.

  Kevin counted on his fingers. “Yeah, something like that. If he came up during the night, you’d never see him. The light isn’t that good at night and you could barely see the body when you were standing right there during the day.” He paused. “What I don’t understand is, why was he floating? I know he was weighted, but it seems like it would have been safer to put more weight on the body so it would sink.”

  “It probably did sink, at first,” Sean explained. “But as he began to decompose, gasses filled his body and he floated up, even with the weights on. My understanding is a dead body will lift a lot of weight. Considerably more than just the twenty pounds that was on him.”

  Kevin scratched his head. “I guess. Seems to me, though, if you were going to weight the body down, you’d put some serious weight on it. Like five hundred pounds, or something like that.”

  “How would you get him over the wall? Thacker already weighed around two hundred pounds. Two-twenty with the weights on him. That’s seven hundred pounds you’re talking about. You’d need a forklift for something that heavy.”

  Kevin grinned. “Good point. I didn’t think about that. It’s not like you can lay him on the wall while you hook weights to him either. That’d be hard to explain. ‘Uh, no officer. He’s not dead. He’s just… napping.’”

  Sean chuckled. “Yeah. Anything else you can tell me? Anything I should have asked but didn’t?”

  Kevin shrugged. “I’d sure like to help you, chief, but I swear, I didn’t do it, and I don’t know anyone who could have.”

  “You married?”

  Kevin smiled, his face slightly sad. “No.”

  “Can you account for your whereabouts between February sixth and February thirteenth?”

  “Same place as always. Here and home.”

  “Anyone at home that can confirm that?”

  “My mother. She lives with me. She’s getting on up there and needs help.”

  Sean knew that from Fish’s notes, and Fish had confirmed it. Like all the questions he’d asked, he was trying to see if any part of Harbaugh’s story changed. It hadn’t.

  It was obvious to him, Kevin was a little bit sweet on Maggie, and he wondered if that was enough reason for him to have killed Thacker. It hardly seemed likely. Maybe the day Thacker was attacking Maggie’s car, or immediately after, but after four months? That was a long time to nurse such a virulent grudge over something so minor. As Fish said early on, Harbaugh didn’t seem to be hiding anything.

  “Thank you for talking with me, Kevin,” Sean said as he rose.

  Kevin stood as well. “If you have any other questions, just let me know. I’ll answer them as best I can.”

  Sean opened the door and ushered Kevin out. He spotted Maggie at the far end of the hall in the lab. He walked down and paused at the door.

/>   “Have a minute?” he asked when she turned.

  “Sure. Be right there.”

  She finished talking to Ted, and then led Sean back to her office.

  “Did you arrest him?” she asked with a small smile.

  “No.”

  “Kevin’s a good guy. As nice and as helpful as the day is long. He comes in, does his job, and never complains. He’d give you the shirt off his back if you asked for it.”

  “You like him?”

  “Yeah. I wish I had ten more just like him.”

  “You don’t think it could be him?”

  Maggie gave him a sideways grin. “Of all the people who work here, he’d be the last person I would suspect. He’s been taking care of his family since he was old enough to work. His dad had a stroke years ago and he moved in with them to help his mom. After his dad passed, he stayed because his mother had never worked outside the home. She would have been on government assistance, and he wanted to do better for her than that. The world needs more men like Kevin Harbaugh.”

  Sean nodded. Kevin hardly seemed like the kind of man to kill someone in cold blood.

  “Do you think he could do it if he thought he was protecting someone else?”

  She glared at him. “Don’t even go there,” she said, her voice cold and deadly.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You damn well know what I mean. I know where you’re going with this, and I’m telling you not to. He didn’t do it, okay? Not for me, not for anyone.”

  “So, you know he’s…?”

  “I know, but he’s never said one word or done one inappropriate thing. He’s a good man.”

  He held up his hands in surrender. “Okay. I have to follow every lead.”

  “Well, you did, so now you can drop it.”

  “Why are you so touchy?”

  “I’m not touchy. I just don’t want to see him dragged through the mud over this. If that’s all you have to suspect him, I’m telling you, you don’t have anything.”

  “You and he…?”

  “No, and we’re not going to either. Even if he were to ask, which I don’t think he ever will, the answer would still be no. That’s a dangerous game, and I’m not playing it. Understand?”