by Jenna Baker
*****
I had Manny and Mac rig one of the conference rooms for sight and sound. I knew how big this story could be, and everything had to look right. We didn’t have a lot of time for setup, but I made sure that all the little touches were there. I dimmed the lights, laid some pictures of the body and the reports on the table, and placed several used coffee cups around the room. I wanted to give the illusion that the cops had been sitting around the table and working on this all night. It actually looked pretty damn convincing. Mac had managed to calm down after his outburst, and we were once again working as a team.
Reid and Foxy took their places at the table, and I hid with Mac and Manny in the corner of the room.
“I thought this was supposed to be reality,” Foxy said. “This feels a little staged.”
I shrugged. A few moments later, Captain Harris opened the door with force. “Okay, what we got?” She sat at the table and paid our camera no mind. She was focused on Reid and Foxy and solving this case.
“We’ve been investigating the murder of John Walters, a.k.a. Chaser,” Reid began.
“Yeah, the hit-and-run, get to the point,” Harris interrupted.
“We have come to discover that Chaser was transporting illegal immigrants across the border in his race car. They called him Chaser because he could outrun the border patrol. Last night we followed his friend and partner Kitt down to the border – that’s how we found out about this operation.”
“What exactly did you find?” Harris asked.
“We followed him inland near San Diego. He drove through the bushes so we couldn’t see the actual pick-up, not unnoticed at least, but we did see him take off at high speed with some extra passengers.”
“But you have no evidence that they were illegal, right?”
“Right, but we spoke to the border patrol down there and they said both Kitt and Chaser do this all the time.”
“Okay, so border patrol has a vendetta against this Chaser guy. Do they follow him to the mainland?” Harris asked.
“It’s possible, but we think he was run down by a race car. We found two different colors of paint chips on the victim’s body. The guys down there, at least the ones we saw, drove Jeeps.”
“Could you trace the paint to any specific vehicles?” Harris asked.
“We’re waiting for forensics to get back to us on some samples we pulled off the car we think was used for the murder. The driver has an alibi, but his car seems to match the color of the chips found on the victim.”
“So why not chase him? Why this Kitt guy?”
“The guy’s alibi is solid, the only way he could have done it is if someone borrowed or stole his car while he was at work. Chaser’s girlfriend Rose may have had access to the car – we saw her riding in it once. She’s also Mexican and might have a connection on the other side of the border. We think she might be setting up the pick-ups then sharing in the profits.”
“So she’s collecting half the profit, then gets greedy and knocks him off with her boyfriend’s car?” Harris asked.
“Possibly, or it could be this other driver, Kitt. Maybe he got greedy for more action – wanted to take all the runs, instead of half. I don’t think Jaeger, the owner of the car, was involved in this stuff, but we don’t know,” Reid said.
“Sounds like a lot of maybes. Where do I come in?” Harris asked.
“We want to plan our next steps right and we have a couple of options. We could haul in the girlfriend and try to get info about the Mexican connection, but she might not talk and then she’ll tip off the others. We could bring in Kitt but I know he won’t talk. Or we could do a stakeout at the border and nail him with some hard evidence.”
“If you can catch him,” Harris said.
“I can catch him,” Reid said, sounding determined. “I think if we can get him on a charge he may squeal.”
“Unless he killed Chaser, then he won’t talk either way,” Harris said.
“Right, but maybe one of the Mexicans he’s carrying will,” Foxy piped in.
“This is out of jurisdiction, you know that,” Harris said.
“I know a guy down there,” Foxy said. “I can let them know we’re coming down.”
“You’ll need an interpreter,” Harris said.
“I can speak Spanish,” Manny chimed in.
Harris turned and it seemed like she was noticing the crew for the first time. “Oh shit, you’re bringing these monkeys down with you?”
I gathered that when Reid was telling the captain what “we” saw, she assumed he meant him and Foxy.
“We don’t have to,” Reid answered, and I felt my heart drop. We were in this too deep, they couldn’t cut us out now.
Captain Harris looked at us, then back to Foxy and Reid. “If these clowns weren’t here this would have been an open and shut case. Hit-and-run, no witnesses, no chance. But it turns out you may have something here so I’m gonna let you run with it. You have seventy-two hours before I pull the file.”
Harris stood up and walked out of the room. Foxy looked at Reid. “Nice work - we got her.”
“First she calls us monkeys, then clowns?” Manny said. “That’s rude, man.”
“Call your connection down there,” Reid said to Foxy. “I want to head down there tonight.”
“How do you know he’s going back there tonight?” I asked.
“I don’t,” Reid said. “We just have to hope we get lucky.”
“Can’t we put a tracking device on him?” Mac asked.
“You need warrants for that shit and we don’t have time,” Reid said.
“You need warrants,” Mac said. “We don’t.”
Mac explained that he had a tracking device that he had placed on Reid and Foxy’s car in the event that we got separated. Reid did not react well to this but agreed to look the other way if they put the device on Kitt’s car. We had his home address and guessed he was probably sleeping during this early morning hour. Mac grabbed a couple of tools and headed out to plant the device in Kitt’s car. In the meantime, I got in my car and headed west for my final dress fitting. I was going from a world of crime and death to frou-frou happy dress land, and I laughed at the contrast.
