“Keep your mouth shut,” she said.
“It didn’t take long for this relationship to become one-sided.”
She chuckled and nudged the bread under the fence. The barking stopped as the distinct noise of a grizzly bear swallowing a moose was followed by a quick cough and whine for more food.
“Dexter’s a good boy,” she said. “Yes, he is.” She passed another bite to him, this time closer to the fence. Four pieces of bread later, the dog was in her arms. The sound of a waterfall told her they were too late. Sheets of rain would be on them in seconds. “No talking. To the car, but keep giving me food.”
By the time they got into the vehicle and sped away from the scene, all three were dripping wet. Starsky kept both hands on the wheel and his attention on the road. The wipers thwump-thwumped as fast as they could but were unable to keep up with the volume of water now flooding the area. Small ponds covered low-lying sections of the street, and he slowed to a crawl to get through them. He mumbled and frowned.
“You say something?” she asked.
“My car’s going to smell like wet Dexter.”
“Strange. He said the same thing about you.”
He laughed and wiped his arm across his forehead. “Where to?”
“I need to call Haley and let her know we have her dog. See if she wants to meet.”
He glanced at her. “If she wants to meet? I thought this was a done deal.”
A drop trickled down her neck and she shuddered. “It will be.” She placed Dexter in the back seat and tossed the last of the bread to him. “Might have to dig into your chicken parm.”
“He’s going to explode if you keep feeding him.”
She shrugged and flipped open her cell. “Not my car.” She pressed OK to open the menu on the tiny display. Let’s see. Contacts. OK. Scroll scroll scroll scroll. Haley Bricker. OK. Dial. OK. Can’t understand why people don’t use flip phones anymore.
The girl answered on the first ring. “Hello?”
“We have your dog.”
Starsky laughed and shook his head.
“What?” Haley said. “Detective Alvarez?”
Starsky touched Amara’s arm. “Tell her we want five thousand in unmarked Milk-Bones.”
She shushed him. “Haley, we have Dexter. I was hoping we could meet somewhere and return him to you. Maybe someplace we could talk?”
“You have Dexter?”
“Uh, yeah.” Is she not listening? “Where do you want to—”
“Nooo!”
Amara held the phone away from her ear.
Haley’s scream transitioned to sobbing. “You have to take him back. Now.”
You have got to be kidding me. “Whatever’s going on here, we can help.”
Her breathing came in gasps. “Please. I’m begging you. Take him back.”
“We can do that. We’ll put him in the Luceros’ backyard. Is that okay?”
“No. They’ll know Dexter’s been gone and think I did it. You have to tell them.”
Amara nudged Starsky and drew a circle in the air to signal him to turn the car around.
“Tell her that”—he waited until she covered the phone with her palm—“tell her we’ll take the dog back if she agrees to talk to us.”
She scrunched her face and shook her head. “That’s as bad as them.”
He cut his eyes at her. “She’s not your friend. She’s a suspect.”
An empty space swelled in her chest. Was she blackmailing a teenager to force her to talk? “Haley, what happens if they think you took Dexter?”
“Bad things.” She sniffled and her voice shook. “Tell Matias you took him or found him or whatever, okay? I can’t be involved. If they think I had anything to do with it, they’ll hurt him.”
“We’ll take care of it, but after that, maybe we can talk?”
“Whatever you want. Just hurry. Please.”
“I’ll call you when we’re done.” She hung up and scrubbed her hand over her face. “That felt wrong.”
“We were taking the dog back no matter what she said.” Starsky lifted a hand from the steering wheel and reached toward her, then stopped. “It’s an investigation. Use whatever leverage you can gain.”
“Fine. As long as it’s not illegal.”
“So stealing Dexter wasn’t wrong? How is returning the dog so Haley will talk any different from taking the dog so she’ll talk?” He took a heavy breath. “Either way, you’re doing what she wants, and in exchange, you’re asking her to do something for you.”
Her throat tightened as she tried to swallow. Did he have to say it like that? “It didn’t feel the same.”
“No, because you thought you were the hero. She’d be so happy she’d talk to you. Now you’re the bad guy. Doesn’t feel as good.”
She ground her teeth. This night had taken a turn for the worse. “Don’t talk down to me.”
He returned his hand to the steering wheel. The wipers continued their back and forth treks. Neither spoke for several minutes.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “You can’t be their friend. Not while they’re a suspect. Don’t trust anyone.”
“That include you?”
His head twitched and he sniffled.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” she said. “I do trust you. I hope you know that. Sometimes, I, um, sorry, okay?”
He nodded. “I don’t know if this can work.”
“Me neither.” Her nose ran and her voice cracked. “But I think I want it to.”
“So how do we do that? Can we separate work and personal?”
She touched his arm. “I don’t know if I want to separate them. That’s who we are. We’ll figure it out.”
“I hope so.” He stopped the car down the street from the Lucero house. “From now on, I’ll do my best to keep my mouth shut unless you ask for help. I just hate to see you make some of the mistakes I’ve made.”
“I want your help. I do. But some things I think I need to learn on my own.”
“Like how to return a dog you just stole?”
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I think this is one of those times I need to watch and learn.”
He grabbed the chicken parmigiana in one hand and the dog in the other. “What am I supposed to tell them?”
She shrugged. “I trust you.”
38
Starsky trotted back to the car and settled behind the steering wheel. “That went better than I expected.”
“Yeah?”
“Ms. Lucero answered the door. She recognized me right away. I think she was afraid I was there to arrest Matias.”
“What did you say?” Amara asked.
“Handed her the dog, said I was on a stakeout and spotted him walking in the street. I left before she had a chance to think things through.”
“Like how you knew which house Dexter belonged to? Or who you were staking out?”
He cranked the car and drove out of the subdivision. “Pizza, right?”
“First place you see. My treat but get it to go. I’m calling Haley and having her meet us by El Mercado. They’ll be closed and shouldn’t be many people around.”
“Don’t want to go to the station?”
“Too risky. They’re probably tracking each other. I don’t want anyone to know she’s meeting with us.”
“Good call,” he said. “Of course, they could always follow her to see what she’s doing.”
“If they do, they do.”
She phoned Haley, explained the plan, gave directions, and told her not to be late. A queasy rumble vibrated her stomach. Her mood had settled into a dark place. The fight with Starsky, brief though it was, drained the lightheartedness of the evening. And the fact that he was correct, she needed to do a better job separating herself from suspects, wasn’t helping. Manipulating people was a skill—was that the right word?—she’d have to learn. Used properly and legally, there was nothing wrong with backing people into a corner to force them to talk to yo
u. Not if it was part of a murder investigation.
Except that wasn’t entirely accurate. There might not be anything technically wrong with it, but it sure did feel morally iffy. One of those “the ends justify the means” deals. What bothered her most was the certainty that if they were dealing with Liam and his cocky attitude, she’d have enjoyed the process. Savored the subtle blackmail. And if she didn’t treat all suspects the same, her career in Homicide wouldn’t last long.
“You okay over there?” Starsky asked.
She looked at him before turning away again. “The job messes you up, doesn’t it? Makes you do things. Feel things.”
“Don’t let it. Look, I know it’s easy to say that, but we were all you once. You learn to do what you have to do to solve the case. Want to know the difference between a good homicide detective and a bad one?”
She stared at him and waited.
“The bad ones start to enjoy the dirty parts of the job. The manipulating and pushing boundaries between legal and illegal. Soon, the only thing that matters is solving the case.”
“Isn’t it?”
He turned into a pizza restaurant and parked. “Yes, it is, for the job. Not for you. This career demands things from you, but that doesn’t mean you have to like them. Know where the line is, and don’t cross it. That’s the best advice I can give.” He opened the door and stepped outside.
“Starsky?”
He hunched into the vehicle. “Yeah?”
“You’ll tell me if I get too close? To the line, I mean?”
He shook his head. “Can’t. In this job, we all draw our own lines.”
Haley, Starsky, and Amara sat around a wrought iron table outside one of Market Square’s shops. The bright colors of Mexico surrounded them. Small flags rippled overhead on lines run across the walkway. Displays of piñatas and sombreros filled the store windows. Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, artwork covered everything from guitars to T-shirts to ceramic tiles.
As expected, the only people around this late at night were security guards. One had tried to shoo them off but left them in peace when the two detectives showed their badges and offered a couple of slices of pepperoni pizza.
“Thanks for coming,” Amara said. “I appreciate your willingness to speak with us. Do you have any questions before we get started?”
A long pause preceded her response. “I’m not sure. I want to help but, um, I don’t want to.”
“Understood.” Time for a little nudge. “Did you know Matias came to the station today?”
Haley squinted and blinked rapidly. “For what?”
“Why do you think? He wanted to cut a deal.” Amara double-checked Starsky’s cell to confirm it was ready to record. “I’ll make some opening introductions and explain what we’re doing.”
The girl nodded and placed her phone on the table. “I’m recording this too.”
“No problem. Here we go.” She pressed the button on the app. “This is Detective Amara Alvarez. Detective Jeremiah Peckham is here also. We’re speaking to Haley Bricker. Haley, do you understand that you are not under arrest?”
“I do.”
“And do you also understand that you are free to leave anytime you want?”
“Yeah.”
“Great. Haley, I’m curious why you gave your dog to Matias. Can you explain that, please?”
“He said it was insurance. That Dexter would be fine as long as I didn’t, uh, you know.”
“As long as you what?” Starsky asked.
The girl’s posture stiffened. “What am I supposed to do? If I talk to you, he said they’d hurt him. If I steal him back, he said they’d find him anyway and that would be worse.”
Amara tapped her finger on the table. Worse for Dexter or worse for Haley? “Who is he?”
“Liam. He can be cruel sometimes. I don’t think he’d really hurt Dexter, but I didn’t want to risk it, you know?”
Poor girl. If she’d let them bring the dog back, they could’ve found a safe place for it. “I do,” Amara said. “Did Liam or anyone else threaten you?”
“No. There’s sort of an understanding between us. We protect each other. At least we used to.”
“Thick as thieves, huh?”
Haley squished her nose. “What?”
“Forget it.” She scooted back and crossed her legs. “If Liam said they’d hurt Dexter if you talked to us, why are you here?”
“What choice did I have? If you didn’t take him back to Matias’s house, it could’ve been bad.”
That’ll be fun to explain if anyone ever listens to the whole recording. Like a defense lawyer. “I have some questions regarding the death of Zachary Coleman. He was a friend of yours?”
Haley tilted her head side to side several times. “Sorta, I guess. We did some stuff together, but he wasn’t like a boyfriend or anything.”
“Got it. What do you believe to be the cause of Mr. Coleman’s death?”
“I’m, uh, hoping it was an overdose or something.”
“But you don’t think that’s the case?”
“I don’t know.”
Amara stared at her. “Haley, would you describe the events that occurred on the day of Mr. Coleman’s death?”
“We all—me and Zach and Liam and Matias—we went to the Cannonball Water Park. It was hot and we figured it’d be a good way to cool off. I wasn’t with Zach when he died though.”
“I see.” Amara interlocked her fingers. “Did you provide drugs to him? Alcohol?”
The teen glanced at Starsky, then concentrated on her phone. “No. I didn’t have anything to do with it. But there might be some things that happened, and if they did, I want to help.”
Vague enough? “And you understand that to be helpful, you need to tell the truth? All of it?”
She nodded.
“Sorry,” Amara said. “The phone can’t hear you nod.”
“I have to tell the truth.”
“Great. Earlier you stated you were hoping the death was due to overdose. You don’t believe that though, do you?”
“I’m not sure.”
Time to fix that. “Haley, the body was pulled from the lazy river attraction at the water park, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Would it surprise you to know that Zachary Coleman was already dead when he went into the water? That a person or persons placed him there after he died?”
Her breathing quickened and she fidgeted with her hair. “I don’t know anything about that.”
“No? Okay. We’ll circle back in a minute. You, Matias Lucero, and Liam Walker all visited the Coleman residence after Zachary’s death. I saw you there. Did you take the hard drive from his computer?”
She dragged her arm under her nose. “I, uh, I don’t think I want to answer any more questions.”
Starsky pointed toward the parking area. “Like the detective said, you’re free to go anytime you want. You’ve been very helpful. Not enough to do yourself any favors, but we learned a few things.”
Haley frowned. “I didn’t tell you anything.”
“Of course you did,” Amara said. “Maybe not in so many words, but it’s clear you think Zachary Coleman was murdered. That implies you know of a reason for him to be killed. And your reaction to my question about the computer equipment might as well have been a confession. One of you three, I’m guessing you, stole the hard drive. That’s evidence of conspiracy. So, stay with me here—you put those two words together, conspiracy and murder, and what do you get? Help me out, Detective.”
Starsky grunted. “Let’s see here. She’s an adult, right? The only one of the three if I remember correctly. Twenty years minimum. That’s assuming this doesn’t get kicked to the federal courts. You didn’t do anything outside of Texas, did you? Mm-mm. That’d make things really ugly.”
“Let me be clear,” Amara said. “We’re not threatening you. We can’t tell you what a jury will decide. Or maybe you’re fine with being in your forties—if you�
��re lucky—when you get out of prison. Bottom line is that if you don’t want to talk to us, then don’t. Your decision.”
Haley’s shoulders slumped. “You’ll help me?”
“We’ll do what we can,” Amara said, “but I can’t promise anything. Deals aren’t up to me.”
Her head dropped lower. “I took the hard drive and destroyed it. I don’t know what was on it. He probably had it encrypted anyway. I do.”
“Thank you,” Amara said. “Why did you take it?”
“There might have been, um, things on there that we didn’t want people to know about.”
“What kind of things?”
“Stuff he wanted to keep secret. Plans and passwords and, I don’t know. Maybe details on things he did.”
“And all of those are regarding TOXICftw?”
Haley’s head jerked. “You know about that?”
So Matias didn’t tell her the police knew. “Huh. When I spoke with your friend this afternoon, he was as surprised as you are. Odd that he didn’t mention any of this to you. Wonder if he told Liam?”
The teenager shifted in her seat and stared at her fingers.
Amara flattened her palms on the table. “How did the group get into ransomware?”
“It was just something to do, you know?” She flopped her head backward and sighed. “We’d been hacking into systems for a few years, kinda challenging each other to see who could break in first. After that, I guess it sorta evolved. Seemed like a harmless way to make a little bit of money.”
“A little bit?” Starsky asked. “I’ve seen your truck.”
“We didn’t take more than we figured they could afford.”
And how exactly did you determine that amount? “No harm done, right? Haley, was Zachary Coleman killed because of something that happened within your group? Was it because of the ransomware?”
“Maybe.” She closed her eyes. “Probably.”
“Do you know who killed him?”
“For sure? No.”
“If you had to guess?”
She paused before answering. “None of us.”
“No?” She crossed her arms and clicked her tongue. “Then who was it?”
Haley’s chin trembled and a tear streaked down her cheek. “I just know their name.”
Network of Deceit Page 21
