running for a new term?
Surveying the room, he crossed his arms and lowered his voice so that only I could hear. “Look here, this kid's a gang-banger. Sold some crack to a couple twelve year-olds an hour ago.”
I nodded.
He tapped me on the shoulder and nodded as well, then wheeled around to follow his deputies out the door. A couple of the kid's friends shouted taunts at them and made as if to follow, but didn't. There were some swearing and shaking of heads from the group, but it didn't take long for most of the others in the restaurant who had witnessed what happened to go back to their drinks and talking. I thought Nicole might have gone back to talk with her friend too, since she wasn't at the bar when I turned back to talk with her.
But when I looked across at the booth where the two had been sitting, they were gone.
5
Late the next morning the telephone jarred me awake. I cleared my throat and answered on the fifth ring.
“Pavlicek.”
“You sound a little out of it, Frank. Rough night?” It was Agent Ferrier of the Virginia State Police.
“Sorry. I was up late.”
“Oh?”
“It's not every day I come across a dead body.”
“Sure … Let me ask you something. You said your bird's the one led you to the spot where you found the body?”
“Right. Like I said, she'd taken a rabbit.”
“What happened to the rabbit?”
“I don't know. It was probably wounded. My guess is it might have made it to a burrow.”
“Uh-huh. You know, I been checkin’ up on you.”
“Yeah?”
“You and your partner were pretty famous there for awhile.”
“More like infamous.”
“Right. Since you used to live in Leonardston, you ever come in contact with Dewayne Turner before?”
“Never.”
“How about his family? Turns out he has quite a few relatives in that area.”
“Nope. Not that I know of.”
There was a pause while he seemed to be shuffling some papers. “Let's see. Your licenses are clean. You even pay your bills.”
“Nice to know someone cares.”
“I even talked to a couple of your old supervisors up in New York. They said you sometimes like to push the edge, but as far as they were concerned, when push came to shove, you were a pretty straight shooter.”
“I pay them to say that.” All this praise was starting to make me nervous.
“Yeah, well, that's why I'm having a hard time trying to figure out why you would tamper with a crime scene.”
I let his insinuation hang for a moment while I thought of what to say. “Who says I did?”
“Someone did. Not too long before we went over the site either. The vic's wallet looked like it had been disturbed. There was fresh soil broken near the body. Right now my prime suspect is you.”
Stupid. Stupid, stupid. I figured they would be on to me sooner or later. I just didn't count on it happening so fast. I thought back to my aborted conversation with Nicole the night before. Though I was treading on thin ice here, I wasn't about to lay my cards on the table until 1 knew more of what was going on.
“How many of these kind of killings you investigate every year, Ferrier?”
“Too many. The whole state's seeing more trafficking these days. Coke, heroin, meth, you name it. You know the way the whites and middle class blacks fled the cities? Now even the dope dealers are doing it.”
“What's your solve rate?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“It could've been anybody,” I said. “Could've been kids just messing around who found the body and were too scared to turn it in. Maybe someone who just didn't want to get involved.”
“That mean you're denying you deliberately contaminated potential evidence?”
“Not exactly.”
“Not exactly … That the way you want to play it?”
“If I were trying to hide something, why would I have called you guys?”
“Who are you working for?”
Now there was a good question. Was I working for Nicole, or myself? “I'm not working for anybody.”
“Okay. Look, Pavlicek.
Surveying the room, he crossed his arms and lowered his voice so that only I could hear. “Look here, this kid's a gang-banger. Sold some crack to a couple twelve year-olds an hour ago.”
I nodded.
He tapped me on the shoulder and nodded as well, then wheeled around to follow his deputies out the door. A couple of the kid's friends shouted taunts at them and made as if to follow, but didn't. There were some swearing and shaking of heads from the group, but it didn't take long for most of the others in the restaurant who had witnessed what happened to go back to their drinks and talking. I thought Nicole might have gone back to talk with her friend too, since she wasn't at the bar when I turned back to talk with her.
But when I looked across at the booth where the two had been sitting, they were gone.
5
Late the next morning the telephone jarred me awake. I cleared my throat and answered on the fifth ring.
“Pavlicek.”
“You sound a little out of it, Frank. Rough night?” It was Agent Ferrier of the Virginia State Police.
“Sorry. I was up late.”
“Oh?”
“It's not every day I come across a dead body.”
“Sure … Let me ask you something. You said your bird's the one led you to the spot where you found the body?”
“Right. Like I said, she'd taken a rabbit.”
“What happened to the rabbit?”
“I don't know. It was probably wounded. My guess is it might have made it to a burrow.”
“Uh-huh. You know, I been checkin’ up on you.”
“Yeah?”
“You and your partner were pretty famous there for awhile.”
“More like infamous.”
“Right. Since you used to live in Leonardston, you ever come in contact with Dewayne Turner before?”
“Never.”
“How about his family? Turns out he has quite a few relatives in that area.”
“Nope. Not that I know of.”
There was a pause while he seemed to be shuffling some papers. “Let's see. Your licenses are clean. You even pay your bills.”
“Nice to know someone cares.”
“I even talked to a couple of your old supervisors up in New York. They said you sometimes like to push the edge, but as far as they were concerned, when push came to shove, you were a pretty straight shooter.”
“I pay them to say that.” All this praise was starting to make me nervous.
“Yeah, well, that's why I'm having a hard time trying to figure out why you would tamper with a crime scene.”
I let his insinuation hang for a moment while I thought of what to say. “Who says I did?”
“Someone did. Not too long before we went over the site either. The vic's wallet looked like it had been disturbed. There was fresh soil broken near the body. Right now my prime suspect is you.”
Stupid. Stupid, stupid. I figured they would be on to me sooner or later. I just didn't count on it happening so fast. I thought back to my aborted conversation with Nicole the night before. Though I was treading on thin ice here, I wasn't about to lay my cards on the table until 1 knew more of what was going on.
“How many of these kind of killings you investigate every year, Ferrier?”
“Too many. The whole state's seeing more trafficking these days. Coke, heroin, meth, you name it. You know the way the whites and middle class blacks fled the cities? Now even the dope dealers are doing it.”
“What's your solve rate?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“It could've been anybody,” I said. “Could've been kids just messing around who found the body and were too scared to turn it in. Maybe someone who just didn't want to get involved.”
“That mean you're denying you deliberately contaminated potential evidence?”
“Not exactly.”
“Not exactly … That the way you want to play it?”
“If I were trying to hide something, why would I have called you guys?”
“Who are you working for?”
Now there was a good question. Was I working for Nicole, or myself? “I'm not working for anybody.”
“Okay. Look, Pavlicek.
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