Heinous by Debra Webb

moment. “I see.”
    “How long will it take?”
    “I have a friend at one of the private labs in town. With a priority rush, I could possibly have something back to you by the end of the week.”
    “The end of the week would be good.”
    If Amanda Brownfield was related to her by blood, Jess wanted to know.

 
5
    Birmingham Police Department, 5:50 p.m.
    “State your name and rank for the record.”
    “Chief of Police Daniel Burnett.” Dan gritted his teeth to prevent telling his old friend that everyone in the damned room knew who he was. These proceedings were unnecessary. Taking a breath, he reminded himself to relax. He’d spent too much time being prepped by his attorney, Frank Teller, to screw up right out of the gate.
    Deputy Chief Harold Black, Birmingham’s Crimes Against Persons Division Chief, looked over his notes before continuing. Lieutenant Kelvin Roark, Harold’s second in command, sat next to him, the massive case file on the missing Captain Allen lay on the table.
    This couldn’t be happening
.
    In the seemingly endless seconds that followed as Dan was sworn in, he tried to understand how this situation had progressed to the point of spiraling out of control. Captain Ted Allen had been a good cop for more than a decade. When had he stopped? More importantly, why hadn’t Dan noticed?
    When Harold hesitated to review his notes before moving on, Teller spoke up, “It is almost six o’clock, Chief Black. Is there some reason you are not prepared to proceed?”
    “I assure you, Mr. Teller, I am ready to proceed.” Harold’s attention rested on his notes once more.
    “Then I suggest you begin.”
    Teller had made it abundantly clear that Dan was to let him handle this interrogation. At the time, Dan had said something like
happy to
. Not so much now. Now he wanted to reach across the conference table and shake the hell out of Harold.
    Those kinds of actions will only make you look guilty
.
    Dan wasn’t guilty. Damn it to hell, why didn’t the people who had known and trusted him for decades acknowledge this? He had a job and a life that needed his attention.
    “I apologize for taking a moment.” Harold looked up and offered a smile. “I needed to refresh my memory. Now. Chief Burnett, I’m going to ask you a series of questions that may seem repetitive, bear with me, please. We need to do this for the official record of this proceeding.”
    Dan leaned back in his chair and tried again to at least appear at ease.
    “You’re aware that Captain Ted Allen remains missing,” Harold stated.
    “Yes,” Dan answered.
    “As the head of the department’s Gang Task Force, Captain Allen answered directly to you and met with you approximately once each week, is that correct?”
    “Yes.” Dan considered for a second or two the rest of what he wanted to say. “He did until about two months ago. At that time, his work required increasingly more of his attention so we often spoke by phone.”
    “When did you become aware of Captain Allen’s work related issues with Deputy Chief Harris? For the record,” Harold went on, “Chief Harris is the Division Chief of the Special Problems Unit.”
    Dan tensed at the mention of Jess’s name. He didn’t want her dragged into this any more deeply than she already was. She didn’t need the stress. “I became aware of the situation during the investigation of the DeShawn Simmons’ case, the final week of July.” Dan still couldn’t think of Jess going into a drug lord’s house demanding answers without starting to sweat. She could have been killed right there under the surveillance of the Gang Task Force.
    “The tension between Captain Allen and Chief Harris continued to escalate, noticeably so during the Grayson murder investigation, until he disappeared on or about August 6, is that correct?” Harold folded his hands in front of him and looked to Dan for a response.
    “Yes. The Grayson case involved the murder of Lieutenant Lawrence Grayson’s