Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
I arrive just in time to watch two grunts untack the last of the photos on the evidence board. Everything else pertaining to the case is gone. The room is empty except for the clean-up crew and some boxes they’re using to store everything.
I’m too late.
“No, wait,” I gasp, swinging my bag onto the table. Today’s paper and Mina’s files spill out across the laminated wood.
The grunts pause, staring at me like I’m crazy.
“You have to stop.” I motion to the board and the boxes. “I have new evidence.”
“Ramos?” Burgess says, standing in the doorway. “What’s going on?”
“I have a break in the case.”
“This case? It’s over.”
“Where’s Bonds?” I look around, desperate for a bit of luck. Bonds will listen to me.
“He and Cuccinelli closed the case. They did a debrief for all of us first thing. Didn’t you read the paper?” Burgess picks it up and shakes it at me as if I missed the giant headline.
“That’s just it. They got it wrong.”
Everyone stares at me. I’ve committed a mortal sin, naysaying the lead detectives about a closed case. Heat crawls up my chest, sending spikes of flame to my cheeks. I sound like an idiot, but I hold my ground. Because when cops go after the convenient suspects, the real criminals walk free.
I hold out my hands, appealing to Burgess, to anyone. “I can explain—”
“Okay, come on.” Burgess motions me out of the room. The grunts have already gone back to cleaning up the evidence board. They’re not going to listen to me, but Burgess is willing, so I grab the scattered papers and follow him into the smaller room, where I reviewed the footage for hours.
“All right, Ramos. What’s this about?”
“I read the paper. Martin wasn’t murdered by a gang. Neither were the other two.”
“Evidence says otherwise.”
“That evidence was planted,” I almost shout. “That burner phone—”
“It was in the safe this whole time.”
“Because he put it there.”
“Who?”
“The real murderer.” I don’t know how Rex did it, but I’d bet money that he made sure the burner phone was placed in the safe for Bonds and Cuccinelli to find. Rex owns tech companies. It would be easy for him to forge a text conversation between two burner phones and change the time stamps to frame whoever he wants.
“Look.” Burgess takes on a fatherly tone. “I know you want to prove yourself and see this thing through. But the case came together overnight. Sometimes it works like that.”
“This doesn’t make sense.” I’m grasping for the threads of logic I intend to weave together. I thought I’d have more time. “Suddenly, all these cases are tied together? Martin has ties to this gang?”
“Yeah, turns out he was no saint.” Burgess flips the newspaper over and slaps the picture of Iona Stipanov. “Martin. If you ask me, he got what he deserved.”
I’ve never killed anyone who didn’t deserve it. Rex told me. And he’s tried Martin in the court of public opinion. Now that Martin’s sins are revealed, everyone’s willing to believe his murder was just.
“And the gang members? Why would they murder two of their own?”
“They’re gang bangers. Killing is what they do.”
“Then why did they leave Daniels on my doorstep?”
Burgess shrugs. “Some weird gang ritual. They were making a statement about cops getting involved in their business. Or maybe it was an apology. Who the fuck knows? Do meth heads need a reason to do crazy shit?”
“It doesn’t make sense.” I clutch Mina’s files to my chest. I haven’t brought them up, not yet. They’re too precious to waste on Burgess. “I need to talk to Bonds.”
“He’s moved on. He and Tony are already on the next case. Jacobs and Diaz, too.” The detectives who interviewed me about Daniels’ death.
Burgess is still talking. “Stroke of luck all these murders got solved together. Three birds, one stone.” He points his finger and makes a noise like a gun firing. “And they had you in the frame for that body on your doorstep. Guess that makes this your lucky day.”
I feel like I’ve been beaten, and not in a good way. Burgess notices.
“Not sure why you look like someone canceled Christmas,” he grumbles.
“What about the video I found, the security video outside Martin Shipping.” The video showed Rex in body armor. “How do you explain that?”
“Must have been a gang member.”
“Did you talk to any of them? Do they fit the profile?”
“They’re all denying they had anything to do with it. But they’re being held without bail, and the DA’s on the case now. He’ll offer them a deal to turn on the rest, and one of ’em will take it. We’ll get our confession.”
A false confession, not that it will matter. Rex murdered three men, and the wrong people will go down for it. “This is so wrong.”
“Look, kid.” Burgess claps a meaty hand on my back. “Chief wants this case closed. We did it. Everyone’s celebrating. We’re all going out tonight. You wanna come?”