Red Man Down(20)

‘The Animal went through all the protocols but he assured me several times that he was probably wasting his time,’ he told his teammates. ‘He kept saying’ – Ollie drew himself up and looked superior, doing his best imitation of Dr Greenberg – ‘“this body shows exactly the process I predicted at the crime scene. You see this bullet track through the spinal cord?”’ At the words ‘spinal cord’ Ollie lapsed into broad caricature. ‘“You do see, don’t you, my poor ignorant little police person, that this explains the small amount of blood loss?”’ Seeing Delaney getting ready to put his foot down, Ollie got serious. ‘What the doc is saying is that this guy was almost certainly dead after the first shot. We won’t have the written report till all the lab reports are back, and he’ll be even more cautious than usual since this is officer-involved. But I don’t think Spurlock has anything to fear from the autopsy report. And since there weren’t any witnesses, the autopsy settles everything, doesn’t it?’

‘Unless the neighborhood canvass turned up any watchers – did it?’

‘No,’ Ray said. ‘We had trouble finding anybody who’d even admit to being on that block on Saturday. That area’s about due to get torn down and rebuilt, I think – even during the week it’s mostly storage space for stuff that’s being sold somewhere else. All that’s open is the bar where the call originated. Even that looks about ready to close.’

‘Except don’t hold your breath, because it’s looked that way for five years that I know of,’ Jason said.

‘I wondered that day how that bar could stay in business,’ Sarah said. ‘It’s so dilapidated, and half the buildings around it are padlocked shut.’

‘Oh, come on, you know the answer to that,’ Jason said. ‘It’s your friendly neighborhood head shop.’

‘And rumor has it,’ Ray said, ‘that those rascals might also be doing a little trade in copper wire.’

‘How about it, Jason?’ Delaney said. ‘You got any skinny on that yet?’

‘Plenty of these rumors like Ray’s hearing.’ Jason looked condescending; too cool a cat to chase every little rustle in the wall. ‘Nobody local’s doing time for it yet, way I heard it.’

‘This doesn’t make sense though,’ Delaney said. ‘If they’re fencing wire why would they want to sic the cops on Ed Lacey?’

‘I managed to ask the bartender that question,’ Leo said, ‘while being, you know, extremely discreet so as not to risk offense.’

‘Uh-huh.’ Delaney looked amused. He tolerated more irony from Leo than any of the other detectives, Sarah thought. Probably because Leo was quite suave, actually – a canny old cop who could walk through a room full of half-drunk ranting people and come out the other side unscratched with the information he went in after. ‘What did the bartender say?’

‘Seems to have been a couple of new customers, out-of-towners just driving by looking for a beer and some chips. One of them whipped out a smartphone and called nine-one-one while the bartender and his regulars were busy minding their own business.’

‘Bet they hate when that happens.’

‘Sure didn’t do the bar any good,’ he said. ‘Emptied the place out in two minutes.’

‘OK, Leo, be serious now. That bartender must have been watching this whole thing go down.’

‘Maybe you can get him to cop to that, boss, but I couldn’t. He swears that soon as the place cleared out he decided to open the storeroom and re-stock the long-necks. Said he heard some funny popping noises while he was in there putting supplies on the two-wheeler, thought somebody must be playing with firecrackers. By the time he got back out by the window transferring beer into the cooler there, he looked outside and saw the lot across the street getting taped off and a row of official vehicles parked at the curb in front.’

‘Well,’ Delaney said, ‘you got his numbers, in case we have to try to get him into court later? Good. How do you think Internal Affairs sees this, Sarah?’

‘The way I read him, Jeffries wants to keep his nose clean and his briefcase neat. He’s always walking that fine line, one of us but not quite. If we can furnish him with a pat answer, I don’t see him going out of his way to cause trouble.’

Back at her desk, she opened her cell and found a text message from Oscar: ‘Don’t forget we have a lunch date with Angela and we have to have food waiting.’ The unwritten subtext was that Oscar wanted to get them both out of the building without Delaney finding out Sarah was helping him with this interview. Feeling like a high-school senior on skip day, she finished a report, grabbed her purse and jacket, and pussy-footed off the floor.