LA Deadly by Larry Darter

Author:Larry Darter [Larry Darter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fedora Press
Published: 2023-02-09T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Four

After departing Little Rock at 9:10 A.M., Drew and Li’s plane touched down at LAX three hours and twenty-eight minutes later at 10:38 A.M., Los Angeles time. Both detectives had driven their own cars to the airport the day before. So, twenty minutes after their arrival, they caravanned toward downtown and the PAB. Drew and Li had gone directly to their rooms after checking into their hotel the previous evening and hadn’t talked again until they met in the lobby to drive to the airport. On the flight, Drew had brought his partner up to speed on what they would face when they got back to Los Angeles, Patrick Oberlin’s presser. He also told Li that Jenkins and Ross were supposed to interview Christopher Daugherty that morning if they could persuade him to talk to them.

After parking their cars at the PAB, they took the elevator upstairs. Li went to Open-Unsolved and Drew went directly to Homicide Special to talk with Moreno about the press conference.

Moreno told Drew that Jenkins had given him a heads up before he and Ross left the PAB, and they were on the way to Malibu to interview Daugherty at his attorney’s office.

“The rumor is, Oberlin plans to present the LAPD with several boxes of evidentiary documents that will assist us in identifying Manley’s killer,” Moreno said with disgust. “It’s going to be a media circus.”

“What are we supposed to do?” Drew asked.

“Just stand by while Oberlin gives his speech and look serious. Then you will accept custody of the documents.”

“What documents?”

“I assume it’s stuff they dug up about the victim that will supposedly point us toward the marks she ripped off who have motives to commit murder in revenge. It’s just a way to dirty her up in the press to get the public on Lake’s side when it goes to court.”

“So he wants to bury us in paperwork, hoping we’ll have less time to find the actual evidence we need to charge his client?”

“That’s it, Detective. You’ve got it. This morning he told CNN that the gunshot residue test on Lake and his clothing came back negative.”

“What? We haven’t even got the results back from the lab yet.”

“Get used to it, Detective. That’s only the beginning. There’s no law against lying to the press and Oberlin will take full advantage of it.”

“We only have four investigators on the team,” Drew said. “If I put people on Oberlin’s documents, it’s going to slow us to a crawl.”

“Don’t worry about it, Drew. We can’t ignore the stuff. But I’m giving you four uniformed officers from Central in plainclothes. They can work on Oberlin’s documents and your team can continue taking care of business.”

“Thanks, Lieutenant. I appreciate it.”

“I’m only sorry I can’t give you more investigators, Drew,” Moreno said earnestly. “But with the staffing situation, giving you the four plainclothes patrol officers is the best I can do for now. Now get back to work. And give me an update on the interview with Daugherty when Jenkins and Ross get back.

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