Mourning Dove by Aimée & David Thurlo

Author:Aimée & David Thurlo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: A Tom Doherty Associates Book
Published: 2006-09-04T16:00:00+00:00

TEN

Less than forty minutes later, Ella stood across from Louis Smith’s cluttered desk. It hadn’t taken long to find him today. He’d recently been transferred to this small office at the back of the building and, from here, handled hit-and-run cases exclusively. Louis had just placed the phone back on the hook as she walked in.

Seeing the badge pinned at her belt, he waved her to a seat. “What can I do for you, Officer . . .”

Ella introduced herself. “No doubt you’ve heard all about the homicide. I’m looking into Jimmy Blacksheep’s death.”

“Yes, ma’am, I have. Blacksheep was a strange kid, but a good soldier who did his job when it mattered,” he said. “How can I help? You thinking that the carjacking and my hit-and-run cases intersect somehow?”

“No, I’m just looking for answers to some incidental questions that have cropped up during our investigation,” she answered, not wanting to give out any unnecessary information. Officer Smith was a dark-haired Anglo with hazel eyes. In his late thirties, she thought him a bit old for the National Guard. Perhaps Officer Smith had needed the extra income. His smile was wooden, and he seemed ill at ease with her. She wasn’t sure if that was because of the usual jurisdictional turf thing that often cropped up between departments, or something more.

“I’m not sure how much help I can be to you, Detective Clah. I look into hit-and-runs, track down witnesses, follow up on reports, and that’s pretty much it. I worked traffic before my tour in Iraq, but this is where I want to be now.”

“There’s plenty to do here from what I see,” she said, glancing at the stack of files on his desk.

“Yeah, and providing my luck holds, I’ll never have to shoot another person again,” Smith added.

“That’s what we all want,” she said quietly.

“In a hit-and-run, an officer has more control over what situations he’s walking into than in a patrol car,” Louis answered. “But enough of that. How can I help you? Jimmy and I weren’t buddies, though I shared quarters with him and the rest of the section for a while.”

“I’m thinking that if I can get inside his head I may be able to figure out what went down the other day.”

“That’s a tough one even for those who knew him. Jimmy was hard to get a handle on. He could have made it a lot easier on himself if he’d played his cards right. But he liked keeping everyone at arm’s length—standoffish, you get me? He was a good soldier though. Completed his missions and helped keep us all alive. That was enough,” Smith said.

“What do you mean about making things easier on himself and playing his cards right?” Ella pressed.

“His brother, FPD Officer Samuel Blacksheep, was Sergeant Sanders’s partner on the force for several years. Sanders was the lieutenant of our platoon, and also had the responsibility for the company’s base security while we were overseas. Lieutenant—well, here, Sergeant Sanders—was willing, at first, to cut Samuel’s brother a little slack, but Jimmy wouldn’t have it.

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