Tuesday's Child by Dale Mayer

Author:Dale Mayer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Suspense
ISBN: 9781927461310
Publisher: Valley Publishing Ltd.
Published: 2023-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

10:10 a.m.

Brandt stood with his legs apart, shoulders straight, and his hands locked behind his back. What the hell? He struggled to keep his mouth shut. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Captain Johansen had called him into his office, and Brandt was getting his ass kicked.

“Sir? If I could interject for a moment.” Brandt tried to interrupt the captain’s rant, only the man was steaming. Brandt relaxed slightly and stuffed his hands into his jean pockets. He eyed the chairs stacked high with papers. An empty chair sat off to the side—one Brandt hadn’t been offered.

“Brandt? Brandt, are you listening to me?”

At the first call, Brandt studied the man opposite him. At the second call, he raised an eyebrow. “Are you ready to listen to me?”

“Damn it.” Captain Johansen blew hard and rubbed his temples. Reaching for his coffee cup, he glared at Brandt. “Fine. Talk to me. What the hell were you thinking?” The captain’s face flushed red, as his voice started to rise again.

Brandt held out his hand to slow down the man. “I didn’t do it.” He enunciated slowly and clearly. “I did not give that picture to the media.”

The captain stopped cold. He fixed his hard stare on Brandt. “What?” he growled. “If you didn’t, then who did?”

“I don’t know,” Brandt admitted. “I’d planned to ask you that question.”

“Why?” demanded Captain Johansen. “I sure as hell don’t know. Any ideas? And why wasn’t it you?”

Brandt stared at his boss. “I’d prefer to have proof before I say anything.”

“Not good enough.” Johansen pounded a fist on his desk. “I want to know what you know—and now!”

What could he say? Brandt shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know anything, sir. I showed the picture at the debriefing meeting yesterday, so anyone who’d been there knew. As would anyone they might have shown the picture to.”

“And yet a couple names on the force came to your mind.” The captain glared at him, waiting.

Brandt avoided answering. “It’s the why that bothers me. If someone wanted to help, you’d think they would have included me in the plan. Which means someone may be out to discredit me instead.”

The captain glanced at his desk, a frown furrowing his brows.

Brandt added one other point. “Or the department.” He paused for a moment, considering his next words carefully. “I’ll tell you this. Kevin doesn’t appreciate me having Sam on-board, except he appears to hold the department in high regard. And Dillon barely speaks to me. Except yesterday he came to talk to me about the ring. If he did this, he may have thought he was doing me a favor.” He shrugged again. “In both cases, it could mean nothing.”

“Did you give Dillon the picture?”

“He walked into my office with a copy,” Brandt clarified. “All I know is, I didn’t give it to the media.”

“Therefore, someone else did.” Captain Johansen played with his pen, thinking hard. “And because so many people had access to the sketch, anyone could have leaked it.”

“I did fax it to two jewelry stores yesterday, asking if they recognized the pattern.

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