Inherit Guilt by Russell Cordner

Author:Russell Cordner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Russell Cordner
Published: 2021-05-20T05:59:03+00:00

twenty-two

Gail listened to Shane Allen’s message three times to make sure she understood it correctly. She couldn’t believe her initial suspect confronted Connor McGraw about her case. To make matters worse, he did it before she talked with McGraw and may have put him on high alert. The message had her fuming but it made her question whether she had the right suspects in custody. She walked to her boss’s office and played the message on speakerphone. Captain Flanagan was neither impressed nor amused.

“Allen?” Flanagan digested the name. “Wasn’t he your first suspect?”

“He was.”

“And he’s been hired by Sylvia Whalley to investigate your case, which means he’s working for the defense.”

“Yes, but—”

“Move on, Inspector. Have your team conduct exculpatory interviews, rule out enough people to satisfy the defense, and hand it over to the ADA.”

“Teresa.” Gail only used the captain’s first name when they were off the clock. Or when she was desperate. “Brad and Jenkins went through footage of every possible street cam between the campground and the Whalley residence. There were only two black SUVs in the vicinity during our window. One is owned by a woman in Stockton and the other is a rental from out of state. The Whalley’s SUV was nowhere to be seen.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. They could have taken a longer route.”

“We mapped it out. If they were to hit each of those towers, there were only so many roads they could take.”

“Maybe they took a taxi or one of those goddamn Ubers. You said it yourself, you’re tracking their phones not their vehicle. Besides, we don’t need them on video when we’ve got them six ways to Sunday.”

“And how often does that happen?”

“If you’re you getting at something, spit it out. I don’t have time for guessing games.”

“Maybe somebody wants us to think they went home.”

Flanagan clenched her jaw and Gail knew she was trying her patience. “Listen Gail, you got them, you closed the case, your job is done. Let the ADA take it from here.”

“But Captain—”

“Drop it, Inspector.”

Gail went back to her desk and waited for her men to return from lunch to call a team meeting. Around the table in the middle of the bullpen, she delegated tasks and went over priorities for the Whalley case. Brad would follow up with the Medical Examiner and the Fire inspector while Jenkins would liaise with Grant Whalley’s staff and go through his client list. They were to be conducting exculpatory interviews only, not looking for any new leads. Captain’s orders.

Gail said, “There’s one client you don’t need to contact.”

“Sure thing, Gail,” Brad said. “Got a name?”

“Connor McGraw.”

“Come on,” Jenkins pouted. “I was looking forward to taking a few shots at the rich bastard.”

“Don’t worry Jenkins, everyone on the list is rich. Just keep it professional.”

“Yeah, but McGraw is the richest. Why’s he getting a pass?”

“He’s not getting a pass. He’s a friend of the department so Flanagan asked me to handle it personally.”

Jenkins muttered a childish comment under his breath that everyone chose to ignore.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.