Of Things Unseen by L Jaye Morgan

Author:L Jaye Morgan [Morgan, L Jaye]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Willowbrooke
Published: 2018-11-11T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

REAL-LIFE POLICE INVESTIGATIONS are nothing like the movies. Police-work is far more boring than exciting. Barrington had never shot anyone, never been shot at, and besides the rare occasion when the computer finds a DNA match to a known suspect, there are no real aha! moments. Solving cases requires patience. And paperwork. Mountains of paperwork. And then there are the questions. So many questions. Months, sometimes years of knocking on doors and asking people questions, and of the hundreds you speak to, one or two might give you a lead that you then spend another several weeks or months chasing down. There’s a reason cops drink so much.

Indeed, on that fine Thursday morning, Barrington and several other officers on the task force began a long and tedious day of questioning people. Hundreds of people, as Travis had warned. It had taken them three days of the paper trail to get to this point, and now the real work could begin.

The tasks had been divvied up among several officers. They were to narrow down the list of vehicles on Travis’ report list to sedans, then narrow down to cars registered in the state. Finally, whittle it down until they were left with dark-colored sedans registered in the city. The resulting list numbered in the low two-thousands.

Barrington had slammed the printout on his desk and laughed at the absurdity. This was the job they had given the man who was there to add his class and expertise to the investigation? Travis was right, it was bullshit. Nevertheless, he had a job to do, and since nobody else was going to work the case, Barrington would do it, and do it right.

He and the other officers had spent two days in the war room further narrowing the list. Women who were the sole drivers of their vehicles were stricken crossed off. Male owners over the age of 65 were back-burnered. Their main pool—male owners between 18 and 60—was their baseline group, and its members had to be called in and eliminated. They didn’t have a psych profile yet, if the bosses had even bothered to ask, but that age window seemed appropriate. The most pressing interviews were the men in the main pool who had criminal records. The rest were to be done gradually.

Andre had been interviewed the day before. Officer Dean had handled him, and he reported back that Andre was cooperative and understanding. No one had verified his alibi yet.

The interviews were more fact-finding mission than interrogation, and anything off about an interviewee’s behavior or demeanor was to be reported. So far, only a couple of the men had pinged any radars. Their names went on a new list. Andre was placed on the new list.

Barrington had already interviewed twelve men that morning and was waiting for the next one. The knock on the door sounded just as he was finishing up his coffee.

“Hey, are you Officer Dunn?”

Barrington stood. “Detective Dunn.”

“Oh, my bad.” The man was around 40, give or take, with a beard and goatee.

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