The Kill Floor by John Desjarlais

Author:John Desjarlais
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery;crime;detective;procedural;murder;noir;rural;pork;CAFO
Publisher: Light Messages Publishing
Published: 2022-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

The assignments were distributed quickly: getting a list of all the visitors from HR and a log from Shipping and Receiving of all vehicles and drivers who came and went on the surveillance video between 9:00 p.m. Wednesday and 3:00 p.m. Thursday, a canvas of slaughterhouse workers on second shift, tracking down the Chinese to notify them of the driver’s death, ID the body and check their alibis, getting a record of Diedrich’s phone calls and locations to track his timeline and movement.

Gordon tapped the pencil. “I’ll go check on Diedrich’s car and driver—”

“County Crime Scene Team is already on location,” Anderson interrupted, smiling in triumph.

Gordon’s fist hardened. “Why didn’t you mention it before?”

“They were called when the meeting started,” Anderson said curtly, feigning offense. “I just got the text, just now.”

Sure you did, Gordon thought. You knew the whole time. You wanted a head-start to look good for the election.

“I’ll join them after we’re done here,” Anderson said.

“No, I’m going,” Gordon said. “it’s on the way to the trailer park, so after that, I’ll visit Krystyl there. Maybe she can help us backtrack Richie’s movements and timeline. Otis, you can go ahead and take a county team out there to impound Richie’s truck. Maybe we’ll find some clues in it. And it’ll keep Krystyl there.”

“I’ll talk to Krystyl while I’m there,” Anderson said.

“No. Like I said, I think she’ll trust me.”

“Fine,” Anderson said with a pout.

“What about me?” Pembroke asked.

Gordon turned to Lieutenant Simms. “Sir? It’s your call.”

“Appreciate your back up here, Paul,” Simms said. “But we need you to stay on patrol.”

Pembroke nodded resignedly.

“Some stuff came in overnight that I need you to look into, Paul,” Gordon said. “And I’d appreciate it if you monitored the tip lines. Okay with you, Lieutenant?”

“All right, fine with me,” Simms said. With a single clap of his hands, he ended the meeting. “Keep Gordon informed, everyone. Gordon, keep me in the loop. The chief and I need to go to the shark tank now.”

k

Gordon assigned Pembroke the follow-up to the burglaries and then they slipped out a back way to avoid the press conference in Public Room A. But as Chief Fisk and Lieutenant Simms opened the bullet-proof door to the small auditorium, the clatter of camera tripods and folding chairs, the blaze of overhead lights and the rustle of reporters tumbled out.

“—and thank you for coming today. Mayor Ami Pratt has opening remarks, and Chief Raymond Fisk of the River Falls Police Department has a brief statement, and then he’ll take a few questions. General information will be given because this is an ongoing investigation, so we thank you for your patience as we—” Christine Balfour was always a calming presence.

“Shouldn’t you be in there?” Pembroke asked Gordon in the motor pool.

“Nah,” Gordon said as he beeped open the squad car lock. “I got a face for radio.”

k

By the time he pulled up twenty minutes later to the bluffs of Castle Rocks Park overlooking the river, the fire and rescue team was packing up inflatable watercraft.

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