Indigo #2
She ended the call and then sat on the floor, her back against the door. She ran the events and the entire conversation with Leo Davis through her mind several times as the image of his hands choking the man’s throat refused to leave her. Did he know she’d seen him strangle that man?
She wasn’t sure how long she sat until the phone in her hand rang, startling her. Her eyes went to the screen. Thirty minutes. She’d sat there for half an hour. She pressed accept. “Hi, did you hear the voicemail?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Are you okay, Donna?” Rich asked.
“Yeah, I think so. How long did it record before it cut out and disconnected?”
“Long enough. Are you sure about what you saw?”
“Yes, how can you ask that? He strangled that man. He was killing him.”
“People can be strangled to unconsciousness, but they don’t die unless the hold continues. He could have just choked him out but not killed him,” Rich said.
“Then why did he come to my door and say the guy got away?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t mean he was doing something illegal.”
“That cop’s known to be dirty, Rich, at least that’s what the talk on the street says.”
“Do you know that for a fact? Sometimes things aren’t what they seem.”
It sounded like he was taking the cop’s side. “You believe me, don’t you, Rich?”
“Yes, of course I do. I’ll talk to my boss and see if we can look into it, look into that cop, but without a description or a name of a possible victim, there’s no way to validate what you saw, unless he files a report on it.”
“That sounds like you don’t believe me, Rich. I’m telling you; I saw him strangle that man. His hands were around that man’s neck from behind the guy, and his face was really red. His legs had already given out, and that cop’s hands on his neck were the only thing holding the guy upright.”
“He could have choked him out but not killed him,” Rich repeated.
“And how did he supposedly get away then? He told me his suspect got away.”
“I don’t know, Donna, a few different things could have happened. And you’re sure you don’t know who that man was.”
“No, I’ve never seen him around. But honestly, I didn’t get a good look at him.”
“Was there anything notable about the man being choked that you saw?”
“No, and as I said, I didn’t look for too long.”
“Any scars or tattoos on the guy?” Rich asked.
“Not that I saw.”
“Was he a black guy, a white guy, Hispanic?” Rich continued.
“I don’t know,” she insisted.
“Close your eyes and grab hold of the image. Freeze it and look at him. Look at everything about him. Hair color, what he’s wearing, what are his hands doing?”
Donna did as he said. She could clearly see the man.
“White or Hispanic guy, shaggy brown hair coming out of a gray skullcap. I can’t tell his age, not too young, not too old.
He has a scraggly mustache, and you know, scruff all over his face and neck.
And he has on a faded flannel shirt or jacket in blues and grays. ”
“You’re doing great,” Rich said, jotting down what she said onto a pad of paper in front of him. “What are his hands doing?” He expected her to say, grabbing at the cop’s hands.
“Hanging limp at his sides. And there’s a dark spot that could be a tattoo on his left hand. It’s big, covers almost the whole thing.”
That told Rich the guy was already unconscious. Fighting was instinct. The only time someone who was being choked stopped fighting their attacker was when they were unconscious. “Okay, see, you saw more than you thought you did.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Rich thought for a moment. “Donna, this is what I want you to do. Pack a bag for a few days for you and the kids and go to your mom’s house when the boys get home from school. I don’t want you guys there alone. I’m going to talk to my boss, and I’ll talk to you later tonight.”
“I don’t want to bring trouble to my mom’s house,” she complained. “Besides, by the way he acted at my door, don’t you think I’m safe, that he didn’t really see me?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t want you alone there. Please, just humor me.”
“Okay,” Donna said, her lips cracking a small smile. “We’ll go there for the weekend.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”
Burke disconnected the call and then rubbed his forehead. He was worried about the situation in Virginia.
He and Tessman had been scouting the area where the contact had disappeared from the feed on the thermal imaging camera of the drone.
There was a ravine that angled steeply to the west at the coordinates.
He and Tessman believed it was likely that it had been a deer as Wilson originally thought, and that something had probably startled it and it bolted down into the ravine and out of the camera’s range, quickly disappearing from sight.
They found no indication that a human had been in the area. While they searched, that was when Donna’s call had come to his silenced phone.
“What’s up?” Wilson asked.
Burke had stepped away from the SUV to call Donna, and he returned after disconnecting the call. Wilson still monitored the area with the drone. The local LEOs and the ambulance had arrived at the cabin just moments before. They needed to go back and give their statements.
Burke told Wilson and Tessman about the voicemail Donna left, the call with her after, and what he wanted to do.
“And you heard this cop on the voicemail?” Wilson asked.
“Yes, heard him pumping her to find out what she saw. He asked too many times if she’d seen anything.
I didn’t tell her, but his questions weren’t casual.
They were straight out of an interview playbook.
And I especially don’t like that he knew her name, and he went out of his way to let her know that he knows who she is.
But what was most concerning is that he was hitting on her and promised to see her around.
That was a thinly veiled threat if she did see something. ”
“Okay, text Shepherd. See if you can get a phone call with him,” Wilson said.
Burke opened his text messaging app. He tapped out a request for a short call with Shepherd regarding a possible case, separate from the one they were currently on.
A few moments later, his phone rang an incoming call from Shepherd.
They were nearly back to the access road near the cabin.
Through the trees, Burke could see the lights from the police car and ambulance in front of the cabin.
“Burke,” he answered.
“I have five minutes now.”
Burke explained the situation to Shepherd, clearly and briefly, as Wilson and Tessman got out of the vehicle.
When mentioning Donna, he referred to her as Saxton’s sister, although he knew Shepherd would recall both her and the previous operation where Burke had been assigned to protect Donna and her children, as Shepherd remembered everything.
Burke kept his summary focused on the detective’s possible crime and his behavior, ensuring Shepherd understood the potential seriousness of the issue and the risk to Donna.
“I approve the Digital Team looking into the detective in Richmond, but don’t escalate it past that without reporting back to me,” Shepherd said.
“Thanks, Shepherd,” Burke said.
“Get in touch with Smith and let him know I sanctioned this initial step.”
“Will do.”
“How much longer do you anticipate being on site there?”
“Should be on our way back to HQ within the hour,” Burke said.
“Come see me when you’re back.” Then Shepherd disconnected the call.