Chapter 6
Six
“Okay, spit it out,” Finn said from the desk opposite Michael.
“What are you talking about?” Michael kept scanning the footage on his screen.
“I didn’t say anything when you arrived to work five minutes late. I didn’t say anything when you walked in with only one cup of coffee. And I didn’t push when you worked right through lunch. But scowling at the screen and not saying a thing is rather odd for you. So what gives?”
“We need a lead.”
“Well, yeah, and we’re working on it. We’ve hit dead ends before and worked through them. So why so grumpy?”
Michael finally looked over the back-to-back desks at his partner.
“The little boy we found at the convenience store? His name is Eddie. He stayed at our place last night. Maria couldn’t find an emergency placement until this morning.”
“He couldn’t have been safer then.”
“Safe? I doubt he feels safe anywhere. He won’t speak.”
“He’s nonverbal? No wonder we couldn’t get him to say anything.”
“No, he can speak, but he won’t. Not a word the whole evening. And his mom died last year.”
“Ah.” Finn leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head. “You’re not making progress on your mum’s case, so you’re going to kill yourself to solve this one.”
Michael kinda hated that his partner knew him so well. He hadn’t thought of it that way, but Finn might not be far off the mark. Still…
“The kid’s already lost his mother. His father is in a coma. They can’t find his aunt, who, according to the neighbor, usually helps take care of him. Eddie has no one else. Someone has to make this right.”
“We’re going to do everything we can, Mike. But you know nothing will make the situation right.” Finn leaned forward and dropped his voice. “And nothing will bring back the lad’s mum.”
The words poked at the raw and festering places inside. “If anyone understands that, it’s me. But it’s our responsibility to keep this boy safe and find out who attacked his father. That’s all I’m trying to do.”
Finn stood and came to Michael’s desk. “So did you find anything on the video footage?”
“Not yet. I’ve been over it a million times.
” Michael moved the footage back to the beginning and let it play for Finn.
“The men wore masks. We have no footage of the parking lot, so no idea of the vehicle make and model. The recording is so grainy I can’t see lettering or logos on their clothing.
No distinguishing characteristics on the shooters.
The weird thing is, they made a mess and beat the guy up, but they didn’t take anything but some cigarettes. ”
“And they wore gloves, so no prints.” Finn squinted at the screen.
“Our best hope right now is that the owner wakes from his coma and can identify these guys.”
“What I wanna know is, what did this store owner do to tick these guys off?”
“Good question. I’m waiting on a warrant for his financial statements. Nothing flagged so far with the store.”
“Could we—”
“Yo, Martinelli and Finn, the captain wants you.” Schafer yelled over to them from the other side of the bullpen.
Michael straightened his tie on the short walk across the bullpen to the captain’s office.
Captain Salvador looked up from his monitor and across his immaculate desk.
The man commanded a room effortlessly with his stern dark eyes, barely a wrinkle on his brown skin, and enough salt to his pepper hair to be distinguished and give him an aura of wisdom.
He ran a tight precinct, which Michael appreciated.
“You wanted to see us, Captain?” Michael knew the drill. The captain wouldn’t say anything until they were seated. He and Finn took the chairs across the desk and pulled out their notebooks. Salvador hated repeating himself.
“We have lab results back from the jewelry store break-in. I wanted to go over them with you.”
That couldn’t be good.
“What did the techs find?” Finn asked.
“The boy witness was clean. No drugs in his system. No blood or gunshot residue on him.”
So Stitch had been telling the truth. But that didn’t warrant the somber tone from the captain that set Michael’s nerves on edge. “What else, then?”
“The blood you found at the scene is Gary Donner’s. Any progress on finding him?” The captain’s gaze bounced between them.
“No, sir. He’s got no next of kin beyond his ex-wife. And to be honest, we’ve been busy with the convenience store break-in from the other night.” Finn tapped his notebook on his leg.
“One of our own is missing. This jumps back to the top of your priority list. And I hope I don’t have to remind you, but retired cop or not, we follow the law, not rumors.
Not feelings. I trust you will both be thorough and do your job.
Let’s find Donner and figure out what happened. You’re dismissed.”
“Yes, sir.”
Michael clenched his jaw as they walked back to their own desks. “This isn’t good. Why was Donner’s blood there? Why was he even working as a security guard? He had a good pension.”
Finn sat at his computer and typed something in. “Looks like the warrant for his financials came through along with the lab results.”
“Who signed off on it?”
“The new judge they found to fill Judge Fields’s spot.”
“Kate said they’re still building a case after learning how crooked he was, but they’re struggling to find witnesses who will come forward.”
Finn sighed. “I hope Donner wasn’t involved in this syndicate that Fields was a part of.” He pulled the documents up on his screen.
Michael looked at them over Finn’s shoulder. “I’m not going to jump to conclusions just because he’s missing.”
“I didn’t say he was involved, but we need to be clear-headed and consider all the angles.”
Michael didn’t respond at first. But he wanted his partner to understand.
“Donner retired early. Right after Mom’s death.
Said it didn’t have anything to do with her murder, but I doubted it.
I mean, she had his work vehicle, and he was the last one to see her that night.
Why else would he retire before his time was up? ”
“Good question. You talked to him about your mom’s case quite a bit, but I didn’t know him. What’s your take?”
“Donner? He was a little sloppy as far as police work goes—you know, did the bare minimum on the reports and paperwork side of things—but he cared. He lost a partner a few years before he retired. They’d closed a lot of cases together.
Seemed like he floundered a bit after that.
Drank too much but always after hours, not on the job.
He said my mom helped him get through the rough years and kept him on track.
He really looked up to her. He was the only one, at first, who didn’t believe the corruption rumors and would talk to me.
He helped track down the fingerprints that were on the envelope of cash found on her body. ”
“Who did the prints belong to?”
“Sean Fletcher. High-level drug kingpin. Donner ended up taking him down in a drug raid a year later and was awarded a city medal. But unfortunately, Fletcher had an airtight alibi for the night of the murder. He wasn’t my mother’s killer.”
“Who was the alibi?” Finn asked.
“According to receipts and video surveillance, he was in Vegas. But it was Donner who quietly kept me in the loop throughout the investigation before he retired.”
“Let’s see what we can find in Donner’s finances.” Finn scrolled through banking statements. “Looks like he had quite a bit of debt. Maybe that’s why he took the security job.”
“Look at this.” Michael pointed to a line of numbers on the screen. “For a guy down on his luck, this is a pretty sizable deposit. Almost five grand. Where’s that from?”
Finn zoomed in. “Just says Contra Corporation.” He looked up at Michael. “Think it’s a payoff or something?”
He didn’t like to think about it but had to answer honestly. “It’s a possibility. Let’s go back further. Any other deposits like this?”
Finn scanned the statements. “Looks like there’s something from Contra Corp a few more times for different amounts. We’ll have to look deeper and see if there’s a pattern.”
Michael ran down the numbers in one column. “Not many other deposits listed. What was he spending his money on?”
“Bar tabs, mortgage, truck payment…nothing too unusual.” Finn clicked a few more buttons. “Paid alimony every month.” He whistled. “And a hefty one, at that. He was definitely paying out more than he was bringing in.”
Michael sighed. “Which would give someone leverage over him.”
“If nothing else, we see that he needed that security job. It doesn’t make sense that he’d risk his paycheck. If he’s missing, it’s probably not for a good reason.”
“So the question is, did he get in the way of a robbery, or was he involved?”
“We can try finding his ex. See what she says.”
It took more digging, but they finally got a phone number for Flora Donner. She lived in California, so no chance of them interviewing her in person.
Michael dialed her number while Finn continued to look at the finances.
No answer.
Michael left a message. Hopefully she’d call back soon.
For now, they had plenty to do. Their caseload was growing. Too much darkness piling on and not enough answers.
Dani stared out of the back-seat window while her Uber driver spoke into his audio system in a foreign language. Maybe it wasn’t her dream undercover job, but before she walked into SL Trucking, she had to get into character.
An accountant character.
So basically, find all semblance of a true personality or anything interesting and drain it.
Ugh. She lay back against the headrest and dropped her shoulders.
Okay, maybe that was a bit melodramatic. There were plenty of good accountants out there with delightful personalities.
But this wasn’t what she’d signed up for when she applied to the FBI.
Still, if she could show ASAC Kumar she was a good agent, hopefully the next case would be more substantial. Dani pulled out a mirror from her purse and stared back at the dark-brown eyes she’d inherited from her Korean American parents, now void of all makeup except plain black mascara.