Chapter Twenty-Nine
Twenty-Nine
Having someone with inside connections went a long way at a police station.
Rather than stopping us when we entered, the officer at the front desk gave Rich a quick glance and then nodded his head toward the door, ushering us inside without question.
There was no way I’d have gotten the same treatment by myself.
Rich and I headed into the main area of the Raven Creek Police Department, and I was struck by just how small it was. It made sense, considering the town had to share its major-crimes detectives with an entirely different station forty minutes away, but it was a stark reminder of just how little crime our community was accustomed to dealing with.
There were three glass-paneled offices lining one side of the building, a door marked STAFF , four desks in the middle of the room cluttered with various personal effects to indicate they belonged to specific officers, and two closed-off doors at the back. One said INTERROGATION , but the sign had been handwritten on packing tape and stuck over an original sign that was still visible as JANITORIAL . The other had an official sign that said HOLDING , which must be where they had holding cells.
How many holding cells could Raven Creek possibly have? One or two where someone could sleep off having too much to drink? We weren’t really in the habit of playing host to violent criminals here.
Detective Martin was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Leo, but we spotted Detective Kwan Kim leaning against the wall outside the makeshift interrogation room.
Every fiber of my being demanded I go over and ask him what the heck they were thinking to arrest an innocent man. Rich must have sensed the intensity vibrating off me, because he placed a gentle but firm hand on my shoulder and gave his head one silent shake.
I understood his message completely: Let me handle this.
I also knew he had included me in this trip only as a courtesy. Leo, Rich, and I had been thick as thieves growing up, and we had begun to rebuild that core friendship now that I was back. Rich and Leo were still tight; I was just the outsider finding my way back in.
But Rich knew I’d want to be here to help defend my friend, even if it was just as a glaring bystander.
“Hey, Kwan.” Rich crossed the room and gave the detective’s hand a shake. Detective Kim was a handsome man, probably pushing fifty but with no wrinkles to show for it. The only thing that hinted at his age was a little graying around the temples.
“Hey, man.” The pair shared a quick bro hug, patting each other’s backs before separating. “Look, I know why you’re here, and you know what I’m going to say.”
“He didn’t do it,” Rich said, his tone flat and firm.
“And we also hope that’s the case, but we can’t ignore witness testimony, Rich. We have at least a dozen statements—including one from Ms. Winchester there—confirming that Mr. Lansing had an altercation with the deceased prior to his murder. We also have an eyewitness that says Mr. Lansing was in the area of the Primrose Inn on the night of both murders.”
“He lives in the area of the crime,” I snapped, unable to keep my cool.
Rich gave me a quick look of censure but then picked up my evidence to present it more calmly. “Kwan, he lives a block away from the inn. Some nights he walks home from the grocery store. That isn’t a smoking gun.”
“We need to follow the evidence. You know that as well as I do.”
“You didn’t need to arrest him,” Rich said.
“We’ve had two murders in seventy-two hours. I have to think about the safety of the town and make sure that if we have a suspect who has shown the potential for aggression, we make every effort to keep the population out of harm’s way.”
I snorted. The idea of Leo being a risk to anyone was absolutely ludicrous.
“And he hasn’t been arrested . Man alive, this town loves gossip. He came with us willingly—no cuffs or anything—to submit to some questioning. We can hold him for forty-eight hours without an arrest to either clear him or book him as we deem necessary.”
The nuances of arrest versus voluntary detainment were probably going to be lost on a lot of people in town, especially when people were already spreading the rumor that he had been thrown into the back of a cop car and hauled off. Leo’s existing reputation was that of an aloof outsider. His sheer size didn’t help anything. He was a mountain of a man, both tall and wide, and looked like he could crush someone with his bare hands. I imagined some folks were already a little nervous around him, and this wasn’t going to help.
“He didn’t do this. I don’t know why you’re not out looking for Melody Fairbanks,” I grumbled.
Detective Kim shifted his focus from Rich over to me.
“Ms. Winchester, I understand that you are upset about your friend at the moment, but I want to assure you that we are still exploring all avenues of this case, and we are absolutely looking for both Melody Fairbanks and Deacon Hume as persons of interest in this case. It just so happened that Leo was readily available to us and willing to talk, which will go a long way for him, believe me. What doesn’t help him is having his friends come in here like they’re trying to be the cavalry in an old-timey Western movie thinking they’re going to scoop him up and rescue him. You let us do our jobs, and we’ll find out who did this, okay?”
His tone was polite but brooked no opposition. He wasn’t going to accept anything other than an agreement, and he’d made that perfectly clear.
“Has he asked for a lawyer?” Rich asked.
Detective Kim shook his head. “He has not. He doesn’t seem too overly concerned about his present situation, if I’m being honest. I shouldn’t be saying anything about it, but between us, since we’re friends and former partners, Rich, I think what we’ve got here is just a case of wrong place, wrong time. I know Leo too, don’t forget that, and I know as well as you do the kind of man he is. But we’d be lousy cops if we let him go because he and I have had a beer a time or two. And that is why I’m out here and Martin is in there. Because if there’s anyone who can separate personal from professional, it’s her.” He gave us a meaningful look as if to say we ought to try to do the same, but there was no way.
I couldn’t be professional about Leo.
“Could you do me a favor and update me if anything changes?” Rich asked.
Detective Kim looked thoughtful for a moment, and I thought he might say no, but whatever had gone down with him and Rich in their years together working out of the Barneswood PD, there was evidently a sense of respect and compassion that remained even years later.
“Yeah, man. I’ll let you know, if you just promise to stand back and let us do our jobs here, okay?”
Rich nodded, but I said nothing.
If finding Deacon and Melody would help us get Leo out of here faster, than that was precisely what I aimed to do.