Chapter 30. Locked Down and Locked Up
LOCKED DOWN AND LOCKED UP
WHITNEY
As soon as we were seated in her car, Alonzo got on her radio and requested a deputy with a cruiser to go to River Valley Ranch to transport a suspect.
Deputy Swisher responded over the airwaves. “Got you covered, Detective.”
Alonzo drove down the county road. As we approached, we could see Gentry’s Infiniti parked at the sales trailer. “Good,” she said. “He’s here.”
She pulled over to the shoulder in front of the big stone wall at the entrance to the subdivision so her car couldn’t be seen from the sales trailer while we waited for her backup.
Once she spotted Swisher’s SUV approaching, she pulled through the open gate of the subdivision and continued on to the trailer.
Swisher pulled up next to her, and the three of us went inside.
Gentry and the salesman were the only people in the trailer. Gentry went rigid for an instant when he saw us come through the door.
“Just here for some quick follow-up,” Alonzo said casually, probably to disarm him. But Gentry was smart. Surely, he’d realize Deputy Swisher wasn’t here just to keep us company.
Gentry turned to his salesman. “Give us some privacy please.”
The salesman’s eyes widened in bewilderment, but he agreed. “Uh … I’ll go check on things next door.”
As soon as the man had gone, Alonzo said, “Would you like to have your attorney present?”
“That depends,” Gentry said. “What would you like to talk to me about?”
“Just wanted to confirm the things you told me previously.” She pulled out her notebook and made a show of flipping through it, stopping at the page where she’d jotted notes from her earlier conversation with him.
“Let me see if he’s available,” Gentry said. “Okay if I close the door to my office so I can speak privately with him?”
“Of course.”
The instant Gentry shut the door to his office, Alonzo turned to Deputy Swisher. “Go outside and watch the windows in case he tries to make a run for it.”
Swisher strode swiftly yet silently out the door.
A few seconds later, we heard Swisher’s booming voice. It seemed to be coming from Gentry’s office. “May I ask what you’re doing, sir?”
Gentry’s voice followed. “Just opening the window to get some fresh air.”
Alonzo snickered and cut me a look. “He was trying to sneak out on us.”
It was a stupid, desperate move, the kind made only by a guilty person who knew the jig was up.
We heard a slam as the window was closed, then a murmur of unintelligible conversation as Gentry presumably spoke with his lawyer.
A moment later, Gentry opened the door and stepped back into the main room.
“I called my attorney’s office. He isn’t available at the moment, but if we’re only going to recap our previous conversation, I see no problem in proceeding without him. ”
“Great. We don’t want to take up any more of your time than necessary.
” Alonzo proceeded to lock Gentry down. “When I was here before, you said you’d checked on the spec house and electrical the day Yee was killed, but that you didn’t leave this sales trailer again until you drove to the airport. Is that correct?”
Gentry hesitated for a beat before confirming. “Yes, that’s correct.”
“Did anyone else use your vehicle that morning?”
He hesitated even longer this time, seeming to clue in that his car had become a problem for him. “I don’t recall.”
“Anyone else have keys to your vehicle?”
Gentry hedged his bets. “Not to my knowledge.”
“Other than that couple from the West Coast, the Bakers, was it just you and your salesman here that morning?”
Another hesitation. “I don’t recall.”
I had to admit, it was fun to watch the guy squirm.
Alonzo said, “Your salesman told us it was just you, him, and the Bakers.”
Gentry said nothing.
Alonzo added, “He seemed sure of it.”
Gentry merely raised his palms and shrugged.
Alonzo cocked her head. “Who else could have possibly driven your car? Do you normally allow other people to drive it?”
“Why are you asking about my car?”
“Because we have video footage of it driving away from the crime scene.”
He swallowed hard, and his voice squeaked when he asked, “How?”
“Cow.”
Gentry’s face contorted in confusion, then his eyes went wide and his jaw fell as he realized what Detective Alonzo meant.
Gentry let his mouth hang open long enough for us to see that his back left molar had a silver filling.
His hands began to shake, and he shoved them into his pockets to hide them.
“If you want to question me further, I’d like to have my attorney present. ”
“Of course,” Alonzo said. “That’s only smart.”
She made an almost imperceptible twitch of her index finger and Deputy Swisher was on Gentry like white on rice.
Gentry sputtered as Swisher pulled his hands up behind him and cuffed him. “I meant that I’d make an appointment when he’s available and come talk to you at the police station!”
Alonzo said, “No need. As you know, there’s a room at the county jail where you can meet with your counsel. You can wait for him there. We’re placing you under arrest.”
“But you’ve already arrested me before!”
It was a pathetic response, and the pained, humiliated look on his face said he knew it. It’s not like there was some sort of one-arrest-only policy in the law books.
Swisher took Gentry by the upper arm and guided him toward the door.
As Gentry approached, he cast me a scorching glance hot enough to rival any welding torch.
He had to know my presence here meant I’d been the one to dig up another clue, that this arrest was on me.
Frankly, I was glad he knew. What he’d put me through paled in comparison to what he’d done to Tyler Yee, but I’d be seeing Tyler’s bloody body in my nightmares for years to come.
It was only fair I made Gentry’s life a nightmare in return.
I followed the deputy, Gentry, and Alonzo out of the trailer. As they moved along, Alonzo reminded Gentry of his rights.
While Swisher had shackled Gentry’s hands, his feet were unbound.
As Swisher went to put Gentry in the back seat, the enormity of the situation must have hit him.
He cried out and kicked against the open door with splayed legs, like a cat trying to avoid being placed in a carrier.
But he was no match for the muscular deputy.
Swisher hooked an arm around Gentry’s neck from behind and dragged him backward, causing him to lose his balance before turning him and tossing him to the asphalt.
Gentry turned his face up to scream obscenities at us, and I could see he’d lost some skin on his cheek and forehead.
He deserved so much more for killing Tyler Yee, but it was a nice start.
“Stay down!” Swisher popped the cargo door on his SUV before kneeling down to hold the wriggling and writhing Gentry in place. He looked up at Alonzo. “There’s a pair of leg restraints in the bag.”
She rushed over to his SUV, unzipped the bag in the cargo bay, and removed the restraints.
She scurried back over, bending down to help Swisher get them on Gentry’s ankles.
It wasn’t easy. The guy was putting up quite a fight.
Finally, they got the leg restraints on him.
They backed off then, letting him throw his temper tantrum, probably hoping he’d either wear himself out or realize what a fool he was making of himself and stop.
Eventually, he calmed down and simply melted into a manageable sobbing mess.
Once Swisher had placed Gentry in his back seat, the salesman emerged from the model home. He must have been watching from a window. He came over for an update.
Alonzo told him the same thing she’d told the woman in the restaurant. “You could be called as a witness.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable, but said, “I understand.” He looked over at Gentry in the back of the SUV, and blinked several times in bewilderment. “This is not how I saw my day turning out.”
He stepped aside as Swisher backed out of the parking spot, and remained standing in the lot, dumbfounded, as Detective Alonzo and I climbed into her cruiser and departed.
Alonzo dropped me back at the barn. “Thanks, Whitney. That’s some damning evidence you found. The charges should stick this time.”
“I sure hope so.”
As I headed back into the barn, I felt an odd sensation in my abdomen.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think my baby was jumping up and down like a cheerleader after a touchdown, congratulating me on this win.
Then again, maybe the relief of having Gentry back in custody had simply relaxed me enough to allow my baby more freedom of movement. Nah. I’m going with cheerleader.