Chapter 18 #2
Doreen agreed. “Even if this guy didn’t do it, he admits he was there, casing the joint, so you can bet he had something to do with the owner’s murder. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have known to rob his house.”
People around her agreed.
“My thoughts exactly,” she declared, turning to him.
He stared at her. “Lady, you’re crazy, and—” He stopped as she narrowed her gaze at him.
“Remember how I don’t like that word?” she asked.
He twisted to look at Mack.
She asked the guy, “Why would you look at him? He’s not getting you out of this,” she pointed out. “You’re the one who was just out here screaming about police brutality.”
He swallowed hard, and she nodded. “So, you probably don’t have any friends anymore.
Your buddies in that B&E gang won’t be all that happy that your attention was mostly on your phone when you were supposed to be watching the house.
I can’t see them being that thrilled with the quality of your work, you know? ”
Somebody in the audience snickered again, and their suspect just continued to glare at her. “You are nuts.”
“Ooh, I don’t like that term either,” she noted. “I mean, I can see why you would say it, but I really don’t appreciate it.”
He looked desperately at Mack, who just shrugged and said, “Don’t look at me. According to you, I’m not helping you in the least.”
The suspect swallowed, looked back around at the crowd, and declared, “I didn’t have anything to do with the murder.”
“Yeah, but you just admitted to having something to do with the B&Es around them.”
Rather desperately, he added, “Look. They just told me what house to go to, how I was to stand outside and to keep watch.”
She looked back at Mack. “You do realize that whatever they were looking for, they’ve probably taken it already.”
“No,” the suspect argued. “I gave them a warning.”
“Did you now?” Mack asked, giving him a hard glance. “Good. Then we can check your phone and see who you sent the warning to.”
Immediately all the color leeched from the young man’s face. “They’ll kill me,” he cried out.
“And now the question is,” she began, studying him intently, “whether you mean that literally or if you’re just being dramatic?”
He paled as he realized what she meant.
She nodded. “Some of these guys don’t fool around. On the other hand,” she muttered, “here you are, heavily involved with them. I don’t think anybody here will take that kindly.”
“I sure won’t,” yelled one of the men in the crowd, glaring at the handcuffed man. “I went for a holiday, came back, and my house had been gutted.”
The young man stared at him, then looked over at Mack and whispered, “I think we need to leave quickly.”
“Yeah?” Mack said. “Or do I let these men have some time for a little talk with you about all the stuff you and your friends may have stolen?”
“No, no,” the guy wailed. “I just started working for them.”
“And that’s a good honest job for you, is it?” one of the men jeered. “We go to our jobs and work hard all day, and then here some lazy guy like you comes along and decides you’ll take what we got? How is that anything we want to protect you from?”
The young man glared at the crowd, then glared at Doreen. “Obviously we’re having a moment here. And we clearly have some misunderstandings. I’ve only just started working for them this past month, so I don’t know about anything before that.”
“The guy died just a few days ago, during this first month of yours.”
The guy gasped.
“Yeah, that’s all good,” Doreen said, with a casual nod. “We’ll be more than happy to follow up on everybody you work with because I highly doubt any of them have been on the job only for a month.”
The guy shook his head. “Some of them have been here for a very long time.”
She nodded. “Exactly, so just relax. Don’t mind us if we want to check your cell phone records.”
He frowned, then looked at Mack and asked, “You can’t do that without a warrant, right?”
“If we’re arresting you on a murder charge,” she explained, “I don’t think anybody needs to worry about niceties like that. There’s an awful lot of leeway when it comes to murder.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with murder,” he cried out. “You can’t pin that on me.”
“You might be surprised,” she said, staring at him, “because you’re still looking mighty good for a lot of this.”
“No, no, no,” he said in desperation.
“It’s not as if you’ve been very helpful.”
“Yes, I have. I told you that I just started working for them.”
“Yeah, and then you didn’t want us looking at your phone records, and you aren’t willing to turn them in, so …”
“Yeah, but I don’t dare. If I do that, you know what’ll happen to me?”
“Sure,” she said, “but that’s okay. You can go down for a murder rap instead of just B&E. That’s your prerogative.”
“No.” He just stared at her in shock, then turned to Mack, looking rather desperate. “Look. If I say anything, I’ll get in trouble.”
“Yeah, you will,” Mack confirmed, with an unconcerned shrug. He lifted a hand and waved at somebody in the distance.
Doreen turned to see Chester headed toward them.
When he arrived, he took one look them, sighed, and asked, “Now what has she done?”
Doreen glared at him. “Me?” she said. “Remember that gang doing all that breaking-and-entering that’s been happening around town? This is the lookout guy for them.”
At that, Chester turned and glared at him. “My own house was broken into not too long ago,” he roared. “And you’re a piece of this? … You belong to that gang?”
Realizing he was up against yet another irate citizen, and this one a cop, he turned to Doreen. “Do you always cause trouble for people?”
She frowned, thought about it, and nodded. “Mostly for you bad guys? Yeah.”
At that the crowd burst into laughter.
Doreen added, “But you know, you do have one way out of this. Of course it’s not an easy way, and it may not be a good way, but considering how much trouble you are in already, you may want to look at it.”
And, with that, Chester led him away, berating him with every step.
Doreen turned and looked back at the crowd. “Anybody seen him before?”
Everybody shook their heads, but she noticed one person in the far corner was starting to sidle off. When she nudged Mack in that direction, he nodded, then circled around and came up behind the guy. And just when she went to point him out, he turned to run and smacked right into Mack.
Mack grabbed him, turned him around, and muttered, “Looks like we need to have a talk with you too.”
At that, he started to roar the same song and dance as the other guy, so Doreen addressed their audience. “You know, it’s almost like they had the same instructor. Anybody here know this guy?”
“No,” said the same guy from before, who’d had his stuff stolen. “Yet you’re right. That’s the exact same lies the other guy spouted.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking they’re on the same team,” she suggested, with a nod. “It makes me happy to think that we’ll have two of them in for questioning now.”
“No, you’re not,” the newest suspect muttered, no longer screaming. “I’m not stupid like he is and know perfectly well when to keep my mouth shut.”
“Oh, that’s interesting.” Doreen stared at him, smirking. “So, a little more practiced then, huh?”
He glared at her and refused to budge.
She shrugged and looked over at Mack. “Is Chester still around?”
“Yeah, he’s on his way back to us,” he replied, “and he’s got Darren with him.”
Moments later, she turned to find the two cops trudging over. Grinning at them, she added, “And here’s a second cohort in your crime-bandit-team.”
The cops stared at the man Mack was hanging onto and asked, “Seriously?”
The second suspect just glared and said, “I ain’t talking.”
“Oh, you don’t have to,” Doreen declared.
“Yet we’ve got a murder to deal with, and murder trumps breaking-and-entering.
So, I don’t think anybody here particularly cares if we check your cell phone records, then head to your place, do a little search, and see what kind of goodies,” she noted with emphasis, “show up in your possession.”
He paled at that, and she nodded. “And you won’t get a chance to make that phone call to the rest of your cohorts to let them know that your booty needs to be moved … and fast.”
He just glared at her, and she smiled. “I don’t expect you’ll roll over on your friends. You’ve been working with them for a long time.”
“Right.”
She nodded. “Thank you for confirming that you are one of the long-time members of the B&E gang.”
At that, someone in the group of onlookers laughed. “Oh, she’s good. She’s really good.”
She grinned at him. “Thank you for that. Every once in a while, I do manage to do something right,” she replied humbly.
“You’re a cop?” the second suspect asked, glaring at her.
“What difference does it make to you?” He just smiled a nasty smile, and she nodded.
“Oh, here we go. I’ve seen that smile a time or two,” she muttered.
“You know, … the old threats about how You’ll get me.
You’ll make sure I get payback. Blah, blah, blah, and blah,” she repeated.
“And I’m not saying that somebody out there may not do it one day, but, so far, when it comes to jerks like you in the world versus my animals, my animals come up the winners every time. ”
“Animals?” he repeated, looking around in surprise.
Then she pointed to Mugs at her feet and Goliath, stretched out beside him.
“Oh, good God, you are delusional. You think a dog and a cat will stop anybody?”