The calls put Stan at the conservation area, but not Menendez. Jason’s gut told him Frank was behind everything, but he needed proof.
He gathered up the records and went to see Lieutenant Patton.
Chapter 15
Nate Jefferson sat alone in the waiting room. Lieutenant Patton had run home to take a shower, but he’d promised to come right back. Nate could understand now why his sister raved about the people she worked with. As she’d put it so often, “They’re good people.”
That was the highest compliment his sister could give. It meant they had good hearts. Just hearing her voice in his head made him sad, made him want to go shake her awake. Of course, he knew it was out of his hands. She would have to win or lose this fight on her own.
It was nearly dinnertime, and Detective Strong came into the waiting room carrying a bag. “Your sister once told me you’re a big Tex-Mex fan. I brought you some food.”
Nate accepted the bag gratefully. He had eaten very little in the last forty-eight hours, and his body needed something. “Thank you.”
“How’s she doing?”
“Same, I guess,” he said between bites of an oversized enchilada.
Nate spotted Lieutenant Patton and Detective Layne coming into the waiting room. The lieutenant also carried a bag. “My wife made you some sandwiches, Nate.”
Nate held up the bag Jason had brought. “I’m working on this. Thank her for me, and I’ll try to eat them later.” As he went to take another bite, his hand stopped in mid-air.
Everyone turned to see what had frozen Nate. Coming into the room was the surgeon from last night. He was accompanied by the hospital clergyman. The doctor walked straight to the young man.
“Mr. Jefferson?”
Nate answered so softly, he wasn’t sure the doctor heard him. “Yes?”
“I’m very sorry to tell you this, but your sister has passed.”
Nate felt a crumbling, cascading, falling sensation. He found himself being helped up off the floor by the clergyman and doctor. A crushing pain encompassed him as his mind tried to process the words. Your sister has passed.
*******
Jason felt the news just like a punch. It him hard, driving him backward into a chair. He found Vanessa next to him, both of them wiping back tears. Patton had turned and walked out of the room.
They listened as the doctor explained why Nina had died, how they’d done everything they could, and how very sorry they were. Nate sat bent forward, motionless, tears running unchecked from his eyes and dropping to the carpet beneath him.
Eventually, the pastor and doctor excused themselves, and the room grew quiet except for the occasional sniffle. Patton came back in, eyes red and a look of resolve on his face. He walked over to Nate and bent down in front of him. “Nate, I’m so sorry.”
The young man nodded, but didn’t say anything.
John put his hand on Nate’s shoulder. “If it’s okay with you, I’ll make some calls and arrange an officer’s funeral.”
“That would be great. I wouldn’t know what to do anyway. Mom and Dad are both gone. It’s just me. I don’t think I can face all the things needing to be done by myself.”
“You don’t worry about it. The department will handle everything.”
A grateful look came across the young man’s face. “Thank you.”
“And Nate. . .”
“Yes?”
“We’ll find the animal responsible for this.”
Nate just nodded.
The big lieutenant stood up and turned toward Jason, something new on his face. Determination.
He nodded for Jason to follow him. When they reached a safe distance away from the waiting room, he stopped and looked at his detective. “Tell me what you’ve got.”
*******
Jason arrived home in time for a late dinner. He’d called ahead and told Sandy the news. She’d kept some goulash warm for him, and met him at the door with a hug. He ate in the family room.
As was her habit, Sandy said very little, just sat next to Jason on the couch. She’d taken his hand and placed it on her stomach, distracting her husband with the kicking of their baby girl.
Penny, her large white head resting on his feet, looked up at him with big, sad eyes. She was doing her best to comfort him, too. Sometimes, there really is no place like home.
Jason played back in his mind the conversations, jokes, and investigations Nina and he had shared. He found it impossible to grasp how such a vibrant person could be gone so suddenly.
During the evening, Sandy and he prayed, more for Nate than anything else, and discussed Nina’s faith. Jason knew she had gone to heaven and heaven was getting a special lady.
As the night wore on, he moved his thoughts to the information he’d given the lieutenant. Patton had promised to go to the captain.
There wouldn’t be anywhere to hide for the person responsible, not with the entire SAPD coming down on him. And if it was Menendez, Jason hoped he was the one to bust him.
Sandy looked at her watch. “It’s eleven. Let’s go to bed.”
He allowed her to pull him up, putting her arm around his waist, and his head on her shoulder. The closeness helped keep away some of the pain.
Penny padded after them into the bedroom. Ever since Penny’s accident, when she was hit by a car, she’d slept on the floor next to Sandy. Tonight, she licked Jason’s hand before she settled down on his side of the bed.
*******
The next morning, as Jason prepared to go work, he took his badge out of its holder and placed a black band around it. He stood staring at it, suddenly wondering if officers would ever put a band around their badges for him. He shook away the thought.
When he arrived at the station, both the American and Texas State flags were at half staff, and every officer he ran into sported the same black band. Jason walked past the wall in the main foyer where pictures of officers killed in action were hung. Nina’s wasn’t there. . .yet.
Jason hadn’t personally known any of the officers on that wall until now. He wondered how it would change the way he felt each day when he came into work.
Vanessa was at her desk when he got to the third floor. She looked like he felt. Tired, sad, angry. She looked up when he came in. “The lieutenant is waiting for you in the conference room.”
Jason didn’t stop at his desk, instead going straight to meet the lieutenant. Patton sat at the conference table holding a folder, his back to the door, not moving. He didn’t turn around when Jason came in. Jason closed the door and walked around the table to sit opposite his boss.
“You wanted to see me, Sir.”
The lieutenant slid the folder across the desk, not looking at Jason, but keeping his eyes on the file.
“These are Menendez’s phone records. Captain Garcia went through Shelly Meyers to get them. They were hand-delivered to me and I’m giving them to you. Go over them, but do not make copies. Return them to me, along with any evidence you think you’ve found. Understood?”
“Yes, Sir.”
The lieutenant got up and left the room. He turned the lock on the door, then closed it after him.
Jason pored over the file. He knew exactly what he was looking for. He wanted to match the calls on the records of Stan Magnus to the calls on Menendez’s phone. Then he wanted to pinpoint the towers.
The first was the call from Stan to Menendez on the night Nina disappeared. Stan’s phone bounced off the Medina area tower, but Frank’s phone bounced off the tower near his house. He was home, and that meant he had an alibi for that night.
The second was the call on the night Stan was murdered. Stan’s call bounced off the tower near the dump. Menendez’s phone bounced off the same tower. Frank Menendez was near that dump at the same time as Stan the night Magnus died.
Jason gathered the folder and papers, going straight into the lieutenant’s office.
“Sir?”
Patton didn’t look up. “Shut the door.”
/> Jason did. “I found it.”
“Show me.”
Jason held the sheet of paper out to his boss. “Frank was talking to Stan, and both phones were using the same tower at the same time, out near the dump on the night Stan was killed.”
Patton studied the sheet of paper for several minutes. The big man appeared a little smaller today. Nina’s death had hit him hard. “Leave the file. I’ll let you know what the captain says.”
Jason laid the folder on the desk. “Yes, Sir.”
*******
Patton ran the facts through his head over and over, making sure he had everything straight while he waited for Captain Garcia.
They might make a case of Murder One against Menendez for killing Stan Magnus, but they lacked evidence to prove conspiracy. Menendez had covered his tracks.
The leap from killing Slimy Stan to nailing him for the death of Nina Jefferson was a long one. They had nothing more than a record of a phone call as proof.
They could interrogate Menendez, much like they would any other suspect, but they’d lose the element of surprise. Menendez didn’t know he was on the radar, and that could make him careless.
Their steps from here on out had to be carefully planned. If he was responsible for what happened to Nina, Patton was going to make him pay.
“John, come in.”
Patton looked up to see Captain Jesse Garcia leaning out his office door. He rose slowly, almost reluctantly, and followed the captain into his office.
After he shut the door behind him, Patton sat down and began the process of ruining his captain’s day.
Chapter 16
One of the detective’s favorite places for lunch was Stumpy’s Bar-B-Q. Normally, Jason and Vanessa would be joking, talking about family, and enjoying the relaxed atmosphere. It helped them recharge before going back to the station.
Nothing like that marked this lunch. Both of them were struggling with the pain and anger brought on by the death of their friend. They walked back to the station, hardly having spoken all through lunch.
The press conference announcing Nina’s death was to be held after lunch. They found Captain Garcia, Lieutenants Patton and Banks, and Frank Menendez standing in the hallway. Jason and Vanessa joined them.
They all filed into the pressroom and onto the small stage. The usual group of reporters was present, but the normal bustle of the briefing room was noticeably absent. Captain Garcia stepped to the podium.
“Thank you for coming.” He cleared his throat. “I regret to announce the death of Detective Nina Jefferson. She passed last night. The San Antonio Police Department and the City of San Antonio are arranging a funeral with full honors. You’ll receive the details as they become available.” The captain cleared his throat again. “Questions?”
For a change, Devin James wasn’t the first to stand, instead a reporter from one of the local TV stations got up. “What was the cause of death?”
“Officially, she died of organ failure due to infection.”
“Will there be a viewing?”
“Yes, tomorrow beginning at four.”
Devin James raised his hand. The captain nodded at him. “Yes?”
The reporter asked his question slowly, deliberately, almost pausing between each word. “Normally, an official funeral is reserved for those who die in the line of duty.” Silence hung in the air. “Does the SAPD believe the death of Detective Jefferson to be a result of her duties as an officer?”
Captain Garcia stared into James’s eyes, but didn’t answer. He seemed to be weighing his response. Jason knew the captain didn’t want to answer any questions about the investigation, especially with his prime suspect standing behind him.
After nearly a minute of tense quiet, the captain nodded. “Yes.”
Instantly, the room exploded with reporters clamoring to ask more questions. The captain turned to the group assembled behind him and nodded toward the door. Patton led them all from the room without another word. The captain was last to leave, without answering any further questions.
*******
When they arrived back on the third floor, Patton went into his office and shut the door. Jason and Vanessa sat down at their desks, both lost in their own thoughts.
A few minutes later, the door to the lieutenant’s office opened and he waved at Jason to come in. Vanessa gave Jason an inquiring look, as if to say ‘what’s up?’
It made Jason uncomfortable to hide things from Vanessa. She was his partner, his friend, and the person he trusted most in the department. Unfortunately, the decision was out of his hands, but he looked forward to coming clean. He wanted her involved in the investigation.
Jason shrugged and tried not to meet her eyes. He went into the lieutenant’s office, closing the door behind him.
“Yes, Sir?”
The lieutenant reached over and pushed the speaker button on his phone. “Okay, he’s here.”
“Detective Strong, this is Captain Garcia, and I’m joined by Shelly Meyers from Internal Affairs.”
Jason shot the lieutenant a look, as if to say ‘Really? No warning?’ The lieutenant shrugged.
“Yes, Sir,” was all Jason could think to say. He’d never spoken directly to someone from Internal Affairs, the most feared and despised department at the SAPD. The captain continued.
“What I’m about to say to you must remain between the four of us. Understand?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Firstly, let me say you’ve done a good job handling this very sensitive matter so far.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“Officer Meyers and I are in agreement with you and the lieutenant. We think Frank Menendez is involved in the death of Nina Jefferson. Having said that, we are nowhere near having enough evidence to tie him to the crime.”
Jason could hear some papers being shuffled before the captain went on. “Officer Meyers has come up with an idea to extract some physical evidence connecting Menendez to the Magnus murder. I’m going to let her tell you about it.”
A female voice followed, and Jason tried to connect it to a face. He didn’t think he’d ever seen the I.A. officer before, and her voice wasn’t familiar.
“Detective Strong, let me say first, I agree with Captain Garcia. You’ve done a solid job so far on this case. Secondly, I want to commend you for bringing this to our attention. I know there’s pressure not to turn against another officer.”
“I feel no pressure to hide a bad cop, if that’s what we have here.”
Patton nodded at his detective, the response no surprise to him.
Officer Meyers began explaining her plan. “What we want to do first is see if we can definitively tie Detective Menendez to the murder of Stan Magnus. If we can’t do that, we’ll never be able to prove conspiracy in the death of Detective Jefferson.”
Meyers cleared her throat.
“Because we have the bullet removed from the body of Magnus, and it has clear striations on it, we’re setting up a trap to get another bullet from Frank Menendez. Under this plan, he won’t know about our investigation until we want him to know.”
Jason was getting impatient. “Sounds good. So, what do we do?”
His lieutenant gave him a reprimanding look, but Officer Meyers laughed. “I’m getting there, Detective.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. We’re prepping the station’s shooting range to get bullets from Menendez’s gun.”
Jason looked at the lieutenant with raised eyebrows, but didn’t interrupt this time.
“Lieutenants Patton and Banks are going to tell their detectives extra range time has been ordered by Captain Garcia. They’ll explain that the events surrounding Detective Jefferson’s death are the reason for the order.”
Again, she cleared her voice.
“Menendez will be put on a particular shooting lane, which will be prepared for him only, and his bullets will be collected after he is done.”
Jason, who had been leaning toward
the phone, sat back in his chair. He liked the plan. “When’s the order for more range work going to come down?”
Captain Garcia spoke up. “Right after Detective Jefferson’s viewing, which, as you know, is tentatively scheduled for tomorrow. Do you have any questions, Detective?”
“No, I guess not.”
“Good. If Menendez is our guy, we’ll get him.”
Jason didn’t see there was much room for doubt, but he kept it to himself. “Yes, Sir.”
The line went dead. Jason and his lieutenant sat staring at each other.
Patton had gone through the dark days following the 7-11 police shooting, and he’d shared with Jason how difficult it had been.
Neither one could imagine what kind of firestorm would result from one cop setting up the murder of another, nor did they know the motive, which Jason feared could be the worst news of all.
Chapter 17
For Jason, the day of Nina’s viewing dawned empty of sun, but full of dread. Seeing his friend lying in a flag-draped coffin was going to be very hard.
Sandy sat next to him as they drove to the funeral home, obviously uncomfortable in the car, her belly moving every so often. Their baby girl fidgeted with impatience to come out, and Jason was reminded Nina would never see her.
He wiped at his eyes, trying to keep his composure, and Sandy laid her hand on his. “You okay?”
He turned to see her watching him and gave her a small smile. “I’ll make it. Thanks for coming with me. I know it’s not going to be easy.”
“Nonsense, I’m fine. I’m more worried about you.”
He raised her hand to his lips, kissing her curled fingers.
A few minutes later, he turned right, and the funeral home came into view. Cars lined the street in both directions, taking up every available spot for blocks.
Jason pulled up in front of the funeral home door and let Sandy get out. She walked under the green tunnel-like canopy to wait for him. Going around the corner and over two blocks, he finally found a space.
ONE OF THEIR OWN (Det. Jason Strong(CLEAN SUSPENSE Book 6) Page 7