“It has to make you pause at least. And the woman is thirty years old. What was she hanging around with this kid for anyway?”
“Wait a minute. You’re assuming that his story is true—that she was hanging around with him. She told us he accosted her in the parking lot of the bar. We do have some questions though. That’s why your client hasn’t been indicted yet.”
Ron stopped over in the middle of their conversation.
“How are you kids doing tonight?” he asked but didn’t wait for an answer. “Why don’t you guys let me buy you dinner. We’ve got some nice specials on the menu.”
Danni was confused. She looked over at Jack, who just shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe another night,” she said to Ron. “I’m not all that hungry tonight.”
“Okay,” Ron said walking away with a frustrated look on his face.
“What was that about?” Danni asked.
“Haven’t the vaguest,” Jack replied.
She looked at him for a moment, not knowing whether to believe him or not, then she was back on the case again. “I probably need to talk to your witness. Before I do that though, I want some assurances from you that this is on the up and up. I mean, you and I both know that you can find a drug user to say anything.”
“I wouldn’t do that nor would my investigator.”
“No, I guess you wouldn’t. I’ve been reading about the cases you’ve handled, and I know your reputation is pretty solid although I must tell you, I don’t know how you represent the people you do. Don’t get me wrong, I have some issues with the death penalty and how it’s administered, but I think it’s perfect for some people like that piece of shit who rampaged through this town eight years ago.”
“I appreciate that you have a totally different perspective than me,” Jack said. “But some people are innocent of the crime for which they were charged. The criminal justice system is flawed.”
“But so is your sanctimonious position.”
Jack smiled. She was testing him for some reason. Or maybe it was the mention of the serial killer case. Ron had said that case had affected her in a serious way although he didn’t know the details. Jack could see that her demeanor had changed when she mentioned that case. She wasn’t finished yet, though.
“You say people are innocent of the crime for which they are charged but that doesn’t mean that they’re innocent people. Take this Henry Wilson guy that you represented. He obviously wasn’t guilty of the murder that he had been charged with, but he was a bad guy and you got him released back on the streets.”
“After seventeen years for a crime he didn’t commit.”
“So, he’s still a bad guy.”
“Don’t you have any belief in the power of redemption?”
“None. I guess I’ve been on the streets too long.”
“Well, maybe you just continue to see the failures and not the successes and that frames your judgment. Henry Wilson is one of the finest people I know. He’s my closest friend.”
Danni looked genuinely surprised. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Jack. I just thought he was somebody you represented. I didn’t think you knew him personally.”
“It’s fine. I’m not angry. It’s just that a lot of people think like you. They don’t want to look at the person and ask how they got where they’re at and what should or could be done to prevent it in the future. It’s so much easier to look at them in that one-dimensional frame—as criminals—and snuff them out like cockroaches.”
They were silent for a long minute. “I guess we can agree to disagree on that one, too,” Danni said finally. Jack looked at her and saw a smile on her face. He smiled back.
“That’s a good idea,” he said.
Danni called the waitress over and handed her a ten-dollar bill for the glass of Cabernet. Then she stood up to leave.
“I’ll be in touch,” she said.
Chapter Nineteen
The phone rang at eight the next morning. It was Henry.
“I got a line on the lawyer who called Julian. Are you ready?”
“Sure.”
“Ted Collins.”
“The sports agent?”
“Yup—the guy who wines and dines kids and tries to sign them before anybody else.”
“It doesn’t make sense. Why would a sports agent offer to defend a kid in a rape case? He’s not qualified to do that.”
“Maybe he gets somebody else to actually handle the case.”
“But then he’s coming out of pocket.”
“Yeah, Jack, but remember, if he handles this for the kid, Julian would be indebted to him and would probably make him his agent. That could mean millions and millions of dollars. It would definitely be worth it.”
“Maybe you’re right, Henry, but I don’t see any connection between Collins’s offer and the rape charge itself, do you?”
“Not yet, but I’m not saying there isn’t one.”
“By the way, Detective Jansen wants to come down and interview our witness.”
“Tell her to come soon. This guy is in bad shape. I don’t know how long he’s going to be around. Ask her if she can be here tomorrow. Tell her he’s better earlier in the day than later.”
“Will do.”
Jack called Danni right away.
“I talked to my investigator and he says the witness can be available tomorrow morning.”
“Good. I’ll leave tonight. Tell him to set it up first thing in the morning and get me the details.”
“Listen, since I’m driving down as well, do you want to drive together?”
“Let me make a suggestion to you, Jack. Stay here. If I’m going to go talk to this guy and he is truly an independent witness—and I’m not satisfied that he is—it’s better if you’re not there when I question him.”
Jack rolled Danni’s statement over in his mind for a few moments. What she said made sense, and the fact that she said it told him she was giving Julian a fair shake.
“Okay. My investigator will be there though.”
“That’s fine.”
He called Henry right back. “Set it up. She’s going to drive down tonight so she will be available first thing in the morning.”
“Okay.”
“Henry, I’m going to tell her about the sports agent when I call her back. I just want you to know she’s going to have that information when she’s there.”
“She may want to talk to Sandra again.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“I know she’s an experienced cop and all, but Miami is a different ball game. Liberty City is a dangerous place.”
“She’s doing us a favor, Henry, by doing all this legwork before seeking an indictment.”
“I hear you, Jack. I’ll keep an eye on her.”
Chapter Twenty
Danni drove to Miami that night and on the way thought about the new information Jack had given her about the sports agent, Ted Collins. Being a detective in Oakville, she knew a little about sports agents who tried to prey on some of the more talented athletes at the university. Ted Collins was one of them. His nickname around sports programs was “The Eel” because he was a slippery, slimy son of a bitch. So he was offering to represent Julian. He’s located in Miami. Our victim, Sandra, is located in Miami. Is that just a coincidence or is there a connection? Maybe I need to talk to Sandra again while I’m there.
In the morning, promptly at ten as instructed, she called the number Jack had given her.
“Good morning, Ms. Jansen.”
“And who am I speaking to?”
“My name’s Henry, ma’am. I’m Jack Tobin’s investigator. I’ve got a small conference room at the Holiday Inn on West Flagler. We’re here already but you’d better hurry. My man here is nodding in and out.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Just give your name to the lady at the desk.”
Fifteen minutes later a woman ushered Danni into the conference room where Henry was waiting wit
h his witness. The room was fairly good sized for a small conference room although Henry made it look small. There was a table with four chairs in the middle and a credenza with a coffee urn and cups in the back. Henry put Danni at ease right away with a handshake and a smile. His witness was sitting in a chair, asleep.
“He nods out now and then,” Henry told her. “You get yourself comfortable and I’ll wake him up. Want some coffee?”
“No thanks.” Danni settled in a chair across from the witness. “What’s his name?” she asked.
“Pablo Ruiz.”
“You can wake him up.”
Henry gave Pablo a gentle shake and then another and another until the man couldn’t help but wake up. “Pablo, this here is Detective Danni Jansen. She’s the woman I told you about who is going to ask you some questions.”
“Shoot,” Pablo said in a daze.
Danni started off with a preliminary question to make sure Pablo could focus. “What’s your name?”
“Pablo Ruiz.”
“Do you know Sandra Davis?”
“Yeah. I know her real well.”
“How’s that?”
“We live in the same neighborhood—same apartment complex.”
“What did she tell you about the rape charge in Oakville?”
“She said it was bullshit. She said she just did it for money. She does things for this guy once in a while, she says.”
“What guy?”
“Hell if I know. Just some guy with money who pays her to do stuff.”
“Like claim somebody raped her?”
“Yeah. Why not? Money’s money.”
“Why would she tell you?”
“I don’t know. We were just shootin’ the shit, you know. Kind of like what me and Big Henry was doin’ the other day and now I’m here talkin’ to you all formal and shit.”
“And why are you talking to me now?”
“Why?”
“Yeah, why?”
“For the money, what else?”
“How much money?”
“Two hundred bucks for an hour.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Danni stood up and walked over to where Henry was standing in a corner.
“Tell your boss this isn’t going to fly. Paying a drug addict to tell a story is not going to get your client off.”
“I didn’t pay him to tell me the story to begin with. I just paid him to come down here and talk to you.”
“That’s a distinction without a difference.”
“Well, here’s another one: You cops pay snitches all the time for information. At least I didn’t pay Pablo beforehand.” Henry turned his attention to Pablo, who was starting to nod off again. “Pablo, what would happen to you if Sandra found out you were talking to the police?”
Pablo didn’t open his eyes. He just took his index finger and passed it across his throat. There was no need for words.
Danni did not have a counter to that so she changed the subject.
“How do I get to Liberty City? I want to stop and see Sandra Davis while I’m here.”
“I’m going there to drop Pablo off. I’ll take you and drop you back here.”
“That’s okay. I want to go alone.”
“I can’t let you do that, ma’am. I’ve got orders.”
“Orders? From who?”
“Jack. I told him that neighborhood is dangerous day and night. You wouldn’t know what you were getting into. He asked me to stay with you.”
“That doesn’t sound like orders.”
“No, ma’am.”
“Listen, Henry. This isn’t my first rodeo. I can handle this alone.”
“I’m sure you can, ma’am, but if you walk in Sandra Davis’s door, I’m gonna be with you.”
Danni gave him her best defiant stare but Henry was not going to back down, she could tell.
“I could arrest you for impeding a police officer in the performance of her duties.”
“You could but I’m not impeding you at all.”
“If I agree to allow you to come, I don’t want you interfering in any way.”
“I won’t as long as things don’t get out of hand.”
She thought about it for a moment. “All right, let’s go.”
Danni didn’t like it, but there was a part of her that felt a little more secure with a man of Henry’s size as backup. She didn’t know if he had a gun, but she suspected he might since he was a private investigator. Besides, although she was an experienced homicide detective in Oakville, Miami was a whole different animal.
Sandra’s apartment was on the fourth floor of a dilapidated apartment complex in a very poor section of town. Men and women, young and old were loitering in the parking lot. Danni was sure drug deals were being made at that very moment. The entire area was dirty and run-down as if everyone had lost the pride of at least keeping the place where they lived clean. The hallways held the stench of urine.
Everyone looked at Danni as she walked by. She obviously didn’t fit for a lot of reasons. They could probably tell that she was a cop. Once again, she felt better that Henry was with her.
She knocked on Sandra’s door and immediately heard scurrying in the apartment, like rats running for cover at the sound of a human approaching.
Nobody answered the door.
Danni knocked again. Finally a woman’s voice answered from a distance.
“Who is it?”
“I’m Detective Danielle Jansen from the Oakville Police Department. I’d like to speak to Sandra Davis.”
More scurrying. No answer. Then the door opened slightly. A beautiful woman with smooth coffee-colored skin appeared in the doorway.
“I’m Sandra Davis,” the woman said.
Up to that moment, Danni had never met Sandra Davis. Someone else had taken the original complaint and Danni had followed up on it by telephone. This was the first time she had laid eyes on the supposed victim. The woman was drop-dead gorgeous.
“You and I spoke on the phone, Sandra, about the complaint you made against Julian Reardon.”
“Yes, I remember.”
“Well, I’m here in Miami on another matter and I thought it might be a good time for you and me to just meet and chat for a few minutes. I have some follow-up questions.”
“I’m a little busy.”
“It won’t take long and it’s really important.”
Sandra stole a glance behind her. Danni figured there was someone else on the other side of the door.
“Okay, but only for a few minutes.”
She opened the door, and Danni and Henry, who had positioned himself in the hallway so that Sandra could not see him, followed her into the apartment, which opened into the dining room. Danni looked around immediately. The living room was off to the left and the kitchen was to the right. There were no walls separating the rooms.
It was a dingy place but surprisingly clean. The walls looked like they hadn’t been painted in years and the carpet was worn out. Danni saw two black men sitting in the living room, apparently watching television. They looked to be in their thirties and well-muscled. She couldn’t tell if they were packing. Another man, much more rotund and maybe ten years older, was in the kitchen cooking. It must have been spaghetti sauce or something of that nature because the aroma from the various herbs was enticing. The two men in the living room ignored them totally. The heavy man looked at Henry as if he recognized him.
“You’re Henry Wilson,” he said.
“That’s right.”
“I heard about you.”
Henry didn’t reply. He just nodded. A lot of people in Liberty City had heard about him.
Danni looked at Henry as if for the first time. She hadn’t put the pieces together. Jack’s investigator, Henry, was Henry Wilson, the man Jack had freed from death row. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? she asked herself but could not come up with an answer at that moment.
Sandra sat at the dining room table and invited them to join her. Both Dan
ni and Henry sat down.
“Like I told you, I only have a few minutes,” Sandra said.
“Okay,” Danni replied. She’d decided to get right to the point. “I know in the past you were arrested for prostitution.”
“That was ten years ago,” Sandra sneered.
“I know, but I recently received some information that you made this rape charge up because somebody paid you to do it. Is that true?”
“That’s bullshit. I’m not working for anyone.”
“Do you know who Ted Collins is—the sports agent?”
“Never heard of him.”
“I don’t believe you. Do you know what the penalty is for making a false charge like this? You can go to jail for a long time. I shake down Ted Collins, he’s going to give you up in a heartbeat.”
Danni was trying to play hardball to force an acknowledgment of some sort out of Sandra that the whole rape episode was a sham. At this point, even though Pablo was a piss-poor witness, she strongly suspected the rape charge had been trumped up.
Everything kind of happened all at once after that.
Danni had a written Miranda warning in her inside jacket pocket. She figured that putting the document in front of Sandra at that moment might bring home the seriousness of the situation to her.
The two men in the living room who had seemed to be ignoring everyone drew their weapons as soon as Danni’s hand moved toward her inside pocket. The guns were pointed at Danni and Henry.
The fat man in the kitchen slammed the pan he was holding down hard on the stove and stormed into the dining room.
“Put your hand on the table slowly,” the fat man said. Danni followed his directions. She was going to explain her intentions but thought better of it.
“You oughta mind your manners, lady,” the fat man shouted. He had his own piece out now and was pointing it at her head, just inches away. “This isn’t the sticks. You don’t come around here bullying people in their homes and threatening to arrest them. My sister was nice enough to let you in. I’m not going to let you out.”
Henry had been a passive presence up to that point. Now he stood up slowly, his hands in the air to let everyone know he either didn’t have a gun or wasn’t planning on using it if he did.
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