I spent the next twenty minutes going over the entire thing from start to finish. He didn’t interrupt me but one time to ask if I really called the DA a wuss. When I was finished, he just sat there for several seconds.
“Bartoni, you are a real firecracker, you know that? That in itself isn’t such a bad thing but add in a short fuse and that changes the game. Those two thing together are dangerous,” he stopped and then said, “You actually called him a wuss?”
“Yes sir, I did.”
He shook his head and rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand. Suddenly he broke out laughing. I’m sure my mouth dropped open. I could see McGregor’s jaw drop.
“Lord, you are something else Bartoni. You are passionate about what you believe is right and wrong. A wuss. My goodness, what am I going to do with you? You know I should suspend you for this, right?”
“Yes sir. I totally understand.”
“A wuss. I wonder what you say about me when I’m not around. Wait. I don’t want to know. Look Bartoni, you are going to have to be kind of suspended.”
“Kind of?”
“Yeah. You are suspended for the next twelve hours.”
“Twelve hours? Sir, it’s almost six now.”
“Right. You are to do no more work until your suspension is up tomorrow at 6:00 a.m.”
“Well sir, it is a hardship, but if you think it best.”
“I do, but there is one stipulation.”
“Sir?”
“Don’t go see the DA again. He wants you to apologize for your outburst but I can’t stand the man and I’m not about to make you do that. The suspension is enough. Just stay out of his way until this blows over.”
“Can I still testify for Mr. Storm?”
“I insist that you do. Get your partner to testify as well, if he is willing. The guy is being sacrificed in the name of political correctness. Frankly, I think he deserves a medal for getting two scumbags off the street. Make sure you pull their rap sheets when you go before the Grand Jury. Look Bartoni, I can’t condone what you did publicly so I will say you were suspended if anyone asks. If they don’t, I’m not going to mention it.”
“Thank you Commissioner.”
“Watch that temper detective,” were his parting words.
The captain was just looking at me.
“What?”
“I don’t get it. I was expecting to have to scrape you off the walls and ceiling and you come out smelling like a rose. I don’t understand what just happened.”
“It comes from living clean,” I told him.
He just sat there shaking his head as I slid out the door.
Dan was waiting anxiously, wanting to know what happened. I told him I had been suspended.
“No way.”
“Yep.”
“How long?’
“Until 6:00 a.m tomorrow,”
“That’s cra…wait. Tomorrow?”
“Yeah a whole twelve hours.”
“I don’t get it?” he said.
“There seems to be a lot of that going around,” I said grabbing my coat and heading out.
Dan was still standing there scratching his head. I love a good mystery.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The next morning I was in my chair at exactly 6:01 a.m which is very unusual for me. I am so not a morning person but somehow it just felt right today. I started pulling the old case files. As I expected two different detectives were the lead on the cases. Detective Donner I knew and he was still active. He had handled the Janet Lewis-Milliken case. The other one, Beverly Mason-Milliken was handled by Detective Shipman. Him, I didn’t know.
I decided I would wait for Dan before getting into them. In the meantime I started tracking down the attending physicians and ER personnel who treated the women. I also wanted to talk to the responding officers. Someplace in all of this, the answer was just waiting to be discovered. He was living it up on his dead wives’ money and I was determined to put a stop to it.
By the time Dan dragged himself up the stairs, I was on my third Diet Coke and starting to bounce off the walls. I wanted to get going. I waited while he moved at the speed of molasses in winter to the break room and got his coffee. I even waited for him to finish the first half before I started in.
“Dan, my man, we have a lot to do today. I want us to hit the ground running. We have a lot of legwork to do and sitting here isn’t going to get it done.”
“I hate it when you are like this,” he sighed.
“Like what, wanting to work?”
“No, full of caffeine and acting like one of those Super Balls, zinging here, zinging there. It makes me crazy.”
“Well that’s not much of a challenge. Come on boy, drink up and I’ll fill you in on our fun day.”
“Please Angie, don’t do this to me.”
“Okay grump butt but I do have a lot for us to do.”
“Alright, but can we move at a reasonable pace?”
“I guess; if we have to. Okay, here is what I have so far,” I told him and explained what I wanted to accomplish.
“I don’t think we are going to get very far with the doctor end.”
“We have to try. Even if we only get one to tell us what really happened, we are a leg up.”
“Fine, but I wouldn’t want to bet on it,” Dan said.
The phone rang.
“Detective Bartoni.”
“How many Cokes have you had,” the gravelly voice demanded.
“Three. I’m working on my fourth.”
“I thought so. How about dragging yourself over here. I’ve got something for you.”
“Don’t tell me. You finally got your license to practice,” I said.
Click. I couldn’t believe it. He hung up on me. How rude.
“Come on. Our prince of an ME wants to see us. He actually found something, probably his office door.”
“You are so bad Angie Bartoni.”
“Why thank you very much.”
***
“Lord of the dead,” I said as we came in the lab.
“Why do I even try to be nice to you?” he said.
“You don’t.”
“Well there is that. Probably for a good reason too. If you want to go to the Grand Jury about the Storm case you need to put a sock in it and listen up.”
“How do you know about that?”
“Anytime the DA gets called a wuss to his face, everyone knows about it. Got you a whole twelve hour suspension.”
“No one is supposed to know that.”
“Oh chill out feisty one. Only I know because I have pull.”
“You can’t even pull a desk drawer open. Don’t give me that pull crap.”
“You want to see what I found or not?”
“I humbly beseech you, please proceed,” I said.
“Okay. Here is what really happened in my opinion. The first guy was definitely shot in the chest. No brainer. The second guy wasn’t shot in the back. He was shot in the rib cage. The bullet went in here,” he said showing me the entry wound, “It hit his sternum, went up and hit his clavicle and then traveled down and out his back. It had lost so much momentum that it looked like an entrance wound. It wasn’t the entry wound, it is where the bullet exited his body.”
“So you are saying?”
“He was probably facing Mr. Storm and spun just at the moment he pulled the trigger. It hit him in the ribs and…well there you have it. He did not shoot the man in the back. This happened in a split second.”
“Would you testify to that?”
“I’ve already told the DA he was pretty much full of it. Poor guy is getting a lot of abuse at the moment. I’m pretty sure they are going to drop the charges.”
“You brilliant, wonderful man, you,” I said kissing him on the top of his bald head.
“It’s taken you that long to realize it? Some detective you are.”
“You are the best, you old curmudgeon,” I said heading out the door.
“Yo
u’re okay too…I guess,” he yelled back.
***
“Congratulations,” the captain said when I got back.
“Thank you. I’ll take it.”
“The DA called to inform me that in consideration of new evidence, they are not charging Mr. Storm.”
“Yeah. Sorenson told me that would probably happen.”
“It did.”
“Good. It was a railroad job. I knew it and he knew it but he was going to do it anyway. That is just wrong. People have the right to defend themselves in a life and death situation.”
“Easy Bartoni. Don’t go getting all worked up again.”
“Okay. I’m fine. Now if I can just nail this Milliken guy, life will be good.”
“If he did anything wrong.”
“He did,” I said assuredly.
“Now don’t be like the DA and make a decision without all the facts,” he said as he walked off.
Ouch. What if he was right and I was just focusing on Milliken and letting the real perp go? It could just be coincidence. Nah, he was the man. I’m sure of it.
“Hey Bartoni,” Dan said coming back from the men’s room.
“Dan. I had a hundred things I wanted to get done today and it’s already half over and we haven’t even touched the list.”
“Speak for yourself,” he said handing me a list of the names of the doctors and Emergency Room personnel that had worked on the three women at various time. A separate list included all of the responding officers called by neighbors.
“Excellent Dan. Where do you think we should start?” I asked him.
“I suppose lunch is out of the question.”
I just looked at him like he was from outer space. Of course we went to lunch first so my big strong baby boy could keep from passing out. Then we finally started to work.
We decided to start with the Emergency Room workers. That turned out to take a lot longer than I expected. We had to wait for some who were busy. Others had moved out of the ER and some had changed hospitals.
By the end of the day, we had only managed to talk to four. Not much progress. Even then they were so busy covering their butts that it really didn’t accomplish much. Most talked in generalities. ‘Gee, I hardly remember it was so long ago’ and of course the ever popular ‘it is confidential information’.
Only one person said he was suspicious and told the social worker, who never followed up. Just great. A day that I had such high hopes for was almost totally wasted. The one redeeming thing was that Mr. Storm could sleep better knowing he was off the hook. I’m sure he was already reliving the moment over and over. You always do after you shoot your first victim.
When we got back to the station, I found a pink slip placed in the center of my desk. No, not that kind. One of those ‘while you were out’. It was from Mr. Storm.
“Mr. Storm, you called while I was out. Is everything alright?”
“I just wanted to thank you for sticking up for me.”
“Really? How did you know I went to the DA?”
“He told me that you were adamant that it was a justified shooting and that after looking into it further the DA’s office agreed that you were correct in your assessment. How can I ever repay you?”
“You don’t owe me a thing Mr. Storm. I would have probably done the same thing in your position and I am trained to act in a situation like that. You are lucky to be alive and your quick thinking probably saved your life. Look, I know you are going to lose sleep over this, but you did nothing wrong. Just be prepared for an outcry from the special interest groups. ‘White man kills two innocent African-Americans. There will be a nice picture of them looking all clean cut and innocent, with no mention of their rap sheets. Don’t let it drag you down. It’s what the media does,” I said.
“I guess you’re right. They were camped out here when I got home and there are still a couple of media trucks across the street.”
“If they come on your property without your permission call the police and have them removed. You have rights too Mr. Storm. Exercise them,” I told him.
“Alright. Thank you so much Detective Bartoni.”
“Glad I could help. Thank you for calling.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
I took the long way home after getting off. The Austin Healey was running like a top and I enjoyed the wind in my hair. It would be a mass of tangles when I got home but I didn’t care. I had no one to go home to, not even a dog or cat. I did have a goldfish once but it ended up floating belly up and was now in the great fish pond in the sky.
The fridge was pretty much empty. If it wasn’t for wine I probably wouldn’t need the thing. I ordered a pizza, sat down at my table, and started organizing my thoughts about the Milliken case. We were obviously not going to get far with the ER staff and doctors unless we could get a court order. That was out of the question at this point. The first thing they would want know is how I obtained the list. Not good.
The neighbors had given us some help but not enough to really do much good in court so we had hit a dead end there as well. The case files should probably go to the top of the list now. I would read everything and make a list of questions for the original investigating detectives. I had one already. How hard had they tried to nail Milliken? Especially the second detective, he should have smelled a rat. Two wives and two disappearances? Coincidence? I think not.
My pizza arrived and I ate it with the rest of my Pinot Grigio from last night. Should have had red wine, especially with the spicy pepperoni. I took a shower, washed my hair, put on my jammies and called it a night. I lay there tossing and turning. It was one of those, ‘if I can get to sleep now I can still get…’ nights. The last time I looked at the clock it was 3:09 a.m.
I was not at my best the next morning. I ran a brush through my hair and pulled it back. Lipstick? Blush? I don’t need no stinking lip stick. Well, I did, but I went without it anyway.
I about fell over. Dan was already sitting at his desk going through the files.
“What in the world” I stammered.
“Lots to do. We lost a lot of time yesterday. I’m starting on the Mason file.”
“Now I have seen everything,” I said sitting down.
“Diet Coke and donuts are in your upper drawer,” he said without looking up from the file.
I must have died and gone to heaven because this is just too strange to be reality. I snapped out of it long enough to start in on the Lewis file which Dan had placed in the center of my desk. I don’t know what’s going on, but I like it.
I read the file through once, writing notes as I went along. On the surface it looked pretty good but several things jumped out at me. The first was that Detective Donner never talked to Mrs. Callahan even thought she had called the police on two occasions regarding incidents with that wife as well. Why? The second big thing is that he never brought Milliken down to the station and grilled him. His interview at the house was the only one he had done. Third, and most glaring, was that there was no mention of the first Mrs. Milliken’s disappearance. Why in the world not? He had to have had some suspicion but there was no mention of it. I wrote in large letters ‘WHY???’.
After I was finished, I re-read it and found a couple more things that struck me is either sloppy work or intentionally not mentioned. In either case, it was troublesome.
“What do you have?” Dan asked closing his folder.
“Several unanswered questions.”
“I hear you. I’m not too happy with what I just read either. There was some really sloppy police work done on this case.”
“Same with the Lewis case. Did you make a list of questions?” I asked.
He held it up. It was a lot like mine. Detective Shipman had done little follow up.
“I’m going to talk to Eric,” I said.
“Now what?”
“I want to pull the financial records on Detectives Donner and Shipman. I doubt we will find anything, but you never know if you don’t check.”<
br />
“Geez Bartoni, how would you like someone doing that to you?”
“They do. The credit report people, banks, and probably the NSA. Besides, if they want to know where my net worth of eight-hundred and fifty dollars in my savings account came from, I can explain.”
I went to see Eric leaving Dan standing there and shaking his head. I honestly didn’t see anything wrong with it. Dan obviously had a difference of opinion and that is okay. He is entitled to it, even if it is wrong. Stop it Bartoni, I told myself, you could be wrong someday. Nah.
“Eric, my favorite geek, I need you to pull the financial records on a couple of people.”
“Got a court order.”
I laughed and so did he.
“Pretend I am from NSA,” is said.
“Okay,” he said and I gave him the names.
I failed to note that they were detectives. I just listed their first and last names.
“Back you to in a few,” he said and I went back to my desk.
Dan was chowing down on a ‘Honey Bunn’ from the vending machine. It was probably ten years old. I had never seen anyone eat one from that machine before.
“Eric doing your dirty work?”
“I told him I was with the NSA.”
Dan rolled his eyes. I don’t think he always appreciates my sense of humor.
***
I blew air out of my lips. I was slightly depressed. I looked at the report in front of me again. It is definitely not what I wanted to see.
“What are you going to do?” Dan asked
“Go to the captain.”
“And tell him what?”
“Exactly what I think happened. What else can I do? We are going to have to bring them in for questioning. I’ll need the captain’s support. If IA handles it we will be cut out of the loop and we need answers now.”
“IA will be pretty put out,” Dan pointed out.
“Oh now that is something I really care about…not,” I replied.
“Okay, just saying.”
“I got it. I’ll go tell the captain. I’m the one who started this mess. No use you getting involved,” I said.
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