by Kirk Russell
Baylor didn’t say anything but he hoped Raveneau could read his look. He wanted Raveneau to know what he was capable of and let him think about that. But the fucker just looked at him and smiled like he was going to laugh.
‘So what happened last night?’
‘Forget about it.’
Raveneau reached for the door.
‘I was at a bar and around midnight these two guys came in and started talking at this chick I’d been drinking with. They were drunk and when I went to use the bathroom one of them took my seat. He wouldn’t get up when I came back. My drink was right there in front of the stool when I went to piss and he pushed it down the bar and Rachel was freaking a little. These guys were drunk.’
‘Did you know Rachel before that night?’
‘No, but we connected. She had already given me her phone number. It’s in my cell and I can show you. She wouldn’t have done that if it wasn’t real.’
‘Go on.’
‘He wouldn’t move and I kind of bumped him and when he went to push me I grabbed his arm and pulled him off the stool on to the floor. Then the other one jumped on me and I had to fight them both.’
‘The other one says he identified himself as a police officer.’
‘That’s bullshit.’
‘They’re saying you kicked the head of the guy on the floor hard enough to knock out some teeth.’
‘I don’t know what happened, but they started it and the other one was swinging at me.’ He turned his head so Raveneau could see the bruise. ‘Look at this.’
‘Then what?’
‘The bartender goes for the phone and the one I’m fighting whips his badge out after he lands a few on me. Then other cops arrive and they baton the shit out of me before they put me in their car. I was sitting there having a good time with her before they walked in.’
‘Did the one who took your bar stool identify himself as a police officer before you got into it with him?’
‘I told you already, no, he didn’t.’
‘Is Rachel going to back you up on this?’
‘She’s probably totally freaked out.’
‘What about the bartender? How much did he see?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘A couple of witnesses told the officers who arrested you that you were wearing boots and kicked the one on the floor in the head as you held the other one off with a chair.’
‘No way, and those guys started the whole thing. They’re lying. Do you want to see the bruises on my back? I can barely stand up, dude.’
‘If we call Rachel is she going to answer?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘She’s your best witness. Should we call her?’
‘They took my phone when they booked me.’
‘I can get your phone. Is it worth calling her? If she backs up your story that’s going to help a lot, and it wants to happen before they figure out what to charge you with.’
‘Sure, I’ll call her.’
‘I’ll go get things started, and then you’re going to have to OK releasing your phone to me.’
Baylor thought about that a moment before deciding it was his best chance. Rachel sure as fuck wasn’t going to answer the phone. The cops busted her last month for prostitution, but if this bozo Raveneau thought she was legit that might help. He nodded at Raveneau. ‘Whatever I’ve got to sign to give you access to my shit, that’s cool.’
‘All right, I’ll be straight back.’
TWENTY-TWO
It took half an hour to get Baylor’s phone released. Raveneau walked back with a guard but not before thumbing through the recent calls on the phone and scanning the stored photos. He stopped on three taken on Tuesday the day after the bomb shelter was found, and then went back one more day to Monday where it looked like Baylor took photos from inside the bomb shelter though none came out very well.
Raveneau returned to the day after photos. All three were taken from above looking down. In one was a silver necklace and locket, in the next an old hunting knife with an ornate handle and a cracked leather sheath alongside it. The third was a photo of two rings, one on its side, one standing; the one standing was a gold ring with carvings, the other silver with a turquoise stone. Each photo was taken with the ring or knife or necklace lying on what looked like a faded yellow white blouse. Around the edges of it was gray countertop and familiar.
When Raveneau handed it to him, Baylor took the phone without saying anything. He was shackled yet that didn’t slow him down. He quickly found her number and Raveneau wrote the number down then put Baylor’s phone on the table and called from his phone. In Baylor’s phone directory her name was Rachel. No last name and as the phone was ringing he asked Baylor, ‘Rachel what? What’s her last name?’
Baylor hesitated.
He knows her last name and doesn’t want to give it to me, Raveneau thought. He knows her name and she didn’t give him her phone number when they were sitting at the bar. He already had it. ‘Come on, you’ve got to remember her last name.’
Baylor waited him out. He knew her voicemail was coming. Her voicemail said, ‘This is Rachel. Leave me a message.’
Raveneau left one. In it he identified himself as a San Francisco homicide inspector and gave his cell number. Baylor didn’t like that much. Passive hostility radiated off him.
‘Is she going to call me back?’
‘I don’t know. She was crying and in total shock.’
‘What about the bartender?’
‘He was a jerk. I think he knew the cops.’
‘I’ll wait for Rachel to call me and I’ll let your uncle know you’ve got a witness and maybe he’ll give her a call too.’ Raveneau stared, sizing him up again, now asking, ‘Is that OK with you?’
‘Sure. Whatever.’
‘Anything else you want me to tell him?’
‘Ask him to get me out of here.’
‘Hasn’t he always had your back?’
‘You really don’t know, dude. It’s not like he tells you, if he tells you anything. I’ve done a lot of squirrelly shit for him too.’
‘Like what?’
‘Forget it.’
‘OK, then let’s talk about something else before I leave. The first time I climbed down into the bomb shelter I could read your boot prints pretty easily. Remember, you had a guy with a hose wetting down the demo dust. You tracked mud into the bomb shelter. We questioned the crew and we’re confident no one else went down there, only you, and you didn’t work too hard at erasing your tracks, so I’m guessing you didn’t care that I knew you went through the belongings on the blankets. But now I want to know where the things are that you took and I want them back. Did you sell them or do you still have them?’
‘I didn’t take anything.’
‘Yeah, you did.’
‘Why doesn’t anyone believe me?’
‘There are photos in your phone and I just looked at them. Did you post these photos to Craigslist? Will I find them there?’ Raveneau waited for him to answer though he didn’t expect him to yet. He gave him another long beat and then said, ‘If I get those things back then that’ll be it. I’ll let it go, and if not, you’ve got a new problem.’
‘It’s not legal for you to go through my photos like that. You fucking tricked me.’
‘Do you still have everything you took?’
After a silence, Baylor said, ‘The knife sold.’
‘To somebody you know?’
‘No, some dude.’
‘Could you find him again?’
He shook his head.
‘What about the other things?’
‘I’ve got them.’
‘Where?’
‘At Hugh’s place. I’m staying there until I get another apartment. I had a screwed up room-mate who was playing music all night and I was out the door to work early every morning. I wasn’t getting any sleep.’
‘Where are they at your uncle’s?’
‘Hidden.’
&nbs
p; ‘Hidden where? The kitchen countertop is in the photos. Should I tell Hugh they’re either at his house or in your truck? Where are the keys to your truck? I’m sure he’ll look in both places and you don’t want him breaking a window to get in. Actually, you know what; it’ll be easier if I just get the truck impounded. I’ll do that.’
Raveneau got ready to leave again. He needed to get a guard to return the phone to storage, but knew same as ten minutes ago he wouldn’t get as far as the door before Baylor said something. That was about Hugh. Baylor needed Hugh to get him a lawyer and help him navigate his way out of this bar fight.
‘I don’t want him to know,’ Baylor said. ‘I’ll get them back to you as soon as I get out. I’ll meet you and give them to you.’
‘You’re out tomorrow if not today and I want them as soon as you’re out. What about Rachel? What do you want to do with her? What’s the message I give to Hugh?’
‘Just say I have a witness. I’ll give the lawyer her name and number.’
‘Is she going to back you up?’
‘She saw what happened.’
‘I got that. But is she going to back you up? I’m going to put my cell number in your phone.’ Raveneau did that and kept talking. ‘I’m taking you at your word, Matt. Now you’ve got my number and you can call me as soon as you’re out.’
‘I don’t know why I took them, anyway.’
‘Sure you do, but I want them no later than tomorrow. We’ll go from there.’
As he left the jail, Raveneau figured he had a pretty good chance of getting them back and he was glad it was the knife that had sold. The knife he could live without. But the other things, they might matter, and truth was there was no crime scene when Baylor took them. Baylor could erase the photos in his phone, change his story, and stonewall him. But chances were he wouldn’t.
TWENTY-THREE
Hugh was at a North Beach bar he liked. It was also a bar that would comp a police officer a drink or two and Hugh was gregarious and full of stories once he got going, and Raveneau didn’t doubt there were times Hugh didn’t see a bar bill. He was several drinks in when Raveneau caught up to him and chatting with the bartender. Hugh didn’t turn until Raveneau settled into the seat next to him. Raveneau read that as anger. The bartender took it as a cue to move on, and without any hello or preamble Hugh started in on his nephew.
‘I’m just about at the end with him. He had some really bad years after my sister and Danny were killed and that was understandable. He fell in with the wrong people. He wasted a lot of chances, and he’s about burned up his last with me. What did you think of what he told you about this bar fight?’
‘I think the off-duty cops had been drinking before they got there and they elbowed their way in on the woman Matt was hitting on or already knew. Have you heard the name Rachel before? He says he met her last night and they hit it off and she gave him her phone number. I got his phone released and called her. I left her a message and he knows her, but he’s not talking much about her. If she backs him up the whole thing might go away.’
Hugh considered that a few moments. He took a quick swallow and said, ‘He must know her because no woman is going to sit down at a bar and give her phone number to a guy with a tattoo of a skeleton running up his neck without knowing something about him first. I’m hearing that the one who went to the floor, DeAngelou, has got more than a few teeth loose. He’s got a broken jaw, and I’ve got a worthless nephew that I’m glad my sister isn’t here to see. I’m going to have to get him a lawyer and get him out. I’ll do that again because I need him working. I’ll get him back to work and I’ll find his replacement and he and his lawyer can deal with whatever comes out of last night.’
‘He won’t see charges. The officer who’s already carrying the excessive force investigation is going to want to make it go away. That’s DeAngelou. He’ll decide it’s not worth it. And his jaw is cracked, it’s not wired shut. He’ll be OK, and they were drunk. That’s what the bartender told me.’
‘How did you find out all this so fast?’ Hugh turned, looking at him from the corner of his eye. ‘Or rather why are you taking so much interest?’
‘You asked me to.’
‘Right, and I hung up on you this morning, too. I apologize for that. I’m not doing so well. I’m way too hair trigger and jumpy. This demolition business isn’t adding up the way it needs to, and Matt and I are going to part ways and he’s still going to be into me for eighteen grand. That’s a lot for me.’
Hugh took another good swallow.
‘He was my sister’s only kid, and she was my only sibling. I’ve got nothing left for family when I show him the door. I really saw the demolition business as the way to bring him around. I’m not saying he would need to spend the next ten years tearing things down and breathing God knows what, but I saw it as a way to get into construction. He could get some education, learn to read plans, and take it from there. Housing will come back eventually. It always does. But he just doesn’t want to do real work. Worse than that, he looks around and thinks everyone else has got an easy ride. He doesn’t think you or I do anything except talk all day. He doesn’t respect people and I can’t change that.’
Hugh didn’t let up. He didn’t want a conversation. He wanted to kill the night by talking it away and keep from answering any questions.
‘You and I are counting on a pension system where they are still pretending they’re going to make eight percent a year on the invested money and they’re making half that at best. We’re screwed. It’s all going to blow up, and having this demolition business seemed like my best shot, but it’s not working. Nothing is working for me.’
Hugh swallowed the last of his drink and wagged the glass so the old bartender could see.
‘Now Matt’s in jail and we’ve got jobs we’ll get fired from within a week unless they’re manned. If we get fired, those contractors will never use me again. My other choice is to use the line of credit on my house and post bail for him.’ He turned and looked at Raveneau. ‘I already have a line of credit on the house and they’re warning me they may call in the loan.’
Raveneau ordered a glass of red wine. Hugh’s bourbon and ice got replaced, and as the red wine arrived Hugh looked at it and shook his head.
‘Look at you, the wine sipper. Who would have guessed you’d turn into that?’
‘Not you.’
‘That’s sure as fuck true.’
‘But you don’t have to worry about what I drink. You’ve got a lot on your mind already without worrying about what I drink or have for breakfast. You’ve got other problems with me.’
‘That’s what it’s starting to seem like. You don’t have much of an investigation so you’re trying to create one out of thin air. What’s next? Are you going to tell me that Alcott and I should have known about the bomb shelter and what was in it?’
‘No, but I don’t want to wrestle you for information. We’ve got a new situation, but I don’t feel like you want the Coryell case to be open and active again.’
‘Of course I want to see it solved. I just don’t want to get hit when we’re not there to defend ourselves. You know, this nephew of mine, this son of my sister’s, might have been better off if he’d been in the car with his mom and dad. That’s a hard thing to say, but that’s about where I’m at now. He’s probably going to prison for a year.’
‘He’s not going anywhere, and we’ve talked about him enough today.’
‘If he goes to prison even a year, he’ll get shaped by the environment. He doesn’t have enough of the right kind of will. He talks like he’s tough but he’s a pliable little shit and susceptible to all the wrong people. He’ll come out with a shaved head and a swastika tattooed on his cock.’
Hugh continued on as Raveneau got impatient. He was tired of it. He laid money on the bar and signaled the bartender. ‘Let’s talk outside,’ he said. ‘We’re not getting anywhere in here.’
Outside, Hugh said, ‘I’m going to say one l
ast thing about my nephew before we get to Coryell. About a year and a half ago, Matt beat a homeless man he claimed was stealing from his truck, but that’s not what a witness saw. It got pleaded down to nothing and he did community service to try to erase the rest. He kicked the man unconscious and stamped on his hands until he broke every finger. I talked to a guy who didn’t want to get involved but who saw the whole thing. He said Matt went berserk on the guy. So it’s not that surprising to hear he got into it with two off-duty cops. That’s going to figure into whatever decision gets made and I hope you’re right about DeAngelou wanting to make it go away.’
‘Are you through talking about him?’
‘I’m done. You don’t give a shit anyway.’ He pointed. ‘There’s a place up the street here. We can talk in there, but what do you want from me tonight?’
‘The names of who else was at Lash’s parties and not just cops.’
‘I may not remember any names. I can tell you who on the force was there and you can talk to them. Who do you remember, Ben? You were there.’
‘I was there twice: once when it was just Lash and me, and once when there were two other police officers.’
‘Well, talk to them, talk to Lash. He’s the guy who should know who was there, but what difference does it make? How does this all connect?’
‘I don’t know that it does.’
‘He had students in and out of there all the time. I just don’t remember their names.’
‘What if I showed you a photo?’
‘Have you got it with you?’
‘In my car.’
‘Well, get it and I’ll meet you inside.’
Raveneau retrieved the photo and as he came back in he saw why Hugh liked the bar. It was long and dark and of a different generation. They ordered drinks and found a corner.
‘I saw Lash a few days ago,’ Raveneau said. ‘I think he wants to answer some things before he goes.’
‘Lash will never confess to anything.’
‘You know him much better than I do, but I get the feeling he wants to talk. There’s no avoiding some of what we found in there.’