The officer looked surprised. "Really? We've got written statements from the two witnesses, and the victim identified her. It seems pretty open and shut."
"Maybe," Derek mumbled, "but it's just not at all like her. I'll go talk to her."
"Good luck. I hope she's in a better mood now. What a mouth!"
Unfortunately, that part of the whole story he could believe. She'd been much better with her language lately, but she had received several swats for her colorful language when she was upset. And the more upset she was, the more colorful her language became. Sighing, he walked in and saw one terrified little lady. He motioned her to be quiet a minute, and reached up and flipped a switch high up on the wall.
When the red light went out, he went to her and pulled her into his arms. "We have ten minutes, Kelli. What in the world happened, and I want nothing but the truth, right from the start?"
"I didn't do it, Derek, I swear."
"Okay, good. Tell me exactly what happened."
"I was almost home, and I saw this guy watching a lady. She was older, and walking really slow, kind of hunched over. Something just didn't look right to me. Why would this creepy looking guy be watching a little old lady? Why would that creepy looking guy be wearing a suit? So I watched. He glanced around. I was behind him, so he didn't see me watching him. Anyway, he took off running. He ran up to her and snatched her purse. She was holding it real tight, and didn't let go, so he yanked on it real hard. That knocked her over, and when she fell she let go of the purse. Another lady was going over to the older lady, so I figured she'd help her up, and I ran after the guy who took her purse. When I got close enough, I lunged at him. I got his jacket, just enough to pull him down to the ground. He immediately draped the purse over my arm as he started yelling for help, saying I stole the lady's purse, and I guess people believed him."
Derek sighed. "Okay, I believe you, but when this is all over we're going to have a long discussion about you chasing after purse snatchers. Now, when they come in and ask you questions, tell them the truth." He frowned at her as he remembered what the officer said. "Without the colorful language, which we'll be discussing, as well. Got it?"
"Sorry."
"Okay. Now, be nice. If you want them to believe your story and help you, you better be polite to them."
"Okay. Derek, what's going to happen?"
"Honey, I don't know. I'm being honest with you. They have three eye witnesses who say you stole the purse, including the victim. Why would she identify you as the thief?"
Kelli started crying again at his words. "I don't know, but you have to believe me. I didn't steal it. What happens if they don't believe me? Will I have to go to jail? I can't. I've been being really careful. Please, don't let that happen."
He took her in his arms and assured her, "Honey, I'll do everything I can. You have to calm down. I've got to go tell them they can ask you questions now, and then I'll talk to them. I'll come back in and talk to you then. For right now, I think I can help you more as just your PO. Once I turn that switch again they'll be able to see and hear us, so let me give you a hug now, then I won't again until we're alone again after the questioning. Are you okay with that?"
He could tell she was close to panicking. He took her in his arms tightly and whispered, "Hang in there, Kelli. We'll get through this together. I'll do everything I can. Be honest with them, and be nice, okay? You can do this. Be strong." She nodded. He gave her a passion-filled kiss, and flipped the switch. "Okay, guys, come on in."
An officer came in several seconds later, and he sat down across from Kelli. Derek stood behind the officer, looking at Kelli, hoping to encourage her. The officer asked her questions for almost an hour. Derek was proud of her. She'd cleaned up her language, and answered every question he asked. Her story was very consistent, and she remembered several details. He hoped one of them would prove helpful somehow. When he was through asking questions, the officer motioned for Derek to follow him as he left the interrogation room.
"I'm going to talk to Sergeant Williams, then I'll be back to talk to you, Kelli." He met her gaze and could see how terrified she was. He smiled, trying to encourage her, and left with Sergeant Williams.
"Well, she certainly seemed like a different lady in there now," Sergeant Williams told Derek. "What are you; a miracle worker?"
Derek smiled and said, "Not hardly. I've just worked with her long enough to know her mouth, her language, is a real problem when she gets upset. She's scared to death, so I tried to calm her down so she could answer your questions. What's your take on her, and what are you doing now?"
"Well, I guess that depends. You've known her and worked with her. You're also a good judge of people. What do you think?"
"I don't think she did it," Derek replied flatly.
"Even with three witnesses, including the victim?"
Derek ran his fingers through his hair again, as he often did when he was upset. "I know all the evidence says otherwise, but I believe her. Partly because I've gotten to know her and this is just not like her at all, but partly because of her story. You saw her. Don't you have to admit she sounds convincing?"
"Sure, I'll give her that much. She sounds believable," he conceded, "but I can't ignore the three witnesses."
"Are you going to charge her?"
"Normally I wouldn't even have to think about it. It's a no brainer. There are three witnesses, and she's on probation. I'd charge her, and you'd sign the paperwork for a probation violation, and that would hold her until she could go before a judge Monday."
"I'll agree with you, normally I would."
Sergeant Williams studied Derek a long moment before saying, "But this is the first time I remember you wanting to be with someone when we question her, and I can tell this isn't a normal situation in your mind. Am I wrong?"
Derek shook his head and sighed. "No, Sergeant. Normally when you arrest one of my people I'm not really all that surprised at the charge. Disappointed, sure, but usually not that shocked. I can usually tell when I talk to them, too, that they screwed up and they know it."
Sergeant Williams was listening intently. "I can't disagree with you there, Derek."
"This just doesn't fit normal at all. She vehemently denies the charge, it's absolutely not like her, and she's believable when you talk to her. You can usually see right through most people's story, and they're wavering, and not nearly that convincing." He ran his hand through his hair yet again and said, "I just don't think she did it. I mean, it's possible she's doing a number on me, but if she's lying to me, she's doing a damn good job of it."
"How's she been about that in the past?"
"Well, that's the other thing that bothers me. She transferred here, so all I have to go on is the report, but according to that, every time she was brought in, she admitted what she'd done. Her foul mouth was a problem, but during questioning she didn't deny what she'd done. Like I said, I haven't had any problems with her at all, so I don't have any past experiences with her myself to rely on. She has not lied to me in the past, that I'm aware of, about anything, and there's not many of my probationers I can say that about."
Sergeant Williams took a few moments to think, obviously considering his options. "So, if I'm reading you right, you aren't willing to sign the paperwork to charge her with a probation violation, are you?"
"Not yet, no. I can't." Derek hoped his firm stance would influence the officer.
"I was afraid of that."
"So what are you going to do?"
Sergeant Williams sighed. "Not sure yet. If you won't sign for a violation, I'm going to have to charge her and be willing to take it to court, or let her go. I'm not totally convinced she's lying, either, but you know what the captain will say. If the victim wasn't hurt it would be one thing, but she's at the hospital now. The captain will have my head if we have an injured victim who, along with two other witnesses, identifies her as the thief, and we let her go."
"Just because you let her go tonight doesn't
mean you can't charge her later."
"I know," the officer agreed, "I've thought of that. My problem, though, is what other evidence am I going to find? Eye witnesses don't often change their story, especially three unrelated witnesses from three different perspectives."
Derek grimaced at those words. He'd thought the same thing, but was hoping the officer hadn't. He was starting to worry about Kelli. Finally, the officer looked determined and said, "No, Derek, I just don't think I can let her go. Sorry, but I just can't get past the three witnesses. I'm going to have to charge her."
Chapter Ten
"Wait a minute," Derek coaxed. "Let me think a minute. I don't usually ask this sort of thing, but I'm concerned about what this will do to her if she's innocent. Kelli's been working really hard, and she's been doing terrific. I haven't had one problem with her on probation, and that's helped her self-confidence greatly. I'm worried about losing all the ground she's gained if she's charged and has to go to jail, which she's been working so hard to avoid. It'll be emotional for her even if it turns out she didn't do anything wrong."
"I hear you, Derek, and I have a lot of respect for what you say, and what you do as a probation officer. I feel like my hands are tied here, though."
As a last ditch effort, Derek said, "Okay, but let me ask you something."
"What's that?"
"Did you guys look for security cameras, or other witnesses, all that stuff?"
"They didn't report any cameras close, and no other witnesses came forth. At the time, this was considered a simple purse snatching, so with three witnesses all saying the same thing, from different perspectives, no, they didn't look for other witnesses."
"Okay, fair enough. Can you do me a favor?"
"What's that?"
"Well, what if it turns out she's telling the truth; she suddenly turns from being a thief to being a hero? Think about that. If that's what indeed happened, do we want to thank citizens for getting involved and trying to help, like this, by arresting them? Can you just hold her for a few hours without charging her?"
Officer Williams took time to think seriously again. "You are right about that," he admitted. "That's no way to thank a good Samaritan, if it turns out that way. Okay, I'll call the captain and run it by him. But what's a few more hours going to do?"
"It'll give me time to go check it out. I know it will be hard to find witnesses now, but let me try. Give me a few hours anyway, okay?"
"Okay, you can have a few hours. We'll hold her, no charges, for three hours. Then let me know if you find anything. Okay?"
"Thank you. Do you have to put her in a cell?"
"You just don't give up, do you?" The officer was smiling as he made his decision. "Here's the best I can do for you. We'll keep her in the interrogation room if we can. It's Friday night, though, so it may get busy. If we need all the interrogation rooms, she'll have to go to a cell for a while."
"Fair enough. Thanks. Now, can I talk to her alone again before I leave? It will help calm her down while I'm gone, I promise."
"Okay, fine. Go do your magic again. Whatever you told her earlier sure helped. She was like a different person when I was questioning her." Smiling, he added, "A much nicer person."
Derek walked to the interrogation room, wondering how he was going to explain this to Kelli. In his heart he knew she was the hero, not the thief, but he knew she was going to be devastated when she learned she had to stay.
He opened the door to the same terrified lady he'd seen the first time he went in the room that evening. He went directly to flip the switch on the wall again, and waited for the red flashing light to go off. He then immediately took her in his arms and held her. "Honey, how are you doing?"
She was crying again as she said, "Awful. Derek, I didn't do it."
"I know, sweetheart. Unfortunately, they don't know that. They won't let you go yet, until they have something to contradict the three witnesses saying you did it."
Crying harder, she asked, "But how am I going to get that?"
He held her tighter, trying to stop the panic, and said, "You aren't going to get that evidence. Phil and I are."
"What?"
"Phil's here, too, and we're going to go do our own investigation. I got them to agree not to file charges against you for a few hours so we can look into it, but they won't release you, yet anyway. I've requested they do, and they are going to call the captain and talk to him about it, but in the meantime, they've agreed not to file charges yet."
"So I have to go to a cell?" She was sobbing almost hysterically now, which worried Derek.
"Calm down, honey." He rubbed her back and held her tightly against him. He kept talking softly in her ear, trying to soothe her. He held her until she finally calmed enough to listen again. "Kelli, I need you to be strong for a few more hours yet. They've agreed to keep you out of a cell if they can. They're going to keep you here, or in another room similar to this. If they get too busy tonight, though, and need the rooms, you may have to go to a cell for a little while."
"Derek, what if I can't?"
"You can, honey. Look at me." Her face remained against his chest, and he said, "Kelli, look at me, now." His stern voice worked like he'd hoped, and her head snapped up to look at him. "That's better. Thank you. Now, Phil and I are going to go find something to prove you right. In the meantime, I expect you to behave yourself, no more cussing, and be polite to them. Your cooperation with them right now is vitally important. You let your mouth run off again or have a temper tantrum, and you'll be in a cell real quick. Show them you're better than that."
"I'll try."
"You do more than try. You can do it, Kelli. Now, you stay here and try to stay calm. Remember, we're out there working for you. We're on your side. I'll be back regardless in a few hours." She nodded, and he turned to leave. At the door he turned and said, "Behave yourself. Make me proud, Kelli." He flipped the switch back on and left.
Phil was waiting anxiously for him in the outer station. "What's going on? Where's Kelli?"
"Come on," Derek said, never slowing his pace. "We've got work to do. I'll fill you in on the way." He did just that as they made their way to Derek's Jeep.
"So where do we start?" Phil asked, obviously concerned.
"First we're going to look at the scene, specifically for security cameras." They went back to the scene of the crime, which was only a block from Phil and Kelli's apartment. They scoured the surrounding buildings for cameras, but the only one close at all wouldn't show that area.
Not slowing a bit, Derek headed back to the Jeep. "Okay, next thing we're going to do is go talk to the two men claiming to be witnesses. If she's right, they're both lying. We need to find out why."
"How are we going to find them?"
"I got their names and addresses from the report." They went to the address of the first witness, and knocked on the door. A lady appeared, and Derek asked, "Is Mike Gentry home?"
"Who?"
"Mike Gentry."
"I don't know a Mike Gentry."
Derek calmly said, "He gave this as his address. Is it possible he's recently moved away?"
"No, it's not. We've lived here four years now, and I've never heard of him."
"Okay. Thank you very much for your time, Ma'am."
Derek was smiling as they headed back to the Jeep. "It's not much, but it's something, Phil. Something's sure not right. Let's try the other guy's address." They drove across town, but the address he gave was an empty lot.
Phil was excited now, too. "That's good. Is that enough, or what do we do now?"
"That helps, but I'm not sure it's enough to keep her from being charged. I've been thinking. Let's go back to the scene again and talk to people. You never know what we may find."
Phil agreed, eager to try anything that may help his sister. "It's worth a try. Where do we start?"
"I'm not sure. Anyone who may have seen anything." When they got there, no one stood out to them, so Derek suggested the coffee s
hop. He went to the counter and addressed the clerk. "Excuse me. Did you by any chance see the excitement earlier, where a lady's purse was stolen and she was hurt?"
"No, I didn't, but those two ladies over there were telling me about it."
"What two ladies?" Derek asked. The clerk pointed out two ladies sitting at a table drinking lattes, and Derek and Phil hurried over to them.
Derek again took the lead. "Excuse me, ladies. The lady at the counter said you were telling her about a purse snatching earlier this evening."
They nodded their heads. "Yes," one answered.
"Did you see it, or just hear about it?"
Both of them nodded, and one of them answered, appearing anxious to share what they knew. "Oh, yes, we saw it. We met at a store down the street, and decided to come get some coffee and talk. Just as we were leaving the store we saw that little lady chasing the man."
Both men smiled broadly. "She was chasing him," Derek asked. "You're sure?"
The second lady answered, "Yes. We said we couldn't believe that little thing took off after that guy, but there she was, chasing him down the street. She caught him, too, and knocked him down. What a little dynamo. More people should be like her, but I know I'm not that brave. I'd never have done it, but I'm glad she did. She got the purse back for the lady."
Derek asked, "You didn't talk to the police, I take it?"
The first lady answered, "No, we didn't think we needed to. When I saw that guy jump out of his car and run over when she tackled the thief, I figured he went to help her hold the guy down for the cops. He saw it, too, so I knew he'd tell the police."
Derek's eyebrows raised at her words. "What makes you say he saw it, too?"
"Well, he was sitting in his car watching her chase him. When she tackled him, he jumped out and ran over there. Why are you asking us this? Are you with the newspaper or something?"
"No, we're friends of the lady, trying to help her."
"Trying to help her why? Why would she need help?"
Derek explained briefly. "Apparently there's some confusion over what happened and when. Would you be willing to go to the police station and tell an officer what you saw?"
On Probation Page 13