“Oh, that!” Principal Donato waved a dismissive hand. “We typically don’t have a problem with theft. I’m not sure why she even made that an issue.”
“She didn’t. She said she didn’t lock her desk.”
“All the teachers know that there is a risk if they do not secure their desks.”
“My father used to say that a locked door only keeps an honest man honest.”
“I’m not sure what that has to do with Ms. Barnes’s case.”
“It doesn’t have anything to do with the case, but I would still like to see her room.”
Principal Donato sighed. “I really want to cooperate but...”
“I won’t speak to any of the students about Ms. Barnes or the case. I promise.”
The woman still looked unsure.
Mingus gave her a smile. “Five minutes, not a minute longer. Please.”
“Follow me,” she said finally.
“Thank you.”
Mingus followed the woman, who hurried in the direction of the second building. She pointed two students to classes they were seemingly intent on cutting, waiting until the classroom doors were closed behind them.
“How long have you had cameras?” Mingus asked, eyeing the CCTV cameras for the first time. The black-domed units were placed inconspicuously through the hallway.
The woman looked up. “Just over a year now. They’ve actually cut down on some of our theft issues.”
“I don’t remember seeing cameras in the other hallway when I visited Mrs. Graves’s classroom. Were there any there?”
The woman shook her head. “There are a few buildings that aren’t on the system yet. This section was the first because of its proximity to the gym. Students tend to sneak down the back stairwell and out the gym to leave early. Ms. Graves’s classroom is in the new wing. We anticipate those cameras being in place by the end of the month.”
At the classroom door Mingus paused, noticing the camera perched on the ceiling in front of the room across the hall. He glanced up and down the length of corridor, noting the placement of the other units, as well.
Principal Donato knocked on the door and pulled it open. The substitute teacher in charge had clearly lost control of the classroom, the students loud and rowdy. He looked like he was ready to cry, or snap, whichever would bring him relief fast. He was surprised by the visit, the administrator’s presence adding to his anxiety.
“Principal Donato, the students were just reading to themselves,” he said, trying to explain the melee. “Is there a problem?”
“No, Mr. Lawrence. I apologize for the interruption. This won’t take but a minute.”
Mingus had moved to the back of the room, his eyes skating back and forth. The students were eyeing him curiously, most settling in their seats to be nosy.
“Principal Donato, who’s the new guy?”
“Who is the new guy?” one of the girls purred.
There was a round of giggles and a few catcalls. Mingus winked at the girl as he moved to the front of the room. He moved behind the desk, staring first to the row of desks in front and then to the door. From the teacher’s seat, he had a clear view of the camera in the hallway.
“Yo, dude! You speak or what?”
“Mr. Morrow, that will be enough!” Principal Donato chastised.
“Enough, Mr. Morrow!” the teacher named Mr. Lawrence echoed.
Mingus smiled as he shook his head. He moved to open the desk drawer, pulling it open easily. An insulated lunch bag with a floral motif rested in the bottom.
“Um, that’s mine,” Mr. Lawrence said, pointing with his index finger. “It’s what’s left of my lunch. Tuna salad and carrots.”
Mingus closed the drawer and straightened. “Please excuse the interruption,” he said to the teacher.
“Um, no problem...don’t worry...”
Mingus moved to the door, Principal Donato close on his heels.
“What was that all about, Mr. Black?”
He extended his hand. “Thank you. Someone will be in touch.”
“Will this help her?” she asked as he hurried down the hallway.
Mingus didn’t bother to respond.
* * *
Mingus sat in the student parking lot waiting for the bell to ring. He had taken a call from another client, able to resolve a problem quickly. As he dialed his brother’s office he noticed that there was more activity in the lot than he would have imagined for the time of day. Many students were leaving earlier than the two forty-five buzzer. Ellington’s secretary connected him almost immediately.
“Twice in one day! To what do I owe the honor?”
“You need to get a warrant for the security video outside of Joanna’s classroom.”
“There’s video?”
“Yeah, that’s what I said.”
“And what am I looking for?”
“Someone stealing Joanna’s cell phone from her purse.”
“That sounds like a lot of video we’ll need to go through.”
“Start the day after Omar did that second tattoo. Something tells me if I’m right it won’t take you long to find it.”
“Do you think it was caught on video?”
“If I’m right, we will know when those photos got on her phone and who did it. One more piece to the puzzle!”
“You think you can just get me a confession from all this? An admission of wrongdoing, maybe? Right now, you’re giving me a ton of circumstantial evidence that I’m going to have to tie together to convince a jury.”
“Trust me, I’m working on it.”
A commotion across the way drew Mingus’s attention. A crowd of students had gathered around a Mercedes Benz SL 450 sports coupe that had pulled into an empty parking spot. The top was down, allowing the afternoon sun to shine down on the driver and his female companion. The vehicle was a work of art in metallic candy-apple red, with black leather interior and 19-inch multispoke wheels. The car was a showpiece and clearly making an impression.
Ellington called his brother’s name. “Mingus, you still there?”
“Yeah, sorry about that. Question for you, did David Locklear receive a settlement from the city or the school district that we don’t know about?”
“Of course not, why do you ask?”
“Because the kid just pulled up in a one-hundred-thousand-dollar car. Now, unless the family hit the lottery, or his single parent who’s been living paycheck to paycheck found herself a magic genie, it smells like a payoff to me.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“No lie, man! I’ll send you pictures,” Mingus said, snapping a quick shot with his cell phone. “The ride is sweet!”
The two men continued talking as Mingus watched what was going on across the way. David Locklear was clearly enjoying the attention. His friends were having a good time snapping selfies and taking photos of one another. The kids were being kids and for everything that was wrong about it, there was also something very right.
He saw Joanna before she saw him. The woman was stomping purposely across the parking lot toward the crowd.
“Damn it! What the hell is she doing?”
“What is who doing?” Ellington asked.
Mingus started his engine, pulling the vehicle out of the parking spot. He hurried to intercept Joanna before she made it to her destination. “Yo, Ellington, we might have a situation. If you can, meet me in Parker’s office in thirty minutes.”
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“I’m sure you’ll know soon enough,” Mingus said, “but I’ve got it handled. I’ll see you in a few.” As he disconnected the line he pulled up in front of Joanna, bringing the car to an abrupt halt. He leaned across the seat and pushed open the passenger-side door. “Get in, Joanna! Now!”
Her determined expression fell.
She looked from Mingus to the crowd of students and back. The fatality of her actions suddenly slapped her broadside as police sirens rang loudly through the air.
“I just wanted to talk to him,” Joanna insisted. She was pacing the floor in the police station. “He’s lying, and no one is asking him why!”
Mingus shook his head. “Did you really think he was going to just give you an answer because you asked nicely?”
“Who said I was planning to be nice?”
Mingus was amused and fighting to not let it show. They had pulled out of the school’s parking lot just as three police cars were pulling in. Her ankle monitor had signaled an alert the moment she’d stepped on school property, violating her bond. Two turns and three stoplights later Mingus was guiding her into the West Harrison Street police department. He had walked her straight to his brother’s corner office. Lieutenant Parker Black had not been happy to see either of them, especially when Mingus explained the situation. Now it was proving to be more of a challenge than he’d anticipated to keep Joanna from being arrested.
“Baby, I don’t know if I can fix this. They’re not happy with you right now.”
“I didn’t ask you to fix it, Mingus. I know what I did. You should have just let me talk to him. At least if I had been able to look him in the eye it would have been well worth me going to jail.”
“Look, I understand you’re frustrated. I’m frustrated. But you need to trust the process. You need to trust me.”
Joanna turned to stare at him. “I do trust you, Mingus. And I understand you have to do things a certain way, but it just feels—”
Before she could finish her statement, the door swung open, Parker moving through the entrance. Ellington followed on his heels and a female officer behind him. Their expressions were stoic, neither man looking happy.
Parker started, “Joanna Barnes, please put your hands behind your back.”
Joanna’s eyes widened. “Why? What...?” She shot Mingus and then Ellington a look.
Ellington shrugged.
Tears suddenly burned hot behind her lashes as she complied, the other woman snapping handcuffs around her wrists. The officer grabbed her by her elbow and guided her out of the room. Parker closed the office door after them.
“What the hell?” Mingus snapped. “If I’d known you were going to arrest her, I wouldn’t have brought her here. She had a lapse in judgment! She didn’t do anything wrong.”
Ellington shook his head. “She didn’t do anything wrong because you were there to stop her. What would have happened if you hadn’t been there? I keep telling you two, the prosecution is jumping at the bit to take her down and you two are helping to make their case.”
Mingus crossed his arms over his chest, attitude swelling through his large frame. “So what now?”
“Technically she did violate her bond. If she were going before a judge, they would decide if she’d remain incarcerated until her trial,” Ellington said, shooting Parker a look. “And I’ll be honest, with so much public attention on this case, I doubt we’d be able to keep her out of jail.”
Mingus looked confused. “If she were going? She isn’t going to get a hearing? You’re not going to contest this?”
“We’ve determined that there’s a defect in her monitor,” Parker said. “Since she was just passing by the school, en route to the police station, the unit should not have registered an alert. They’ll send someone down to change it out later today.”
Mingus gave his brothers a look, his gaze shifting back and forth between them.
“I’m giving your girl a break,” Parker said. “And you can thank Ellington, because I wasn’t feeling so generous.”
“The fact that you brought her directly here helped us make that case,” Ellington added. “But I’m sure that’s why you did it. We’re no fools, little brother.”
“Look, it’s like I said, she had a brief lapse in judgment.”
“Well, she’s going to cool off in a cell downstairs for a while. I think she needs to think about the consequences of her actions. You can come pick her up around seven o’clock, before the shift change,” Parker said as he moved to his desk and sat.
Ellington and Mingus dropped into the seats that faced him.
“That’s a violation of her rights, isn’t it? Holding her illegally?” Mingus asked.
“You really don’t want to go there!” Ellington interjected. “She really is just a signature away from being legitimately incarcerated. We won’t be able to help her if she does it again. Just say thank you.”
“But I can’t just leave her!” Mingus ran his hand over his head. He felt desperate, needing to fix the mess he felt like he’d made. He knew her frustration. He knew it better than anyone else. She’d been desperate to do something that would prove her innocence. He couldn’t help but wonder if he’d been more open about what he knew, if he’d shared more of his tactics with her, if she would have been less inclined to strike out on her own.
His brother snapped him back to attention. “You don’t have a choice. I had to answer for what she did. They only agreed not to pursue charges because Parker said he would hold her in custody until the issue with her ankle monitor could be resolved. It was either that or we argue it out before a judge.”
“Why were you at the school?” Parker questioned.
“Following up on a gut feeling,” Mingus responded. He turned to Ellington. “Did you request the video?”
“My office is filing the request as we speak. I’ll get a judge to sign it before the day is out.”
Mingus shifted forward in his seat. “I need another favor,” he said, the comment directed at Parker.
“Are you trying to get my badge pulled?”
“Hear me out. Your detectives believe this case is a slam dunk. The evidence points to her guilt, I get that. But they haven’t done their due diligence. They don’t know everything I know. I need David Locklear interrogated again. And I need to be there.”
Parker threw up his hands. “So now you know better than my men do?”
“I know Joanna’s not guilty. And I know that boy is lying.” Mingus spent the next few minutes updating his brother on everything he’d found: from the stripper and her tattoo to the triad working for the Tower Group. “If the school’s videotapes show what I think they’re going to show, then we’re on the right track to make this go away,” he concluded.
“You do realize if I interfere, it’s going to trigger a red flag for Internal Affairs, right? I’m sure after today they’ll already be looking at me sideways.”
Mingus shrugged. “I need to be there, and I need Danni to do the interrogation,” he said, referring to his brother Armstrong’s wife-to-be, a detective with the Vice unit.
“So we’re just going to step on everyone’s toes and completely undermine two veteran investigators?”
“Go big or go home,” Mingus quipped.
Parker shook his head slowly. He took a moment to ponder the request. “Find something on those tapes,” he said finally. “Then come back to me and ask for a favor.”
* * *
Joanna wiped the moisture from her eyes. She’d really messed up this time, she thought. Getting to David Locklear had sounded like a good idea until she’d pulled her car into the school parking lot. Even as she had crossed the lot toward where he was standing, she’d been firmly committed to having her say. Mingus stalling her in her tracks had knocked her confidence. The wind had swept her sails into a tangled mess and, just like that, she’d realized how big her mistake had been.
Mingus couldn’t fix this, but she’d held out hope that they might let her slide. As a guard had slid the cell door closed, her hope was dashed. They had made it crystal clear that a violation of her bond would mean incarceration until her trial. Knowing that she might be looking at an extended period of time behind bars had her in her feel
ings.
The other woman in the cell was watching Joanna closely. Her gaze was narrowed, her stare unnerving. She was middle-aged with a portly frame, thick black hair swept into an updo and just a hint of makeup. Dressed casually in khaki slacks, a white tank top and a plaid bomber jacket paired with red Timberland boots, she sat on the opposite bunk, seemingly unconcerned with her situation.
“You look familiar. Weren’t you on the television?” the woman suddenly asked.
“I really don’t want any problems,” Joanna responded.
“Yeah. Yeah! You’re that teacher! What are you in for now? More kiddie porn?”
“I didn’t have anything to do with kiddie porn.” Joanna rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, whatever. I’m innocent, too!” The woman laughed. “My name’s Gloria.”
“Joanna.”
“So, really, Joanna, what did they get you for?”
Joanna held up her foot and shook the ankle monitor from side to side. “Bond violation. I went somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be.”
“Yeah, those things can be a bitch. Had me one once. That was the longest six months of my life!”
“So, what did you do?”
Gloria shrugged, leaning back against the wall as she crossed her arms and legs. “Hooked up with the wrong man! I met this great guy when I was in New Jersey. We hit it off, were having a good time together, and he convinced me to drive down to Florida with him for the weekend. We got stopped on the way back and they found kilos of meth in the trunk. The car was registered in my name and he lied and said he didn’t know anything about it. Now I’m looking at a drug trafficking charge.”
“Oh my God! That’s crazy!”
“I should’ve known better, but I thought he was a good guy. He had some shady friends down in Florida, but he was treating me well and I thought he liked me. I should have known not to trust a man!”
“I am so sorry.”
The woman shrugged. “Hey, crap happens!”
“How can you be so nonchalant about it? My charges aren’t nearly as serious and I’m a nervous wreck.”
“I’ve been here before. All you can do is keep your head down, do your time and hope for the best.”
Tempted by the Badge Page 17