Code 61 - Donald Harstad [62]
“Carl?” My prosecutor sounded a little worried.
“Yep?”
“Carl, we might have a problem. I mean, if that third floor is locked, and she has the key, and there isn't really any way the door has been pried or anything, I think that it might be a good way to defuse the situation if you people just didn't go up there today.”
All in one breath.
“I don't think that Judge Winterman will agree with that, Mike,” I said.
He sighed. “Let me be the judge of that. Do you realize who those attorneys are?”
“Yep.” I tried to keep things to one-word responses, since Junkel and Koch were listening.
“I don't think that if we piss them off, Carl, that they will let the search go unchallenged. We don't want to lose the case by having the search declared invalid.”
“Won't happen,” I said.
“You sure?”
“Yep.”
There was a pregnant pause. “I'm hoping, here, that you know something I don't.”
What were the odds? “I do.” I knew that Edie was supposed to have a key of her own.
“Boy, Carl, I hope you're right.”
I couldn't resist. “Me, too. Catch you later.” I broke the connection.
Attorney Junkel looked at me. “You're in charge?”
“Deputy Houseman, at your service,” I said.
Attorney Koch, who had been conferring with Jessica Hunley in a muted voice, turned and looked at me very closely. “Aren't you …?”
“Yep,” I said. “It was me.” I gave him my best smile. About ten years ago, I'd arrested his nephew for third-degree sexual abuse, a felony, after he'd allegedly gotten a girl drunk and had sex with her after she'd passed out. After a little bargaining between the county attorney and Attorney Koch, the kid had pled to a charge of serious misdemeanor assault. Got a $250 fine. Not my idea, and I'd been told at the time that Attorney Koch thought I was being “obstructionist” and “vindictive” by arguing against the plea bargain. All I'd said was “He screwed her after she passed out; he didn't beat her up.” I'd lost the argument, of course, but I'd had the satisfaction of scaring the little shit. Scared his nephew, too, by the way.
There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that we had to go to the third floor, and no doubt in my mind that we'd get up there. Just how we were going to get that done, on the other hand, was something else again.
I excused myself, saying I was going upstairs to check on the progress of the team on the second floor.
“Team?” said Junkel.
“Yeah. There are officers and lab techs on the second, conducting the search.”
“I think I'd like to go up there,” he said, “and see just what they're doing.”
“Not a chance,” I said. “Borman?” He obliged by tearing his eyes from the two women for a second. “If anyone who isn't a member of the search team tries to go to the second floor, arrest them for interference, and call me right away.”
“You bet.”
I looked at the four other people in the parlor. “Nobody to the kitchen, either. Just the restroom on this floor. If they need a cup of coffee or anything from the kitchen, you'll have to get it for them. Within reason.” I smiled at Jessica pointedly. “We wouldn't want him fixing supper.”
Jessica glanced at her watch. “He may have to, if this takes much longer.”
THIRTEEN
Sunday, October 8, 2000
14:26
I went right back upstairs to Hester, and we had a conference.
“It'd help if you were to find a blood trail leading to the third floor,” I said.
“Well, give me your wrist.”
“Not yet, but let's keep that option open.” I looked back down the stair. “I'm staying up here a minute or two. I want them to think I'm in conference.” I just hate it when attorneys get involved so soon. They belong in a courtroom, not at a crime scene.
Finally, as Hester and company continued on the second floor, I returned to the parlor, carefully stepping over the chalk marks in the second-floor hall. Looking back at them, they seemed to be just about perfectly located in front of Edie's bedroom door. Damn. That could be a problem. They didn't lead anywhere. Just