The Night Monster_ A Novel of Suspense - James Swain [62]
“You okay?” I asked.
“No, I’m not okay,” Burrell said. “I sent the mayor this tape, and now he’s claiming he never told me to arrest Biggs. Chief Moody has shut himself in his office, and won’t talk to me. They’re playing politics with a poor girl’s life.”
“That’s how they’ve lasted so long.”
Burrell laughed without smiling. It was a dead sound. Her eyes, which were normally dancing, were equally dead. She’d been running Missing Persons for six months, and she was already being thrown under the bus. It was the nature of the beast, and there were times when I wondered how I’d lasted as long as I had.
“Come with me,” I said. “I want to show you something.”
———
We went upstairs to the War Room. The photos of the five victims lay on the table with the map of Florida beside them. Burrell studied the photos and map with a look of disbelief on her face. I gave her a moment to absorb everything before speaking.
“Sara Long was taken from her motel room by a pair of serial abductors,” I said. “These are the rest of their victims.”
Burrell glanced into the faces of the other five detectives from Missing Persons, who stood silently on the other side of the table. “You in agreement on this?” she asked.
The other detectives nodded in unison. Burrell turned to me.
“Should I call the mayor?” she asked.
“Fuck the mayor,” I said.
The other detectives burst into laughter. Burrell was in no mood for games, and shot them a murderous look. The sound quickly died.
“So what exactly are you suggesting I do?” Burrell asked.
“Call Deborah Bodden at Fox News, and tell her what you’ve found,” I said. “Tell her that a pair of serial abductors have been abducting young women in Florida for the past eighteen years, and the detectives in your unit uncovered them.”
The other detectives broke into smiles. They were going to be heroes when this was all over. Burrell wasn’t sold, and continued to press me.
“What about Sky’s sex tape?” she said.
“What about it?”
“The tape proves that we arrested the wrong guy. I’m still screwed.”
“You’re spinning it wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
“If Sky had handed over the tape to the police two days ago, you never would have arrested Tyrone Biggs. Right?”
Burrell considered what I was saying, then nodded.
“Sky withheld evidence that crippled your investigation,” I went on. “Because of her, you made a false arrest. Let Biggs go, and throw Sky in the county lockup.”
“You’re saying I should make Sky the bad guy.”
“Sky is the bad guy. She deserves whatever she gets.”
“That doesn’t seem right somehow.”
“You want to take the fall, be my guest.”
Burrell gave me a funny look. I could tell that she didn’t like what I was saying. Burrell was one of those cops who wanted to do her job well, and for people to like her. I had never had that problem.
Burrell shook her head. “I don’t know, Jack.”
“Just do it. You’ll thank me later.”
“You think so?”
“Yes, Candy, I do.”
Burrell started to reply, then looked down at her side. Buster stood by her leg, wanting to be petted. Burrell scratched the top of his head.
“What do you think, boy?” she asked my dog.
Buster wagged his tail enthusiastically. It brought a smile to Burrell’s face, and I realized that it had been awhile since I’d seen her do that.
“I guess it’s worth a shot,” Burrell said.
CHAPTER 30
urrell quickly took charge. The first thing she did was to make me write down everything I knew about the five abductions on a legal pad. I was carrying a lot of information in my head, and the details ended up covering several pages.
Burrell then read everything back to me. Several times she stopped to question something I’d written or to clarify a point. It was an exhausting process, but there was no other way to bring her up to speed.
A half hour later, we were done. Burrell rose from her chair at the table in the War Room, and so did I.
“One last thing,” Burrell said. “You said the FBI determined that the abductors are driving a late-model Jeep Cherokee based on the tire tracks you picked up. Can I give that