A Stranger on the Beach(79)

“What’s going on? You’re not returning my calls? How are we supposed to work this case together?”

“We’re not working this case together, Mike. I don’t trust your team.”

“I noticed that when you wouldn’t let me in the interview room with Caroline Stark.”

“She didn’t want a man in the room because she was discussing extremely personal matters. And she didn’t want anyone from your department, for good reason. Your chief of police has a blatant conflict of interest.”

“I hear you, but that has nothing to do with me. I don’t play favorites, and especially not with Aidan Callahan. I’m the guy who’s gonna be the hardest on him, I told you that.”

“I don’t need you to go hard on Callahan any more than I need you to help him. I want somebody who’ll do the job objectively.”

“That’s me, swear to God. I’m totally objective.”

“I’m sorry, Mike. After that fiasco at the station the other night, I can’t work with you. I don’t want your people anywhere near my case.”

“That wasn’t my fault either. You know it wasn’t. I wasn’t even in the interview room.”

“I’m not saying it was personally your fault. But it makes the entire Glenhampton PD look incompetent, or like they’re purposely trying to destroy the case. And you have to admit, that’s a possibility.”

“This was Keystone Kops shit. Incompetence. It wasn’t intentional. Still, it never should’ve happened. Wayne Johnson’s a good officer. The only thing I can think is, because it was Aidan, he let his guard down.”

“That’s exactly my point. You guys can’t be trusted.”

“Maybe they can’t, but I can.”

“It doesn’t matter if it was intentional or not. Either way, it screwed my case.”

“How did it screw your case? Nobody likes to see a witness attacked. But attacking the witness dirtied up Callahan good. Mays used it to get Callahan remanded. We can use it against him at trial, too.”

“There may not be a trial. My witness disappeared because of the Glenhampton PD’s incompetence. And I can’t make a murder charge stick without Caroline.”

“What?”

“Caroline Stark is in the wind, and there’s no case without her. Do you get it now? She got physically attacked in front of a station full of cops. She’s scared to death of Callahan, and she doesn’t trust you to protect her from him. So, she ran. I don’t blame her. Do you?”

“You can’t find her? Did you try calling her?”

Jess slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. “Duh. Why didn’t I think of that? Call her phone.”

“I’m sorry. That was dumb.”

She rolled her eyes and slid into the driver’s seat. He grabbed the door.

“What have you done to find her so far? I can help.”

“I called her. I also visited every place she could possibly be. Either nobody’s seen her, or they’re not talking. And I don’t want your help.”

“Fine, I’ll look for her on my own.”

“Don’t do that. And don’t you go blabbing to the press, either. I don’t need the whole world knowing my case is crap.”

“The press? Why would I talk to the press?”

“Somebody is. Have you seen the headlines? They know all about the affair.”

“Everybody knows about that. She picked him up on a busy night at the hottest bar in town.”

“She picked him up?”

“Yeah. I was there. I saw it happen. So did everyone else. The place was packed.”

Jess didn’t like the implication that the affair was somehow Caroline’s fault. Like she was some slut or something. Women always got labeled like that, and then their concerns were dismissed.

She tugged on the door. He wouldn’t let go.

“Would you let go of my door, please? I have work to do.”

“Jess, wait. I have a witness for you. An important witness.”

“The only witness I care about is Caroline Stark.”

“But this is an eyewitness from the night of the murder.”

“No way. Who?”

“The next-door neighbor.”

“Impossible. I had one of my guys canvass the neighborhood. Nobody was out at the beach that night. They all fled the storm.”

“Not this lady. She’s the type you’d have to carry out of her house. She stayed, and she’s got an eyewitness account from the night of the murder that you need to hear for yourself.”

“Wait, is this the old lady who lives next door? The one Caroline Stark told us about in her interview, who called to complain that the alarm was driving her nuts?”

“That’s the one.”

“I appreciate you telling me, Mike. I’ll go interview her myself.”

“She won’t talk to you without me.”

“I’ll show her my badge.”

“She didn’t open the door for the guy you sent before, did she? I’m telling you, she’s a crank, but I can handle her. She comes in to the station sometimes to file complaints, and I always give her the time of day.”

“Great, so she’s a nutcase.”