What She Found (Tracy Crosswhite #9)(75)

“No question there,” Faz said.

“What are two rookies on Homicide going to do, become rats?

What proof did we have?”

“None,” Faz said. He took a sip of wine to wash down the calamari. “You think SPD is an old-boys club now, Tracy? You remember what it was like when you started?”

“Remember? How many times did I have to hear the joke that I was ‘Dickless Tracy’?”

“Yeah, well, multiply that by five or ten, and you’ll understand what we were dealing with back then,” Del said. “And Moss was the hub in the wagon wheel around which all the other detectives rotated. We go after Moss and we kiss our careers good-bye, even if we win, and we wouldn’t have, because Moss had leverage over me.

He’d created a fake file.”

“Vera and I had just bought a house and wanted kids,” Faz said.

“You let it go,” Tracy said. “I understand. I’m not judging you.”

She didn’t want to judge Del, but inside she wondered if she would have done the same thing, if peer pressure and the fear of being ostracized would have compelled her to act as Del had acted. She hoped not.

“Faz let it go,” Del said. “I didn’t. I confronted Moss about the raid, in the police parking lot. At first, he denied it, says he’s got no idea what I’m talking about. I tell him I talked to the harbormaster. He says the harbormaster is mistaken. Then he says, ‘But if he wasn’t, you were there, too, and heard it; didn’t you?’ I say, ‘What are you talking about? You had me go talk to the people at the dock.’ He says, ‘That’s not what the police report says.’ I said, ‘I wrote the report. It doesn’t say anything of the kind.’ ‘No, it doesn’t,’ he said.

‘But the report I got, the one I took home, says I put down what Slocum said about the raid and you were there. Now why wouldn’t you, the lead detective, put that in your final report to the captain?’

That’s when I realized the son of a bitch has me by the balls. If he goes down, he’s taking me down with him.”

“What happened to him? I understood he was a good detective.”

“He got divorced,” Faz said. “Wife left him for a wealthy, younger man. And he got bitter. And maybe he needed the money.

He did a good job covering it all up, but it ate at him, big-time.”

“Yeah, well, this was eating at me. Every day I was thinking of what I might do. I’m thinking of a way to maybe get in touch with the P-I reporter who did the Henderson Jones story. I’m thinking maybe an anonymous tip to put her in touch with Slocum and let her run with it, get the story out into the public domain. I figured she’d call me as the lead detective, and I could have corroborated what Slocum told her about the dead bodies and about learning of the raid from David. From there I could take my chances, but at least, once it’s in the public domain, it can’t be ignored. I figure maybe the Justice Department gets involved, and I’d have a layer of insulation.

Anyone tries to kill me, it only confirms the story she’s running in the paper. I’m debating my options when I hear about a suicide in the Industrial District. Then I hear about a reporter going missing. I put the two together and realize it’s the harbormaster and Childress. I break out in a cold sweat because I smell something bad, Tracy. But now, what can I do? The autopsy says Slocum was a suicide, and there is enough evidence to indicate the husband killed Childress.

I’ve lost the one witness who can talk about the raid. I didn’t have anything but my word, and Moss still had the file implicating me.” Del sputtered, looked away, and took a couple of short breaths.

Tracy dropped her head. Her emotions overtook her. She took her cue from Faz and remained silent. After a beat, Del gathered himself.

“Sorry.”

“You just take your time, Del,” Faz said. “We ain’t in no rush here.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Del. I’ve run down many of the same sources you did and I’m stuck too,” Tracy said. “I spoke to the captain of the Egregious, Jack Flynt. He’s in prison in Canada.”

“What did he have to say?” Del asked.

“Basically what Slocum told you. When Flynt got busted in 2002, he told the feds he wants to make a deal and has information to trade. Problem is the statute of limitations to prosecute the guys on the Last Line for the drug charges has already run.”

For a moment, Del didn’t say a word. He shut his eyes, and Tracy could see the muscles of his jaw undulating as he struggled to get his emotions under control. When he spoke, it was in a shaky voice. “There’s no excuse for what I did. If I had said something, maybe what happened to Slocum and Childress might not have happened. I should have gone to somebody in the FBI or the DEA and told them what was happening.”

“You didn’t have any hard evidence to prove anything, Del,” Faz said.

“And you didn’t kill David Slocum or Lisa Childress. Don’t take the blame for what this group did. They killed Slocum and they killed the two crewmen. They ran drugs and they framed people, including you.”

Del took a moment to compose himself. Then he said, “Do you know what happened to Childress? Did she run?”

Tracy told Del and Faz what she had been able to piece together and deduce from there. She told them about the bear spray found at the site that Larry Childress confirmed he put in her bag before she went to meet her source.