Due Process (Joe Dillard #9)(12)

“Then charge me.”

“You’re pissing me off, boy. How much was she paid?”

“Three hundred, boy. Plus we were supposed to tip her.”

Riddle could feel himself about to blow. Did this nigger just call him boy? He wanted to smash the quarterback’s face in.

“Where do you get three hundred bucks for a stripper plus money for a tip? You slinging dope on the side?”

“I’m not selling drugs, and neither is anybody else at our house. You won’t find anything in our house and you can test me for drugs if you want. The money was pooled from the guys. There are eighty guys on our team including the redshirts. Some of them ponied five bucks, a couple of them threw in thirty.”

“What about you, Mr. Quarterback? How much did you throw in the pot?”

“Twenty. I put twenty dollars in.”

“Do you know the penalty in Tennessee for kidnapping and rape?”

“What? Kidnapping and rape? Nobody got kidnapped because she showed up by herself and left when she wanted. Nobody held her against her will. And nobody got raped.”

“That’s not what the girl says.”

“The stripper? She says she was raped?”

“She was pulled into the bathroom and raped by three guys. One of them was black, she says, and a captain.”

“She’s lying. And just for your information, there are two black captains, two white captains, and a Mexican captain on our team. And I want a lawyer.”

“You waived your right to a lawyer.”

“I’m not saying another word to you. Arrest me right now or let me go.”

Suddenly, Riddle threw his chair to the side, grabbed Kevin by the shirt and threw him up against the wall. Kevin was taller, leaner and probably stronger than Riddle, but Riddle was thick and had obviously done this kind of thing before. He shoved his forearm under Kevin’s chin.

“You worthless ni…”

“Worthless what?” Kevin said. “Nigger? Were you about to call me a worthless nigger? Go ahead. And you want to beat on me? Go ahead. I’ve taken worse than you can dish out. Besides, I’m not NFL material. I’m going to law school so I can sue gorilla cops like you that think with their balls because they don’t have brains. So go ahead and beat me. I can use the extra money I’ll make suing the city and you, pork chop.”

Riddle could feel his eyes bulging. He wanted to crush this wise ass’s windpipe. Instead, he kneed Kevin in the testicles and stood back as Kevin melted to the floor, retching.

“You’re going to the penitentiary for kidnapping and rape,” Riddle said. “I’m gonna see to it personally. I’ll be so far up your ass you’ll feel me tickling your throat.”

Riddle walked to the door and looked down at Kevin, who was still gagging on the floor.

“You’re free to go for now,” Riddle said. “You can crawl out the same way you walked in.”





TUESDAY, AUGUST 27

Captain Trent Bingham looked around the small conference room at the faces of his six investigators. They were all seated, all fidgeting. Some were fiddling with their phones. Some were looking at the ceiling. The mood was somber. Only Bo Riddle was staring at him. From everything Bingham had heard so far, it had been an unproductive morning.

“Did anybody get anything we can use?” the captain said.

“The black kid is lying,” Investigator Riddle said. “He’s dirty on this.”

“Did he confess? Did he make any statements at all that implicated him in a rape?”

“The girl says one of the guys that raped her was black,” Riddle said.

“How many black guys are on the team?” Bingham said.

“I don’t know,” Riddle said.

“I’m looking at a photo of the team on their website,” said an investigator in the back. “It looks like there are forty-six black guys on the team.”

“Great. Where’d the money to pay the strippers come from?”

“He said they took up a collection from the team,” Riddle said.

“The girl’s story is full of holes,” Bingham said. “You guys know it and I know it. Riddle, what makes you think he’s guilty?”

“I just don’t like him. He’s smug. He thinks he’s going to get away with this.”

“You don’t like anybody. Does anybody else have anything?”

The rest of the detectives looked at each other with blank faces.

“So nobody is willing to roll on anybody?”

“Our guy said nothing happened. Just an argument and the girl left,” Investigator David Morgan said.

“Same with ours,” Investigator Benny Garrett said. “He says she’s flat out lying. She showed up, then disappeared for a few minutes, and when she came back she was too intoxicated to perform. Said she could barely stand up. He said there are cell phone videos that will back him up.”

“Great,” Bingham said, “Another thing I’d like to know is whether anybody in this room leaked this to the press. I got a call from a reporter at the Johnson City paper a half-hour ago.”

There was silence.

“I suppose quite a few people know about it by now, but I swear to God if I find out one of you guys is talking to the press about an ongoing investigation, I’ll have your badge.”