Fatal Reckoning (Fatal #14)(83)
“He was. Lasted a year. Said it wasn’t for him. He ran for council a year later, and that’s where he’s been ever since.”
“Of course I knew he’d been on the council for years, but I’d never heard about him being a cop.”
“He didn’t leave much of a mark. Wasn’t here long enough.”
“Impressions?”
“Big opinion of himself. Wasn’t one of my favorite people. I was glad when he left the department. He didn’t have the stuff.”
Sam knew exactly what he meant. People either had what it took to be a cop or they didn’t. It was that simple.
“Can we get Hill to ask Conklin why he called Gallagher after your visit the other night?”
“Already passed it along to him.”
Sam nodded. “Good. And the search of Conklin’s place?”
“Ongoing.”
“One other thing to note—I asked McBride to get me the files from the Coyne case, and when she went to Records, she was told my dad checked them out a week before his shooting and they were never returned. We’ve looked through the files from his office, but they’re not there.”
Malone pondered that for a full minute, his expression not revealing anything. “What the hell is this, Sam?”
“I don’t know, but I’m starting to wonder if the two shootings were related in some way.”
“Joe suggested the same thing last night. At first I thought, They were decades apart. How could they be related? But now… Who the fuck knows?”
“Roll with me here for a second… What if Coyne had stumbled onto something that got him killed? And then what if my dad stumbled upon the same thing that had him wondering if it had gotten Coyne killed? He starts to dig into it, the wrong people find that out and next thing you know, Dad is fighting for his life. The month before the shooting was a blank to him afterward, so he wouldn’t have remembered what he’d been doing.”
“It’s as good of a theory as I’ve heard since Conklin was implicated.”
“Do I have your permission to continue to explore the possible connection between the two shootings?”
Malone laughed—hard.
“What the hell is so funny?”
“I’m trying to remember the last time you asked for my permission to do anything.”
Sam rolled her eyes at him. “I’m not that insubordinate.”
“Ah, yeah, you really are, but since you do such a magnificent job of making me look good, I let it go most of the time.”
“Whatever. Answer the question—can I pursue this without it coming back to bite us in the ass on the conflict of interest front?”
“Proceed with caution. Keep me informed of every development, no matter how small.”
“Will do.”
“And if you find something, I’ll have to take the credit.”
“I don’t care about that if it leads to closing the case.”
A knock on the door had Malone opening it to Freddie.
“Hill is ready.”
“We’re coming,” Malone said.
Sam got up to follow them, anxious to hear what the deputy chief had to say for himself. Not that anything he could say would make up for the fact that he’d withheld pertinent information for nearly four years.
* * *
SAM, FREDDIE AND Malone stepped into the interrogation observation room, joining Chief Farnsworth and Tom Forrester. Sam couldn’t remember the last time the U.S. Attorney himself had come to HQ to observe an interrogation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Faith Miller was also there and greeted Sam with a sympathetic smile.
Hill appeared in the doorway. “Is everyone here?”
Farnsworth nodded.
Sam made eye contact with Hill, hoping she was conveying everything she needed to tell him without saying a word that could compromise the case.
Hill gave a subtle lift of his chin to let her know he understood the magnitude of what he was about to do and how much it meant to her and so many others. Then he turned and headed into the room where Conklin sat with his attorney. Dressed in the orange jumpsuit that prisoners wore in the city jail and sporting stubble on his jaw, Conklin barely resembled the top-ranking cop they were used to seeing at HQ every day.
In his younger years, he’d been blond, but now his hair was thinning on top and was mostly gray. His face was pinched with strain, which Sam found enormously satisfying. Good, she thought. You should be stressed, you evil son of a bitch.
Avery’s deputy, George Terrell, joined him in the interrogation room.
Terrell requested permission to record the interview.
Bagley gave permission, and Terrell turned on the recording device that sat in the middle of the table.
“Special Agent in Charge Avery Hill and Special Agent George Terrell in the interview of Paul Conklin, suspended deputy chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, represented by Charles Bagley.” Hill also provided the date and time of the interview. “Mr. Conklin, you are charged with concealing evidence in the investigation into the shooting of Deputy Chief Skip Holland.”
Sam absolutely loved that Hill referred to Conklin as Mr. Conklin and her dad as deputy chief. He had earned her eternal affection with that one sentence.
Conklin’s eyes narrowed with disdain that also pleased her. “I didn’t withhold anything.”