“Of course you’re too tired!”Cheryl had replied.“When it has to do with your bitch partner, you’re right there, aren’t you?Always available.But when I want to have a conversation about our marriage, it’s always, ‘I’m too tired.I don’t want to do this.Can we just let it go?’”
“Don’t call her a bitch.She’s not a bitch.”
Cheryl’s lower lip had trembled.That was Marcus’s warning.That was his chance to pull back, to beg for mercy, to listen to what she had to say and agree with it whether he actually agreed with it or not.If he’d done that, he might have had a chance at getting out of the argument.Instead, when Cheryl fired back,“No, of course not.She’s your precious Valentine.She’s the most important woman in your life.”
And Marcus had blurted,“At least I can fucking talk to her!”
And that was that.Cheryl had recoiled as though he’d slapped her.Then she’d kicked him out of the apartment they shared.He’d tried calling, tried texting, tried calling her mother, her sister, then, in desperation, her friends who hated him and always had.None of them had answered.
And now this.Time to think.About what?About leaving for good this time?About finding someone else to make out with to make him jealous again?About another forty-five-minute talk about how the fact that Kate didn’t completely repulse him made her feel insecure about their relationship?
“Here we are,” Whitaker said, pulling him out of his thoughts.“18thDistrict headquarters.Home to the concierge police force of Chicago’s rich and famous.”
He parked the car, and Marcus followed him inside the spacious concrete and glass building.It took an effort for him to put his argument with Cheryl in the back of his mind, but he managed.
All eyes were on him as Whitaker led him to the Doghouse, the workspace occupied by the 18thdistrict’s investigators.He stopped outside the building, pointed out Gorman and Troy, the detectives responsible for Hammond’s initial murder investigation, then excused himself with a weak excuse about paperwork.Clearly, he didn’t want to be seen pointing out his buddies to the feds.
Marcus entered the large room, and once again, all eyes fixed on him.He let it roll off his back.He was used to hostility.He was a big man, and that made other men insecure.He was a fed, and that made local cops insecure.He had a good relationship with his partner, and that made his wife insecure.He was just really good at making people think less of themselves.
He approached Gorman and Troy and nodded.“How’re you doing?”
Gorman, an older, mustachioed man with a prodigious belly and very dark brown eyes swiveled in his chair and regarded Marcus.“I’m not sure.HowamI doing?”
“Well, the killer that got away didn’t get away the second time,” Marcus said.“I’m sure you’re feeling some way about the fact that Derek Hammond is dead.”
Troy, a somewhat younger, considerably thinner man, chuckled.“Well, we’re not planning on sending flowers if that’s what you mean.”
“And we were both sitting underneath that camera all night ifthat’swhat you mean,” Gorman added, pointing at a security camera that pointed in the general direction of their desk.
“Triple homicide,” Troy explained.“Woman and her elderly parents stabbed to death in a home invasion.”
“Shit,” Marcus said.“That’s no fun.”
Gorman chuckled.“Fun is not part of this job description.”
“No, it’s not,” Marcus agreed.“Thank you for the alibi, by the way.I wasn’t looking forward to asking the two of you where you were last night.”
They both nodded.Their faces softened a little.It was the job.They got it.
“Any idea who might have killed him?”Marcus asked.
Gorman scoffed.“Take your pick.Guy waspersona non gratain the real estate world.Real estate is a swamp filled with crocodiles and snakes, but one of the big rules is if you have beef with someone, you hit their wallet, not their persons and not their families.”
Marcus nodded.He’d heard that before.“And Hammond is believed to have broken that rule.”
“Hammond absolutely broke that rule,” Troy replied.“There’s no question.We caught him on camera entering the hotel with Parker and leaving alone.We have a bloodstain on his coat with blood matching the victim.We have well-attested eyewitness accounts that the two of them had been arguing for years about the direction of the company and the alleged misuse of its finances by Mr.Parker.Those arguments exploded into a full-blown altercation when it was discovered that Mr.Parker was using company funds to ahem… enjoy some time with women on the weekends.”
Marcus raised an eyebrow, but he wasn’t here to investigate Gene Parker’s murder.“So, let’s say for sake of argument that Hammond did kill Parker.If the rule is don’t kill people, then why would one of the other bigwigs in real estate have him killed?And why wait three years?”
Gorman shrugged.“I’m not saying one of his fellow princes did him in.I’m just saying there’s no doubt he’s the killer, and people knew it.He got off because his lawyer claimed we didn’t let him use the restroom for eleven hours while we interrogated him.”
“That true?”
“Sure is,” Troy replied.“Because he never asked.Not one time.We would have let him go if he asked, but he didn’t.”
Marcus folded his arms over his chest.“I don’t want to sound like an asshole, but I’ve been involved with a trial here and there.I’ve never heard of anyone getting off because of that.”
The detectives shared a look.Marcus kept a placid expression on his face and waited.
