59
Julia sat propped in bed and gave a complete statement to Detectives Kowalski and Brennan. They were on one side of the bed, taking rapid notes on skinny pads, and Bennie and Gianluca were next to her, with a sleeping Leni. Julia told them everything. Beginning with the missing coin from Kay’s basket, then her trip with Paul to the regiment’s clubhouse, where they’d found the pictures of McKenna with Shoemaker and Novak, then how she’d seen Glushenko, Novak, and the militia at the reenactment at McGlinchey’s. She told them how she followed the black pickup to the farm, where she’d discovered McKenna, the barn full of 3D printers, and the U-Haul truck. The detectives weren’t surprised by anything until she told them that McKenna murdered Novak.
“Run that by me again?” Detective Kowalski raised an eyebrow. “Did you actually hear McKenna say to Novak that he’d lost the prototype and that’s why he had to die?”
“Yes, I saw and heard the whole thing.” Julia sickened at thememory. “McKenna shot him in front of the other men, and I think they were too afraid to say anything. Then McKenna told Laird to finish loading the truck and Dave to take the truck away. That’s why I thought the U-Haul was going to Valley Forge, but I was wrong. With the size of the operation they had, they must have been delivering guns elsewhere.” Julia still regretted the mistake. “Let me ask you, did you find Novak’s body?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Detective Kowalski hesitated. “Given the circumstances, I’ll share some of the details. It goes without saying that you cannot divulge this information to the press.”
“Of course I won’t,” Julia said quickly. The media thronged in front of the hospital, and she’d also noticed hospital personnel walking past her room and peeking curiously through the glass.
“We did find Novak’s body. We learned that the farm belongs to McKenna under an alias. We found blood in the dirt and followed it to where they buried the body. McKenna and the others didn’t cover their tracks very well. We think your appearance threw a monkey wrench into their plan. When they discovered you, they went after you and never went back to the scene.” Detective Kowalski’s expression softened. “You caught a tiger by the tail when you started asking questions. We frown on civilians getting involved in investigations. They can be stepping into a hornets’ nest, like here. I’m glad it ended safely. Thanks for the assist. In other words, you did good, but don’t do it again.”
Detective Brennan eyed Julia, with concern. “I’m glad you survived it, and Courtney, too.”
“Thanks.” Julia felt touched but couldn’t begin to process her emotions now. “So now can you charge McKenna with Novak’s murder?”
“That will be up to the lawyers, but I think so.”
“I should mention that I’d met Novak, one time before. I was in college at Notre Dame, and he came up to me and Courtney at the library. He said he was from the Philly area, too. He told me his name was Matt Winger but it was an alias. Pat Novak could be, too.”
Detective Kowalski made a note. “Did you have a relationship with him?”
“No, not at all, thanks to Courtney. I only remember his name because he ended up assaulting another girl at school. The campus and South Bend police were looking for him, but I don’t know if they found him or what happened. But you should look into that, too.”
“Anything else?” Detective Kowalski made another note.
“What about the fact that there must’ve been somebody else in the pickup on the day Novak killed Kay? Novak was driving, but somebody could’ve been in the passenger seat with Kay’s basket of found objects. I’m guessing it was maybe one of the other militia members, Laird or Dave, or maybe another friend of Novak’s, if Novak didn’t want the others to know he’d lost the coin. I don’t think it was McKenna. He wouldn’t have shown his face at Kay’s farm, given that he was officially a fugitive.”
“That will be part of the investigation.” Detective Kowalski looked up from his notes. “I wonder how Novak knew that Kay found the coin. Can you enlighten me?”
“Yes, I don’t know for sure, but it wouldn’t be hard for him to find out. Kay and Samuel were at the clean-up together, and I think he was with her when she found the coin, so she could have mentioned itto him or anyone, or he could have. She ran errands that day, getting groceries, and she could have mentioned it to a cashier or someone who could have mentioned it to someone else who had a link with the militia. It’s a small town, and everybody knows everybody else.” Julia thought a minute. “I remember McKenna said the coin had today’s date and the American flag, so it didn’t look obviously incriminating, but if Kay or anybody else started asking questions, it could have thwarted the plot. I heard him say they couldn’t risk anything that would jeopardize the attack.”
“We’ll run that down,” Kowalski said, writing away.
“And I don’t think Samuel’s death was a suicide. I think Novak killed Samuel after he killed Kay because Samuel knew about the coin. Samuel could have even had a picture of it in his camera. We didn’t see his camera in his place.”
“We’ll look for it.” Detective Kowalski pursed his lips.
“So can you charge McKenna with Samuel’s murder?”
“In my humble opinion, it might be hard to charge him with conspiracy in Samuel’s murder or Shoemaker’s murder because McKenna isn’t talking. The lawyers might be able to flip him or somebody else, then make a deal, but that’s above my pay grade.”
“What about Alex?” Julia asked, her gut wrenching. “He died trying to get to Courtney. His death was caused by whoever was trying to kill Courtney. Is there anything new in that investigation? And is the cellmate a part of that?”
“It’s part of the same investigation. We will see it through. You can’t expect results this fast. This is a comprehensive investigation with a lot of moving parts.”
“Now you have to let Courtney go, don’t you? I told you I heardNovak say that he killed that ‘Black bitch.’ That’s proof that Novak killed Kay and Courtney is innocent.”
“Sorry, it’s not procedure to release her yet.”
Bennie leaned forward over her laptop, interjecting, “Why the hell not? Courtney should be released immediately. Julia’s testimony proves that Novak killed Kay. You have no basis to hold my client another minute. Now we know that anything can happen to her inside that prison. Besides, I don’t want to wait until the case gets caught in a jurisdictional clusterfuck. You’re not going to keep this case, the feds are. ATF, the FBI, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force will be all over it, if they’re not already. They’ll charge first, given that it’s high profile and took place on federal property.”
Detective Kowalski scowled. “Until then, your client is in state custody, and we have procedures. I told the same thing to her husband, who’s at the prison raising holy hell. We’ll finalize Julia’s statement, then get approvals up the chain. It will take a day or two until your client can be released.”
