I held my badge out of the storage unit and shouted down the hallway, "Coconut County Sheriff's Department.”
"On the ground!" an officer shouted, angling his pistol around the corner at me. "Face down."
I groaned. This was going to be a headache.
37
PBPD converged on the storage unit, weapons drawn.
I kept my badge in my hand as they flooded into the room and secured the area. "My ID is in my wallet in my back pocket."
I wasn't on the best of terms with the PBPD. We had a run-in not long ago. I wasn’t exactly sure how this would turn out.
The cold steel of handcuffs hit my wrists.
After a few minutes, they figured out who we were and released us. JD and I climbed to our feet.
"Who are these two?" Officer Malone asked, pointing to Shane and Brandi.
I explained to them that Brandi was in custody on a case we were working on and that Shane was a confidential informant. I told them we were working a kidnapping case. I left out certain details.
Malone's suspicious brown eyes narrowed. "Let me get this straight. You took a suspect here to recover stolen property."
"Yep."
"What property?"
I hesitated for a long moment and shared a look with Jack. This was a sticky situation indeed. "Cash."
Malone looked at the duffel bags. The wheels turned behind his eyes. "How much cash?"
I didn't like where this was going.
"A considerable amount. We’re going to make the count and log it into evidence. I've already spoken to the sheriff.”
He shook his head. "This is our crime scene.”
"This is not your crime scene. This is our crime scene.”
He scoffed. "We've got two homicides as a result of an officer-involved shooting. That money is evidence. We're going to count it and log it.”
Malone moved to one of the duffel bags, knelt down, and unzipped it. His eyes rounded at all the greenbacks. A quick glance at the four bags and some simple math, and his whole world changed. He stood up and walked back to me. "I'm guessing there's about $6 million here, give or take."
"Give or take.”
"And that's the stolen property in the case you're working?”
"Yep.”
"There ain't no way in hell I'm letting you walk off with that money. You can count it, but we have primary jurisdiction inside the city limits. We responded to reports of gunshots. This is our case.”
I balked. "I'm certainly not going to let you guys walk off with it.”
"I'm sorry, but you don't have a choice," Malone said with a grin.
His three companions still had weapons ready. I got the feeling he was serious about not letting us walk off with the cash. I had my doubts it would ever make it back to the property department at the Pineapple Bay Police Department.
"I suggest you call the sheriff,” I said.
