Page 109 of Capture My Heart

Trey cleared his throat. “I was able to narrow down who had ready access to the drugs which dropped Officer Amy to the bottom of the list.”

“But didn’t eliminate her?” CJ asked.

“I know you and Jim are friends with her, but I can’t fully eliminate her yet. Not with the new information I found this weekend.”

“What info?” Jim leaned on the table.

“She removed damning info from the case file regarding her father.” Trey shuffled his papers. Something didn’t sit right with this. But he couldn’t ignore the facts. Amy lied.

“Are you talking about the Gardiner case?” Chief Martin asked. “Thomas Larson was a stand-up officer who used his past friendship with Quintin Gardner to infiltrate their drug business. Only myself and a few key people knew of his covert actions.”

“And the reprimand?”

“The reprimanding officer wasn’t in on the operation. After Larson’s death, we presented his widow with his medal of valor. I just wish we could have awarded it to him personally.” Years-old grief colored his face. “He was a fine officer and a friend.”

Trey nodded. Amy could have told him. When? When he was investigating her for corruption or when he attacked her about it while she lay in a hospital bed?

He was a fucking moron. She hid it, yes, but what would he have done if it had been his dad?

He cleared his throat and looked down at his notes, words blurred. A few blinks and a promise to make it right and he continued. “Thank you, sir. I wasn’t privy to that information and will take it into consideration. To continue, in light of the circumstances around the death of August West, I feel it ties to the current corruption.”

“What exactly are you referring to?”

“The car that hit and killed West was taken from the city impound lot and was sealed for police evidence. It was used again in an attempt on Tommy Larson. The car shows no signs of tampering, which leads me to believe the perpetrator had the key which was in police custody.”

“Why would Amy try to kill her brother? Or the driver that hit her father? She was always looking for answers?” CJ asked.

That’s one of the things that rubbed on Trey. “Revenge could be the motive for West’s death. As for her brother… That’s one of the reasons why I’d originally removed her from the list.”

“Okay, and the others.” Martin asked.

He filled them in on the impound lot guard’s gate key and the unsub from the bar. “The witness puts him at average height and in his thirties or forties, that takes Officer Brannon out of the top spot. He’s got to be six-six.”

“That’s assuming that it’s the cop that stole the key.” Trey’s boss, Alex said.

“I think he’s on the right path.” CJ nodded. “The Gardiners have the influence and money to hire an inside person.”

“Also, I checked, the car was in impound for being used in an armed robbery. But the key wasn’t in the evidence locker.”

Martin scanned the case notes, his finger tapped his lip as he read. “And what about the explosion Friday night? It was a gas oven malfunction that caused an explosion I hear.”

“No sir, I was under the impression it was a bomb.” Trey said.

“It was a bomb. The report from the arson detective is still out, but I took Larson’s official statement yesterday afternoon. It was an electric oven and she heard it clicking just before it exploded.” Jim said.

Trey had heard it was possibly a bomb but didn’t know Amy had said it. His chest sank. He should have been to see her. But he couldn’t. Not after she lied and covered up for her father. “Is that the first you heard it could be a bomb?”

“Yeah, Last I heard it was the oven. I suspected a bomb, but it wasn’t confirmed until she told me.”

“So, no one knew it was a bomb on Friday?” Trey asked.

“No, nothing was confirmed until Sunday. And we are still waiting for the arson techs to verify it. Why?” Jim’s eyes narrowed.

“Peterson.” Trey mumbled. He knew. Bob declared it was a bomb, then backpedaled when Trey said he didn’t know it was confirmed. The only people who would know at that time would be someone who was in the apartment or the person that set the bomb. But why tell me if he wanted everyone to think it was an oven? To throw suspicion on Amy or… He screwed up.

Trey jumped up. “I gotta go.”

If Amy made her official statement, then Bob knows she knew it was a bomb.