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“Why would he want to keep information from me?” Bruno asked.
“I don’t think he does. Sergeant Cade has been in touch with me on a daily basis, and I’ve called her a lot, too. I think I’m fully briefed on the case.”
“Well, I don’t feel fully briefed,” Bruno said.
Jimmy pulled into the station parking lot, and they got out of the car.
“I’ll get the case file and go through it with you,” Jimmy said.
Bruno slammed the car door. “Oh, fuck it!” he spat. “You handle the goddamned thing any way you like. I’m out of it.” He stormed off and went into the station.
Jimmy went back to his desk, and he was reading the file again when his phone rang. “Detective Weathers.”
“Jimmy, it’s Lauren.”
“Hi, Lauren.”
“I’m sorry you were kept out of the meeting this morning, but we didn’t want Bruno there.”
“How come?” Jimmy asked.
“Because he’s the only suspect in the case.”
“Bruno?”
“Yes. He has a past history of rape.”
Jimmy took a deep breath. “Lauren, I think you should know that I read the stuff on Bruno’s court-martial, so I know about your involvement.”
“It’s just as well,” she said. “I would have told you eventually. I hope you don’t think I was keeping anything from you.”
“Well, you kept the fact that Bruno is a suspect from me.”
“We don’t want him to know, and I think you can see how important it is that you don’t tell him.”
“That puts me in kind of an awkward position,” Jimmy said.
“I know it does, but I can’t do anything about that. For the integrity of the investigation you have to keep this from him.”
“And what happens when he finds out and I get fired? Are you folks going to give me a job?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll see that it doesn’t come to that. Either Bruno will find out when we get enough evidence to arrest him, or he won’t find out at all.”
“All right, Lauren, I’ll play along, but please don’t get my ass caught in a wringer.”
“I won’t, Jimmy. I’ve got to run now. Bye-bye.” She hung up.
Jimmy hung up, too. “God in Heaven,” he said aloud to himself.
29
Holly got out of her first day’s training for the Malibu Mirage at dusk, and she was exhausted. She had spent half her day learning the airplane’s systems and the rest in the simulator, which she had found trying. It didn’t fly like the airplane, and, although she could look out its windows at the landscape, it was more of a schematic of a landscape, and it didn’t help all that much. She decided she would rather fly the airplane itself.
She got into her car and was heading back toward the beach and home when, shortly after crossing the bridge, she saw two police cars, their lights flashing, with a silver sedan pulled over. She drove slowly past the cars and got a look at the driver, who appeared to be a sixtyish man, sitting in his car and talking with two police officers. She supposed that the Orchid force had started stopping every white male driving alone.
All she could think about now was a drink, some dinner and a hot bath.
Teddy had just crossed the bridge when the lights began flashing behind him. He considered whether he should make a run for it but decided against it. After all, he was a solid citizen with ID to back it up, so he pulled over, lowered his window and waited. To his surprise the police car pulled past him and blocked any escape, and another car pulled up behind him. A moment later there was a flashlight in his face.
