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Chapter44
NATTY WAS SITTING SULKILYbehind his desk in the open room of the homicide department. Four other detectives were there working away, including Mary Lancaster.
A moment later Decker and Mars burst into the space. Decker glanced at Lancaster, who had a questioning look on her face, before marching over to stand in front of Natty.
“Karl Stevens,” he said.
“Who?”
“He was the dealer who’d sold some stuff to Frankie Richards.”
Lancaster had risen from her chair and approached. “We know that, but he had an alibi for the time of the murders. We checked that back then.”
“Not the point,” said Decker brusquely.
“So, whatisthe point?” snapped Natty.
“Did he also deal to Mitzi Hawkins?”
Lancaster and Natty exchanged a look. Natty said, “I don’t know. It’s been a long time. Does it matter?”
“It could.”
Natty sighed. “I can check. No guarantees that it’s in the records anywhere. And Karl Stevens sold to a lot of people.”
Mars said, “Where is he now?”
Lancaster answered. “I can tell you that. He’s at Travis Correctional Center. It’s a private prison now. Stevens is serving ten to twenty on a second-degree murder conviction. He killed a guy over a heroin transaction. He’s five years into his term. I was the one who busted him.”
Decker said, “Travis Correctional? Isn’t that where Meryl Hawkins ended up serving his time?”
Natty got on his computer and tapped some more keys. When he reached the page, his jaw fell. He looked up.
“You’re right.”
“Were they both in gen pop?” asked Decker, referring to the prison’s general population.
“I don’t know. But that’s usually the case. They don’t have the space to segregate prisoners. They’re way beyond capacity as it is.”
Lancaster said, “They could have interacted at the prison, then.” She looked at Decker. “What are you thinking?”
“If they did interact, Stevens could have told him something that led Hawkins to come back here asking us to prove his innocence. I wondered about the timing of all this. I mean, did Hawkins just learn something that made him believe we could prove his innocence? He wanted to meet with me. Maybe it was then that he was going to tell me what he knew.”
Lancaster said, “He must have learned it recently, otherwise why wouldn’t he have raised it while he was still in prison?”
“What could Stevens have told him?” asked Natty.
“For one thing, that he was Mitzi’s dealer,” replied Decker.
“So what?”
“That could mean a connection between Frankie Richards and Mitzi.”
“What kind of connection?” persisted Natty. “You’re not making sense.”
“Can you get us permission to visit Stevens?” asked Decker, ignoring the question. “Today?”
“I can try. But what could he possibly tell you?”
