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“Rich, it’s Mike Bennett. Thanks for scaring my informant. He bought the whole thing.”
A deep chuckle came across the phone line. “I love to help when all I have to do is call a snitch and scare him a little bit. Is he doing everything you need him to?”
“With a good attitude.”
Matthews laughed again. “Feel free to use me any time you want.”
I was still smiling when I got to my car. I love having friends all over the department. I wish I could say I felt bad deceiving Ronald Higdon, Esquire, about the NYPD investigating him. I didn’t feel much remorse.
And now I had a lead on a real suspect.
Chapter32
WITH THE NAMERonald Higdon, Esquire, gave me in hand, I didn’t want to wait one second without acting on the information. I was barely even settled in my car before I called Walter Jackson, asking him to find out everything he could about Kyle Banning. I knew it wouldn’t take the criminal intelligence analyst very long before he called me back with some juicy info.
I texted Harry Grissom, but all I got back was:In a meeting at 1PP.
I sat in the car for a few minutes, making notes and a couple of phone calls. I called the Abreu house and spoke to Mrs. Abreu about whether she had ever heard the name Kyle Banning.
Mrs. Abreu said she had talked to all of Estella’s cousins and friends. She’d even made notes. But Kyle Banning was not a name mentioned by any of the younger members of the Abreu family.
I knew the grieving mother just wanted to talk and feel like she was contributing to the investigation. It happens all the time. Just like when making death notifications, you never cut off a family member when they want to talk about the victim. This was one of the few times I felt antsy. I was ready to roll with this new suspect. But I let Mrs. Abreu release all her pent-up emotion and told her I’d talk to her again later in the week.
As soon as I hung up, Walter called me.
The big man’s rumbling voice tested the limits of my iPhone’s speaker. He said, “Sorry I didn’t call you back quicker. I was having trouble with my reverse origami class. I’ll let you know how things unfold.” He couldn’t help laughing at his own pun.
“Ugh. You owe your daughter another dollar in the pun jar,” I said. “What do ya got for me?”
Walter jumped right into the meat of his information. “Your suspect, Kyle Banning, has one arrest, from January of this year. Guess what it was for?”
“Some kind of violence against women?”
“The universal indicator of a creep.”
All I managed to say was “Go on.”
“A patrol officer near Times Square heard a woman cry out just after midnight. The officer located the woman, who was with Kyle Banning. The woman was crying and had a red mark on her face. The cop believed Banning had struck her, so he was arrested but later released without bail. Investigators tried to talk to the woman, but she left a message on the detective’s phone that she wasn’t interested in pursuing charges. The case was dismissed.”
The cynical side of me came out. “Let me guess: Banning comes from a wealthy family.”
“His father is general counsel for one of the big insurance companies. Kyle still lives with his parents.”
I wrote a few more notes. Walter gave me the address of the financial company where Kyle Banning worked and phone numbers that were connected to him.
Walter added, “There’s one other thing I noticed. It looks like someone tried to remove the reports from ECMS.”
“I didn’t know that was even possible.”
“It can be, like when someone has their record expunged or if a judge orders us to remove a report. In this case, it looks like whoever tried it didn’t have official permission and wasn’t able to remove the case file. There’re only three reports. The arresting officer’s report. The investigating detective’s report. And the report by the detective closing the case after the victim refused to talk.”
This concerned me. “Sounds like Kyle Banning’s got someone inside the department.”
“More likely his dad has someone inside the mayor’s office.”
I snapped my fingers as I saw the truth of what Walter Jackson was saying. My best choice was to jump on this lead fast and play everything close to the vest.
Chapter33
