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The man unlocked the gate and tilted his head for me to follow him. We walked around the administration building. The man’s pace never changed. He waved to a half dozen different kids and they waved back. Three young men slapped him high fives as they passed. The kids obviously respected this guy. After a little trek past groups getting tutoring for schoolwork at some picnic tables, the silent man pointed to a woman in her mid-thirties with brown hair tied in a ponytail. She was showing some young men how to box someone out under a basketball net. Then she stepped back and hit a perfect jumper. This was someone Fiona would like to meet.
The silent man who had led me back here didn’t speak to Cindy either. He just pointed at me and she nodded.
Cindy McCallister greeted me with a smile that would cheer anyone up. I could tell this was a young woman who spent most of her days involved in physical activity. There was no fat on her.
I nodded toward the man who’d let me through the gate. “He doesn’t say a whole lot, does he?”
She said, “As a result, when he does speak, everyone listens. It’s magical when he can draw order out of chaos on the basketball courts. He’s a retired firefighter.”
I explained to her that I had a case I was investigating with a number of people I had to eliminate as suspects. I left out the details. Then I mentioned Coach Perry Martin’s name.
“Perry’s not in trouble, is he? I couldn’t see him doing anything too bad.”
“Like I said, I’m trying toeliminatepeople from my suspect list. You answered my main question: what kind of guy he is. Why did you two break off the engagement?”
“He’s a good guy. He’s a good fifteen-year-old. Trapped in an adult body. Basically, I broke off the engagement because he was just so tough to pin down on things. All he cared about was football. Anything he thought would give him an edge, he’d try it. Whether it was ankle weights to strengthen his knees or eating foods he’d read might give him more energy. If he saw something that interested him, he’d drop whatever he was doing and move on. He once disappeared for three days to take up fly-fishing in the Adirondacks.”
“So you’re saying he was immature?”
“Impulsiveis a better word. Either way, he’s ancient history. I heard he’s married with a couple of kids now. Maybe that’s forced him to focus a little more.”
Even though Cindy McCallister hadn’t revealed anything earth-shattering, she had helped me. I decided I needed to knock Perry Martin off my list as quickly as possible to focus on William Tassick. Maybe I should just stop doing interviews altogether. It felt like every time I did one, I was further away from solving this case.
Chapter88
WALTER JACKSON HADgiven me a carload of information on William Tassick. Even though he had entered the case late as a suspect, his criminal history was remarkable. Born in San Diego, he had been arrested by age twenty-one for selling cocaine, assault on a police officer, unlawful display of a firearm, and disorderly conduct four separate times. It looked like for all of those infractions, the most Tassick ever received as far as punishment was two years’ probation. Later, when he hit the big time, he finally saw the inside of a prison cell.
Before I could focus my attention on William Tassick, I waited on hold with the Syracuse Police Department. I recalled Martin saying he had played at Syracuse. I’d already called the Syracuse University police, and they had nothing on Perry Martin. For some reason, the sergeant I talked to suggested that I call the Syracuse city police.
After going through three different detectives, I was waiting to speak to a sergeant who’d been in the department for more than twenty years. Just as I was about to hang up in frustration, a woman came on the line.
“This is Sergeant Pagan. Someone said you’re asking about a case from sixteen years ago. I’m afraid unless it was a capital case or had some extenuating circumstances, the record has almost certainly been purged.”
I said, “That’s what I’ve been told. Apparently an officer at the university police thought you guys might know a name connected to a case I’m working.”
She spent a few moments making sure I was actually a detective with the NYPD. We knew some of the same people, and she seemed satisfied. Finally, I was able to say, “Does the name Perry Martin ring a bell with you?”
She hesitated, then said, “What’s this about?”
I gave her a quick rundown on the case and told her I was trying to clear Perry Martin to focus on other suspects.
Sergeant Pagan said, “Can we talk off the record for a moment?”
That wasn’t something you heard when talking with another cop. Usually that was reserved for a reporter. And even then, it had to be a reporter you trusted. I said, “Yeah, sure.”
She started slowly. I could hear the stress in her voice. Sergeant Pagan said, “I remember the case pretty clearly. It was just so odd. Your man, Martin, was a lineman for the Syracuse team. It was in the early fall, and we had a report of an assault. I was brand-new in the D Bureau. It involved a pretty freshman who’d been punched hard in the face. Her shirt was ripped, and she was inconsolable. Anyway, she said she went on a date with a blond Syracuse football player. When she wouldn’t agree to have sex with him, he got rough with her. She managed to get away. She took a cab directly to the police department. She told me exactly what happened. She wasn’t confused on her facts or in shock. I thought she was extremely credible. And she identified Perry Martin as her attacker. We sent a patrol officer to talk to Martin at his dorm. He confirmed he’d been on a date. He didn’t say much else.”
I was stunned. I confirmed with the sergeant Martin’s date of birth. We were talking about the same man. I said, “No arrests show up in his criminal history.”
“That’s why I’m talking to you off the record. It was a weird sequence of events. I was getting ready to file the case when the victim’s brother took a shot at Perry Martin with a .38 revolver. He didn’t think we would file a case for the assault because Martin was a football player.
“The state attorney hated the idea of charging the brother, and everyone came to an agreement to drop all of the investigations. No one was ever charged with any crimes. I wasn’t even allowed to talk to the Syracuse administration about the incident. They would’ve flipped out and kicked him off the team. I’m a little bothered by the whole situation even all these years later.”
I thanked the sergeant and sat at my desk for a moment as I considered everything she’d said.
I immediately called Terri Hernandez and asked her to meet here at my office. We had to look at Perry Martin much more seriously.
Chapter89
