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“What would you say if I told you the person Aaron Peterson killed wasn’t Randy Bryant?” Gonzo said.
That seemed to genuinely surprise Sanders. “It wasn’t?”
“Nope. It was someone posed to make us think it was Randy, with his trademark red sneakers, and his face bashed in so we couldn’t be sure.”
“I can’t explain that. Does the congressman know it wasn’t Randy?”
“I’m not sure what he knows.”
“Maybe Aaron got cold feet or something.”
“Or maybe he wanted the congressman tothinkhis son was dead when he wasn’t, so we’d do exactly what we’re doing by hauling him in here and making him explain himself.”
“Maybe. The congressman is an asshole. We all hate him, but we like the money, so we put up with his shit.”
“You’ll have to testify to all of this in court,” Faith said.
Sanders looked at her without blinking. “That’s fine.”
“Where’s Tom Forrester?” Faith asked.
“I honestly don’t know.”
“Takeme through the whole thing, from the top,” Malone said as the clock edged closer to midnight.
“Forrester was investigating Damien Bryant for campaign finance irregularities at the behest of the AG. Bryant knew the investigation would bear fruit, so he had Forrester’s wife and daughters ‘detained’ until Forrester reported to the AG that there was nothing to the investigation. Then his son was arrested, and he completely freaked out when the news broke back home, where he’s facing a formidable challenger. He demanded that Forrester get his son released or his family would be harmed.”
Malone crossed his arms as he processed the details. “That explains why we were told to release him.”
“I feel better knowing Forrester was protecting his family,” Gonzo said, “and not out of his goddamned mind.”
“The congressman also ordered his security people to ‘deal’ with the son, except they killed someone else. The son is in Wisconsin. I’m waiting for Tomlinson to tell me who’s in the morgue.”
Tomlinson walked into the pit. “He’s a well-known drug dealer named Zachery Calder. His prints were in the system from multiple arrests.”
“Let me find out if he was one of the congressman’s guys,” Gonzo said.
He returned to the room where Sanders waited. “Does the name Zachery Calder mean anything to you?”
“Yeah, Z is one of our guys. Why?”
“He’s the one Aaron killed instead of Randy.”
“Oh, come on. No way.”
“Way. Stay here.”
Gonzo returned to the pit. “Sanders has identified Z as one of their guys.” He went into Sam’s office, found his notes on the place where Randy Bryant lived and called the number he’d been given for Randy’s roommate.
When the guy answered, Gonzo introduced himself. “I was wondering if anyone came there today saying they needed some of Randy’s clothes to bring him in jail.”
“Yeah, a guy named Aaron came by and said Randy needed some of his stuff. I let him in.”
“What did you give him?”
“He asked for his student ID because he needed a second form of ID for the cops, T-shirts and a pair of the red Vans that are his favorite. Randy has several pairs of those.”
“Thank you.”
