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CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Jessie didn’t know whether to be excited or scared. Ryan’s expression suggested it should probably be the latter.
“That’s not a stunner, is it?” she asked. “Considering all the strange behavior from Costabile and the other guys at Van Nuys Station, the probability that she had a cop as a client was pretty high. I’m just surprised it’s not Costabile himself.”
“You don’t get it, Jessie,” Ryan replied, not noticing that he’d lowered his voice even though there was no one around. “This isn’t just any cop. And he’s not from Van Nuys Station, or even Valley Bureau in general. This is Commander Mike Butters.”
“Mike Butters?” she repeated. “One of the initials was M.B.”
“I really wish it wasn’t,” Ryan replied. “Butters heads the Force Investigation Group. He’s like, the sixth highest ranking member of the entire LAPD. This is bad.”
“How bad?” Jessie asked, already feeling like ice water had started coursing through her veins.
He looked at her with more apprehension than she’d ever seen when he was taking on a criminal.
“Really bad,” he said gravely. “It explains everything. Butters used to run Valley Bureau before he got bumped up. Costabile was one of his guys. Everyone in that bureau has some kind of connection to him. It explains why the investigation would be given to a junior detective who could be pushed around, why the body might be inadvertently cremated, why the father was snatched up right in the time window when he could have prevented that.”
Jessie gulped hard.
“Are you saying a whole bureau covered up a murder by a senior commander?” Jessie asked, disbelieving.
“No. This doesn’t prove Butters had anything to do with Michaela’s death. We should definitely check into who the other guys in those photos are. But if he found out about her murder early on, he’d have reason to shut down the investigation quickly anyway. He had to know that a full inquiry would uncover his connection to her. Even if he didn’t know she was underage, we’re talking about a senior LAPD commander paying an adult film actress for sex. That’s not just a career-ender. It’s cause for prosecution. He must have just hoped that shutting it down would prevent future questions.”
Jessie nodded. All of that made sense. Even the best-case scenario was troubling. Of course, there were far worse scenarios.
“So we’re in the crosshairs of a guy who could destroy both of us, even if he’s not a killer,” she noted. “But what if he is?”
“What do you mean?” Ryan asked.
“What if he did kill her? She was stabbed nine times. If he was willing to do that to keep his secret, who knows what he’d be willing to do to us?”
“You’re right,” Ryan said. “It’s probably a good thing we got put on this tennis coach case. I’m sure Butters is having us watched. If he sees that we’re going about our regular business, he might pull back on that.”
“You think he’s having us tailed?”
“I’d bet money on it,” he replied. “Is there any way he could trace this couple you talked to earlier to Michaela?”
Jessie thought about it for a second.
“I don’t think so,” she finally said. “It’s not obvious that they’re connected. I only found them because of the initials, which were on a Post-it hidden in her apartment. I seriously doubt anyone had access to it. Do you think he’d have his people question them?”
“Only as a last resort,” Ryan said. “He’ll know we’re assigned to this tennis coach case. If he can’t see a connection between this Beverly Hills couple and Michaela, he might assume your visit was related to Paulo Ristore’s death. He likely won’t want to risk having his people approach them if he can avoid it. You might consider mentioning their interview in our case report to keep him off the scent. It’s unorthodox, but necessary, I think.”
If she hadn’t already known it, Jessie would have been convinced of the seriousness of the situation by Ryan’s willingness to have her fudge an interview report. He was a straight shooter and suggesting such a move was out of character for him.
“Here’s the other thing,” she said, almost afraid to bring up the concern that that been weighing on her. “Decker pulled us off the Penn case. He assigned us to this one. Do you think he’s in on it?”
Ryan was quiet for several seconds before responding.
“Never say never,” he finally said, “but I don’t think so. It’s true that he pulled us off the case. But he also pulled strings to get HSS on it in the first place. Why would he do that if he was part of this? And he only pulled us when we didn’t have any firm evidence for him. As to this new case, I don’t know. He could have just assigned it to us to keep us from being tempted to pursue the Penn case. Or maybe he senses something is off and wants to keep us away from this to protect us. Is it possible that he’s dirty? Anything’s possible. But I’ve known the man for close to a decade and I’ve never had cause to doubt him before. All the same, maybe we find another way to ID the other two guys in those photos Michaela took.”
Jessie immediately thought of a potential resource and briefly debated whether to share it with Ryan. But she decided that at this point, he was already in too deep to be protected from repercussions. She might as well tell him everything.
“We can give the photos to Jack Dolan. Your remember him—the FBI agent from that Studio City stabbing case a few months ago?”
“Of course I remember him. You think he’d help?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure,” she replied slowly.
