Justified killings, p.13
Justified Killings, page 13
Tazz was sitting in Jess’s truck when she opened the door on the driver’s side. “I thought you’d be here. You okay?”
“How could I possibly be okay after what just happened?”
“You’re right. Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. What do you want to do now?”
“Where’s Edward? Did the police take him?”
“Yes. I think he was arrested. He hit that cop in the face.”
“Detective White. I saw that.”
“You know that Detective?”
“He is the one in charge of investigating Patrick’s death.”
“Shit. Let’s get out of here. You’d better call your mom.”
Chapter 17
Detective White burst into Lieutenant Walker’s office and threw the Riley folder onto her desk. “You gave the forensic and the autopsy reports to Major Riley?” James was furious. “As I was booking him last night, the Major told me that the angle of the bullet going through his son’s head, which he precisely described, proves he was murdered by his adopted son, Timothy. He referenced the forensic report. He said he got a copy of it from our police department, and I couldn’t hide the truth anymore! You know this investigation isn’t finished. I have not written, let alone submitted, my final report. How could you…”
“Detective! You come barking into my office accusing me of what? Divulging classified information? Undermining your efforts? Conspiring with the enemy? Is that what you think I did?” James stood by her desk and didn’t say anything. “I was ordered to give the report to him, Detective.”
“Which report?”
“Just the forensic report. Most of it, anyway.”
“So the Major hasn’t seen the autopsy yet?”
“No. It wasn’t in the same file.”
“So who ordered it? The captain?”
“Higher. But it doesn’t matter. I was ordered to give it to Major Riley. End of discussion.”
“Without any explanation? He isn’t thinking clearly. He accused Timothy of murder in front of an audience full of graduating students and their parents. He’s delusional. He believes his son shot… he believes Timothy shot Patrick in the head.”
“And you still don’t? The report seems to indicate otherwise.”
James sighed and sat in the chair in front of the desk. “Honestly, Lieutenant? No. I don’t. But I can’t prove it yet because the investigation isn’t done. And considering what happened last night, I strongly believe there is a lot more to uncover with…”
“The Major? Detective, stop baiting the Major. He’s off limits.”
“Off limits? Why?”
“The evidence indicates that Timothy was at the very least culpable in this homicide. But considering he is only fourteen, he will likely get a suspended sentence, probation, and some community service. It’s a fair judgement.”
“No!” White’s temper was beginning to rise up again. “This kids future cannot be trashed because of something he may not have done!”
Roy walked into the office and stood in the Lieutenant’s doorjamb.
“Not now Detective!” James stood up and slammed the door on Roy.
“Seriously Detective, you need to dial it down several notches.”
James inched forward into his seat and held his palms together like he was praying. “Lieutenant, let me do my job. The Major needs to spend more than a night in jail to sober up. That will give me forty-eight hours to do some more investigating to find out the truth behind Patrick’s death. You know me. The Major has to…”
“That isn’t going to happen Detective. General Drew McMillan paid me a visit earlier this morning.”
“General McMillan?”
“He is Major Riley’s commanding officer at Quantico. He is concerned about him. He said that he would like to have Riley immediately removed from his jail cell and confined to quarters on the base for a psych evaluation.”
“Evaluation of what? His mental capacity? He punched me in the face! The man is a threat to society!”
“Yes. The general said that he has seen some signs of Post-traumatic stress disorder.”
“PTSD. From what? Doesn’t Riley train drug agents? How much stress can that cause? His job is all fake.”
“You’re right. His current job probably has little to no stress. But he wasn’t always in that role. He wasn’t some Marine bootcamp instructor.”
“You have his file or something? How could you possibly know that?”
“I served with him.”
“You did not. Come on Maddy.”
“I did. In Afghanistan. Operation Enduring Freedom. That whole shit show was hardly enduring. Anyway, he was a captain at the time.” Madeline leaned back in her desk chair. “He was in charge of a company of a hundred plus soldiers. His job was to sweep areas for insurgents.”
“Nah. They wouldn’t have allowed you to…”
“No. Of course not. I was in a different company. I was an intelligence officer. An interpreter. I speak Dari, Farsi, and Pashto. Fluently. I sat in a chair with a headset and listened and interpreted. I passed that information on to my captain, who passed that on to whoever would benefit from it, including Riley’s company, who used that intelligence to plan and execute covert missions. I left the military as a first lieutenant.”
“So you’re telling me you know, Major Riley?”
“No. Not really. I never met him personally. But I heard about some of his missions. Sometimes the missions were a dud. Nothing happened. Other missions, well, you can imagine how they went.”
“I don’t have to imagine. I was an army ranger and did two tours in Iraq.”
“And I thank you for your service, Sergeant Major.” James nodded his head. “Captain Riley was given missions that were often covert, discreet; always classified. I don’t know how many insurgents he eliminated. I don’t know how many lives were lost under his command. There was one mission, however, I couldn’t forget. I had gathered some intel about an insurgent cell operating in Jalalabad. They were planning an attack on a building where we had multiple assets. Three days later, I saw his troops coming back from a mission late at night. I was taking a break from communications. Enjoying a smoke in the nice Afghan air. The gate opened and only one APC pulled up to the building near where I was standing. The CSH - combat surgical hospital was next to us. I saw body after body taken from the carrier. There were at least twenty men seriously injured or dead. Blood everywhere. Missing limbs. Body parts. The Captain was one of them. He had been shot multiple times. Two of his second lieutenants and one first lieutenant were killed. The first lieutenant was his best friend.
One of the other men killed was his cousin, or so I heard. Different last name, so it wasn’t flagged, or if it was, maybe ignored or approved. I don’t know. I think he was a sergeant.” Madeline took a deep breath. “My tour was done about two months later. I don’t recall Riley going on another mission during those two months. He may have, but his command was replaced by another major.” Madeline sat back up in her chair. “I think he was shipped stateside. When I heard he was at Quantico, I looked him up. He runs a combat and urban training team for DEA and FBI agents.”
“What Major Riley did to me didn’t happen on Quantico property. It was in a public school. The General has no jurisdiction. Regardless, of whether Riley is a…”
A door slammed down the hallway causing James to get up from his chair and peer around the door jamb. Roy stood up from his desk and watched two military policemen escort Edward toward the exit in the back of the station.
James looked back to Madeline. “It’s already done, isn’t it.”
“Like I said, Detective, the military wants him.”
Edward stopped next to James and turned to him. He surveyed the wide white bandage across his nose, a blackened eye, and a swollen lip. “For what it’s worth, Detective, I didn’t know it was you. I reacted by instinct. It wasn’t personal.”
“Wasn’t personal? You broke my nose and split my lip!”
“Let’s go Major,” one of the MPs commanded.
“Looks like I have somewhere else to be.” Edward continued down the hall.
James turned back to the Lieutenant. “So the case is closed? No charges are going to be filed from last night’s incident?”
“Correct, Detective. The General assured me he will face military discipline.”
James stormed out of the Lieutenants office. “This is bullshit Lieutenant, and you know it!”
“You have plenty of cases to be working Detective. Let this one go. It’s over! And you better be nice to your new partner!”
James sat at his desk. “This is such bullshit.”
“Do you want me to help you on the Riley case, Detective?”
“Not right now, Roy. Just focus on what you are already doing. I don’t have the time right now to give you.”
“Very good, Detective.” Roy sat at his desk and opened the report Judas had given him.
James picked up his phone and dialed Maryanne. “Mrs. Riley?”
“No. It’s Katherine. Let me get her for you.” Katherine called for Maryanne.
“Katherine? You are Tim’s sister, right?”
“Stepsister. And who is this?”
“My apologies. It’s Detective White. I am working on the case involving your brother, Patrick.”
“I don’t live in this area Detective. I wasn’t involved. I came home for the funeral.”
“Of course. Did Timothy say anything to you about what happened?”
“No sir. Nothing. He hasn’t said anything to anyone that I know of. Maybe his friend Jessica.”
“Jessica?”
“Hello? This is Maryanne.”
“Hello Mrs. Riley. I wanted to update you on what is going on and see if I could stop by and speak with Timothy today.”
“I was already called by a base administrator about my husband. As for Timothy, he isn’t home. In fact he didn’t come home last night. He stayed with some friends. I don’t know if he is coming back home before Patrick’s wake later tonight.”
“Do you know how I may reach him?”
“Don’t you have his cell number?”
“I do. But he isn’t answering.”
“Can you blame him?” Maryanne paused. “Is there anything else, Detective?”
“Your daughter mentioned a person named Jessica. Do you happen to know her last name?”
“Bakersfield. Jessica Bakersfield. They live in a neighborhood over from us.”
“Do you know her number by any chance?”
“I don’t feel right about giving out other people’s information, Detective. You understand.”
“I would still like to stop over sometime this afternoon. Would around one work for you?”
“I would say yes,” Maryanne continued, “but I am not sure if the base will call or if I will have to go do something for Edward.”
“I see.”
“You need to understand Detective, Edward is a good man. A decent person. He’s just very sad about losing his son to such a terrible accident. I don’t think he meant any ill will to you last night.”
“Thank you Mrs. Riley. I appreciate that. But as you know, what happened last night is now in the hands of the military. I am working to figure out what happened to Patrick. I will drop by this afternoon. I hope we can meet.”
“Goodbye Detective.” Maryanne hung up the phone.
James typed in the name Bakersfield into his computer revealing about twenty possibilities. He charted the addresses and narrowed it down to three potential households. He grabbed a notepad and his phone and headed out of the office.
Tazz sat at Jess’s kitchen table sipping on a glass of juice. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair uncombed, wearing one of Jess’s printed Aerosmith t-shirts and his dress pants from the night before. Jess sat across from him drinking a cup of coffee and eating a bagel covered with cream cheese. “You didn’t sleep, did you?” Jess scooted her chair closer to him. She put her hand on his wrist. “Want a bite?”
“No thanks.”
“What do you want to do today?”
“I don’t know. I should send mom a text to check in.”
“You should probably call her. She will want to hear your voice.”
“I guess.”
“I will need to drive you to your house at some point today. You need different clothes for the wake tonight.”
“You’re right. I’ll call her to see what is going on.” Tazz looked at his phone. “Damn. I forgot to charge it. My phone is completely drained. Can I use yours?” Jess handed him her phone. “Mom? It’s me.” Jess could hear Maryanne speaking but not what she was saying. “I’m okay. My phone is dead. I am calling from Jess’s. Is Edward home?” Tazz paused. “The base picked him up from the police station? Why? What are they going to do?” He looked at Jess and shrugged. “Are you okay?” Jess put her empty coffee cup in the sink anticipating Tazz was going home. “He did? What time did he say?” He put his empty glass in the sink. “I am going to stop by the house and pick up a few things for tonight. You want me to ride with you? I don’t want to be home when Edward shows up.”
Tazz looked at Jess. “Can you take me in a couple minutes?” he whispered.
“Sure.”
“Do you know when Edward will be home? Maybe not until Sunday? But the funeral is Saturday.” Tazz rinsed out his glass. “I don’t want to talk about that right now. Mom, stop. I don’t… Mom! I am hanging up now, mom. I will call you later.” He hung up the phone.
“I don’t want to be home very long, Jess. Mom said the Detective is looking for me. He also asked about you.” Tazz slipped on his dress shoes without tying them.
“Why would he want to talk to me?”
“My guess is mom told him we were friends. Let’s go.”
Jess pulled into Tazz’s driveway. “I’ll wait here.”
Tazz scoped out the street in both directions. “Park the truck a couple houses down,” he said pointing north. “If the cops show up while you are in the driveway, we won’t be able to leave.”
“You’re being awfully suspicious. You hiding something I don’t know about?”
“What? No. Of course not. I don’t want to talk to anyone about what happened. It doesn’t matter anymore. Patrick is dead. That’s it.”
“I hear what you are saying, but you’re almost certainly going to have to tell someone at some point. You might as well get it over with.”
“Please move your truck.” Tazz ran up to the garage and punched in the code to open the garage door, then closed it behind him as Jess moved her truck a couple houses down. He ran up to his room while pulling off his clothes. He kicked off his shoes and slipped on his new sneakers. He opened his dresser and pulled out another t-shirt and jeans. He looked in the mirror and brushed back his hair. The doorbell rang. “Damn,” he whispered to himself.
Tazz looked between his closed blinds at Detective White’s car parked on the street in front of the house. The doorbell rang again. James pounded on the door. “Tim! It’s Detective White. I know you are home. Timothy! Please open the door.” James looked up to the blinds. He took a couple steps back from the front porch. “Tim? I know you’re up there. Please open the door. I just want to talk.”
Tazz grabbed his cellphone and wallet and snuck down the steps and back through the kitchen. He went down the basement and out the door into the backyard. He crept around his neighbors fence through the wooded area down two more lots to a hedge of bushes which approached the sidewalk by the street. Tazz could see the Detective walking around the side of his house toward the backyard. If there was a time to run, it was now. He hurried out to Jess’s truck parked on the street and jumped in.
“Is that the Detective at your door? I remember him from the graduation.” Jess started her truck.
“Yes.” Tazz crouched down on the floor.
“What are you doing?”
“There is only one way out of the neighborhood. You will have to drive by him. Go now while he is around the side of the house.”
“You are so paranoid. He won’t see you. He doesn’t know this truck.” Jess drove past Tazz’s house. “Okay Mr. Deviant. The coast is clear.” He gave her a sneering look. “Where are we going? Didn’t you bring other clothes?”
“No. I panicked when I saw the Detective at the door.”
“You are going to have to go back to the house by tomorrow morning to get your clothes for the funeral. You know that, right?”
“I know. I’ll figure it out later.” Tazz sat up in the seat and buckled.
“What are you going to do if the Detective shows up at the funeral?”
Tazz looked bewildered. “You think he would do that? Isn’t that rude?”
“They do it in the movies all the time. They wait outside where the cars are parked until the service is over. Then, BAM!” Tazz leapt in his seat startled at Jess’s unnerving yell. “You’re trapped! Hell, he might even show up at the wake tonight!”
“Bitch! Why do you say that crap to me? You already know I’m discombobulated.”
“Whatever poor baby. You still didn’t answer my question. Where are we going?”
“I don’t care.”
“Do you prefer woods or the lake?”
“Either one.”
“We could pick up the boat, take it to Occoquan, and disappear.”
“That works.”
Jess turned her truck around and headed to her house to grab the motorboat. She knew exactly how to hitch it up and drop it down a boat ramp. But as they pulled down her street, they could see White’s police car parked in her driveway. He was knocking on her door. “Shit. The cop is at my house. My mom is going to shit a brick.” Jess quickly pulled into a neighbor’s driveway and turned around. “I guess the boat idea is out. So now what?”
“How about Leesylvania State Park off Neabsco road. There are a couple short trails we can go on, or out to the scenic point. It’s not the weekend yet, so it shouldn’t be that crowded.”
“I like it. To the park we go.”
Tazz wasn’t paying attention to what was outside the truck window. He knew he was going to have to face the Detective at some point. He also knew he didn’t do anything wrong. But how he was going to face Edward was an entirely different matter. There was no way Edward would believe anything he said. Knowing what happened at the graduation, and the things Edward yelled to the entire student body and faculty, Tazz was sure that it was all part of a plan his stepfather was plotting . The fact that Tazz was book smart didn’t make any difference in this situation. Whatever was going to happen, he was sure it was not going to turn out well for anyone.
