Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

B RADDOCK HAD ON THE SAME rumpled trench coat from the previous night and his face held a bit more beard stubble. He methodically sipped his coffee as he and Devine perched at a back table away from all the people staring at their phones and computers as though their lives depended on it.

“So did you make the call back East?” he asked. “Because if you didn’t, I’m going to be one unhappy local detective and you will be an even unhappier federal agent.”

“I did. But keep in mind I don’t know everything.”

Braddock casually looked at his watch. “Pretty early to clock the first bullshit response of the day, but go on. This might be fun. Or not. For you.”

Devine met his eye. “If you really know feds, their favorite phrase is ‘need to know’ and yours truly is not high up in that chain. Same in the Army.”

Braddock’s eyebrows flickered with interest. “You were in the Army?”

“Mustered out as a captain.”

“West Pointer?” asked Braddock.

“Yep.”

“Like my old man.”

Now Devine looked intrigued. “He still around?”

Braddock nodded, his expression turning somber. “In an assisted living facility with his memories, the few that he can recall.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“My mom died a year ago, so it’s better that he doesn’t remember she passed. He’s happy and safe. So, East Coast?” prompted Braddock.

Devine had to make a decision. And he was going to base it on his ability to read people. He was betting that Braddock was smart, tough, and a straight talker. Those were traits that Devine could get on board with, but there was something he needed to check first.

“I was sent here to escort a young girl to meet with her uncle.”

“And why is that the concern of the federal government?”

“The uncle is Danny Glass. And the young girl is Betsy Odom.”

Devine got the reaction he wanted to get.

“Okay, Danny Glass, the RICO man,” said Braddock.

“Right. The trial is scheduled to start soon, but DOJ has three dead witnesses and counting.”

“I read the papers, and our police bulletins. So I know the score on that. And I also know that Odom’s parents died from drug overdoses in the southeast corner of the state. The daughter tried to revive them, but failed.”

“That’s the official police version, at least.”

That comment, Devine noted, definitely got the detective’s attention.

“Is there another?”

Devine leaned forward and spoke in a low voice. “When I was in the Army, I had to fight lots of enemies. A few of them turned out to wear the same uniform I did. It cost me. A lot. But I thought it was the right thing to do.” He leaned back. “What do you think about that?”

Braddock clutched his coffee cup though he didn’t raise it to his mouth. It was as though the man just wanted to hold on to something as he thought this through.

“If you’re saying what I think you are, that’s a Pandora’s box, Devine.”

“You didn’t answer my question. And without that, I don’t see a way forward with you and me on this.”

“What’s your proof?”

“First, you tell me if you’re prepared to go where the evidence takes you, even if it takes you somewhere you don’t want to go.”

Now Braddock drained his coffee. “Let’s go for a walk.”

They left the café and started down one of Seattle’s main avenues as a brisk wind coming off the harbor swept across them. Braddock kept a steady pace and Devine matched him footfall for footfall.

“I’m forty-nine years old, Devine, youngest of five kids. All boys except for four sisters,” he quipped. “And all of them are strong-willed and independent and thought I was, at best, an unattractive nuisance. But that just made me work harder. I started out in uniformed patrol, like everybody else. Pulled the First, Second, and Third Watches, like everybody else. Made sergeant right at the five-year mark, which is not all that common. Three years later I applied for and was accepted as a detective candidate; again that’s on the early side but that was my ultimate goal and I worked my ass off for it. As a newbie detective I pulled duty as part of our CSI unit for a few years to get a good grounding in forensics, just like you saw those folks doing last night. Then I asked for and was transferred to MCU, the Major Crimes Unit’s Investigation Bureau. I pulled that duty in Seattle’s Southwest Precinct for a bunch of years. And I did well, had a ninety-four-percent clearance rate on my cases because I’m tenacious as hell with a chip on my shoulder, again probably because of my sisters and their evil ways. Then I moved to the Western Precinct, which is basically downtown Seattle and a handful of surrounding suburbs. Five years ago, I was part of a joint op with the King County MCU. Some cartel activity and related murders for hire had crossed over from county to city and vice versa.” He stopped walking and Devine did likewise.

“And we had some crooked cops on the payroll for the cartel. I found out and stood up to them. They threatened me and my family.”

“What happened? Did they try to act on those threats?”

“They firebombed my home and killed my wife.”

Devine had not seen that one coming. “Jesus!”

“I should have been home. And my wife shouldn’t have been. She had a school thing to go to for our youngest son. But at the last minute she couldn’t go and asked me to take her place. The sons of bitches that blew up my house obviously assumed I was in there and she wasn’t, though I doubt they cared about her. Thank God our other son wasn’t home.”

“Please tell me you got the pieces of shit.”

“Every last one of them, a detective and three uniforms. Life without parole. I go to see them in prison every once in a while and just stare at them. Never say a word. I just look at them. And then I smile and get up and walk out the door, something they will never be able to do the rest of their lives.” He stopped and appraised Devine. “That was a long answer to your question. I go where the evidence takes me and I don’t give a shit who goes down. Are we straight on that?”

“I appreciate the candidness, Detective. And I’m truly sorry that happened to you and your family.”

Braddock started walking and Devine fell into step.

Devine said, “I have three people who knew the Odoms and said they never did drugs.”

“What three people?”

“Two of Dwayne Odom’s friends from high school, who were both drug addicts and know what telltale signs to look for.”

“And the third?’

“Betsy Odom. Who also says her parents never used drugs and she swears she never tried to administer Narcan to them, despite what the official report said.”

Braddock nodded and said, “If memory serves, the Odoms were found dead in the town of Ricketts, in Asotin County.”

“You know the police out there?”

“Not directly. Pretty small town.”

“I understand that the Odoms lived in Kittitas County. Is Ricketts far from there?”

“Over a four-and-a-half-hour drive, though a chunk of it is on the interstate. But with a lot of snow it can get treacherous going through the Cascades, even on the highway. And once you get off the highway, it’s a lot of back roads, and the elevations crank back up once you get to Garfield and Asotin counties, from four to over six thousand feet.”

“Any idea why the Odoms were in Ricketts?”

“No. But it wasn’t my case, and the statewide bulletins we get didn’t say. Did the girl know why?”

“I didn’t really ask her, at least directly. And she didn’t want to relive the moment.”

Braddock nodded, his eyes glimmering. “If you want to see misery mixed with horror, Devine, try telling your kids that their mother’s dead. So I can sympathize with that little girl.” Braddock snapped back and said, “Okay, I appreciate your candor. So you said you came out here to escort the girl to see Glass. Has that happened?”

“It has.”

“Does she want to go live with him?”

“Seems to. He’s rich and she’s suffered through poverty, and has no other family.”

“Okay. What’s DHS’s interest?”

“It’s not just us. The Bureau placed Betsy Odom into protective custody shortly after her parents died. She’s been staying in Seattle with an FBI agent assigned to her. So Danny Glass is the obvious interest, but Odom told me she never even met the man.”

“So why waste manpower and dollars on that? What can she provide the Bureau that’s of value?”

“Don’t know. But the Bureau could be hedging its bets in case she does know something.”

“But if your work is done, are you out of here?”

“I made arrangements to hang around and see if I could shed any light on the case.”

“And why would you want to do that?”

“I don’t like things that don’t make sense,” replied Devine.

“Considering your age, you didn’t stay in for the full retirement ride, even though you made captain. You said you stood up to those in uniform and it didn’t sit well with the Army brass? Was that the reason you left the Army prematurely?”

“There’s a reason for everything, and that’s as good as any.”

“I’ll be up front, I have no jurisdiction to work the Odoms’ deaths.”

“But you are working the Rollins case. And maybe the twain shall meet one day.”

“Is your theory that Rollins was killed by Glass because he was going to tell you something incriminating about him that might foul up his chances to adopt his niece?”

“It’s a theory. Maybe the only one I have right now. But Perry Rollins was a low-level crook. So how does he get dirt on a global kingpin like Glass?”

“Shit happens, even to global kingpins,” replied Braddock. “I think I might have to speak to Betsy Odom.”

“You’ll have to go through the Bureau.”

“Oh, joy, joy,” said Braddock, making Devine grin. “I guess I get the FBI hedging its bets on Odom, on the off chance she has something on her uncle. But then why does Glass want to adopt her? If he had her parents killed, why not kill her, too?”

Devine thought back to Glass’s manner around Odom.

“Well, from what I saw, he genuinely seems to care for the girl.”

“Well, presumably he loved his sister, too, and she’s dead.”

“Maybe he knows who actually killed her and her husband, and wants to protect Betsy from them.”

Braddock nodded slowly. “A guy like Glass does have a lot of enemies. But if the cops in Ricketts covered this up and wrote a bullshit report? They’re working for whoever did kill them.”

“I might have to make my way out there and look around.”

“Make sure you’re armed and watch your back every minute.”

“But you said you didn’t really know the cops in Ricketts?”

“But I know cops who do. Ricketts is isolated in a mountainous corner of the state where people do what they have to in order to get by. And from what I’ve been told, the longtime police chief there, Eric King, lives up to his surname. That town is his domain.”

“Could he be bought off to falsify the circumstances of the Odoms’ deaths?”

“Let me put it this way: I have good friends in WASPC, which is an organization of sheriffs and police chiefs in the state. And almost none of them are fans of Eric King.”

“If his reputation is that bad, why is he still in power?”

“Police chiefs are appointed, usually by the city council. I’ve also been told that no one out there is brave enough to take him on. And apparently no one has been able to prove anything criminal about the man. Cops are bad about taking on other cops no matter if they deserve it.”

“ You did,” Devine pointed out.

“Yeah, and look what it cost me.”

“Okay, so anything on Rollins’s murder?” asked Devine.

“One witness thinks he saw a man come out of the men’s room shortly before Rollins staggered out bleeding. But he couldn’t give a good description primarily because he was drunk. And nothing has jumped out forensically so far.”

“Anything found on Rollins that might be helpful?”

“Keys to his apartment. We’ve been through it. If he had information to sell to you, it was either in his head only, or he kept it somewhere else. I’ve begun inquiries into his financial accounts, whether he had a safe-deposit box, that sort of thing.”

“Mind if I have a look at his place?”

“Why?”

“Second pair of eyes, and if his death is connected to Glass, then the feds are going to be involved at some point. Would you rather have me, or the FBI horning in from the get-go?”

Braddock gave him the address of Rollins’s apartment. “I’ll alert my people that you’ll be coming around. Anything occurs to you, I expect to be the first to be told. Ahead of the FBI.”

“You have my word on that.”

“Uh-huh.” Braddock stopped and stared at him. “So, whatever Rollins told you before he croaked? Has it become less garbled in your head?”

Devine decided to tell Braddock, but he couldn’t see how it would be helpful.

“He said what sounded like cuckoo , and something that sounded like gas .”

Devine looked at the detective in some embarrassment.

Braddock said, “Okay, either a bird or he was referring to a whack job, and fuel? Hell, that breaks the whole case wide open.”