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Detective Connors used that time to say, “My partner and I will be going now.”
Then they quickly left.
CHAPTER 12
After Locke returned home, he checked in with Striker, who reported that Karl and Nyla ─ not surprisingly ─ had slept in late. When they finally showed up, they were all smiles. Striker admitted that seeing them act lovey-dovey made him homesick. Locke figured it was a good thing Striker would be swapping out with Quasar at the end of the week.
While leaving the courthouse, he was swarmed by reporters who wanted to know how Nyla survived what happened to that house and how Barcos’ men discovered her location. He deliberately planted doubt in their minds by asking a question of his own. “What makes you so sure Barcos’ men were responsible?” He then reminded them that the investigation was ongoing and nothing was conclusive.
After leaving the courthouse, he stopped by the police station for a copy of the forensic report. The first thing he did when he got home was review it. One thing that was in Karl’s favor was that Barcos did have a gun in his possession. According to the report, Karl fired the only shot five feet away.
The report further stated that the bullet hit Barcos in the chest. Why hadn’t Barcos’ men made sure that he was wearing a bulletproof vest, knowing he was meeting Karl alone?
When Barcos fell to the floor, the gun dropped from his hand. The proximity of the gun to the body and Barcos’ fingerprints on the weapon indicated he had been holding the gun at the time he was shot. However, it stated that, for all intents and purposes, due to the distance of the two men when the shooting occurred, it was unclear who drew first.
Locke knew the prosecution was still claiming Karl went to the warehouse with the sole purpose of killing Barcos. The Bureau stated none of their agents were involved. Besides, they would not have given Karl a gun to use under any circumstances. They would have had agents ready to swarm in at the first sign of danger.
It would have been nice if the video cameras in the abandoned warehouse had been in working order, but they hadn’t been since the warehouse had shut down almost three years ago.
He set aside the forensic report to go over the files he had ordered on Detectives Connors and Tomlin, as well as those police officers who showed up at the scene within minutes of the fatal shot. His team in Portland had flagged several things that might be of concern in the files and felt he should take a look at them.
He was just about to open the file on Detective Myron Connors when his phone rang. It was Hollis. “Yes, Hollis?”
“How did things go with the judge?” she asked.
Why did she sound so breathy, and why did hearing it do something to his inside? “Judge Wiggins agreed to the non-disclosure of Karl and Nyla’s location that I asked for. We got thirty days, and then she wants it taken to trial.”
“That’s not a lot of time.”
“I’ll motion for an extension later. How has your day been going?”
“Busy. I’m on my way to police headquarters to meet with Detectives Connors and Tomlin.”
“Why? What’s up?” he asked, leaning back in his chair.
“It seems the day before they canvassed Elm Street to obtain video footage from a number of businesses, someone got them before law enforcement had a chance to do so.”
He sat up. “Who?”
“A guy from an insurance company.”
She told him what the sales clerk, Janice, had told her. “Was he someone from an insurance company or someone posing as one?” Locke asked.
“That’s what I intend to find out from Connors and Tomlin, and to see if there was a copy of the original video,” she said. “And I spoke with the manager on duty at the Lemon Drop Café that day Karl said he was approached by a man claiming to be an FBI agent. He said no specific people work the tables. You order your lunch at the counter and grab a seat. Fridays are their busiest days, and after showing him a sketch of the man, he said that he didn’t remember him.”
Locke nodded. “When I dropped by police headquarters earlier to pick up the forensic report, I signed a permission affidavit for discovery to be kept on file whenever you need to pick up or review any evidence that’s not under a protected order by the prosecution. If there is a copy of the video, you should be able to obtain it with no problems.”
“Thanks, Locke.”
“By the way, I just finished reviewing the forensic report,” he said.
“I take it there was nothing in it that would outright clear Halifax.”
“No. Although I might be able to place reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors if it goes to trial, I can’t hinge my entire case on that. I wish those cameras in that warehouse were working that night. Then we could have seen just what happened.”
“I wish they’d been working, too,” she said.
After ending the call, Locke turned his attention back to the files on his desk. At least he tried to. He couldn’t put out of his mind thoughts of Hollis Calloway, and how expertly she had handled the situation with Nyla Roker yesterday. She had sensed the woman’s nervousness and had deliberately kept her engaged by talking from that fish camp all the way to the place where Karl was. Nyla had no idea he was inside until she had heard his voice.
