FOLLOW THE LEADER - Chapter 21

Chapter 21



Some forty minutes later we cruised by the verdant farms and pastures off Highway 101. Up ahead was a roadblock. A sheriff stood by his car. A sawhorse “barrier” stretched across one side of the small country road. To our right, a hundred yards south, was a young Redwood and  a scrub oaks and bushes, all bunched together amidst fields of corn. There were three police black and white prowlers and two unmarked cars randomly parked around the area.
I braked and turned off 101.
“This is the crime scene!” Terry exclaimed.
“Not yet. I need to get past this sheriff first.”
“What does this have to do with the Katherine Rollins case?”
 “They’re connected,” I said. “I’m sure of it.” It was only a hunch on my part.
I parked my old Honda on the side of the road.
“Stay in the car,” I said.
The sheriff came over to meet me. Name of Calder on his badge.
“This is a crime scene,” he said.
“Yes sir, I know that.” I took out my business card.
“We got all the investigators we need here,” he said as he handed back my card. “We even got the goddamn F.B.I over there.”
“Over there” was in or around the redwood. Circling buzzards gave it away.
“Really,” I said. “From the San Francisco office?”
He nodded. “Far as I know.”
“Agent Thornhill and I have worked together,” I said, knowing she was probably running things.
“And?”
“I’m working on a cold case that’s connected to this killing. I need to talk to her.”
I could see he didn’t believe me. He pulled out his fancy walky-talky. According to Colin, the new ones broadcast only police business. Bad guys could not listen in.  (With mine they could.) But I was close enough now to hear the voice on the other end.
“Yeah?”
“Agent Thornhill?” asked the sheriff.
“Yes?” More impatient.
“There’s a guy here who wants to talk to you. His name is Francis Kelly. Over.”
I could hear a sigh on the other end and what sounded like a mumbled curse word.
“Roger that. Put him on. Over.”
Sheriff Calder’s eyes widened.
He handed me his walky-talky.
“Hey, Kelly.”
“Hey, Thornhill.”
“I’m in the middle of an investigation here. I figure that’s why you’re here, right?”
“Right. I’m working on a cold case. The Rollins girl.”
A brief silence.
“Wrong place, wrong time. Sorry.”
“”Okay,” I sighed.
I must have sounded dejected.
“Look, I’m not brushing you off, Kelly. Let me check something…”
I pictured her looking down at her smart phone.
“I’ve got an opening at headquarters day after tomorrow. Two o’clock. My office. Over and out.”
She disconnected.
         I must have looked excited or at least hopeful as I came back to the car.
         “What did he say?” Terry asked.
         “No.”
         He gave me a quizzical look.
        






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FOLLOW THE LEADER - Chapter 83

  Chapter 83 Downstairs in the hospital’s cafeteria, Chief Howell and Detective Colin Kelly nibbled on sweet rolls and drank coffee. Happy Donuts in Noe Valley would have been preferable, but they were now on the other end of 24 th , and the coffee was decent. “What’s the real story, Detective? After you found the bodies inside the house.” Colin took a sip of coffee, deciding how to spin his own narrative without getting his little brother in trouble. “I had just missed him when I got there. I was pretty certain there was nowhere he could go to hide except Glen Canyon Park. Sure, he could have broken into a neighbor’s house and hidden there, but that would be risky. Burglar alarms. Shouts. Other kinds of noise. On the other hand, the Park would be dark and silent except for the birds and critters.” “So this came to you out of the blue?” Colin hesitated. “Well, not exactly. Francis thought of it first.” “Ah.” “He reminded me that we used to play in the Pa...
Read more

FOLLOW THE LEADER - Chapter 85

Chapter 85 Colin broke his promise to the chief the next evening. He was barbecuing ribs for Mike Rollins and his ex, Joy, Amy Feingold and me. I watched Mike Rollins and Amy, who had come in together. I thought they might be a couple, but then I remembered the powerful bond they shared. Katherine. Not to mention they were still neighbors and running partners. Joy looked fabulous in her designer jeans and silk blouse. Mostly she looked relieve d. Linda told me later that Joy had been crying before she came. No surprise there. And Linda? She wore a Stanford sweatshirt and a pair of jeans and played hostess, as if nothing had happened. Perhaps it was my imagination, but she appeared to tense up when she looked at Colin and me. Clearly, the get-together was not her idea.  The idea was to eat ribs and drink beer and then listen to the Official Story, as told by Detective Colin D. Kelly. Along with Linda, I wasn’t sure that having bereaved folks over in this way was such a g...
Read more

FOLLOW THE LEADER - Chapter 82

Chapter 82 It turned out that Colin’s bullet missed both the heart and lungs of Jason Powers, but it hit his spine. The attending physician said it was too early to tell if he would be able to walk unaided. Late afternoon of the next day he was fully conscious inside SF General Hospital. Chief Howell signaled the attending nurse to leave the room.  She did. He hovered over Powers. “There are a lot of people who want to hear from you,” he said. “They want to know what happened to their daughters.”  “I’m not talking without my lawyer,” Powers said. “Speaking of lawyers, the D.A. might cut you a little slack if you cooperate.” “Define slack. ” “No death penalty.” Powers said nothing. “Some guys would rather be put to death than spend long years in prison for the rest of their lives. That’s what they say . But many years later, when that final morning comes around and the con eats his final breakfast and the priest comes in, he falls apart. H...
Read more