Chapter 7-2
511 Words
For the next couple days, I immersed myself in work. Before we broke up, Noah scheduled the crime scene visitation on Frank Peoples’ case. He’d called a few times since we split. Each time I let it go to voice mail because I wasn’t ready to talk to him. On my second day back, I drove to the Pineridge police department, and pulled up to next to one of the black and white police cars. After checking in at the window, I sat in one of the lobby’s well-worn, wooden benches. Dark green paint covered the woodwork with some paint splatter on old, grey terrazzo, the kind you normally saw in Florida buildings and houses built in the sixties.
A side door opened. Elena stepped into the lobby, wearing a dark blue pantsuit. “Hey, you ready to go to the crime scene?”
“Of course,” I said. A man wearing a tie and a badge, stepped out of the room from where she appeared. One of the conditions for me, as a criminal defense attorney, in visiting the crime scene was that a prosecutor had to be present. This ensured I couldn’t change anything while there. Additionally, if a prosecutor was present, the prosecutor could hear any conversations between the police and myself.
She introduced me to the dark-haired, but fair-skinned man with the badge. “Detective Gary Bush, this is Jake Chandler.”
“Nice to meet you.” I shook his hand. “Are you the escort?”
“Yes, there are two of us going. Just waiting on my partner.”
Soon as he said that, a different side door opened. “Ah, here he is,” Gary said.
I turned.
Ivan Petrov!
“Mr. Chandler, this is Detective Petrov.”
I shook Ivan’s hand. “Yes, we’ve met before.” I wasn’t sure if I turned red, but I wanted to play it cool. “Back then, it was Tampa PD?”
Ivan just nodded.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Elena glance at him. I put my hands together, and said, “Okay, are we ready? I’ll follow you guys.”
Gary raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you want to just carpool?”
“That’d be great if I drive, but I don’t want to ride in the back of a patrol car.”
“Let’s take two patrol cars,” Elena said. “I’ll ride with Gary, and you ride with Detective Petrov.”
I noticed that my ex called Gary by his first name, and not by his title, detective.
“That’s fine by me,” I said, trying to act nonchalant. I preferred not going with Ivan, but now was not the time or place to make an issue of it.
We all walked to the parking lot, and Ivan gestured towards his car. I got in, closed the door, and tried to put on the seatbelt with my bad arm, taking the loop from the top, near the doorjamb. I then had a hard time clasping the buckle, and Ivan reached over and grabbed the seatbelt so that it latched.
He looked at me as he took his seat, and leered. His prominent forehead and very short— almost balding hair—showcased his military style-look. “I find a little irony in this situation, don’t you?”
I grunted. “What’s the irony?”
“Your ex is dating my work partner, and we used to be boyfriends. I think that’s rich.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but hesitated.
“Yes, I see your point. But, Ivan, you and I were never boyfriends.”
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