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1686 Words
“Ok, make sure you hold him he is a murder suspect. I don’t want to find him out on the street before I get my warrant. If he disposes of evidence, it is on your head.” John said into his cell phone. He was talking to the local RCMP station. Steve and the others were at that moment being picked up on assault charges.
Taylor sat at her laptop uploading the video to a file to send to their Captain. She had it all ready to send. If her Captain did his job, they would have a warrant by morning. She attached the video file to an e-mail and sent it. Her stomach was turning at the thought of what she was doing. With that sent file she had called down the thunder on Steve. A squad of officers were going to tear his home and land apart looking for evidence to put him away for the rest of his life. The idea made her feel like a cad.
“Is it sent?” John asked putting his phone away.
“Yes, I gave the Captain a heads-up call before I sent it.” She said closing her laptop.
“Great. The locals are going to hold Giles for forty-eight hours. By then we’ll have the chance to search his home and see what we find.”
Taylor looked at the floor, she knew in her mind that everything pointed at Steve, but her heart was having some difficulty believing it. “What if we are wrong?” She asked. “We will have turned his entire life upside-down.”
“Are you losing your objectivity?” John asked with some concern.
He was afraid she was getting in too deep. Her entire life was this job. She had made countless arrests with a high conviction rate and received numerous citations for her conduct. She was nothing if not a detective. She lived, breathed, and slept this job. “No.” She assured him hoping to put his mind at ease.
John sat down beside her. “Look I have spent time around Giles too, and I admit he seems like a great guy but that is what they said about Ted Bundy too. It doesn’t mean he is innocent. You know you have to trust the evidence, and the evidence says he is guilty.”
“I know.” She groaned.
“Taylor, tell me you are not falling for him,” John asked concerned.
Taylor looked her partner dead in the eyes. “I’m not falling for him.” She lied.
***
The warrant arrived that morning. Captain Faulkton and the Crown Prosecutor had found the evidence worthy enough to wake a judge. The judge had granted them their search warrant based on the video and their reports thus far. John and Taylor oversaw the search as the team of six uniformed officers and CSI tore Steve’s home apart turning it upside-down for any incriminating evidence and the murder weapon.
Any and every tool that could be used to stab someone was sprayed and tested for latent blood. When the investigator detected blood on something, it was tested again each coming back as animal blood. Simple fishing and hunting gear, nothing had been used on a human. They searched the shed on the property. The search team cut the lock off, but it was filled with more tools. Taylor couldn’t understand why he would lock this and not everything else.
So far, they had been there for hours and turned up nothing. “We found something.” One of the officers yelled from the shed. Taylor’s heart almost stopped. She and John rushed to the shed to see what they found. One officer was on his knees prying up the floorboards of the shed. “These boards are loose.” He said pulling up one and then another. “There is something under here.” Taylor watched as he reached his gloved hand into a hole beneath the boards and pulled out a plastic shopping bag.
Was it the weapon? Had he been guilty? The officer opened up the bag and reached inside. He then pulled out a wad of rolled up money. “There is nothing else in here. Just money.”
Taylor breathed a sigh of relief. It was Steve’s private nest egg stashed away so robbers couldn’t find it. Now she understood why he locked the shed. There had to be a few thousand dollars there. The officer returned the money to its bag. Stashing money away for a rainy day wasn’t a crime. Taylor and John walked away from the shed. “There is nothing here.” She said.
“It doesn’t mean he didn’t hide it elsewhere,” John replied.
“But it does mean we can’t hold him. The warrant only covers his home, garage, shed and immediate surroundings. We got to release him.”
“I guess that mean’s we are still going to the rodeo.”
“And I’m going fishing.” With nothing to hold Steve with John and Taylor had to resume their undercover work. No one in town knew they were detectives yet. Their cover was still good. But they had best clear out soon, Steve would be released soon, and it would do no good for him to find them there with their RCMP vests on.
***
Steve sat in the small bare room behind a small grey metal table and staring at the two-way mirror in front of him. He couldn’t understand why his friends were released last night, and yet they still had not released him. A court-appointed lawyer sat beside him fussing over his dark blue suit. He had been sitting there all morning and frankly was getting sick of the silent treatment.
Finally, the door opened, and two detectives walked in. One sat in the chair across the table from Steve with a file in his hands. The other paced the floor after shutting the door. They were both in their late forties and had dark circles under their eyes proving they didn’t sleep much or didn’t sleep well he wasn’t sure which.
“I’m Detective Kent,” The one in his seat introduced himself. “And this is my partner Detective Stabler.”
“Would you like to tell us just why you are holding my client?” Steve’s lawyer demanded. It was a good question. One that Steve would like an answer to himself. “All the other men involved in the assault have already been released.”
“We have a special interest in your client and his activities.” Detective Kent answered.
“How so?” His lawyer demanded.
“Where were you between the hours of six PM and midnight December twenty-first eighteen months ago?” Detective Stabler asked.
Steve looked at his lawyer, and the man nodded. It was ok to answer. “Getting drunk at my sister’s wedding.” He said curtly. He couldn’t understand why he was here.
“Is there anyone that can corroborate that?” Detective Kent asked writing something in the file before him.
“The whole town. Ask around.” Steve snarled.
“What is this about?” His lawyer asked.
“Your client is a suspect in a murder case.” Detective Kent announced.
Steve laughed out loud. “This is about that loser Sam Griffin?”
“You know what they are talking about?” His lawyer asked.
“Yeah, the guy that beat up my sister and left her for dead was found strung up on the street lights the morning after my sister’s wedding. They couldn’t catch his killer eighteen months ago, and now they are trying to pin it on me.” He laughed. “You are barking up the wrong tree Detective.”
“Is that so? They arrested you for assaulting one of the men involved in your sister’s assault. You were heard telling them they would find themselves strung up like the victim.”
“Damn right I did.” He smiled.
“I recommend you don’t say another word.” His lawyer advised.
“Oh, he doesn’t need too. See we got a search warrant for his place and right now it is being torn apart for the murder weapon or anything tying Mr. Giles here to the murder.” Detective Stabler said trying to scare Steve.
“Just what are we going to find?” Detective Kent asked.
Steve relaxed back in his seat and calmly folded his hands behind his head, offering the officers a winning, confident smile. “Not a damn thing. You search all you like.”
“We will and when we find that weapon or the victim’s blood on anything you own you will be going away until you are a very old man. I suggest you cooperate with us now and maybe the Crown will cut you a deal.”
“Not interested.” Steve sighed.
“Once we walk out that door, the door of opportunity will slam shut on you forever, and you will be facing some serious hard time.” Detective Stabler said.
Steve looked him dead in the eye and smiled. “I doubt that very much.”
“I suggest you either charge my client or release him, or I will file a motion with the judge for police harassment.”
The door opened, and an older dark-skinned woman came in. She looked at Steve as if what she was about to say pained her. “Mr. Giles you are free to go.”
Steve stood up and glared at the detectives on his way out. “Guess you found nothing. Told you so.”
- Writer
