Страница 59 из 71
I pursed my lips as I looked down at the DVD. The Roth cases weren’t mine anymore, so the proper procedure would be to hand it over to Pellini. But will he even bother to look at it? Sifting through surveillance video was tedious and boring, and I didn’t exactly have the utmost confidence in Pellini’s drive to find out what really happened.
I compromised. I fired up my computer and burned a copy of the DVD, stuck the copy in my bag, then stuffed the original back into the mailer and dropped it in Pellini’s in-box. I even scrawled a brief note on a Post-it explaining what the DVD was and why I’d requested it. Who knows. Maybe he’ll actually go that extra mile. I wasn’t going to hold my breath, though.
Unfortunately, now I had to deal with my rank. After my previous captain, Robert Turnham, had been promoted to chief of police, a lieutenant from the patrol division had been tapped to become the captain over investigations—all of this happening in the time that I was “dead” and the first couple of weeks after that, before I returned to duty.
Captain Barry Weiss resembled a bulldog in darn near every possible way except for the fur. He was short and stocky and slightly bowlegged, with broad shoulders and a lower jaw that jutted out just enough to make the resemblance complete. I had met him a few times on scenes but so far had very little real face time with him.
I knocked on the frame of his open door. He looked up from his computer, peering at me over his glasses, then gave me a tight smile and waved me in.
“Hi, Kara, good to see you. I didn’t think you’d be back so soon. You feeling all right?”
I nodded and sat in the chair in front of his desk. “Mostly bruises. I got lucky. Have state police found anything?”
He shook his head. “They collected some glass fragments at the scene, but it’s a metal-grate bridge, so most of it probably went into the river. But I’ll be sure to let you know if anything comes back. They’re still trying to get the car out.” He frowned. “Divers say it’s a real mess.”
I didn’t say anything. They wouldn’t believe any explanation I could give for the state of the car, so I figured it was safer not to offer any. And I didn’t hold out a lot of hope for answers from the glass fragments. I already knew it was a blue Chevy pickup that had hit me, but in this area of rednecks and good old boys, that narrowed it down to, oh, say fifty thousand suspects, give or take ten thousand.
“Look, Kara,” he said, leaning back in his chair and grimacing, “I hate to rag on you since you’ve just been through all that, but I got a call from Mandeville PD.”
I winced. “Captain, I know I was out of line there. I’m sorry about that.”
“Yeah, you were completely off base,” he said with a scowl. “There’s already a shitload of pressure to get this case closed, and now our only suspect in the Davis Sharp case is dead, by suicide, with a confession, right? So what’s the damn issue? Let’s get this case closed and get everyone off our backs.”
“I’ll tell you what the damn issue is, sir,” I said, matching his scowl and forgetting to censor my words into a properly respectful tone. But I’d been through enough shit lately that I was pretty much beyond caring about tact and diplomacy. “Yes, Elena Sharp is dead, but she was never a strong suspect, and due to inconsistencies at the scene in Mandeville, I have serious doubts about whether or not she killed herself. To close the case now by naming her the killer is not only grossly unfair to both her and Davis Sharp, it will also allow whoever did kill them to go free.”
He narrowed his eyes and made a hmmfing sound. “Well … I can respect that. Do what you feel is right.” Then he fixed me with a glare. “But if you ever act up like that on a scene again—especially with a cooperating agency—I’ll suspend you so fast your goddamn little head will spin. Y’got me?”
I gave him the properly acquiescent nod he was expecting. “Yes, sir. It won’t happen again.” I knew I was damn lucky that he wasn’t suspending me anyway.
He blew out his breath, once again reminding me of a bulldog. “One more thing. You’ve been recommended for an FBI task force dealing with white-collar crimes and other special circumstances.” I thought for an instant he was going to roll his eyes, but he managed to restrain himself and limited it instead to merely a sour expression. “Chief Turnham has already approved it. You’d be working with Special Agents Ryan Kristoff and Zachary Garner.” He settled his glare onto me. “Don’t think this will relieve you from having to take your share of cases in this jurisdiction, though.”
“No, sir, of course not,” I answered, caught more than a little off guard by the abrupt a
He snorted. “Thank the chief, not me. I think it’s bullshit.” He shook his head, and I had to hide a smile at his stark honesty. “That’s all.” He waved a hand at me in dismissal, and I gladly took the opportunity to leave.
After departing my captain’s office, I continued on out of the station. Technically, I was on medical leave for another day, which gave me a perfect opportunity to finally take care of the warding on Tessa’s house and that damn portal. I headed to my aunt’s house—stopping first at the Kwik-E Mart to buy Oreos and chocolate ice cream. The last twenty-four hours had been hell, and I needed all the chocolate and fat I could get my hands on right now.
I mentally reviewed the conversation with my captain as I drove. I definitely deserved the dressing-down I’d received over my behavior at Elena’s condo, and even I could admit that the only reason that I hadn’t been rewarded with unpaid days off was because of the accident. In that respect, I should probably be grateful to my attacker.
Of course, that was the only respect. I’d had to push my credit card dangerously close to its limit in order to replace my gun and holster as well as my phone, though I was holding out a ridiculous hope that the department insurance would cover some of it. Wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace.
I climbed the steps of Tessa’s house and did a quick othersight scan of the front-door area but didn’t feel anything amiss this time. The aversions were still in place and apparently unaltered. I sighed and pushed in after unlocking the door, then headed to the kitchen and shoved the ice cream into the empty freezer. The piece of paper that had the names and lines and circles was still on the kitchen counter—our attempt to find some sort of co
I did a quick check of the library and the rest of the house, not sensing anything out of the ordinary, then locked the front door and headed upstairs to my aunt’s summoning chamber. She had her chamber in her attic since there was no way in the world for her to have a basement where she lived. Basements in Louisiana were pretty damn rare, since the water table was so high. The only reason I was able to have one was because my house was situated on a hill. It was yet one more reason why I knew I would never sell that house.
Fortunately, the staircase to the attic was a real one and not a rickety pull-down ladder, since Tessa occasionally brought the demons she summoned down to her library. In theory, the attic could have been used as an additional bedroom, albeit a small one. I tugged the door open, making a face as a wave of warm air flowed over me. I flicked the air vent to the full open position, then stood in front of the vent for a few minutes as cooler air poured in.
Finally, when the temperature was bearable, I moved to the center of the room, pulling a piece of chalk out of my pocket. I sketched out a storage diagram, then sat back on my heels and cha