'All you. And this is just '92 to '96. 'Ninety-four seemed like a fun-packed year, all those civilian complaints… the second unit-destroying traffic accident coming in April after the first-of-the-month kick down to Southwest Traffic.'
'You had to be there.'
The elevator arrived and they got in. The door closed, and as they rode down, Shane kept looking into the open box with the morbid curiosity of a freeway rubbernecker passing a fatal accident. All of his mid-nineties career pileups were collected there. He spotted a bunch of his old 7.04 ADAM control cards, which were identification sheets for radio-message logs. It shocked him. She was actually reading his old radio transmissions. He couldn't believe it. He also saw two manila envelopes from the Traffic Division that he assumed detailed the two unit- wrecking collisions he'd had while he was in Southwest Patrol. Wedged down in the side of the box were dozens of 8.49 out-slips, which were like library cards from Records and Identification. She was pulling all of his old arrest reports. The rest of the box was littered with field-interview cards and DR numbered witness statements filed by the IOs working his case. He was staring down into the box with growing dread.
'Jesus Christ, what's with the fucking rectal exam?'
'And you don't even have to grab your ankles,' she said, shifting the box away from his stare. She was still balancing the heavy box on her knee as the elevator door opened.
Shane moved out without looking back at her. He had a tinny taste in his mouth as he pushed open the double doors at the back of the Bradbury Building and hurried through. He heard them swing closed behind him, right in Alexa Hamilton's face. She must have been trying to slip in with the file box before the doors closed and mistimed it, because he heard the heavy oak frame hit her hands, which were clutching the leading edge of the box.
'Shit!' she said as the door bounced off her knuckles.
Shane now had his own key to Room 256; he let himself in and turned on the stark neon overhead lights. They blasted a harsh, unfriendly blue-white glare down on the three Xerox machines. He dropped his coat on the back of the chair and glanced at his watch. It was 8:32. Since no deputy chief ever got in before nine, he took a chance and picked up the phone, dialing the number for Parker Center.
'LAPD Parker Center,' a cheerful woman's voice greeted him.
'Deputy Chief Tom Mayweather,' he said, and a few seconds later got Mayweather's secretary.
'Is he in?'
'Who's calling, please?'
His heart was beating fast. Once he identified himself, if Mayweather was in, he'd either have to talk or hang up; neither was an acceptable choice. What he wanted was just to leave an ass-covering message. 'It's Sergeant Shane Scully,' he finally answered, holding his breath.
'I'm sorry, Sergeant, he's at a breakfast meeting.'
'Breakfast meeting' was department bullshit for 'not in yet.' Shane let out a chestful of air.
'It's really important that I talk to the chief,' he lied, laying it on a little.
'I'm sorry,' she said. 'Can I give him a message?'
'Will you tell him I've been trying to get in touch with him, please? Tell him I was unable to get to Robbery/Homicide last night as he ordered because I fell asleep driving down from Arrowhead. Crashed the car, broke my front fender. It was dangerous to drive when I was that tired, so I stopped in a motel. I just woke up. I have some errands to take care of when I get home, so tell him I'll get in touch with him later.'
'I'll be sure he gets the update.' She hung up.
Shane hoped the phone call would give him a little cover.
He looked at his IN box and found half a dozen new cases that had been left for him to copy. He started to pull them out, and as he was arranging them in stacks on the worktable, his eyes scanned each face sheet.
He was surprised to see that Don Drucker had made this morning's lineup. Apparently Drucker was scheduled for a full board as well. Under the face sheet was an internal notification slip that informed Drucker's defense rep that his board had just been postponed from April 20 until April 23, as requested. The face sheet had the IAD case number and had been signed by the head of Special Investigations Division, Deputy Chief T. Mayweather.
'What the fuck?' he said softly, thinking, Why was the head of the division signing these charge sheets instead of Warren Zell, here at IAD? Then he picked up his phone and dialed the Clerical Division. He asked for and was transferred to a civilian employee who was a longtime friend.
Sally Stonebreaker was nothing like her name… a sparrow of a woman with a Transylvanian complexion, translucent skin, and thin white hair. Shane had met her in municipal court nine years ago. He'd been testifying in a robbery case, and she was getting a restraining order against her ex-husband in the courtroom next door. A1 Stonebreaker had beaten her twice and had been threatening her over disputed alimony payments. That same night Shane had looked him up and explained the new rules. The 'discussion' had taken place in the alley behind a neighborhood bar and required A1 to get half a dozen stitches and some new bridgework. After that, A1 Stonebreaker had left Sally alone.
Shane got Sally on the line. Once he identified himself, he could hear a little pause before she went on.
'I'm sorry about what's going on,' she finally said. 'Ray Molar was some piece of work.'
'Sally, I need you to do a computer run. I'm sort of locked off the system now, and I don't want a record of this search anyway.'
'Shane, I'm busy right now.' She paused, then added, 'Besides, they've got new DataLocks on our consoles and it's real hard to access the mainframe without a case clearance number,' she said, trying to shake him. He was already department poison.
'Sally, I need this favor. You've gotta come through for me.'
Another long pause, during which he could hear her breathing. 'Okay, but only this once. After that, I can't do it again.'
'Thanks. I've got an IAD complaint investigation CF number for a Board of Rights on a policeman one in Southwest, named Don Drucker. I need to find out what IAD is trying him for. The number is 20-290-12.'
'Just a minute.'
He could hear computer keys clicking, then she came back on the line.
'He's been charged under a 670.5 of the PDM,' she said.
'What is that? Six hundred codes are like booking and prisoner-escape violations, right?' There were hundreds of numbered codes listed in the five-hundred-page LAPD manual.
'Yeah. Escaped juvenile. Drucker lost him in transit, prior to booking. Gimme a minute to read this,' she said. Then a moment later she came back on the line. 'Okay. Prisoner was a teenage Hispanic named Soledad Preciado, arrested in Southwest. According to Drucker's Internal Affairs complaint, he left the arrestee unattended in the back of his squad car while he went into a drugstore. Drucker claims he was having a migraine and needed to fill a prescription, said he couldn't drive with the headache and was getting nauseous. While he was in the drugstore, Sol Preciado got out of the unit and walked away.'
'Was this kid, by any chance, a Hoover Street Bounty Hunter?'
'Just a minute,' she said, and her computer keys were clicking again. She came back on. 'A suspected Bounty Hunter, age fifteen. He claimed he's not in a gang, but he's listed in the Gang Street Alias Index under the name Li'l Silent, so at the very least he's a TG or a known associate.' TG stood for 'tiny gangster' and was basically a killer in training. Shane knew you didn't usually get a street name unless you'd already been 'jumped in the set,' so it figured he was probably a full member.
'Can you punch out another name for me?'
'I gotta go, Shane. My supervisor's a great white. All he does is swim and eat. Right now, he's cruising this floor.'
'Sally, I need help. I hate to put it this way, but I helped you once, now you gotta do this for me.' He could hear her sigh loudly on the other end of the phone.
'Okay, gimme it.' She was getting mad.
'A policeman one, his name is Kono. I don't have his first name. Check him to see if he's got an Internal Affairs complaint.' He was shooting with his eyes closed, firing on instinct.
'You got a CF number?' Sally asked, frustration in her voice. 'It'll make it a lot easier.'
'I'm sorry, this is just a hunch. There may not even be a board pending on him.'
