questions. This was an old attorney trick. Once you get a witness into the habit of agreeing with you, it becomes easier for them to keep agreeing with you as the questions get harder and it becomes harder for them to fight you. “You were the arresting officer, right.”
“Yeah, me and Sgt. Russell,” Webb replied.
“Right, Sgt. Russell. He signed this report as well. You’ve been an officer for less than a year now?” Beckett asked in a friendly, yet businesslike manner.
“Yeah.”
“Do you enjoy it?”
“Yeah, it’s ok.”
“You’ve had other arrests before Beaumont, right?”
“Yeah, ten or twelve.”
“That’s impressive. Sounds like you could make sergeant in record time,” Beckett suggested, but Webb didn’t respond. He returned to the report. “Here you are listed as the arresting officer.”
“Yeah.”
“Sgt. Russell lists himself as backup?”
Webb hesitated. “Yeah.”
“Did Russell know Beaumont before the arrest?” This was Beckett’s first test question. Beckett knew from the file Russell had arrested Beaumont twice before. He’d also learned Webb and Russell were no longer partners, something which was itself suspicious, and he wanted to test the bond between them.
“You’d have to ask him,” Webb replied.
“He never mentioned it at the time of the arrest?”
“You should probably ask him,” Webb repeated.
“Is there a reason you can’t answer that?”
“I don’t want to speak for the guy, that’s all.”
“I’m not asking you to speak for him, I’m asking you what he told you, that’s it.”
Webb shifted uncomfortably.
“Is there a reason you won’t answer the question?” Beckett leaned forward. “Officer, you took an oath did you not, when you graduated from the academy?”
“What does that have to do-”
“What happened at the arrest, Officer?” Beckett asked, interrupting Webb.
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. This report has serious problems.” Beckett tossed the report in front of Webb, who backed away from it, refusing to touch it. “You do realize what it means that you signed this, right?”
“I’ve got to go,” Webb said, rising from the table.
“Officer,” Beckett said, trying to stop him. “Webb!”
Webb stopped, but didn’t turn around.
“Don’t let them do this to you. We can help you,” Beckett said earnestly, but Webb left.
Corbin sipped his coffee before setting it down. He ran his tongue over his teeth. “So. . what happened to calmly pulling him in, gaining his trust, and seeing if he knows anything?”
“He gave me an opening, and I took it.”
“Opening? Looked more like he slammed the door in your face.”
“Didn’t you see the conflict? He didn’t want to sign the report. He’s afraid of it. He’s so afraid of it he doesn’t even want to be a cop. Did you see how he reacted when I suggested he might make sergeant? No rookie hates their job that much in less than a year. Rookies are like puppies, they’re gung ho about everything. Something happened. He knows something.”
“Maybe he’s just not happy being a cop?”
“No, he’s got an impressive record until this arrest,” Beckett replied.
“How do you know he’s not the one who faked the evidence? We’re assuming it was Russell, but we don’t know if that’s true.”
“It had to be Russell. Somebody planted those documents on Beaumont. We know that for a fact, because we know who really opened the accounts. We also know those documents came from the police department because the only people in the room when they appeared were the cops. So where would the cops get them? According to Russell’s statement, he worked on this case with the fraud boys before Webb was assigned to him. That gave him access to the documents. We also know Russell and Beaumont go way back, and Russell got the supposed anonymous tip that sent them to Beaumont. Plus, there’s no way Webb could have planted those documents without Russell noticing it. No sergeant is going to let a rookie put him into that kind of a bind, especially a guy like Russell. It all adds up to Russell.”
“Makes sense, but you’re still only guessing.” Corbin sipped his coffee.
“Now we need to push Webb. We need to remind him of his training, remind him he didn’t become a cop to play God. Remind him of his oath. That’s the only way to get him to make the hardest choice of all, to do the right thing no matter who it hurts.”
“Those are pretty long odds to rest Beaumont’s defense on.”
“I’m not putting all my eggs in that basket, but we need something from him. If both Russell and Webb stick with their stories, then we have a problem.”
“What’s the plan?”
“The prisoner’s dilemma. Two guys are accused of the same crime. If they keep their stories straight, they both get off. But if you can separate them and offer them each a deal, they’ll rat each other out because they’re afraid of being ratted out themselves. We just need to find out what kind of deal makes Webb tick.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve met a lot of cops. The young guys are motivated by doing the right thing, a sense of honor. The older guys are motivated by keeping their jobs. The political guys just want to get promoted. Webb’s young and he showed no interest in getting promoted. That tells me he’s all about honor. So we offer him a chance to come clean and protect his honor.”
“Unless I miss my guess, you just did that and he declined.”
“
“Should we try again to set up an interview with Russell?”
“No, let Webb wonder why we haven’t spoken to Russell. Hopefully, he’ll think Russell is selling him out to save himself.”
Webb sat in his cruiser a block from the coffee shop. He stared at his reflection in the rearview mirror. After some seconds, he turned his radio on again and started the cruiser. He pulled his cell phone from his jacket pocket and pulled up the prosecutor’s number. He looked in the mirror again before returning the phone to his jacket. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” he said to himself.
Chapter 28
There was nothing Corbin or Beckett could do on the case until they met with the judge, which wouldn’t happen for another week. In the meantime, Corbin returned to the Washington office. He wanted to see if anyone there had heard anything about the case. It only took Corbin a few minutes to discover that nothing had changed in his absence and no one knew anything. So he sat at his desk watching the clock. After lunch, he got bored, so he paid Molly a visit. Her desk was covered in catalogs. She held a dozen more in her lap.
“Hey, you’re a guy, right?” Molly asked.
“Last time I checked.”
“Then I need your help. In most things, reading you people is like reading a picture book. But when it comes to gifts, you’re all absolutely incomprehensible.”
“On behalf of ‘we people’ everywhere, I thank you. . I think.” Corbin sat down in the extra chair by the door after moving Molly’s overcoat from the chair to the coat rack and setting her purse on the floor. “Who’s the gift for?”
