firing anyone? Why wasn’t Glenn a suspect?
His cell phone rang as he made it back to the interview room. He walked past, to the adjoining room, where Hans was listening to Carina’s interview with Diana.
“Everything okay?” Will asked quietly.
“Exactly how Dillon predicted it would go.”
Will answered his phone.
“Dominguez here. I just spoke with Roy and Edna Stein. Nice couple. Too nice. Glenn was standing at a closed gas station early Friday morning next to a silver Honda Acura near the on-ramp to I-5 three miles from the border. He waved them over and asked if they had a cell phone because the gas station was closed and his battery died. They offered to give him a ride because they don’t carry cell phones, and he told them he was a journalist writing an article about illegal border crossings and he needed to meet a contact in Tijuana. They happily drove him down there.”
“Why?”
“To quote Mrs. Stein, ‘He was a polite young man and had credentials.’”
“Did you tell her who he was?”
“Yes, and she didn’t believe me. She thinks we’re mistaken.”
“Where did they drop him off?”
“The HSBC Bank on Avenida Revolucion.”
“And he didn’t ask for a ride back?”
“They offered, but he said he’d be down there for a few days and would have a friend pick him up when he was done. He gave them twenty dollars for gas-offered more, but they declined.”
“Do they still have the twenty dollars?”
“No, they bought gas with it.”
“Get over to that gas station where they picked Glenn up and check out the story. If the car is there, have it impounded.” He hung up, told Hans what he learned.
“I’ll text message my buddy. He’s already down there.”
Will listened to Carina in the room. She was just chatting now, talking about Jim as if commiserating with a girlfriend, casually sitting across from Diana. “You know, I’m really going to miss him,” Carina was saying. “We broke up years ago, but we were always friends.”
“He was a terrific lab director,” Diana said. “Very smart, serious, a complete professional. Did you need anything else? It’s late and I still have paperwork to finish up.”
“I don’t know what’s keeping Will. He’ll only be a second, I’m sure.”
Diana glanced at her watch, tapped her fingers on the table. She didn’t look Carina in the eye, seemed on the verge of saying something, then closed her mouth.
“I think she’s primed,” Hans said.
The door opened and Chief Causey walked in along with District Attorney Andrew Stanton. The chief looked tired. “Are you one hundred percent certain she killed Dr. Gage?”
“I know she killed Jim. I can’t prove it yet,” Will admitted. “I have Hazelwood in the evidence room-the lab techs and criminalists routinely check in and out evidence. Nothing may come of it, but she doesn’t have a CCP or a registered gun.”
Hans said, “I don’t think she expects to be under scrutiny. You may very well find evidence at her home.”
“I have a judge waiting to sign a warrant,” Stanton said. “I need something more than Dillon Kincaid’s profile-and frankly, it needs to be tangible. Hard evidence.”
“The sheriff’s crime lab is working double-time on this,” Chief Causey said. “They are combing through fibers and trace evidence. I’ve talked to the sheriff personally and he understands the sensitivity of the situation.”
“If they find something from Diana, she could claim that she’d been in Gage’s house before.”
“But it would be enough for a warrant,” Stanton said. “I’m going to listen in with the chief.”
Will nodded. “Hans, let’s nail her to the wall.”
THIRTY-FIVE
Will walked into the interview room and Diana began to stand. He smiled and motioned her to remain sitting. “Have you met Special Agent Hans Vigo?” Will asked her.
“I heard someone from the FBI was around,” she said.
Hans extended his hand, shook Diana’s, and Will said to Carina, “Can you please follow up with Border Patrol?”
He handed her a note. The note told her to watch with the chief and when he gave her a signal-running his left hand over his head-to come in with a note and hand it to him. Will knew he had to play Diana very carefully because she knew all the tricks.
When Carina left, he took Diana’s hands and squeezed, as if he were supporting her through a difficult time. “We’re all going to miss Jim. How are you holding up?”
She shrugged. “I’m shocked.”
Will dropped her hands and flipped open his notepad. “We’ve asked everyone about conversations with Jim the day he was killed. I know you already spoke to Carina, but we’re trying to figure out what he was working on. He took a box with him from the office-” Will slid the security photo in front of her. “We can’t find it. It’s not in his office, his house, or his car. We’ve retraced his steps and know he went directly home from the office. Do you know what he was working on?”
She shook her head. “He didn’t say. I didn’t ask. Jim always brought work home. I think we all did.”
“They sure don’t pay us enough to work from home,” Will commiserated.
Diana’s words were careful, measured. “I’m curious why you don’t think Theodore Glenn killed Jim. It’s the most logical conclusion. He threatened him in court, just like the others.”
“Of course we looked at Glenn first. But Jim let his killer in. There was no sign of forced entry. No sign of a struggle. Jim opened the door and his killer immediately shot him. No hesitation, just
Diana looked down at her hands and let out a long, shaky breath.
“I’m sorry,” Will said. “I should be more sensitive. You and Jim were friends.”
“We were colleagues,” Diana said. “He was my boss. I had a lot of respect for him.”
“We all did.” Will paused. “Carina is not taking his murder well.”
“They lived together, didn’t they?” Diana asked.
“Yeah, for three years. So you don’t know what was in the box?”
She shook her head.
“Was there any writing on it?”
She didn’t say anything.
“Diana?”
“There was a case number.”
“Did you recognize it?”
“No. It was recent, it started with an ‘08’ which meant it came from this year.”
“What was he working on in the office?”
“Primarily the Frank Sturgeon homicide this week, and of course he supervises dozens of cases. I had a gang shooting I processed two days ago, and it has been keeping me busy.”
Gang shooting. Will remembered hearing about it, though he’d been focused on Glenn’s escape. Four dead gang members in an alley. He wondered if they’d recovered any firearms.
He gave Carina the signal and asked, “Have you ever been to Jim’s house?”
Diana froze at the question. “I-why?”
“You were friends.”
“Colleagues.”
