'So your big plan is a bluff?'
'I'm not sure about that, Grace,' I said. 'I think I'd actually do it
at this point. I mean, they convicted Landry and Taylor based mostly
on the fact that Landry knew things no one but the killer could know.
Now those same defendants are being released, and Frank got his case
dismissed, because the Long Hauler knows things no one else could know.
But it turns out that Frank had information too. How could he have
known Jamie Zimmerman's purse was stolen unless he was involved
somehow? And the Derringers' involvement in teen prostitution is just
too coincidental. I think Duncan will have to pursue it once I force
the issue with Derrick's arrest. If he tries to ignore it, I don't
have a problem with making sure that the press doesn't let him.'
'And what does Chuck think about your plan?' she asked.
'He doesn't. I haven't told him.'
She raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at me.
'Look, I realize that I might've had more pull with Griffith if I
hadn't been fooling around with Chuck.' I paused. 'To be honest,
Grace, I don't know what to think. I mean, I seriously doubt that
Chuck coerced a confession out of Margaret Landry, but what if he did?
That cocky independence of his could translate into some questionable
police tactics.'
'Or he could be a perfectly honest cop, Sam. I thought it was that
cocky independence that appealed to you in the first place.
'No, I know. I just want to make sure that my judgment's clear on this
one.'
'That's so unlike you, Sam. You're always so quick to say you're a
good judge of character. That every egg's good or bad, and you can
tell right off the bat.'
'That is what I always say,' I confirmed. 'But what did Roger turn out
to be?'
'Well, blow me over. You're beginning to sound like someone who's
willing to accept some gray areas in her life.'
I half smiled.
'And how's Lucky Chucky taking it?' she asked.
'He's not I mean, I haven't exactly explained it to him. In fact,
we're not actually speaking at the moment, I don't think. Which is a
bit inconvenient, because I want him to go pick up Derrick
Derringer.'
There went that eyebrow again.
'And I miss him,' I added.
Fifteen.
Before I left for the day, I checked in with my Southeast Precinct pals
to see if they'd had any luck, but there was still no sign of Derrick
Derringer. It's hard to arrest someone when you've asked the few
uniformed patrol officers working on it not to do anything that might
tip the suspect off, like knock on his door or ask for him at work.
I thought again about calling Chuck on my way home, but I held myself
back. I'd thought the evidence through backwards and forwards, but it
kept coming back to him. Either he'd coerced a confession out of
Margaret Landry, or somehow she'd managed to squeak through the
polygraph while someone else wrote letters to the Oregonian in an
attempt to exonerate her someone who had access to details about
unsolved crimes.
But something was bothering me about the letters too. It seemed
peculiar that the Long Hauler had confessed to every strangling case in
the Northwest Regional Cold Case Database that didn't involve DNA
evidence. Why did all the killings happen to occur in the handful of
states that cooperated in the database? And what were the odds that
every strangling without DNA in those states had been committed by the
Long Hauler? The perfect correlation struck me as odd. But every time
I felt like I was close to putting my finger on the missing piece, I'd
come back to the obvious: maybe Chuck just wasn't the person I thought
he was.
So I hadn't called him. I decided that if Derrick didn't get picked up
tonight, I'd call in sick tomorrow and sit outside his house until he
came home.
Maybe if I hadn't gotten so caught up in fantasizing about Derrick's
impending arrest scene, I would've noticed when I opened the door that
Vinnie hadn't waddled up to meet me. It wasn't until I was locking it
behind me and realized I didn't hear the alarm beeping that I
registered the deja vu. Bracing myself for another crack on the head,
I heard a familiar voice, the one that had called my cell phone the
night I left Grace's. 'Welcome home, Samantha.'
The good news was I'd managed to find Derrick Derringer. The bad news
was he was standing behind me with a very large gun.
