same for Travis Culver, but as far as I was concerned, he could fend
for himself. The warning call I placed to Henry Lee Babbitt seemed
courtesy enough.
Around the time Griffith left, Johnson snapped his cell phone shut and
announced they'd found Frank.
'Was he dumb enough to go home?' I asked.
'Wherever he was headed, he never got there. Traffic responded to a
major one-car accident on I-Eighty-four. The car burst through the
railing at an overpass and flipped head first onto the concrete below.
Driver was dead by the time they cut the car open. They were searching
the car for holes, trying like hell to figure out where the bullets in
the driver's shoulder and ass came from, when they heard the APB for
Derringer on the radio.'
'His butt?' Walker said.
'Yeah. Looks like that second bullet of yours went straight into the
man's left cheek, Kincaid. Must have hurt like a mother fucker when he
was driving on the freeway. He was probably squirming around trying to
take the weight off his bony ass when he lost control.'
I hadn't been able to laugh with them about it then, but in the morning
shower, as I rubbed a bar of Dove on my own left bum, I could see the
humor, and I laughed until I started crying again.
A strange bubble of silence followed me through the courthouse as I
walked to my office. I guess no one knew what to say to me. This
morning's news had featured vague reports of a fatal shoot-out at my
house involving the Derringer brothers and O'Donnell. The reports
didn't explain that they were all trying to kill me, only that 'police
were investigating.'
When I got into my office, I checked my voice mail, hoping for a
message from Chuck. No luck. He hadn't called my home or cell,
either. I did, however, get a message from Griffith, summoning me to
his office.
When I got there, he handed me a piece of paper and asked me what I
thought.
It was a letter from Griffith to Governor Jackson, supporting the
pardon requests of Margaret Landry and Jesse Taylor. It explained that
all currently available evidence indicated that Frank Derringer and Tim
O'Donnell had killed Jamie Zimmerman during a rape arranged through a
teenage prostitution ring managed by the Derringer brothers. O'Donnell
had pursued the case against Landry and Taylor based upon the
circumstantial evidence that existed, possibly providing the
confidential information to Landry that eventually helped secure the
convictions. Then, when Frank and an unnamed suspect assaulted Kendra,
he'd done what he could to get rid of the case. When I thwarted his
efforts to issue it as a general felony, he fabricated the Long Hauler
by using confidential information he found about unsolved murders in
the cold case database and then ordered me to dismiss the case.
The memo went on to explain my discovery of the Derringers' connection
to the sex industry. After briefing Griffith, I'd obtained an
indictment against Derrick Derringer as the first step in an envisioned
investigation into the Zimmerman and Martin cases. Unfortunately,
O'Donnell had discovered the investigation and tipped off the
Derringers. They broke into my house, I heroically saved the day, and
Griffith would be pursuing any remaining culprits to the full extent of
the law.
It was accurate in the ways that counted, and at this point I really
didn't care if Duncan wanted to cover his ass. He was covering mine
too, and the end result was the right one. 'Looks good,' I said. 'Will
Jackson issue the pardon?'
'It's a done deal,' he said. 'The governor's office will announce it
tomorrow, and Landry and Taylor should be out by that afternoon. We
need to talk about tying up the loose ends. We'll have problems going
after Culver. You know that, don't you?'
I told him I did, but he still seemed to think he needed to convince
me.
'Even if your victim can ID him, we're gonna have the same problems you
had with Derringer. No physical evidence. No corroborating testimony,
because everything you heard between the Derringers is hearsay. No
direct evidence of intent to kill. Not to mention the time that's
passed since the offense.'
'I know,' I said.
'You think this guy's attorney will go for a pre indictment deal?' he
asked.
'Depends on the terms,' I said, 'but, yeah. Culver's scared. Now that
he knows the Derringers aren't going to kill him, I think he'd like to
take his lumps and get it over with.'
'Alright. I was thinking of something like Rape Three. Have him do a
few years but no Measure Eleven charges. Part of the deal could be a
scholarship account for the girl, since this guy's got a business.
How's that sound?'
