'Detective Walker, it's Samantha Kincaid at the DA's office. I'm
calling about the Derringer case.'
'Sure. What can I do you for?'
I told him what I'd found out the day before from Deputy Lamborn and
Dave Renshaw.
'Oh, hang on a sec. The rest of the guys have got to hear this.' I
heard him put me on speaker. 'You want to tell 'em or should I?'
Figuring I was more likely than Walker to keep the conversation on
track, I repeated the information about Derrick Derringer's previous
offer to serve as an alibi witness for his brother and then got to the
part about Derringer's body hair.
Walker couldn't help himself. 'Can you believe what a fucking waste of
time and money that is? Everyone knows these guys never change. They
just get off having someone watch them watch that smut. But the system
manages to find the money to pay some doctor to handle these guys'
Johnsons, when it could use the money to keep them in the pen where
they belong.'
I heard Ray Johnson nearby. 'How many times I gotta tell you that you
make my workplace hostile when you call something like that ajohnson,
man? So, Kincaid, what's the doctor say about Derringer's broken
pecker?'
I certainly didn't know what it meant. 'Look, five different shrinks
could probably come up with five interpretations. What's important is
that we know Derringer shaved within a few days of the attack. That's
big. Any news on that end?'
'No,' Walker replied. 'The lab's still working the rape kit and the
other evidence. No leads on who this second guy is. Ray's looking at
Derringer's known associates from before he went to the pen, but
nothing yet. So far, Derringer's only calls from the jail have been to
his brother. He's playing it cool.'
'Alright, let me know if you get anything new. Also, I need one of you
to come out to Kendra Martin's with me tonight. Grand jury's on
Friday, and I want to prep this girl while she's still on board.'
'Geez. I really want to help you out on this one, since you're going
out of your way for us. But my anniversary's tonight. The wife's got
the whole night planned: dinner, some dance thing. She'll kill me if I
cancel on her.'
'Don't let me mess up your marriage. It doesn't really matter who
goes. I just need a witness.'
'Hold on. Hey, Ray. Can you run out to Rockwood with Kincaid tonight
to interview the Martin girl? She wants to get her ready for grand
jury on Friday, and she needs a witness.'
'Depends what you mean, can I go? I can go, if it needs to be done.
But Jack, you know my mama flew up from Call today. She's probably at
my house waitin' on me as we speak. What kind of boy am I to go on OT
while my mama's in town? Can I go out with her tomorrow, or does it
have to be tonight?'
I heard another voice farther in the background. 'Go home to your
mama, Ray. I'll go.'
Uh-oh. I knew that voice. 'That's alright, Jack,' I said hastily.
'It's probably better to go out there with someone who's already met
Kendra. It can wait until tomorrow.'
'It's up to you, but Chuck can go. He's met the Martin girl too. He
and Mike went to talk to the mom on Sunday and stopped by the house to
check on Kendra.' He yelled into the background, 'Hey, Chuck. You get
a pretty good rapport with the girl?'
I heard something; then Ray came back on the line. 'Yeah, he says
things went real good. He took over some CDs that were donated by the
rape victims' advocates.'
There was no easy way out of this one. I wanted to talk to Kendra
tonight, and Chuck made as much sense to take along as anyone. 'If
he's willing to go, that works for me. Can you ask him to meet me in
front of the Martin house at seven?'
He was waiting for me with a Happy Meal in one hand. He held the box
up as I got out of my car in front of Kendra Martin's house. 'Mommy
Martin didn't strike me as the type to make sure there was a pot roast
on the table by supper-time. I figured Kendra might want something to
eat. I would've picked up something for you, but then I pictured you
trying to run it off at midnight.'
'Very funny.' Call me an extremist; I have a tendency to couple large
meals with monster runs. It had been two months since we'd seen each
other, and he was already trying to pull me into our flirtatious
rhythm. I was determined to make this quick, but as I started walking
to the front door, I realized he wasn't following.
I turned around and walked back to where he still stood with a grin on
his face. 'What the hell's so funny, Forbes?'
'Oh, so it's Forbes now?'
