blindsided by the sad realization that Chuck and I were no longer kids
and by the profound honor I felt upon finding myself walking a common
path with him as adults.
I hate that I get so sappy when I'm tired.
I must have made a noise, because Chuck stopped reading and looked over
his shoulder. Swinging his chair around, he said, 'Hey, you, what's
the matter? Did something happen when you were with Kendra?'
I swallowed and got ahold of myself. 'No, everything's fine. Just
zoning out.'
'Good job with her tonight,' he said. 'It was nice to see you act like
yourself with someone on the job. Seemed to work, too.'
'How's the warrant coming?'
I'd ignored his comment, and he had the good sense to pretend not to
notice. 'Good. I'm done and just went over it again. If it's alright
with you, I incorporated by reference all the affidavits from the
warrant for Derringer's place, then I drafted a quick affidavit
containing all the new info we got tonight.'
'That should be fine. Does the warrant authorize removal of the seats
and carpet if that's what the crime lab needs to do to look for
blood?'
'Yeah, it's got the works. The car will be in pieces by the time the
lab's done with it.'
'What did you find out about the registration?'
'Plate comes back to a guy named' he grabbed a computer printout from
his desktop 'Carl Sommers. Last time it was registered with DMV was a
couple of years ago. The tags expire next month. Anyway, Sommers
filed a statement of sale with DMV about seven months ago saying he
sold the car to a guy named Jimmy Huber.'
'What's a statement of sale?'
'It's just a piece of paper from the registered owner saying he doesn't
own the car anymore. It's a CYA thing in case the buyer doesn't
re-register the car. Anyway, Sommers's sheet is clean, and it looks
like this Huber guy never did register the car.'
'What do we know about Huber?'
'Hold your horses, now. I'm getting there. I ran Huber in PPDS. He
looks like a shit. Couple of drug pops and a bunch of shoplifting
arrests and domestic beefs. He just checked into Inverness in December
to do a six-month stint for kicking his girlfriend in the head in front
of their baby.'
'Nice guy. What's his car doing on Milwaukee?' The Portland Police
Data System is a fountain of data derived from police reports.
'That's the good part. Looks like he knows Derringer's brother,
Derrick. PPDS shows Derrick and Huber together as custody associates
on a disc on last summer at the Rose Festival.'
Your average drunken delinquent has at least a few downtown arrests for
disorderly conduct. For a certain type of man, the party hasn't begun
until you're screaming and puking your guts out in an overnight holding
cell.
As I looked over the PPDS printouts for Huber and Derrick Derringer,
something was bothering me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I
started thinking out loud. 'So, Huber knows Derringer through his
brother and sold him the car. But Derringer was still in prison when
Huber got hauled off to Inverness.'
'Right, but he could've given the car to the brother, who then gives it
to Frank when he gets out. The exact mechanics don't really matter.
The point is we can tie the car to Derringer through his brother.'
He was right. In my exhaustion, I was losing sight of the big picture
and, as usual, convincing myself that I was missing something. 'No,
you're right. It's good. You put that in your affidavit?'
'Yeah. I think I'm done with it. You want to read it and get out of
here? You look tired.'
'I am. I don't know how you guys pull these crazy shifts. I'm about
to fall over.'
'It's all about the adrenaline, baby.' Chuck does a mean Austin
Powers. 'You want me to rub your shoulders while you read?'
Grace's masseuse says I have a bad habit of storing stress in my
shoulders. Funny, I think I store it in my ass along with all the food
I pack down when I'm freaking out. But I do get big knots in my
deltoids after a long day, and Chuck's back rubs were heavenly. Turning
one down was painful. 'Um, I don't think that's a good idea. We're at
work and everything.'
'Your call. If it makes you feel any better, the bureau has a woman
come in once a month to do chair massages. It's just a relaxation
thing, not foreplay.'
