'The rest of it happened pretty much like she said originally. When
the car was stopped and Derringer was undoing his pants, she tried
getting out but the guy in front pushed her back in. They told her she
wasn't going anywhere and she may as well shoot up what was left in her
purse, so she did. Thing is, she says it never dawned on her they were
gonna kill her until Derringer started to choke her out. But, my
thinking is, she knew it at some level when they pulled her back into
the car. She was just trying to get it over with. She said she
injected so much horse, the assault didn't hurt that bad, and this guy
really worked her over.'
Ray Johnson shook his head. 'Man, you should've seen O'Donnell. I
don't know if you guys are tight, but he can be one tight-sphinctered
prick. He got all moralistic and lectured the entire team about our
obligation to be 'cautious wielding the stern hand of the law.' '
Johnson's nerdy white guy impersonation pretty much nailed Tim
O'Donnell.
'Anyway, it was bullshit,' he continued. 'O'Donnell had us clean up
the warrant to include the new information and then signed off on it,
saying he was gonna kick it out of major crimes territory if we didn't
find anything that changed his mind. We found some porn, but nothing
damning. So, he's planning on filing it today as an Assault Three and
assigning it to precinct detectives for general follow-up before grand
jury.'
I couldn't believe it. All you had to prove for assault in the third
degree was that two or more defendants acted together to injure another
person. It didn't begin to portray the savage acts that had been
committed against Kendra Martin.
'Assault Three? That's it?' I said.
Johnson nodded. 'I know, ridiculous. He says the ID's weak, plus the
defense can say the whole thing was a consensual trick, that the girl
cried rape so her mom wouldn't find out she was turning tricks for
smack. Said he was only issuing the assault because of Derringer's
prior. He basically called the girl a piece of trash.'
'And you guys don't think she is. You think she's telling the
truth?'
Walker looked at me and tilted his head slightly. 'Ms. Kincaid, I
really do. It's almost in her favor that she lied to us at first.
Shows she still knows that working's shameful, not just a
matter-of-fact thing to her. Maybe that logic doesn't make any sense
to you, but I think she's basically still a pretty good kid. We pissed
O'Donnell off by not reading the case right, but he's taking it out on
the case, and this Derringer dirtbag is going to get the benefit.'
'I agree that Derringer needs to be done, but I'm not sure how I can
help you.'
I wasn't surprised that Sergeant Garcia had a suggestion. He had the
respect of his fellow officers because he was a smart cop and a good
guy. In a bureau where most black and Latino officers stall out at the
front line of street-level enforcement, administrative staff promoted
him because he had a political savvy so smooth that its targets never
even knew they'd been had.
'The way I see it, this girl could be a good link for Vice. She's
young and probably knows a circle of working girls we don't have access
to. If we can earn her trust, she might be able to lead us to some of
the pimps we haven't been able to latch on to, the guys who are turning
out the real young ones.
'I'll call O'Donnell like I don't know much about the case but think it
might have potential with Vice, then ask if he minds me getting MCT's
OK to approach the vie as a potential informant. At that point I can
sell him on letting a DVD attorney take the case, so they have a head
start if the vie winds up developing other contacts for us. And then
I'll seal the deal. 'Unless,' I'll say, 'you want to keep the case
yourself and help me flip any vice contacts I work.' '
Johnson was impressed. 'Tommy, my man, you oughta run for president.
That is slick. You in, Kincaid?'
'I don't mind taking the case, but here's the problem: it still needs
major help. The rape kit's not back, the victim's clothes are still at
the lab, Derringer's alibi needs work, and we still don't have the
driver. If this case is filed as an Assault Three, it's outside MCT
jurisdiction. You know the precinct detectives aren't going to do the
follow-up that's needed.'
Garcia was a step ahead of me. 'I'll make another call to O'Donnell,
telling him that you want to file the case as a major crime so MCT can
keep working on it, but that MCT understands it might get bumped back
down later on.'
I hate this kind of crap. The four people at the table agree what
needs to happen and are willing to put in the work, but have to plot
how they can even start without bruising a fragile ego.
I was skeptical. Garcia was good, but I still thought O'Donnell might
see right through it and blame me when he wound up looking like a
chicken shit. It would have been so easy to blame O'Donnell for the
bad decision and say there was nothing I could do.
