Hothouse Orchid

28

Lauren arrived at work early and went to her cubicle to pick up a legal pad for use in the weekly staff meeting. She had been there for only a moment when Hurd Wallace came in and sat down in the chair next to her desk.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Good morning, Hurd,” she replied.

“I’ve got some difficult news: Jim Bruno is here, and he wants to attend our morning meeting.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Lauren replied.

“I know this is awkward for you, Lauren.”

“It’s not that it’s awkward for me,” she said, “even though it is. It’s that he’s our only suspect, and we can’t have a suspect attending a meeting at which we’re going to discuss the crimes we suspect him of.”

“That’s a very good point,” Hurd said. “How would you suggest I disinvite him?”

“Tell him we’re not talking about the murders. Tell him we’re discussing something from another jurisdiction that’s confidential.”

Hurd thought about that for a moment. “All right, that’s what I’ll do. But Jimmy Weathers is here, too, and he’s the lead detective on the case. What do I do about him?”

“I’ll call Jimmy later and bring him up-to-date.”

Hurd stood up. “I’ll go talk to both of them, then.”

Hurd went back to his office and found James Bruno and Jimmy Weathers waiting for him.

“Morning, gentlemen,” he said, shaking both their hands. “My secretary tells me you want to attend my staff meeting.”

“That’s right,” Bruno said. “I think it’s best if we know your thinking on these murders, so we can be of more use.”

“I’m afraid the murders are not on our agenda for the meeting. I mean, they may come up, but for the most part we’re dealing with investigations in other jurisdictions, and we have to hold those details in strict confidence, just as you hold the details of the crimes in your jurisdiction in confidence.”

Bruno appeared to be trying not to seem annoyed. “I think it’s important that we share knowledge on these murders,” he said.

“That’s exactly what we’ve been doing, Jim. At least, I thought that’s what we’re doing.”

“Well, maybe you’ve been sharing with Jimmy, but not with me.”

“Jimmy is your lead detective, Jim. Jimmy, do you feel left out of the case?”

“Well, no, Hurd. I can’t say that I do.”

“But I’m left out of the case,” Bruno said.

“If that’s true, Jim, it’s because you haven’t expressed much interest in it.”

“I’m very interested in it,” Bruno said.

“Then I’m sure Jimmy will be glad to brief you on all the details of the investigation,” Hurd said.

“Jimmy has already briefed me,” Bruno replied hotly.

“In that case, I don’t know why you’re here, Jim,” Hurd said. “It’s not as though we’re keeping information from Jimmy. In fact, he’s the one who’s been keeping us abreast of his own investigation. We’re not hiding anything from him.”

“Why won’t you let me attend the meeting?” Bruno demanded.

“Jim, I’ve already explained that we’ll be dealing with other cases in our meeting, cases you have no reason to be privy to.”

“I see,” Bruno said, getting to his feet. “Let’s go, Jimmy; we’re apparently not wanted here.”

“I don’t think it’s like that, Chief,” Jimmy said.

“I said, let’s go!” Bruno retorted.

“I’ll certainly keep you posted if we get anything new, Jim,” Hurd said.

Bruno walked out of the office without another word.

“I’m sorry about this,” Jimmy said.

“Lauren will call you later,” Hurd replied. “Keep that to yourself.”

Jimmy looked puzzled. He shook hands and left.

Hurd watched to see that they were out of his office, then he walked next door to the conference room, where Lauren, the medical examiner and the forensics guy were waiting. Everyone sat down.

“I’m sorry to be late,” Hurd said, “but I had to ask Chief Bruno of Orchid Beach not to attend our meeting.”

“Why?” the ME asked.

“Because he’s our only suspect in the case,” Hurd explained.

The ME looked shocked. “What evidence do we have against him?”

“He has a history of being accused of rape,” Hurd explained. “We have no material evidence at this point, but I think it’s best if we keep him out of the loop until we can exclude him as a suspect.”

The ME shrugged. “If you say so, Hurd.”

“This is confidential, of course.”

“Of course.”

Jimmy and Bruno were driving back to the Orchid station with Jimmy at the wheel.

“What was that about?” Bruno asked.

“Chief, I don’t think it was about anything,” Jimmy replied. “Hurd explained himself, and I think we have to accept his explanation.”

“Why would he want to keep information from me?” Bruno asked.

“I don’t think he does. Sergeant Cade has been in touch with me on a daily basis, and I’ve called her a lot, too. I think I’m fully briefed on the case.”

“Well, I don’t feel fully briefed,” Bruno said.

Jimmy pulled into the station parking lot, and they got out of the car.

“I’ll get the case file and go through it with you,” Jimmy said.

Bruno slammed the car door. “Oh, fuck it!” he spat. “You handle the goddamned thing any way you like. I’m out of it.” He stormed off and went into the station.

Jimmy went back to his desk, and he was reading the file again when his phone rang. “Detective Weathers.”

“Jimmy, it’s Lauren.”

“Hi, Lauren.”

“I’m sorry you were kept out of the meeting this morning, but we didn’t want Bruno there.”

“How come?” Jimmy asked.

“Because he’s the only suspect in the case.”

“Bruno?”

“Yes. He has a past history of rape.”

Jimmy took a deep breath. “Lauren, I think you should know that I read the stuff on Bruno’s court-martial, so I know about your involvement.”

“It’s just as well,” she said. “I would have told you eventually. I hope you don’t think I was keeping anything from you.”

“Well, you kept the fact that Bruno is a suspect from me.”

“We don’t want him to know, and I think you can see how important it is that you don’t tell him.”

“That puts me in kind of an awkward position,” Jimmy said.

“I know it does, but I can’t do anything about that. For the integrity of the investigation you have to keep this from him.”

“And what happens when he finds out and I get fired? Are you folks going to give me a job?”

“Don’t worry. We’ll see that it doesn’t come to that. Either Bruno will find out when we get enough evidence to arrest him, or he won’t find out at all.”

“All right, Lauren, I’ll play along, but please don’t get my ass caught in a wringer.”

“I won’t, Jimmy. I’ve got to run now. Bye-bye.” She hung up.

Jimmy hung up, too. “God in Heaven,” he said aloud to himself.