The White Angel Murder

34

Harlow ate the rest of his meal and chatted about mundane things. When they were done, he paid and walked out to his black Mercedes MLS and put on his sunglasses before pulling out of the restaurant parking lot.

Farther down the road near the Interstate, he saw a group of thugs harassing a woman that was walking by. One of them jumped in front of her and began to talk as another came up behind her and grabbed her ass. She jumped back and tried to slap him and he took her arm and blew a kiss to her.

Her anger had turned to fear as she realized these men had nothing to lose and she was alone. She attempted to pull away but the man wouldn’t let go. Harlow stopped his car in the middle of the road, the car behind him slamming on his brakes and blaring the horn. Harlow flashed his badge, making sure that as he pulled it out the other car got a good view of his firearm too. He walked over to the men.

“Let her go, assholes.”

“Fuck you.”

He flashed his badge. “Let her go.”

The man held on a moment longer before letting go and walking away. The other man had already disappeared into the crowd and melted with the group. Harlow went after the one that had grabbed the woman. He stepped in front of him and the man stared into his eyes.

“I’m not going to arrest you,” Harlow said. “What I’m going to do is take all the drugs you got on you and I’m going to throw them away. Then I’m going to take that wad of cash I see lumping your pocket and I’m going to keep it. And then I’m going to let you go.”

Fear showed across the man’s face and his eyes were wide. If he were arrested, he would bail out in an hour. If his money and drugs disappeared, he would have to answer to someone. And that someone would not believe that a police officer threw the drugs away and took the cash without arresting him.

“What’chyu want?”

“I just spent a hundred thirty bucks on lunch. I want you to pay for it.”

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out some cash. He counted out six twenties and handed them over. Harlow kept his hand out and the man saw he didn’t have any tens. He gave over another twenty. Harlow smiled and went back to his car.

The woman had already walked away but would glance back to see what was happening. Harlow saw the line of cars behind him and climbed into his Mercedes and got onto the Interstate. It was too bad she didn’t stick around, he thought. He could’ve given her a ride home and had a date for later tonight. After all, who would turn down someone that just saved them?

He listened to a Talking Heads CD on the way back to the office. When he got there he pushed his sunglasses up onto his forehead and looked over his car to make sure there were no fresh scratches or dings, a habit he had developed when he bought his first luxury car, a BMW, two years ago. He remembered his shock when he found that he would park and people would purposely ding his car with their doors.

When he was satisfied there was nothing there he went into the building and up to the fifth floor. Before he even sat down at his desk his phone buzzed.

“Yeah?”

“Chief, can I get a few minutes?” Ho said.

“Chin you’re two doors down. You don’t have to call me. Just come over.”

A few minutes later Ho walked into his office. Harlow motioned for him to sit down. He offered him a bottled water and Ho turned it down. He wasn’t looking him in the eyes and Harlow could tell he was trying to figure out how best to phrase something.

“I wanted to talk about the bust, Chief.”

“What about it?”

“It could be nothing.”

“If it was nothing you wouldn’t be sitting here. What is it?”

“Jessica was having a good conversation. Jon didn’t seem like he was nervous at all. And then out of nowhere he started looking around the restaurant and spotted me. Then he took off.”

“That was my fault. I shouldn’t have stationed you inside. And I should’ve wired her.”

“Well, maybe. But I think there was something else too. Jessica wrote on her napkin. She threw it away so I didn’t look at it, but now that I think about it I think she tipped him.”

“That’s a big accusation, you sure about this?”

“No, not at all. She may have been doodling for all I know. But it’s an odd coincidence if he ran right after she started doodling.”

“I don’t want to cast doubt on people just yet. Lemme talk to her and see what she says.”

“You’re the boss. But I think she may have tipped him. Just to be safe, I don’t think we should have her on the task force looking for him.”

“I’ll take it under advisement.”

Harlow waited until Ho left the office and then he put his feet up on his desk. He tried not to feel moments like this, moments of glee and superiority, but it was difficult not to in this situation. Everything had gone well. He had placed Ho inside and knew Stanton wasn’t stupid enough not to spot him. The plainclothes and cruisers were placed far enough away that he could escape but it wouldn’t be obvious; it would seem like a tactical error. Stanton was almost no good to him caught. But a fugitive from justice? When he was eventually caught, who would believe anything he says?

Outside the office, he saw Tommy supervising maintenance as they drilled plaques near the front lobby and hung large glossy photos of the unit. Chin, Jessica, Nathan, and Philip were all up. Two new detectives, Henry Foringer and Alberto Cabellero, were also up. There was one empty plaque on the end.

“Tommy, take that empty plaque down.”

“It’s already drilled. We’ll have another detective here soon and then I can just-”

“Just do as I say.”

Tommy shrugged. “Your call, I guess.”