Dead of Winter

CHAPTER 35

The damn Mustang wouldn’t start again. Louis looked at his watch, deciding against calling Dale for a jump. The kid had his own problems after yesterday’s mess with Cole.

Grabbing the black garbage bag off the seat, Louis climbed out, slamming the door. It was snowing, a wet snow that coated everything like heavy cake icing. Gray clouds hung low in the morning sky and a mist hovered over the lake. Hefting the bag under his arm, Louis turned up his collar and started to walk.

A church bell clanged somewhere in the distance. A few cars puttered down the street. Everything seemed to be running in slow motion this morning, even his mind. He hadn’t slept. Partly, it was because he was afraid that Gibralter would discover the Beretta missing from evidence.

But mainly it was because he was uneasy about what he was going to do this morning. He had decided to go to Steele with the evidence he had against Jesse and Gibralter. It had to be done, but that didn’t make things any easier. It didn’t make his thoughts less chaotic.

As he walked, he had a vision of Jesse and Gibralter being hauled off in handcuffs, the damn TV cameras capturing it all for national feed.

He could see Steele standing there, spewing out his self-righteous crap about corrupt cops. As much as he hated what Gibralter and Jesse had done he couldn’t stand the idea that Steele would come out of this with another notch on his belt. What did Steele know about cops? The man had never worn a uniform, had never known what it felt like to be pushed to the limit.

He himself knew. He had felt it that day at Red Oak when he knocked Cole Lacey back in the chair. He knew what it felt like to teeter on the edge.

Another image flashed into Louis’s mind. Jesse’s face caught in the glare of headlights that night they rode with Lovejoy’s body in the flatbed truck. I wanted to be a cop….I had to be a cop. He could see Jesse standing in Lovejoy’s cabin, staring at that stinking dog cage. Shit, Jesse would eat his gun before he’d go to prison.

Louis rounded the corner onto Main Street. The garbage bag under his arm held only the Hammersmith gun, the evidence logs and a copy of the raid file, but it felt heavy. He gripped the garbage bag tighter. There was no turning back, no room in his head for second thoughts. Kids were dead. Soon, cops’ careers would be dead.

Maybe even his own. Until last night, he hadn’t really considered his own position in this mess. But now he could see it clearly. His own career was about to go on life support. Some cops might agree with his decision to turn in his chief but he would still be branded a traitor.

He stopped a block from the station. There was a large crowd of reporters and a new van with NBC NEWS on its side. Louis saw Delp in the middle and turned left to duck in the back way.

Delp spotted him and hurried over. “Hey, Kincaid!”

Louis ignored him. Delp fell into step with him.

“Give me a quote, man.”

“About what?”

“Cole Lacey.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Delp pulled a folded newspaper from his coat and thrust it in Louis’s face. The headline said: COPS BEAT JUVENILE.

Louis stopped and took the copy of the Lansing State Journal. He looked back at the crowd. “Steele show up yet?” he asked.

Delp shook his head. “That’s what we’re all waiting for.”

“Can I keep this?”

“Sure. Were you there?”

Louis shook his head, heading to the alley.

“Does the kid know where his old man is?” Delp asked, keeping pace.

“I don’t know.”

“Was anybody else there besides Harrison and McGuire?”

“I don’t know.”

“What’d the kid say?”

“Look, Delp, give me a break here.”

Delp stopped. “Give you a break? I’ve busted my ass for you and you won’t give me shit. I had to read this in the fucking Journal!”

Louis faced him. “Look, when we get Lacey you’ll be in on it first.”

Delp’s lips drew into a thin line. “You can’t make good on that promise anymore. It’s Steele’s show now. You guys are as out of the loop as me.”

Louis shifted the bag with the Beretta in it, staring at Delp. For a moment, he considered telling Delp what he knew. Right now, right here, he could hand him the garbage bag and the biggest story of his life. Why not? Eventually the press was going to find out anyway. The glare of publicity was too bright; it would have to reflect into the shadows of the raid. Why not just leak it all right now to Delp and get out of the way?

Louis’s eyes went from Delp to the NBC truck. No, it wasn’t right. He had made his decision and he would see it through.

“You’re right, Delp, I can’t help you,” Louis said. He turned and started to the back door of the station.

“Fucking cops,” Delp muttered.

Louis made his way through the locker room and out into the office. The place was nuts-to-butts with state flunkies, troopers and K-9 cops. A television in the corner was tuned to a newscast. Louis pushed his way through the uniforms watching it.

A talking head from the Lansing station was giving a report on Cole Lacey, the kid’s juvie mug superimposed in one corner of the screen. The news guy was saying that the “young inmate was in fair condition” at Red Oak. They cut to Warren Little standing outside the center, giving a statement.

Louis looked around for Dale but there was no sign of him. He pushed his way to his desk, setting down the garbage bag. He was pulling off his parka when Steele came in through the front door. Steele had obviously just run the gauntlet of reporters outside and his eyes snapped with anger.

“Where’s Gibralter?” he demanded of the room at large.

Heads swiveled, troopers gazed at him through the steam of their coffees but no one answered.

“Where is he?” Steele said, raising his voice.

Gibralter’s door opened and Steele spun around.

“You got something to say to me, Steele?” Gibralter said.

“Where are they?” Steele said sharply. “Where’s Harrison and McGuire?”

Before Gibralter could reply, Jesse came forward. “We’re here,” he said. Dale was trailing behind, his eyes sweeping the crowd nervously.

“In the office. Now,” Steele demanded, nodding to Gibralter’s door.

Jesse and Dale moved past Steele, neither looking at Louis. Gibralter and Steele followed them in and the door closed. The murmur of the office resumed.

Louis sat down at his desk, his eyes going to the garbage bag. There was no way he could bring this up right now; it would have to wait. He opened his drawer, dropped the bag in and locked it. Pulling the Lansing State Journal from his parka, he put on his glasses to read the story.

It was a sketchy, with Warren Little as the only source and the reporter covering her attempt to get quotes from Gibralter with the old crutch, “Loon Lake police did not return Journal calls.” Louis tossed the paper aside.

Gibralter’s door opened and all heads snapped up.

Jesse came out first, head down, walking fast toward the locker room. A few seconds later, Dale emerged, heading more slowly in the same direction as Jesse. Louis was debating whether to follow him when Steele’s voice drew his attention back to Gibralter’s door.

“Your men interfered with an on-going criminal investigation that I have made clear is out of their jurisdiction,” Steele was saying to Gibralter.

Louis tightened. The asshole was grandstanding.

Gibralter said nothing, his eyes never leaving Steele.

“They are facing criminal charges,” Steele went on, “and you, sir, will be lucky not to go down with them.”

Steele went back to the command desk, his aids quickly circling him. Louis watched Gibralter but the man had not moved a muscle.

“We have a sighting.”

All eyes swiveled to one of Steele’s men, holding a phone. Louis felt his pulse quicken.

“Where?” Steele asked.

“Highway 33, twelve miles north of town.”

The office eddied with noise and action. Steele moved to the center of the room, lifting his hands. “Listen up!” he shouted.

The crowd quieted.

“In the wake of the Red Oak incident I must remind you of an additional obligation,” Steele said. “We must conduct ourselves with the utmost professionalism. We are under the microscope now, gentlemen, and every move we make will be scrutinized. I do not want any witnesses touched, harassed or antagonized. I do not want one citizen angered. Do I make myself clear?”

It was quiet but a current ran through the room, the charge of adrenaline.

“I know how you feel about this suspect,” Steele went on, “but if we get a track on Lacey there will be no quick triggers, no hot heads. I want it by the book.”

Louis looked at Gibralter. As he gazed at Steele, Gibralter lifted his cigarette to his lips and took a slow drag. His face was like granite but there was something new in it. Louis stared at Gibralter, trying to read it. Jesus, it was fear. It barely registered, just a flicker in the eyes, but it was there. Gibralter didn’t want Lacey caught alive; he wanted him dead. He needed him dead so he couldn’t talk about what Cole had told him about the raid.

Steele left, going out to face the reporters. Louis looked back at Gibralter. He was gone, his door closed.

Louis rose and went to the locker room. Jesse was gone but Dale was there, pulling on a sweatshirt. He looked at Louis as he approached.

“It didn’t work, Louis,” he said.

“What didn’t?”

“Telling the truth. Steele says I could be arrested for…hell, I was so nervous I forget. Assault and coercion and something else.”

Dale hung up his uniform shirt, running a hand down the front.

“What happened in there?” Louis asked.

“Steele was ripping Jesse apart, saying he was out of control, a renegade. He called him stupid.” Dale looked at Louis. “I had to say something so I said to Steel what you said to me.”

“What?” Louis asked.

“That Gibralter sent us and he did it knowing what Jesse would do.”

Jesus, the kid had guts. “What did Gibralter say?” Louis asked.

Dale’s face clouded. “He denied it, just out and out denied it. I couldn’t believe what happened next. Steele was telling Gibralter that Jesse and me should be fired. Next thing I know, the chief turned to Jesse and said, ‘You’re through.’ Just like that.”

Louis shook his head. “What about you?”

Dale pulled on his parka. “Jesse tried to tell him I didn’t do anything and I tried to tell Steele I wasn’t a real cop and I didn’t even have a gun but he wouldn’t’ listen. He was yelling, saying we weren’t fit to wash a uniform let alone wear one. And the chief was just watching, not saying a word.”

“So he fired you, too?”

“I quit.”

Louis stared at him in disbelief.

“I can’t work here anymore,” Dale said. “I just can’t.”

“Dale…”

Dale zipped up his parka. “I gotta go,” he said briskly. Dale brushed by him, heading back out to the office. He stopped then slowly came back.

“Guess I better go out the back,” he said.

Louis reached out to put a hand on his shoulder but Dale moved quickly away. Louis heard the door close and let out a slow breath.

This stunk, every damn part of it. Jesse was beyond his sympathy now, even if Gibralter had sacrificed him to Steele. But damn it, Dale didn’t deserve this.

Louis went back out to the office. The men had dispersed and only two of Steele’s aides lingered. Steele was on the telephone. With a glance at Gibralter’s closed door Louis unlocked his desk drawer and pulled out the garbage bag. He went over to the command desk and stood, waiting.

Steele hung up the phone and swiveled around to face Louis, his eyes dark with anger. “What do you want?” he said.

“I need to talk to you,” Louis said.

“I don’t have time.”

“I have something — ”

The phone shrilled impatiently. “Do something about these phones!” Steele yelled.

Louis held out the bag. “You need to see this. It’s — ”

Steele stood up. “Listen you little ass kisser. There are real cops here working damn hard to save your incompetent asses. Steele grabbed his overcoat off the chair. “Now get out of my way, I have a chopper to catch.”

Louis stepped around the desk, blocking Steele’s way. “Look, I need to talk to you. Now!” he said.

“Make a damn appointment!”

He brushed by Louis, knocking him aside.

Louis glared at Steele’s back, debating whether to follow him and shove the damn garbage bag down his throat right in front of the cameras. He saw one of the aides looking at him.

“What are you staring at?” Louis demanded.

The suit gave a shrug.

“When’s your boss coming back?”

“In the morning.” The aide smiled. “You want to make an appointment?”

Louis felt his hand curl into a fist. The hell with Steele. He would see this through himself, take the damn evidence wherever he needed to take it, give it to NBC or the fucking FBI, if he had to. They liked to bust cops, too.

He went back to his desk, tossed down the bag and dropped into the chair. Make a damn appointment. Fuck him.

Make an appointment.

He was staring vacantly at Pryce’s doodles on the blotter, the curlicues and numbers fading in and out.

Make an appointment…

Slowly, a phone number came into focus in his head. He looked down at the blotter, at the number. He grabbed the phone and dialed it.

“Michigan State Police. How may I direct your call?”

Louis swiveled to look out the front window. He could see the chopper lifting off. “Mark Steele’s office, please.”

“That line is busy. For future reference, the extension is thirty-one.”

Louis hung up. He unlocked his desk drawer and pulled out Pryce’s small notebook. He flipped through it, stopping when he found the right page.

C.L. J.L. CIS @ 5661 x 31

C.L. was Cole Lacey.

J.L. was Johnny Lacey.

CIS was Chief Investigator Steele.

And 5661 X 31 was his phone number.

Make an appointment…

That was exactly what Pryce had done. Pryce had found the proof about the raid that he needed to bury Gibralter and the others and he planned to take it all to Steele.

Louis redialed the state police, asking for extension thirty-one this time.

“Chief Steele’s office,” a woman answered.

Louis introduced himself, explaining he was investigating the death of a police officer and needed to track the officer’s last movements.

“How can we be of help?” she asked politely.

“I need to know if Thomas Pryce made an appointment with Chief Steele around the end of November,” Louis said.

He heard pages turning. “No, I don’t see one.”

Louis started to thank her when she interrupted. “I do have one for December third but Officer Pryce didn’t keep it.”

Louis thanked her and hung up. His thoughts began to coalesce, coming together with cold certainty. Pryce had found out that something about the raid was dirty and started his campaign to get out of Loon Lake. But something happened to make him change his mind and he decided to go after Jesse and Gibralter.

Pryce was going to Steele. He had been within days, maybe hours, of taking down four respected police officers for the murders of two kids. But then Lacey surfaced and began his rampage, blowing Pryce away.

What a stroke of luck for the Loon Lake police.

Louis felt a chill creep up his back and he turned to see if someone had opened the door. No one was there. The cold spread slowly through him and with it came a horrible new thought. Was it really luck?

Gibralter’s words came back to him, and the coolness with which he had spoken them.

Gambit, you know what a gambit is, don’t you? A gambit is when you sacrifice one of your pieces to throw an opponent off…The permanent sacrifice, a move that elevates the game to artistry.

Had Gibralter somehow found out what Pryce was going to do? Had Gibralter killed Pryce to silence him?

Louis ran a hand over his forehead. No, no, his mind was outracing all logic now. Gibralter had been involved in the deaths of the Lacey kids but no matter how threatened he felt he would never kill one of his own men.

Gens una sumus. But Pryce wasn’t one of his men, one of the family. Pryce was an outsider.

A shadow moved behind the glass of Gibralter’s door. Louis held his breath as his eyes followed it. He felt suddenly nauseous, lightheaded. He rose quickly, picked up the garbage bag and threw Pryce’s notebook inside. Grabbing the bag and his jacket, he bolted for the door.