Mission Flats

44

I woke up early the next morning, just after dawn, and stood by the window. The city was gray, the sky above it a dark slate that was reluctant to brighten. I drew a circle on the glass with my finger, a little greasy circle around the area I took to be Mission Flats.

‘What are you doing up?’ Caroline said.

‘I need to find out more about the Trudell case.’

‘Why?’

‘Because Braxton said — Where can I find more information?’

She groaned. ‘You’ve already seen the files.’

‘There has to be more.’

‘Ben, it’s too early-’

‘I can’t sleep. I keep thinking there has to be more. What else is there?’

‘Do we have to talk about it now?’

‘No. Sorry, go back to sleep.’

‘Try the detectives’ notebooks.’

‘Good.’ I thought a moment. ‘Wait — what detectives’ notebooks?’

‘Homicide detectives keep notebooks on every investigation. It’s routine. Sometimes there’s information in the notebooks that doesn’t make it into the reports. You might find something there.’

‘Where are they?’

‘Archives, I imagine.’

‘Okay, then I need to see those notebooks. Can you get me into the archives?’

‘Not right this minute.’

‘Alright, when it opens, then.’

Without lifting her head or even opening her eyes, she said, ‘Ben, all the Trudell files are privileged. They’re not circulated. Lowery saw to that. You’ll need to file a request with Archives, and it probably won’t be granted. You could file a Freedom of Information request with the AG, but it would take a while.’

‘How long is a while?’

‘Six months. Maybe a year.’

‘A year! We don’t have a year.’

‘What can I tell you.’

‘You can tell me how I get in to see those notebooks today’

One of Caroline’s eyes popped open. She propped herself on one elbow. ‘Chief Truman,’ she said carefully, ‘if this case ever comes to trial, it will be important that the prosecutor not be aware of any improprieties in the way evidence is obtained. And it would be unethical for me to tell you how to evade the public-records laws.’

‘Right. Sorry. I shouldn’t-’

‘What I will say is this: If — I said if hypothetically — you needed to get those records without the proper clearance, the best way would be to take my dad with you and see a man named Jimmy Doolittle over at Berkeley Street. And you would never ever tell the prosecutor that you got those notebooks illegally, because then she would have an ethical obligation to report it to the court.’

‘Um, what might I tell the prosecutor?’

‘What you might tell the prosecutor is that an anonymous person provided the notebooks to you, or better yet a dead person like, say, Bob Danziger. And you would have to be prepared to say that under oath. Is that all clear?’

‘Crystal. Thank you, Counselor.’

Her head dropped back down on the pillow. ‘My dad was a good detective. He’ll get you in. If you wanted to get in to the Pope’s underwear drawer, he could get you in.’

‘I’ll keep that in mind. You never know.’

‘Ben, maybe you should come back to bed. The archives won’t open till nine.’

‘I’m not feeling very tired.’

Eyes closed, she grinned and said, ‘Me neither.’