Supreme Justice

Chapter Forty-four

Officer Earl Moffit had been a character witness for Sarah Woodruff during the penalty phase of her trial, and Mary Garrett had recommended him as a person to talk to for background. When Dana walked into the Starbucks on Pioneer Square, she spotted a man in jeans and a jacket with a Seattle Mariners logo, nursing a caffe latte at a corner table. The man looked to be in his early thirties. He had blue eyes, shaggy black hair, and a rangy, athletic build and matched Mary Garrett’s description. The latte was the only thing that made Dana hesitate. On the East Coast, cops fueled their engines with harsh black coffee, and Dana had a hard time accepting the fact that cops in this land of Starbucks sipped these frothy drinks.

“Officer Moffit?” Dana asked.

When the man nodded, Dana took the seat opposite him.

“Thanks for meeting with me,” she said.

“Mary vouched for you. She’s one of the few defense attorneys whose word I’ll trust.”

“I know what you mean,” Dana said. “I was a cop in D.C.”

“Mary told me you’re a reporter. Why’d you leave the force?”

That was the question she dreaded. “On-the-job injury,” Dana said, giving Moffit the bland answer that usually satisfied anyone who asked why she wasn’t a cop anymore.

“You were Sarah’s partner?” Dana continued, hoping to head off further inquiry about her reasons for leaving the police force.

Moffit nodded. “For three years.”

“You must have gotten along well.”

“We did. Sarah was aiming at detective, but she was good on the street. She handled tense situations well and could be tough when she had to be.”

“Can you give me an example?”

“Sure,” Moffit said. Then he laughed. “We get this domestic violence call and pull up to this bungalow that hasn’t seen a paint job since the Flood, with a yard that’s like a zoo for weeds. We hear the screams as soon as we get out of the car. I knock and announce that we’re cops, but the screaming doesn’t stop, so we try the door. It’s unlocked.

“When we get inside, this woman who looks like she weighs three hundred pounds is cursing a blue streak in Spanish-none of which I understand-at this guy with blood streaming from his nose and a gash under his eye. The guy is covered with tattoos and wearing a wife-beater undershirt.

“Now the guy isn’t that big, but he looks like he pumps iron, and he’s really irate. Right away I figure him for the abuser, and I wedge myself between the two of them with my back to the woman. I’m pushing the guy away when I hear movement behind me. The guy gets a horrified expression on his face and starts screaming in Spanish. Sarah translated it for me when we were done with the call. The guy was screaming, ‘Look out.’ Then I hear a crack like a board breaking and the guy drives right through me. I grab him, and we’re rolling on the floor, so I can’t see what’s happening.

“So this was the day I learned to forget about stereotypes. The woman was the abuser. She beat up her husband regularly. But when I went for him, she got protective and went for me with a carving knife. The crack was her wrist breaking where Sarah hit it with the handle of her gun. And the next crack was the woman’s knee giving way. Sarah’s real good at self-defense. In addition to the woman, I’ve seen her take down men who outweighed her by a lot.”

“She sounds like someone you’d want watching your back,” Dana said.

“Definitely.”

“She also sounds like someone who would be capable of murder.”

Moffit took a sip of his drink and mulled over Dana’s comment. When he answered, he looked very serious.

“Sarah could do that, but I don’t think she did.”

“Tell me a little about her personality.”

“Sarah’s very tough, driven, and she likes a challenge. She skydives, she climbs mountains.”

“She’s a risk taker?”

“Yeah, but she’s not crazy. She got me up Mount Hood the first year we worked together, and she took all of the safety precautions.”

“Did she take risks on the street?”

“No. I would have asked for another partner if I thought she was a cowboy. But she liked the action. I can handle it OK, but I wouldn’t be sorry if I never ran into another bad situation. I think she preferred tense situations.”

“So she was a good cop?” Dana asked.

Moffit took another long drink of coffee. “Yeah, overall. She cut corners on occasion, but I always felt comfortable riding with her.”

“Did she ever do anything illegal?”

“You’re asking me if she was dirty?” Moffit sounded offended.

“I’m just asking.”

“No, she was straight. I never saw her do anything crooked.”

“Did Sarah ever talk about John Finley?”

Moffit nodded. “When he first moved to Portland.”

“What did she say?”

“She told me about meeting him after she climbed that mountain in South America and how he showed up.”

“Mary tried to get evidence that would prove John Finley was a government agent. Did she ever say anything about that?”

“Not to me.”

“I think I’ve exhausted my questions. Do you want to tell me anything else?”

“Only that I don’t think she did it. Everything I know points toward spooks. Finley sounds like he was into mysteries we average folks don’t deal with.”