Upside Down

73

Thanks to Adams's amazingly efficient FBI computer hookup, which saved Manseur a couple of hours on his NOPD computer, Manseur knew that the woman in the Lincoln was Marta Ruiz. Now he needed to find out who her male partner was, which might explain how the pair had gained access to the investigation. They were clearly connected to Bennett and Tin Man and Doyle, but he needed to figure out exactly what that connection meant before he confronted Tin Man or Doyle. He had an idea on how he might discover who the man was, but his ringing phone interrupted him.

“Mike, Captain Suggs.”

“Yes sir?”

“Can you join Detectives Tinnerino and Doyle in the conference room?”

“Sure.”

The two detectives sat like surly schoolboys behind the boxes containing the assembled Porter/Lee evidence. Suggs sat at the head of the table and indicated that Manseur should sit opposite the other two-exactly where he belonged.

“Mike,” Suggs started, “I have just informed Tony and Clint that you are going to be the primary on both the Trammel and Porter/Lee cases. I've explained the connection between the two cases, and they have agreed to work with you to solve them. When will Larry Bond be back?”

“He's supposed to be back tonight. He might be back already. I was planning to call him.”

“Excellent,” Suggs said. “Whatever you need, I'll okay. Manpower, overtime, whatever. Just ask.”

Doyle's and Tin Man's resentful eyes bored into Manseur.

“First off,” Manseur said, “I have issued a new bulletin on Faith Ann Porter listing her as a material witness pickup, and I removed the armed-and-dangerous tag. I also took the liberty of changing the contact number to my own.”

Tin Man shook his head rigidly.

“Problem, Detective?” Manseur asked.

“Just that there's no evidence that she didn't clip her old lady and Lee.”

“Detective Doyle, do you agree with your partner?”

“Absolutely. She did it. Look at how she slipped out of Canal Place. She ain't like any twelve-year-old I ever saw.”

Manseur's phone rang. He looked at the I.D. and saw Massey's name and number. “I need to take this,” he said.

As he listened, the other three men talked about Faith Ann's escape from Canal Place. Manseur listened to Massey, let him know that he couldn't answer his questions, and told the deputy he'd have to call him back. What Massey had asked him had put a hot, hollow burn in his stomach.

“I think Mike is on track,” Suggs said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “We can charge the kid after we interrogate her, if it is warranted.” He rose. “Gentlemen, I'll leave it with you. Whatever you need, Mike. You're in complete charge.” With that, Suggs walked from the room.

“How do you explain the evidence we found?” Tinnerino demanded.

Manseur said, “Maybe it was planted there.”

“By who? Nobody else was there between when she was and we were.”

“I wasn't suggesting that you planted it, Detective. Might be that the killer, or killers, did. Maybe they came before you got there.”

Tinnerino clenched his jaw.

“Faith Ann Porter told a federal officer that a policeman killed her mother and Amber Lee. It will be interesting to learn how she came to believe that.”

“That evidence wasn't planted in that hamper,” Tinnerino argued.

“Then maybe she picked the gun and empty brass up, in shock, and took them with her. Unless one of you saw her put the evidence into that hamper, it is possible someone else did it. Hand me over the firearms files on the murder weapon.”

Tinnerino looked in the stack and pulled out the files. Manseur flipped through them, scanning them while the other detectives sat silently.

“The. 380's barrel is threaded on the inside. The M.E. found steel wool in the wounds. What does that say to you?”

No answer.

“The Taurus. 380 was one of twenty stolen from a dealer in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, nine months back. Two from that robbery have been picked up at crime scenes since. To me that indicates they were either sold by the dealer under the table or hijacked and sold to criminal types. That points to a professional. Not a twelve-year-old who merely witnessed the murders.”

“That's bullshit,” Tinnerino said.

“I say it isn't. And I am running this. If you want, I'll relieve you from the team. In light of the insinuation of there being police involvement in these homicides, it might be best to bring in all new people who have open minds.”

“No,” Tinnerino said, too quickly. “No, you're the primary. If that is how you want to read the evidence, that's cool with us. Right, Clint?”

“Sure,” Doyle agreed.

“If you say she was framed, she was framed,” Tinnerino said.

“Who ransacked the Porter house?” Manseur asked.

“Did what?” Tinnerino said. He and Doyle exchanged looks of surprise.

“You didn't?” Manseur asked.

“Of course not.” Tinnerino was indignant. “We searched. Who said it was ransacked?”

“Adams, the FBI agent,” Manseur said. “You met him at Canal Place.”

“Then I bet it was some of those porch chimps that hang out at that basketball court behind the house,” Doyle said.

Manseur ignored the slur. “I need to go over the evidence you've collected,” he said. “I'll need your notes and the report you've written so far.”

“We have a problem there,” Tinnerino said.

“We had a detailed report all typed up,” Doyle started. “But.. ”

“But what?” Manseur asked, bracing himself.

Manseur left the conference room bothered by Winter Massey's call. He had given Tin Man and Doyle busywork, and they would be at their desks retyping the missing report for some time.

Massey had mentioned Horace Pond, a name that filled Manseur with anger. Pond was guilty, and Manseur didn't believe this had anything to do with him. It was a troubling direction that Massey was walking in, and he had to nip it in the bud. He spent ten minutes calling up and reading through the police files on Pond's case on his screen. After that, he looked up Doyle's and Tinnerino's service dates. Neither of the detectives had been involved with the Pond case. Doyle hadn't even been on the force then, and Tinnerino was patrolling in the Quarter.

Satisfied, he remembered to find out who Marta Ruiz's male partner was.