Free the Two Minute Rule (2006) by Crais Robert Page B

the street, proning him out with the grace of true professionals.
    When Holman looked up, a red-haired guy in sunglasses and plainclothes held up a badge.
    "Los Angeles Police Department. You're under arrest."
    Holman closed his eyes as their handcuffs shut on his wrists.

    Chapter 10
    IT WAS FOUR plainclothes officers who hooked him up, but only two of them brought him to Parker Center, the red-haired officer whose name was Vukovich and a Latino officer named Fuentes. Holman had been arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department on twelve separate occasions, and in every case except his last (when he was arrested by an FBI agent named Katherine Pollard) he had been processed through one of LAPD's nineteen divisional police stations. He had been in the Men's Central Jail twice and the Federal Men's Detention Center three times, but he had never been to Parker Center. When they brought him to Parker, Holman knew he was in deep shit.
    Parker was the Los Angeles Police Department's main office: A white-and-glass building that housed the Chief of Police, the Internal Affairs Group, various civilian administrators and administration agencies, and LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide Division, which was a command division overseeing Homicide Special, Robbery Special, and Rape Special. Each of the nineteen divisions had homicide, robbery, and sex crimes detectives, but those detectives worked only in their respective divisions; Robbery-Homicide detectives worked on cases that spanned the city.
    Vukovich and Fuentes walked Holman into an interview room on the third floor and questioned him for more than an hour, after which another set of detectives took over. Holman knew the drill. The cops always asked the same questions over and over, looking to see if your answers changed. If your answers changed they knew you were lying, so Holman told them the truth about everything except Chee. When the red-haired guy, Vukovich, asked how he knew Maria Juarez was with her cousins, Holman told them he heard it in a bar, some Frogtown paco bragging he screwed Maria in junior high, him and sixty-two other guys, the girl was such a slut, the paco spouting the cops Warren killed had probably been bagging the little slut, too. Covering for Chee was something he had done before and now it was the only lie Holman told. One lie, it was easy to remember even though telling it frightened him.
    Eight-forty that night, Holman was still in the room, having been questioned on and off for more than six hours without being offered an attorney or being booked. Eight forty-one, the door opened again and Vukovich entered with someone new.
    The new man studied Holman for a moment, then put out his hand. Holman thought he looked familiar.
    "Mr. Holman, I'm John Random. I'm sorry about your son."
    Random was the first of the detectives to offer his hand. He wore a long-sleeved white shirt and tie without a jacket. A gold detective's shield was clipped to his belt. Random took a seat opposite Holman as Vukovich leaned against the wall.
    Holman said, "Am I being charged with anything?"
    "Has Detective Vukovich explained why we pulled you in?"
    "No."
    Holman suddenly realized why Random was familiar. Random had been part of the press conference that Holman had seen in the bar. He hadn't known Random's name, but he recognized him.
    Random said, "When the officers ran your vehicle they found thirty-two unpaid parking violations and another nine outstanding traffic violations."
    Holman said, "Jesus."
    Vukovich smiled.
    "Yeah, and you didn't match the DMV description we got of the vehicle's owner, you not being a seventy-four-year-old black male. We thought you had a hot car, bud."
    Random said, "We spoke with Mr. Wilkes. You're in the clear so far as the car, even though you've been driving it without a license. So forget the car and let's get back to Ms. Juarez. Why did you go see her?"
    The same question he had been asked three dozen times. Holman gave them the same answer.
    "I