Free Judging Time by Leslie Glass Page A

mood, had the power anywhere he went to make things more chaotic, or less.
    April decided to take a chance. Some cops talked to each other really well without saying a word. On the street, communication was everything. A cop could have peace or war just by his body language and the tone of his voice. The idea was to get the suspect to give up his hands for the cuffs, not reach for his gun hidden in some unexpected place and blow everybody away. One had to know how to keep the competitive macho thing on both sides of the badge as low-key as possible. April didn't know if Iriarte had ever been on the street, but she cocked her head in the same engaging little way she used when she told some disgusting dirtbag thief or rapist—who thought it would be easy to kill her because she was an Asian, or didn't have her gun pointed at his head, or was a woman—and smiled as she said, "Come on now, put that gun down. You don't want to spend the rest of your life on death row for killing a lady cop, do you?"
    Now she raised her own eyebrows, such as they were, back at Iriarte. Can we talk about this later, sir?
    Still fair, he gave her a little nod. "Okay, what do we have here? You talk to Liberty yet?"
    "Yes, sir." April decided to show Sanchez she was taking the lead here.
    "What's the story there, he our killer?"
    April drew breath and exhaled slowly. "It's early days to rule it in or out," she answered. "He was supposed to go to the theater with his wife last night, but at the last minute he went to Chicago."
    Hagedorn sniggered. "Chicago, huh? That sound familiar to anyone? I'd bet a grand it's the black bastard."
    "You don't have a grand," Skye sneered.
    Creaker agreed with Hagedorn. "Nine times out of ten it's the husband."
    "Could have been the wife," April threw in. "Petersen's wife has a motive and no alibi."
    "One woman, two victims? Does that sound likely?"
    "Nobody said she didn't have help. The woman has a lot of rivals, including our victim, and a lot to gain with hubby out of the way."
    Iriarte ignored that. "So when did Liberty go to Chicago?" he demanded.
    April checked her notebook. "He said he took the two p.m. flight, had a meeting, flew home, and returned to his apartment at the Park Century around midnight. The doorman at his building verified his return at between midnight and twelve-ten."
    "Which is it?" Definitely after midnight when the building's porter stopped by to give him some coffee before he went home and before twelve-ten when he double-locked the door and left his post to go to the john."
    "Libery come out again?"
    April shook her head. "He says not. The doorman says not."
    "How about the back door?"
    "The back elevator is shut down at six p.m."
    "How about the fire stairs?"
    "Anybody who opens the gate on the main floor sets off an alarm. I think we'd better look in another direction. Liberty says Petersen's driver—Wally Jefferson—took his car without his permission while Liberty was in Europe a week ago. The car has disappeared. Jefferson claims it was stolen off the street."
    "Where are you going with this, Woo? You think this Jefferson had something to do with it?"
    "I don't know, sir. Jefferson was Petersen's driver. He knew where they were. He had opportunity."
    "I thought you said he was Liberty's driver," Iriarte said impatiently.
    "It seems he drove Liberty freelance. In any case, he borrowed Liberty's car without permission, and it's missing."
    "Where's the motive for a double murder with him?" Hagedorn muttered.
    "We don't know he wasn't there waiting for them. He could have been there, killed them, and left after it was over."
    "What's the fucking motive, huh, Woo? A stolen car?"
    Mike flushed but kept silent. April was grateful for that. .
    "Liberty said he told Petersen his driver was a thief and urged him to cut the man loose. Maybe Petersen took his advice and Jefferson was pissed."
    "Because he lost his job?"
    "In the postal service, employment beefs end up in mass murder all the