Free Wrong Turn by Diane Fanning Page B

He was pumped. He wanted to be there – and maybe he’d get to go once Rogers’ identity was beyond question. He hated sitting here so far away with nothing to do but wait. He was thrilled that it was all about to be over but the pent-up energy was making him crazy. He had to get out and get moving. He left the office and walked the four blocks to his favorite diner – eggs, bacon and a stack of silver dollar pancakes sounded like just the thing to calm his jangled nerves. By the time he finished eating, he should have an answer – and maybe a plane ticket to Pocatello.

TWELVE
    L ucinda was on her way out of her office when the phone on her desk rang. Normally, she would have just kept going but now, with Charley missing, she couldn’t ignore the call. ‘Pierce,’ she said into the receiver.
    ‘Hey, lieutenant, this is Brubaker. That little girl you were worried about this morning, someone matching her description came in here in cuffs.’
    ‘In cuffs? I don’t think it could be her.’
    ‘Lieutenant, it looked a lot like that photo you emailed down here. You’d better check it out.’
    ‘Where is the kid?’
    ‘Property crimes, second floor.’
    ‘Thanks,’ she said, and went down the stairs to the floor below hers and asked the first officer she saw.
    ‘You just bring a little girl in here?’
    ‘Yeah. Sure did.’
    ‘Is her name Charley Spencer?’
    ‘Don’t know, lieutenant. But she’s in Interrogation Room B; you can go check her out.’
    Lucinda went down the hall to the room in question, stretched out her arm to push on the door. ‘Hold on a minute, Lieutenant Pierce.’
    Lucinda turned around and spotted the sergeant walking her way. ‘What’s up, Cafferty?’
    ‘The little punk’s been asking for you.’
    ‘What little punk?’ Lucinda asked, hoping it wasn’t Charley.
    ‘Her name is Charley Spencer – leastways that’s what she told us before she got stubborn and refused to talk to us until she talked to you.’
    Lucinda’s hands planted on her hips. ‘So why didn’t you call me, Cafferty?’
    ‘She didn’t kill anybody, lieutenant. It wasn’t a case for Homicide. And since I knew she was lying when she said that you were her friend, I didn’t want to bother you.’
    ‘You idiot. She wasn’t lying. You didn’t call me because you didn’t want me around to keep an eye on you. I’ve heard of your division’s reputation with minors. Twist their minds up until they confess and then the hell with the truth. I’m going in to talk to her.’
    Cafferty glowered at Lucinda as he slid between her and the door. ‘I can’t let you do that, lieutenant.’
    He was two inches shorter than Lucinda and of average height and build. In her heels, she could look down on the top of his head at the brown hair slicked back from his forehead. She lowered her stare to his artificial contact lens blue eyes. ‘Out of my way, Cafferty.’
    ‘Sorry, lieutenant, conflict of interest. I am following procedure when I refuse you access to the subject,’ he said with a smirk. ‘Can’t have you interfering with an investigation, now can we?’
    Lucinda had a strong urge to punch him in the face but held it back. ‘Why did you arrest that child in the first place?’
    Cafferty leaned back against the door and folded his arms across his chest. ‘It’s solid, lieutenant,’ he said with a smile. ‘9-1-1 got in a call saying that there was an act of vandalism in progress.’
    ‘Who made the call?’
    Cafferty shrugged. ‘Don’t know. No identification on the incoming call and the number tracked back to a disposable phone.’
    ‘Oh, that sounds real credible.’
    ‘It panned out, lieutenant. We sent out two squad cars. When the four officers got there, she was inside the apartment. She was caught with a can of red spray paint in her hand – kind of like catching literally red-handed,’ he said with a chuckle. ‘She also had a cut on one of her hands that she admitted was from the broken