Free A Deadly Development by James Green

general
fund and set it aside until the project is built,” Murray went on,
“You see, the city has a five year capital plan. Projects are
prioritized and laid out five years in advance so there is
coordination around the city and money is split pretty much evenly
for each Council district. Just curious, how big is your road and
how far would you be moving it?”
    “The road would be four lane, divided with an
island,” Burke was picturing what he saw just the morning before.
“As for the distance, somewhere around 150, to 200 yards.”
    “Then you are talking major dollars,
Sergeant, probably close to a million dollars.”
    “A million dollars?” Burke was incredulous.
“For a road?”
    “Yes, you are forgetting that any project
would have to have environmental impact studies, traffic studies,
and you would have to pay any property owner for the land you had
condemned. Plus you have to pay prevailing wage to all the workers
who build it. It adds up.”
    What Murray was telling him was just
reinforcing what he had seen and what Bethany Edwards had told him.
Viceroy wasn’t a lucky break. It was a well-oiled machine that had
been pushed along at breathtaking speed with great care.
    “And the Mayor, I assume she would have to
be involved?” Burke was thinking out loud.
    “Absolutely,” Don Murray stated, “capital
improvement projects are approved by citizen oversight committee,
she names the chair.” He was holding up fingers as he was counting
the steps.
    “Then the Mayor has to assign the ordinance
needed for approval to a committee. Like I told you, she knows
which committee offers the path of least resistance.”
    A third finger now popped up from his
fist.
    “Then if you are utilizing state and federal
dollars to help pay for it, you need to coordinate with the city’s
state and federal lobbyists. Those firms are hired by the Mayor’s
office and coordinate with her staff. So yeah, I would say the
Mayor would be involved.”
    Burke had one more question.
    “What do you know about Viceroy?”
    “Sergeant Burke, I’m going to be late to my
meeting.”
     
    Monday March 13, afternoon
     
    “Explain to me again how a housing
development has anything to do with our murder?” Jack Thurber asked
while cramming several French fries into his mouth. Thurber still
chewed with his mouth open and was fifty years old, Burke thought: Who the hell does still does that?
    “Mixed-use development,” Burke corrected him.
And he did solely to piss Thurber off.
    “Fuck me, Tom, mixed-use, no use, what do I
care? I’m trying to solve a murder. You apparently are trying to
play Monopoly.”
    It was almost 3:30. They had spent over seven
hours at City Hall, talking to anyone and everyone that had a
connection to John Vithous. Burke got to meet all twelve members of
the City Council, including his own representative, who apparently
had a younger sister who went through the entire Catholic school
system with Burke. He had pretended to remember the woman, which
was a lie, but he thought better of hurting the Councilman’s
feelings. Who knew? Maybe he would come in handy someday.
    “I don’t know if ties directly to our murder,
but it was the last thing our victim ever emailed about and does
appear to look more than a tad bit shady,” Burke responded. But
Thurber was right, Burke realized. At the moment, it really didn’t
have anything to do with a murder. Maybe graft, but he couldn’t for
the life of him make it anything more than that.
    “What do you think our next move should be?”
Burke replied, eating some of his salad.
    “I don’t know how you eat that rabbit food
shit, Tom, I really don’t.” Thurber had a look of disgust on his
face as he piled in another fistful of barbecue sandwich in his
face. Burke decided to avert his eyes before he became
nauseated.
    “Michaels wants us to do something ,”
Thurber stated while pulling out his notes again and turning the
pages until he found what he was looking