Free The Victim by Jonas Saul Page B

the one Waller was looking for. Finally, the last woman she talked to wanted to check the veracity of her statement. Sarah told the woman to ask Waller what food stand he had stood inside to ward off the men in overcoats. Once her facts were verified, Waller answered.
     
    “Sarah Roberts?” he asked, his voice as deep as she remembered.
     
    “Detective Waller. You’ve pissed me off.”
     
    “How’s that?”
     
    Sarah got up off the bed to scrounge up the rest of her clothes. The police would trace the call and be on their way. If this conversation didn’t go her way, she wouldn’t be here when they arrived.
     
    “You announced to the world that I’m a person of interest. You let them show a clip of me defending myself from those murderers, but made it look like I was the aggressor. You were there. You saw as well as I did what happened. I had nothing to do with it. In fact, the only reason I’m not in custody is because I ran for my life, as you did.”
     
    “I was informed by Hank Frommer and his team that we were there to apprehend a sex offender. When those men entered the scene … well, let’s just say you were a prisoner of Hank Frommer’s and now you’re free. It all adds up. Come on in so we can talk about it.”
     
    “I wasn’t a prisoner. Hank had snatched me, kidnapped me. I have proof. Ask Drake Bellamy. We were having dinner together a week ago at the Old Spaghetti Factory on the Esplanade when Hank stormed in and took me. There was a scuffle—”
     
    Waller cleared his throat. “Can’t do that.”
     
    “Why not?”
     
    “If we’re talking about the same Drake Bellamy, he was found face up in Lake Ontario yesterday morning.”
     
    Sarah sat heavily on the edge of the bed. “What? No way. He was a fighter.”
     
    “A fellow cop did the ID.”
     
    “Spencer?” she guessed.
     
    “Yeah, how did you know?”
     
    After all Drake had been through in the past two months—the Hungarian murderer and then Elmore Ackerman …
     
    “Sarah?” Waller broke through.
     
    “What?”
     
    “We have to meet.”
     
    Her head cleared for a moment. She would grieve later. Even though she didn’t really know him, she still felt a certain loss. “Why the campaign against me? I ran. You saw that. Those men came after me, too. I pricked one with whatever they had in their hands in the sporting goods store. A female employee saw the whole thing. I’m clean of this. Everything I did was in self-defense.”
     
    Outside noise like a car going past him made his voice unintelligible.
     
    “What did you say?” Sarah asked, heading for the bathroom.
     
    “I have a lot of good men who died today. It’s a fucking zoo around here when a cop is killed in the line of duty, but when this many are killed, the force goes nuclear looking for answers. I’m your only hope. Come in, sit down, tell me everything. Let me keep you for a couple of days to guarantee your safety and then you can head home, providing you actually have nothing to do with those guys.”
     
    “And if I don’t come in?”
     
    “There are thousands of cops who will hunt you down for a long time just to get the answers I’m looking for. There would be an accident …” he trailed off. “Look, Sarah, if you leave, it looks bad. You know how this works. What the media showed tonight on camera makes you look guilty. Meet with me. Then I can clear your name and you’re free to go.”
     
    She stared at herself in the mirror. She hated cops and how they operated. If they could only trust her for a change. That she would have anything to do with what happened at the mall was preposterous.
     
    “Do I need a lawyer?”
     
    “Only if you want one. I won’t advise against it, but you’re not being charged with anything at this time.”
     
    “Do you know if Officer Parkman is still in Toronto? He was helping Spencer, Drake and me last month on the Elmore Ackerman thing.”
     
    “I looked him up yesterday when Hank called