*Tallon*
This wasn’t the first ti that I had been arrested, or even the first ti I had been booked, but it was the first ti I wasn’t confident that I would be out by morning.
Whoever was behind this setup was thorough. There was no doubt in my mind that there was evidence in the warehouse that I hadn’t seen before I attempted to make my escape.
The police let sit in the stress of the situation for what felt like hours before finally getting booked into my cell. From there, they quickly escorted to an interrogation room.
It was pointless for them to try to question . This wasn’t my first ti dealing with the law, and I knew better than to talk to the police without my lawyer by my side.
I looked down at the ink staining my fingertips as the detective across the table spoke. I was barely paying attention as he introduced himself to . I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was going to try to play good cop. It wasn’t going to do him any good.
“I’ve got nothing to say to you,” I said simply. “I won’t speak without a lawyer present.”
“If you’re innocent, why do you need a lawyer?” he asked in a curious tone.
“I need my lawyer because I’m innocent and you goons have never let that stop you from locking soone up,” I snapped. I cursed myself internally and bit the inside of my cheek. I couldn’t let them goad into talking. They could twist every word I said and use it against .
The detective held his hands up in a placating gesture.
“I won’t lie,” he lied. “So officers do shady things like that, but I’m not one of them. I’m only interested in finding the truth about what happened to that John Doe. Do you know who he is? His na?”
I leaned back in the chair and stared at the wall behind him. I was determined not to speak again, no matter how much he pissed off.
“This looks really bad. You understand that, don’t you?”
There was a long silence.
“Of course you do,” he continued. “You’re a smart man. We found you with a dead body and the murder weapon. You have to understand what that looks like.”
I sneered. They hadn’t even swabbed my hands or clothes to check for gunshot residue. It was obvious they were looking to hang out to dry, not exonerate . They didn’t care about the truth. They cared about getting this case off their books.
I didn’t say anything, and after a few beats of silence he nodded to himself. “Yeah, you’re smart. Smart enough to take precautions. He sat back in his chair and looked at critically. “You know, we found a plastic poncho and gloves in a trash can not far from the body.”
I laughed, but I stopped myself quickly. If this guy thought we were wearing ponchos to carry out hits, he was watching too many movies.
“A man is dead,” he said in exaggerated shock. “What is there to laugh about?”
“You’re wasting your breath,” I told him.
He could ask questions until he was blue in the face. I wasn’t answering him.
Several minutes passed while we both sat in awkward silence and stared at one another. Eventually he sighed and leaned back in his chair. He looked at the clock and stood with a groan. “Are you a smoker?” he asked.
I shook my head no. It would take a lot more than offering a cigarette to get to drop my guard.
“Coffee drinker?”
I shook my head again. “I don’t need anything until my lawyer gets here,” I said.
“He’s on his way,” the detective said in irritation.
I smiled as he cursed under his breath. He hadn’t ant to tell that. If I didn’t know how long I had to wait, he had a better chance of wearing down. Now, I knew for certain that help was on the way.
“She,” I corrected.
“I need a cigarette,” he muttered. “I’ll send my partner in to keep you company.”
Ah, he must be sending in the bad cop, I thought.
He walked out without another word, and a second later the door opened, and a large, sharp eyed man walked in. He had a stack of papers in one hand and a paper coffee cup in the other. He sat across from and glared directly into my eyes.
I stared back and waited for him to speak. After a mont, he tossed a stack of papers onto the table. I didn’t look at them. I knew what they would be—cri scene photos. He wanted to gauge my reaction to seeing them unexpectedly. I didn’t take my eyes off him.
Before he could try whatever other cards he had up his sleeves, the door opened.
I glanced over my shoulder and relief flooded through at the sight of my lawyer. The detective glared at her, but he got to his feet and held his hand out.
She shook his hand firmly. “Detective,” she said by way of greeting. “I’m going to need a few minutes with my client, and I’m going to need that ti sowhere that isn’t being recorded either through video or audio surveillance.”
She looked pointedly at the small surveillance cara in the corner of the room.
I grinned. The detective’s face went a little red as he dropped his hand and glared at her. “You can talk in here,” he said.
“With all due respect,” she said, “that’s not going to work for .”
There was a tense silence as she stared the much larger man down. I sat back comfortably and waited for him to make a decision.
“I’ll shut the cara off,” he said.
“And the audio recording device,” she reminded him with a smile.
He nodded, then left the room with a grumble.
“Hello Mrs. Morton,” I said once we were alone. “I apologize for waking you at such an ungodly hour.”
“These things can never happen in the midafternoon, can they?” she joked. She sat across from and folded her hands in her lap.
We sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes until the red light on the cara turned off. We waited a few more seconds before she spoke.
“Walk through it,” she said.
“I got a text that appeared to co from Vinny, but it wasn’t from him,” I started. “The text instructed to go to one of our warehouses imdiately. We’ve been having so issues related to our business, and I’ve been on alert in case of an ergency. Despite the hour and how vague the ssage was, I rushed out to et him.”
She nodded thoughtfully at my words. “So, you were lured out under false pretenses,” she said. “What happened when you got to the warehouse?”
“I was confused,” I said. “There were no cars and no lights on. It appeared that no one was there.”
“Suspicious, but you went in?”
“Yes. I figured since I was there anyway, I should go inside and see if there was a note or sothing like that to fill in on what the hell was going on.”
I sighed. It was a stupid move and I regretted it, but there was nothing I could do about that now.
“What did you find inside?”
“A body,” I said with a grimace. “He was in the middle of the room. I didn’t see any blood, so I went to check. He was dead. There was a gun lying near him. I was in shock. Before I could react, Vinny called . I asked him what the hell was going on and he said that he hadn’t sent the text and had no idea what was going on.”
She frowned deeply at that. “Then?”
“I started heading toward the door. I was trying to decide what to do, and I wanted to get away from the body. Before I reached the door, the police burst in with guns drawn and placed under arrest.”
Her eyebrows shot up at that. “They entered with guns drawn?”
I nodded firmly. “Drawn and pointed directly at . I don’t know who called them.”
“Well, I’m going to be tracking down that 911 call,” she muttered. “Is there surveillance in the warehouse that would show your movents?”
I ran through the events in my mind quickly. I didn’t recall doing anything questionable in the short ti that I was there. I nodded. “Vinny can get you the footage.”
“Is there anything else I should know?”
I nodded. “The man had a tattoo that I noticed. He’s affiliated with the Russians.”
She inhaled sharply and cursed. “Well, that complicates this significantly. It doesn’t look good, Tallon.”
“That’s why we called you,” I said.
“I’m good, but I’m not a miracle worker. You keep your mouth shut and let do my digging. This is going to take ti. If we take one wrong step, they’ll throw the book at you.”
“I know,” I said. “The detective indicated that there was so other evidence recovered from the scene, but I don’t have details.”
She nodded. “I’ll do what I can to fast track the bond hearing and get you out of here,” she promised. “The rest is going to depend on what they find.”
“I know,” I said with a sigh.
“Do you have any idea who could be trying to set you up?”
I shook my head. “We don’t have any tense business relations right now,” I explained. “I have no idea why soone would have done this.”
“Any other odd occurrences lately, around your house or vehicles?”
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
She nodded. “Well, I assu you didn’t talk to the detectives.”
“No,” I said. “Which really pissed them off.”
“No one should ever talk to the cops,” she said emphatically, “especially not when they’re innocent.”
I had to smile. That attitude was exactly why I’d hired her. There were a lot of good defense attorneys out there, but I had never t one with such a deep distrust of the police. I’d never asked, but I was sure she’d seen so underhanded cops pulling truly shady stunts in the attempt to get a conviction.
“I’m aware,” I said wryly. “They’ll hang with any inch of rope I give them.”
“Grim,” she said in an unamused tone. “I hope you recognize exactly how serious this is. It’s going to be an uphill battle and at this juncture, I’m not confident I can get you off unscathed.”
I looked down at the ink on my hands and thought about her words. She was right. This was really bad. My normal defenses weren’t going to cut it, and it was going to take a lot to convince a judge and jury that I was innocent.
My only alibi was that I was at ho with my wife. No one would accept that as a trustworthy alibi. Natalia would vouch for , but anyone would be justified in believing that she was lying to protect .
I really could go to prison for this, I thought.
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