The Devil's Water: Scenic City Murder Series #1 (7 page)

“There are meetings all over Chattanooga but I’m partial to the Friday night group at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Free coffee and doughnuts and of course the meeting is free. I’ll leave you with that.” Clutch said as he interrupted her thoughts.

“I’ll keep it in mind.” Tasha finally said dismissively. She hung the phone up and noticed that she felt a little better physically. Mentally, though, she was as mad as hell. She brought her hand up and noticed that it had finally stopped shaking. The words her father would’ve said came back to her in a rush.
You just had too much to drink last night, girl!
She would show them, goddammit. She would show them all. She had the willpower. That was all she needed. Tasha thought about the beer and the wine in the fridge. She thought about the liquor in the cabinet. Maybe she would just pour it out. Yeah. That was what she needed to do.

Tasha walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. There, she saw two 12 packs of Corona and a case of Michelob Ultra. She reached up and checked the liquor cabinet. Three bottles of gin and a half bottle of Vodka. Money. All the money she had spent on that. She could see the dollars stacked up on a table in front of her. Tens and twenties floating around in the air. What a waste. Tasha closed the liquor cabinet and walked back in the den. She wouldn’t pour out the alcohol. Maybe someone else might drink it. Yeah. She would just wait to bring it out for a special occasion. No need to throw it away now.

CHAPTER 15

Hank Gamblin was sitting in his office looking at the leaves on the tree outside his window. A few of them were starting to turn brown. Fall was on the way. Hank leaned back in his desk chair with a satisfied smile on his face. He was about to play his hand and it was a very good one. He was about to deliver a strong left jab and hit the Chattanooga Police Department right between the eyes. He thought about Ryan Skopic for a moment. He’d never cared for him and he thought Mclutcheon to be a prick of the first order. Well, this was Mclutcheon’s baby and boy would he be surprised. Little did he know that he would be helping out his nemesis, good ol’ Hank. Yes, this was going to be a great story. One of the hallmarks of his career. Gamblin leaned over his desk and took another look at the photos. Everything was in order. Perfect. Now, all he needed to do was write the article. Hank opened up his lap top and began typing. He figured the story would go to press in the morning. He had plenty of time to finally sink that pack of assholes down at the PD.

CHAPTER 16

Daniel A. Mclutcheon was driving down I75, his hands tight on the wheel. He was so angry, he believed he could actually choke the living shit out of someone at that very moment. He glanced over in the passenger seat beside him. The morning paper lay face up with the huge headline staring out at him.

FORMER FBI PROFILER HELPS WITH CASE

Underneath, there were two pictures. One was of a much younger Mclutcheon in his dress blues. The other was a photo of a casket with several policemen carrying it. The casket was being taken into a large cathedral downtown. It was a funeral that Clutch remembered very well for he was one of the cops carrying the casket into the church. That was the day that he buried his best friend.

He pulled into the police station and parked his car in its designated spot. He grabbed the paper and exited his car, slamming the door. The police department was all abuzz. Clutch walked down the hall toward his office speaking to no one. No one spoke to him either. When someone met his gaze, they quickly diverted their eyes and skittered away. His office door was ajar and when he opened it, he saw that Ryan Skopic was standing beside his desk. Skopic looked almost as pissed as Mclutcheon.

“So what now?” Clutch asked, barely able to keep his voice civil.

“Well, I’ve been answering phone calls all morning. God this is a mess.”

“Gamblin just had to do it, didn’t he?”

“He’s a reporter, Clutch. He’s also a real son of a bitch.”

Clutch walked over to his desk and sat down. Skopic took a seat in the chair beside him. “I mean, Tasha didn’t deserve this. She begged me not to get her name involved in this. She didn’t want to be in the news. I should’ve protected her.” Clutch said, his eyes filling with tears.

“There was nothing you could do, Clutch. Sometimes shit just happens. It was out of your control.”

“That’s what my sponsor said this morning.” Clutch said, wiping a tear that was dripping down his cheek.

“Wallace Yoder was the best friend any man could have. He was my confidant and my partner. He saved my life more than once. I only wish I could’ve saved his. I’ve gone back over that day a thousand times in my mind. What could I have done differently?”

“Nothing Clutch. You did all you could. Wrong place wrong time. Young punk high on drugs didn’t even know where the fuck he was. He had a gun. He was going to kill himself. Wally tried to get the gun away from him and he fired at Wally instead. He was gut shot. He bled out in no time. It wasn’t your fault, Clutch.”

“I still remember all the blood. I remember holding Wally as he died. He was in my arms when he died.” Clutch wiped at the constant stream of tears falling from his eyes. “And I remember having to tell Tasha and her mother. I drove over there. I still had blood on my clothes.”

“Now, it’s just Tasha.” Skopic said quietly.

“Yeah, Elaine died less than a year later. Cervical cancer. I think that’s when Tasha started drinking so heavy. Thank God I quit or I would have killed myself with the stuff.”

“Have you talked to Tasha yet?”

“No. Not yet and I dread it. I doubt she’s up yet but I probably need to talk to her before she finds out some other way. “

Skopic leaned over the desk and grabbed the phone receiver. He handed it to Mclutcheon. “There’s no time like the present.” He said and offered Clutch a gentle smile. Skopic rose from his chair and opened up the office door. “You may need to give her some time but she’ll understand.” He said as he shut the door quietly behind him.

CHAPTER 17

He sat staring down into a black cup of coffee. It was 10:00AM, over 24 hours since the Gamblin story broke. Clutch had read the piece more than once. He had studied it and tried to figure out what the article had said without really saying it. For one, Gamblin had intimated that Tasha had a drinking problem. That wasn’t terribly big news since Tasha had made no secret of it, really. Gamblin was just trying to embarrass the department with that. What had he left out, though? Clutch sat back and clasped his hands behind his head. The most glaring thing he could think of that was left out of the article was the news he had received from Janese Dupri. No mention of dark blue cars or green hats or beards anywhere in the article. That would’ve been huge to Gamblin and he certainly wouldn’t have kept his fat mouth shut had he known. Clutch realized that the only people who witnessed the interview firsthand were a couple of detectives from vice. He knew the men well and knew they were upstanding. Ryan Skopic, Jeff Wilder and Tasha were the only other people who were aware. Clutch had been careful with Wilder and told him not to tell a single soul about it. At this very moment, Clutch realized that he hadn’t. He realized that Wilder would’ve told his partner before he told anyone else and Clutch knew to his core that he hadn’t. He knew because Martin Vicelli called in sick for work yesterday and, according to Wilder, he had called him last night to ask about how the day had gone at the PD. Clutch thought about it a moment more and his jaw muscles began working as he clenched his teeth. He picked up the desk phone and dialed in house. It rang twice before Vicelli picked it up. “Yeah”

“Martin I need to see you for a few minutes. Can you come down here?”

“Sure. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Martin Vicelli strolled into Clutch’s office and took a seat in the chair by Clutch’s desk. He had a smile on his face. “What’s up?” he asked innocently.

“Hey, I heard you had a 24 hour bug yesterday. You feelin’ better?” Clutch asked as he returned the smile.

“Yeah. I just had an upset stomach is all. Spent most of the day in the bathroom.”

“Is that right?” Clutch asked, the smile turning into an expression of concern. “Well Martin, what I’ve called you down here for is to talk to you about the article that came out in the paper yesterday.”

“Oh, yeah. That was terrible. How is Tasha?”

“Well fortunately, after talking to her, I convinced her to stay with the case. She had been drinking yesterday. This whole thing has been very hard on her and, as you know, she drinks a little too much.”

“Yeah, I know she has a problem with that.” Vicelli said as he darted his eyes away and looked down at his shoes. Clutch’s gaze never wavered. He stared at Vicelli.

“Well Martin, since we’re talking about the major players involved in this recent turn of events, I have to ask you. How’s Hank Gamblin?”

Vicelli’s eyes opened wide. He glanced back up at Clutch. “What?”

“Hank Gamblin. The reporter from the paper. The one who wrote the nasty news article yesterday.”

“Well…I don’t even really know him. I…I don’t talk to him.” Vicelli stuttered.

“Aw, c’mon Martin. You know Hank! Everyone around here knows Hank. It’s just that you know him better than most. Matter of fact, you’ve been leaking information to him since this whole thing started.” Clutch said with a wicked smile on his face.

“N..no. You’ve got it all wrong.” Vicelli said. Clutch noticed that his upper lip was beginning to sweat. He watched as Vicelli swallowed, his Adam’s apple jumping up and down.

“Well, I’m a betting man Martin. I’ll bet that I can lean on Hank and get him to squeal. See Martin, Hank ain’t loyal to anybody. Even his, shall we say, anonymous sources close to the investigation?”

Martin Vicelli stared at Clutch. A drop of sweat trickled from his temple to his cheekbone and finally landed on his dark pants. His upper lip was absolutely drenched. “Are you gonna fire me?” he finally asked, breaking the silence.

“Depends. Skopic and I talked it over. There is some information you could feed Gamblin that would be beneficial to the police department and those of us who are trying to catch this bastard. You do that and we’ll see what we can do about keeping you around. You’ll probably be demoted from detective, though.”

Vicelli’s face turned white. “What’s the other option?”

“Well, if you don’t cooperate, I am putting you on leave without pay. Then I’ll make sure there is a full and thorough internal affairs investigation and then….I’ll fire your ass. I don’t think you want to go down that road, do you?”

“No I don’t.” Vicelli finally whispered. Clutch wasn’t sure but he thought the man was about to cry. “What do I need to do?”

“When the time is right, I want you to give Gamblin some information. We have reason to believe it’s false but it might put the killer on the move. It’s worth a try, anyway. I will depend on you to do exactly as I say. You veer from the plan at all and you can kiss your solid career and pension goodbye. Understood?”

Vicelli’s lip was quivering. Clutch stared at him for a full minute while he tried to get his emotions under control. “Understood.”

CHAPTER18

Tasha Yoder was standing in the middle of her classroom watching the students examine various pieces of evidence. The class was Crime Scene Investigation and the course had closed quickly for the fall quarter. Everyone wanted to be a CSI. They all thought they could be the next Ted Danson or Jorja Fox. Little did the students know that crime scene analysis wasn’t nearly as exciting as what they saw on TV. All of the crime dramas had these “wonder computers” where any information pertaining to the case was only a few seconds and the press of a button away. Tasha was very aware that it didn’t work like that in real life. Right at that instant, she was staring at a young man who had picked up a coke bottle and began dusting it for fingerprints. “No, Chad. Stick that in the evidence bag and process it later. You only need to dust things that can’t be moved from the scene.” Chad glanced up at her and blushed. Tasha could see that the poor lad felt like a complete fucking idiot. She still had an hour to go before class would be over, then no class for the next couple days.
What’s new, I’ll be classless.
She smiled and chuckled at the thought. She was looking at the big oak tree outside the window as her phone vibrated. She snapped the phone off her belt and hit send. “Yeah.”

“Tasha, it’s Clutch. You busy?”

“I’m in the middle of class. Can I call you in about an hour?”

“I’ll be here.”

Tasha signed off with him and proceeded to have an uneventful last half of class time. She walked down the hall to her office. She grabbed her satchel and closed her office door. As she walked out of the Criminal Justice building, she noticed the coolness of the afternoon. Fall was in the air. The cicadas, however, were still high and shrill. Tasha always thought cicadas were mother natures answer to leaf blowers. She loved crickets but couldn’t stand cicadas. She walked over to a bench sitting between two crepe myrtles and plopped down. Pulling her phone from her waist, she dialed Clutch’s number.

“Yep.”

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Hey kid. Well… I talked to Vicelli. He’s our leak, of course. I told him the only way he could keep his job is if he worked with us. Even then, he would be demoted.”

“The only thing I asked of you was to keep me out of the news.” Tasha said, she could feel the anger starting to rise from her gut.

“I know. I’m sorry, Tasha. I wish I could make things different but I can’t. What I can do, however, is punish the prick and try to use this to our advantage.”

“Yeah, how you gonna do that?”

“I was thinking about how you said the killer enjoys knowing more about us than we do about him. That got me wondering if there wasn’t something we could get out there about him.”

“Yeah, but we don’t know shit about him other than what Janese told you. Even then, Janese coulda picked the wrong guy.”

“It doesn’t matter. I told Vicelli that I would feed him some information which was probably false about the killer. Sensitive information. If he would give the information to Gamblin and it gets in the news, the killer might make a move.”