Scent of Murder (30 page)

It hurt his brain to think about the case.

Then there was sediment from the canal. All three Ludners claimed they hadn't even been to a canal. And it was difficult to get a forensic scientist to make the definitive statement that the sediment had come from around Tina Tictin's body. They were all so used to getting beat down in court that they phrased everything in hypothetical terms. There was even a chance the sediment on the welcome mat could be a coincidence of some kind.

All of this examination didn't take into account his gut feeling that the Ludners were telling the truth. The sons had been watching their father. It was against his normal police instincts, but he couldn't ignore it. He could read people well and had the sense that these guys were telling the truth.

Hallett turned toward Rocky and said aloud, “Screw it. I'm glad I'm a dog handler and not a detective anymore.” He knew there was some time before it all mattered. Ludner was being held without bond for the narcotics violations based on his criminal history, and the judge, who had kids of her own, didn't want to see a guy like that walking around free. Hallett was sure the homicide guys would put together a complete and detailed affidavit. That would take a little time.

Rocky sat up and started to turn his head like radar searching for a target. His ears stood straight off his head like horns. A moment later Hallett saw the headlights sweeping across the yard. He stumbled out of bed, dismissing the idea of grabbing his gun. The way he felt right now he wouldn't care if a gang member shot him in his own doorway. He was wearing shorts and pulled a dirty T-shirt over his head as he cracked the door and noticed a silver Mazda pulling to a stop next to his county-issued Tahoe.

Who the hell drives a Mazda?
This question was answered almost immediately when the smiling face of Lori Tate popped out of the small car. The first thing she said was, “You're not answering your phone.”

“Sorry.”

“I was out here dropping off reports at the Belle Glade substation and wanted to see where you lived. I hope you don't mind me just dropping by.”

Hallett said, “How'd you find it?”

She turned her head to look over her shoulder at the giant Christian school with a forty-foot steeple, looked back at Hallett, and said, “It wasn't hard.”

Hallett gave her a tired smile and motioned her into the trailer. Rocky had been wagging his tail since he heard Lori's voice.

As she stepped inside, Lori said, “This is nice.”

“Really? A trailer?”

“Out here, it's a mansion. And I bet your son likes playing with all the animals.” She placed a hand on his bare arm and looked into his eyes. “You look exhausted.”

“Been a tough couple of days. Anything new with you?”

“Actually it's kind of slow right now. Everyone in homicide is pushing Danny Weil to finish the affidavit and get Arnold Ludner charged.”

“Already? What about the new attack?”

“What about it?

“Ludner has an alibi. We were watching him at his house when the attack occurred.”

Lori said, “They don't tell me all that much, unless they need something.”

Hallett looked away, wondering if they had new evidence. He glanced at the clock on his DVR and considered whether it was too late to call the office and find out what was going on. He needed a distraction to get away from this.

Lori said, “This is hard.”

“What is?”

“Throwing myself at you without effect.” She stood on her tiptoes and planted a long, wet kiss on his lips.

Hallett instantly felt his body respond and was shocked to realize how long it had been since he kissed a woman like that, not counting the slip with Crystal.

He could always call the office first thing in the morning.

*   *   *

Junior peered through the dirty window of his car, watching Michelle Swirsky's house pass by slowly. It was dark and quiet. Michelle's house had no lights on at all. Had his attack spooked her mother? He could park in front of the older, one-story house and no one would even notice. Michelle had already been interviewed by a local TV station, and he felt certain the telegenic young woman would make it onto the tube a few more times before her fifteen minutes of fame ran out. Right now he had no idea where she was.

It was only a matter of time before he found her. She had to go to school. She probably wasn't going to quit her job at Publix, and she certainly wasn't going to quit the martial arts class that had saved her life. He just had to be in the right place at the right time to see her.

He knew he had to plan his next encounter with the feisty young girl, even if it just meant a bullet in her face.

He owed her.

 

35

Usually Rocky liked the people that Tim liked. It was simple. The person Tim liked the most in the world was Josh. The same as Rocky. Sometimes Rocky's heart beat so fast when the little boy came into view that he thought he might tumble over. If he did, he would be happy tumbling over.

One of the things that confused Rocky the most was Tim and his interactions with female people. Not all female people, but some of them.

The person that Josh lived with was one of them. Sometimes Tim seemed to like her and sometimes he did not. But Josh clearly liked that person, and Rocky remembered living in the same building with her when he first came home with Tim. Her name was Crystal, and she had always been nice to him.

Some of the female people that came to their house with the animals smelled artificial. He couldn't pick up a scent because of all the other odors coming off of them. Usually they only came by the house one time. The female that was here now was different.

She paid a lot of attention to Rocky. She didn't smell artificial and wasn't skittish around any of the animals. She even ran with the two little yapping dogs all over the field and threw a ball for them.

Sometimes Rocky had to compete for Tim's attention with females. But he didn't feel that way with this female. It was like he shared Tim with her and got something more from it.

Rocky really wanted to see how Josh felt about her. That would help him understand how to deal with her. But the female surprised him by getting up and leaving the house during the night. Rocky had liked her light snores. It made her feel real.

As she left the house, she made a good sound that showed she was happy. Rocky understood that this was a person's way of wagging the tail they didn't have. He liked it because it made Tim happy.

If Tim was happy, he was happy.

*   *   *

Tim Hallett padded across the floor of his trailer to let Rocky run loose and do his business at exactly 7
A.M.
It didn't matter how late they worked or what he ate, Rocky had to go for a trot around the property at seven in the morning every single day. He was the canine equivalent of an obsessive-compulsive. On the other hand, if Hallett had to wait until someone told him he could go to the bathroom, he'd be on a pretty regular schedule, too.

He left the door open so Rocky could slip back in after he'd made his rounds and visited each of the animals in their little zoo. Hallett sucked down a Gatorade and realized how much energy he had expended the night before. Lori had slipped out before midnight, and he felt like less of a gentleman because he didn't drive her home. He'd been raised to respect women, and he had a strong protective streak. Crystal had called it smothering, but his mom had called it good manners. His parents had enforced good manners sometimes with the threat of violence. It seemed to him that manners were going out of style. But Lori appreciated his offer for her to stay and his concern about her driving home at that hour of the night.

Hallett appreciated the attention from a pretty girl. He was a bit of a romantic at heart and viewed every date as the possible start to a long-term, special relationship. His friends had told him the concept was as corny as his “serve and protect” bullshit. Maybe that was just his personality. Life could be as simple as the right slogan. He'd found if you do your best, things tend to work out.

He picked up his iPad and navigated to the
Palm Beach Post
home page. His father had read the paper every morning of his life at breakfast. Hallett did the same thing but from a twenty-first-century perspective. He went directly to the sports page, as he did every day, then the local section, and finally the front page. Although a lot happened in Belle Glade and the other western Palm Beach County communities, it seemed like the people who lived in the eastern, urban areas had no interest in anything west of the Twenty Mile Bend.

Just as he was about to set down the device, an article on the second page caught his attention. It was pseudo-gossip column that covered politics as well as celebrities. The photograph next to the article made him freeze. It was a three-year-old photo of him as a detective.

“What the hell?” he mumbled aloud.

The article said,
The hero detective who saved a young girl was instrumental in arresting the man who skated on the charge. How could the sheriff's office allow someone with such strong personal feelings to be involved in another investigation of the child molester? My sources tell me that Tim Hallett, now a member of the Canine Assist Team, was the driving force of the investigation. Is he the only competent investigator at the giant sheriff's office?

Considering some of the stories that had run in the column, this was not unflattering, but he knew there was going to be some serious fallout. Everyone read this column. Especially at the sheriff's office, which was a favorite target of the writer. He wondered how long it would take for someone to say something to him.

Then his phone rang. It was the captain of the detective bureau.

*   *   *

Two hours later, as Hallett left the captain's office and shuffled through the detective bureau, Sergeant Greene, who had been in the meeting with them, said, “Tim, I'm not happy about the story either, but it didn't really paint you in a bad light. There was nothing negative about you in the entire article.”

“But our whole team is being shifted back out to our regular duties.”

“The captain had to do it for appearance's sake. The public only understands police work through the prism of
Law and Order
or
CSI.
That prick at the newspaper knows it and uses it to his benefit. You did nothing wrong. In fact, you all did a superb job.”

“But…”

“But you know there's a lot more to police work than what we see on TV. More things affect investigations than evidence and witnesses. And this stupid, useless little paragraph in the newspaper has cost me a great asset. But I don't want it to get you down, too.”

“Any bets on who leaked the story?”

Sergeant Greene just shook her head.

Hallett nodded, turned, and walked toward the exit. As he passed John Fusco's desk, the detective looked up from a report and said, “Good luck, Farmer Tim.”

It was difficult to resist the urge to punch the detective square in the face.

*   *   *

At lunchtime, sitting at his mother's kitchen table, Hallett couldn't believe how little things had changed since he was a child. If he was upset then, he found himself sitting at the same table, eating some incredible delight his mother had whipped up just to make him smile. Now, at thirty, as a veteran police officer, he had felt the need to come back to the same table and talk to his mother. The only difference was now he had the dog he always wanted.

Rocky sat on the floor next to him eyeing his brother. Every time Hallett showed up now, Bobby automatically left the room, took a quick shower, changed clothes, and returned. It seemed like a lot of work for a stupid habit.

His mom said, “Does this mean you're going to be out on patrol again?”

“I like patrolling with Rocky.”

“It's just that I worry about you out there on the street. I've seen too many videos on the news of you at the front of the pack of sheriff's deputies chasing some robber.”

“That's what a canine unit is supposed to do. The dog tracks, and the deputies follow.”

His mother stepped across the kitchen and sat down at the table. “I don't know how that cute little Claire Perkins does it. She looks like a cheerleader or a prom queen.”

Hallett let out a laugh. “Only if the cheerleader could kick your ass or the prom queen could shoot a perfect score on the hardest tactical course we have at the range. Claire does okay.”

Bobby said, “I thought you were going to introduce me to her sometime.”

“You've met her before.”

“I mean like
really
introduce us.”

“I'll tell you what, Bobby. She's a great girl and deserves a great guy, a guy who can pull his own weight in the relationship and has some potential. If you quit smoking pot, I'll arrange a perfect meeting between you and Claire.” Hallett knew it wasn't right to pimp out his partner and use her as a reward, but if his brother managed to quit smoking pot, he was quite sure Claire would help him out by having dinner with Bobby.

His brother perked up and rubbed his bloodshot eyes. “You really think she'd have a problem with something as simple as smoking pot?”

“I
know
she would have a problem with it. She doesn't even like to be around cigarette smoke.”

“You're a good brother, Tim. I'm sorry that jerk in the paper wrote the article that got you kicked out of the detective bureau again. But I promise I'll do my best today to cheer you up.”

Hallett appreciated his brother's sentiment but wondered how far he had fallen when Bobby needed to cheer him up.

*   *   *

Darren Mori was pissed. And relieved. He was pissed that his friend Tim Hallett was taking shit. But he was relieved to be going back out on patrol, or at least available for assignment; he and Brutus got called on for special assignments, not usually regular patrol. There was a lot that went on in the detective bureau. Not just piecing together the evidence and facts of the case, but the subtle politics and the competition to see who would make the case first. The whole idea made him a little uncomfortable. He didn't have the experience Tim Hallett did of working in the detective bureau, and he didn't have the confidence of Claire Perkins. All he wanted to do was focus on police work. That, and figure a way to sneak by and see Kim Cooper as soon as possible.