Tunnel Vision (18 page)

Brodie backed the car out and drove toward the police department. She and Maggie didn’t speak for several blocks.

“Do you think Brauner and Garcia’s deaths are related now?” Maggie finally asked.

“It’s sure beginning to look that way. And that should make our job a little easier, I suppose. Have you thought about a timetable of events yet?”

“Not really, but my guess would be that both crimes occurred Thursday night, probably early evening. Mrs. Brauner told me her husband went to the university a little after seven. We haven’t found Garcia’s keys, but he must have had them in order to clean the offices. If Mrs. Brauner is right about the exams being tampered with, Garcia’s killer might have murdered him for his keys and used them to get into Brauner’s office.”

“Where he was probably interrupted by Brauner returning at seven or so,” Brodie continued.

“In the meantime, he had Garcia’s body stashed in the tunnel.”

“Look it up when we get back. I wonder why no one missed Garcia that evening. The Biology Building is pretty big. Surely there was more than one janitor assigned to the building.”

“According to the supervisor there are three, one for each floor. It’s possible they wouldn’t see one another.”

“He probably couldn’t get rid of Garcia’s body right away and then his problem was compounded by Brauner’s unexpected appearance. He would have been forced to kill him to prevent Brauner from turning him in. Do we have any suspects?”

“At least twenty-four if you think it might have been a student,” Maggie said holding up the exams.

“And that doesn’t include Obregon, the assistant. He and Brauner had a fight on Wednesday about something. When I talked to him, he said it wasn’t any big deal, but he could have been lying. He is, or was, a member of the Latin Lords. Has the tats to prove it.”

“According to the professor’s wife, he done seen the light though,” Brodie quipped.

“We’ll need to talk to him again.”

“Who else have you talked to about Brauner?”

“Dr. Roth in the same department and his

assistant, a graduate student named Daryll Chambers.”

“What did they have to offer?”

“Not much, but I didn’t know much when I talked to them except Brauner was missing. Roth’s sort of a strange bird. Smokes pot in his office and looks like his karma got stuck in the late sixties.”

“Sounds like my kinda guy,” Brodie said with a smirk.

“You’d love his Grateful Dead collection,” Maggie said as she grinned across the seat at Brodie.

“Who else you got?”

“The assistant, Chambers, looks straight arrow. One of those Ivy League types. Very clean cut. He told me about an argument he overheard between Obregon and Brauner.”

“When we get back to the office we’ll fill Nicholls in and start dividing up what we’ve got so far. Better set up a schedule for interviewing the students, but you can eliminate the women in the group.”

“Why? You think a woman couldn’t carry off a crime like this?”

“Not without help and this doesn’t look like it was a group project.”

NICHOLLS WAS AT his desk with the telephone receiver resting on his shoulder when the two women returned to the squad room. He waved quickly when he saw them and returned to his phone conversation. Maggie poured coffee for herself and one for Brodie and carried them back to their desks. She got Nicholls’s attention and pointed at his cup. He smiled and shook his head.

“I’ll get a roster of students in Brauner’s class this afternoon. How do you want to handle the

interviews? Here or at their places?” Maggie asked.

“I kinda prefer the element of surprise by just dropping in on them personally,” Brodie answered.

“Sometimes they don’t show up when you call them in and, if our boy is among them, I wouldn’t want him to skip town.”

“I can get their addresses from the registrar, but spring break at the university will be starting at the end of next week. We might not be able to get to all of them before then.”

“We’ll do what we can and catch the rest after.”

Nicholls hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair.

“So, where have you two been?” he asked.

“We got a possible I.D. on Charcoal Bill,” Brodie said.“Great, I guess. Who is he?”

“Dr. Elliott Brauner, a professor in the Biology Department. What did you find out about the vehicle?” she asked.

“Pretty much what we already knew. Jenkins was definitely the owner. In fact, I just talked to him on the phone again. He’s given a statement to Austin PD, but won’t be much help. Wants his insurance company to take a look at what’s left. Worried he won’t get a new car out of it.”

“When did he leave it at the airport?”

“The Sunday before we found it. Out of town all week for a business conference or something. Has absolutely no idea who might have stolen his car. Surprise, surprise. But it seems that Mr. Jenkins has this, uh, how can I delicately put this? Snob complex?

Anyway, he always parks his car in Executive Long Term Parking. The airport has a special area for big business types who travel frequently.”

“Is he a frequent flyer?”

“Apparently.”

“Well, the car wasn’t your regular freeway trolley. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the guy at the ticket booth will remember it,” Maggie interjected.

“How do you think our guy got to the airport?”

Nicholls asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Brodie said.

“Think he had the bodies with him?” Maggie asked.

“That’d take a pretty ballsy guy. Lug along two dead bodies. Hot wire a car and then transfer the bodies to it,” Brodie said.

“Since Brauner’s was the only body found in the car, maybe he didn’t have both bodies with him. Wouldn’t even have to worry about hiding it. Just pass it off as a sleeping passenger,” Nicholls said.

“Shit. This Jenkins guy left the car at the airport on Sunday, we found it after it became a barbecue grill on wheels Thursday, and Jenkins didn’t report it missing until the following Monday. Whoever took it could have done it anytime between Sunday and Thursday. Wouldn’t have had to have either body with him.” Brodie said, rubbing her face.

“But that’s assuming he planned the two murders in advance,” Maggie jumped in. “I think Brauner was an accident. Just stumbled into his own murder. He shouldn’t have even been on the campus Thursday evening.”

“Think he might have witnessed Garcia’s

murder?” Nicholls asked.

“I don’t know, but suppose our guy hadn’t figured on murdering Brauner. Suddenly he’s stuck with two dead bodies. Burning the body in a fake accident seems like a hastily put together plan,” Maggie offered.

“Why go to the airport to steal a fuckin’ car? He coulda stolen one closer to home,” Nicholls said.

“Probably figured a car stolen from the airport in Austin wouldn’t be reported for at least a day or two. Especially one in long term parking,” Brodie said, looking at Maggie. She could sense Maggie was beginning to get excited by the idea of pieces falling into place. It was becoming harder for her to find much wrong with the trainee’s work.

“Right,” Maggie said. “It would give him time to distance the two crimes from one another. Or at least he thought so at the time.”

“So how do you think it went down, RB?” Nicholls asked.

“Well, Weston thinks Garcia was killed to get his office keys, in particular the keys to Brauner’s office. An exam was scheduled for Friday and the wife confirmed the exams had been tampered with. He was interrupted by Brauner and forced to kill him, too,”

she answered. “Probably took Brauner’s key to the file cabinet after he killed him. Worked out for him in the end since there was no reason for a janitor to have keys to anything other than the office itself.”

“Sounds logical to me, but isn’t he practically pointing the finger at himself then? I mean, how many people would have wanted into Brauner’s office bad enough to kill two people.”

“That’s the illogical part,” Maggie said. “There are twenty-four people in his graduate class and if you eliminate the women that leaves nineteen.”

“Maybe it isn’t one of Brauner’s students,”

Nicholls said. You said the assistant, what’s his name, argued with the professor. Maybe he’s sending us off on a wild goose chase after he got his rocks off getting even with the old man.”

“Then why kill the janitor?” Maggie asked.

“Obregon had a key to the office himself. I don’t like him for this.”

Brodie ruffled her hands through her short hair.

“Well, now that we’ve completed that circle and seem to be right back where we started, I think it’s time to call it a day. Let’s sleep on it over the weekend and we’ll start interviewing people Monday. See if we can eliminate anyone and make the circle smaller.”

BRODIE CARRIED HER coffee cup to the restroom and washed it out before leaving for the weekend. They had made some progress on the two cases and it was more than she had initially hoped for. As she left the restroom on her way back to the squad room, she heard loud voices and quickened her pace. It seemed a little early for their usual contingent of Friday night drunks. As she rounded the corner into the squad room she stopped dead in her tracks. What she saw wasn’t anything she would have anticipated and felt the urge to turn and walk in the opposite direction. The eyes of Tim Weston glaring at her prevented that option. She glanced quickly around the room at her fellow officers and walked toward her desk. Maggie was seated behind her desk, obviously embarrassed by the scene her father was creating. The look Brodie saw in her eyes broke her heart. But Maggie Weston wasn’t hers to protect any longer. Nicholls was attempting to determine what the problem was, using as reasonable a tone as possible.

“Sir, I suggest we move to an interrogation room. This is a personal matter between you and your daughter and shouldn’t be aired in front of these other officers.”

“Why? My daughter has made it perfectly clear she isn’t in the least ashamed or embarrassed about being a lesbian,” Weston said derisively.

Nicholls appeared dumbfounded by the

accusation and stared at Brodie.

“That’s enough, Tim,” Brodie said as she

approached the scene, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. “Take Detective Nicholls’

suggestion. Let’s go someplace more private. If you insist on continuing your tirade out here I’ll have you arrested for creating a disturbance.”

“You don’t have the guts to do that, Brodie,” Tim sneered.

She stepped closer to him and kept her voice low.

“Don’t test me, Tim.” Turning away, she was stopped by Nicholls’ hand on her arm. “Romero! Take Detective Weston and her father to interrogation two. I’ll be there in a minute.” She jerked her arm away from Nicholls and walked back down the hallway and into interrogation room one with Nicholls following her.“Is it true, Brodie?” he asked as soon as the door closed.

“Which part?”

“Is Weston a dyke?”

Brodie glared at him. “Her sexual orientation is none of my business or yours. You’ll have to ask her.”

“Are you sleeping with her?”

“I’m not ready to throw away my career by fuckin’

a trainee, Nicholls! I knew Maggie when I was with the Austin PD and that’s it, so drop it. If you have a problem, see Captain Donaldson.”

Brodie left the interrogation room and leaned against the wall to calm down and take a deep breath before moving to her next problem. When she entered the second interrogation room Maggie was seated at the table and Tim was pacing like a caged animal.

“You want me to stay, Brodie?” Romero asked.

“No. Where is Donaldson?”

“He ran out to grab something to eat. Should be back soon.”

“Ask him to join us when he gets back, please.”

She closed the door as Romero left and turned her attention Maggie and her father. She could see the apology in Maggie’s eyes, but ignored it. “Sit down, Mr. Weston, and tell me what your problem seems to be, considering you’re not a resident of our fair city.”

Although he refused to sit, Tim placed the palms of his hands on the table and leaned toward Brodie.

“You’re my fucking problem, Brodie, and you damn well know why.”

“I only know what your problem was eight years ago.”

“I know you’ll try to work your way back into my daughter’s bed, if you haven’t already,” he spat, staring at Maggie. “Your fellow officers should be made aware of who they’re having to work with every damn day.”

“They are aware for the most part. All you’ve succeeded in doing today is humiliating your daughter. I don’t give a shit what my fellow officers think about me, but I do care what they think about my trainee. I didn’t ask for this assignment and I tried to get out of it because I knew you’d pull a stunt like this eventually. I guess I didn’t think you’d be this vindictive against your own daughter. She’s going to be a damn good detective. She’s thorough and has good instincts. I’m guessing she got those traits from her mother because she sure as shit couldn’t have gotten them from you. Your problem is you can’t accept Maggie for who she is. While it is a problem, it’s a personal one between the two of you. I won’t have your personal problems dragged in here interfering with our jobs. Believe me when I tell you I won’t hesitate to have you arrested if you
ever
create a scene like this again. I’ve had a hard week and am going home. Alone. I am not sleeping with your daughter and I don’t ever want to have to discuss this with you again.” Brodie turned on her heel and yanked the door to the room open. She almost ran into Donaldson on her way out of the room.

“What’s the problem, Brodie?” he asked.

“We have a citizen with a complaint,” she said tersely. “Let me know the outcome. I’m going home.”

She didn’t pause to acknowledge the stares of others in the squad room as she left for the weekend. Her hands were shaking as she sat in her Camaro and tried to light a desperately needed cigarette.

Chapter Six

MAMA JEAN’S WAS a well-known women’s bar

and dance club a block off the main drag in Austin. Brodie parked her Camaro in a pay parking lot and strolled slowly to the club three blocks away. She stopped and looked at items displayed in the store windows along the way to take her mind off the scene earlier. Finally taking a deep breath, she pushed open the front door of the club and immediately felt her body relax. She hadn’t been out in months and, after her confrontation with Tim Weston, decided she owed herself a night away from work and stress and unwanted trainees. She had been to more than a few women’s bars that would have only looked good if she had been drunk. Mostly pick-up bars where almost anyone could score a one-night stand as long as they weren’t too picky. She knew her fellow officers wondered about her, but they never asked any questions. Nicholls knew about her preferences, as did Donaldson. As long as she performed her duties successfully and kept her private life private, he didn’t seem to care. What she did off duty wasn’t anyone’s business. She hadn’t considered settling down permanently, not even with Camille. And now Camille had made it clear that their status-quo relationship was no longer enough for her. Even though she missed waking up every morning next to the warmth of a woman’s body snuggled closely against her, she wasn’t willing to take an emotional risk like that again.