Chapter 9

The interrogation had taken longer than they thought, even with the evidence. The perp hadn't been what Brian expected. The perp had initially appeared to be no more than eighteen, and he sure as hell didn't look like a rapist/killer. Then again, there wasn't a specific "look" for any kind of killer. It had shocked the hell out of both of Brian and Marie that, in spite of his appearance, the perp was three years older than Brian.

Marie had raked him over the coals with her "bitch" mode, yet the kid didn't break.

"Davenport," Brian finally said. "Why don't you step out a minute and let me deal with this."

"Good luck with that," she said, stepping outside and standing at the two way glass with Captain Shields.

"Jason," Brian said in a soft voice, "you're not really helping yourself and the girl's family here. Now, the baseball bat was traced back to you; your landlady identified it as such. The DNA from the girl matches yours, and as we all know, DNA doesn't lie."

"You want to hear what actually happened?" Jason asked.

"That will help a great deal."

"There's Black, you know, the drug lord," Jason began. "He'd been using Nikki as a mule, figuring since she had this rep as a nice kid and being a judge's daughter, nobody would suspect what she was doing. Black got her into the clubs, paid for her trips, all that shit. Well, she was kind of the princess until somehow Black got word she was doing some narcng for the Feds. Of course, he doesn't do any dirty work, so he hired me to 'rub out the bitch.' When I saw her come out the club, I followed her and it went from there."

"Then why did you rape her?"

"Black said to make it look like a sex killing so it would throw off the cops."

"You know where this guy is now?" Brian asked.

Jason gestured toward the tablet. "I can give you everything."

"One more thing," Brian added. "Did this slime ball Black offer any compensation in this?"

"Yeah," Jason replied, "a whole five hundred bucks."

Five hundred bucks for some little girl's life? Though his face didn't betray his disgust, Brian shook his head in contempt. He didn't know who this Black character really was, but he was determined to find out. He owed the Galloways at least that much.

He also made note to talk to the federal agent Shirlee Galloway had bribed with her 'charms' to keep Nikki out of trouble. Somehow the guy had to figure into all of this too.

A short time later:

As Jason had been taken to Booking, Marie had caught up to Brian.

"I spent nearly an hour grilling that scum without him as much as giving me a hint. You're with him five minutes and get a full confession. How the hell did you manage that?"

Brian batted his eyes playfully and smiled. "It's my natural charm."

"Oh don't even flash those dimples at me, mister. You had to have done something short of offering him a deal."

"I couldn't do that without the DA present anyway. Seriously, though, it kind of came with practice the few times I worked in Narcotics," he replied. "I guess some things just stay with a person."

"Whatever the case, at least now we have the actual killer," Marie nodded.

"We do," Brian agreed, "but I want to find out more about this Black character Jason was going on about. I might go down and see if any of the clerks can help me get something pulled from Narcotics or better yet, see if Paul can dig something up for me."

"More like you just want to go downstairs to see Lorelei," Marie grinned.

"Oh, you're just a real funny person, aren't you?" Brian shook his head.

"Like it's difficult not to notice," Marie chuckled. "Before all this, it was like pulling teeth to get you to go downstairs for a simple file. Now you're down there more than any of the people in this room combined, except on her days off."

"Okay, okay, so I want to say hello once in awhile. Jesus, Marie."

"At least twice a day doesn't exactly qualify as 'once in awhile', Brian."

He gave her a look. "Am I really that bad?"

Marie didn't answer, only smiling and nodding.

"Well, whatever. I still need to find out about this Black guy. I should be back in a few."

Twenty minutes later:

Lorelei had worked the evening shift at the precinct; it normally was her day off, but one of the other clerks had had an emergency and she'd been called in. She didn't mind; it was far better than being home in a quiet apartment.

She had been in the back working on one of the computers when she heard someone out front. Not too concerned since a co worker, Yvette, had already gone up, Lorelei had gone back to work.

"Hey, Vette," Brian said cheerfully when he saw her. "Lorelei around? I heard she was called in tonight."

"Hey, DBK," Yvette grinned. "Guess you heard she got called in for Carla, huh? Yeah, she's right back there. I'll get her."

He waited a few minutes before Lorelei came to the front. "Hi," she said softly. "Back here again?"

"Yeah. Listen, I need to fill out a form to get some information from Narcotics."

Lorelei gave him a strange look. "Yvette could have done that for you."

"Sure, but I'd thought I'd say hi." He grinned at her.

"I just saw you this afternoon, remember?" She shook her head, handing over the requested form.

"What, did they put a new law in the books that a man can't say hello to someone more than once a day?" Brian proceeded to fill out the form before handing it back to her. "Think you can put a rush on that? It's part of the Galloway case."

Lorelei nodded. "Of course."

"Thanks, Lor," he said and winked. "Later."

As they saw him head to the elevator, Yvette smiled widely and poked Lorelei. "Oooh, girl. I think you just shot and scored."

Lorelei could only smile back, shaking her head before returning to work.