Title: Trouble comes in Twos - Part 17

"Mr. Blanchard, nice to see you again. Although, I am a bit surprised to see you in here," I say as I walk into the interrogation room with Harkins.

"Nikki! You used to call me Uncle Keith when you were little," the portly man greets me and walks around the table to give me a hug.

"Uncle" Keith used to work with my father when I was very little and was a close friend of the family. I would work summers during college at his firm as an intern and I think he was more disappointed than my father that I hadn't taken the bar exam.

He pulls back and moves back to his client's side of the table. "I would have thought you'd be on your way home, since they've cleared you in the investigation, Nikki," he probes for information, which just makes me smile. I know his tactics well. He knows I'm in here in a more official capacity, otherwise I wouldn't be in here at all, and he's using our relationship to lessen any power I might use against his client.

Too bad his client isn't really helping his case.

"I've been asked by Officer Harkin here to assist in the case and my partner and I are more than happy to oblige," I reply and look Jacob Poirer in the eye.

"Mr. Poirer, this is Detective Beaumont," he introduces as he brings up an extra chair to the table. I don't take it, preferring a more dominant position standing off to his side against the wall.

Psychological warfare 101.

We've already gone over our plan of action and Harkins gets right to it, letting me be the moody cop out of the corner of Poirer's eye. Right now it's my job to make, and keep, our suspect nervous. Well, more nervous than he already is. Nora is much better at this bad cop bit.

"Jacob," Harkins starts with a friendly smile, "since Detective Beaumont wasn't here for our first discussion, we need to go over everything from the beginning."

"Is this absolutely necessary, Nikki?" Uncle Keith looks up at me with a look that reminds me of when I was a kid and my Daddy caught me doing something sneaky. "I'm sure you could listen to the tapes..."

"Why yes, Counselor, it is necessary and any cooperation from Mr. Poirer would be greatly appreciated." I keep my face a mask of learned detachment.

"It's OK. I don't mind tellin' it again," Poirer speaks up, looking back and forth between Harkins and myself. "I done it. I killed my brother."

I would love to just sigh out loud in this guy's face right now.

Harkins prompts him to continue. "How did it happen?"

"I... I tripped over a rock and shot him," Jacob replies, making it sound more like a question instead of a statement.

"You didn't mention this before," the officer notes.

"Jacob. You shouldn't say anything else," Uncle Keith tries to stem the tide of damage Mr. Poirer is just bound and determined to drown himself in.

"No. No, I need to make sure they get the right person," he insists.

"Where did you trip over this rock?" Harkins asks with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"I dunno. Somewhere on the river. We were going to case and rob the cabins near that hippie hotel place."

"You're lying," I speak, watching him jump slightly in his seat and look over at me.

Jacob shakes his head, his eyes darting back and forth, not looking at me directly, "No, Ma'am..."

"You're lying," I repeat, grinding my words out harsher. "One, we know where your brother died and it's nowhere near any tourist cabins."

I watch a small bead of sweat start down from his forehead down his jawline. "Two, your brother was shot while in your boat, not on dry land. Try again."

Poirer is wringing his hands on the table, leaving sweaty marks very visible in the fluorescent lighting.

"Where is James, Jacob? Where is your little brother?" I ask, hitting him from left field, hoping to drag him more off balance.

"I don't know!" he insists vehemently.

Harkins smacks the table to get Poirer's attention. "Look at me, boy!"

Uncle Keith starts to protest, but I catch his eye and give him a subtle shake of the head. If he wants his client to walk away from a lengthy prison sentence, he's going to have to trust me.

I take a piece of paper out of the file I'm holding and toss it onto the table.

"This is a fax from Jetson, out in Tallulah. You and Richard both signed for your brother's release when you both personally went up there and picked him up. You're going to jail for robbery, several counts, but you'll be able to see the light of day again. You won't see outside of a cement six by six cell if you don't tell us the truth," Harkins lets Poirer and Uncle Keith read the fax.

Uncle Keith turns to him and leans close, whispering in his ear.
Harkins keeps on talking, "Now, I'm going to ask again. Where is your brother?"

Jacob Poirer's shoulders slump in defeat, "I have to protect him. He's our baby brother."

"We know," I reply sincerely. "But you can't protect him by going to prison for him."

"It was an accident," he insists, looking up at me pleading with me with his eyes.

"How did it happen?" I prompt him.

"You'll help him?" Jacob asks me, not Harkins. "I'll tell you if you help him. He doesn't mean to be bad, Ma'am. He never means to be bad. He just gets mad is all."

I push off of the wall and walk closer to him, but not within reach in case he wants to go for my gun. I lean over the edge of the table, giving him a more compassionate expression. "I'll do my best to help him, Jacob. I promise but you have to tell me what happened. The truth this time."

"When our parents died, me and Richard took care of him, but we didn't do so good of a job. James was always mad. Always. Couldn't keep a job because of it and when he got sent to Jetson for beating that other boy with his bat..." he shakes his head in resignation, "When we picked him up, we thought he'd be better, but if anything he was worse. He tried at first, but he got angry when he couldn't get a job and he knew what me and Richard were doing..."

Jacob paused looking back and forth between Harkins and me.

"Breaking and entering. Robbery," Harkins supplies.

"We didn't hurt nobody. We always made sure we went in when folks weren't there," Jacob protests, glancing at his lawyer.

Uncle Keith sighs and asks, "Can we get a lesser sentence since Jacob is cooperating?"

Harkin shrugs, "I'm sure we can talk to the District Attorney on his behalf, but any deal is off unless we get full, and I do mean full, cooperation."

Uncle Keith contemplates a moment then nods at Jacob. "We took him with us. He insisted. Said he could be a help to us and since he couldn't get a job, we thought about it and decided to take him with us."

Jacob looks up at me, "You gotta believe me, we never take guns with us. We don't need to. Sure we found a few, kept them at the house, but we never hurt no one. But James took one with him without us knowing. We... he got so mad. We were going to check out this one house, it's a vacation home. It's rarely used so we thought it would be safe, kind of a trial run for James. We told him to wait in the boat, but he didn't want to."

He pauses again, becoming more visibly upset. "We didn't know he had a gun. we pulled up to the dock and told James to wait... he and Richard started getting into a fight, right there on the boat. Richard was bigger than James, but James pulled out his gun. It went off."

He shudders and hunches over the table. "Richard was half out of the boat when he was shot, I tried to get him back in, but James pushed us away from the dock and made us leave him. He made me leave my brother... Richard. It was an accident. It was an accident."

A knock on the door interrupts us, and another uniformed officer pokes his head in the door and motions us out. As soon as the door is closed behind us, he says, "Just got a radio call from Officer Newton that was cut off. Something is going down at the Gallot place. He isn't answering his cell or radio."

I turn to Harkins, a shiver of worry running up my spine. "Isn't that on the list of places they were supposed to check?"

Harkins turns to me, "Yep. Let's go."

TBC