Special Agent Craig Wilkins wasn’t alone. He was with another FBI agent who looked like an extra from a western. Pasty white face. Droopy mustache.
Maria motioned with her head. Asked Craig if he’d brought his alcoholic uncle this time.
The man smiled. Introduced himself as Mark Adams.
“He’s my boss,” Craig said.
“Apparently, I’m moving up in the world. Now why don’t you explain to me why I was pulled away from my girlfriend, who is trying to overcome a traumatic kidnapping. A crime, you pricks did nothing to help me solve,” Maria said.
“Yes, trouble does seem to follow you around, doesn’t it?” Craig said.
Maria opened her mouth to lay into Craig for being an asshole, but Abner touched her shoulder. She’d forgotten he was here, and she’d only been in the room for thirty seconds. The man was nothing if not easy to forget.
“Trouble tends to follow all police officers. That’s their business. Resolving trouble,” Abner said.
“We’re starting to have our doubts about whether or not trouble is really following Detective Varela,” Craig said.
“Or is she the one causing trouble?” Mark said.
“Oh my god, I didn’t think anyone could be as stupid as your last partner,” Maria said.
“What my client is saying is that your agents haven’t demonstrated the ability to discern reality from fantasy, and it’s become strange how twisted the nonsense has become,” Abner said.
“So basically, more syllables but still calling us stupid,” Mark said.
“I’m a little surprised you understood those words. I thought the multiple syllables would lose you to be perfectly honest,” Abner said.
“I don’t understand all the antagonism. If Detective Varela has nothing to hide, she should be happy to answer our questions,” Craig said.
“You son of a bitch, my girlfriend was kidnapped. I should be there with her, helping her recover, but instead I’m here listening to your bullshit,” Maria said.
“She’s correct. Your timing is incoherent and inconsiderate, and you need to get to whatever it is you really want to talk to my client about,” Abner said.
“Yes, let’s do that, why don’t we?” Craig smiled. Flipped open a folder and pulled it open. Ran his finger down a page.
“I’ve played all the same games. Just get to it,” Maria said.
“I actually just need to find my place,” Craig said. He returned his attention to the paper. Followed his finger three quarters of the way down the page and tapped. Looked up at Maria.
“Are you going to speak or just audition for some crappy cozy mystery movie?” Abner said.
“How did you find Ariella’s location?” Craig said.
“Read the report. It’s all there,” Maria said.
“Yes, the mysterious phone calls from the unidentifiable number that doesn’t actually exist. It’s an app that makes phone calls from fake numbers. And you just happened to be the only person who spoke with Ariella’s, who did you say it was?” Craig said.
Maria just looked at him.
Craig stared back. Let the silence sit there.
“This is getting old,” Abner said.
“Yes, it is. We have no record of an uncle for Ariella Matos, but Maria claims to not only to have spoken with this mystery uncle but also to have been directed to not one but two different houses in different parts of the southwest where Maria was able to successfully find evidence that hinted at illegal activity, but conveniently there was no evidence that was actually useful,” Craig said.
“Do you have a point? Because from what I understand, Detective Varela moved heaven and earth to attempt to save a woman while your agents twiddled their thumbs and did nothing,” Abner said.
“I guess that could be one interpretation,” Craig said.
“She also could have been the one behind all of this,” Mark said.
“Oh, now what? I was shooting at myself in that shack?” Maria said.
“Yes, strange how you weren’t struck, isn’t it?” Craig said.
“Fifteen bullet holes in that wall,” Mark said.
“And not a one touched you,” Craig said.
“You can’t be serious,” Maria said.
“And then you conveniently found the sniper rifle in the home of a suspect,” Mark said.
“The only problem being that the suspect couldn’t have committed the crime because he was at the gym on video camera at the time of the shooting,” Craig said.
“Ok, this is getting annoying. What evidence do you have to substantiate the nonsense insinuations you’re making but apparently too scared to actually come out and say?” Abner said.
“I think Maria knows exactly what evidence we have,” Craig said.
“Well, I don’t. So, enlighten me,” Abner said.
Craig didn’t respond. He just watched Maria.
“She has gone rather quiet, hasn’t she?” Mark said. He smirked.
Of the two, Mark had the much more punchable face. But Craig’s wasn’t far behind.
Maria ran it all over in her head while the men went back and forth. Abner pushing for answers, the FBI agents insinuating they had everything, but of course, they had nothing because the whole thing was absurd. So why were they pressuring her? Had to be Syed, Ariella’s father. They needed someone to take the fall for Ariella’s death in order to keep her father on track to testify, but that was stupid because Syed would never believe Maria was involved. But Craig and Mark didn’t know that. They didn’t know how Syed was the one who had gotten her in touch with Nazmul. They were just doing what law enforcement did, looking for the lie, and they’d decided it was more likely she was lying than telling the truth.
Which meant she had to be the one doing everything.
Maria wondered if she would have come to the same conclusion. In a twisted way, it made perfect sense. The evidence didn’t match that interpretation, but they could tell themselves they were missing evidence. Tell themselves that once she cracked, they’d be able to rearrange everything and see what they’d been missing. But why would Maria go to all this trouble to kidnap her own girlfriend just to set her free? That didn’t make any sense at all.
“There’s a huge hole in your theory,” Maria said.
“Really? What would that be?” Craig said.
“Why? The amount of planning and effort I would have to go through in order to pull this off, and for what purpose? To kidnap my own girlfriend and set her free? Why would I do that? It doesn’t make any sense,” Maria said.
“Who said women make sense?” Mark said.
Yeah, he definitely had the more punchable face.
“Are you done with the misogyny? Detective Varela’s point is valid. You have no evidence to prove that your insinuations are true,” Abner said.
“We also don’t have any evidence that they’re not,” Craig said.
“Yes, yes, and there’s no evidence, I’m not actually Spiderman. So, what is your reason for believing this arrant nonsense, or do you really not even believe it yourself?” Abner said.
“It’s possible Maria got involved in something over her head and things got out of hand,” Mark said.
“If she was contacted by someone who wanted Ariella out of the way for a while, but Maria got cold feet and wanted to save the girl, only for them to figure it out and then kidnap her girlfriend as vengeance, well, we can all understand how things go awry from time to time,” Craig said.
“That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard in my life. How stupid do you have to be to join the FBI? I had a Pomeranian with more brains than you,” Maria said.
“Why were you looking for Ariella Matos in the first place?” Craig asked.
“Read the report,” Maria said.
“Police reports are fascinating things,” Craig said. “Kind of like ancient history, can you really believe what you read in the report? Or was it written by an interested party after the events were over?”
“Funny, I always thought the same about those FBI special investigations. They always find some old guy who can barely stand up anymore to produce something that conveniently achieves nothing,” Abner said.
Craig ignored the attorney. Kept his eyes focused on Maria.
“It’s a difficult job being a police officer,” Craig said.
“What amazing insight is next? Going to tell us the sky is blue?” Abner said.
“Television shows make it seem so easy to solve crime and prosecute cases, but it’s not easy at all, is it?” Mark said.
“Nationwide clearance rate for homicides is roughly fifty percent, isn’t it? So, about half the people who commit murder get away with it,” Craig said.
“Most people would be surprised to learn that, don’t you think?” Mark said.
“I don’t know. Maybe you should ask them. Do you have a point to this boring routine?” Abner said.
“But your clearance rate is much higher,” Craig said.
“Do you know what it is exactly?” Mark asked.
Maria knew it to the decimal point, but she wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of an answer.
“Roughly eighty-eight percent,” Craig said.
“Thank you for pointing out that she doesn’t have enough medals,” Abner said.
“So how is it that you are able to close cases at a rate much higher than the national average?” Mark asked.
The two of them sat there looking at her. The silence drew out for a bit. Apparently, they were done with the routine and wanted to draw her into a conversation. Maria was beginning to see their plan, how they were going to try to pin all of this on her, but she wanted them to actually say it out loud, if nothing else, so she could laugh in their faces.
“Just blind luck?” Craig said.
“Or are you willing to bend the rules in the way that others aren’t?” Mark said.
“I think this nonsense has gone on long enough,” Abner said.
“But we’re just getting to the good part,” Craig said.
“The Benny Alvarez murder. That didn’t get closed, did it?” Mark said.
“The killer killed himself when Maria was closing in on him,” Abner said.
“But that isn’t what really happened, was it?” Craig said.
“We have it on good authority that the real killer is known to the police, and there is video evidence that was withheld in order to curry favor with a casino owner who didn’t want bad press while he was going through a sale,” Mark said.
“And the Jasmine Olivera killing, you closed that one, permanently, didn’t you?” Craig said.
“One suspect conveniently killed his accomplice before turning his attention to killing you and your partner. Then you made a daring flanking maneuver that allowed you to kill the suspect while he was focused on your partner. Your report doesn’t mention that you disobeyed a direct order to go home for the day,” Mark said.
“Some might say disobeying the order caused your partner to be shot, but perhaps you two were trying to hide some other malfeasance,” Craig said.
“Apparently, you two settled on the suspect only after breaking into his house without a warrant. The only question, of course, is whether you were searching for evidence or planting it,” Mark said.
Maria laughed. They’d shaken the tree at the station, and Millie and Dunleavy had immediately sold her out. She shouldn’t be shocked, but she was, a little. Not Millie telling them about the video evidence. Maria trusted Millie as far as she could throw her, but Dunleavy, that one, stung a bit. She’d taken Dunleavy off of the scrap heap and given him a chance to redeem his career, and instead of being grateful, he’d thrown her right under the bus.
“Funny, the warrantless search wasn’t in your report,” Craig said.
Maria turned to Abner. She’d heard what she’d needed to hear, now she wanted him to do his lawyerly thing and take her out of there. But Abner was focused on the FBI agents, something he’d heard was bothering him, and he wanted to see where they were going to go.
Craig smiled. He thought he was winning, and the smile pissed Maria off.
“I work in the streets, unlike special agents like you, and people lie about us every day,” Maria said.
“So, you’re denying all of this,” Mark said.
Abner jumped in before Maria could speak again.
“My client isn’t even going to waste time answering baseless accusations, that even if they were true, aren’t under the purview of the FBI. So, if you’ve nothing else to add, we’re leaving,” Abner said.
“Why don’t you have your client start by telling us what really happened the night her father died? Because the report is not lining up with the evidence,” Craig said.
Abner rolled his eyes. Stood up.
Maria followed his lead.
“If they were holding your malfeasance, your secrets over your head, we can help you,” Mark said.
“We want them. We don’t want you,” Craig said.
“But we are dogged and determined, and we will not stop until we find out exactly what is going on with every single one of these cases,” Mark said.
“So, help us, help you,” Craig said.
“I had a suspect say, when a cop said, help me, help you, it was time to leave. Probably the best advice I’ve ever heard,” Maria said.
“Don’t make us tear your life apart to get to the truth,” Craig said.
“You don’t give a shit about the truth. Besides, my father and brother were murdered, my partner was shot, and my girlfriend was kidnapped, not to mention watching a young woman die right in front of my eyes. What more do you really think you can do to me?” Maria said.
“You gentleman, have a nice day,” Abner said.
Millie was waiting in the hallway. She asked Maria for a minute.
Abner told her he’d wait outside to talk with her.
Maria wondered if being alone with Millie was the best idea, whether because she couldn’t trust her own sergeant or because Maria wanted to ram Millie’s face into the wall. Really either option was a good enough reason to have witnesses around, but Abner was gone before she could tell him to stay.
In her office, Millie asked how it had gone.
“It was fine,” Maria said.
Whether from the tone of voice or the way Maria was looking at her, Millie knew right away that not only had Maria figured out who’d sold her out, but also Maria was not in the mood for niceties.
“It’s been a rough week around here. Maybe a rough couple of months,” Millie said.
“You certainly haven’t done anything to make it easier,” Maria said.
“Don’t try and pin your problems on me,” Millie said.
“What do you want?” Maria said.
“There’s going to be an investigation. A lot of questions have been raised about some of your previous investigations, and standard procedure, you will need to be suspended while the investigations are going on,” Millie said.
“Standard procedure? I haven’t even been charged,” Maria said.
“You really going to make this hard on me,” Millie said.
“Hard on you? I haven’t seen you this pleased since you got here,” Maria said.
“You can tell yourself that if it helps you avoid your own responsibility, but the reality is that no one is happy that we’re at this point. Least of all me,” Millie said.
“What point are we at exactly?” Maria asked.
“I need your badge.”
“I’m being suspended?” Maria said.
“Informally. The badge is going in my drawer, and once you’re cleared of any charges, you’ll get it back. Officially, you’re going on vacation,” Millie said.
“I’m pretty sure I’m about out of vacation time,” Maria said.
“We’ll figure out a way to get you some more,” Millie said. She held out her hand.
Maria unclipped her badge from her belt and handed it over. Turned to go.
“Believe it or not, we’re all trying to look out for you,” Millie said.
“The only person you look out for is yourself,” Maria said.
Outside, Abner walked with her to the car. He looked around before asking her if she’d figured out who was pissed off at her.
“This is a new thing,” Maria said.
“Those are some relatively specific accusations they were leveling,” Abner said.
“Everything they said I have an explanation for,” Maria said.
“I don’t doubt that. I’m just curious why they’re digging into this stuff at all. I’ll make a few calls. See if someone can help me understand exactly what’s up, but for now, I just want you to lie low. If anyone asks you any questions or if anyone approaches you in any way, even people you think are your friend, if any of that happens, you tell them to talk to me,” Abner said.
Maria nodded. She didn’t think anyone would come after her, though. This was way beyond the asking questions stage. Everyone was well into the covering their ass stage.
As she drove home, she tried to get inside the FBI agents’ heads. Craig was a special case. There was something deeper at play for him than whatever nonsense the FBI was trying to pretend was an actual case. Craig had already taken one run at her. Maybe that could mean the FBI had been after her for a while, but Maria doubted it.
Mark looked more like a man just doing his job. A man who was only concerned about closing whatever was in front of him and moving on to the next. His questions, his eyes, didn’t have the heat of Craig’s. This whole thing had to be tied to Syed. The real question though was if the kidnappings of Ariella and Carla were tied to Syed or to something else.
The FBI agents were mostly a nuisance at this point. Maria was sure she could brush off whatever claims they were going to make against her. But the problem was, the more questions that were asked, the fewer answers Maria was going to have.
She’d thought she’d retire as a cop just like her father.
But that was becoming less and less likely by the day.
Then again, her sergeant and one of her fellow officers had sold her out. She didn’t have much in the way of relationships with fellow officers with the exception of Michael, and the way it was going, if Michael stuck with her, his career would end up in the crapper just like hers.
What was she really holding onto, anyway?
The weirdest part, when she’d handed over the badge to Millie, she hadn’t felt angry or frustrated. She’d felt relieved. Maybe this would end up being something good in her life. Maybe it was time for a change. With everything that had happened, she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to be in Las Vegas anymore. Maybe her and Carla could go somewhere else, start over.
Sometimes letting go was the right move, wasn’t it?
Maria parked her car and stepped out. The sky was clear of clouds and light blue. She headed for her apartment, wondered what Carla would say about leaving. They’d have to stay until the investigation was over, Maria couldn’t look like she was running, but something needed to change, and Maria doubted Carla would feel differently. Maria climbed the stairs to her second-floor apartment.
On the front door mat was a bullet.
The same kind that had been left on the hood of her car.