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Darby
“The A.D.A. can’t be here,” Moustakas said without preamble as we burst into his office half an hour after we left. “But she’s participating via holo-comm.” He nodded to a spot next to me, and a moment later, the D.A.’s flickery image popped into view. “Ms. Russell, thanks for joining us.”
Annette Russell, an attractive redhead in her late forties, nodded. “Not a problem. The captain has kept me informed. But can you tell me in your own words?”
I shifted to look at her, and gave my report, barely glancing up when Lieutenant Douglass came in a few minutes into my diatribe.
“Are you certain Pierce was killed by the same person?” Annette asked.
“I saw his body up close. The wounds are nearly identical to Rasmussen’s. He was found in his office, which is where Rasmussen was found, which leads me to believe he knew his attacker. Which is why I need to have Dr. Stack look over his body. I need you to convince the K.B.I. to release Pierce’s body to us.”
Annette nodded. “I can’t guarantee success, but I can talk to them.”
Even a promise to open dialog made me feel better. “Thank you.”
Russell raised an eyebrow. “And you believe the killer may be the woman you put a BOLO on today?”
Mark said, “It’s possible, maybe even probable. But right now, all we have is speculation and no evidence. The woman is a ghost. No trace of her whereabouts and she hasn’t been to work since Tuesday.”
This was new information he’d gathered while talking to the DSHA while I’d been researching Labbee.
“So you mostly have questions?” Russell asked.
I sighed, at least in my head. “Ones I think I know the answers to. We need to find Winifred Labbee to test her DNA and confirm. We know it’s a woman’s DNA in the wound tracks. We know that person is a super. But we also know it appears she scrubbed all records of her existence except a sole backup copy that must have been on an old server from the DSHA’s records. That’s pretty suspicious if you ask me.”
“You have been resentful of the DSHA’s presence.”
“Resentful is too kind a word for what I’ve had to deal with on that front.”
Annette smiled tightly. “We know your history. It’s why we must be extra careful to verify what you’re finding is actually worth pursuing, and not the result of a vendetta against the DSHA.”
I rubbed my forehead. “It’s not a vendetta. I may not like the DSHA, I may even fear them a little, but I go by the book. My whole career has been as by the book as I’m able to do it, and even more so since I found out I was a super. If Winifred Labbee isn’t the murderer of Prairie Rasmussen and Richard Pierce, she knows something. Why else would she drop off the face of the earth?”
Lieutenant Douglass spoke up, her southern drawl easing tensions. “Annette, I haven’t been a part of Darby’s investigation, but I’ve never known her to act out of turn. If she believes this is the lead to follow, she’s not wrong. She’s a good cop.”
Russell said, “So, what do you want precisely?”
“We need a warrant to pull more computers from the DSHA,” Mark said. “And we need a guarantee you’ll go to bat for us when we demand to know why there was inadequate verification on the part of the DSHA as to the residence of Labbee or even digging into her background. Someone there had to know she was a superhuman. There should have been layers upon layers of background checks on her which would have sluiced this out.”
Annette shook her head slowly. “Shaw, Herman, you want miracles, don’t you?”
“No,” I said with passion. “I want a double murderer caught, and I want to revive their victims. If it means cutting a deal with someone, so be it.”
The captain cleared his throat. “I think we’ve made our position clear, Annette. You know my detectives.”
She shifted, and so did the holo. “I also know how messy a case with her and the DSHA on opposite sides can be. My boss is eager to avoid another mess.”
“Damn it, Annette, you’d do this if it were just Mark asking,” I said. I wanted to stamp my foot but figured that would be too childish. And with the holo, she probably wouldn’t see it anyway.
“Detective Herman isn’t a superhuman with a perceived vendetta against the DSHA.”
That you know of. “He’s my partner. Isn’t that close enough?”
Annette scoffed. “Fine. I’ll do what I can, Shaw. But you’d better have some damn good evidence if you come asking for a deal for someone.”
“Neither of us does anything half-assed, especially when it involves murder,” Mark said.
She glanced at her wrist. “Is there anything else?”