When Gwen arrived at the precinct, she was surprised by the message that she’d been summoned to Captain Wright’s office, pronto. The prior visits were her idea; she was curious to find out why he had now asked to see her.
She hurried to her car and drove across town to the North Precinct. This time, she did not have to ask for him; Captain Wright was waiting for her.
After she’d shut the door behind her, Wright tore into her. “What are you wasting your time on crap like fibers and e-mails for when we both know Jerry Kingley killed my daughter? I told you to arrest that man!”
“How do you know what we’re focusing on, Captain Wright?” Gwen asked in an even tone, trying to keep her anger in check.
“I have my ways,” he said haughtily.
“There’s no way Jerry could have killed your daughter. He wasn’t even in Wisconsin.”
“You know how all those military men stick together. Do you really believe his fellow guardsmen aren’t covering for him? I have information that may surprise you,” Wright said smugly. He handed her three gasoline receipts.
She looked at them. They were dated the days before and after Kathy’s murder.
Wright said, “You think he drove in excess of six hundred miles around the military base? He could have circled the base three hundred times in two days to put that kind of mileage on his car. Now, do you still believe Kingley was at the base while my little girl was being murdered?”
“I’ll certainly look into it,” Gwen said, puzzled. “Where did you get these receipts?”
“I contacted the service stations. They have the records to prove it was Jerry,” Wright declared.
“I will look into this and take it into consideration,” Gwen told Wright.
“Don’t be pigheaded over this. I’ve handed you Kathy’s murderer on a silver platter. Now arrest him and be done with it!”
“I’ll let you know what I come up with,” Gwen said, turning and walking out the door.
Snow flurries and a strong northerly wind assaulted Gwen as she left the North Precinct, but they did nothing to cool her anger. It seemed that Wright was keeping one step ahead of them in the investigation, and that meant someone on the task force was feeding him information. Could it be Brad? She hadn’t known this cop for very long, but he seemed to be on the up and up. She’d worked with Scott for years, and knew he would never fold to pressure from upper echelons of the police administration. She had begun to trust CC with her deepest secrets and desires. Could CC be faking her interest in Gwen and be the mole Wright had placed on her team? They hadn’t checked out Tony very well, but the chief had handpicked him for the task force. Could he be Wright’s eyes and ears in the investigation? She would have to be very careful until she figured out who the guilty party was.
On the long ride back to her precinct, she decided that the fastest way to figure out who was scheming with the captain would be to confront Chief Ziegler. Maybe it was time to expose Wright and his shenanigans.
The Chief was in a meeting when she arrived at his office, but his secretary told her she could pencil Gwen in for twenty minutes at one p.m. That gave Gwen a couple hours to do a little research on the gasoline receipts Wright had given her.
Closing the door to her office, she called Jerry Kingley. He wasn’t immediately available, but called back a half hour later.
“What exactly do you do for the guard?” Gwen asked.
“We’re in charge of transport mostly,” he told her. “We gas up and do the maintenance and repairs on the jeeps and trucks that come back to the base from the field.”
“So it wouldn’t be unusual for you to go through exorbitant amounts of gasoline in say, a day or two?”
“Hell, no. I’ve pumped two hundred or more gallons on a busy day.”
“Do you fill the trucks on base?” she asked.
“Usually. But lately, with the fuel shortage, we’ve been using some of the local gas stations if they’ll give us a discount based on volume. Depends on how full our tanks are at the time. We’re instructed to keep a reserve for emergencies.”
“I would think you’d keep a log as to which vehicles are serviced and how much gasoline you’ve put in them.”
“Absolutely. We log everything we do and the gas tank readings have to balance at the end of the day with what we’ve disbursed. You think the government is going to believe we’re not filling our own tanks at their expense? We spend more time filling out paperwork than actually doing the work that needs to be done,” Jerry quipped.
“Can you fax over your records for the end of February? Say two or three weeks’ worth?”
“Hey, what’s this about?” Jerry asked worriedly.
“Someone came up with some gas receipts with your name on them,” Gwen told him. “I just want to prove that they’re related to your job. Nothing to worry about.”
“Okay. Give me that number…I’ll get them right over to you,” Jerry said anxiously.
True to his word, Jerry’s logs were on her desk within fifteen minutes. Comparing them to the three receipt copies Wright had given her, it looked as though someone had carefully forged a different license number on the copies. Jerry’s receipts were not as smudged and appeared to be the original entries. Another diversion set up by Captain Wright? But why?
Gwen jotted down some notes with the facts she wanted to present to Chief Ziegler and spent the rest of the morning working through a stack of messages from the hotline. There were a lot of interesting tidbits of information floating around, but nothing significant that would require her to conduct a field audit or set up an interview.
A few minutes before one p.m., she headed to see the chief and was waiting outside his office when he arrived at twelve fifty-five. Great, an extra five minutes to bolster her case against Captain Wright.
“Good afternoon, Detective Meyers,” Ziegler said, ushering her into his office. “This is a nice surprise,” he said pleasantly.
Ziegler stood ramrod straight and shook her hand. He was tough with his officers, but he was fair, and probably the most honest man Gwen had ever met. He was just over six feet tall, but she’d seen him at the gym and his looks belied the strength of his body. He kept the old-fashioned brush cut from his years of military service closely trimmed, he had penetrating brown eyes, and a handlebar mustache. His deep baritone voice was perfect for the police barbershop quartet that performed at all the police family gatherings.
“I’m sorry to bother you, Chief, but I’m having a problem on the Wright/Jeffries investigation that I’d like to brief you on.”
Gwen started with the newest revelation of the altered gas receipts she’d received from Wright and worked her way backward, advising him of the complaints of harassment from the downtown area. She let him know that Wright had already tried and convicted Jerry Kingley, whom she was positive was innocent.
“Every lead I get ties back to the captain in some way. I think he’s trying to conduct his own investigation and trying to steer me astray so he can find the killer himself,” Gwen explained. “I believe someone is feeding him information on what the task force is working on. He’s always one step ahead of us and using his influence to stymie the investigation.”
“This is serious, Gwen. You should have come to me sooner,” Ziegler told her.
“I know and I apologize. It’s just that every time I speak with Captain Wright he threatens to take me off the case. I feel I can solve these two murders given adequate time, and if we can keep Captain Wright at bay.” Gwen added, “I’d have come to you sooner, but until this morning when I got the falsified receipts, I had no proof.”
“Who’s working on your team now?” Ziegler asked.
“There’s CC, uh, Chloe Carpenter, my new partner. Sergeants Brad Wheeler and Scott Richards, and recently the man you sent from Vice, Sergeant Tony Maglia. We’ve got the hotline up and the uniforms you assigned—”
“Whoa. I didn’t have anyone to send you from Vice yet. I was going to get Frank Matthews to you by the end of the week,” Ziegler remarked. “How did this Maglia fellow get on board?”
“I don’t know,” Gwen said, her face reddening. “He must be our leak.”
“Start meeting with the rest of your team individually or in pairs until I can get this straightened out. And, Gwen, I know I don’t have to tell you not to breathe a word about this to anyone.”
“Absolutely, Chief. Sorry for the mess we’ve got here. Now that I know who’s working for Wright, I promise you nothing else will get back to him. Thank you.”
“I’ll be calling you in a day or two. Good work, Detective. Keep it up,” Ziegler said, dismissing her.