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Detective Mike Massey sat behind his desk drafting a report to finish up before coming in tomorrow.
It had been twelve hours of non-stop action and he couldn’t wait to get home and down a few beers. The stress of the job had been almost too much to bear lately. Two of his fellow detectives had died over the last six months. One to a suicide, the other to cancer. Too bad he hadn’t hit twenty so he could pull the pin and say adios. But he still had six years to go.
May as well be an eternity with all the cases piling up. He was great at his job. A top-notch investigator, but as of late his heart wasn’t in the job. And his ninety-two percent solving rate had dipped into the eighties for the first time in three years.
He typed the last of what he could stomach for the night and turned off the computer. Tomorrow would be here soon enough.
As he stood to leave, the watch sergeant, Bob Haskins, entered the squad room with a tall, trim man wearing an immaculate charcoal suit. His caramel colored hair was parted down the middle, not a strand out of place. The man appeared to be in his early thirties.
“Detective, this is Ralph Rowe. He wants to report a crime.”
“I was kidnapped and held against my will,” Rowe said in a nasally voice. “I’m lucky I escaped.”
How unfortunate. Mike plopped back into his chair. The night wasn’t over yet.
Haskins gave a mock salute. “He’s all yours,” and then the sergeant exited the room.
Mike turned his computer back on, but there was an update going on. And from the looks of it, the update might take a while. Instead of chucking the computer out of the third-floor window, he grabbed a pen and pad to take notes.
“Do you know who kidnapped you, Mr. Rowe?”
“Oh yes. My business partner, Tom Watson.”
“Any reason why he’d want to kidnap you?”
Rowe took a deep breath. “I own fifty-one percent of our security company. Tom’s trying to buy more stock and gain control of the company.”
“Why would he want to do that?”
“Doesn’t matter. I just want him arrested for kidnapping me.”
“Before anyone is arrested, I need evidence. What proof do you have your partner was involved?”
“Because one of the kidnappers said Tom wanted me dead.”
Mike’s eyes burned from being awake for so long. He yearned for a beer and some much-needed sleep. Even with his guard a bit down, he could still sense this guy was being deceptive. He wondered if Ralph made this up as he went along or was stretching the truth. Mike intended to find out. And hopefully soon.
“Before we go any further, Mr. Rowe, where did your kidnappers take you?”
“One of our abandoned warehouses.”
Mike stood. “Okay. Let’s go check out the crime scene.”
He half-hearted believed the man would recant his story and say he’d made it up. Instead, the man agreed.
Fifteen minutes later they arrived at a large warehouse at the end of the shipping district. Both exited the unmarked cruiser.
Mike pointed to the warehouse. “Lead the way.”
Rowe dug in his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He unlocked a large lock on a steel door and pushed the door open. The inside was huge with sparse crates in several corners. Sporadic bulbs in the overhead provided dim light. The place smelled dank and musty.
They walked across the floor to a staircase leading to a room upstairs. When they reached the room, Rowe pulled the door open and the two men entered an office space covered in thick dust.
In the middle of the room was a gray metal desk with rust stains along the sides. A filing cabinet leaned against the wall, several of the drawers pulled out. Litter covered much of the chipped and faded white tile.
Rowe pulled the door closed. “This is where they brought me. They bound my hands and pushed me to the ground. I managed to struggle free from the bindings. I found an old piece of rebar and used it to pry the door open. Once I escaped, I went straight to the police station to report the crime.”
Mike shook his head. He wanted to punch the guy in the face for wasting his time.
“You don’t believe me?” Rowe asked. He crossed his arms. “I’m going to report you to your superiors.”
“Go ahead. Because I’d like to see your face when you have to explain why you lied about being kidnapped.”
How did Mike know Ralph Rowe lied?
Hint: Ralph Rowe’s suit.
When they arrived at the warehouse, Ralph Rowe used his keys to unlock the door. If he’d escaped a kidnapping, why would he stop to lock the door behind him before going to the police station.
Ralph also stated he was bound and tossed to the ground but managed to finally escape. Yet when he arrived at the police station, he wore an immaculate suit. If he’d been tossed on the floor like he’d reported there would be dust on his suit.