“Looks like it.”
“You wanna grab something to eat first?”
“I’m not hungry. I’ll just meet you down at the precinct. Is he still in custody?”
“Yup. They picked him up a few hours ago from school.”
They exited the house. Stanton saw Benny making notes on a sheet that was attached to a clipboard. He waved goodbye to them as he walked to his truck.
It didn’t take Stanton long to get back to the precinct and when he did he went straight to his office and shut the door. He reviewed the Yazzie file again, reading the initial responding detective’s report. The victim had actually died of smoke inhalation before he was engulfed by the fire. There were some photos and Stanton glanced at them and shuffled them to the back of the file.
He stretched his neck and closed the file before turning to his computer. Opening Google Mail, he saw he had eighty-seven unread emails.
It was nearly an hour later that Gunn showed up to the precinct. He walked through quietly, nodding to a few people before coming into Stanton’s office without knocking. He sat down across from him and put his feet up on the desk. It was almost ten minutes later that Stanton responded to him.
“You smell like booze,” Stanton said.
“Haven’t touched the stuff today. Well, ten shots. Give or take.”
“You can’t come in drunk on every case. Eventually someone will notice.”
“Someone will notice because I ain’t actin’ right or someone will notice because someone else will tell them?”
“I’m not like that, Stephen.”
“No? You sure as hell testified against Harlow pretty quick.”
Stanton stopped his work on the computer and turned to him. “What did you say?”
“I’m just sayin’, you tell me you’re not a rat and I tell you that you’re the only detective here that’s testified against another cop.”
He turned back to the computer. “Michael Harlow wasn’t a cop. He was a thug. I took another thug off the street but testified against him first. That’s all we do. That’s our job.”
“This ethics lecture is borin’ me,” he said, leaning farther back in the chair. “Let’s go get some pussy.”
“Not interested.”
“Man, sixteen homicide detectives and I get stuck with the Mormon.”
“It’s not exactly charming from where I’m sitting either.”
A long pause and then Gunn said. “I didn’t mean that. I really didn’t. You’re dependable and there’s no one else I’d want watchin’ my back. But you gotta cut loose sometimes, man. At least a little. I feel like I’m hangin’ out with my grandma sometimes.”
Stanton finished the email he was working on and sent it. He stood up and turned to Gunn. “I’ll try to be more fun if you quit showing up to work drunk.”
“I’ll try.”
They walked out of the office and into the long corridor. To the right were the holding cells, to the left the front commons area and the entrance. Some commotion was near the entrance as two officers tackled a man that was resisting them and one of the officers tased him. He was screaming and they had to hurry and get the cuffs on before he regained his composure. Stanton had to step over the pool of urine that was running down his leg and onto the floor.
CHAPTER 6
The interrogation room was hot and there were no windows. Stanton brought a cold soda in with him and set it on the table in front of sixteen-year-old Fernando. He sat across from him and smiled as he opened a bottle of juice for himself. Fernando watched him a moment and then opened the soda and took a swig.
“I saw in your file from school that you play baseball. What position?”
“Shortstop.”
“I played catcher but I was too skinny so they sent me to left field. I remember there wasn’t much to do there but I would get a chance to just hang out in the sunshine and think about things. It was much more enjoyable than being catcher.”
“How long did you play for?”
“Just one season. I never really got into sports until I took up surfing.”
Gunn walked in then, his hair wet and slicked back and his face freshly washed. Stanton knew he had been in the bathroom splashing cold water on himself.
Fernando looked to him and then back to Stanton and said, “I’ve been playing since I was six. I was gonna go to college on a scholarship. That was my plan.”
“Why did you say it ‘was’ your plan?”
“I don’t know. I ain’t got no other family. I might be put in a foster home. I’ve heard bad stories about people my age that get put into foster homes and I don’t know if they’re gonna let me play baseball.”
Stanton leaned a little closer to the table. “I’m really sorry about what happened to your stepfather, Fernando.”
“He was a good guy. He took me in when my moms died and took care of me. He was the one that got me into baseball. He said that was my way out.”
“Out of what?”
“The life, man. I got two older brothers and they’re both in prison. Where I come from, you play sports or you stand on them corners and sell dope. There’s no other way out.”
“He sounds like he was a good father.”
Gunn was leaning against the wall and looking at his shoes. “My old man bought me a hooker when I was fourteen. He said I’m a man and that’s what men do. That’s the only thing the son of a bitch ever bought me.”
Stanton looked to him and then back to Fernando. “Fernando, can you tell me what you remember about the fire?”
“I was asleep in my room. I was just there on the bed and I heard my pops yelling for me.”
“What happened then?”
“I got up and there was smoke everywhere. It was coming in through my door and I started coughing and stuff. I ran out into the hall ‘cause he was yelling for me but it felt like I was gonna pass out and there was fire everywhere. It was all in the hallway and I couldn’t get to him.” Tears welled up in his eyes. “I couldn’t get to him.”
“Fernando, listen to me, you did everything you could. No one expected you to be able to save him. It was out of your hands at that point.”
Gunn said, “Did you see how the fire started?”
“No.”
“So you just woke up and the house was on fire, huh? That seems weird that you didn’t smell nothin’.”
Fernando shrugged and looked down to the table. He began to play with the soda can. Stanton could tell he was shutting down.
“Stephen, would you mind if Fernando and I just talked for a minute?”
Gunn looked at him, incredulous, anger flashing in his eyes. “Yeah, sure.”
When he had left, Stanton took a sip of his juice and leaned back in the chair. “His family’s not close. He doesn’t know what it’s like to lose somebody.”
“Do you?”
“Yeah, my mother. She died of breast cancer when I was a lot younger. I was with her through those times. The hospital cafeteria cook even started making me dinner every night and keeping it warm in the oven ‘cause I was there so much.”
Tears came to Fernando’s eyes again and he wiped them with the back of his hand. Stanton gently placed his hand on his wrist. They sat quietly a long time as Fernando softly wept.
When he was through, Stanton stood up.
“I’ll be right back,” he said.
He stepped out of the room and saw Gunn staring through the two-way mirror. He didn’t acknowledge Stanton as he walked by.
Stanton walked down the hallway to his office and flipped through the contacts on his iPhone. He found the number he was looking for and dialed. A female voice answered.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Cami. It’s Jon.”
“Hey, how are you! I haven’t talked to you in a minute.”
“I know. Sorry about that. I’ve been swamped up here. How’s Hank doing?”
“Great. He’s been focusing more on commercial real estate and leaving the residential stuff for the young kids. He works fewer hours and likes his clientele more.”
“That’s good news. Please tell him hi for me and that we’ll go golfing again soon.”
“I will. So what can I do for you?”