“I’ll be in the living room,” he said. “But I want to know the moment your boss arrives.”
Gio nodded that he understood.
Satisfied, Peter Dugger turned and stalked out of the room.
1014 hours
Captain Michael Reott sat behind a wall of paperwork which stood on top of his desk. He found most of it redundant and all of it dull. When Lieutenant Crawford entered his open office door without knocking, he pushed aside the stack he was working on with gratitude.
“Good news?”
Crawford shook his head and settled heavily into the chair opposite Reott.
“Bad news?”
“No news,” Crawford said. “None of the stops patrol made panned out to be anything. Browning and Tower struck out with almost twenty registered sex offenders. That Kopriva kid has been on the phone all day, but there’s been nothing.”
Reott sighed. “Nothing except almost having a race riot in our lobby.”
“Well, you can thank Hart for that,” Crawford said in disgust. “He’s the one that went out there and got that entire group of people riled up. Another coupla minutes and they woulda torn the lobby apart.”
Reott shook his head. “Hart’s an idiot.”
“He’s the reason our line troops have no faith in leadership,” Crawford said in agreement. “I swear to God, Mike, I’m not going back to patrol as a lieutenant. Not ever. Can you imagine having to follow up his act? It’d take a year to get the uniforms to have any respect for you.”
Reott didn’t answer. Hart’s bumbling was second only to his ego.
“What’s more,” Crawford said, “it took a seventy-year-old Senior Volunteer to have the sense to come out of the bathroom, see what was happening and go to the Chief’s office to get him out there to talk to the Bishop. She was smarter than the cops out there.”
“Who was on the desk?”
“Reiser.”
Reott grunted. Reiser was a veteran cop. He’d should’ve known better. He changed the subject back to the kidnapping. “No hits on our teletype?”
“None. It’ll be re-sent tomorrow, this time nationwide.”
“No calls or letters to the victim’s house?”
“Nope. Fact is, if there hasn’t been a ransom call yet, there isn’t going to be one.”
Reott knew he was right. “You want to pull the officer from the house?”
“It’s a waste of manpower at this point. Unless you want to pay for the P.R.”
Reott shook his head. “No. Pull him.”
“All right.”
“What else?”
“Nothing,” Crawford said. “I wish there was something.”
Reott held up the newspaper. “At least we didn’t get filleted in today’s paper.”
“That Pam Lincoln’s article?”
Reott scanned the page for a byline. “Yeah.”
Crawford nodded. “She’ll be fair. If we fuck up, she’ll say so. But she doesn’t go looking for mistakes that aren’t there.”
“Unlike that Barlow guy.”
“Barlow hates us.” Crawford shrugged. “What’re ya gonna do?”
Reott dropped the paper onto his desk. “Anything outside of this case?”
“The usual,” Crawford said. “I’ve got two detectives on the assault case where the three guys jumped the off-duty fireman outside of the Bayou Bluez. He took a pretty good thumping. Could’ve died, from what they tell me.”
“How’s that looking?”
“Like he had it coming, just not nearly as much as they…”
Crawford was interrupted by a harsh buzzing on his belt. He grabbed his pager and looked at it. Then he looked up at Reott. “It’s Dispatch.”
Reott gestured toward his telephone. Crawford dialed quickly and Carrie Anne picked up on the second ring.
“Police Dispatch.”
“Crawford here. You paged me?”
“Yes. Adam-257, Officer Giovanni, is requesting you respond to his location as soon as possible.”
Crawford’s eyebrows shot up. “He get a ransom call?”
“No,” Carrie Anne said. “Apparently, the little girl’s father has returned home and wants an update on the investigation.”
“Okay,” Crawford said and hung the phone.
“What is it?” Reott asked.
“Nothing,” Crawford told him. “The missing girl’s father is home and wants an update.”
Reott smiled. “Maybe you should send Hart.”
1055 hours
Gio didn’t really know much about Lieutenant Crawford, other than his reputation as a hard-ass. The lieutenant was in charge of the Major Crimes Unit in the Investigative Division and so their paths only crossed at major crime scenes. In those instances, he didn’t exactly have the opportunity to break bread with the guy. Still, when he saw his unmarked police car come to a stop in front of the Dugger residence, he was happy to see him.
He slipped out the front door and met Crawford as he lumbered up the walkway.
“Father’s back, huh?” the lieutenant wheezed.
“Yeah,” Gio said.
“Attitude?”
“Oh, he’s got one,” Gio told him.
Crawford grunted and brushed past Gio, striding toward the house.
Inside, they found the Duggers in the living room. Kathy was still on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket. Peter Dugger was pacing and talking on a cell phone. Gio found cell phones to be the latest accouterment of the wealthy and self-important.
Dugger’s eyes swept over them, but he made no effort to get off the phone. “I’ll be in the day after tomorrow and we’ll re-structure the inspection schedule then.”
Crawford gave Dugger a withering look. Dugger nodded his head at the lieutenant. “Listen, Tammy, just put the Southern inspector on my mandatory sites and set aside the discretionary ones until I’m back. The world won’t collapse.” He listened for a moment, then said, “Then tell Jackson I said it. I don’t care.” He pulled the phone away from his ear and pushed a button, shaking his head. Then he looked up at Crawford. “Three dollars a minute and she wants to worry what some idiot in Atlanta is going to say.”
Crawford extended his hand. “Lieutenant Crawford.”
Dugger shook his hand. “Peter Dugger. You have an update for me?”
“I do,” Crawford said. “As you can see, we’ve had an officer here around the clock since we knew about this incident.” He motioned at Giovanni. “In addition to that, I have a task force of detectives working on your case. The entire patrol division has been briefed on the situation and stopped enough similar vehicles to cause a minor uproar in the black community this morning. Teletypes were sent to all Western States and will be re-sent tomorrow morning nationally.”
Dugger nodded as Crawford spoke, as if he were ticking of a checklist. Then he asked, “What else?”
“There is nothing else, Mr. Dugger.”
“No search parties?”
Crawford looked at him for a moment, then turned and walked toward the kitchen, motioning for him to follow. Dugger set his bulky cell phone on the coffee table and came after Crawford. Gio drifted in behind him.
Once in the kitchen, Crawford said, “Sir, we are doing everything we possibly can to find your little girl. I’m not going to go into every tiny detail with you, so you’re just going to have trust me on that one.”
“I need to know,” Dugger insisted.
Crawford gave him an appraising look. “Are you a boss?”
“What do you mean?”
“At work,” Crawford said. “In your career. Are you a boss?”
“Yes, I suppose I am,” Dugger answered.
“Then you know what I’m dealing with,” Crawford said. “I have to make sure my assets are all being used to their fullest potential. I have to make sure that everyone is on the same page in the way we do things. You know what I’m saying.”
“Of course. Basic management.”
“Exactly. That’s why I’m pulling the officer off of this detail and returning him to the street.”
“You’re what?”
Crawford didn’t reply. He met Dugger’s gaze without reaction.
Dugger’s face turned red. “You’re giving up on this case, aren’t you? You goddamn cops are-“