“How’s that?”
“I did an account check.A guy on welfare was supposed to have over $80,000 in his account.I did a surreptitious check on his account.”
“Surreptitious?You mean illegal?”
He shrugged.“Just a little bit funny.”
“Like what you’re going to do for me?”
“No,” he said.“I suppose this is okay.But if I find the site and she’s there, I have to file a report.I’ll tell you what I find out, but I’ve got to file the report.”
I understood.If he didn’t file the report, it would look like he was just cruising under-age porn for his own purposes.
“That’s okay,” I said.“Hell, reference the runaway report on Kris when you file the porn report.I just want to know who the guy is.”
“I know.But with that information, the detective sergeant will assign the case. With that obvious of a lead, they’ll jump on it right away and do a search warrant on his place.”
He was right.The Sex Crimes Unit was aggressive, as they should be.But that aggressive stance was going to get in my way now.
“What if you didn’t write the report for a day?” I asked, looking at him pointedly.“Or if it sat in your out box for a couple of shifts?”
“What if I was a moron?” Adam shot back.He rubbed his hands together, thinking.Then he said, “I guess I’d probably have to run a confirmation check on the site identification before I wrote the report.And I could wait until the end of the day to write the report.”
“Thanks,” I said.
He shook his head ruefully.“I’m still going to look like a screw-up.”
“No, you won’t.You’ll look like a busy guy, that’s all.”
“Crawford will chew my ass.”
Lieutenant Crawford was the commander of the Major Crimes Unit, which the Sex Crimes Unit fell under.He was a bit of a bastard.
“Crawford has no right chewing your ass,” I told him.“He’ll bitch to your sergeant.Your sergeant will chew your ass.That’s the chain of command.”
“I’m glad to see civilian life hasn’t diminished your understanding of proper police procedure,” Adam said.“But Crawford believes the chain of command is a one-way street and only runs upward.He’ll be in my office, chewing my ass for being a moron and not getting the report in immediately.Then I’ll tell my sergeant about the ass-chewing.My sergeant will go bitch to everybody but Lieutenant Crawford about it. He’ll still hear about it, but won’t care a bit. And the world will continue to turn.That’s how the chain of command really works.”
I didn’t answer.He was right.I tried to see Adam’s sergeant in Crawford’s office barking at the fat balding jerk with his droopy cop mustache as he sat chewing on his unlit cigar.But I couldn’t.
I remembered Crawford very well.He’d been in Major Crimes when I was on the job.I’d worked under his command while on light duty after my shooting.He hadn’t exactly welcomed me with open arms.And when the Amy Dugger case broke…well, it got worse.
“I can’t believe he’s still got that command,” I said.“How long has he been there?Twelve, thirteen years?That many years in one command is too long.”
Adam nodded and shrugged at the same time.“He gets results.”
I snorted.“His detectives get results.He gets the credit.”
“And he doesn’t promote,” Adam said.“I heard that last go round, he turned down a promotion to captain.”
“That can’t be.”
“That’s the rumor.”
“That’s like a twenty percent pay raise,” I said.“At least.Plus, the power.”
Adam turns his palms up.“What can I say?The rumor is that he turned it down because he already makes that much in overtime, anyway.And he likes being on the TV news every time something terrible happens.”
“Who made captain instead?”
“No one.”
“How’s that?”
“It was Captain Reott who was going to retire that opened up the spot.When Crawford turned it down, someone went to Reott and convinced him not to retire until the promotional list expired.”
“Why?”
“Because Hart was next on the list to promote to captain.”
I understood then.Lieutenant Hart had been a prick when I was on the job and I doubted anything had changed.The difference between him and Crawford was like the difference between a bull and a snake.Crawford came right at you and you knew where you stood.Hart was always coiled in the grass, waiting.Even the brass didn’t want him to be a captain.They’d stuck him in Internal Affairs years ago, while I was still working, and he’d been there ever since.
I let the conversation die.It had only been a cushion anyway, a way of restoring a sense of normalcy between us.
“Call me a couple of times a day,” Adam said.“Since you don’t have a phone, I can’t call you.Once I get this thing figured out, I don’t want to let it sit any longer than I have to.”
“You got it.”
Adam slid his business card across the table to me.“Use a land-line.Ask me if I can meet you for lunch or dinner.Whatever’s appropriate.If I say yes, I’ve got something for you.”
I thought that was a little bit much in the cloak-and-dagger department, but he knew better than I did, so I nodded.“How long?”
Adam shrugged.“I have no clue.”
He finished his latte in one gulp and left without another word.
32
I called Matt Sinderling after lunch.He was eager to hear any news, but I told him I didn’t have anything concrete.I wasn’t ready to tell him that his little girl may have become a prostitute briefly and might now be starring in sex films on the Internet.I hoped he didn’t frequent those sites himself.I had a vision of him coming across his own daughter’s movies and it gave me a black feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Tell me something,” Matt pleaded.“Tell me what you’ve been doing.”
“I’ve been following leads,” I told him.
“What kind of leads?”
“Let me see if they go anywhere,” I said.“If they pan out, I’ll fill you in.Rozumis?”
“Huh?”
It was Czech for “do you understand?”My grandmother was born in Czechoslovakia and came to the United States as a fifteen-year-old girl. She used to say it to me all time.It was amazing how many different inflections she was able to come up with-one for comforting me, one for teaching, one for reprimanding.I didn’t know why it popped out, but it did.
“Just something my grandma used to say.Listen, I’ll fill you in on anything that’s worth hearing. I just don’t want to waste your time reporting every dead end.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” Matt said.He sounded doubtful and after the beating Leon gave me, that sound pissed me off.
“Listen, Matt, if you want me off this case, I’ll return your money and we’ll call it good,” I said.My voice was as sharp as his was doubtful.
“It’s not that,” he answered immediately.“It’s just…well, I guess I started to get my hopes up a little.I thought there might be some results by now.”
“I haven’t found her,” I said.“But I’ve talked to someone who’s seen her since she ran away.And I have an idea where she went from there.”
“Where?” His voice was excited.“Who?”
“That’s for a face-to-face conversation. If it pans out.”
He was silent for a moment, as if trying to decipher what that meant exactly.
I didn’t want him thinking about that, so I said, “Listen, I need a car for some of the things I’m trying to do.I can rent one, but I wanted to okay it with you first.”
“That’s fine.Wait-does it have to be a new car?”
“No.It just has to run.”
“I’ve got my brother’s old car at the house.It’s in the garage under a tarp.”
“What is it?”
“An old Celica.I was saving it as a surprise for Kris when she got her license.”
“Does she know the car?”