“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it. Why would Quinn do that? I’d understand one of my officers bringing in a car to have it searched. They don’t need my approval for that. The question is why he would have said I wanted it done.”
Neither of us spoke for a moment.
“I saw Quinn while I was cooling my heels in the cell, before the lineup,” I said. “He might be in the building.”
Augie picked up a phone. “Where’s Quinn?” He waited a few seconds. “When did he go off shift?” He looked at me and mouthed “ten minutes.” He hung for another moment, then said, “Get him at home or on his cell. I want to talk to him.”
He pressed a button, then said, “Get me the compound.” Another moment on hold, then, “Chief Perry here. You got an Accord, was brought in last night, belongs to Calvin Weaver? Yeah, that’s the one... Uh-huh... Uh-huh... Okay. He’s coming to pick it up. I would ask that you extend him every courtesy.”
He hung up.
“No one’s even touched it,” Augie said. “They were awaiting further instructions.”
“I guess I’ll be on my way, then,” I said.
“What are you going to do now?”
“I’m going to keep looking for Claire,” I said.
“You don’t think maybe it’s time for you to take a step back? You nearly got yourself charged. Maybe you should count your blessings and go home for a while.”
“I told the mayor I’d stay on this for—”
It was like I’d poked a bear with a sharp stick. “Hold on,” Augie said. “Tell me you’re not actually working for that son of a bitch.”
“Sorry, Augie. You so pissed with him you don’t think he’s entitled to get his daughter back?”
He waved an angry hand at me. “We’re already looking for her. We’ve got a whole load of questions for her about this game she and Hanna Rodomski were playing.”
“I’ll try not to get in your people’s way,” I said. “Although that may be difficult, given the campaign of harassment you’ve been conducting against Sanders.”
“What in the hell are you talking about?” Bellowing.
“I’m talking about having cruisers parked on his street, watching him, trying to intimidate him. Cops frisking his daughter. Sanders is convinced you’ve even got his phone tapped.”
“That’s the biggest crock of horseshit I’ve ever heard.”
“Sanders blames you and all your surveillance for his daughter having to go to such lengths to get out of town without being noticed.”
His cheeks were getting red. I was reminded of a boiler on the brink of exploding.
“All bullshit,” Augie said.
“Here’s the thing,” I said. “When you go to a public meeting and tell the mayor your officers have never violated anyone’s rights, I know that’s a lie, and so does everyone in the room, but no one really cares, because everyone here is happy for you to treat the Constitution like it’s toilet paper. So what if you run roughshod over a bunch of punks from Buffalo? But if I know you’re lying then, how am I supposed to know whether you’re telling me the truth now?”
“I need my head read, helping you out.”
I moved toward the door. “What I’m doing has nothing to do with you or Sanders or any of the bad blood between you. I just want to find Claire. Once I do, maybe we can figure out who killed Hanna.”
Augie blinked, and a smile formed in the corner of his mouth.
“Don’t you know?”
“Don’t I know what?”
“We made an arrest this morning.”
“You’ve charged someone with Hanna’s murder? Who?”
“The boyfriend.”
“Sean Skilling?”
“Yup.”
I let my arm fall away from the doorknob. “The kid’s got an alibi. One of your own people pulled him over for running a stop sign.”
“I asked around,” Augie said. “There’s no record of a ticket.”
“I told you, they didn’t write him a ticket. He got a warning.”
“What do you want from me, Cal?” Augie said. “I asked around — no one remembers pulling that kid over in his Ranger.”
“My gut says he didn’t do it.”
“Would your gut feel any different if it knew Hanna’s jeans and panties were found under the seat of his pickup truck?”
Thirty-nine
Augie arranged for me to reclaim my phone at reception on my way out. There were three messages. Two from Donna, who’d evidently gotten word that I was in some kind of trouble, and one from the manager of the landscaping company. Before making callbacks, I got a cab to take me back to where I’d left Donna’s car on the shoulder of the road when Brindle and Haines had picked me up. Then I trekked back to the police department and parked the car in the lot.
Then I phoned Donna.
“Your car’s where you usually leave it,” I said.
“I called you twice.”
“I was indisposed.”
“Which was why I called. I’d heard you were in the building. And not in one of the rooms where they hold community meetings.”
“Yeah, but it’s sorted out. How’d you hear?”
“Kate heard it from Marvin, and she told me. I called Augie, but by that time you were out.”
“He intervened.”
“They didn’t find something in the car, did they?” Donna said.
“No, it was something else.”
A pause. “Something else?”
“Yeah. I guess I’ve been pressing my luck. Something came back and bit me in the ass.”
“How’d Augie get you out of this?”
“I’ll tell you all about it later. Really.”
“Sure.” Her voice sounded flat.
“What is it?”
“Last night doesn’t mean everything’s okay,” she said.
“I know.”
The lockup where they were holding my Honda was a large parking lot surrounded by high chain-link fencing with a nasty string of barbed wire running along the top. In the office I found a short woman, working away at the crossword, who was expecting me. She retrieved my keys and led me into the compound past decommissioned cruisers, cars that had been in accidents, and a few untouched vehicles like my own.
Once we’d found it, the woman shoved a clipboard at me and said, “You have to sign here.” I did. She handed over the keys, told me to have a nice day, and said to beep the horn when I reached the gate and she’d open it.
I didn’t just get behind the wheel and drive off. I popped the trunk, where I kept those tools of my trade. The laptop, an orange traffic vest, a matching hard hat. Among other things.
Nothing appeared to have been touched.
I went through the glove compartment and had the sense nothing in there had been fiddled with, either. As Augie’d said, no one had touched the car yet.
Even so, I was surprised to see Hanna’s wig still in the car, on the floor in front of the backseat. Maybe it didn’t constitute evidence, since Hanna wasn’t wearing it at the time of her death, but it was all part and parcel of what had happened to her.
There was no shortage of other things to puzzle over. Why did Quinn tell Haines and Brindle to tow my car in? If he thought it should be searched for evidence, why lay it off on the chief?
And Sean Skilling arrested in Hanna’s murder?
I got behind the wheel. I inserted the key, started the engine, gave the pedal a couple of taps and listened to the engine rev. I got out my phone and listened to the message from the lawn service guy.
“Bill Hooper here, returning your call.”
He’d called an hour and a half ago. I tapped his number with my thumb to call him right back.
“You’ve reached Bill Hooper. I can’t take your call right now, but if you leave a message I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”