“The board acts in their own time. I’d say toward the end of the month. I’m behind you, as is the entire department, Jake, to make sure Eva gets justice.”
Jake paced the room. Seventeen years and it seemed like yesterday. “When they took him out after the trial, Spaulding whispered to me he’d done it and enjoyed every moment of it,” Jake said. It was a moment in time he would never forget.
There were nights after the trial he dreamed up ways of killing Spaulding, making him suffer as much, if not more, than Eva had. Even today, when his moral code screamed there was no justification for taking a life, he understood deep down in his soul that, if given the chance, he’d remove George Spaulding from the face of this Earth and not look back. Captain McGuire’s voice floated back into his head. Jake felt shame standing in front of Shamus with thoughts of murder in his head. If he did kill, what would separate him from the ones he hunted every day of his life?
“As a cop, you and I both understand the evidence is what convicts, along with a smart prosecutor. Spaulding’s lawyer has petitioned the court. Even if the DNA isn’t a match, it wouldn’t get him an immediate release. There was other evidence putting him at the crime scene. And there was an eyewitness who saw him push Eva into his car. All it will get him is a new trial. If I remember this right, all of the evidence pointed to him. Have faith, Jake.”
“Faith? Is that what I should tell Eva? Oh wait. I can’t. Because she’s dead!”
The captain ignored his outburst. “If he goes to trial I promise we’ll reopen the case and work it along with our current files. But, you can’t touch the file when we do.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“No, it’s not. If we want the chain of evidence to remain pure you can’t touch it. I’ll respect and appoint whoever you want to work it,” McGuire said.
“Louie.”
“It can’t be him either.” McGuire held up his hands before Jake could interrupt him. “He’s too close to you.”
“What’s not to say any of the men in my department aren’t too close to me?”
“Whoever you pick will have a state trooper working with him.”
“You don’t trust your own men?” Aggrieved, Jake threw up his hands.
“Do you want answers?”
“Shamus, I already got my answer. I’ve no doubt Spaulding is guilty,” Jake said.
“Then this is the best way to handle it. When we catch the killer, it will ensure a conviction,” Shamus said.
Jake pushed a hand through his hair. The air thinned, cutting off his next breath. “I need to get out of here.”
He rushed from McGuire’s office. At his desk Jake grabbed his car keys and ignored Louie’s questions. He didn’t trust himself to speak. The pit of his stomach burned. What if the DNA didn’t match Spaulding’s? Damn, he wanted to punch something. No, not something. He wanted to punch out Spaulding.
I swear if they release him—I’ll—I’ll kill him.
“Jake, wait up.” Louie Romanelli followed him out of the bullpen.
“Not now.” Jake kept walking.
Louie caught up to him and grabbed his arm as he would a suspect and twirled him around. If he wanted to, Jake could’ve decked him. They were evenly matched in height and weight. Instead, he stood rigid. “Talk to me,” Louie said.
“Give me a couple of hours to pull myself together. We’ll meet at my house later if you can. In the meantime, work the Wagner case. I’d hate not to give the Wagners the answers they need.” He didn’t bother to mention the case was similar to Eva’s that, he too needed the closure.
“Tell me what’s wrong. Did McGuire fire you?” Louie’s olive complexion whitened as he asked the question. His dark eyes searched Jake’s face for an answer.
Leave it to Louie. For the first time in over a half hour, he laughed. “No, I’m not fired. Spaulding’s up for parole again and has requested new testing.”
He stared down his friend as Louie processed the information. If it wasn’t for Louie and his family during the weeks and months that followed Eva’s death, he wouldn’t be standing here today.
How different we are, Jake thought. Louie, married for seventeen years to his grade-school sweetheart, now had three kids. He, on the other hand, liked being single. Side by side, though they matched each other in height, his skin tone paled next to Louie’s dark Italian coloring.
“Shit.”
“Go back to work. I’ll talk to you later.”
Jake walked away with his head down and his mind spinning out in every direction. No matter what Shamus said, he owed it to Eva to find the answers.
It’s my fault she died.
* * * *
Louie checked the time. It was gonna be a tall order keeping Jake focused if Spaulding was released. McGuire beckoned him from his doorway as Louie reached for the Wagner file.
“Stay with Jake, he needs a friend right now.”
“Cap, I’m meeting him at his house in a couple of hours. You want to fill me in?”
“Spaulding will come in front of the board sometime in late summer or early fall. The test results could make it sooner. It will depend on the lab’s current and backlog caseloads,” McGuire said.
“I got that from Jake. What aren’t you telling me?” Louie asked.
“Spaulding’s sure the results will clear him. He wants a new trial, an acquittal, this way he won’t ever be tried again for the crime.”
“It doesn’t mean he’ll get it.” Louie ran a hand through his hair as he outlined the possibilities of Spaulding being set free.
“No, it doesn’t. But a lot of prisoners have gone free with no DNA match, no matter what the other evidence against them was. Lawyers are now holding court in the press.”
“If the case is reopened, who are you going to appoint to the case?”
“I’m not jumping the gun, but if it comes to it, Burke and Kraus.”
* * * *
This time of day the bullpen came alive with activity. Criminals locked to chairs complained of their innocence or wrestled to free themselves. Some spit or let loose other bodily functions as revenge for getting caught. Victims cried, reliving their horror as they gave their accounts of events. Nervous witnesses sat waiting their turns to speak. In the midst of all the activities, Louie tried to concentrate on the Wagner file, but kept coming back to Jake and that horrible time in their lives.
Since they were ten, he and Jake had been as close as brothers. In fact, he was closer to Jake than to his own brother. Their lives had become a nightmare when Eva had been killed. Nothing he’d done had helped Jake deal with the tragedy. The only thing he had been able to do was be there for him. The helpless feeling overwhelmed him again. One event had changed many lives. What was he going to say to Jake?
Maybe I should ask Sophia to come with me? Nah, Jake would feel like we’re ganging up on him.
Louie picked up the Wagner file. A thick one with no answers, little evidence, and statements on how wonderful and perfect Shanna was. If they didn’t catch a break soon, Shanna Wagner’s case would go into the unsolved file. A shadow fell over his desk as he studied the file. Looking up, Louie bit back a curse. Not her again. The petite brunette with the sloe eyes stood with hand on hip, waiting on him to look up at her. Chloe Wagner, the bane of Jake’s existence, Louie thought.
Thank God Jake didn’t have to deal with her in his current state of mind. Louie looked around the bullpen as the noise