“Sure. Gimme the file back. I’ll read you the good bits.”
Bryn grabbed the key before Gunnar could change his mind. He ran around to the driver’s seat. “It’s been a while.”
“Not my car, is it? You need to get familiar. If there’s ever a situation when I’m down and you need to getaway, you have to be able to drive confidently. Besides, it’s an automatic. Not much to it. Personally, I prefer a stick.”
Bryn didn’t want to imagine a time when he’d have to abandon his partner, however annoying he was. He got behind the wheel then buckled up. The in-built sat-nav was programmed for the penitentiary, so all he had to do was follow directions. He set off and the exhilaration of being in charge of his own destination was heady.I could keep driving. Go for miles. What could they do?
“Keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel. I might only be a wolf but it doesn’t take a genius to guess what’s going through your head right now.”
“Don’t know what you mean.”
“Yeah, right. You have a tracker chip in you and I don’t want to be involved in a pursuit with the cops on our second case.”
“Spoilsport.”
“Behave or I won’t let you drive again.”
“This isn’t a one-off?”
“If you get us there in one piece.”
Bryn tightened his grip on the steering wheel. He kept quiet for the rest of the journey and listened to Gunnar as he read out some background from the file.
“So this guy went down for armed robbery?”
“Yeah. He had some financial issues then seemed to be cash rich, which is why he attracted attention. He was in the neighborhood and his car was caught on camera on the same road as the convenience store that was robbed.”
“But no positive ID?”
“Perp wore a clown mask. The store owner, assistant and two customers were gunned down.”
“So no witnesses?”
“It happened at night. One witness saw a masked man run past him on the sidewalk. He testified to height, build and a tattoo on the perp’s neck. An anchor.”
“He saw a tat, in the dark, on a running man?”
“Yeah. Kinda sketchy. Witness has since died so can’t be questioned. The arresting cop has been fired and is being prosecuted for, amongst other things, taking bribes from organized crime gangs, excessive force, racist language…the list goes on.”
“Sounds like a charmer.”
“A charmer who could have mentioned that tat to the witness.”
“How long has the guy we’re seeing been locked up?”
“Five years.”
“Fuck.”
“Don’t make any assumptions.”
“What I think makes zero difference to the outcome.”
“You can’t lie about what you see?”
“No. If I try it, something in my brain short circuits. The pain is so bad I black out.”
“Do I want to know how that was discovered?”
