I sit back heavily in my chair, unsure what this means for me. The heaviness of my lies continues to weigh me down like an extra fifty pounds. “Will I need to testify now?”
“I’m not sure, Amanda. We need to go see Ben as soon as possible.”
Right, Ben. The brother of my best friend. The guy who works at the San Francisco Police Department and the man I’ve been lying to for the last few weeks. Yes, let’s go talk to him.
Perfect.
Hudson reaches around me and opens the bottom filing cabinet drawer. The one I used to hold my purse and the large stash of chocolate I keep in the office. If only chocolate could save me now.
Bright lights linethe ceiling in Ben’s conference room… i.e., interrogation room. They shine across the metal desk and bounce around blaring in my eyes. Now I understand where jokes come from about detectives shining lights to get answers. I’m in the interrogation room for a reason. No one better buy Marissa that spotlight for Christmas. We’d all be in trouble.
The big metal door opens and Ben walks in, allowing it to slam behind him. He holds a large folder overflowing with papers, the corners sticking out at the wrong angle.
“You’ve been building this case for a while?” Hudson says once Ben sets everything down in front of him and takes a seat on the other side.
He shakes his head but not in disagreement. More to say yes, he has worked on the case long time. At this moment I look at Ben and see, even though he shares features with Aspen, his eyes are heavier. He’s tired. Maybe that’s the life of a police detective, or maybe it’s this case.
“You have no idea. I understand Ridge is busy with the drug highways leading into Canada, but San Francisco gets hit from all sides. We’ve got the traditional Mafiosos, Japanese gangs, and the street gangs you find in every large city. It’s a mess out there.”
Hudson sighs like he knows the struggle too well.
For a second I expect a touching moment between the two men. Something from a police movie, but it fades when Ben opens the top of his folder and a few papers fall on the table.
They’re nothing I can make out, full pages of typed paragraphs.
I can’t decide what’s worse… Or better. If I had seen the faces of the shooter and his companion, I could pick someone out of a book and send Ben on his merry way. Yeah, I would probably have to testify. And if a big crime organization is involved, I might be in danger, but I’m in danger already. And the only person I did see clearly is the one person I don’t want to name.
I’ve never had many friends before, and I can’t guess how many I’ll lose over my decision to tell or not tell. The internal debate breaks my brain and a small crack grows. If only there was an easy answer.
Ben takes the first few pages as they flutter onto the table and stacks them together passing them over to Hudson.
“Richie told us he was hired by an associate of Lagina, and the same man who made the contact shot him in front of the stadium.”
“Did he say why?” Hudson asks.
“Not really. From what we’ve put together, they’ve been running small shipments of coke up and down the state for the last year. Lagina wanted to up the stakes with bigger shipments coming out of Washington. After Richie realized who he’d ratted out, he clammed up fast. Asked for his lawyer.”
“Who’s paying for the lawyer?” Hudson slides the papers back to Ben after a cursory glance.
Ben smiles, but it’s not the smile I’ve seen during other interactions with him. This one is hard and cold — a thinking smile. “That’s the thing. He can’t afford one, so he had a court-appointed. It seems whoever he was working for has left him out to dry.”
“That would be good for you,” Hudson says.
Ben’s attention finally turns, and he directs his energy my way. “I’ll put together a lineup of people we think could be working with Lagina based on what we got out of Richie. You said you didn’t see anything but I want you to look through them and make sure. You never know what will spark your memory.”
I nod, agreeing to look. It was dark, and they were so far away, but it could help. We hadn’t done one earlier because Ben said there were too many possibilities. It wouldn’t do any good, but with a smaller pool, I might can help. It could lessen my guilt.
“I’ll work on getting it together this afternoon and give you a call. Depending on what happens with the case, you might not have to come back to the station. I’ll email you the files depending on how many come up in the search.”
Ben stands from the table and Hudson is quick to follow, but I don’t make a move to leave. The ball of panic and anxiety worries a pit in my stomach.
“Come on, Amanda,” Hudson says placing his hand on my shoulder. It adds more weight to my heavy body.
The two men spare glances at one another as Ben picks up his folder.
I don’t know what to do. I’d be the first to admit I don’t have much foresight into the criminal thought process, but Richie didn’t do what I expected. I mean for goodness sakes the man was shot! He was in a coma. When you wake up from a coma after being shot, you don’t then clam up and not tell the police what happened. You’re supposed to turn state’s witness. As long as Richie was in a coma I could push my problems further and further away, but now I have to deal with them. And quick. Now I’m worried I’ll have to testify, and friend or not, I can’t lie under oath.
Hudson steersme by the arm to our left and opens the door to a brightly lit restaurant. I hadn’t even realized we left the police station, and it’s not until the smells of baking bread and marinara sauce invade my senses I realize we’re in a pizzeria.
