I snapped on a pair of nitrile gloves and dug my fingers into his pocket with caution. I pulled out several single-serving bags of dope and tossed them onto the concrete beside his face. "What's that?"
"Aspirin," he deadpanned.
"We'll see about that. You're under arrest for possession of narcotics. You have the right to remain silent…"
I pulled his phone from his pocket and used facial recognition to unlock it. I’m sure it was a burner.
“You can’t do that. I got a right to privacy.”
The courts had ruled that using facial recognition to open a phone wasn’t a 4th Amendment violation.Always use a passcode instead when doing illegal shit.
I tabbed through the recent calls and texts. “Well, look at what we have here,” I said with glee. “I thought you didn’t know Evelyn.”
“I don’t know anybody named Evelyn.”
“Why is her number in your phone? You sell dope to her?”
“I don’t sell dope.”
“Right,” I said, thick with sarcasm.
Jack called for a patrol unit. The squad car arrived a few moments later, and we stuffed Clarence into the backseat. He was taken to the station, processed, and printed.
We hustled back to the Porsche, drove to the station, filled out after-action reports, then paid him a visit in the tiny room.
The pale fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. Clarence sat at the table, cuffed at the wrists, looking deflated.
JD and I took a seat across the table from him. "Who's Evelyn Ellington?"
His face wrinkled with confusion. "Who?"
I showed him a picture on my phone.
Clarence shook his head. "Never seen her before.”
"You sure about that?”
“I don't know. I could have bumped into her at one of the clubs. I'm a very social person,” he said in an innocent voice.
“Why is her number in your phone?”
He said nothing.
"Who did you send up to the mall to kill Dustin?”
His face wrinkled. "I didn't send nobody.”
"Somebody tried to kill him. They shot a kid named Cody Griggs instead."
"I don't know nothing about that.”
"You just told me earlier you wanted to put a bullet in Dustin.”
"Figure of speech. I think he's a real nice guy.”
"Right now, you’re looking at a simple drug possession charge. Conspiracy to commit murder is a big one. You give up the name of the guy that you sent to kill Dustin, maybe you can get a reduced sentence.”
"Man, you're smoking crack. I didn't kill nobody. I didn't hire nobody to kill nobody. I didn't tell nobody to kill nobody. I'm a pacifist."
