“That cop’s known to be dirty, Rich, at least that’s what the talk on the street says.”
“Do you know that for a fact? Sometimes things aren’t what they seem.”
It sounded like he was taking the cop’s side. “You believe me, don’t you, Rich?”
“Yes, of course I do. I’ll talk to my boss and see if we can look into it, look into that cop, but without a description or a name of a possible victim, there’s no way to validate what you saw, unless he files a report on it.”
“That sounds like you don’t believe me, Rich. I’m telling you; I saw him strangle that man. His hands were around that man’s neck from behind the guy, and his face was really red. His legs had already given out, and that cop’s hands on his neck were the only thing holding the guy upright.”
“He could have choked him out but not killed him,” Rich repeated.
“And how did he supposedly get away then? He told me his suspect got away.”
“I don’t know, Donna, a few different things could have happened. And you’re sure you don’t know who that man was.”
“No, I’ve never seen him around. But honestly, I didn’t get a good look at him.”
“Was there anything notable about the man being choked that you saw?”
“No, and as I said, I didn’t look for too long.”
“Any scars or tattoos on the guy?” Rich asked.
“Not that I saw.”
“Was he a black guy, a white guy, Hispanic?” Rich continued.
“I don’t know,” she insisted.
“Close your eyes and grab hold of the image. Freeze it and look at him. Look at everything about him. Hair color, what he’s wearing, what are his hands doing?”
Donna did as he said. She could clearly see the man. “White or Hispanic guy, shaggy brown hair coming out of a gray skullcap. I can’t tell his age, not too young, not too old. He has a scraggly mustache, and you know, scruff all over his face and neck. And he has on a faded flannel shirt or jacket in blues and grays.”
“You’re doing great,” Rich said, jotting down what she said onto a pad of paper in front of him. “What are his hands doing?” He expected her to say, grabbing at the cop’s hands.
“Hanging limp at his sides. And there’s a dark spot that could be a tattoo on his left hand. It’s big, covers almost the whole thing.”
That told Rich the guy was already unconscious. Fighting was instinct. The only time someone who was being choked stopped fighting their attacker was when they were unconscious. “Okay, see, you saw more than you thought you did.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Rich thought for a moment. “Donna, this is what I want you to do. Pack a bag for a few days for you and the kids and go to your mom’s house when the boys get home from school. I don’t want you guys there alone. I’m going to talk to my boss, and I’ll talk to you later tonight.”
“I don’t want to bring trouble to my mom’s house,” she complained. “Besides, by the way he acted at my door, don’t you think I’m safe, that he didn’t really see me?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t want you alone there. Please, just humor me.”
“Okay,” Donna said, her lips cracking a small smile. “We’ll go there for the weekend.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”
Burke disconnected the call and then rubbed his forehead. He was worried about the situation in Virginia.
He and Tessman had been scouting the area where the contact had disappeared from the feed on the thermal imaging camera of the drone. There was a ravine that angled steeply to the west at the coordinates. He and Tessman believed it was likely that it had been a deer as Wilson originally thought, and that something had probably startled it and it bolted down into the ravine and out of the camera’s range, quickly disappearing from sight.
They found no indication that a human had been in the area. While they searched, that was when Donna’s call had come to his silenced phone.
“What’s up?” Wilson asked.
