Page 35

“Can you just drop it?” I hissed.

“Yeah, sure. But at some point you’re gonna tell me.”

I refused to acknowledge his last comment and got up to go chat with the watch commander, who’d know which officer filed the report for the Raymond Chandler accident.

As I walked away, I heard Sean say, “Was it something I said?” I raised both hands in exasperation, making Sean laugh.

I headed to central command to find out who the watch commander was over the weekend. They’d be the one to know which patrol officer was at the scene of Raymond Chandler’s car accident. The only person I saw in the glass-walled, secured office was Lieutenant Briana Cooper, sitting in front of a monitor, scowling, a rare sight on her face.

Greeting the officer manning the front desk, I pointed to the secured room. He buzzed it open for me before my hand hit the doorknob.

Briana snapped her head toward me, still wearing her uncharacteristic scowl. “Shit, Jonesy… you scared me,” she said, pressing a hand to her chest and closing her eyes.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” I replied with a wince. “It looks like you’re deep in thought.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t hear the door buzz. I’m just going over some log entries from the weekend, and I think some of these officers really need a refresher on report writing.”

I snickered. “That’s what you get for having a degree in English. You’ll always pick apart grammar and structure.”

She huffed, shaking her head to clear it, and finally smiled. “What can I help you with?”

“I’m curious to know which officer was at the scene of the Chandler vehicle accident at Glen Canyon Park on Saturday.”

“Easy enough to look up,” she replied, tapping at her keyboard. “It looks like it was Officer Chen.” She gave me a quizzical look, then looked back at the report. “From all indications, Chandler seemed to have lost control of his vehicle and went down into the ravine. But…are you thinking otherwise? You’re in homicide.” Her skepticism was obvious.

“Not sure yet. I just heard about it on the news, and I knew he was a successful businessman here in San Francisco.” I walked to stand beside her to look more closely at her monitor. “Is forensics looking at the car? Was anything listed in the report about that?” I asked.

She scrolled through the report. “It’s in the yard right now. I’m sure they’ll eventually get to it. You know how long these things take, though.”

“Yeah,” I replied, straightening up. I knew how long these things took, especially when nothing looked out of the ordinary. I didn’t like the timing, given what Craig had told me about Raymond’s wife. I figured I’d go have a chat with the captain and let him know about Mrs. Chandler and Craig’s connection. The coincidence felt too close to home the more I thought about it.

I thanked Briana and headed toward the squad room. Rounding the corner, I saw the captain in his office, behind closed doors, talking with another detective. Not wanting to sit on what I knew about the Chandlers, I went to my desk and emailed the captain to say I needed to speak with him sometime today and that it was important.

The rest of my morning was spent gathering security details for next week's Miss California pageant. I got ahold of the special events team leader, Lieutenant Anderson, and told him what happened in Lake Tahoe. He appreciated the heads-up and suggested I talk to the captain about extra manpower. It gave me another reason to talk to Captain Davis today.

By the time I’d finished with Anderson, I looked at my watch and realized I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and it was nearly one-thirty in the afternoon. The captain had responded to my email and said he’d be available after three o’clock.

As I sat at my desk, I heard Sean hang up his phone. “Hey…have you eaten lunch?” he asked, getting up from his seat.

“No, not yet. What do you have in mind?” I replied, feeling my stomach rumble at his timing.

“There’s that new deli a couple of blocks over. I hear their pastrami is amazing.”

I was never one for cured meats, but as I squinted at him in thought, thinking turkey on rye sounded good. “I’m game. I’ve got time before I need to talk to the captain.”

The day was pleasant enough with a light breeze, and I took in the fresh air while we walked. I’d decided a few months ago that I needed to take breaks out of the precinct to clear my head—touch the grass, if you will. I didn’t do it enough.

“Out of curiosity, what are you chatting with the captain about?” Sean asked as we left the precinct.

“There are a couple of things I have to discuss with Davis,” I said, donning my sunglasses. “First, it’s about extra security for the Miss California pageant next week. Given what happened in Lake Tahoe, I think it’s worth discussing. And secondly… did you hear about what happened over the weekend involving the guy and his car that went into a ravine by Glen Canyon Park?”

“Yeah, I heard about it on the radio driving in this morning,” he replied.

“Well, the guy’s wife was a client of Craig’s. She suspected her husband was having an affair…which he was. Craig got photos of the guy caught in the act.”

Sean stopped mid-stride. “Seriously? That’s…like weirdly coincidental.”

“Ya think? I’m sure once I tell the captain, he’s gonna want to make sure Craig is interviewed by the investigating detective to get his take about the wife.”