Page 29

FAITH

D ragging myself into the station the next morning, I couldn't shake the guilt gnawing at my insides. Guilt for digging into Coulter’s past. Guilt for going to see him without talking to my partner first. But mostly, guilt for the pain in Coulter’s eyes when I told him I couldn’t see him anymore.

It was all necessary, but it felt horrible.

After the way I left things with Coulter, I hadn’t slept a wink, which didn’t help my mood. I made a beeline for the coffee maker. Oscar strutted up next to me while I was pouring a cup, looking annoyingly chipper.

“Morning, Faith!” He greeted me with so much enthusiasm I actually winced.

“Morning,” I mumbled, stirring sugar into the crappy station coffee.

“We’ve got new evidence,” he said, practically bouncing on his heels. “Come on,” he waved me toward the AV room .

Great, what now? I followed him, hoping it was good news, but fearing that he was way too happy about it for it to be anything but bad for Coulter.

Oscar tapped the mouse to bring up a video on the screen. “Turns out there was a Ring camera on a house down near the end of Kylie’s street.”

I squinted at the grainy footage, a knot forming in my stomach. There was no denying that it showed Coulter’s pickup driving past, with a clear shot of his license plate. “When was this?”

“Christmas Eve, 3:37pm. And look,” he played three more clips. “That’s four times we’ve found so far in the two days before her death. He was casing the place.”

My head pounded, but I tried to stay objective. “He could have a perfectly innocent reason for being there…” Even I didn’t believe what I was saying. This didn’t look good.

“Come on Faith,” Oscar scoffed. “You know as well as I do that this implicates him. Why would he be driving by so many times if he wasn’t planning something?”

I rubbed my temples, “I don’t know, but we need to find out. Let’s bring him in and ask.”

“At least we agree on that!” Oscar declared, far more excited about interrogating Coulter again than I was.

“Not only do we have him at the scene around the time of death, and three other times before, we have the history of violence with that domestic violence charge that mysteriously vanished.” He held up the print out of the dispatch call I’d left on his desk. “Good job tracking this down.”

My stomach churned with guilt. I’d helped hammer another nail in Coulter’s coffin. There was no explaining away the video footage, but I couldn’t let him use that drunken night against Coulter.

“About that DV incident…we should track down the officer who brought him in. I think he might have a different take on that night.”

“What makes you think that?” Oscar’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.

I paused, choosing my words carefully. “Well, because I talked to Coulter. He says Kylie was the one out of control that night.”

“Are you telling me you interviewed our suspect without consulting or involving me?” Oscar’s face darkened in anger. “Need I remind you that I am lead on this case?”

“It was after hours, and I needed answers.”

“And did you get answers?” he demanded, stepping closer. “I shouldn’t have to ask you this because it should be in your report of the interview that you did behind my back. But there’s no report, is there?”

“I was waiting until I could find the officer to see if he could corroborate Coulter’s story,” I fibbed. The idea hadn’t occurred to me until I was lying awake half the night.

“This is fucked up, Faith.” Oscar shook his head with a look of disgust. “Insubordination and potentially grooming a suspect. I could have your badge for this. And the only reason I’m not reporting you right now is that we have to keep this quiet from Waylan since he was likely involved in the cover-up of his buddy’s boy beating up his girlfriend. ”

The blood drained from my face. He was serious and I knew he’d make good on his threat to have my badge. Somehow the panic kicked my brain into gear, and I conjured a blatant lie on the fly. “That’s why I didn’t want any record of it just yet. We have to be discreet.”

Oscar’s eyes narrowed. “Oh. That actually makes sense.” His whole demeanor changed– no longer in attack mode. He scanned the paper. “Who brought him in?”

“Frank Jenkins; he retired a few years back. Did you know him?”

“Nope, but I recall hearing the name when I first joined the department.”

“I can’t find any record of him anywhere in Monroe County.” I’d been googling at three in the morning. “I’ll get back on trying to find him after we’ve questioned Coulter.”

On our way out, Oscar stopped at Louis’s desk. “Hey Louis, were you here when Frank Jenkins retired?”

“Yeah.” he chuckled. “Crotchety old codger.”

“What ever happened to him?”

“I think he moved back to Orlando. What do you want with Frank?”

“Oh, nothing. His name came up in a cold case Faith was digging into. I didn’t remember him so I figured he was gone before I got here.”

“Yeah, probably the year before. I’ll ask the Sheriff if he knows where to find him if you want.”

“No, don’t do that. He’ll get bent out of shape for Faith taking time out of his niece’s murder investigation. Wouldn’t want to get Faith in trouble.” Oscar pretended to look concerned. I had to admit he was smart to play on Louis’s affection for me.

Louis looked at me, worried. “Definitely not. I won’t say a word.” He turned back to Oscar. “But I can try to track him down if you want.”

“If you can be discreet, that would be great,” Oscar patted his shoulder.

“Thanks, Louis. You’re the best,” I said with my best fake smile. Once we were out the front door, I said, “I guess I deserved that.”

“Damn right you did,” Oscar grumbled.

Bull-headed and short-sighted as he was, Oscar wasn’t stupid. He made sure it would all come down on me if Waylan wound up implicated in a coverup as a result.