03_Cornered Coyote (17 page)

“Okay, give me a couple of hours. Hopefully I’ll have something for you by then.”

“Wait a minute. Ain’t through. Get me everything ya’ can dig up on a prosecutor with the Riverside County DA’s office. Her name’s Marsha Sinclair. Hear she's got a little taste for coke and I’m not talkin’ ‘bout the carbonated kind. See what ya’ can find out. Like to know if she’s got a supplier and where she keeps her stash. Find out who has access to her house, like housekeepers, gardeners. Want to know if any of ‘em live there. If they come certain days, find out which ones and when.”

“What do you have in mind, Boss?”

“Nuthin’ at the moment. Need that info ASAP, too, but first priority is the rag writer. Got a little time for the other.

“Will do.”

* * * * *

“Slade, the reporter’s file is on your desk. Think you’ll be happy with what I got on him.”

“Thanks, Brad. I’ll go have me a little looky-see.”

Thirty minutes later, Slade walked into Brad’s office. “Nice job. Bastard sounds like a real scumbag. I’ve got some work to do. If ya’ need me, ya’ know the number.”

Slade got in his car and drove to the address Brad had put in the report. It turned out to be a seedy part of town. The apartment building had been severely neglected. Brown weeds grew where grass had once been and paint was flaking off of the walls and the doors of the building. He drove down the street and made a right turn. Three doors down, just a short walk from the apartment building, was Sammy’s, the bar where the reporter, Daniel Lentz, was said to spend most evenings after he’d filed his stories with the paper via the internet. Brad’s report revealed that Lentz was a heavy drinker and a frequent customer of a drug dealer who hung out around Sammy’s. Evidently Lentz held court there on a nightly basis, boasting about his latest “literary” accomplishments.

Slade glanced at his watch. It was 5:15, too early for Lentz to be boozing it up at Sammy’s. Since there was nothing he could do for a couple of hours, he went to a nearby restaurant, bought a paper, and looked at the schedule for the theater down the street. After sitting through a boring movie, at 9:30 he drove back to Lentz’s street and parked a block from the apartment building. On his way to Sammy’s, he saw a small glow coming from Daniel’s apartment window. When he got to Sammy’s, he opened the door and took the last seat at the bar.

“Whaddya want?” the portly bartender asked. Slade took one look at him and knew the help at Sammy’s wasn’t rewarded for being tidy. His apron was filthy, spotted with food and drink. He’d missed a couple of spots on his cheeks when he’d shaved that morning and was badly in need of a haircut.

“Gimme a Coors in the bottle.” Slade looked around the seedy neighborhood bar. The décor of the bar was in disrepair. There was a bar like this in almost every neighborhood – a bar where everyone knew your name, so the song went – and the only place on earth where a lot of these people felt welcome. After a couple of drinks, each was lost in a world of their own. He heard a loud voice coming from a booth behind him. Turning around, he noticed a middle-aged man talking and gesturing to a rapt group of listeners.

“You gotta read the article I wrote about the slick prick. It’ll be in tomorrow’s issue. I nailed his ass.”

Slade didn’t need to hear any more. The man had to be Daniel Lentz.

“Get you another one?” the surly bartender growled.

“Naw, I’m good. Say, that’s not Daniel Lentz, is it? I hear he’s a pretty good writer.”

“Yeah, that’s him. Likes to brag about the columns he writes. Been comin’ in here almost every night for the last year. Usually stays ‘til closin’ time. Don’t know how good of a writer he is. I ain’t much for books or readin’.”

Gee
, Slade thought,
there’s a surprise!

“I overheard him say somethin’ about a story that was gonna be published tomorrow. Sounded interestin’. Doesn’t he write for ‘Celebrity Spotlight’ or somethin’ like that?”

“That’s the one,” the bartender said, as he swirled a glass in the dirty sink water, halfway dried it, and put it on the shelf behind the bar.
Thank God I ordered a bottle of beer
.
I don’t even want to know what living things are in that water.

“According to him, he’s the paper’s fair-haired wonder boy, course you can’t believe all the shit that comes outta his mouth. Sometimes I see that rag in the store the next day with the story he was touchin’ on the night before. From what he’s been braggin’ about for the last hour, guess some detective’s gonna get it from him tomorrow.”

“Thanks for yer’ time, bud. Got me a hot date,” Slade said as he slid off the barstool. “See ya’ around.”

He walked back to his car and opened the small duffel bag he’d placed on the passenger seat, taking out a pair of transparent latex gloves and some locksmith’s tools. He sat in the car for a few minutes, looking at what was going on in the busy neighborhood. People were out walking their dogs and coming home from grocery shopping. He blended in and walked up to the door of the apartment where Lentz lived. Each apartment had a three-sided patio created from the stucco wall where the door was located. The arrangement made the patios private, but it also made it very easy for someone to pick a lock. He didn’t hear a dog, which was always a good sign. Slade was in the apartment in seconds. He stood and listened. Silence. The only light was the glow that came from a computer screen in the corner.

Daniel had left the article he’d submitted to Celebrity Showcase on the screen. Slade quickly read it. Just as Daniel had been boasting about in Sammy’s, it was another damning piece on Jordan. This time the headline was “Police Commission Gives Rogue Detective Late Christmas Present.”

On the corner of the desk was a printer which was attached to the computer. Slade quickly printed the article and began looking on the computer’s desktop for anything else that might be of interest. He found a contact list and printed it as well. When he was finished, he walked into the bedroom. He opened the drawer of the nightstand and found some joints and white powder that looked like cocaine.

Slade put the folded computer printouts in his pocket. He peered through the blinds and looked out the window. There was no one around. He let himself out through the window and was back in his car in minutes.

Half an hour later Slade sat down at his desk. He got out Jordan’s file and found Captain Raymond’s email address. He scanned the article that would be running tomorrow and sent it to the captain, using an email that was untraceable. He mentioned he’d been told that Daniel Lentz had some illegal drugs in his apartment, was known to be a user, and was a very heavy drinker.

He looked through the contact list he’d printed. Slade assumed that a lot of them were people who gave Daniel leads for his stories, but several stood out. Two women’s names were circled. One of them had the words “Police Commission clerk” next to her name and the other one had the words “Riverside County DA’s secretary” next to it. He put their names in the email to the captain telling him he didn’t know if the names were relevant. He went on to say that it seemed odd, considering that confidential information obtained from the Police Commission and the Riverside DA’s office had made its way into ‘Celebrity Spotlight’ via articles written by Daniel Lentz.

A third woman’s name had been circled - Luisa Ortega - with a phone number indicating that she lived out of the country. Slade remembered Brian telling him that a woman named Luisa Ortega wasn’t willing to testify on behalf of Maria. He also recalled that Brian hoped the prosecutor never got her name. He looked at his watch. It was 11:30 and he knew Brian would be in bed by now. He decided to leave a voicemail for him.

* * * * *

“Hello. This is
Senora
Ortega.”

“Hi, it’s your reporter friend, Daniel. I just wanted to let you know I’m running a large exposé tomorrow morning on Jordan and Maria.”

“Sounds like you’ve done a very good job.”

“I’ve got my sources. Pays to have them and they get paid for the information they give me. Works well for both of us. And Maria’s time in jail is not going to be a walk in the park.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s pretty much a given that a broad as good-looking as her will be a target for lesbian jail gangs as well as some of the guards who figure God put good-looking women in jail for them to use. I mean, everyone knows that. It would be pretty rare if she didn’t become someone’s bitch. Jungle law, it’s called.”

“I don’t think I’d wish that on anybody else, but in Maria’s case, she deserves it.”

“It’s out of your hands now. Don’t think anyone can help her in jail. I’ll be doing a few more stories when it gets closer to the trial. I’ll be in touch then. Thanks!”

Luisa ended the call.

CHAPTER 31

Maria sat across from Jordan separated by the thick glass window. She sighed deeply. “Jordan, I don’t quite know how to tell you this. Remember when I said I wasn’t feeling well and I was going to go to the jail clinic?”

“Yes, but I thought they gave you some pills. You said it helped you sleep and thought it was helping with your depression. Is there something more?”

“I went back this morning because I’ve been feeling nauseous all the time. I wondered if the pills they’d given me were making me sick. They gave me a pregnancy test and it was positive. I’m pregnant.”

Jordan looked at her, speechless. He half-stood, then sat down. He took a sip from a bottle of water he’d gotten from the coke machine. “Maria, I honestly don’t know what to say. This adds another layer to a very complicated situation. How do you feel about it?”

“When they told me, I couldn’t believe it. I wondered where my God has been for the past year. What did I ever do to deserve this? Having a baby while I’m in jail or prison? You’ll have to raise it if I’m found guilty.”

“We’ll work this out. I don’t know how, but we’ll find a way. Give me a little time. This is something I never expected.”

“Jordan, I’ve been thinking about it and I know you’d probably like me to have an abortion. It would be possible. I asked the doctor and they do perform abortions for female prisoners, but I grew up in the Catholic Church. My mother still goes to Mass every morning. Abortion is a mortal sin in the church’s eyes and I can’t have one. I could never face my family again. Please don’t ask me to, because I can’t, and yet I know you can’t raise a child alone. I don’t know what to do,” she said, tears streaming down her face.

“Tell you what. We don’t need to decide right now. Let’s wait until your trial is over. You concentrate on taking care of yourself and letting Brian do what he needs to do for the trial. It will all be over soon. We can hold off making any decisions until then. Forgive me for not turning cartwheels or telling everyone around me, but I’m in shock and there are so many other things to think about. Just know one thing. No matter what, I love you.”

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry. I’m as shocked as you are. I never considered having a baby. I’ve told you how I practically raised my brothers and sisters and I promised myself because of that, I would never have a child. But now that my fertility clock is ticking, I’m thinking maybe I’m supposed to have this baby.”

“I’ll be back in a couple of days. I just wish we could be together. Remember I’m here for you. You’re not facing this alone.” He blew her a kiss, stood up, and walked out. No matter how many times he heard the clang of the steel door closing, either letting him in or out, he still felt icy prickles of fear along his spine.

Sleep was a long time coming. He tossed and turned most of the night, thinking of Maria and their unborn baby. He thought about his one-night stand, what would happen to their baby if Maria was convicted, if he could he raise a child by himself, and Noor, the child who was in his thoughts almost all the time. It was a long and fitful night for Jordan Kramer, but eventually sleep overcame him and he fell into a dreamless and empty void.

CHAPTER 32

It seemed like he’d just gotten to sleep when the ring of his cell phone woke Jordan. “What the…” It was still dark out. He looked at the clock on his nightstand as he reached for his phone.
Good grief. It’s only 4:30 a.m
.
I hope nothing’s happened to Maria.

The monitor on his phone showed it was Captain Randolph. Jordan couldn’t figure out why he’d be calling so early. There weren’t many emergencies in the Art Theft Division of the Los Angeles Police Department.

“Yes, Captain.”

“Sorry to bother you so early, Jordan, but I wanted to alert you that the scumbag reporter for the Celebrity Spotlight has done another hit piece on you.”

“Captain, it’s only 4:30. You’re not at the department, are you?”

“No. My home computer is hooked up to the department’s computer. Someone sent me a copy of the article a few hours ago and I saw it when I got up to go to the bathroom. Looks like there was a security leak at the Police Commission. I’ve already called the head of the commission and told him I wasn’t happy about this and if he didn’t fix it, I would. He told me they’d suspected one of their clerks for some time. They’ve noticed she’s been wearing expensive clothing and jewelry that she couldn’t afford on her salary. He’s going to look into it. The person who sent me a copy of the article also indicated that another one of the reporter’s sources might have been the Riverside DA’s secretary. We certainly know there have been some leaks there.

“I called the chief of police and told him everything. He’s furious. He called the Riverside DA and between the two of us we’ve made a few other early morning calls. Bottom line is that the reporter has been fired. Interestingly enough, his tabloid has been under surveillance for quite some time. Looks like there’s been some drug activity at their building. The person who sent me the article also said that the reporter had drugs in his apartment, in his nightstand. The chief spoke with the owner of the tabloid and strongly suggested firing the reporter and if he did, the owner’s potential surveillance problem might disappear.”