An Unladylike Murder, page 25
part #1 of Jessica Sloan Mystery Series
“We know that you’re lying because we know they are your cousins, Juan.” Cutter’s tone showed him losing his temper. “A simple DNA test will prove that.”
Sloan was watching for involuntary physical actions. No matter how much most criminals try their best to remain calm on the outside, when they get in the hot seat, their guts churn like a blender.
Juan was soon looking at the glass walls more than he was paying attention to either Cutter or Sloan.
As Cutter talked, Sloan noted Juan crossed his arms and started raking his lips with his teeth.
Sloan wanted to motivate him so she pulled out a pair of handcuffs and dropped them on the table. “Enough with the games and bullshit, Juan.”
A bead of sweat appeared on his brow.
Cutter seized on the moment. “Listen Juan. We know that it was you who sent the phishing email to my phone. We know you bought the code on the dark web. We’ve tossed your apartment and seized your personal computer. How much do you want to bet that we find the files still on it?”
Juan’s eyes grew.
“By the way, I found the cardboard cutout with my face on it. You’re a decent shot. Oh, and I found the weapon you keep in your trunk.”
Juan swallowed as if he were starting to drown.
Sloan piled on. “We know you did it for your cousins: Benedicto, Carloz, Sonia and Juanita.”
Cutter said, “Juan, you’re either a murderer or an accessory to murder and you’re going to jail for a long, long time.”
Sloan added, “If you help us we might be able to help you.”
“I know how you cops work. What is it that you want from me?”
He speaks.
“We need you to tell us where Benedicto and Carloz are hiding out.”
“Ellos son familia.”
Jessica had taken Spanish in high school. “If you don’t tell us right now, you’ll soon be charged and you will rot with them in prison unless you tell us where your family members are.”
Juan returned to his cone of silence.
“Stand up Juan González and put your hands behind your back.”
As Sloan cuffed Juan, Cutter pulled out a Miranda Warning and read it to him. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you by the court. With these rights in mind, are you still willing to speak to me?”
The entire office was glued to their office windows as Juan was led outside in handcuffs. No one waved or said anything to him.
Cutter placed Juan in the rear of the Taurus then called to have Juan’s car impounded and towed to the Police impound lot.
They headed up Highway 101 towards San Francisco feeling like they were finally making progress.
Chapter 76
Juan González was processed then taken into an interview room.
Cutter said, “I’m going to take the first crack at this guy.”
Sloan nodded. “I’ll be watching on the monitor next door.”
Cutter was pissed and let Juan know it. “Well aren’t you the one-man criminal enterprise. Let me see, why don’t I add up the years that you’re going to rot in jail. Okay, we have you hacking a police officer’s phone. We have proof that you bought the software and sent it to my phone. That’s a class B felony punishable by up to twenty years in prison and a fine of fifteen thousand dollars. That’s twenty years to start.”
Cutter paused, hoping Juan would crack.
Juan stared at the ceiling.
“Next, I found a handgun in the trunk of your car. Do you have a permit for the Luger?”
“It’s an antique, a collector’s item and I don’t need one.”
“It’s nice to hear your voice, Juan. But, I’m sorry to disappoint you. The Luger isn’t old enough to be considered an antique.”
In the next room, Sloan watched as her partner’s words wiped a small grin off Juan’s face.
“However, since you used it to take target practice of me, you intentionally threatened my life. Under California Penal Code Section 422, that is another felony giving you an additional three years in prison.”
Cutter cupped his right hand to his ear. “I’m sorry, Juan, are you saying something? No. Well as soon as we prove that you killed Jill Gillberry, you’ll be spending the rest of your life on death row.”
Cutter paused to let his words sink in. “Now, if you co-operate I can have the prosecutor cut you some slack. Tell me, did you kill Jill, or did you just help your cousins do it?”
Juan was playing the mute exactly as his Miranda warning said he could.
“Are you the woman with the sunglasses?”
After trying for two more minutes to get Juan to talk, John Cutter rose out his chair. “If you don’t want to talk to me, I can’t help you. Fine, I hope the needle they stick in your arm is at least sharp. I hear they use the dullest one they can find since no one lives long enough to complain.”
Sloan knocked, then entered the room. She walked over to her partner and whispered into his ear. “iPoirot just confirmed that Juan is related to Ben, Carl and Sonia.”
John walked into the hallway to meet Jessica. “Have you been watching? I didn’t get Juan to break.”
“I was taught that most murderers are arrogant, stupid and overly talkative. Juan is biting his tongue. Why?”
“It might be a machismo thing. Why don’t you give him a try?”
“Fine.”
“Good. Now that I’ve planted the fear of death into his brain, I need you to get him to tell us where Ben and Carl are.”
Sloan took a deep breath before she opened the door.
“Would you like some water or coffee, Juan?” She waited five seconds. “No, okay.”
She sat across from him and gave him a half smile. “Here’s what I don’t understand. Why would someone with the tech skills you have throw away your future by committing crimes?”
Juan smirked. “Do you have anything besides wild ass theories?”
Maybe I hit a nerve.
Sloan almost laughed. “We have all the proof we need to put you away. The only question left is, if you didn’t kill Jill Gillberry, which of your cousins did.”
“If I were to cooperate, what would I get in return?”
Bingo.
“Detective Cutter and I would talk to the District Attorney and see if we could get your sentence reduced.”
“The problem is that I know that no one in my family killed that girl.” Juan sneered.
“If you and your cousins didn’t kill Jill, let’s get them in here to talk to us.”
“I want a lawyer.”
Shit.
“Which lawyer would you like us to contact on your behalf.”
“The one the court will appoint for me.”
Detective Jessica Sloan stood up and walked out.
Sloan and Cutter got together in the observation room.
“Good try Sloan. I wish I’d had the chance to ask him about his ability to screw with the garage video and if he helped one of the Lopez brothers to attack you.”
“Me, too. With Juan wanting to lawyer up, let’s go back down south and bring in his aunt, Sonia Rodriguez. It’s time we brought her in for questioning.”
“When do you want to do it?”
“How about first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Works for me. Before we call it a day, I’m going to walk Juan’s phone over to my friend, Logan. I’m hoping he can tell from Juan’s GPS data where he’s been practicing his shooting and perhaps where Ben and Carl are hiding.”
Chapter 77
As they drove south to Gilroy, Sloan made sure the air conditioning was on internal, to prevent the garlic scent from invading the Taurus.
They went straight to Sonia’s home. As soon as Sloan read Sonia her Miranda Rights, she became silent.
Sonia entered the Taurus without making a fuss. Each time Sloan glanced in the rear view mirror, Sonia was either pouting or scowling.
Just before they entered San Francisco, Sloan’s phone buzzed. “It’s a text from Logan.”
“What’s it say?”
With Sonia sitting in the backseat, Sloan held the phone so Cutter could read it. “Now we have the address.”
Cutter put Sonia into Interrogation Room One while Sloan and he had a leisurely lunch from the deli in the Murder Room.
“Sonia should be ready to talk to someone by now.”
“Do you want me to talk to her, female to female?”
“No, I want to interview her.”
Cutter entered the room but didn’t sit down. Instead, he placed a few files on the table, then circled the room.
Once he was directly behind her, he clapped his hands loudly behind her back.
Sonia jumped in her chair.
“I’m not going to ask you any questions, but I do need you to pay attention to what I have to tell you.”
When Cutter moved to the other side of the grey metal table, he could see that Sonia had raised her blank eyes as if to say Cutter was wasting his time.
“We know Ben and Carl are your cousins and that they helped you get revenge for your Renata’s death.”
To Cutter’s surprise, Sonia began talking. “They’re both good boys. They’ve evaded being lured into gangs. They’ve built themselves a security business. They’d never do anything that would land them in prison.”
“Are you waiving your right to a lawyer, Sonia? If you are, you can continue to talk to me.”
Sonia returned to being silent.
“We also know that Juan González is another one of your cousins.”
Sonia looked up and smirked. “Juan had nothing to do with anything. He’s very smart and works for tech firms.”
Cutter took out his phone and snapped a picture of Sonia.
Next, Cutter placed the 8x10 picture of the woman with a scarf and sunglasses leaving the Orpheum Theatre. “I’m going to send the picture that I just took and the 8x10 to our lab to run facial recognition. Are we going to find out that you’re the woman in the picture?”
Sonia sat still.
“I’ve also sent your fingerprints to the lab to compare to those we found in the Ladies Restroom, are we going to find that you were there?”
Sonia still didn’t move or say anything.
“No answer? Well, I’m betting that they match. That means that we have you in the restroom as Jill Gillberry was killed.”
Jessica knew John was lying.
Police are allowed to lie.
Sonia diverted her eyes to the ceiling.
“We have your letter to Jill Gillberry, threatening her life. We know that you, the Lopez brothers and Juan González are all cousins. We know that Jill Gillberry was killed to avenge your daughter’s death.”
Still nothing.
Cutter’s anger got the best of him. “This is your last chance to let me help you. Once I walk out that door, the Prosecutor will enter to charge you with first-degree murder. If it wasn’t you that killed her, this is your last chance to tell me.”
Sonia looked down at the table and kept her mouth shut.
Sitting in the next room watching, Sloan got ready to take her turn in the box.
Too bad she listened to Cutter when he told her that her words could be used against her.
I’ll try being the good cop.
Cutter walked slowly to the door, as if daring Sonia to talk.
In the hallway, Cutter said, “She’s all yours.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Detective Sloan entered the room and forced a smile. “Hi, Sonia. Can I get you coffee, or a bottle of water, perhaps?”
Sonia folded her arms and slumped in her chair.
“I understand why you and your family wanted revenge.”
Sonia looked into Sloan’s face for the first time. “I wish I had killed that bitch Jill Gillberry, but I didn’t. Whoever used the empty syringe was seeking an eye for an eye.”
“A syringe?”
Sloan watched as Sonia’s eyes moved rapidly.
“The reporter on the television said a syringe was used.”
“Hmm.”
“When I heard it on the news, I thought that maybe an empty syringe represents the medical help that my Renata never received. I wondered how many other people were killed because of the scam she was pulling.”
Now we’re getting somewhere.
John Cutter leaned closer to the monitor.
Sloan thought of her own dead father who had died after her parent’s had been divorced. “I can understand the primal urge to take the life of someone who has taken a loved one from you. If it was my daughter I might have done the same thing.”
Sonia closed her eyes.
Sloan watched as tears appeared. “Tell me what happened and I’ll talk to the District Attorney and I’ll tell him that you co-operated. Then I can ask him to have your charges reduced.”
Sonia looked up at Jessica. “I admit that the one thing that’s uniting my family is the hatred for Jill Gillberry and her company. But no, we didn’t kill her. We were hoping that justice would be done. And we still are.”
Sloan realized she wasn’t getting Sonia to confess, so she stood to leave. “There is a big difference between justice and revenge.”
Sloan turned the doorknob. “Your justice was your family’s vengeance.”
She stepped into the hallway, closed the door and stood still clearing her emotions.
Then Sloan opened the door into the observation room.
Cutter said, “For a minute there I thought your good cop routine might just work.”
“Well it didn’t.” Sloan sat next to her partner.
“You didn’t ask her any questions. That was smart.”
“Thanks, but what do we do now? Sonia’s saying that they are all innocent of killing Jill.”
Cutter said, “Did you notice Sonia didn’t deny it was her in the picture that I left lying on the table. She only said that she didn’t kill Jill.”
“If you remember, I noticed she had arthritis during the first interview. I doubt she could have wielded the syringe. So, let’s assume she’s telling the truth, if she didn’t kill Jill herself, then Ben Lopez must have killed her with Carl Lopez and Juan’s help. All I can assume is that when Ben was hired to protect Jill, it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.”
Cutter was going over options in his mind. “Or do you think it’s possible that Juan was dressed as a woman and killed Jill while the Lopez brothers guarded the restroom?”
“It’s too bad we haven’t got a better photograph of the mysterious woman that we can’t identify.”
“This is why I really wanted to identify everyone before they left the theatre.” Cutter looked at Jessica.
Chapter 78
They were standing just inside the Murder Room. Cutter called the Forensic Lab. “Fingerprints, please.”
“Mike Grandall.”
“Mike, it’s Detective Cutter. Have you run the fingerprints from Juan González against the crime scene prints yet.”
“I did and there’s no match.”
“Damn. Thanks anyway Mike.”
Cutter put his phone back in his pocket. “I was sure Juan’s prints would be there.”
Garcia yelled. “Sloan, there’s a call from Highway Patrol for you.”
Sloan held her palm up to her partner. “Hold on a sec.”
She turned to Garcia. “For me?”
“Line two.”
“Detective Jessica Sloan here.”
“This is Highway Patrol. We’ve found the silver Honda that you’re looking for.”
“How?”
“A police installed roadside speed reducer along Highway 101 down near San Jose.”
“The ones that flash how fast a motorist is going?”
“That’s correct. The twist they’ve added to them is that their roadside warning signs are now equipped with license plate readers that store the data in a cloud based in a location near to Livermore. The device recorded them twice near a medical facility that treats immigrants.”
“That’s helpful. Can you issue a BOLO for it in the San Jose to Gilroy area.”
“Copy that.”
Cutter asked her what the call was about.
She explained the roadside reader. “My attacker must be one of the Lopez brothers and they must have gone to the medical facility near the reader for treatment. Now I just need to hope that the ‘Be On the Look Out for’ can help find the address where they’re hiding.”
Chapter 79
In just over four hours, Sloan got the call she was hoping for from the BOLO.
Based upon the Highway Patrol’s directions, Sloan looked up the area on Google Earth. “It looks like Benedicto and Carloz Lopez must be hiding out inside an old farmhouse out in the middle of farmland, south of Gilroy.”
Cutter asked, “Can you do a records search and find out who owns the land and house so I can get a warrant?”
It only took Sloan twenty minutes, using the internet and telephone, to come back with the answer. “The owner is a small holding company in San Jose that rents it and the surrounding land. When I asked him who it was currently rented to, he told me the property was vacant as he’s thinking of listing it for sale.”
Cutter grinned. “Hiding in a secluded house makes sense. I’ll call for a warrant then we can find out if that’s where they are.”
“Should we get backup?”
“I’ll call.”
As Jessica drove, she received a text from Logan. She passed the phone to Cutter.
“I think we’re going to the right address, Logan’s text says that the GPS record in Juan’s phone has him going to the exact same location that we’re headed to.”
Since the Bay Area goes South down to Gilroy, West to the Pacific Ocean, North to include NAPA and Sonoma Wine countries, and East out just past Dublin, it’s home to close to eight million residents. Each of the hundred and one cities included has its own police force.
