Zero Day, Page 33
David Baldacci
firefighting equipment stacked in piles.
In the other bay were a half dozen vintage Harleys. Puller counted five men inside, two on their Harleys and revving the motors and the others tinkering with their machines.
“How come those guys aren’t out working?”
“Probably because they can’t find jobs.”
“So they just sit around playing with their expensive rides?”
“Most of these bikes are twenty years old, Puller. Nobody’s playing with anything. I know most of those men. They work hard. But when there’s no work, what do you do? County unemployment rate is nearly twenty percent, and that’s folks who are still looking. Lots of people have just given up.”
“Do they keep their bikes here?”
“Sometimes, why?”
“You said the people who live here are scavengers.”
“Yeah, but they don’t touch the motorcycle club stuff.”
“Why not?”
“Because the club members help them.”
“How?”
“They collect food, blankets, and hire some of the guys to work for them when they have jobs lined up. Most of the club members have special skills: mechanics, plumbers, electricians, carpenters. Like I said, hard workers. They’ll go by the houses and fix stuff for the families free of charge.”
“Bunch of Good Samaritans.”
“We do have them here in Drake.”
They walked up the cracked concrete drive to the front of the firehouse. Several of the men looked up. Puller saw Dickie Strauss walk out of a back room, stop, and stare at them. He was wiping his greasy hands on a work rag.
Cole said, “Hey, Dickie, we’d like to talk to you.”
Dickie turned and ran toward the back of the building.
“Hey,” shouted Cole. “Stop! We just want to talk.”
Puller had already moved forward, into the building.
Two guys who’d been working on their Harleys blocked Puller’s way. They were both built like fireplugs, older than Puller, with tie-dyed bandanas and overly confident expressions. Their hands were huge and the pronounced cords of muscles in their forearms showed they performed physically hard labor for their daily bread.
Puller held up his badge. “Out of the way. Now.”
One of the men said, “This is private property. Let me see your warrant.”
Cole said, “Let him by.”
Puller had one eye on the fleeing Dickie and the other on the lead bandana.
“I need to talk to him,” said Puller. “Just talk.”
“And I just need to see your warrant.”
“This place is abandoned.”
“Does it look abandoned to you, slick?” asked the other man.
Cole was about to pull her gun when the lead bandana put a hand on Puller’s shoulder. A second later he was facedown on the concrete floor. His stunned expression revealed that he had no idea how he got there. The other man yelled and swung at Puller. Puller grabbed the man’s arm, cranked it down, whipsawed it around, and the man joined his buddy on the cement. When they tried to move, Puller said, “If you get up I will put you both in the hospital. And I don’t want to do that. This is not your fight.”
Both men collapsed back down and stayed there.
Puller had just straightened up when Dickie’s huge friend, Frank, rushed at him from a darkened corner of the building. His nose was bandaged and he had two black eyes from the previous collision with Puller’s head. He was holding a long board.
“Payback,” snarled Frank.
He was about to swing it against Puller’s head when the shot whipped past him and carried a chunk of the board with it. The impact knocked the wood out of Frank’s hands.
Frank, Puller, and the other Harley guys looked over at Cole. Her Cobra was now pointed at Frank’s crotch.
“Your choice,” said Cole. “Do you want kids or not?”
Frank quickly backed off, his hands protectively over his privates.
Puller raced past them and out the rear entrance.
The dirt bike whizzed around the corner and came at him. Dickie had taken the time to put on a helmet, or else Puller would not have done what he was about to.
He pulled his forward M11, took two seconds to aim, and shot out the rear tire. The bike slid sideways, Dickie fell off, and the two-wheeler came to rest about twenty feet from him.
A few seconds later Dickie was yanked up by Puller.
“You could’ve killed me,” shouted Dickie.
“If I’d shot out your front tire, you’d’ve gone head over bars. This way the only thing you hurt was your ass. But then again, with you, I don’t see much difference between that part of your body and your brain, if you actually have one.”
Cole rushed up to them and holstered her Cobra. She got right in Dickie’s face. “Are you an idiot or what? What the hell kind of stunt was that?”
“I just freaked,” whined Dickie.
“Were you really infantry?” asked Puller. “Because First Division has pretty high standards and I don’t think there’s any way they would’ve let a screwup like you in the ranks.”
“Go to hell!” snapped Dickie.
“Where you’re going is jail,” Cole snapped back.
“What for?”
“Trying to kill a military officer, for one thing,” said Puller. “That’ll put you in a federal pen until you’re middle-aged.”
“I didn’t try to kill you.”
“What do you call trying to run me down with your bike?”
“You were trying to kill me,” Dickie shot back. He glared at Cole. “He shot out my tire. Could’ve killed me.”
“Well, I’m sure you gave him a damn good reason. Now tell me why you took off like that. All we wanted to do was talk.”
“This guy already beat up Frank. I didn’t want him to come after me. He’s a psycho.”
Cole said, “That’s bullshit and you know it. Why did you run, Dickie?”
The young man said nothing. He just looked down at the ground, his chest huffing in and out. There was blood on his elbow from where he’d hit the ground.
“Okay, have it your way.” Cole cuffed him and read him his rights.
“My dad will be pissed about this.”
“I’m sure he will be,” said Cole. “That’s your problem. But if you talk it’ll go a lot easier with you.”
“I’m not saying anything. I want a lawyer. This is bullshit. My dad will sue your ass off.”
“Did you kill Officer Wellman?” said Puller. “That’ll get you a one-way ticket to life in prison. Too bad West Virginia doesn’t have the death penalty.”
Dickie’s face collapsed and the anger bled out of him like a ruptured artery.
Puller continued. “What would you say if we told you we had an eyewitness who put you at the Halversons’ right about the time that Deputy Wellman was killed? And then saw you running away from the place?”
When he spoke Dickie’s voice was so low they could barely hear it. “That’s not… I’d say that person was nuts.” There was nothing behind the words. Dickie looked like he might throw up.
Puller said, “Up to you. But we have eyewitness testimony. And I’m betting you touched something in that house. We’ll get prints and DNA samples from you. We’ve got some unaccounted-for trace at the murder scene and something tells me they’ll match yours. Then it’s bye-bye to the rest of your life.”
Cole added, “And because of the little stunt you just pulled we have probable cause to get those samples.”
“And we don’t even have to get them from you. Since you were in the military your prints and DNA are on file,” said Puller.
“You can’t access those for a criminal investigation,” said Dickie. “Only to ID remains.”
Puller smiled. “So you checked? Interesting.”
Dickie’s face turned the color of vanilla. “I didn’t kill nobody.”
“But you were in the house?” said Puller.
“Can we go somewhere private and talk about this?” Dickie asked.
“First smart thing you’ve said since I’ve known you,” answered Puller.
CHAPTER
63
DICKIE SAT IN THE BACKSEAT of Cole’s cruiser with Puller next to him. The younger man gazed out the window, looking like he was being driven to his execution. Puller studied him, tried to absorb what he was thinking. He could have asked questions, but he didn’t. He wanted Dickie to just think about things right now. A guilty person would be building a web of lies to cover his crimes during this time. An innocent person would be anxious, afraid that his words could be twisted. He would be trying to think of the best possible way to convey his innocence. A person who was innocent in some respects and guilty in others would have a more complicated thought process. Puller pegged Dickie Strauss as squarely in that camp.
Cole called out from the front seat, “If we take you to the police station, everyone in town will know in about five seconds.”
“Could we go somewhere else, then?”
“How about my motel room?” asked Puller. “You know where that is, right? You’ve been keeping tabs on me, right?”
“Whatever,” said Dickie sullenly.
They reached the motel. Out of Dickie’s sight Puller confirmed that none of his intruder traps had been sprung, though from the look on Cole’s face he could tell that she knew what he was doing.
Dickie sat on the bed. Cole sat in a chair opposite. She’d taken off the cuffs. Puller stood, his back against the wall.
“Heard you helped Miss Louisa,” Dickie began. “That was nice of you.”
“Yeah, well she died anyway. So much for Good Samaritans. But we need to focus on you, Dickie.”
“How much of this has to come out?” he asked.
“Depends on what it is,” replied Cole. “If you killed Larry all of it will come out.”
“Like I said, I didn’t kill nobody.” Dickie’s hands were balled to fists. He looked like a little kid, albeit with a tat sleeve. Puller half expected him to drop to the floor and throw a tantrum.
“Well, you understand that we can’t just accept your word on that,” said Cole. “You have to prove it to us.”
Dickie looked up at Puller. “You ever look into my discharge?”
Puller shook his head.
“Like I said, me and the Army, we didn’t get on. But it didn’t have anything to do with my ability to do my job. I was a good soldier. There’s not one black mark against me. I would’ve stayed in for the full ride if I could have. I liked it. Liked my buddies. Wanted to serve my country. But it wasn’t my choice. They didn’t want my kind.”
Puller considered this. As he gazed at the young man’s face the answer came to him.
“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” said Puller.
Dickie’s gaze fell to the floor. He nodded.
“The military policy on gays?” said Cole, looking at Puller.
Puller said, “Under DADT you were fine so long as you keep it secret. You don’t tell, they won’t ask. But if it comes out, you’re gone.” He looked at Dickie. “What happened?”
“Somebody ratted me out. And there were some pictures of me and some of my buddies. Hell, today, it wouldn’t get five views on YouTube. But back then the Army didn’t care.”
“Your butt was gone?”
“In a second. Said if I didn’t accept the general discharge things would get real ugly.”
“I can believe that.”
“Does your father know that you’re gay?” asked Cole.
Dickie smiled bitterly. “Why do you think I joined the Army out of high school? My old man thought it would ‘cure’ me.”
“Okay, so you’re gay,” said Puller. “That’s your business and certainly no crime.”
“It is to some folks. Especially around here.”
“Well, we’re not some folks,” said Cole.
Puller said, “Let’s get back to Officer Wellman. Why were you in the house?”
“Me and Larry were friends.”
Cole sat back in her chair, her eyes widening. “You didn’t go there to… ? Larry is married with a family. And it was a damn crime scene.”
Dickie said quickly, “It wasn’t like that. We fooled around some when we were teenagers. But Larry was straight. We weren’t going in there to have sex.”
“So why did you go to the house?” demanded Cole.
Dickie nervously rubbed his palms together. Puller could see the sweat on the skin, and it wasn’t just because the motel room’s wall AC unit only managed to move hot air from one side of the room to the other.
“Just wanted to see what had happened.”
“Why?”
“Bunch of people murdered. Just wanted to see.”
“And Wellman let you in the house?” said Cole. “I don’t believe it.”
“He didn’t.”
Cole looked confused. “Then I’m not quite getting this. You want to take a breath and try it again?”
“I called him up, told him I just wanted to take a peek. I could tell he didn’t want to do it.”
Cole snapped, “Of course he didn’t. It would have cost him his job if I’d found out. Your presence there would have corrupted the crime scene.”
“But was he going to let you in?” asked Puller.
“He told me to come over. That maybe he could let me see some things they’d found. Some pictures.”
“This is unbelievable,” said Cole.
Puller held up his hand, his gaze directly on the man. “Keep talking, Dickie.”
“So I went over there.”
“And killed him?” asked Cole.
“I told you I didn’t kill him.”
“Then what happened?” said Puller.
“He wasn’t there. I mean his car was gone. I thought maybe he’d gotten sick, or gotten cold feet. But then I thought, you can’t just leave a crime scene unguarded. I watch Law & Order and NCIS. I know this stuff.”
“Sure. You’re right. Can’t do it,” said Puller. “Then what did you do?”
“I tried to call him on his cell. But he didn’t pick up.”
“What time was this exactly?” asked Puller.
“I don’t know exactly. Maybe around four or so.”
“Go on.”
“I got to the back of the house. The door there was slightly open. I opened it some more. Called out to see if Larry was in there for some reason. Got no answer. I was scared.”
“But you went in anyway. Why?” asked Puller.
“I thought Larry might be hurt. He told me to come by and then he wasn’t there. I was worried about him.”
“Bullshit. You wanted to see the bodies.”
Dickie looked up at him, scowling, but then his features relaxed. “You’re right, I did. I figured maybe Larry got called off on something
