Don't Cage The Birdie (Book 2)(rough first draft)

Chapter 14. Points of contention

The station was a hive of regular activity and James made his way across the bustling open floor office. Something was going on and James wasn't sure what. It was either out of his pay grade or he wasn't invited to participate. Either way it didn't bother him. He had his own problems. Number one on that list was what Ekhart had to say to him.

The captain was alone in his office when James arrived and he knocked on the door. There was a bark from inside to enter and James let himself into. The office was rectangular, with filing cabinets along the left-hand side wall, a giant chalk board filled with scraps of paper of post-it notes, maps, wanted posters and various other things including a collection of chocolate bar wrappers. A giant brown desk sat in the middle of the room with two chair for visitors facing the captain's chair.

Captain Ekhart sat in his chair, head down low over a folder in front of him. As James stood to attention he couldn't help but recognise the top sheet in the file. It was the Claudia Forrest report.

'Take a seat, Holland,' said Ekhart. 'I'll be with you in a moment.'

James obeyed and sat down, crossing his legs and arms. Ekhart was a middle aged man, dressed in full uniform, blond hair slicked back. His face was well filled with plump cheeks, a matching blond moustache on his upper lip. He looked up at James a minute later and slid the report to the side. He crossed his fingers in front of him.

'So what happened last night?'

James' mind blanked. 'Which part?' he asked, dumbfounded. 'The girl?'

'No,' said Ekhart, dismissing that with a wave of his hand. He brought it back and waved a finger at James, 'Although I am interested in that.' He shook his head. 'But no. Sydney Binding was arrested last night and you conducted an interview with him. He made a complaint this morning that you threatened to place him in a holding cell with the worst of the worst and tell them to do what they want with him unless he told you what he knew about Claudia Forrest's murder.'

The tattle-teller, thought James bitterly. 'I don't recall that,' lied James, his face straight. 'I told him I could charge him for Claudia's murder. There's evidence to do so. I have a witness that saw him leaving Claudia's place the day of the murder within the time period in which she was killed.'

'He says you did,' said Ekhart, staring back at James, moustache twitching. 'So who do I believe?'

'The record of interview was taped,' said James, spreading his arms wide, in an open, honest fashion. 'It'll have what was said.'

'And have a chunk of audio missing,' countered Ekhart, 'when you turned the recorder off.'

'I left the room,' said James honestly. It was honest. He did leave the room. But he came back shortly after and then threatened Sydney Binding.'

Ekhart stared at him quietly, eyes occasionally blinking. After a few seconds of silence he sat back. 'Okay. I'll believe you. So tell me why you haven't arrested Mr Binding.'

'He didn't do it,' said James plainly. 'He had intention of breaking into the property to steal from her and frame it on her ex-partner, but she was dead when he broke in. He said he woke up to someone driving away. He believed it was Dean Locke. I don't think it was. I think it was also someone trying to frame him. I believe Sydney Binding in that. He's a thief, but I don't think he'd kill anyone.'

Clicking his tongue, Ekhart swung his chair side to side, never breaking eye contact from James. James stared back, body relaxed and face neutral. Inside the lies were making his stomach hurt. Well, the lies of threatening Sydney Binding. What he believed about what Sydney had told him was true. He did think someone was trying to frame Dean Locke. He just knew that if Ekhart decided to disbelieve him about him not threatening Sydney then anything said by Sydney in that interview was inadmissible as the confession was made out of coercion.