A Blade of Glass

Chapter 20

The door to Captain Merra's office had barely clicked shut when he snapped at Julian, "I hope you don't expect to get this case," obviously referring to the Weinagein murder. "There's already a lot of pressure coming from the commissioner to get this solved. The kind that gets me a call telling me to comply in any way that the precinct can to get this solved. So, if you know something, I need to know it. Now."

Julian thought about it for a moment before answering. "Honestly, I think he was involved in the kidnapping of Danella Lorenso."

"Jesus," Merra said, dropping into his chair and running a thick hand through his hair. "Is this backed up by facts, or just suspicion?"

"At this point, a bit of both."

The captain's face darkened as he said in a voice all too quiet for the situation, "Explain."

"I don't have all the facts yet, but signs were indicating that the kidnappers had at least a few cops on the take, including Detective Weinagein."

"Who else?"

"That I know of? I have a strong suspicion of Officer Bradley." Catching the raised eyebrow from Merra, he elaborated. "He was spotted outside of Mr. Miller's apartment around the time someone went through it. It was an area of town that he had no known business being in, which is suspicious."

"But not proof."

"No, but enough to get his phone records. I was going to compare them to Detective Weinagein's, but there was a mix-up in tech, and they were just sending them up when word of Detective Weinagein's death came through."

"I see. This isn't good, get on that fast, I'm expecting someone to come and want to question you about all of this. You did have a rather public disagreement with the deceased, so I'm expecting some pressure from that, but nothing that we haven't seen before. Now get out there and find something before they get here."

Julian headed straight for his desk, where he found the phone data waiting, along with the names of the two that had been involved with the mix-up. Before he got into that, he checked his phone, which had been buzzing while he'd been in the captain's office and found that he'd missed three calls from Amy.

Dialing her back, she picked up on the first ring.

"There you are," came the short, snippish answer. "We've got news."

Julian just waited, knowing she'd be talking at a mile a minute and sure enough, she barely paused to take a breath as she went on.

"We've got the first box open and you're right, he had to be in something illegal, not that it was in any doubt after his apartment, but this confirms it. Entire thing was filled with bearer-bonds worth about five hundred each. Where any of the kidnapping payoffs in those, or were they in cash?"

Realizing she was actually waiting for a reply, he spoke up, "A couple were in them, yes."

"Alright, we're on our way to the second bank, we'll keep you informed."

"One last thing," he said, catching her before she hung up. "You might have heard, but Detective Weinagein has been found dead."

There was a pause, followed by a muttered "Weinagein, Weinagein, where've I heard that name before?"

"He was at the Miller crime scene."

"Oh, the dick. I mean, the jerk. What happened?"

"Not sure yet, but I think he was involved in all this."

"You think that they Millered him?"

Julian winced at the shorthand, but didn't chastise her. "Could well have been, but I'm still not sure why."