Waves

Part 35

"Adam! Oh my gosh, I can't believe it. How are you? Where are you? Do you still have your arm? What about your fingers?" Eve's rapid fire questioning caused Joe's eyes to widen and he immediately tossed his napkin at her. "Jesus Wilson. You can't just go asking people if they have their arms and fingers!" Joe hissed, his face incredulous.

"What?! I'm concerned and it's not a secret. It's not like I asked him how much he weighs," Eve retorted, drawing a graveling laugh from Adam who was growing amused by the back and forth between the couple. "Glad to see you two are still doing your Elaine and Jerry routine," he croaked, "but to answer your question: I'm down a third finger but they think I'l be able to keep my arm. It's okay though; I always liked The Six Million Dollar Man when I was a kid. You probably haven't even heard of that show. Anyway, back to why I called.

"TechSys got back to me with the cleaned up photos from the footage. It's him Eve. It's Joseph Franklin. One of my deputies was able to get a copy of photos from a training program Franklin did for the security company and the pictures match. We've got him inside that convenience store when Pope was killed."

Eve closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair; her mind moving faster than she could process in her current state. It wasn't a slam dunk but it was something. It meant that they could put Franklin in the convenience store; aided by Connie's testimony of what happened that night, it was a small step in the right direction with their primary piece of DNA evidence still not located.

"That's not all I've got for you though. Kyle Abrams who was the P&E officer working the overnight when the uniform went missing finally broke. Son of a bitch held on for 96 hours but in hour 97 he realized cops don't last long in prison."

Eve's heart rate quickened as she hung on Adam's every word, her cautious optimism slowly turning into elation. "Abrams said he was at the park with his kid when a van pulled up. Before you interrupt me, yes, same description as the one that dumped Connie off at the hospital in Erie and the one you tried to stop in your damn nightgown.

"A guy hops out of the van, flashes his piece and tells him they're going to sit down and have a conversation. Guy had photos of Abrams' wife at the grocery store, the baby, their house, his parents walking their dog, Abrams at the station, a copy of his work schedule, everything. Guy had his number and like the punk-ass pussy he is, Abrams folded. Said he'd do anything to protect his family.

"So, the guy slides a bag over with some cash and a prepaid inside; tells him on his next shift, he's going to grab the evidence number written down on a piece of paper in the bag and then use the phone to call the number saved to arrange drop off. Says if he doesn't do it, the baby's gone.

"Abrams says okay, does as he's told. Said the drop off point was a warehouse near the river, took his second payment, and left." Adam coughed a bit and Eve could tell based on the background noise that a nurse had come into the room.

"Adam, this is beyond amazing. This might make my whole fucking case," Eve proclaimed, "But tell me your DA didn't cut some deal with him to reduce the sentence to a misdemeanor in order to get him to testify. I'm not even sure I need his testimony since he confessed on tape." For sworn officers charged with evidence tampering, it was a felony with a sentence up to 10 years. It wasn't unusual for officers to cut healthy deals with local DAs looking to help out an ally.

"She cut a deal but not a bad one. 7 years and he'll lose his pension. Plus, he has to testify. I think we can live with that. The best part of the whole thing though? Guess what the guy in the van was wearing?" Eve racked her brain but couldn't come up with any ideas.

"A Priest's collar. Dressed like he was about to say Mass."

Eve almost knocked her chair over standing up, excitedly pacing the dining room. "Tell me it was Tonarely. It had to be. There's no way it wasn't," Eve urged. "Yup. Abrams picked him out of the photo line up easily. It was Bobby Tonarely who met him in the park and paid him to steal Joseph Franklin's uniform from P&E," Adam replied.