A Long Road to Redemption

Chapter 38

Taylor's day started simple enough. Several of his cases were backlogged, and the late-night strategy sessions with Luke Brady were beginning to take a toll on him. He felt tired, but Taylor took encouragement from the files Luke gave him.

With the information in the files, Taylor was sure he had enough to go to his friend in the FBI. The feds would be reluctant to look at anything obtained from a convicted criminal, even if she did so without knowing. However, the few files he had time to go through were convincing evidence. Still, he had to be careful in balancing his time between his current caseload and the investigation into Pierson.

Taylor wanted more than anything to talk to Sidney Lewis about his secret investigation. He was convinced that she knew more information about the operations of the Piersons than she realized. Even something that seemed trivial might prove helpful in an investigation. Two nights ago, when the group last met, he argued for a meeting again. Brady was steadfast, though, in his refusal. Taylor knew he could always talk to her without his permission if he wanted. Still, she was unlikely to divulge anything without Brady's permission. It's better to keep trying to get Brady on board first before driving two hours in a waste of time, Taylor thought.

Taylor began to flip through one of the files on his desk. It was a break-in at a local electronics store. The thieves stole several computers and high-end pieces of computer equipment. Taylor had only begun interviewing suspects and potential witnesses. He doubted anything would ever turn up, but one had to make the effort until Chief Butler arrived.

"Taylor, drop what you're doing, and come on, we got a homicide," said Chief Butler. That news roused him out of his malaise.

"What do we have, Chief?" he asked as he got up from his desk. The Chief seemed on edge as he passed by Taylor's desk. "Chief, you alright?" The look he got back told him the answer to that question.

"It's Jim and Jackie Cooper. They were both killed last night in their home. The housekeeper found them about an hour ago. You're with me."

"Jim Cooper is dead?" he said to himself. As he fell in behind the Chief, he wondered secretly what this meant for his investigation into Pierson. He also wondered if Pierson decided to take out a loose end or if he was sending a message. It's also possible that this was completely unrelated, but the timing of it was just too coincidental. Taylor confronted him over a week ago, and now Cooper is dead? No, it had to be Pierson. Cooper got sloppy and paid the price for it.

They arrived at the home after about a twenty-minute ride. Uniformed officers had secured the home while Officer Barnes asked the housekeeper a few routine questions. Taylor and Butler walked in and received a briefing from one of the uniforms. Butler looked over the scene. He noticed several missing things, like Cooper's laptop from his briefcase, the jewelry from Jackie's body, and Jim's watch. To most, it looked like a robbery gone wrong, but things didn't add up. It was too perfect, too placed. The things missing were the obvious things a thief would take, but there were no signs that whoever did this was in any other part of the house. The kitchen door was also kicked in, as if the thief forced entry, but the body of Jackie lay face down as if killed from behind by surprise, not after being startled.

"What do you think, Taylor?" asked Chief Butler as he knelt over the body of Jim Cooper. Most of the time, the Chief didn't get so personally involved. He trusted his people to do the job he hired them to do. This case was going to be different. A district attorney killed in his own home was a major case, and Butler wanted to be more hands-on with this one.

Taylor could feel the tension in Butler's voice as he surveyed the scene. "Something's not right, Chief," he said, pointing at the kitchen door. "Scene's laid out wrong. The kitchen door is kicked in from the outside, but the Coopers were shot from behind as if someone was waiting for them already on the inside. Like an ambush." The crime scene team was still taking pictures and documenting what they saw. Dr. Meeks was late in arriving, so they would have to wait for an approximate time of death.

Butler fidgeted nervously as he looked over the scene. "I think you're right," he told Taylor. "Someone went through a lot of trouble to make this look like a robbery. Let's check the pawn shops in the area to see if anything shows up. We need Meeks here."

The sight of a blue van arriving drew Taylor's attention. "Speak of the devil he just got here." He walked outside to talk privately with Meeks. "Glad you could make it. You stop for coffee?" Taylor asked him. The usual joke felt more deadpan than his usual banter, and Meeks seemed to pick up on it.

"Traffic was backed for an accident on the highway. Got here as fast as I could," Meeks told him.

"Have you gotten any suspicious phone calls or seen any usual vehicles in the parking lot?" Taylor asked.

"No, nothing," Meeks told him. "You think this has anything to do with the death certificate?"

"Too early to tell right now, but it likely does," Taylor told him.

Meeks concluded that the Coopers were killed sometime around 8 pm last night. He also said that Jackie Cooper might have died first by as long as thirty minutes to an hour before her husband. The information reinforced the theory that this was a hit made to look like a robbery. While any of the hundreds of people Cooper prosecuted over the years could be responsible, Taylor knew it had to be on the orders of Leonard Pierson. It made sense, considering how recently he confronted Cooper.

Of course, getting the man killed was not in the plan; in fact, it made his job much harder. Taylor hoped that he could have squeezed Cooper for more information. It also made proving his accusations against Cooper more difficult because there could be no confession.

One thing that did work in their favor was that Pierson felt compelled to react. He now knew that the heat was on, which could force him to make a mistake. Killing the Coopers could be Pierson's first mistake, but linking the murder to him would be difficult. Still, Pierson had blinked, and Taylor would take full advantage of the opportunity.