A Long Road to Redemption

Chapter 43

The police station was the usual hustle and bustle at midmorning. Phones rang nonstop while people went in and out, some there to report a crime, some there because they committed one. It was a busy day, typical for even a small-town police station.

George Sullivan, a detective on the force for six years, was in his forties. He served in various cities before settling in Warrenton. To him, it was close enough to a big city and the beach but far enough away to avoid a lot of the problems of a larger city. The place had problems, but that was fine, if for no reason other than job security. He just hung up the phone and picked up a new case file when a uniformed officer, Johnson, he thought, came up to him saying there was a suspect in a case he was working on, wanting to talk to him.

Sullivan thanked the officer and walked to the interrogation room. When the door opened, the man grabbed him, slamming Sullivan onto the table. Sullivan grabbed for the man's arms in an attempt to fight him. That's when he saw the face of the man who had attacked him.

Roger Taylor was in a bad mood. He hardly slept that night after driving Sidney Lewis back to prison. What kept him up was the knowledge that cops in the department were dirty and doing the bidding of Leonard Pierson. He asked Officer Johnson to get Sullivan to come to the interrogation room, where he would confront him. It was not his original intention to grab and slam him on the table, but after the lack of sleep and the anger over the corruption, it just felt right. "How long have you been working for Pierson, Sullivan?"

"What the hell are you talking about, Taylor? I don't work..."

"Don't hand me that crap, Sullivan," Taylor interrupted him with a growl."I know you've been working for him. I want to know when he got to you and why you altered the crime scene on Lawson Pierson's boat?"

"I didn't change anything I-"

"Lie to me again, Sullivan, and you'll lose teeth. I know you met with Lawson and are the only other investigator from the department to analyze the crime scene. I read your report. Want to compare notes and see who remembers how it was best?"

"Okay, look, you know how it is. Long hours, low pay. I got behind on-"

"That's bullshit, and you know it. Why did you alter the scene? Talk."

"Okay, okay, Taylor, I admit it. I called the man that I reported to Pierson through. He said they needed me to doctor the scene to make it look like the girl killed him during an argument. He said that he needed to get attention away from Lawson and that the girl lost it."

"This man got a name? Answer me."

"Goldman. Bernie Goldman."

Taylor released him and ran a nervous hand through his hair. "You're sure it's Goldman?" The revelation sent a chill through Taylor. On the one hand, this was the first time that anyone linked that close to Pierson was named in connection to the case. On the other hand, Goldman was a trained attack dog, and Taylor knew that Pierson unleashed him on anyone who posed a problem for him. Sullivan was in deep if Goldman was involved.

"Look, Roger, I didn't want to set the girl up that way. She seemed like a nice kid, but Goldman said that it was important that Lawson stay clean in all this."

"So you decided to ruin someone's life for the Piersons?"

"Ruin her life? Roger, she killed the guy. She would have gone to prison anyway."

"You don't know that. To hear her tell it, she was afraid for her life after he tried to push her over that rail. Did you also know he was carrying the bottle of scotch upside down by the neck? Did you know that? Did you know that he slipped on the wet deck and hit his head a second time, which killed him?"

"Roger, please, I've got..."

"Did you know?" Taylor screamed at him. Sullivan reeled under the pressure. Sweat poured down his face.

"Yes. I knew all of that. I took the bottle and disposed of it. I doctored the scene as Goldman told me," he said, breaking under the pressure.

"And you went along with it. That girl has missed three years of her life, missed her parent's funeral for a lie. My God, man, how can you live with yourself?"

"Roger, what are you going to do with this information?"

Taylor nearly decked him for that question. He genuinely wanted to hit him square in his cowardly face. "We're going back into that squad room, and you will give me everything you know about Pierson and his interests. Then you will help me dismantle Pierson one part at a time until he's sitting in one of these cells. Lastly, you will get me the name of every cop on his payroll. After that, I'll talk to the DA, and maybe you'll lose your pension."

"Roger, please, I can't..."

"You will, or I might just ride you up to the Pierson's front door and thank you for your help and useful information."

Sullivan's face went blank. He knew Taylor well enough to know that he wasn't bluffing. Now, he was in an unpleasant situation where he might be a dead man one way or the other. Goldman wouldn't care about his condition or how the tables were turned on him. "Where do you want to start?" he said, resigned to the idea that if he were a dead man, better to be a dead man with a chance at redemption.

After a long talk, the men emerged from the interrogation room. Roger felt that, finally, things were going in the right direction. If this didn't get his FBI buddy here nothing would. That's when Officer Johnson approached him again. "Hey, Detective Taylor, we just got a call on the Cooper murder case. A lady said she saw a guy coming out of their home around the time of the murders." Today just got a whole lot better.