365 Days

15

"I told you already, it was just a job."

My hands came down on the table soft and quiet, and my forearms followed, and my body went from there so that in a moment I had my elbows supporting my weight and my face was buried in my hands. My rookie of three days paced behind the young twenty-something man in serious need of a shower. As I breathed into my palms, I heard the rookie take a shot at the interrogation for the first time in his career.

"Was anyone else involved?"

Dan wasn't the typical rookie--loud, flashy, arrogent and pushy. He was quiet and shy; respectful. Smart. Analytical. I could tell he had been thinking of the right question to ask at just the right time. It was a smart question too. One that could give us several possible leads.

But the suspect shrugged and shook his head. "Nah, not that I know of anyway. Renkin didn't share too much information with me, all I knew is that I had to go in, get the chemicals, hand them over, and cover up the fact that they had been stolen. No one even knew they were gone until you guys picked me up, actually."

I peered through the gap in my fingers at the man in front of me and thought about how much better and more professional he would look if he would just get a haircut and shave. It was sad to see this kid throw away for this. He looked to be intelligent, and could probably go far in life. Too late now.

I lifted my head. "So you gave him the material to create the poison?"

His mouth opened, stayed open for a second, then it snapped shut and he looked into his lap. "I guess so," he mumbled before looking back up at me. "I didn't know he was gonna use them to kill someone, honest. I wouldn't have given him anything if I knew he was gonna do something like that."

I stood up all the way and shook my head. "It's bad, Dean, I'm not denying that. I just need to know where they are, and you'll possibly get less time, especially since you haven't actually killed anyone. All you need to do to make it easier on yourself is tell me where the chemicals are."

He looked at me, as if the answer was obvious, which it was, but I needed him to say it himself for the record. "They're at Renkin's house."

I turned around briskly and headed for the door. "Thanks. That's all I need."