Page 40 of Half Baked

“Humble too. Now tell me what’s up.”

He leaned forward, turning serious. “One of the guys on patrol caught a kid stealing a car last night. We’ve got him in holding.”

“You haven’t interviewed him yet?”

“Nope. We’re letting him sweat a bit. I thought you might want to be part of it.”

I nearly jumped up to head to the station, then thought better of it. “As much as I’d like to, I can’t. The chief would kill me. Is Cuso going to conduct the interview?”

Lance swallowed. “No. He’s busy on something else. Chief wants me to do it. Alone.”

Now I understood why he was here. “You’ve got this, Lance.”

“Do I?” He looked like he was about to be sick. “This is important. The department’s been trying to pin something big on the Brawlers for years. If they’re involved, this could be our big chance.”

I snorted. “While I agree it’s an opportunity, I highly doubt the department’s tried to nail them in the past. I’d be surprised if Bergan hadn’t been on their payroll. If so, he would have destroyed everything he had on them before entering St. Vincent’s.”

“All the more reason not to fuck this up. We can make up for past mistakes.”

“You won’t fuck it up,” I assured him. “And you know I’m not one to blow smoke up your ass. You’ve been with me on multiple interviews over the past few months. You led questioning on the last few and were great at it. You know what to do, but if you want to tell me your strategy, I’ll share my thoughts.”

We spent the next five minutes discussing his plan of attack, and after I gave him a few minor suggestions, I said, “You’re ready for this. When you’re done, let me know what you find out.”

“You still planning to contact the county crime lab?”

“Yeah. I planned on calling, but I think I’ll pay them a visit in person instead.”

“There’s a good chance the department sent everything to the state lab.”

“On this case?” I asked. “Not likely. Bergan tried to lock it down as best he could.” A new thought hit me. “Why don’t you take a look at the evidence we got from Bergan’s contact and tell me what you think.”

“Me?” he asked in surprise.

I was already getting out of my chair. “You might notice something I didn’t.”

Although I’d spent a good half hour examining all three items last night after my mother had gone to bed, I’d come up with nothing.

The box was on my dresser, and my house was so small it took me all of about five seconds to grab it and hand it to Lance.

“White rabbit?” he asked, reading the side.

“Yeah. I have no idea what it means. Could have already been on the box, but it looks like Bergan’s handwriting.” We’d looked at enough of his notes on the cases in the storage unit for both of us to know.

“Yeah, agreed,” Lance said. “Mind if I get out my phone and jot down some notes?”

“Definitely not.”

He pulled up his note-taking app and typed on it, then took a photo of the outside of the box.

“Was there anything related toAlice in Wonderlandhappening in town around them?” I asked. “Like a play, or maybe they were reading it in her class?”

Lance shook his head. “I couldn’t tell you. I didn’t pay much attention to the plays, and I wasn’t in any of her classes. She taught sophomores.”

“I can ask Maddie,” I said. “Or some of her teacher friends. I’m going to try to set up some interviews for after Maddie gets off work. She sent me a list of people to reach out to.”

“You’re going to let her sit in on them?” he asked in surprise.

“I’m on leave,” I said. “I’m not supposed to be investigating anything. I’m just going with Maddie.”

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