Page 61 of Justice for JoElla

“Okay. You need to be ready. He’s supposed to be at Katie’s Arcade at nine twenty-nine. I told him to call me when he got there and I’ll tell him where it is. But it ain’t there. Once it’s all over, I’ll tell you where it is.”

“Where what is?”

He acted as though he hadn’t heard her. “But I’m tellin’ you, I want some assurances that I’ll be kept safe and I’ll be rewarded for turning all of this around. Can you do that?”

“Mr.Warmuth, I’m just a detective. I have no bargaining power, but I’ll do what I can. I think the question is whether or not you want this to stop. If you do, then I’ll do it.”

“It’s all because I got these urges, and he knew it, so he used me to do his dirty work. But I’m tired of it. It’s done got me into too much trouble, and there ain’t no way out but this. So you go to Katie’s at nine-twenty and wait. You’ll know when he gets there because he’ll call me and you’ll hear him. You need to be by the old baseball pinball game. Just be somewhere around there. But you gotta be alone, remember.”

“I’ve got it. I’ll?”

The door opened and Quint stepped in. “Here ya go.”

“Thanks.” Warmuth took the soda with his free hand and took a big sip. “Okay. Well, I ain’t got nothin’ else to say, so y’all best be goin’.”

“If you think of anything else, please let me know. The officers outside can find me.”

“Yes, ma’am. Pleasure doing business with you.”

JoElla rose from the chair and a confused-looking Quint followed her. She didn’t speak to anyone in the hallway on her way out, and Quint didn’t even attempt to talk to her until they were in the elevator. “Well? Did he have something to say?”

How was she going to pull it off? “Yeah, but I think it was horse shit. I’m going to check it out and if something comes of it, I’ll let you know and we can follow it.”

“What makes you think it’s horse shit?”

“Because it just sounds like horse shit and not worth our time. Some old school chum.”God, I hate lying to him, she told herself, but it was necessary. This would be the one time she really, really got something going, something that would put her squarely in a secure position in law enforcement.

They stopped at the station so Quint could get his rental car. He asked if she’d like to have dinner, but she begged off with a promise that she’d go the next evening. She hadn’t seen Brandon since the day before, and that was her excuse. She didn’t bother to tell Quint that Brandon was working. It didn’t matter. She just needed to be alone.

She went straight home, sat down on the sofa, and thought about what she was about to do. Could it be a trap? Possibly. But why? Warmuth had nothing against her, at least nothing that she knew of. She wasn’t the one who’d found or arrested him. She’d made no threats against him.

But there was something else. What about the Cases? How did he not know about them? The more she thought about his reaction, the surer she was that he had no idea what she’d been talking about. If he hadn’t killed Burton and EmmaCase, who had? And why?

At around six, she’d started to think about food when her phone rang. One look and she smiled. “Hey.”

“Hi. Have a good day?”

JoElla pinched the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb. “They caught him.”

“Him? The guy?”

“Yeah. He’s at the hospital. Got himself hurt in the scuffle, but he’ll be fine. More than fine enough to stand trial.”

“And the woman?”

JoElla sighed. “Dead. Shot her just as the cops arrived, same as he did the woman before her. I didn’t manage to save her, and I’m not happy about that.”

“I guess not, but you did the best you could.”

“Did I?” It sure didn’t feel like it.

“Yes. You did. What’s his name? AntonWharton?”

“No. Warmuth. W-A-R-M-U-T-H.”

“Got it. Did you manage to find some friends or family?”

“No. Matter of fact, former employers and coworkers barely remembered him, except for one who ordered him off the premises.”

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