Page 112 of Nightshade

“Well, it’s such a nice day,” Juarez said. “Let’s go outside to the courtyard.”

She led the way. But Stilwell thought she would not consider it a nice day for much longer.

39

STILWELL AND JUAREZexited through a side door to a triangular plaza scattered with tables, chairs, and potted palm trees. People wearing juror tags sat or milled about. There was an open table near one of the building’s concrete columns and Juarez headed toward it.

“I heard about what happened Friday night,” she said. “How is Tash doing?”

“Tash is okay,” Stilwell said.

“And you?”

“I’m okay too. How’d you hear about it?”

“Are you kidding? It was all over the news.”

“Right.”

Juarez sat down and put the stack of files she was carrying on the table. Stilwell took a chair opposite her.

“We could have gotten coffee,” Juarez said. “You want me to go back and grab a couple cups from the cafeteria? They let the prosecutors shoot the line.”

“No,” Stilwell said. “This won’t take that long.”

He actually wasn’t sure how long it would take but he didn’twant her to have something she could throw in his face, especially hot coffee.

“Were you cleared to go back to work already?” Juarez asked.

“No, I’ve got my shrink session at one,” Stilwell said. “And the shooting team is still working on it.”

“Well, good luck. Seems like, from everything I saw, that you don’t have anything to worry about on the CAPO side.”

The DA’s Crimes Against Police Officers unit had to review and sign off on all police shootings in the county. Such incidents fell under their jurisdiction because most law enforcement shootings involved cops reacting to perceived threats to their safety.

“I’m not worried about it,” Stilwell said.

“So, what’s going on?” Juarez asked.

Stilwell hadn’t been sure how he was going to play it until that moment.

“You’re originally from Bakersfield, aren’t you?” he asked. “The six-six-one.”

“Uh, yes,” Juarez said cautiously. “How do you know that?”

“I did a little checking on you this morning. Pulled the story Lionel McKey wrote for theCallwhen you were assigned to the Catalina court. According to the story, you actually asked for the assignment. Is that true?”

Juarez furrowed her brow and put an uneasy smile on her face.

“I did,” she said. “I thought coming out to the island would be kind of fun. But why would you check me out, Stil?”

Stilwell ignored her question and proceeded with his.

“Is that where you first met Oscar Terranova? Up there in Bakersfield?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

Both her surprise and outrage felt staged, as though she had prepped for this moment for a long time. Stilwell read her reaction and knew he was on the right track.

---