Page 94 of Playing With Fire
“That’s what it says on my license.” This day is doing its best to beat me down, I might as well be a smartass.
The unamused officer rolls his eyes and hands me an envelope. “You’ve been served.”
“Great.”
I shut the door and set Serafina down, but she doesn’t like that so much so I sit and put her in my lap while I tear the envelope open.
$3,500,000.
That’s the amount he’s suing me for. He’s clearly lost his mind. I’m not even worth that much dead. Which I’m assuming he knows and this is just his attempt to rattle my cage at this point.
Putting the letter in the kitchen, I pack Serafina up and head downtown. Officer Stewart is expecting me.
“Hudson, nice to meet you. I’m going to have to start paying Phoenix for referrals if you guys keep delivering criminals to my doorstep. And who’s this cutie?” he asks, wiggling his finger at Serafina. She’s not amused and buries her face in my neck.
“This is actually the daughter of the man I’m trying to have arrested and if he knew she was with me right now, he would no doubt call and report that she’d been kidnapped.” I switch Serafina to my other arm and scratch my forehead. “Luckily for me, he doesn’t actually care about her beyond using her as a means to try and control her mother.”
“Sounds like a real nice guy,” Officer Stewart says.
“Do you remember questioning, and ultimately arresting, Steve Ellington a while back?” I ask.
“Sure do,” he chuckles, “total clusterfuck.”
“Well, the guy I’m going after is his attorney.”
Officer Stewart’s eyes go wide as he drags a hand down his face. “Christ, you’re going after Gregor Hartley?”
I fight the urge to grown.How does everyone know him?
“Yeah,” is all I say.
The officer’s lips tip up in a smile as he gives me an answer I wasn’t expecting. “I’d love to see that guy finally land behind bars.”
“You know him?” I ask.
He shrugs. “As much as I know any of the defense attorneys around here. We run into each other when we’re called as witnesses for cases. Gregor though?Oof. He’s a slimy bastard if I do say so myself. Wicked smart, though. How can I help?” he finally asks. “Your email just said you needed to access a police report and Phoenix just told me you were legit and that I should help you, so here we are.”
“I need to see everything you can show me from a drunk driving accident that happened just over a year ago, but if you could somehow filter out the pictures of the cars’ exteriorsand the victims themselves, I’d ap…appreciate it.” I get choked up on the last part of my sentence.
Officer Stewart asks me basic questions like the date, the county where it took place, and the victim’s name. All of which I know by heart.
He pulls it up and I reach in my pocket for the two pieces of paper Shannon and I picked up from Monica yesterday after getting Shannon’s new cell phone.
Unfolding them, I scan the document on the screen until I find what I’m looking for.
“Son of a bitch. There it is,” I breathe.
I point at the photo on the left of the screen and trace my thumb under item six-B from the document in my hand.
“Gregor argued the breathalyzer they used on Jason Reed was faulty. That it was part of a recall for having hypersensitivity issues. But the brand that was listed on the police report is different than the breathalyzer shown in the photos.”
Officer Stewart leans closer to the screen. “They have the same model number and brand name,” he says, looking at me with a puzzled expression.
I flip to the next sheet of paper in my hand and hold it out to him. “Look at the shape and size. The one in this picture is theactualmodel that’s listed on the police report. This one’s different.”
It’s subtle. But the differences are there. One’s edges are more square to its counterpart’s rounded edge, the display screen is slightly larger on the real one, and the power button on the real one is raised whereas the other is a hollow groove.
Officer Stewart keeps looking down at the paper in his hand and back up at the screen.
