Page 48 of Dead Air
"Then realized the corruption reached higher than she anticipated." Parks glanced toward the entrance as new customers arrived. "Became more cautious about who to trust."
Lawson thought about Monica's journal entry. The meeting with Hutchinson at the warehouse. Her uneasiness about him. The floodlight positioned for ambush. Pieces clicked into place.
"Hutchinson lured her to the warehouse." The scenario formed in her mind. "Set up the ambush on orders from whoever runs the organization."
"Then someone killed him to prevent that connection from becoming public." Parks nodded. "The question remains who benefits most from maintaining the corruption system."
The coffee shop television switched to breaking news. Camera footage showed the medical examiner's van outside Hutchinson's apartment building. The caption read: "Detective's Suicide Linked to Cold Case Murder."
Parks studied the screen with narrowed eyes. "Narrative control. Statement crafted to close both cases simultaneously."
"Wallace orchestrating the media response?"
"Or following instructions from above." Parks checked his watch. "The DA will announce case closure by noon. Department statement to follow confirming the confession matches evidence from Landry's murder."
"Except it doesn't." Lawson remembered Parks' earlier revelations about evidence never processed. "The forensics were deliberately mishandled."
"Which no one will ever investigate now that Hutchinson provided convenient closure."
Parks studied her for a long moment, seeming to weigh his words carefully. "There's something you should know about why I'm really here. Why I requested this case specifically."
Lawson set down her coffee, sensing the shift in his tone. "Go on."
"Three years ago, I lost my partner. Detective Bram Kowalski." Parks stared into his mug, voice taking on the careful cadence of someone who'd rehearsed this story many times. "Officially, it was a single-car accident. Bram supposedly drove off Highway 17 after drinking. Case closed in forty-eight hours."
"But you don't believe that."
"Bram was investigating evidence tampering. Had been for months. Found patterns in major drug cases—evidence disappearing, chain of custody problems, financial records becoming corrupted right before trial." Parks looked up, meeting her gaze. "He called me the night he died. Said he'd found something big. Was taking it to Internal Affairs the next morning."
The parallel struck Lawson immediately. "Like Monica."
"Exactly like Monica. Both discovered corruption. Both died before they could expose it. Both had their evidence disappear afterward." Parks pulled a small photograph from his wallet—two men in uniform, arms around each other's shoulders at what looked like a department barbecue. "Bram was methodical. Organized. The kind of guy who planned his grocery lists a week in advance. He didn't develop sudden drinking problems or reckless driving habits."
Lawson studied the photo. Kowalski had been younger than Parks, with the earnest expression of someone who still believed the system could be fixed from within.
"The alcohol in his system?"
"Blood draw showed point-one-two. Well over the limit. But I'd worked with Bram for four years. Never saw him drink more than a single beer, and that only at retirement parties." Parks returned the photo to his wallet. "Someone wanted him drunk when that car went off the road."
"Did you investigate?"
"Tried. But I was just a patrol sergeant then. No authority over traffic fatalities or Internal Affairs cases. By the time I got promoted and transferred to IA, most of the physical evidence had been destroyed according to standard retention schedules."
Parks leaned forward, voice dropping lower. "But Bram was smart. Paranoid, maybe, but smart. He kept backup copies of everything. It took me eight months after his funeral to find his secondary storage location."
"What did you find?"
"Documentation of evidence tampering going back at least five years. Systematic manipulation designed to ensure specific defendants walked free. The scope was staggering—dozens of cases, millions in seized assets that mysteriously disappeared, witnesses who changed their testimony after being 're-interviewed' by unknown parties.
"There's another pattern Bram documented. Financial irregularities among certain officers during that same period. We found irregular financial activity in several officers' accounts—including Detective Landry's. Pattern suggests systematic supplemental payments."
Lawson felt something cold settle in her stomach. "What kind of payments?"
"Regular deposits. Always the same amount. Same intervals. The kind of financial behavior that indicates someone was being compensated for services rendered." Parks's expression remained carefully neutral. "Could be overtime irregularities, consulting work, or …"
He didn't finish the sentence, but he didn't need to. The implication was obvious.
"You've been building a case for three years."
