Page 51 of Code of Courage

CHAPTER21

Danni saw a worker’s comp doctor first thing Thursday morning and was released back to work before noon.

“Welcome back, Detective Grace,” Matt greeted her, a sarcastic lilt to his voice. “I knew you couldn’t stay away from me. It’s my cologne.”

“Yeah, I have a serious jones for you, partner. Show me our caseload.”

He made a show of rolling up his sleeves. “You betcha.” Matt grabbed a stack of folders. “We have fifteen assaults, four with great bodily—”

“Shaver, Grace, in my office.”

Both turned when Sheila Harper, the homicide sergeant, called to them. Lieutenant Gomez was head of the division, but Harper was the day-to-day boss. Danni followed Matt into the sergeant’s office.

Harper closed the door behind them and then took a seat behind her desk. “I just had a call from Gary Diamond’s wife. He fell off a ladder and broke his hip. Right now he’s on his way to surgery.”

“Oh, sad news,” Danni said.

“Yes, it is. He’s out for the foreseeable future. Might even retire.”

“What is Marrs going to do?” Matt asked.

“With you two. We need to finish up the Ramos investigation. I’m putting the three of you together to do just that. High priority. Shooting for something definitive by the end of next week.”

“What?” Danni protested. “You can’t put an arbitrary time frame on an investigation so sensitive.”

Harper looked down her nose at Danni. They’d never gotten along. Harper hadn’t spent enough time in patrol before promoting, in Danni’s opinion. It made her a weak supervisor, and Danni didn’t think she’d been done any favors by being assigned to homicide. She was given the assignment two weeks after Danni moved to homicide. Harper was known to be vindictive, and Danni had braced herself for treatment that never came. She always believed Gomez had saved her from unfair treatment at the hands of Harper. Before the riots, rumors suggested Harper was on her way out, maybe to theft or burglary, because she was not doing a good job in homicide. All transfers were now on hold because of the riots.

“I just did. They’re going to fire Ramos. I don’t think he deserves to be fired, do you?”

“What!” It was Matt’s turn and he exploded. “That’s nonsense. Everyone knows the video was altered. The bullets don’t even match. Jess was not the shooter.”

“And now you know why you need to get to the bottom of things ASAP.” She folded her arms. “Marrs will be in later. The case file is on his desk. Go through it and figure out a game plan. Getting to the bottom of this is what will help Jess Ramos.”

Yeah,Danni thought, you’re right. As she and Matt went back to their desks, Danni admitted Harper was doing what she should now.

“I can’t believe they’d fire Jess,” Matt grumbled as they walked back to Marrs’s desk.

“I can,” Danni said, jaw set. “The way the Tribune and social media keeps roasting him. No one cares about the truth anymore.”

“The union will have something to say about it.”

“I hope they step in soon.”

“Yeah, but it just shouldn’t happen, period.”

Danni agreed.

+++

Danni and Matt had gotten through most of the shooting book by the time Marrs got to the office. As far as the altered video went, their lab had not been able to trace it. The original poster had scrubbed his or her trail. It had been sent off to the Feds, but it was anyone’s guess when they would get to it.

She hated to say it, but there wasn’t much. The entire investigation was hampered by the department’s reluctance to push the anti-police crowd away from the crime scene, and Danni was baffled. Facts didn’t seem to matter. Johnston was killed by a .22 caliber weapon, Jess carried a .45, yet Madden and everyone else seemed bound and determined to ignore the truth.

There were pages and pages of information on Thomas Johnston. A local kid, Uber driver, and part-time blogger, before the riots he was an activist of sorts. His main concern was about local community issues—burned-out streetlights, dirty park bathrooms, and longer park hours. But when the riots began, Thomas became a cop hater on steroids. He was out in the first few moments of unrest, with his bullhorn, stirring the crowds into mobs and rioters.

Danni’s brow knit together. Why are people so easily manipulated into violence?

After looking over the book, Danni now knew exactly what the phrase “I feel like pulling my hair out” meant. She’d never felt so frustrated.

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