Snowjob by Ted Wood Read Free Book Online

cereal box underneath it.”
    “Were there any other beers in the house?”
    “Yeah. There was a six-pack with one gone,” Cassidy said. “They didn’t have prints on them. Like whoever sold them must’ve handled ’em by the plastic strap.”
    That didn’t sit right, not when there was someone else’s prints on the beer can in the garbage. It sounded like a plant to me. But Hinton spoke now, carefully. “We wouldn’t have busted him on the evidence of a beer can, Reid. But the lieutenant searched his car and found the missing fifty grand.”
    “Where was it? In the trunk?”
    “No, in front, between the seats. Just layin’ there,” Cassidy said. “Ms. Frazer had told us about the night deposit. We were going to search his house for it, but there it was.”
    “Doesn’t make sense that he’d leave that kind of bread lying in plain view in his car. Maybe somebody came by and dropped it in there. The same guy who strangled Ms. Laver and put the beer can in the garbage.”
    “Where did this guy get it from? Either the money or the keys to Doug’s car, or the beer can?” Cassidy asked. “Come on, Reid. You’re talking like a defense lawyer. We had no choice but arrest the guy. You’d have done the same thing if you’d been in charge.”
    I knew he would never give me any other help unless I agreed with him, so I gave in. “Of course. But coming in now, as a friend of his, I’m looking at things differently.”
    “I can appreciate that,” Cassidy said. “But I was doing my job the way I always do my job. Looked open and shut to me. Guy has a fight with his girl, strangles her. She has some dough, he takes it, maybe to throw suspicion on somebody else. That’s the way I saw it.”
    There were other questions to ask, like had they checked the body for fibers. Whoever laid her out must have picked her up and there would have been clothing fibers along one side of her body. If they didn’t match Doug’s clothes, then he was probably innocent. But I didn’t push it. Instead I asked, “What did he say when you arrested him?”
    “Not a whole lot.” Cassidy was thoughtful. “I read him his rights but he waved me down, said he knew what they were. All he said aside from that was that he didn’t do it, didn’t know anything about her death or about the money in his car.”
    I nodded and stayed silent. On the face of it Doug had a chance at least of getting off. But at what price? He would lose everything he owned in paying for a lawyer and at the end of the case he would be out of a job. The people in town would never believe he hadn’t killed the woman. He could never work again in this town, or anywhere else as a cop. It was less terrible than a lifetime sentence but a blow his family would never recover from. And at worst, if the jury turned hostile, with maybe a few racists on it, he would be in a maximum security prison with a bunch of guys who had nothing to lose by killing him. It would be a death sentence.
    At last I said, “Thank you for the information, lieutenant. It’s not what I wanted to hear but you had no choice. It’s up to the courts now.”
    That pleased him. He stood up and stuck out his hand, creasing his face into a minimal smile. “Sorry to give you bad news but you’re right.”
    I shook his hand and he nodded to Hinton and left.
    Hinton said, “G’night, Lieutenant,” and sat where he was until Cassidy had gone. Then he asked, “Seen enough?”
    I nodded. “Enough to see that a good defense lawyer will be able to make a case for him, but I can also see that you had to arrest him. Thanks for the help, Pat.”
    “You’re welcome. But now I’ve gotta be starting work.” Hinton stood up. “Anything else I can show you?”
    I took the hint and stood up. “No. Thanks. Be all right if I get back to you over the next day or two?”
    “Anything I can do, I will.” He stood there with his hands on the desk. “Keep on digging. I want to see Doug walk out of jail with