Dickerson stifled laughter with difficulty while Hadad stood while rubbing circulation back into his hand. “We’re all done for now, Mr. Hadad. You will be able to speak with your clients shortly. Please go have a seat out in the waiting area. We’ll arrange a room for you to meet with them.”
“This affront will not be forgotten!” Hadid left the observation room without further comment.
“Good Lord, Nick, I can’t tell you how satisfying watching that pretentious prick writhe on his knees was.”
“No need. I understand completely. After being accused of torture for detaining two would be murderers breaking into my house, you can imagine my feelings toward Mr. Hadad.”
Dickerson nodded. “Let’s go over your incident in detail from yesterday at the school, and we’ll also deal with the mention of that shithead reporter by our two detainees.”
“I am interested in that angle for my family’s welfare, Sergeant. I hope you have enough on the recordings to bring her in for questioning.”
“We sure do. That is the weirdest part of your house break in. Let’s go get some coffee, and we’ll go through this one step at a time.”
“No problem,” Nick said. “The coffee sounds good. I don’t suppose you have an Espresso coffee machine like they have on that TV show ‘Castle’.”
“No, we don’t, Nick. Why do you think that is? Oh wait a minute. We never had our own ‘Castle’ before. Does that mean we’ll be getting one now?”
“I’ll have it delivered and working tomorrow. Does this mean I will be sipping a cup of mud for today?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“I can see I will have to take a stronger part in my city’s police benevolent fund,” Nick said. “I can get away with the Espresso machine for now, but we’ll have to wait on anything else until it won’t seem like a bribe.”
“Benefactors are always welcome, Nick.”
*
Gus and Nick sat opposite Sergeant Dickerson at his desk. They had gone over the incident at the school in intricate detail, along with Nick’s house break in to Sergeant Dickerson’s satisfaction. Dickerson made a few more notes before leaning back in his chair.
Nick broke the silence. “Want to deal with the elephant in the room, Ken?”
“I think it’s time. What do you think that reporter had to do with this? I’m open to anything and everything. I wanted to get your input before bringing Gutierrez in for questioning. Hadad’s only hope is a plea bargain in your home break in. Those two idiots don’t have a chance of getting let off, which brings us to another question. If they make bail on this, we will of course revoke their passports, and do everything we can to keep them here. Do you think they’re a flight risk?”
“I believe they’ll flee the country through Mexico or Canada the moment they make bail,” Nick replied. “I’ve done some checking, calling in favors from the old days. Those two accompanied their recently deceased uncle, Naseer Kader, overseas to perpetrate three separate honor killings. They were at my house to murder my family. Of that I am certain. As to Florence Gutierrez’s involvement I can only guess. I think she contacted Jamal Kader under the premise of getting a firsthand reaction from Jamal about the death of his cousin, Saif Kader. I believe she informed him of my address which is unlisted, and told him she would be interested in any interaction he had with me. That he mentioned to his partner he would contact her after the breakin is puzzling. That would make her complicit in attempted murder. I didn’t get a chance to look into her possible ties with the Kader family.”
“I confess I put the rest of the media on her when she accused me of torturing those two dolts out in front of the station. She’ll be preparing a cover story for her involvement, but I figured if I didn’t seize the opportunity, Flo would simply keep accusing me of everything under the sun. We both know if you can’t make a deal with the two burglars, they won’t mention Gutierrez again in connection with anything. It will be important for me to find out her part in this beyond manufacturing a possible murder story.”
“When you say ‘old days’, what exactly do you mean, Nick?”
“My Delta Force unit worked many times in conjunction with the CIA. I still have people who owe me favors. Although I’ve been a writer for a long time almost exclusively, I have friends in the US Marshal’s service and the Department of Justice. I don’t take what Gutierrez did lightly. I’m hoping you won’t either.”
“As you’ve surmised, without breaking the two we have in custody, we may not be able to do much with her. That doesn’t mean we won’t frog march her ass in here for an intensive interrogation. If the District Attorney was so inclined, he could have Gutierrez arrested and indicted with only the audio tape of her being referenced by the perps.”
Nick smiled. “I like your thinking. You might be able to jar something loose, but I doubt it. I figure her lawyer will silence Flo in short order.”