“There were a couple of shocking facts we noticed at the crime scene, Nick,” Floyd Sampson stated with a friendly smile while taking crime scene photos out of a file casing and spreading them in front of Nick.
Nick looked over pictures of the robbers’ dead bodies he’d killed with interest. He then met Samson’s gaze with a steady interested one of his own. “Okay. What is shocking besides a broad daylight robbery of a jewelry store where the banditos died instead of innocent bystanders?”
“Floyd and I don’t think all the bystanders were innocent. Did you identify yourself as a law officer before opening fire?”
“Are you stupid?”
“There’s no need to get confrontational, Nick,” Floyd said soothingly.
Nick smiled at Floyd, clasping his hands in front of him. “Listen. If getting confrontational means labeling an asinine statement like Tony just made as stupid or he is, then we’ll be in confrontational land until the end of the interrogation. I’ll be cooperative, but I’m not listening to incredibly idiotic statements made about a combat situation. The robbers armed themselves with fully automatic Uzis, charged into a jewelry store with ‘smash and grab’ utensils. The lead one fired a fully automatic burst into the ceiling. I had two choices: kill, or hesitate. In hesitating I would have left my wife and two best friends at the mercy of three Uzi armed robbers. If you don’t understand the choices, you need to ask a different person.”
“The store owner is unsure whether you acted as law officers are required to act in any confrontational situation – namely by identifying themselves, and clearly stating to the suspected criminals demands to disarm immediately,” Tony said.
“That’s a lie. I hope you’re recording this session. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but it would be in your best interest to simply state the real beef you two have with me. Then at least we can address the real problem instead of a made up one.”
“You shot each of those men three times, striking the heads twice, and once in the chest,” Floyd said. “They were clearly incapacitated when they struck the floor. You administered a kill shot after they were down. You executed those men.”
Nick pointed out the weapons lying within hand’s reach of each robber. “Turn up your hearing aids, guys. “They were armed with Uzis. They had a driver I needed to stop or apprehend. I also had the lives of four other innocent people relying on me to make sure they were safe. Since I had no idea whether they were dead or not, I took no chances on one of them firing a burst at us with his dying breath, or the driver busting in with another Uzi while I inspected them.”
“How exactly did you know a driver waited outside?”
“Really, Tony, it’s not fair you were saddled with all the truly moronic questions.”
“Answer the question, Nick,” Floyd said.
Nick leaned back in his chair, hands to his head. “Let me think. Three robbers with automatic weapons, smash and grab tools, full face masks, and a mission to rob a jewelry store in broad daylight – however would they arrive at the scene of the crime? It’s a tough question. They wouldn’t arrive by helicopter. They certainly wouldn’t walk there. They would want to streak off the moment their mission of robbery was over. Yep. They had a driver. I knew it. I captured her and now you two can do some real police work by connecting as many robberies of the same M.O. as you can to them. I would call it a definite win/win situation.”
“We don’t need some pulp fiction writer telling us how to do our jobs,” Tony blurted out, ignoring his partner’s silent admonitions. “Between the Feds’ useless task force and your meddling in police affairs, now we have a serial killer free to roam again. Then you hang around executing people while acting like you should be getting a medal.”
“Getting to the real problem – I can handle that. I was asked in on the Kensky case. I caught him. If not for my key witness being murdered, he would be in prison. Just as you detectives lose suspects, evidence, and your minds once in a while, happenings on my end don’t always come out right either. I’ve explained this many times, but I’ll take a shot at the truth once more. I went into Saul’s jewelry shop with my wife and friends for a wedding ring set. Three guys in masks without Halloween ‘trick or treat’ bags jammed in through the doorway with Uzis. The leader fired into the ceiling. I then shot to kill and captured their driver. That’s it. As to hero status, I didn’t ask for anything but to go home to Pacific Grove.”
Tony started a toxic reply but his partner grabbed his arm. “A word outside, Tony?”
Tony nodded, his sunglasses still in place, stood and leaned slightly forward with his hands on his hips. The detective’s pantomime of David Caruso’s famous stance in ‘Miami CSI’ impressed Nick so much he smiled and clapped.
“Sensational Horatio Caine, Tony. Can you speak any one liners to expand on the famous stance?”