Deadly Waters Pt. 04

Sean smiled. "It doesn't seem like Thacker had a lot of friends."

"He was an asshole," Bob said firmly. "If he had concerns about what we do here, he could have come in here and asked politely, and I probably would have shown him. I have nothing to hide. Instead, he goes to court and makes these accusations. If we have a spill and it gets into the water, people are going to notice."

"Why's that?"

"Because the creek will turn colors. Most of our waste isn't anything but water and dye. We evaporate off most of the water, so we don't have to pay to dispose of that. What's left is a concentrated dye. Trust me… if we spilled enough to matter, someone would notice. People get upset if the water turns weird colors."

Sean snickered. "Have you ever had a spill?"

"Oh sure. You can't operate very long without something happening. A hose breaks, or something like that. It's just part of running the business. What you should ask is, 'have we had a spill that reached the creek?' The answer to that is no. That's what the containment dikes do. If it happens, the dikes contain it until we can clean it up. You should see our concrete pad. It looks like something out of a bad acid trip."

Sean chuckled again. "What do you think caused the fish kills?"

Bob shrugged. "I have no idea. Not my area of expertise. I'm just a number cruncher."

"What about your neighbor, LoCoste Adhesives? Do you think Thacker's suit against them had any more merit than the one against you?"

"Beats me. You'd have to ask them. Steve seems like a pretty upstanding guy to me, though. I've been leaning on him to get sewer service out here, but he abstains on every vote dealing with it because it would be beneficial to him, and he doesn't want people to start bitching about conflict of interest."

"Huh, I didn't know that. Any idea why he'd do that?"

"Abstain? Just what I told you. The city promised to bring in sewer as soon as the business park got its first tenant. That was ten years ago. We're still waiting."

"What's the hold up?"

Bob made a sour face. "What do you think? Money. According to Steve, with just the two of us out here, we wouldn't generate enough revenue to pay for the construction. He told me if we could get another couple of businesses to commit to moving in, he'd start pushing for it, but until then…" Bob paused. "I admire he's putting the city ahead of his own best interests, but the city council is on record stating the line would be built when the first tenant went in. The lines are in the ground in the park, they just need to be hooked into the city's system."

"Who was first?"

"Locoste, and then a few months later, us. I thought for sure with Locoste moving out here, the sewer project was a done deal. Stupid me."

"So you have to truck your liquid waste into town?"

"Yeah. We hire a contractor to do it because, as I said, we evaporate off a lot of the water so we only have to take a load every six to eight months."

"Can you think of anyone who wanted Thacker dead?"

Bob snorted. "Everyone who knew him?"

Sean chuckled then rose. "Thank you for your time."

Bob rose with him. "Despite the fact I might go piss on his grave, I hope you catch Thacker's killer. I don't like the idea of someone getting away with murder in my town."

Sean nodded. "I'm sure we'll get him. It would be a lot easier if everyone who had contact with Thacker didn't dislike him so much. My list of people with a grudge against him keeps getting longer."

Bob chuckled. "Sorry."

"Hey, chief," Fish said as he sauntered into Sean's office in the middle of his three to eleven shift. "Crack the case yet?"

Sean grinned and then shook his head in mock shame. "Hardly. I just got back from talking to Steve Locoste and Bob Willis. The more I dig, the deeper the hole gets. Sit down a minute." Fish folded himself into a chair. "I'm taking you off the case." He held up his hand when Fish's face crumpled. "Hear me out. This is turning into a political hot potato, and I don't want you anywhere near it. The mayor is looking for someone's head, and if he gets one, I want it to be mine, not yours."

Fish was quiet for a moment. "Is that really all it is?"

"I offered my resignation over a disagreement about this case. Does that answer your question?"

Fish stared at Sean for a moment. "What's the problem? Can you tell me?"

"Sure. He wants an arrest."

"Who?"

"He doesn't care."

"What? That's crazy!"

"Now you see why it would be better if you took a step back from this. I've been over what you did and I can't find anything you missed. You've done good work on this, but if someone is going to take a fall, it's going to be me."

Sean watched as Fish's face hardened. "That's not right. What does he expect us to do?"

"Don't worry about it. This is no reflection on you at all, understand? This is for your protection."

"That pisses me off… pardon my French."

Sean grinned. "I'm not too happy about it either, but this is the way it has to be."

"I understand. And thanks. If I can help…"

"I know how to find you," Sean said, finishing his officer's sentence.

Fish sat still a moment then rose. "This sucks so bad," he muttered as he turned away, but then pivoted to face Sean again. "Thanks for having my back."

"It's what I'm here for."

"Still. I don't think Chief Horton would have been willing to take the heat for us."

"I'm not Bill."

Fish gave him a slightly sad smile. "No. No you're not."

Sean rocked back in his chair, removed his glasses, and rubbed his eyes. The Thacker case was going nowhere. He was going to talk to Harbaugh tomorrow and pull on that thread a little. He'd thought he was on to something with Steve Locoste, but after talking to him this afternoon, he wasn't so sure. Steve didn't act the least bit nervous talking to him, and nothing he said sounded forced or made up. On a hunch, he'd looked up the accident report for Steve's previous truck, and it was just as Steve described.

He was sure it came down to Harbaugh or Locoste, but which one? He'd thought it was Harbaugh, but then decided it was more likely Locoste, but now he was swinging back to thinking it was Harbaugh again.

He grunted, took a deep breath, and then put his glasses on. The truth was, it could've been either of them. They both had the opportunity to dump the body, but neither seemed to have the motive or the opportunity to kill Thacker. If it was one of them, he didn't have a clue which one.

He was packing up to go home when his desk computer chimed. He thought about ignoring it, but he hated to leave emails unopened. If the city council would approve his new computers, he could do this from home, but until then, if he wanted to read his work emails, he had to do it in the office. He opened the first email just as another arrived. The email was from someone named Suzie1974, and it showed a Brunswick police car sitting in a parking lot. He wasn't sure what he was seeing or why Suzie was sending him a picture of a patrol car. Before he finished puzzling over the picture, two more emails from Suzie arrived. He opened the second one, and there was a closer picture. His mouth hardened. There was an officer sitting in the car, and he appeared to be sleeping. He closed the picture and opened the third one. This one was taken from another angle, and he could clearly see Officer Daniel Brady sitting in the car, his head tipped forward and resting on his chest. With a sinking feeling of dread, he opened the fourth. It was almost the same photo as the previous one, but the time stamp showed it was taken twenty minutes later.

He clicked reply. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Sean McGhee, Chief of Police, he typed then hit send.

Pursing his lips in anger and frustration, he stood and walked down the hall and into the dispatcher's office. Michelle, a heavyset woman of about forty with shoulder length blonde hair, wide set dark eyes, and a prominent nose, quickly tucked her magazine out of sight in a desk drawer. The night shift was tough, and so long as his dispatchers did their job, he wasn't going to bust their chops too much for doing what it took to stay awake and alert.

"I thought you were already gone," she said.

"Not yet. Get Officer Brady in here right now."

"Right away, sir."

Sean nodded as she turned to her task. She could probably tell from his tone and the look on his face he wasn't happy. He turned, strode back to his office, and then printed out the four photos to cut down on the denials when Danny arrived.

Fifteen minutes later, Danny stepped into Sean's office. Officer Daniel Brady was in his late fifties with a round face going soft with age, small eyes and a large nose. His hair was thinning and going gray, and he was carrying at least fifty pounds more than he should. Sean was surprised Danny could pass the basic fitness test and suspected that his test results had been fudged a little.

"You wanted to see me, chief?" Danny asked, his voice deferential. Michelle had obviously clued him in that something was up. Sean slid the four photos across the desk. Danny picked them up, his face going pale. "I can explain," he said as he looked up from the photos.

"Let's hear it."

"I'm, uh, taking a cold medicine. It made me sleepy. I know it was wrong, but I thought it was better to grab a quick nap than risk falling asleep at the wheel. Sir."

"I see. If you're that sick, you should have called in. You're suspended for two weeks without pay."

"What?" Danny cried. "For this?"

"That's right, for this. You said yourself you knew it was wrong, but you did it anyway. I'm not going to have my officers sleeping in their cars. That undermines the trust and respect of this department, and I won't have it."

"You can't do this!" Danny cried, his face turning red.

"Would you rather I fire you?" Sean asked, his voice soft but full of steel.

Danny was quiet a moment. "I've been an officer for thirty-five years, and you're going to fire me over this?"

"No, I'm going to suspend you over this… unless you keep back-talking me."

Danny's mouth went hard. "Yes, sir!" he snapped then pulled his patrol car keys out of his pocket, removed his badge and pistol, and slammed them all on Sean's desk. Sean safed the weapon and pocketed the magazine as he rose. He tucked the weapon, badge, and keys into his desk drawer, and then escorted Officer Brady out of the station.

"Do you want me to call someone to come get you?"

"I've got it, sir!" Danny spat.

"Go home and cool off, and don't do something you'll regret later."

When Danny didn't say anything, Sean turned and walked back into the station. After checking Officer Brady's weapon into the armory, and locking up his badge, Sean wrote a disciplinary notice, attached the photos, and put it in Danny's file. Michelle watched him leave as he stomped through the lobby, looking very alert and professional behind the glass. By tomorrow, every officer on the force would know Danny had been suspended. He'd hated doing it, but sleeping on the job wasn't something he could overlook.

Sean was scraping the contents of the can into Marmalade's bowl when his phone rang. He finished emptying the can before pulling the ringing phone from his pocket. One glance at the display told him everything he needed to know. "Hello, mayor," Sean said as he sat the bowl on the floor.

"Is it true?" Rudy asked.

"That Officer Daniel Brady was sleeping in his patrol car? Yes."

"You suspended him?"

"That's correct. Two weeks without pay."

"Are you sure he was sleeping?"

"You want to see the photos?"

"Shit," Rudy breathed. "Who took them?"

"A member of the public."

Rudy sighed. "I've been on the phone with him for the last half-hour. He's not happy. He said you threatened to fire him."

"He wasn't happy at being suspended. I gave him an alternative. He liked that even less. I don't care if he's upset or not. I won't have my officers sleeping in their patrol cars."

"He said he was sick and on medication."

"He didn't sound sick to me, but even if he was, that's no excuse. As I told him, if he was that sick, he should have called in."

"Sean, I know you're used to working in a big department, but we do things differently down here. Can't you just, I don't know, put something in his file?"

"I've already done that."

"Did you have to suspend him?"

"Do you think it's acceptable for city employees to sleep on the job?"

"Of course not!"

"Then yes, I had to suspend him."

"Sean, this looks bad. Suspending an officer? That's never been done before."

"Which is probably why Danny thought it was okay to sleep in his car."

"Look, I agree he needs to be disciplined, but suspending him without pay seems a little harsh."

"What do you suggest? Suspend him with pay? How does having an extra two weeks of paid vacation send a message?"

"Can't you put him on some assignment in the office?"

"Doing what? Why is it a problem to send a clear and unequivocal message that this won't be tolerated? He stood right there in my office and the first words out of his mouth were, 'I know it was wrong but…' He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he did it anyway."

"Sean, this is going to cause problems."

"With who? Obviously somebody didn't think it was appropriate behavior or she wouldn't have sent me the pictures."

"Look, I know you're trying to assert your authority, but—"

"You think that's what this is about, me trying to show my officers who's in charge?" he snapped, cutting Rudy off.

"No, but you're rocking the boat. You can't come down here and start—"

Sean gritted his teeth to prevent himself from lashing out at Rudy. "It seems to me it's time someone did. This conversation is over, mayor. Officer Brady is suspended. If you don't like it, have me fired and make Danny the chief. Good night." He ended the call and tossed the phone onto the counter and glared at it. "What a chicken-shit," he muttered to the empty room before turning away in disgust.

Rudy was so afraid someone would be upset he didn't seem able to do what needed to be done. He was more concerned about appearances than doing the right thing. He sighed, opened the 'fridge, and pulled out the quart of Brunswick stew, spooning a quarter into a bowl. He suddenly didn't feel like cooking.