Killer Dreams Ch. 36-40

I took off my ankle holster with the Baby Glock and handed it to the IAD man. "Will there be anything else, sir?" I tried to sound brave, but my voice was cracking.

"Detective Thompson will take possession of any investigative materials that you have in your possession. Do you have anything in your apartment or vehicle?"

"No, sir, but I have the Minneapolis case information on a memory stick in my purse." I hadn't stopped by the office last night to drop it off. Now I wouldn't be going back to the Minneapolis Homicide office today. "You'll have to assign someone to follow-up on those cases."

"That's my problem. While under suspension, you may not interfere with or speak about ongoing police investigations. Any such actions could result in additional disciplinary charges with associated consequences up to and including termination. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Captain."

"Detective Thompson will see you out."

I followed the Internal Affairs guy out of the office and over to my desk. He was nice enough to bring a cardboard box, which I filled with my stuff under his watchful eye. James looked crushed, while the others coming into work didn't know whether to be sad or angry with me. I felt like shit as I picked up the box and walked out. I didn't have the guts to say goodbye, and nobody knew what to say.

Wearing a Scarlet 'A' on my blouse would have been easier than carrying that box. I kept my head up as Internal Affairs accompanied me on my walk of shame. Most people stared at me, others turned away, but no one supported me.

I put the box in the back seat, and Thompson returned my firearm. He watched me drive away, and I made it two blocks before I had to pull over and cry.

Chapter 38

David Hardin's POV

Northbound Interstate 35

Thursday, October 7, 2021

I slept like shit last night, finally giving up when my back started to spasm at four-forty in the morning. The long drive yesterday and the hotel room bed were a big enough challenge. Add in the stress of the meeting with the detectives, and what happened at the apartment? No wonder I felt like hell.

I shouldn't have gone to Talia's home last night. It was stupid; I knew I was a suspect, but I had an ego that told me I could outsmart their surveillance. When I found the tracker, I realized I'd ruined her professionally for a quick fuck by the door.

It was like a bucket of cold water got dumped on me, and I didn't react well. I ran away, not even explaining why I was leaving. I could imagine what Talia was thinking after my exit, but I lacked the courage to own up to my fault. If Talia decided to break up with me for it, I couldn't blame her. Hell, it would be better for her professionally if I never talked to her again.

Our relationship had developed too quickly; it was a mile wide but an inch deep. Sex with Talia was fantastic, her submission to me was addictive, but I didn't know much about her. Most of our discussions had been about sex, food, or murders. I didn't even know her birthday, favorite band, or what she liked to do outside her jiu-jitsu.

Maybe a break was a good idea.

I was mad when I found the tracker, but I wasn't mad at her. It's not like she slipped it in my wallet while I banged her from behind! If Talia is duplicitous enough to fake a relationship to help their investigation, it wouldn't have gone this way. No one could fake that look when she was kneeling before me.

No, I was mad at myself. I'd returned to my waiting cab after walking away from the apartment. The taxi driver took me to St. Paul, stopping for a few minutes in front of the Lowertown apartment where Tracy had lived. I looked up at her balcony and vowed to do what I could to bring her killer to justice. I had the driver drop me off a block from my hotel, then snuck back to my room and went to bed.

I looked at the clock on my dashboard; it was almost eight-thirty, and I'd be in Duluth soon. I wanted to call, but I'd left my only burner phone in a garbage can at the hotel parking ramp. I had a shelf of them at home, but going there would locate me, and I didn't want them to slap another tracker on just yet. Instead, I headed to the Best Buy store west of Duluth and bought a new prepaid cellphone.

I tossed the bag next to my overnight bag and drove north to Two Harbors, parking a few blocks from my lawyer's office. I used the alley instead of the sidewalk and entered through the back door. Heading upstairs, I entered his office to the shock of his assistant just after nine in the morning. "Mr. Hardin, sir! I didn't see you on his schedule this morning," she said.

"I'm not," I told her. "I do need to speak about some urgent business."

"He's with a client now, but I think we can sneak you in after. Would you care for some coffee while you wait?"

"Please." I sat and read a travel magazine while she rearranged his schedule to fit me in.

I only had to wait twenty minutes before she escorted me into Gerald Costley's office. "David! I thought you were staying in St. Paul overnight?"

"Something came up," I told him. I related everything that had happened yesterday outside the phone call he was a part of.

He was shaking his head by the end and laughing. "I swear, David, you must lack the common sense to pull your hand off a hot stove!" I let out a sigh. "I warned you not to get involved with Detective Devine."

"The heart wants what it does," I replied. "It was torture for me. Talia was in the room, but I had to ignore her. Then her partner wouldn't let us be alone."

"You said Talia went through security first at the station?"

I nodded. "Maloney figured I'd pay attention to her while he slipped the tracker into my wallet. He was right. I was so busy looking at her body that I didn't suspect a thing."

"They could have put the GPS locator in your car while it was in the lot or when they had it for the search warrant. Did you go anywhere other than the station and the hotel?"

"Just the gas stations and drive-throughs for food," I said. "I left the car tracker at the hotel parking garage. I gave it a good look before driving up here, just in case they had more than one." I handed him a piece of paper with the serial numbers of the AirTag and the GPS tracker. "Just in case they don't believe me."

"If they have a surveillance warrant for you, they will try again," Gerald said. "If you can, avoid using your car for a few weeks. Placing a bug on your person is much more difficult, so stay home. Honestly, staying put and shutting up is the best legal advice I can give you now."

"Can you do anything about the warrant?"

He shrugged. "There's not much to do. These warrants are secret, so our only chance to object is in the preliminary hearings after arraignment. I'd prefer it didn't get that far, but you're pushing the limits with this case. I'm sure they are digging through everything you said for anything they can use against you."

"I'm more worried about Talia getting in trouble than me. I need her bosses to know that I came to her home uninvited to speak to her, and I left the AirTag with her after I found it. I need them to understand how pissed off I am that they took advantage of my good faith. They used my visit to plant surveillance devices on me. I don't want Detective Devine to get in trouble because of my actions."

He nodded. "I have the Captain's contact information. Maybe I can rattle their cages enough to help her out." He found the number and picked up his phone. "I don't want you to say a damn thing during this call, David. I don't want them to know you're here. If you have anything to add, write it down." He tossed me a legal pad and a pen before dialing, leaving the phone on speaker.

"Captain Cullen, Homicide," he answered.

"Captain, this is Gerald Costley, Mr. Hardin's attorney," he began.

"What can I do for you, Counselor?"

"You can send me a copy of the surveillance warrant on my client. You DO have a warrant, do you not?"

"I can't comment on that."

"Please, Captain, don't play me for a fool. I know Mr. Hardin returned the tracking device Detective Maloney placed inside his wallet to Detective Devine last night. I also figure you've realized by now that the GPS device in his car is no longer there. Do I need to go public with this harassment of my client, or will you send me a copy of the warrant? I'm sure the press will love to hear what you did to a man who voluntarily provided you with material assistance for your investigation."

"I can't do that, Mr. Costley."

"That's unfortunate. I'm sure the public will love to watch the recording of my client speaking with your detectives. Fascinating stuff. I'm sure it will get a lot of publicity. They'll love to hear about how you're continuing to harass my client after TWO search warrants turned up nothing, and not a shred of evidence connects him to either crime."

He let out a sigh. "I'm not the only jurisdiction involved in this case, Counselor. It's not my information to give."

I wrote on the pad and showed it to him. Don't push that. Say I don't trust them, and I'll only speak with Detective Devine now. He nodded. "My client takes it personally when people take advantage of his goodwill, Captain. He's informed me he would no longer deal with the St. Paul Police unless it is through Detective Devine. She's been helpful and straightforward with him, and he believes her when she said she didn't know what you and Detective Maloney were doing."

There was a pause. "That will not be possible. Detective Devine is relieved of duty pending an investigation into her conduct."

"For what? David stopped by her house for a few minutes to drop off the tracking device!"

"I can't speak to the specifics of an ongoing investigation."

I frantically wrote down more information on the paper and handed it back. "My client took a Yellow Cab about 9 PM from downtown St. Paul to Detective Devine's Woodbury apartment. The driver waited while he spoke to your detective, then drove him back to St. Paul. His name was Ai-Lak Djoubouti. Maybe you can do some investigating that clears people of wrongdoing instead of harassing them." With that, he hung up. "That should shake them up."

I smiled. "Hopefully, it will get Internals Affair to back off."

He nodded. "You need to be careful if you want to protect Talia. I warned you about getting involved with a Detective investigating you, but you didn't listen. She probably ignored the same warnings. They might think Talia is your accomplice, and IAD might be watching her. You can't call her, see her, or do anything to call attention to your relationship until they find the killer. If she's suspended now, I'm sure they've told her any further contact would result in termination. Hell, the County Attorney could file criminal charges if the investigation shows she compromised the investigation."

"I hear you," I said. "Thanks for the help."

"Stay out of trouble, David." We shook hands, and I saw myself out. As I walked to the car, I thought about how I could apologize to Talia without getting her in trouble. Getting an idea, I drove to a coffee shop with free wi-fi. Starting up the burner smartphone, I turned off the cell connection and went to the browser. Finding a phone number for Talia's Mom only took a few minutes. I jotted the number down, powered down the phone, and then returned to my car.

I drove past my home without slowing down, seeing the news vans waiting near my driveway. I continued my drive north through Silver Bay, finally turning off the Voyageur Highway at Palisade Head. It was still open for cars until the first snowfalls; after that, the cliffs are a long uphill hike from the parking lot at the bottom. I swore I'd never try that again after the first time I dragged my ass up there.

The parking lot at the top was only half full, thanks to the late season and the approaching rain. I grabbed the burner phone and activated it. I got out of my car, walking down the trail to an isolated spot at the top of the hundred-foot sheer cliff. Below me, waves on Lake Superior crashed into the broken rocks. I called the number, and a woman answered. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Devine, this is David Hardin. I'm trying to get in contact with Talia."

"You can go to hell, you bastard! How could you do that to her? She thought you loved her!"

Shit. "I do. I screwed up and hurt her, and I'm sorry about that. There's a lot of other stuff going on right now, but I can straighten things out if I can talk to her."

She didn't respond right away. "Is she refusing to talk to you? Is that why you're calling me?"

"No. Talia's in trouble at work because of her contact with me. Her Department may be watching her, even monitoring her phone, so the last thing I want to do is call her. The Department has no reason to monitor YOUR phone," I said. "Call Talia and ask her to come over. She can call me back at this number."

"That won't be necessary, but I have a warning for you. If you hurt my daughter again, they'll never find your body."

"The last thing I want to do is hurt her," I said. Well, we won't mention the floggings and the BDSM play. Momma doesn't need to know everything. I heard the background noises change, then a knock on the door.

"Hello?"

"Hello, my love," I said. "I'm so sorry."

"You should be, you asshole! You left me wondering what I did to piss you off like that!"

"I know. I didn't react well, but when I calmed down? I realized it wasn't you that I should be mad at. You had nothing to do with planting the tracker, and I shouldn't have appeared on your doorstep. It was a risk I didn't have to take, and you paid the price." When you've screwed up, you admit it and try to repair the damage.

She hiccuped, and I realized she'd probably been crying. "It doesn't matter now. I've been suspended, pending the results of an Internal Affairs investigation into my relationship with you."

"I know. My lawyer had a conversation with your Captain about the tracking devices. When he told Cullen I'd only deal with you from now on, he told us you weren't active."

"What do I do, David? The police have been my LIFE! If I get fired for cause, I'll have a tough time hiring on as a dogcatcher!"

"Well, we straightened out the timing thing. I gave the Captain information proving I was only at your apartment for fifteen minutes before returning to St. Paul. As long as you don't mention what we were up to, we should be good."

She didn't sound convinced. "We screwed by my door, David."

"I know. It was fantastic," I replied. "What did your training officer tell you to do when you get in trouble?"

"Admit nothing, deny everything, demand to see the proof." It was pretty standard stuff.

"Yep. In Minneapolis, we called it the Bart Simpson defense. 'Didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, you can't prove a thing.' You have rights, including against self-incrimination. You don't have to answer questions about things that happen off the clock and Police Department property. Don't let them bully you into admitting an inappropriate relationship. Force them to prove you've had one. They can't because no one saw one, and I'll never admit to it."

"I stayed at your home, David. We ate dinner at the hotel, and I stayed overnight in a room you paid for!"

"So? I have a guest room. It was a public dinner, thanking you for your help. You had too much to drink, so you got a room at the hotel. They can't prove a damn thing to a disciplinary board if you don't admit to it."

"What about the case? They're accusing me of leaking details of the investigation!"

I rolled my eyes as I looked at the rain clouds approaching. "Like what? I've never divulged anything we discussed. Your Captain had you drive me back to Two Harbors so you could pump ME for information! Trust me, Talia, I won't say anything. After the way they stabbed me in the back, I'll never give them a statement, and they can't compel one over a disciplinary matter."

"So, ride it out?"

"Yep. Take some time off and relax, maybe hit the training hard or take a vacation. It's going to take a few weeks before IAD submits the report. If Internal Affairs can't find the evidence to convince a disciplinary board, you'll get your back pay."

"And if they find a way to kick me off the force?"

"Then you move in with me because there's no more reason to stay away. We can get to know each other over the long winter." I heard a soft moan. "I love you, Talia. I know our relationship has progressed quickly, but I'm not sorry about jumping into the deep water. I want you by my side, Talia. I think we can be great together."

"Not at your feet?"

"That too, baby. That was a pleasant surprise, one I look forward to again." The rain was starting to come down. "I have to go. The rain has started, and I don't want to slip and fall to my death from Palisade Head. Imagine the headlines!"

I got her to laugh. "You're right. I'll see what happens."

"If you need to talk, use the Discord page. I love you, Talia Devine."

"I love you too, David Hardin. I want you to stay out of trouble, too. Work out, work on your book, and play with Rocky. Make sure the press sees you! You might need that alibi if this guy strikes again."

"I will. Goodbye, baby." I powered down the phone, then slowly made my way back to the parking lot through the pouring rain.

Cold, wet, and hopeful, I drove back home.

Chapter 39

Sheriff Joe Turley's POV

Washburn County, Wisconsin

Thursday, October 7, 2021

I was driving through Spooner just after ten in the morning when the call came over the radio. "All units, 10-35, Dugan Horse Trail North Loop, 2 miles north of 70 on Dugan Lake Road. Requesting all available units Code 2 High and EMS." Shit! 10-35 was the code for a major crime alert.

The location fed automatically into my navigation system on my car laptop as I hit the light bar and turned east. I waited for the other units to respond, then got on the radio. "This is Sheriff Turley. Is this the scene active?"

"Negative, Sheriff. It's a bad one. The reporting individual could barely get the words out, and cell reception is spotty. She did say there is a homicide."

"Roger. Issue a Tac Channel for responders and notify the State Police." Washburn County was a rural county in northwestern Wisconsin, about eighty minutes south of Duluth. The county population was only sixteen thousand, so the Sheriff's Department only had fifteen full-time Deputies and three part-time in Patrol. That number included three investigators, one Sergeant, and one K-9 officer.

"Responding units shift to Tac one. Units responding to 10-35 call shift to Tac One."

I was a few miles away when the first patrol car arrived. "Sheriff, Patrol 2 is in the parking lot, but no one is here."

Dispatch cut in. "All units, PR reports she is five minutes from the trailhead."

"Where is the body?"

"She's bringing it with," Dispatch responded.

Jesus Christ on a popsicle stick! You can't move a murder victim! "Turley to dispatch, order the person responding to remain at the crime scene."

"That's not possible, Sheriff. She doesn't know where the crime scene is, and she's bringing the victim with her. You'll see why in a few minutes."

I made the left turn onto Dugan Lake Road a minute later. I was the second unit to arrive at the remote location. I pulled into the horse trail lot next to Patrol 2, reported I was 10-23 (at scene), and rolled down my window. "What's going on, Perkins?"

"Nobody here, Sheriff. The Dodge Ram belongs to Mary Willis of Spooner, and the F-250 to Raul Ibanez of Edina, Minnesota."

"So where the hell is our murder victim?"

I heard a horse whinny; it was coming from the direction of the trail. "I think we'll see soon, boss."