The Witness Wore a Puppy Tail, chapter 11 (Patreon)

When Captain Jenkins’s car pulled up next to the strip of weeds, Ken winced and every uniform on scene got suddenly quiet. Jenkins wasn’t on call tonight, so someone had called him in to deal with the problem. And Jenkins probably considered Ken a much larger problem than a push-in attack. His presence also explained why it had taken so long for anyone to show up.

If trouble was heading at him, Ken preferred to meet it head on. So he pushed himself away from the fence and headed over to the captain’s sedan. The captain normally wore a sharp suit in conservative colors, interrupted only with some bright pocket square or tie. However, he got out of his car wearing a mustard yellow t-shirt, a pair of sweats, and a frown. Fuck.

“Detective.” With that one word, Captain Jenkins communicated a wealth of displeasure. Ken could smell suspension on the air. The captain’s practice of listening to the full story before getting angry was Ken’s only hope.

“Sir.”

Jenkins narrowed his eyes. “Talk me through this.”

Ken started with the late night call, but he didn’t get far.

“Why did they call you?” the captain asked.

“Probably because they couldn’t get Millan to listen to them for three seconds running, and he gave them my name.” Ken knew for a fact that he couldn’t defend Robert or his strange habits, but he still felt guilty for talking about the man that way.  

Jenkins’s sigh suggested that his attitude toward Ken had softened a bit. “The man is a menace.”

Ken shrugged. “He’s definitely the victim this time. Three subjects pushed into his place, threatened him and spray painted his carpet.”

“And you assume this is related to your case?” Jenkins sounded more than a little incredulous. 

“They painted gay slurs on his carpet. They asked if he would rather suck a cock or have a baseball bat taken to his own. They told him he wasn’t a real man—it matches the same sort of gay and trans hatred we see in our—”

Jenkins cut him off. “There is more than enough transphobia and homophobia to go around.” 

“But a witness saw the three and heard them talk about previous attacks and kicking previous victims.”

That made Captain Jenkins pause, and Ken hurried to get the facts on the table.

“They were ready to seriously hurt or kill Millan, but they didn’t make any move to take any of the valuables sitting around the apartment. His father might not pay his rent, but he has clearly bought the kid some nice gifts, and the perps ignored it all. Instead they slammed his face into the wall. He bit one of them and kicked another in the balls, which gave him enough time to grab his phone.”

Jenkins grimaced. “That doesn’t sound like a push-in robbery—I’ll give you that.”

“And the officers who responded were not only ignoring him, but they were also questioning whether he was sober.”

“That’s going to go over like a lead fart in church if his father hears about it.” Jenkins leaned back against his sedan and ran a hand over his face. “It’s too early to deal with this.”

“At least his father won’t be angry with us.”

Jenkins looked up. “That’s not going to make the superintendent of police any happier.”

“Probably not,” Ken agreed. “But hopefully Mr. Millan will be so grateful that his son is alive that he won’t bother with two patrol officers who underestimated the threat.”

When Ken said that, Jenkins gave him another baleful glare. Clearly the captain did not appreciate Ken’s criticism of other officers, and Ken got it. Tearing down others was not a way to make friends and built camaraderie in a difficult job, but these two had put Robert’s life in danger by refusing to look at the facts on scene, and Ken was not willing to give that a pass.

“Will the witness make an official statement?”

“He said if I come back after two in the afternoon so he can get some sleep, he’ll sign a statement. Crime scene techs found some blood where the fence has been breached, but that could be a neighborhood kid scratching his hand so I’m not betting on the results. And the witness says these three looked like regular choir boys, so I doubt we’re going to get a DNA hit, even if the blood is fresh and from one of our guys.”

“Millan get a good look at them?”

“He said he had his room lights off so they were in shadow, but he also says he could identify them in a line up.” Ken didn’t hide his disbelief on the last part. Robert had been shaking from the adrenaline and the uniforms thought he was high because he’d been wound so tight. Ken didn’t have a lot of confidence in any identification he might provide.

“Which means he’s going to want to do line-ups, and after he’s shoved himself into the middle of the case, any defense attorney worth his salt would shred him on the stand.” Captain Jenkins scanned the scene, his fingers thumping out a rhythm against his thigh. “Why aren’t you taking the witness in for a statement now?”

“He won’t leave his apartment unguarded while everyone watches him ride off with me.” Ken could sympathize with the man’s paranoia. Over the years Ken had learned that whatever danger a person could imagine, someone else was actually plotting. Henry probably had more than one neighbor who would take advantage of any absence.

Jenkins frowned. “A uniform could guard his door.”

“I don’t have the authority to order that,” Ken said. If he could have, he would. “I asked Henry Moore from apartment 210 to write down everything tonight and I offered to pick him up and take him to the station for a formal statement tomorrow.”

The staccato beat of Jenkins’s fingers picked up the pace. “If this was the same group, this would be a significant change in tactics.”

Ken could almost hear the subtle question mark on the end of that statement. “Significant,” he agreed. “They’ve moved from targets of convenience to an organized an attack against a specific person.”

“And doing it to cover their tracks,” Jenkins added. He turned and focused on Ken. “This could be entirely unrelated.”

“It could,” Ken admitted, “but I don’t think so. It’s too much coincidence.” He waited as Captain Jenkins turned his attention back to the scene. The crime scene techs were still combing the path across the parking lot. The lights created overly lit islands that made the cracked parking lot look like an alien landscape of craters and long fissures. Several cars were parked so they straddled mammoth cracks that allowed knee-high weeds to grow around the tires of those cars that hadn’t been moved recently. They had reached the ‘needle in a haystack’ portion of their work, so Ken didn’t expect them to find anything else. Hopefully Robert’s apartment or the fence would yield a lead.

Let’s get Moore’s statement tonight.”

Ken stood straighter and barely refrained himself from charging up the stairs to Moore’s apartment. “I can do that.”

“No.” Jenkins held up his hand. “I want to hear his story first hand, and you are getting too close to the case. If these three have graduated to intimidating a witness or even killing one, we need to make sure we play this by the book. Besides, there are rules about overtime.”

Disappointment tasted bitter, but Ken nodded. The captain had been a detective for more years than Ken had been shaving, so he was grateful for the help, even if he chafed a little at stepping back and letting others take charge. “Should I take Millan to the station for a statement?”

“Where is he? I expected him to be louder.” Jenkins looked around as thought expecting Robert to come popping out of the bushes.

“He fell asleep in the back of my car,” Ken said. “He was pretty shaky once the adrenaline started wearing off.”

“Not ideal,” Jenkins said. “I’ll work off the officers’ statements. I’m going to bring Hoyt in on this.” Jenkins stared at him, and Ken stared back. “Any complaints?” From Jenkins’s tone, it was clear he expected some and he would have no patience when they appeared.

“None,” Ken said. “If you’re bringing Carol in, then you believe this is a serious case. And she’s less of an asshole than a lot of the other guys.”

“Don’t let the lipstick fool you. She’s a rabid dog when she gets her teeth into a case, but you can learn a lot from her. She has a similar habit of running close to an edge, but she knows how to make sure a case doesn’t get thrown out in court. You need to brush up on those skills.” Jenkins crossed his arms.

Ken was grateful for the darkness because he was almost sure he was blushing. He had committed some pretty grievous errors on this case. The guys in the squad room were still ribbing him about taking a witness along with him to interview other witnesses. The story had been repeated so much and with such malicious glee that Ken was embarrassed by his own stupidity. It was just that stupidity appeared so much more reasonable when Robert was around. The man had his own portable Twilight Zone that invited others to get crazy with doggy bondage or witness contamination.

“Yes, sir,” he said in a contrite tone.

Jenkins snorted. “Where are you taking Millan?”

“Somewhere other than here,” Ken said. “We don’t know how long these guys have been watching, so I’m going to try to talk him into bunking with his father rather than going somewhere local. I know he wants to pay his own way, but I’d prefer him to sleep somewhere with building security.”

“Hopefully he’ll agree with you.”

“If he doesn’t, I might handcuff him and haul him over there anyway.” No way in hell would Ken leave Robert at a motel or hotel. Ken had no idea if their perps were watching from down the street or if they would follow. The risk level was far too high.

“People pay money to tie Millan up, so try offering him money. Hell, I can probably get accounting to reimburse you for the expense.”

Ken snorted. “Don’t joke. I might take you up on the offer.”

“Who’s joking? If you do it, get pictures,” Jenkins said. And then he was off, power walking toward the stairs. He said something to a uniform as he passed, and the man abandoned his conversation with his partner and trotted after the captain. While Ken was a little resentful about being dismissed from his scene, he understood the logic. It wouldn’t do any good to find these guys only to have the DA lose the case in court.

And at least now he had movement on the case. Ken was new enough that he didn’t run serious cases on his own, so if the captain was bringing in Hoyt, he believed these guys were serious. That was more progress than Ken had managed in two weeks of investigating. It was a start.

Chapter 12: https://www.patreon.com/posts/witness-wore-12-18561312 

Chapter 13: https://www.patreon.com/posts/witness-wore-13-18583563 

Chapter 14: https://www.patreon.com/posts/witness-wore-14-18835280 

Chapter 15: https://www.patreon.com/posts/witness-wore-15-19009742 

Chapter 16: https://www.patreon.com/posts/witness-wore-16-19049610 

Chapter 17: https://www.patreon.com/posts/witness-wore-17-19064720 

Chapter 18: https://www.patreon.com/posts/witness-wore-18-19083274 

Chapter 19: https://www.patreon.com/posts/witness-wore-19-19142224 

Chapter 20: https://www.patreon.com/posts/witness-wore-20-19153311 

Chapter 21, 22, 23: https://www.patreon.com/posts/witness-wore-21-21192263 

Chapter 24: https://www.patreon.com/posts/witness-wore-24-21260957