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Would Rathburn allow the video into evidence? Or would James Giftos, a man twenty years older than she, with twice as much trial experience, blow up her case before she ever presented it to the jury?

CHAPTER 32

MY HEAD WAS still swies from the Pier 45after

I envisioned the sparse crowd on the pier; the deceased, Laura Russell, in her blood; her crying teenage daughter I thought about the sketchy secondhand report that the shooter hite, and had worn a nice coat And of course, I was still stuck on the rude diseant Garth Stevens

Conklin hadn’t yet punched in, so I headed for the break rooeant Paul Chi and his partner, Cappy McNeil, had appropriated the table I’ve worked with these two homicide pros since back in the far-distant day, when Jacobi and I were partners

Chi is precise, diligent, aradar” I reeant, saying, “Chi can see around corners and beyond time”

Cappy is a different kind of cop—a career detective who, in twenty years on the force, has solved case after case without ever getting ruffled or into a jam

I thought Chi and McNeil could give me some advice about the murder of Laura Russell They ether with a box of pastries between us When I had laid it all out, including the intel from my confidential informant and my personal experience with Stevens and Moran, I asked, “Do either of you know these guys?”

“I know Stevens,” Cappy said, tucking into a honey bun “What do you want to know?”

“Whatcha got?”

He chewed slowly, sed, and finally said, “This is just between you, me, Chi, and Honey Bun, and I’m about to take Ms Bun down”

“Agreed,” I said

Between bites the wise Cappy McNeil told me that Stevens was a dedicated drinker—no surprise, since he and my father had been fellow barflies Cappy added that Moran had been violent with two different girlfriends, or so he’d been told

“He didn’t introduce his gun into the fights, but he knocked those women around pretty bad If he was a pro ballplayer, he’da been suspended for at least a year”

I pushed for more