Justice (39 page)

The lieutenant’s office
was not a big one, but it did have its own walls and it did have privacy. Decker wondered what Davidson was thinking as he stared from across his desk. A formidable figure of a man with a solid history of police work to back him up.

The lieutenant said, “Are you drawing me a line in the sand, Sergeant? Is this the purpose of this little secret get-together? You going to warn me off your ass?”

He leaned over his desktop.

“Let me tell you something, Decker. You think you did the right thing by spitting in my face and going on your own? You know what you did, Sergeant? You fucked up. It may have worked out for you this one time. But no one upstairs…and I mean
no one
…will ever trust you again. Nobody here respects a snitch who cozies up to the Mafia.”

Davidson’s eyes held Decker’s.

“Sergeant, I hope you like your rank. Because that’s as high as you’re ever going to get.”

Decker said nothing.

“So if you think you did the right thing by going over my head, think again,” Davidson continued. “And if you called this meeting with me to try and smooth things over,
really
think again. Because it ain’t going to work. Everyone
knows
who really screwed up.”

“I’m not going to make excuses for me. But I’m not
going to make excuses for you, either. I came here to do you a favor, Loo. To give you some dignity by allowing you to resign quietly.”

Davidson’s eyes narrowed. But he didn’t talk.

Did he know
? Decker wondered.

“I screwed up,” Decker said. “I’ll say it to anyone who asks me. But you screwed up, too—”

“After what happened to our city with the King verdict, I did what I thought was best. If you didn’t agree, tough shit. I’ve had many more years than you, Decker. That’s why I’m your superior.”

“And that’s why I
listened
to you, Loo. You had a good point, you had a good rep, and I honestly thought you were handling the investigation to the best of your ability—”

“You have a punch line, Decker?”

“I listened to you, Davidson, because I thought you were doing what was in the city’s best interest. In reality, you didn’t give a good goddamn about the city. You were trying to save your own ass and you
used
me in the process! And that really pisses me off!”

“You’re demented, Decker—”

“And you deliberately mishandled the investigation, pushing me and Oliver and everyone else involved toward a quick conviction on Whitman. Not because you believed he was guilty, you just wanted a stooge—”

“Get out of—”

“You were
fucking
her, Davidson! We found
pictures
, for chrissakes!”

The room fell cemetery quiet, the only sound heard was the ticks from the clock.

Decker couldn’t look at Davidson’s face. He averted his eyes and talked quietly. “Did you really think that no one would find out about it?” A pause. “I guess that’s exactly what you thought. And for a while it worked.”

Decker rubbed his tired eyes. He finally managed a
quick glance at his superior, then looked away. Davidson’s complexion had turned waxen.

“Why didn’t you just come
out
with it in the first place, Loo? Strapp would have handled it. He could have gotten you out of here with a sideways promotion.”

Davidson remained silent. Decker wiped his forehead.

“You think politically, sir. Thinking that way, you know what your indiscretion could have done to this department. If I hadn’t gotten a confession from Whitman, I would have been forced to go back and look around. You know what would have happened if I had caught you second time out. You would have been one of our
prime
suspects.”

Decker finally managed to look at Davidson’s face.

“Did you ever think about what might have happened had Whitman’s lawyers found out? Whole mess would have blown up in our faces!”

Davidson didn’t respond, his eyes staring but not seeing.

Decker spoke quietly. “Not only did you shut me down, you had Detective Bert Martinez from Van Nuys shut down as well. You know, for just a moment, I entertained fantasies about you whacking Henry Trupp—”

“I had
nothing
to do—”

“I know that,” Decker interrupted. “That was Ashala, too. But once I found out about the videotapes, I thought maybe you had something to do with Trupp’s death.”

Davidson paled immediately. “
Videotapes
? You said
pictures
—”

“I meant videotapes.”

The lieutenant’s cheeks took on a greenish tinge. “You have
videotapes
of Cheryl and me…”

Decker nodded.

Davidson broke into a sweat. “Cheryl took secret videotapes?”

“Not Cheryl,” Decker said, “Henry Trupp. He had hidden video cameras in the rooms. Used to watch peo
ple screwing for kicks. If he came across someone big, he’d dabble in blackmail.”

Davidson stumbled with his words. “He never called me.”

“Obviously he didn’t know who you were. He probably thought you were just one of Cheryl’s regular nobody johns. She did some hooking on the side.”

Davidson looked away.

“It was Martinez who recognized the official badge in one of the tapes. It was blurred…buried off to the side. Lucky for you Martinez had a good eye.”

Davidson buried his head in his hands. “I got a wife and kids.”

For just a second, Decker felt pity for the man.

Davidson asked, “Who has the tapes?”

“Martinez. After we arrested Ashala, he got the go-ahead on the Trupp investigation. He went back to Trupp’s house to look for further evidence that could tie Ashala to Trupp’s murder. That’s where he found the videotapes.”

“Why’d he look at them?”

“Because we both knew that Trupp videotaped the rooms on prom night. We thought that maybe we’d be lucky and find a video of Ashala strangling Diggs. No cigar. Ashala probably tossed Trupp’s place long ago. If there ever was a video, Kalil probably destroyed it.”

“The remaining videos…” Davidson’s voice was a ghost whisper. “They’ve been bagged and filed as evidence?”

“You mean your video, Lieutenant? Rather, vide
ohs
?”

Davidson was quiet.

Decker sighed. “Martinez pulled them all as soon as he saw the badge. He doesn’t know who the cop is, just that it’s someone in my department. Because he saw the look on my face when he showed me the videos.”

“What does Martinez want?”

“Nothing. He’s leaving it up to me. And I’m giving
you this choice. You can either retire…or you can fight me and take your chances. But I’m not going to bury this. Not because I care what you do in bed…even though she was only seventeen—”

“Eighteen. We were consenting adults, Decker.”

“She was barely eighteen when she died, Davidson.”

“That’s not what she told me.”

“Loo, for godsakes, hookers aren’t known for their honesty…or their discretion. Diggs had a big mouth, sir. Matter of fact, she actually
told
Whitman she was doing a cop—”

“And you believed that little psychopath?”

“He didn’t say she was doing you…just that she was doing a cop. And yes, I believed him. Damn lucky for you, Whitman didn’t give Cheryl much thought. Otherwise…if he had put two and two together…”

Decker exhaled forcefully.

“Davidson, you let your personal problems get in the way of your police work. Even so, I’m giving you an out. Martinez is giving you an out. Because we all make mistakes. Sometimes we make
bad
mistakes. And we have to correct them, look like friggin’ idiots. Anyway, it’s up to you how you handle it.”

Softly the lieutenant said, “How about what you suggested in the beginning? How about a sideways promotion?”

Decker shook his head no. “You’ve got over twenty-five years. You’ve got a good pension—”

“Deck, how do I explain it to my
wife
?”

“I don’t know, Loo. However you explain it, it’s got to be easier than explaining Cheryl Diggs.”

Davidson looked up, regarded Decker with mean eyes. “The empty lieutenant’s spot is going to look mighty good to you, isn’t it, Decker?”

Decker paused. Silly to deny his intentions. Let the poor slob think the worst of him. He could live with it. “I just want to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. So, yes, after you announce your retirement, I’m
going to Captain Strapp and ask him for your position—”

Davidson turned florid with rage. “You motherfucking, grasping Jewish bastard—”

“Think what you want if it makes you feel better,” Decker said calmly. “I didn’t screw her, you did. And
if
Strapp gives me the promotion, and
if
I fuck up in my position like you did, then by all means, let some other motherfucking grasping bastard kick my ass out, too.”

“You self-righteous shit.”

“Not only am I going to ask Strapp for my promotion, I’m also going to recommend Bert Martinez to fill my vacated spot in Homicide—”

“You two little shits are in it together—”

“Just letting you know what’s going on. You want to charge Bert and me with conspiracy, go ahead. The only true conspiracy Bert and I are in is saving your ass from a very
embarrassing
situation. Because the last thing this department needs is media on another asshole who can’t keep his zipper closed. Any other questions?”

Still red-faced, Davidson was about to strike back. Then suddenly he shrank in defeat. Quietly he said, “I’m surprised you didn’t force me to recommend you as part of this deal.”

“There is
no
deal here, Loo. We can chuck the videotapes because they’re immaterial. No one’s out to screw you. But I don’t ever want to get screwed by you again. Just stay out of it. Let Strapp make the decision, all right?”

“Do I have a choice?”

Decker smiled to himself. Rina had asked him the same question. “Hell, yeah, sir. We all have choices.”

Davidson looked down, talked as much to himself as he did to Decker. “I know this is going to sound corny, but…I liked her…Cheryl. And she liked me, too. It wasn’t like a…midlife crisis thing, Decker.”

“I do believe you. But that’s irrelevant.”

“It’s not
irrelevant
. Because it explains why I acted
like I did. She
talked
to me, Decker. She talked to me about Whitman. He’s a motherfucker…a cold, cruel son of a bitch who used to
abuse
her.”

“But he didn’t kill her—”

“He killed her, Decker. I don’t care what kind of confession you got from Ashala, I know what I know. Whitman’s a fucking bastard who deserves to fry. If ever justice was done, it was putting that psycho behind bars. Instead, you go ahead and save the son of a bitch. You let him
walk
.”

Decker stared at Davidson, unable to come up with an adequate defense. Because much of what Davidson said had struck a resonant chord in Decker’s heart.

Whitman was a bastard. And now it appeared that the bastard was going out a free man.

The air had turned slightly cooler with the nip of fall, but her smile was pure sunshine, her eyes were golden rays. Delight was etched into her face when she opened the door. When she saw it was Decker, she brought her hands to her mouth and blushed.

“Omigod!” Terry stepped aside. “Oh please come in. I’m so embarrassed. I’ve been meaning to call you—”

“It’s fine.” Decker entered her house. His smile was gentle. “I’m sure you’ve been busy. College is what…a week away? UCLA usually starts around October, doesn’t it?”

“I guess so. I haven’t thought about it much.” Terry clasped her hands. “You’ve done so much…you’ve done everything.” She breathed out air and looked at the ceiling. “I can’t believe you actually came through. No one has ever come through for me. Except Chris of course. I don’t know how to thank—”

“I didn’t do it for you, Terry.”

She turned red. “Oh, no, of course you didn’t. You helped Chris because it was the right thing to do. I didn’t mean to imply—”

“S’right,” Decker cut her off. “Anyone home?”

“Nope.” Terry smiled. “It’s wonderful to have some solitude. There’s so much to think over.” She made eye contact. “Even if you didn’t do it for me, thank you anyway. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“Wait until I leave. Then if you want to thank me, be my guest.”

As expected, she gave him a puzzled look. But she was too polite to question him.

“Please sit down,” Terry said. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“Nothing, thanks. But I will take a load off for just a moment.” Just like the last time he had been here, he sat at her dining-room table. “You sit, too.”

Terry sat down. “So much has happened these past six weeks. I can’t believe it’s really over. Chris is being released in three days, you know.”

“I know.”

The room was quiet.

Decker said, “Are you excited about starting college?”

“Uh, that may be delayed for a semester or something like that.”

“What happened?”

“Just a change of plans. I’m not going to be going to UCLA.” She looked down. “I’ll be going to New York instead.”

Decker paused. “Back with Chris?”

She nodded.

“What about his upcoming marriage?”

Her smile broke into a grin. “His uncle is having second thoughts about Chris getting married. It may not be what he wants…what his uncle wants. It may not be the right family. So he’s postponed the wedding. And he’s letting Chris take me along with him.”

Decker kept his face flat and said nothing.

“They’re paying for me and my education and every
thing else…until his uncle decides. It’s like a dream come true for me.”

Decker raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.

Terry looked down. “I guess I shouldn’t expect you to understand.”

Decker said, “You know what his family is, Terry?”

“Yes, sir.” She nodded. “Yes, sir, I know everything. It’s what Chris’s family is, and I know that Chris is close to his uncle. I also know that Chris has to obey certain rules. He has to look the other way. But that’s not the same as doing it, Sergeant. Chris is
not
his uncle.”