Page 24 of Wham Line
“You can take a look at it yourself,” Salk said, and there was no hiding the note of misery in his voice.“But you need to leave the flat right now.”
“Bobby!”
“Let’s take a look at it,” Bobby said, his hand on my back, urging me to my feet.“Fox, your coat?”
Fox grabbed a padded engineer’s jacket, and the four of us made our way down the stairs.We clustered on the empty concrete pad of the coach house’s ground floor.
The warrant was four pages long, and it included the affidavit that Sheriff Acosta had written in order to receive authorization to conduct the search.It listed Indira’s flat as the location to be searched.The items to be seized and examined were listed asany firearms.The affiant’s qualifications—meaning, the sheriff’s qualifications—were listed in the next section, which was fairly straightforward as well.
Then we got to the section dealing with probable cause.
In a few short paragraphs, the sheriff outlined the basis for the search: she had received an anonymous phone call from an eyewitness.The writer in me suggested that this was: a) bunk, and b) hokum.No judge worth their salt would authorize a search based on an anonymous tip.But as I read on, I saw why the sheriff—and the judge—had been willing to gamble on this one.The caller had known details about the shooting in the alley that no one would have known except an eyewitness.They described Indira’s return to the alley and watching her fire her gun in a warning shot.
That was when the story changed.
The witness stated they saw Indira hide the real murder weapon in the dumpster before Bobby and I emerged from the restaurant.Then, claiming, quote, “an intimate knowledge of the suspect’s residence,” the witness suggested Indira might have returned to the alley, recovered the gun, and hidden it more securely at her flat.
Bunk was the politest word I could come up with for it.The fact that the sheriff had written out an affidavit suggested either additional knowledge—some reason to believe this ridiculous story, something I didn’t know—or desperation.
And who hadintimate knowledge of the suspect’s residence?Fox?But obviously Fox wouldn’t have made that anonymous call.The only other person I could think of was Nalini.
Above us, the quality of Salk’s and Dahlberg’s voices changed—the words were indistinct, but the next exchange had a tension that was almost excitement.
I couldn’t help myself; I crept toward the stairs.
“Dash,” Bobby said.
I waved for him to be quiet.
Instead, he said more firmly, “Dash.”
Ignoring him, I darted up the steps, praying no one would hear the creak of the ancient treads.
Dahlberg and Salk didn’t seem to notice my approach; their backs were to me as they looked down into a drawer set into the coffee table, and they were talking quietly to each other.Dahlberg was using a digital camera to take pictures.
“You can’t interfere with a legitimate search,” Bobby said behind me.I hadn’t heard him come up the stairs.He took me by the arm and started to turn me.
And Salk, now wearing a pair of disposable gloves, reached into the drawer and lifted out a gun—one that was definitelynotIndira’s.
Chapter 7
After Salk and Dahlberg found the gun, it didn’t matter what I said—no combination ofThis is a setup,andCan’t you see she’s innocent?andBut this doesn’t make any sensehad any effect.Salk made a brief call to the sheriff, and then he asked Indira to go down to the station with him.Dahlberg stayed to finish documenting their discovery of the gun and to secure Indira’s flat.
And that was it.The end.
It happened so quickly that, as I stood at the top of the drive and stared after Salk’s cruiser, all I could say was “Did he just arrest Indira?”
“He took her to the station for an interview,” Bobby said.“She’s not under arrest.”
He didn’t have to sayyet.
“This is impossible,” I said.“How can this be happening?”
Bobby gave a grim shake of his head.
“I’ve got to call Lyda.”Lyda Hayashi was the best defense attorney in Portland—as far as I was concerned, anyway.And she had a great payment plan.“And someone needs to tell Indira not to say another word until she has a lawyer—”
Fox’s raised voice erupted from the coach house.Bobby and I traded looks and headed toward what sounded like an escalating argument.
