Page 57 of Return of the Spider
“I’ll have to walk a thin line, but yes, I believe there’s a good chance that I can get him to confide in me. He’s at that playful, flirting stage at the moment.”
Chief Pittman frowned. “I don’t want it going farther than that stage on your part.”
Lieutenant Lindahl nodded. “If it does, you might as wellcome in from the cold, Nancy, because the entire case will be compromised.”
Donovan sobered and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Of course.”
I said, “What do you know about that minor fortress out in Davidsonville?”
“What?” Pittman said, puzzled. “What fortress?”
Donovan, Diehl, and Kurtz all looked clueless as well.
Sampson raised an eyebrow. “Did you read our report to the end or stop where Officer Donovan made her appearance?”
“I stopped,” Pittman admitted. “Fill us in.”
We described following Rodolpho to the driveway of P and E Imports and Exports outside Davidsonville and then the facility itself. Pittman, Lindahl, Kurtz, and Diehl seemed unimpressed until we told them about the fence, the razor wire, the big steel structure, and the guards with AR-15s.
Donovan said, “I heard something about that place.”
Lieutenant Lindahl said, “What have you heard?”
“Just that they call it the warehouse and they have meetings there.”
Kurtz said, “Who owns the company?”
Sampson said, “Incorporated in Delaware by Patrice Prince, who is listed as president. He used a rent-a-lawyer in Wilmington as counsel. Purpose of the company is import/export between the U.S. and Haiti.”
“Which is what he told us at the crab shack,” I added.
Diehl said, “What’s so important in his import/export business that it requires an East Jesus location, a security fence, dogs, and armed men?”
Sampson said, “We asked roughly the same question in our report.”
Kurtz scowled. “But what has this got to do with the deaths ofthose two kids? Isn’t that the case you’re supposed to be working on?”
I said, “We believe Tony Miller and Shay Mansion might have crossed someone in LMC Fifty-One and been killed for it. The warehouse seemed like an important find.”
Officer Donovan said, “And two killings are not beyond either Prince or Rodolpho.”
Pittman crossed his arms and sat back. “Well, hearsay and beliefs don’t get us search warrants on a place like this warehouse. We’re going to need more. Dismissed.”
He turned away from us, so we got up and left the room.
Kurtz looked at Diehl, murmured, “He does that kind of thing a lot.”
“He’s worse on the phone,” Sampson said.
“Got a personality disorder if you ask me,” Lieutenant Lindahl said.
“Low social skills, anyway,” I said.
CHAPTER
45
We followed officer donovanto the squad room, where we apologized again.
