Warranted
Chapter 24
by Bridgid
A homicide is a homicide. No one has the right to decide to take someone else's
life without a trial. Even then it is morally questionable. The detectives
handling the homicide in the park had shown the woman who reported the man
taking pictures of her daughter on the swing some pictures and she'd positively
identified someone she'd seen chasing the man.
Detectives Mark Darden and Stephen Cronin were with Bud White when they took the
initial report. Darden saw the big cop twitch when the mother described the
vigilante woman in the park and he got the same vibe but nothing passed between
them right then and there, nothing audible anyway. Darden took it upon himself
to conduct the second witness interview and his worst fears were confirmed.
"We have to do it." Darden dropped his head in despair. Arresting one of their
own was never easy and the case was compounded by the fact that the perpetrator
was living with a chief detective.
Cronin threw up his hands. "I'll get the paperwork done, you arrange for some
backup. White isn't going to take this lying down."
"Would you?"
"Fuck no. What about Nordstrom. Technically she was the last person to see him
alive."
"Let's just bring her in. We'll add those charges later if we can prove it. The
coroner left cause of death blank on the certificate but if it's listed as a
homicide we'll have to go to work on that one."
It was just after dusk when Cronin and Darden knocked on the door. They couldn't
hide their fear when Bud opened it. He saw the black and whites lined up at the
curb and deep down he knew.
"What's this all about?"
Darden shifted, swallowed hard and held out the warrant. "She here?"
It was as if a giant black cloud had moved over the house right then and there.
The storm warning was up and the winds changed direction. Bud took the warrant
and crumpled it up in his hand.
"You know she didn't do this."
"We have a positive ID, White. We have no choice. We have to take her."
"The fuck you do. Get the fuck out of here, Darden."
"Bud?" Lonnie came up behind him. Her voice was calm as she asked. "What's going
on?"
Bud turned as if he could hide her from the other officers. His body was so
tight he seemed to glow red. "Nothing. Go back in the bedroom, you hear me?"
Darden stepped passed him. "Lonnie Brannigan, we have a warrant for your arrest
... " He barely got the words out of his mouth before Bud turned to pin him
against the door. Cronin jumped in and a half dozen uniformed officers scrambled
to assist. Lonnie's calm demeanor gave way to panic and she jumped into the
melee to pry Bud's hands from Darden's throat.
"Stop it! Stop!" she cried as one uniformed officer roughly pulled her away and
down to the floor. That was all Bud needed to see. His anger piqued and he
backhanded the man in blue with a roar. Four officers plowed him back against
the wall, pinning him as Darden and Cronin moved to handcuff Lonnie.
"Tell me you didn't do this." Bud's jaw was tight and spit flew from his mouth
as he struggled against the men.
She shook her head. "Don't fight this. Don't fight them, please." She tried to
step toward him but Darden held the chain between the bracelets. "Let me kiss
him goodbye, please," she begged.
The detective's response was a negative one. "You have the right to remain
silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law." He
continued to read her rights to her but her eyes were locked on Bud's. His
entire body relaxed as Darden pulled her away and tears welled up in his eyes.
"Tell me you didn't do this."
She planted her feet and jerked away at the door allowing for one more brief
moment with Bud. "I didn't." It was all she said before Darden hauled her
through the portal.
The officers backed away from Bud White expecting more from him but he didn't
fight. He stood there, broken down and watching until the last one slinked away
leaving the door wide open in his wake. There were sirens ebbing then nothing,
nothing but goddamned silence.
He should have gone but what could he do? In the frame of mind he was in he'd
have done more harm than good. Knowing what they'd do to her in processing
gnawed at him and knowing full well what happened to cops in the tombs ate him
alive. He sat against that wall for a long time until he couldn't resist his
need for a good drowning any longer. His legs were wobbly as it was when he got
up but the scotch wasn't far away and he sure as shit didn't need a glass. He
should count himself lucky they didn't haul his sorry ass downtown as well for
assaulting an officer and the oiling he was giving himself made him realize they
gave him a pass. It also made him realize how deep the shit was.
He drank, paced, drank some more and paced some more until he slid down against
the wall where it all started, crying. Lonnie, his baby, bars, murder ... fuck.
Bud White, aka useless piece of shit by his reckoning.
w
The shit they had her shower with slicked her hair and made it appear darker.
Hours of interrogation left her with dark circles under her eyes and she was
well aware of the tactics. Fatigue driven confessions were pretty common though
not completely ethical. Cronin and Darden took their turns with her.
Darden sipped his coffee and scribbled something on a yellow legal pad. He
fingered a cigarette out of a pack and lit it before offering one to Lonnie.
"No thanks, I'm pregnant."
"I've heard," he replied. "You'll be moved to a different facility toward the
end of your pregnancy."
"If I'm convicted."
"You may as well confess. We have an eye witness who saw you in the park. You
were seen chasing the victim."
"Like I told you, I never caught up with him."
"Let's take it from the top." Darden drew off the cigarette then turned his head
when he exhaled. "Why did you go to the park that day?"
"I was bored. Off from work you know?"
"When did you first see the victim?"
"I was there about an hour when I spotted him taking pictures. How many times we
gonna go over this?"
"As many as it takes."
"My story won't change, Darden. I didn't kill him. Whoever did is still out
there."
He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. "No man would ever do that to another
man. We have the weapon, the Remington police special knife that was used to do
it. You had every cop in SoCal crossing his legs, Brannigan."
"Not me. I didn't do it."
"So you say."
Cronin finally spoke up, playing the proverbial good cop. "She's innocent until
proven guilty, partner. Give her a break. I think we've done enough for now."
"What about Nordstrom?" Darden's response was intentional to gauge her reaction.
"We've got to talk about him." He turned to Lonnie and trained his eyes on her.
"What did you talk to him about?"
She screwed up her face and shook her head. "You think I had something to do
with him too? You're really fucked aren't you?"
"Brannigan, from where I'm sitting, you're the one who's fucked." He turned and
nodded to the female guard in the room, telling her to take Lonnie back to her
cell for now.
w
It was early morning when reality hit Bud like a fucking cross town express bus.
He woke up lying against the wall with a quarter bottle of scotch in one hand
and the crumpled up warrant in the other. A little hair of the dog helped him
get up and another swig cleared his mind enough to read the warrant.
Superior Court for the State of California
in and around the County of Los Angeles ... Warrant for the arrest, first degree
homicide ... blah blah blah.
He remembered the day, the cut on her face and how she'd blown it off. Damn it,
she said she didn't do it and he believed her. There had to be evidence to prove
it and if anyone could find it he could. They'd never let him work the case but
he could freelance. It wouldn't be the first time and he knew who he could trust
to help him. It wouldn't be a phone call and he didn't bother getting himself
cleaned up. A half hour later he found his disheveled self knocking on Thomas'
door. One look at him and the man knew who the root of the problem was.
"Is she okay? What's happened to her?"
Bud shook his head. "She ain't okay. They got her downtown for murder one. I
need your help.