Whispers

Laurenski raised his eyebrows. “Something more than Frye’s attack on you?”

“We’ll tell you about it,” Tony said. “But first, we’d like to know why you haven’t answered the LAPD.”

Laurenski nodded. He was blushing. “I just didn’t know what to say. I’d made a fool of myself by vouching for Frye. I guess I just hoped it would all blow away.”

“And why did you vouch for him?” Hilary asked.

“It’s just … you see … I really did think he was at home that night.”

“You talked with him?” Hilary asked.

“No,” Laurenski said. He cleared his throat. “You see, when the call came in that evening, it was taken by a night officer. Tim Larsson. He’s one of my best men. Been with me seven years. A real go-getter. Well … when the Los Angeles police called about Bruno Frye, Tim thought he’d better call me and see if I wanted to handle it, since Frye was one of the county’s leading citizens. I was at home that night. It was my daughter’s birthday. As far as my family was concerned, that was a pretty special occasion, and for once I was determined not to let my work intrude on my private life. I have so little time for my kids….”

“I understand,” Tony said. “I have a hunch you do a good job here. And I’m familiar enough with police work to know that doing a good job requires a hell of a lot more than eight hours a day.”

“More like twelve hours a day, six or seven days a week,” the sheriff said. “Anyway, Tim called me that night, and I told him to handle it. You see, first of all, it sounded like such a ridiculous inquiry. I mean, Frye was an upstanding businessman, even a millionaire, for God’s sake. Why would he throw it all away trying to rape someone? So I told Tim to look into it and get back to me as soon as he had something. As I said, he’s a very competent officer. Besides, he knew Frye better than I did. Before he decided on a career in law enforcement, Tim worked for five years in the main office at Shade Tree Vineyards. During that time, he saw Frye just about every day.”

“Then it was Officer Larsson who checked on Frye last Wednesday night,” Tony said.

“Yes. He called me back at my daughter’s birthday party. He said Frye was at home, not in Los Angeles. So I returned the call to the LAPD and proceeded to make a fool of myself.”

Hilary frowned. “I don’t understand. Are you saying that this Tim Larsson lied to you?”

Laurenski didn’t want to have to answer that one. He got up and paced, staring at the floor, scowling. Finally he said, “I trust Tim Larsson. I always have trusted him. He’s a good man. One of the best. But I just can’t explain this.”

“Did he have any reason to cover up for Frye?” Tony asked.

“You mean, were they buddies? No. Nothing like that. They weren’t even friends. He’d only worked for Frye. And he didn’t like the man.”

“Did he claim to have seen Bruno Frye that night?” Hilary asked Laurenski.

“At the time,” the sheriff said, “I just assumed he had seen him. But later, Tim said he figured he could identify Frye by phone and that there wasn’t any need to run all the way out there in a patrol car to have a look-see. As you must know, Bruno Frye had a very distinct, very odd voice.”

“So Larsson might have talked to someone who was covering for Frye, someone who could imitate his voice,” Tony said.

Laurenski looked at him. “That’s what Tim says. That’s his excuse. But it doesn’t fit. Who would it have been? Why would he cover for rape and murder? Where is he now? Besides, Frye’s voice wasn’t something that could be easily mimicked.”

“So what do you think?” Hilary asked.

Laurenski shook his head. “I don’t know what to think. I’ve been brooding about it all week. I want to believe my officer. But how can I? Something is going on here–but what? Until I can get a handle on it, I’ve laid Tim off without pay.”

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *