Chapter 2

Betrayal
 

I walked into the office a couple of weeks later. I still couldn't get little Emma off my mind. There had to be something else. A mother doesn't just snap, and kill her daughter and then try to hide it. I was missing something, motive. And the prosecution new that. They'd figured it out after they'd calmed down and thought things through. And, to top it all off, the DA really wasn't too happy with me.....

 

*8 days ago*
 

"YOU DID WHAT?!" The DA screamed. For such a petite lady, she really had a set of lungs on her.  Jessica Gabrielle was a small lady, she could hide behind me with no trouble at all. Her long blonde hair framed her angular face, askew across her forhead. Her blue eyes alight with fury. Not that I could blame her.

"What in heavens name were you thinking, Tucker? You don't speak for the DA, or any of the lawyers here! And yet, you went out of your way to say we were going after the death penalty."

I blinked, looking down at the floor. This lady may be tiny, but she wore the pants in the room, that's for sure. "Sorry Ma'am. I didn't think-"

"Clearly! Not only did you speak without authority, but the press got wind of it thanks to your little show in the interrogation room. I can't believe you could be so stupid! I understand that this is a difficult case for you, but you need to learn when to and when not  to speak. " She sat back down behind her big oak desk, and turned her back on me, starring out the window onto the city-scape.

"She killed the little girl, ma'am. That's murder. And, she had a history of violence, so it's possible to speculate that she was planning the whole thing." I offered.

She turned around, and put her head in her hands. "But that's just it. Speculation. We have her at the crime scene, we have her killing the girl. But we lack a very, very important thing.  Movtive. Was it heat of the moment, was it planned, or was it due to hysteria and delusions?"

"Planned."

"And any lawyer who has you on the stand is going to grill you. 'Why is it planned, Mr. Tucker?Did Mr. Smith tell you this?' Then you're going to have to say no, there's no evidence beyond your own professional opinion. And that, while it can help in some cases, will sink this one. At the most, right now, we're looking at manslaughter, murder 2 at the most.  Neither of which result in the death penalty. Nor even jail time for her."

I was shocked. No jail time? "What do you mean 'No jail time?'  She killed a little girl, Jessica. We let people off scott-free for that these days?"

She smiled sardonicaly. "We do if the mother is mentaly unfit to look after herself or a child. If shes clinicaly insane. And you can be that they're going to try to prove that. And then, three, maybe four years in a clinical institution, and she'll be back on the streets."

"No. She can't be. She need to be locked up, or destroyed."

Jessica blinked. "Don't you mean exectued?"

"Humans are executed, animals are destroyed. She's an animal and needs to be dealt with that way. I should have put a bullet in her head when I had the chance." I said, scowling. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was like finding the girl dead again, watching Harry die all over again. She couldn't be allowed to go free. Louise had to pay for what she did.

Jessica simply raised an eyebrow. "Then find me some evidence."
 

*Present Time

 

It'd been almost a 9 days now since Jessica blew up at me. And I still hadn't found anything. I'd been going over the crime scene again and again. Nothing. No blood, no fibers, no imprints. NOTHING. Not even flashes of knowledge from...whatever it was that happened to me. I just kept seeing the murder over and over. It was sarting to drive me up the wall.

I was walking over the crime scene again, looking for that piece of non-existant evidence that would put Louise Smith in her grave when my phone rang. "Tucker." I said as I picked up the phone.

"Jason, it's Richard. You need to get to the lab, fast. Something's happened. I'll meet you there."  Dick closed the line. I stood there for a moment, staring at the phone, wondering how things could possibly be getting worse than they already were.

I pulled up to the lab, and jumped out of my car, Dick was waiting for me. "You're not gonna believe this. It's gone. All of it. The hammer, the print liftings, the dress. Even the DNA files have been erased. We have nothing."

I looked at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Tucker, someone in on our team took the evidence for the Smith case."  he said.

My head swam. There was no way.  Not that case. Anything else. "Someone on our...own TEAM?" He nodded. "Heads are gonna roll."   I took off for the door at brisk walk, trench floating out behind me.  I flashed  a badge at the officer and he let me in. All of the staffers were present in the mess hall. Being deposed.

No one noticed me as I walked in, till I slammed the door so hard, the glass frame shattered.  My voice carried as quiet as it was. "That little girl was the light of her fathers life. She was smart, pretty and friendly. Her mother killed her. And I swear, when I find out which one of you it was, and I will, I'll have you fired, thrown in jail and have you indicted for destoying evidence, and, unless you confess now, for purgery and as an acessory to murder." 

I turned to the officer in charge. "When you've gotten their statements, send them to me. I'm taking over this case."

"No problem Lieutenant." He said. "I'll do what I can...I'm really sorry, man. I mean, this is one of the worst..." he trailed off.  "I have a daughter." He said at last.

I nodded.  "Call me if you learn anything." I said, and I swept from the room.

I was starting to stress out. My hands were shaking, and this case was eating at my brain, like some sort of animal trying to claw its way out from inside my skull.  I had to find some way to calm down. A detective who can't concentrate is more likely to miss things, or get himself killed than anything.

There was only one cure for this, though. I drove back to the station, and stripped down in the locker room. Pulling on shorts and a muscle shirt. I needed a work out. The gym was empty, which was a good thing. The last thing I needed was someone distracting me. There had to be something I was missing.

Laying down on the bench-press I lifted the weight. It felt good to exert myself. 1...2....3....4.....What had I missed?  Surely there was at least one avenue I hadnt explored yet.....8....9....10....And then there's the missing evidence. What kind of a case can the DA build without that?.....14....15....16....17...my heart was starting to beat faster now.

24....25...26...Harry had said that she had been having these sort of fits for a while, what if it wasn't the first time? 31....32....33....34.....40.......50....then it hit me. Medical records. I slammed the weights back up onto the rack and sat up, drenched with sweat. "How could I have been so stupid?" I said aloud.  I got up, ran to the showers to wash down, got dressed and shot back out to the crime scene.

The officer on the scene greeted me. "Hello Lieutenant. Back for another walk around?"

"Yeah, but first I have a question. How much of the house does our warrant cover?"

The officer took a look at the paper work. "Umm, all of it, looks like. But, we've combed the house from top to bottom. Just finished today."

I nodded. "That's fine. But, did you find anything medical?" he looked puzzled. "Any pills, unfilled prescriptions, date book with therapist appointment. Anything at all?"

He nodded and took a small bag out of the evidence box. It had a little bottle in it that was filled with pills. "Galotex. A powerful anti-depressent and mood stabalizer. She was to take 4 a day, according to the bottle."

I looked at the bottle. It seemed as if she had. So...why hadn't they worked? "Has a sample been sent to one of the other labs yet?"

The officer checked the records.  "Yeah, it went about...or...4 hours ago. Just after you left."

I looked at the paper work, and dialed the number. The receptionist answered. So, I gave her my info and waited for the doctor in charge of this particular sample. She came on the line shortly. "This is Lieutenant Jason Tucker, NYPD. I'm working on the Smith Case, and I need to know what, if anything was wrong with sample 06551alpha that was sent to you today."

"Just a moment," she said in a soft voice and I heard her rummaging for papers.. "Well, nothing was wrong with it, unless you count the fact that it was a placebo. Sugar pill. It has no....chemical correction properties of any kind. Clearly, it wasn't Galotex. That stuff is pretty potent. I'm willing to bet she's been taking the for a while. And, thought her issues were under control. But they weren't." 

I closed the line, and dialed Jessica. "Jess. Yeah, it's Jason. We've got a whole new problem. And, when I'm done explaining it, you'll be will to offer Louise clemancy from Murder 1. Manslaughters will be enough. I'll even issue a public apology.  Yeah, exactly. New evidence. And it's not good. Things just got a lot more complicated."