"Not really."
"Contact a relative, collect your mail, put a dog in a kennel?"
"No, thanks anyway."
"No relative for me to call?"
"No."
"You travel light, don't you?"
"I'm beginning to realize that."
Attorney Jeremiah Kagan left and made the short walk across the boulevard to the office of State Attorney Lawrence Moran, located in the courthouse. Moran was indeed eager for a statement from the suspect. "Bring him on." Moran and Park Beach Police Chief, William Oehlert, were already feeling pressure from the public.
The chief was personally troubled about the crime for another reason. He didn't want any crime of consequence to happen in the city for the next 173 days. That was when he'd retire. Twenty years ago, the town was smaller and simpler, and he was one of only a handful of officers. He was the shortest one on the force. Something was fudged back then because he was unmistakably below the minimum height to join any police force. Some continued to call him "Shorty Oehlert" even after the City Council appointed him chief. "Hey Shorty, be careful some crook doesn't step on you." "Hey, I hear your wife calls you Shorty." In another 173 days, he'd tell them where they could shove their dumbass nickname.
His office closet held a half-packed cardboard box standing ready for the day he'd clean out his desk. Retirement was close enough he didn't bother hiding his gardening books and catalogs. He wasn't happy having a new homicide to deal with; he just wanted to get out while still healthy.
The chief assigned the homicide to Detective Goddard, for two reasons. He was better than the other detectives. And he was a self-starter who most likely wouldn't bother the chief very much.
Best or not, not everyone liked Goddard. Some in the department believed he had progressed too fast. Other officers also had a degree in Criminal Justice and some had more time on the street. Seniority, as they well knew, wasn't enough to qualify them for promotion to detective; it merely qualified them to take the detective exam. Goddard had aced the exam. Some officers were watching and waiting for him to screw up.
Saturday evening they had called Goddard at home and told him to report to the homicide scene. He was there when the report came in about Tammy Jerrold's 911 call. He went immediately to her office. He took suspect Reid into custody that night. He began the interrogation in a casual, non-threatening manner to keep the suspect responsive. Reid, however, had asked about a lawyer, and the questioning couldn't legally continue.
Sunday morning, Goddard had met with Chief Oehlert and State Attorney Moran who then made the decision to arrest Reid. "It appears I'll be facing Jerry Kagan in court again," Moran said.