I shook my head. What could I do? She still believed in right and wrong. I changed the subject. “What's this job you want me to do?”
“You shouldn't have come here, Juno. I doubt Ian believed that crap about getting a second opinion. He's got to be wondering why you're really here.”
“Sorry. I didn't know it had anything to do with him.”
“I know. I should've told you. I thought that if we met at The Beat, it would look like we were just hanging out, and I could point out Ian's crew.”
“His crew?”
“He's at the center of a clique with some guys from homicide and a few beat cops.”
“And you think they're up to no good?”
“I know it. What I need is proof. I called you in because I want you to check into the Juarez case.”
“Juarez? The vid station exec?”
“Yeah.”
I remembered the case from the news: Vid station bigwig and wife cut up by their teenaged daughter, a hot little vix with a wicked streak. “But you solved it months ago.”
“I don't think the daughter did it anymore.”
“Isn't it a little late? Wasn't she executed?”
“Not yet. Her conviction was just last week. She's scheduled for the fifth of December.”
I worked it out in my head. Today being the twenty-ninth, that was nine days away. It would only be six on the standard Earth calendar, but our months are each three days longer in order to make up for the fact that each of our days is two hours shorter.
“Why the change of heart?” I wanted to know.
“The day after sentencing, I got a call from a woman who said the girl didn't do it.”
“Who's the woman?”
“It was anonymous.”
She had to be kidding me with this. “And you believe her?”
“I know it sounds thin, but she said she knew who really did it.”
I couldn't keep a sarcastic tone from slipping into my voice. “Let me guess, she knows who did it, but she can't tell you who it is.”
Maggie shot an annoyed look out of the shadows. “That's right.”
“Didn't you take the girl's confession?”
“No, Ian did that on his own. We don't really partner on much, Juno. We each pretty much do our own thing.”
“And you think he lied about her confessing?”
“No. She confessed. It's all on vid. But he must've coerced it out of her somehow.”
“If you think he framed her, why don't you just check it out yourself?”
“Because I don't want anybody finding out I'm investigating another cop.”
That I understood. There was no faster way to end a career. “But if people find out I'm checking into your partner's cases, they'll still guess you're behind it.”
“Guessing is different from knowing. I can always deny I had anything to do with it. As far as the brass is concerned, it'll be good enough.”
“It won't be good enough for the average uniform.”
“When I'm a squad leader it won't matter. They won't have a choice.”
Now that sounded like a future chief. Maggie made no bones about the fact that she had her eyes on the KOP top spot. She was after me all the time, trying to get me to become her consigliore. She'd say, “Who better to help me take over KOP than somebody who's already done it once?”
At first, I didn't believe it was in the cards for her. Number one: she was a woman in a male-dominated police force. And number two: she had a good heart. Either handicap might be possible to overcome, but the two together seemed insurmountable. Even so, she was doing her best to disprove me. Her work was top-notch, and her family had high-placed political connections that she worked to her advantage. She was the youngest detective on record and was already trying to angle her way into a squad leader post. From there, sergeant wouldn't be far out of her reach. The only serious hurdle she'd hit in her career so far was her association with me. The traitorous Chief Banks tried to keep her pigeonholed in the records department, but she was too smart and too well-connected to stay exiled for long.
No, I wasn't a believer yet, but I was on the verge of becoming her first convert.
“Why would he coerce her confession?” I asked. “Weren't you and Ian already partners then?”
“Yes.”
“So your performance records were already linked, which means he wasn't just trying to pump up his solveds. What other motive could he have?”
“That's what I want you to find out.”
“Listen, Maggie, let's cut the bullshit. If you want that promotion, just say the word. I'll take care of Ian.”
Maggie got in my face. “This isn't about that, Juno. It's not about what I want. It's about that girl who's going to get gassed for something she didn't do. How can you think I'd put a stupid promotion above that?”
“What do you expect me to think? The way I see it, Ian's going to steal that promotion out from under you, and you know you deserve it more than he does. I can't help but think that's why you're so ready to believe some woman you don't even know before your partner. Who knows who that woman was who called you? She could be the girl's aunt or something. That's hardly enough reason to believe Ian coerced that confession.”
I was glad Maggie's face was mostly in shadow. It cut down the glare she was sending my way.
“Maybe you just want it to be true,” I said. “That way you can throw some dirt on Ian and take him out of the running. Listen, if you want that squad leader job so bad, let's skip the goose chasing and take Ian out of it ourselves.”
Maggie came at me all righteous. “I don't work that way, and you know it. I wouldn't be going through this trouble if I didn't think there was a chance that the girl didn't do it. A good chance.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Maggie leaned in close, forcing me to tilt back in order to keep my brandy breath under wraps. “I never really believed she could've done this,” she said. “I interviewed her the morning she found her parents' bodies. I'm telling you, she was genuinely upset. I didn't think there was any way she was faking until Ian found the murder weapon with her prints on it. And then when Ian got her to confess, I went ahead and signed off on it even though I never really believed it. I should've trusted my gut. I mean, think about it. What kind of girl kills her parents? She'd have to be delusional. Don't get me wrong, she's your typical troubled teenager, but she's not crazy. There's just no way she could kill her parents, Juno. Do you see what I'm saying? I know she didn't do it. I just know it.”
I tried to reconcile Maggie's image of the Juarez girl with the one on the news. Where Maggie saw an innocent child, everybody else saw a manipulative little bitch. Maggie was way off on this one. “She confessed, Maggie. Leave it at that.”