Read Online Cover-up by Michele Martinez - Free Book Online Page B

at least until the weekend. The only caveat is, most of the grunts are tied up canvassing for eyewitnesses, so they’re not exactly at my beck and call.”
    “Who’s the detective?”
    “Julian Hay. He’s a—”
    “Suave Pierre? Shit. He’s worse than useless.”
    “What? I thought he was a famous undercover.”
    Bernadette raised an eyebrow. “You planning to do drug buys on this murder investigation?”
    “Not that I’m aware of.”
    “If you do, great, he’ll come through with flying colors. But he doesn’t function well outside his area of expertise. Not only won’t Pierre do any legwork, he’ll distract the other agents with his endless war stories. This kingpin drew down on him, that cartel leader tried to have him whacked. On and on. He’s like a celebrity. Your agents will be bringing him lattes when they should be analyzing phone records.”
    “Thanks for the word of warning. I’ll keep an eye on the situation.” One thing about Bernadette, she didn’t pull her punches. She gave you the straight story, even when it wasn’t what you wanted to hear.
    “I just spoke to the D.A.’s office,” Bernadette said. “They’re cross-designating Janice Marsh and detailing her to us for the pendency of the case. She’ll report to your office shortly. Give her those files to sort through, or anything else the cops aren’t smart or patient enough to do.”
    Melanie was scribbling away on her notepad, trying to keep up with Bernadette’s words. She looked up to find her boss watching her with a pensive expression.
    “You’ve got a big team assembled, girlfriend. That’s a luxury, butit’s also a responsibility. You’ll need to keep them under careful control. You’re up for that, right?”
    Last night, Melanie would have said no. But since then, she’d viewed Suzanne Shepard’s mutilated body, met her grieving son, and started puzzling through the complicated threads of this investigation. Add to that the thrill of the press coverage and the new challenge of supervising a big team, and Melanie wanted this case—badly.
    “You bet,” she said.
    “Good. Any resources you need—experts or travel authorizations or such—just ask and we’ll find money in budget. Now, what was it you wanted my advice about?”
    “Did you know that Suzanne Shepard just broke a story about a sex scandal involving Clyde Williams and an intern?” Melanie asked.
    Bernadette looked startled. “Actually, yes, I did know. Joe’s been out for the past few days strategizing with Clyde’s brain trust, trying to contain the damage. I have to admit, I didn’t make the connection. You don’t think—you can’t mean—is there any indication Clyde Williams is involved?”
    “Personally, I doubt it, but the producer of Suzanne Shepard’s show smells a story. Apparently, Suzanne received a threat in the mail right after she aired the segment on Clyde. A box of dog shit containing a picture of her that’d been cut into little pieces. There’s no proof that Clyde sent it, but I get the sense Target News is planning to find some.”
    “Or invent some,” Bernadette said, rolling her eyes.
    “Even assuming Clyde is innocent, this is still a tricky situation, politically speaking. We can’t appear to be going easy on him just because—”
    “Just because his son works here! Jeez, you’re right.” Bernadette dropped her head into her hands and rubbed her eyes.
    “It’s a conflict of interest, isn’t it?”
    “It’s a pain in my ass, is what it is,” Bernadette said. She lookedup and sighed, her eyes bloodshot. “Not only is Joe one of ours, but Clyde is an elected official. That’s a major problem in itself. We can deal with the conflict by walling Joe off from the investigation. But to investigate an elected official, we have to jump through all sorts of hoops.”
    “I thought I recalled something like that. What are the requirements?”
    “Honestly, I haven’t done one of these cases in years. Let me