Read Online Earth Angels by Gerald Petievich - Free Book Online Page B

he hid the magazine under some papers.
    "I'm Joe Stepanovich. This is my partner, Raul Arredondo. We're with LAPD CRASH. Is Howard Goldberg working tonight?"
    "Why do you ask?"
    "He's a friend."
    "He's on nights next week. I'm in charge tonight. If you have a case you'll have to present it to me," he said, revealing a full set of braces.
    Stepanovich handed Weber a stack of papers including the report of investigation at the church and the search warrant return listing the items of evidence.
    "What am I supposed to do with this?" Weber said.
    "We've arrested a suspect and we want to file murder charges against him."
    Weber let out his breath, picked up his eyeglasses by the bridge, and blew on the lenses to clear away possible dandruff flakes. With a flourish he balanced the spectacles on his face. "Pepe Gomez. Hmmm."
    Stepanovich and Arredondo sat in silence as Weber read slowly, moistening the top of his index finger with his tongue each time he turned a page. With each lick Stepanovich found himself becoming more and more annoyed. The moment he had walked into the office, in fact, he'd decided Weber was an asshole.
    "Hmmmm," Weber said as he finished the final page. "Where's the motive?"
    "The motive is revenge," Stepanovich said. "The tennis shoes with gang markings and the letter from prison with references to the Eighteenth Street gang prove Greenie's gang affiliation. And I have piles of police reports proving that the Eighteenth Street gang is at war with the White Fence gang. In fact, it's gone on for generations."
    "Revenge," Weber said to an El Monte College of Law diploma on the wall to this left. "Very good. Now how do we prove the suspect had the means to commit the murder?"
    "The crime was committed with a pump shotgun. In the photograph we found in his apartment he is standing with three other known Eighteenth Street gang members holding a pump shotgun. We found a shotgun shell in his bedroom. Also, he's been arrested twice before in possession of sawed off shotguns "
    "But you found no shotgun during the search of his apartment. "
    "Didn't really expect to," Arredondo said. "In gang shootings the shooter always hands off the murder weapon to a another gang member right after a shooting. He would never keep it where he lives."
    "But there's no shotgun," Weber said condescendingly.
    "We found a shotgun shell," Arredondo said.
    "That's not evidence of anything. What do you have that ties Gomez to the scene of the crime?"
    Stepanovich crossed one leg over the other. "We have an eyewitness who picked Gomez's photograph from a spread."
    "Just one?"
    "Just one what?"
    "Just one witness."
    "That's what I said."
    "How many people in the church when the shooting went down?"
    "More than a hundred."
    "Out of a hundred people only one person got a look at the shooter?"
    "The witness was sitting in the pew nearest the door when the shooter entered."
    "What assurance is there that the witness will actually show up in court and point the finger at Pepe Gomez?"
    Stepanovich cleared his throat. He had a feeling of déjà vu. "The witness will show up."
    "People in East L.A. know it's not healthy to testify in court against a shooter. Witnesses who we are sure are going to testify and make a big case often chicken out the day of the trial. When this happens, the prosecutor on the case is left holding the bag. I speak from experience."
    "We'll personally bring him to court," Stepanovich said.
    "I see here that when you arrested Gomez he refused to make a statement. No confession. No incriminating statements."
    "He asked for an attorney."
    Weber set the reports down and adjusted the pile. "Looks like we have a cliffhanger."
    "What do you mean by that?" Stepanovich asked.
    "Your witness takes the stand and says Gomez was the shooter," Weber said. "Gomez takes the stand and says he was home washing his Chevy. It's a one on one."
    "If I had a lot of witnesses, I could prosecute the case myself."
    Weber glared at him. "But you don't.