before dropping his eyes to the
table in front of him. "It was easy. I treat junkies all the time. I just
kept pocketing their stashes as they came in. After a while I had a good supple
built up. I keep arsenic on hand to kill the rodents that nest in my basement.
I found a chatroom online that told how to cut the supply. It cautioned not to
use a certain measurement or the user would die. So I made the supply up in
those doses." He shrugged, taking another pull from the bottle of water,
his Adam's apple bobbing as he drank deeply. "I knew who a lot of these
people bought from. It was easy to slip a package near the spot these men deal
from. Some of them sell to other dealers so I knew it would get around. I'd
rather have a junkie die than attempt to save another innocent child."
"Did it ever dawn on you that a junkie might go home
and use it there? That maybe they would die and their child would pick up one
of those needles and die, too?" Lizbeth's voice sounded calm but Alexar
heard the anger running underneath it. "That's what happened with Natalie
Johnson after her mother Eva died. Natalie was three years old when she played
with the needle and injected herself. Both mother and
daughter dead from your supply."
Allsgood's mouth opened and closed, no words coming out.
"I didn't know," he said finally. "I just dropped the heroin off
to the dealers. One guy came out and saw me. I lied and told him I was a dealer,
too, just getting out of the business. Wanted to drop off the
rest of my supply without drawing attention to myself. He seemed to buy
it."
Lizbeth nodded- it fit with what the dealer in question told
them. "So why are so willing to talk now? I doubt we can get you a deal.
You have nothing to offer us."
"I didn't kill the cop, Detective Snyder. I swear to
God I didn't kill that guy. All I did was make the
stuff, I didn't actually inject anyone, and I certainly didn't beat a cop to
death. I just wanted the junkies to quit using. I thought if word got out about
the bad shit on the streets they'd stop." He held his hands up, pleading
for understanding. His eyes were full of tears and he struggled to keep them
from falling as he tried to make them understand.
They interrogated him for hours but couldn't shake his
story. They came at him from different angles, changing the tempo of the
questioning, reworded questions he'd already answered dozens of times. He never
changed his story and he never lawyered up.
"I think he's telling the truth, Commander,"
Lizbeth said, careful to keep it formal in the precinct. "I don't think
he's responsible for Robbins. It doesn't fit his pattern, and his story isn't
changing."
Alexar ran his fingers through his hair with a growl of
frustration. He'd taken time to comb it before entering interview but had
mussed it beyond repair in these last few hours. "I know, I know. I
believe him, too. I'll get the ADA down here and see what she says."
As Alexar stalked off down the hallway, Lizbeth headed the
opposite way towards her office. Sitting at her desk with her feet propped up
on its edge, one question repeated over and over inside her head. If Allsgood
didn't kill Robbins, who did, and why?
Chapter Seventeen
Lizbeth waited impatiently for the assistant district
attorney to show up. She and Alexar had waited for an hour before he gave up
and wandered to his office, mumbling under his breath about lazy people having
no sense of time. Lizbeth went to her own office to complete her report so all
the facts would be available when the ADA finally showed up. Her report
written, she started tidying up the office, something that she never seemed to
have the downtime for. While she finished filing the paperwork that had
accumulated in her in-basket there was a knock on her door. A moment later
Alexar walked into the room with District Attorney Giles Carson behind him.
"Detective Snyder, it seems the DA wants to handle this
case personally. I'm sure you don't object," Alexar said, giving her
table in front of him. "It was easy. I treat junkies all the time. I just
kept pocketing their stashes as they came in. After a while I had a good supple
built up. I keep arsenic on hand to kill the rodents that nest in my basement.
I found a chatroom online that told how to cut the supply. It cautioned not to
use a certain measurement or the user would die. So I made the supply up in
those doses." He shrugged, taking another pull from the bottle of water,
his Adam's apple bobbing as he drank deeply. "I knew who a lot of these
people bought from. It was easy to slip a package near the spot these men deal
from. Some of them sell to other dealers so I knew it would get around. I'd
rather have a junkie die than attempt to save another innocent child."
"Did it ever dawn on you that a junkie might go home
and use it there? That maybe they would die and their child would pick up one
of those needles and die, too?" Lizbeth's voice sounded calm but Alexar
heard the anger running underneath it. "That's what happened with Natalie
Johnson after her mother Eva died. Natalie was three years old when she played
with the needle and injected herself. Both mother and
daughter dead from your supply."
Allsgood's mouth opened and closed, no words coming out.
"I didn't know," he said finally. "I just dropped the heroin off
to the dealers. One guy came out and saw me. I lied and told him I was a dealer,
too, just getting out of the business. Wanted to drop off the
rest of my supply without drawing attention to myself. He seemed to buy
it."
Lizbeth nodded- it fit with what the dealer in question told
them. "So why are so willing to talk now? I doubt we can get you a deal.
You have nothing to offer us."
"I didn't kill the cop, Detective Snyder. I swear to
God I didn't kill that guy. All I did was make the
stuff, I didn't actually inject anyone, and I certainly didn't beat a cop to
death. I just wanted the junkies to quit using. I thought if word got out about
the bad shit on the streets they'd stop." He held his hands up, pleading
for understanding. His eyes were full of tears and he struggled to keep them
from falling as he tried to make them understand.
They interrogated him for hours but couldn't shake his
story. They came at him from different angles, changing the tempo of the
questioning, reworded questions he'd already answered dozens of times. He never
changed his story and he never lawyered up.
"I think he's telling the truth, Commander,"
Lizbeth said, careful to keep it formal in the precinct. "I don't think
he's responsible for Robbins. It doesn't fit his pattern, and his story isn't
changing."
Alexar ran his fingers through his hair with a growl of
frustration. He'd taken time to comb it before entering interview but had
mussed it beyond repair in these last few hours. "I know, I know. I
believe him, too. I'll get the ADA down here and see what she says."
As Alexar stalked off down the hallway, Lizbeth headed the
opposite way towards her office. Sitting at her desk with her feet propped up
on its edge, one question repeated over and over inside her head. If Allsgood
didn't kill Robbins, who did, and why?
Chapter Seventeen
Lizbeth waited impatiently for the assistant district
attorney to show up. She and Alexar had waited for an hour before he gave up
and wandered to his office, mumbling under his breath about lazy people having
no sense of time. Lizbeth went to her own office to complete her report so all
the facts would be available when the ADA finally showed up. Her report
written, she started tidying up the office, something that she never seemed to
have the downtime for. While she finished filing the paperwork that had
accumulated in her in-basket there was a knock on her door. A moment later
Alexar walked into the room with District Attorney Giles Carson behind him.
"Detective Snyder, it seems the DA wants to handle this
case personally. I'm sure you don't object," Alexar said, giving her
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