Murder Mile High by Lora Roberts Page B

outstretched hand, then stuck his nose in her crotch.
    “Barker!” I yanked on the choke chain and he sat apologetically. “Sorry. He’s a rude teenager of a dog.”
    “That’s okay.” Officer Gutierrez scratched him behind the ears and ducked to enter the bus. She slid behind the fold-up table, and I took the backward-facing seat across from her.
    “What did you want to talk about?”
    “I want you to give me that tape.” She stared straight at me and put her hand on the table, palm up.
    “No.” I met her gaze. “You don’t have a search warrant. The only way you can get it is to beat me up.”
    “That’s right.” Her gaze didn’t waver.
    “My dog will bite you.”
    Her shoulders lost their tense look. “Sure he will.” Barker was sitting right beside her—probably on her feet. He gazed adoringly at her, and her free hand fondled his ears.
    “Look, Officer Gutierrez.”
    She took her hand off the table and rubbed her eyes. “Oh, just call me Eva.”
    “I was stupid to even indicate I might have a tape. Let’s just forget about it, okay?”
    “No, let’s not.” She folded her arms across her chest. Deprived of caresses, Barker urged himself closer. “How long did you talk to Leonard Tobin?”
    “Maybe half an hour.”
    “How long to Maud Riegert?”
    “About the same.”
    “So your crummy little tape probably ran out before Baldridge’s left-field remark about Tony getting on the wrong side of cops.” She shrugged. “And if it is on the tape, such allegations should be investigated. I want to hear what else is on there, too. O’Malley wants the whole picture, and I think you have some pieces of the puzzle we haven’t seen.”
    “What you say has merit.” I knew I’d only gotten this far with my ridiculous defiance because Eva was a straight shooter. Any other cop would simply have taken the tape recorder from me already. Probably deep-sixed the tape, too. I remembered O’Malley’s response to the printout on Tony he’d gotten. Certainly someone in the police knew more about Tony than they were letting on.
    “Let me think about it, okay?”
    She shook her head. “And while you’re thinking about it, someone comes along and takes the evidence. How will you feel then?”
    “Really stupid.” I had to smile. “But I still know what was said.”
    “Right. You, too, could be a danger to anyone interested in the tape.” She spoke slowly, carefully. “Duh.”
    I squirmed a little. “Well, you’re the only one I told about the tape recorder. And there might have been a malfunction. The batteries might have died. This is all conjectural.”
    “Your niece knows you carried the tape recorder. Anyone that she blabbed to knows—and believe me, that age can blab.” She leaned closer. “Play it now.”
    I glanced around at people walking along the street, at the big bulk of Kyle’s apartment building. “Look, Kyle can probably see us from his windows. Anyone could hear. And I might get towed if I stay in this parking spot much longer.”
    “You won’t get towed.” She, too, glanced at the apartment building. “But you’re right. We’ll go to headquarters.”
    “I don’t like the sound of that.”
    She gazed at me stonily. “You’re not in much position to choose, are you? I’ll follow your car. You remember how to get there?”
    “Yeah, sure.” My voice sounded hollow, even to me.
    Once at the police station, I was definitely at risk for continued detention. O’Malley could probably come up with three or four things to hold me on, pending a murder charge. Perhaps taping people without their permission would be one of them.
    Eva got out and shut the side door, and I got into the driver’s seat, wondering if I should just make a bolt for it. The police are notoriously overworked, and she might not have the time free to pursue me, figuring I’d just turn up at my brother’s eventually. But it seemed so counterproductive. I pulled into traffic, and she followed me. At