Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #4: Books 13-16 (A Dead Cold Box Set) by Blake Banner (best ereader for academics .txt) 📕

up, nodded a couple of times and said, “Yes, sir, we’ll be right up.” She hung up. “The chief wants us to put him up to speed. Varufakis is there.”

“He’s there, already?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Boy’s keen.”

I picked up the printed copies of Am Nielsen’s message to me and we climbed the stairs. The inspector’s door was open. Dehan knocked and we went in. The Assistant DA was seated opposite the inspector at his desk, and stood as we entered. He was smiling a little too hard.

“Detectives! You certainly move fast. It seems it was just a few hours ago!”

I shook his proffered hand and said, “It was.”

The inspector was also on his feet, gesturing at chairs. “Please, close the door and sit, and tell us what’s been happening.” As we sat, he added, “I don’t have to say that, until we have assessed the evidence and come to some kind of determination, whatever we discuss in this room is utterly confidential.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “No, sir, you don’t need to say that.” I looked at Varufakis. “We are well aware of the sensitive nature of the case, sir, but I am still very far from clear as to what is relevant evidence and what is not.”

The ADA nodded. “Why don’t we assess it as we go along, John? Believe me when I tell you that I am not sure myself, as yet.”

Dehan leaned forward in her chair, with her elbows on her knees. “We went to the Dare 2 Dream Club last night. There we met a guy who goes by the name of Mohamed, but whose real name is Daniel Brand. He was Dr. Jose Robles’ lover. Apparently they were quite serious, until Robles met you, sir, and you started your relationship. Then he broke up with Brand. Brand remembered you and identified you from a photograph.”

The inspector half stood. “You showed him a photograph of the assistant district attorney?”

I nodded. “Of course I did. There were no identifying features, except his face.” I turned to Costas. “Brand recognized you, sir, from dancing with Robles.”

He seemed to sag into his chair. “It wasn’t my finest hour, Detectives.”

I shrugged. “It’s not an issue, sir. But you need to decide whether you want to keep it secret or not. As long as you keep it secret, but continue to go to clubs like the Dare 2 Dream, you are at risk, and your professional integrity is compromised because you expose yourself to blackmail.”

Varufakis nodded again. He looked sick. “You are right, of course, but I am married, John, and I have two young children. The Greek community is not the most tolerant on this issue.”

Dehan sighed. “Brand was here this morning, shortly after ten. He made a statement.”

The inspector looked mad and flopped back in his chair, eyeing the Assistant DA. “Which brings us to the events of this morning.”

I handed them each a copy of Am’s suicide note and let them read it. When he’d finished, the ADA said, “This is a confession.”

I gave my head a slight sideways jerk that said it was and it wasn’t. “Technically it’s a confession because he says he killed Dr. Robles. It is on his phone, but it is not signed by him. We’re checking to see who the last person was who typed on that screen. Whether it is a true confession is still a moot point.”

He frowned. “What do you mean? You have reason to doubt the veracity of it?”

“I’m not satisfied. There are a number of things about it that worry me.”

The inspector scratched his chin. “Like what, John?”

“Small things that could be significant: for a start, his language.”

He narrowed his eyes. “His language?”

Dehan answered. “Am was a self confessed clown. He used to adopt different personas. When he first called us, he adopted the persona of a black gangster from the Bronx, but when we went to see him, he claimed to be from Colorado and he acted the part of a Colorado redneck trying to integrate into the Bronx black community. He was a very complex character, sir. When we surprised him with his friends, at the university, his speech was perfectly normal, and so was his behavior. However, Stone thinks, and I agree, that the language in the note is affectedly redneck. It’s not authentic.”

Varufakis burst out laughing. “That is hardly reason to dismiss his confession, detectives!”

I said, “That is just one thing. The other is the wine. It seems to me the glasses of wine were staged. The lab tells us neither Robles nor Agnes drank from their glasses, yet both glasses have only a small amount of wine in them, and the bottle is only a third full. Yet Robles had contempt for American wine, and Agnes knew this. She would not have given him California wine. The wine in her house and in his house is all Spanish. She was at pains to please him. Nor would she have allowed Nielsen to give him California wine if she was trying to help him win Robles over. So what is that wine doing there—and who drank it?”

The Assistant DA sighed heavily. “OK, knowing Jose quite well, I can confirm that he did consider California wine beneath contempt and would not have drunk it. But it was an affectation. He played the arrogant, aggressive, control freak, but underneath he was actually a kind, humane person. It is entirely possible that Nielsen brought a bottle with him, Jose sniffed it and refused to drink it while Nielsen and Agnes drank a glass each. After shooting Jose, he would have washed his own glass and, as he said, set the scene to frame Agnes.”

I nodded. “Yes, that is an explanation, but it’s not what happened.”

“Excuse me? Based on what?”

“Based on my knowledge of the characters involved.”

“I think