The Wrong Instinct

Chapter Four: Clean Crime

"YOU'RE EARLY," ALEXA said as she passed Det. Cooper a mug of coffee. He lifted his gaze from his computer to look at her. His eyes were red and he hadn't combed his hair today. "Woah, what the hell happened? Are you fine?"

"Hallie died."

Alexa's eyes softened. "Oh, my God. What happened?"

"I overfed her."

"What?"

"It's my fish," he whisphere. "Hallie is my fish. Was."

"Oh." Alexa looked around, wondering if anyone else had heard him. Back when she worked with Cooper, she had barely seen this side of him. Partly because it didn't really bother her. They never talked about personal matters and she wasn't planning to start on it now. "We should probably get back to work. There are plenty of fishes in the sea. Literally."

Cooper gave her a pointed look. "You think I am a joke for mourning a fish."

"I never said that."

"Well you can laugh at me all you want but you cried when you watched The Dark Knight."

"If anyone finds that out, I'll rip your head off."

Cooper rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Anyway," he pressed a few keys on the keyboard as he said, "I watched the CCTV footage of the casino and Mr. Lorenz was correct. There's always a blonde girl with him. I ran her through facial recognition and found a match. Her name is Candice Cruz. She works at a dance studio. Tate is on his way to pick her up. One more thing, the truck was a rental. It was rented by Steve but he never returned it. It was found parked near his block."

"Okay." She sipped her coffee. "Alright listen. Last night, I visited someone I arrested a few years ago. He says that if Van Burke is involved then he could kill for money too. Do we have Burke's financial records?"

"We don't have enough evidence for a warrant. A clip of them exchanging an envelope is nothing. What else can we find that's more concrete?"

"Let's see if we can get anything off of Candice. If Burke is nothing more than a hitman then someone who wanted him dead is still unknown. We need to see if Steve was in debt or was overdue on any payment. I'll ask Ali to see if she has anything more." Alexa spun on her heel to walk towards her desk when she saw Tate walk towards the interrogation room with Candice striding with him. She turned to Cooper—who had already picked up his files and followed after them.

Candice sat on the cool chair with the two detectives staring at her. She leaned back and crossed her legs. She pulled a red lipstick out of the pocket of her shorts and began applying it on her lips.

"Ms. Cruz," Cooper said. "We need to ask you a few questions about Van Burke."

She smacked her lips and put the lipstick on the table. She studied the two of the detectives and leaned in the direction of Alexa. She rested her elbows on the steel table and tilted her face. "Did he cheat on you?"

"Excuse me?" Alexa asked.

"He looks at you with sympathy and you look at him like you want to kick his balls." She pressed her lips together. "I am a good observer. You don't get involved with men like Van Burke and not be vigilant." She pushed back and rested on the chair, her shoulders relaxing. "Not that I know much but what do you want to know about Van?"

"Where was he two days ago from evening 8 to 11 p.m.?" She asked.

"I haven't seen him in three days."

"Where can we find him?"

"I don't know."

"Ms. Cruz, we—"

"Listen to me, detectives. I don't know anything about Van Burke. Nor do I care. We blow off steam when we are with each other. He is good in bed and that's the only reason why I put up with him. If you think I know more about him than you do then you're wrong. All I know is that he never meets me on Wednesdays and Fridays. He never goes to the casino on those days either. Is that enough? Can I go now?"

After another few minutes of questioning, they both stepped out of the room and Candice was free to go. Ali approached the two of them and confirmed Candice's story. Ali had rewatched the casino tapes of the last two months and Burke never showed up on Wednesdays and Fridays.

"There's one more thing," Ali said. "It's not much but I noticed that he always shows up on the same days. Comes and leaves at the same time. Hardly leaves the table for the washroom. There's nothing shady about the casino either."

"If that's the case then he is a creature of habit. Other than the tape, does Steve and Burke have any other connection?"

"Not yet. The tech team is going through his phone. He was an IT major, created his own software and everything. Getting into his phone and laptop is harder for them. But they said they should find an access point in a few hours."

"This is nuts. We barely have any lead," Cooper said, rubbing his temples. "What about the murder weapon? Any prints on the bat?"

"Oh yes. I was getting there. Come with me." They followed Ali towards her desk. There were photos scattered across her table along with microscopes and different pieces of evidence. Ali opened a cabinet and pulled out a file and passed it to them. She took the sealed bag in her hand and pointed at the edge of the bat's grip. "See these initials? It belongs to a sports club but there are many partial prints on the bat. None of them match Van Burke."

"Alright, we still can't eliminate Burke entirely. Ali, send us the address of the sports club." Alexa grabbed the bag and they marched down the station towards her car. As they drove down the road, she said, "I know Burke is still a suspect but why would he use a knife and then a bat? Shouldn't he have experience?"

"Not every gang leader is violent, Bailey."

"No, of course not. But Ty—"

"Ty?"

"The guy I visited last night. The way he said it, something feels off."

Cooper closed the file in his hand. "Tell me about the case. Where does Burke fit into his case?"

"Five years ago, Ty Archer was found at the scene of a crime with two cars crashed into each other. He was holding his parents' body and crying. He was drunk. He was brought into interrogation but he said that it was Van Burke who staged the accident. A week later, the case had no leads. The other car was a rental. There were no traces of anyone else and Burke had an alibi. He was at a bar the entire night. And no one had come up at any hospital with any accident-related injuries. We called Ty again for questioning and he confessed. He said that he was returning from a rave party and he didn't know his parents were in the opposite car."

"Ty Archer? Wait..."

"Yes, the Archer. Son of a billionaire. Heir to Archer & Co.. The company paid money to keep the news out of the media. They told the world that they died in a car crash because of failed brakes and their son quit his position to mourn his parents."

"Well, what happened to the company?"

"I don't know. I guess Archer's advisor took over. I haven't seen the name come up in years so I doubt they're doing very well."

"And this Ty? Should we trust him? Are you sure Burke is involved at all or is Ty just messing with you?"

"I honestly don't know. I need more to confirm Ty's claim."

"His case, though. It seems all too..."

"Circumstantial?"

"Clean."