Sam Kincaid 01 - The Commission

routine trip to the supermarket would probably be akin to occupying the pole position at the Daytona 500. The woman had little regard for speed limits. I, on the other hand, have been accused of driving like Mr. Magoo. It would be just my luck to run into some eager highway patrol trooper who happened to be short on traffic citations for the month. Many state troopers rank a good speeding violation right up there with finding a dead body stuffed in the trunk of a car.
    As we entered Wendover, McConnell’s cell phone rang. I couldn’t tell who she was talking to, but it was soon evident that she didn’t much like what she was hearing. Comments like, “This seems premature to me,” “Can’t this wait until tomorrow?” and “I think you’re really jumping the gun here,” told me something was coming down from above that she didn’t like, but couldn’t control. It reminded me of those age-old police management principles, around which careers were made and broken: seize the credit; cover your ass; and if necessary, spread the blame.
    When she disconnected, Kate muttered, “What an arrogant jerk.”
    “What was that all about?”
    “That was none other than Captain Hyrum Locke. After I informed him this morning about the fate of Mr. Watts, he ran the information directly to Chief Hansen, who in turn immediately contacted the mayor. They’re going to hold another press conference this afternoon at four o’clock and lay the whole thing out for the media. That way they’ll capture all of the local television coverage. I couldn’t convince him to postpone until we had a chance to review the medical examiner’s report.”
    “Don’t act so surprised, Kate. The political heat has been on from the get-go, and the powers-that-be wanted a speedy resolution to the case, and now they have it. You can hardly blame them. This will make your department look good and ought to provide some measure of satisfaction for the Vogue family. In one sense, this is absolutely the best thing that could have happened as far as the victim’s family is concerned.”
    “How so?”
    “Look at it this way. If we had busted Watts, it would have taken the case years to work its way through the courts. Everybody knows it would have been tried as a capital case. Assuming a court conviction and endless years of death penalty appeals, it would have haunted his family for years. This way maybe they have a chance to begin the healing process. And maybe nobody has to hear about Vogue’s, how can I say this gently, seedy side.”
    “You’re probably right. We would have had to produce a lot of the information about Sue Ann Winkler, the Satin & Lace club, and the Starlite Motel during discovery. Vogue would have had his good name dragged through the mud, and there’s nothing anybody could have done to prevent it.”
    With the impending four o’clock news conference, I wasted no time calling Sloan. He doesn’t appreciate being interrupted when he’s busy groveling for money at the state legislature, but he doesn’t like surprises either, and he’d want this information. He needed to get ready to do some damage control on behalf of the department. On the first ring, I got Brad Ford. To my surprise, he didn’t argue when I told him we had an emergency related to the Vogue killing, and that I needed to speak directly to Sloan. After a lengthy pause, Sloan came on the line.
    “Good morning, Sam. Please fill me in quickly. You’ve actually caught me during a short break from the Executive Appropriations Committee, but we’re due to resume in about five minutes.”
    “I’m calling you from Wendover.”
    “Wendover! What the hell are you doing out there?”
    “Charles Watts was found dead early this morning by Wendover P.D. at the abandoned military base. They’re handling the case as a suicide. It looks like a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.”
    “Hmmm. That isn’t necessarily all bad. Tell me more.”
    “The touchy issue is that Mayor Baldwin and Chief Hansen have called a news conference this afternoon at four. McConnell believes they intend to lay out the entire case against Watts and declare the crime solved. I think you should expect a barrage of calls from the media asking the usual questions: Why was he out of prison in the first place? Why was he released from parole supervision? Is the Department of Corrections responsible for Vogue’s murder because we failed to rehabilitate the guy? The usual bullshit