The Brass Verdict

these terms that I felt the gears begin to grind and the cold finger of revelation went down my spine. Everything became clear and bright and I found Jerry Vincent’s magic bullet.
    Walter Elliot had been taken from the crime scene to the Malibu station so that he would be out of the way and secured while the lead detectives continued their on-site investigation. One short interview was conducted at the station before Elliot ended it. He was then transported to sheriff’s headquarters in Whittier, where a gunshot residue test was conducted and his hands tested positive for nitrates associated with gunpowder. Afterward, Kinder and Ericsson took another stab at interviewing their suspect but he wisely declined. He was then formally placed under arrest and booked into county jail.
    It was standard procedure and the arrest report documented the chain of Elliot’s custody. He was handled solely by the homicide detectives as he was moved from crime scene to substation to headquarters to jail. But it was how he was handled previous to their arrival that caught my eye. It was here that I saw something I had missed earlier. Something as simple as the designations of the uniform deputies who first responded to the call. According to the records, deputies Murray and Harber had the designations 4-alpha-1 and 4-alpha-2 after their names. And I had seen at least one of those designations in the Wyms file.
    Jumping from case to case and from file to file, I found the Wyms arrest report and quickly scanned the narrative, not stopping until my eyes came to the first reference to the 4-alpha-1 designation.
    Deputy Todd Stallworth had the designation written after his name. He was the deputy originally called to investigate the report of gunfire at Malibu Creek State Park. He was the deputy driving the car Wyms fired upon, and at the end of the standoff he was the deputy who formally placed Wyms under arrest and took him to jail.
    I realized that 4-alpha-1 did not refer to a specific deputy but to a specific patrol zone or responsibility. The Malibu district covered the huge unincorporated areas of the west county, from the beaches of Malibu up over the mountains and into the communities of Thousand Oaks and Calabasas. I assumed that this was the fourth district and alpha was the specific designation for a patrol unit – a specific car. It seemed to be the only way to explain why deputies who worked different shifts would share the same designation on different arrest reports.
    Adrenaline crashed into my veins and my blood took off running as everything came together. All in a moment I realized what Vincent had been up to and what he had been planning. I didn’t need his laptop or his legal pads anymore. I didn’t need his investigator. I knew exactly what the defense strategy was.
    At least I thought I did.
    I pulled my cell phone and called Cisco. I skipped the pleasantries.
    “Cisco, it’s me. Do you know any sheriff’s deputies?”
    “Uh, a few. Why?”
    “Any of them work out of the Malibu station?”
    “I know one guy who used to. He’s in Lynwood now. Malibu was too boring.”
    “Can you call him tonight?”
    “Tonight? Sure, I guess. What’s up?”
    “I need to know what the patrol designation four-alpha-one means. Can you get that?”
    “Shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll call you back. But hold on a sec for Lorna. She wants to talk to you.”
    I waited while she was given the phone. I could hear TV noise in the background. I had interrupted a scene of domestic bliss.
    “Mickey, are you still there at the office?”
    “I’m here.”
    “It’s eight-thirty. I think you should go home.”
    “I think I should, too. I’m going to wait to hear back from Cisco – he’s checking something out for me – and then I think I’m going over to Dan Tana’s to have steak and spaghetti.”
    She knew I went to Dan Tana’s when I had something to celebrate. Usually a good verdict.
    “You had steak for breakfast.”
    “Then I guess this will make it a perfect day.”
    “Things went well tonight?”
    “I think so. Real well.”
    “You’re going alone?”
    She said it with sympathy in her voice, like now that she had hooked up with Cisco, she was starting to feel sorry for me, alone out there in the big bad world.
    “Craig or Christian will keep me company.”
    Craig and Christian worked the door at Dan Tana’s. They took care of me whether I came in alone or not.
    “I’ll see you tomorrow, Lorna.”
    “Okay,