The White Angel Murder Read Online Free

Mormon,” Harlow interjected.
    “ Oh,” Jessica said. “That’s interesting. Why the Diet Coke?”
    “ It’s a gray area in the Church,” Stanton said.
    The door opened and Thomas Sanchez walked in with several uniforms carrying boxes and thick three-ring binders. They spread everything on the table, shoving the food out of the way, and left the room with a nod to Harlow.
    “ Chin,” Harlow said, passing two binders over, “Todd Grover. He was a liquor store owner that was robbed in 0 4. They got off three rounds during the robbery and one hit him in the neck. He died in the hospital. Only thing he gave us was that they were African-American, young, and one had a tattoo of some sort on his hand.”
    Harlow pointed to one of the boxes. “Nathan, that’s you. Alberto Domingez Jovan. He was leaving a strip club and flirting with one of the dancers in the parking lot when some other patrons began talking shit to him. He asked them what their problem was and they showed him with two slugs in the head. Got at least twenty witnesses and two suspects that went nowhere.”
    “ Got it, Chief,” Nathan said.
    “ Jessica, this is yours.” He handed her a binder and a small box with a DVD and a folder in it. “James Damien Neary. Stabbed in the heart while walking home from a Wal-Mart. He got back to his apartment and, for whatever reason, didn’t call an ambulance. Died there. No leads.”
    Harlow pointed to a box at the end of the table. “Philip, you got Rodrigo Carrillo. Gang member. Shot to death sitting on his porch in a drive by.”
    There was one final box and Harlow hesitated before putting his hands on it. He grabbed it by the sides and pulled it near to him, staring at the name.
    “ Jonathan, you got Tami Jacobs. Twenty-three year old waitress. It’s … it’s pretty bad.”
    He pushed the box to Stanton and then looked to everyone again before standing. “All right, we got a lot of work to do. Tommy’s your point man on everything. Once a week we have meetings on Monday morning to go over our cases. You may be working them alone, but you’re not alone. We got a brain trust on these cases.” Harlow glanced at his watch. “I’m not expecting miracles, but I am expecting results. Even if it’s nothing more than declaring the case dead and moving it to the basement. Now do what I know each of you is capable of doing and let’s have some of these bastards stay in our concrete hotels courtesy of the California taxpayer. Our system’s burdened by too many obstacles and loopholes as it is, but we can make it better and give our kids the future they deserve.”
    Stanton glanced around the table and saw that no one had noticed the prepared stump speech; one intended to be given at a lectern in front of an audience.
    When the chief had gone everyone gathered their materials and headed to their respective offices. Stanton stayed and got a bagel, spreading warm cream cheese over it with a plastic knife.
    “ Sorry about the coffee,” Jessica said, walking back out and throwing away her paper plate and napkin.
    “ It’s okay.” He noticed for the first time she was wearing one pearl earring in her right ear and nothing in her left. Before he could ask her about it, she walked back to her office and shut the door.
    Stanton finished eating and took the box into his office. He placed it down on the desk, and pulled out the first three-ring binder inside.
     

6
     
    Tami Jacobs was originally from Iowa. Her parents were both custodians; one in high school and the other grammar school. Her mother committed suicide when she was nine years old and her father died eight years later, on Tami’s graduation night from high school. He was driving drunk and had careened into oncoming traffic. He survived for six days in the hospital with massive brain swelling before the family decided they needed to cut life support.
    She had two siblings somewhere, brothers. Stanton wondered if they felt the tug of guilt in their