Broken Saint, The by Mike Markel Page B

approve.”
    “We should go talk with the chief,” I said, “get
him up to speed. Maybe he’ll let us check some more on Hector and Jared.”
    We walked out of the detectives’ bullpen, down the
hall to the big office.
    “The chief in?” I said to Margaret, his secretary.
The door to his office was closed.
    She picked up the phone. “Detectives Seagate and Miner,
Chief.” He must have told her to let us in. “Go right ahead,” she told us.
    I nodded thanks.
    The chief was standing behind his desk, looking
down at some papers. He lifted his eyes when he heard us come in, then motioned
for us to sit. “The exchange student?”
    “Yeah,” I said. “Maricel Salizar.”
    “What have you got?”
    “She’s from the Philippines. Staying with the
Provost, Albert Gerson. He tells us she had a boyfriend, a Hector Cruz, works
at the university.”
    “A professional position?”
    “No, maintenance. He’s got a short sheet with us,
passed the university’s screening. But he didn’t come to work yesterday, and
didn’t call in, which his boss says he’s never done. We tried him at his
trailer park. He’s not there. So we’re waiting on him.”
    “Who else are you looking at?”
    “She had this Big Sister—not a real big sister,
just another student supposed to look out for her—named Amber Cunningham, a
pre-law student, good grades, no record. When we interviewed Amber, she hadn’t
heard about the murder, told us she and Maricel were no longer friends. She
called Maricel a bitch. Amber’s got this boyfriend, Jared Higley, he’s a little
gamier. He’s a student, but a shitty one, got a criminal trespass and vandalism
when he was a minor, a felony DUI just last year.”
    “How do you know about Jared?”
    “When we went to interview Amber yesterday
afternoon, Jared’s in her bed.”
    The chief raised an eyebrow. “So I take it you
don’t like Amber for this because she didn’t know Maricel was dead?”
    “That’s what we’re thinking, but Amber had a big
black eye and a busted up cheek.”
    “How old was the black eye?”
    “Five days, Chief,” Ryan said.
    “So she might have gotten into it with Maricel,” the
chief said.
    “Or maybe Jared popped her,” I said.
    “So what do you want to do next?”
    “We want to get to Hector as soon as he comes up
for air. Do we have manpower for surveillance at his trailer?”
    The chief sat down at his desk and hit a few keys
on his computer. He frowned at the screen for a few moments. “Sorry,” he said.
“If he doesn’t show up in another day, ask me again and we’ll shift some people
around. But we don’t have anything solid on him yet. In the meantime, you can
put out an alert for his car.” He looked up at us. “Any other players?”
    Ryan said, “Al Gerson’s got a son named Mark, who
we haven’t interviewed yet.”
    “What do you know about him?”
    “Nothing, really,” I said. “Gerson said he’s …
What’d he say about his kid?”
    Ryan said, “Said he’s got his own challenges. He
didn’t give us any details. The kid’s about eighteen. Dropped out of high
school. Parents don’t know where he is half the time. Apparently he’s big into
online games.”
    The chief said, “You’re thinking since he spent
some time at the house with Maricel, he might know something about her and
Hector?”
    “Yeah,” I said. “Her and Hector. Her and his
father. Or maybe Mark had his own motive for hurting Maricel.”
    “Okay, thanks,” the chief said, nodding his head.
“We really need to find Hector and Mark.”

 
     
    Chapter 10
    “Detective Seagate, this is Bill Saffert, Building and
Grounds at the university?”
    “Yeah, Mr. Saffert, what’s up?” I put the call on
Speaker.
    “Just want to tell you Hector Cruz came in to work
today. He’s on a one-to-ten pm shift.”
    “Great, thanks a lot. Can you tell me where he is?”
    “You want me to call him in?”
    “No, don’t notify him. If you don’t know where he
is, you