“We interviewed Ms. Granath this morning,” Detective Clayton commented.
“I knew you were going to,” he agreed. He didn’t let any tension show on his face or in his body language.
“She mentioned that there have been a number of threats directed at her. She said she got a call last night specifically ordering her to ‘become confused.’ She was told to forget what she said in her initial statements.”
“Did she also tell you that, while she was being told ‘they’ could get to her anytime, someone was tapping and scratching on her window a few feet from her bed?”
“She did. She says she called you.”
No secret what they were getting at.
“Ms. Granath was a stranger to me when we both witnessed Deputy Hayes beating Antonio Alvarez to death. I would have had no reason to pursue an acquaintance with her after that.” Thank God he was telling the truth. Later...but that wasn’t their business. “However, I won’t stand by and allow a witness to be terrorized by members of my own department or anyone else.”
“You believe Deputy Hayes himself is involved in this campaign to intimidate Ms. Granath?”
“I do.” He made sure his gaze didn’t waver. “I also believe friends of his are involved. It’s hard to imagine them pursuing these tactics without his encouragement or at least compliance.”
“And what makes you think these friends are fellow sheriff’s deputies?”
He raised his eyebrows. “The rotting, beheaded rabbit in my locker at the sheriff’s department was one clue. Deputy Hayes is still on administrative leave, as I’m sure you know. It would have been tough for anyone not an employee to get in there to start with. The only people who might have been able to watch me dialing my combination to unlock were fellow deputies.”
DA Campbell’s lashes fluttered a couple of times, suggesting he’d surprised her. The lieutenant looked exceedingly unsurprised.
She picked up her pen and made a note, then lifted her gaze to him. “This is very much a ‘he said, she said’ case, which is always difficult.”
Abruptly pissed, he stared her down. “Fortunately ‘he’ and ‘she’ happen to agree.”
If he wasn’t mistaken, a smile started to form on her lips before she firmed them.
Clayton remarked, “A number of Deputy Hayes’s coworkers have come forward with glowing testimonials of his performance on the job.”
“I’m sure they have.” With an effort, Zach relaxed his shoulders. “Did any of them happen to mention the several citizen complaints accusing him of unnecessary force?”
MacLachlan spoke up. “I’m sure it goes without saying that we have access to Deputy Hayes’s personnel file, including commendations and grievances.”
Reassured, Zach nodded toward the paperwork on the table. “I don’t suppose Detective Delancy has made any attempt to discover the name of the woman Hayes was warning Antonio away from.”
“He isn’t convinced that you could have heard anything said between the two men, given that Deputy Hayes had his back to you.”
“Deputy Hayes was yelling. And, as it happens, I approached at an angle.”
The two detectives perked right up. “Did you?” MacLachlan murmured. He flipped a notebook to a blank page and pushed it across the desk to Zach. “Please draw me a map, to the best of your recollection.”
Zach indicated the houses by drawing crude squares, using smaller boxes for where Hayes’s patrol car had been parked and where he himself had pulled up. A couple of lines, complete with arrows, showed the directions from which he and Tess had come completed the picture. Then he passed the notebook back across the table.
MacLachlan studied the sketch and then pushed the notebook to Clayton, who in turn passed it to the DA.
They asked more questions, undoubtedly trying to trip him up. He told her again about Hayes trying to pick up his bloody baton, and how Hayes had ordered Tess to butt out because she was interfering in police business. Zach also reminded them that Hayes had been well out of the area he had been assigned to patrol.
Zach talked until he was hoarse.