“Thank you. You’ve been a big help,” Dickerson said. That got them closer, but for Dickerson, it wasn’t nearly enough to make a case.
As far as he was concerned, they weren’t even close. They had only established that a crime had been committed, that the suspect was approximately six feet-three inches tall and that the victim was involved in drugs.
Their next step was to review what little information that existed about the case – her arrest record. On the evening prior to her disappearance, Afra was arrested for failure to pay the bill and for marijuana possession. They spoke with Sergeant Henry Jones; he was the first officer on the scene and included in his report that she’d been acting strangely. He also added that he did not believe that behavior was caused by alcohol or drugs.
“Sorry, Greg. That was just another arrest.”
So, all they had was his report to go on. What the detective took from the report was that there was another reason for her behavior and concluded that she got herself arrested.
The question was why?
There next stop was to go to Bones, which was exactly where Rona wanted them to go.
Upon arrival at the restaurant, they spoke with Paula Alexander. As had most of the employees, she worked there for years. As Rona instructed her to be, she appeared to be reluctant to cooperate, but eventually Paula told the detectives that not only did she remember Afra Dean, she recalled that she was the one that called the police when she refused to pay her bill and that Ronnie King was there that night.
“That’s why she refused to pay her bill. She had money but Afra practically dared me to call the police,” Paula said.
“Why do you think that she would do that?” Dickerson asked.
“She was afraid to leave because Ronnie was waiting outside for her.”
“Why was she afraid of him?”
“Afra owed Ronnie a lot of money and she had smoked it up,” Paula said and that was all Bautista needed to hear before she asked the only question on her mind.
“Was Rain Robinson waiting outside the restaurant with Ronnie that night?”
Paula had been instructed to answer yes to that question, but she went off script. “She might have been with him that night, but I don’t know. Rain was always around those days. She was in love and too stupid to know any better,” she said.
“Thank you,” Bautista said and stood up.
“We appreciate your help with this,” Dickerson said and got up as Miss Betty came up and put her arm around Paula. “We’ll be in touch if we need anything else.”
To Bautista, it was game over. To Dickerson, it was enough to take to Lieutenant Sanchez. Once he reviewed what they had, he agreed with Dickerson that the case for murder or even accessory to commit murder against Rain was mos
tly circumstantial.
“But that’s for a court to decide. Get a warrant for murder and go get her,” Sanchez said.
Now, with warrant in hand, Detectives Bautista and Dickerson were speeding to J.R.’s to arrest Rain for the murder of Afra Dean.
“We don’t need backup. She’ll come quietly. She’s too smart to do anything other than put her hands up and surrender,” Bautista said as she parked in Rain’s space at J.R.’s, but Dickerson wasn’t trying to hear that.
“All the same, I’m calling for backup,” he said. “Just in case the people around her aren’t as smart as she is.”
“You’re right,” Bautista said and got out of the car.
Dickerson shook his head and got out too. As they walked toward the entrance, Carter and Rain were driving up to J.R.’s.
“What does her irritating ass want now?” Rain asked Carter and prepared to be annoyed. Carter parked the car and they got out.
“Here she comes,” Dickerson said, but Bautista had already seen her.
Her eyes were locked in Rain’s as she walked toward her. Bautista’s heart was racing; she couldn’t remember wanting anything as badly as she wanted this one thing. They were about to arrest Rain Robinson for murder.
“You want the honors?” Dickerson asked.
“You go ahead. I want to see the look in her eyes when you put the cuffs on her arrogant ass,” Bautista spit out.