“We stumbled onto a key piece of evidence in the home invasion case while we were investigating the unrelated fetal abduction at Oakdale,” Eve said. “And it completely changes our understanding of the crime.”
Eve explained about Green’s Greenery, the fake Amazon delivery van, and Michael Green’s connection to Dalander, Colter, and Nagy.
“I get it now,” Lansing said. “You’re saying I was wrong when I told the media that the case was closed at the awards ceremony for Grayson Mumford. I appreciate your concern about the potential embarrassment to me and to the department, but don’t worry about that. I’ll play up that you two kept at it, going above and beyond, because we never quit. In fact, this will reflect very positively on the department. It shows we’re tenacious and not worried about public perception. But I agree with the captain—this wasn’t an urgent matter and doesn’t justify dragging us all down here.”
Burnside studied Eve. “There’s more.”
Lansing looked at Burnside, as if he’d forgotten she was there. “What?”
“That’s only the beginning. She’s not done,” Burnside said. “I wouldn’t be here if that was all there was to it. Look at her face. The other Manolo Blahnik hasn’t dropped yet.”
Lansing turned to Eve and he could see that Burnside was right. “This won’t be good. Go on.”
“There was an inside man, someone who smoothed the way in and out of the gated communities for Green and picked the homes to be hit.” Eve went to her laptop computer on the coffee table, opened it, and displayed a photo of Green’s soccer team. She pointed to one of the teenage players. “Grayson Mumford.”
Shaw squinted at the screen and shook his head. “Just because Mumford was on the same soccer team as the three dead assailants years ago doesn’t make him part of the robbery crew. By that logic, we should arrest the whole team.”
Duncan said, “But the rest of them aren’t working as floating front gate security guards at every community that was hit.”
Eve tapped a few keys on her laptop. “I’d like you to take another look at the video of the grocery store shooting.”
The video and sound from the confrontation played out from various camera angles on her laptop screen.
Colter charged into the grocery store and went straight for the liquor aisle, Grayson tracking his movements on a parallel course.
“It was no accident that Colter is here,” Eve said. “He’d just walked into a trap and saw two of his friends get killed. He blamed Grayson for it. Colter carjacked a vehicle and fled. But when he realized that there was no chance of escaping, he veered into the shopping center and decided to use his last moments of freedom to confront him.”
On the screen, they could see Colter at the end of the aisle, holding a vodka bottle in one hand and his gun in the other, half turned away from Eve toward the back of the store, where Mumford was hiding.
Colter said, “I know you’re here. Show yourself. Don’t be a coward.”
Eve, on the video, stepped into the aisle and said, “Here I am.”
Colter turned toward her and that’s when Grayson stepped out and shot him.
Eve paused the video.
“It wasn’t me that Colter was calling out. It was Grayson. I distracted Colter for a split second, and Grayson saw his chance to save himself. He executed Colter to keep him from talking.”
Lansing said, “And that’s the guy I chose as the first civilian in history to get our Medal of Valor. What a fucking mess.” He stood up and looked at Shaw. “Eve did the right thing calling this meeting and briefing us all at once.” Shaw held his hands up in surrender, but Eve was sure he’d still hold a grudge. “Let’s set aside, for the moment, how this looks for the department.” Lansing shifted his gaze to Burnside. “Do we have a case?”
“Against Green, yes,” Burnside said. “But not against Mumford.”
“He gunned down Colter,” Duncan said.
“To save Eve,” Burnside said. “You can’t prove Colter was calling out Mumford and not the relentless cop who’d chased him from Vista Grande.”
“Okay,” Eve said. “So we arrest Green and get him to flip on Grayson in return for a lighter sentence.”
Burnside shook her head. “There’s still no case. Mumford’s attorney will argue that Green is lying in a flagrant and despicable attempt to reduce his sentence and tarnish the reputation of a true hero. The sheriff gave Mumford, a civilian, the Medal of Valor, for God’s sake.”