The Court Chronicles (A Blog Novella) - Part II, Chapter 6

Click here to read Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Sergeant Howell drums his pen on the stainless steel table in front of him. He looks over the file in front of him and looks up and examines Veronica’s face. He tries to read her sincerity as she says, “Officer Howell…”

“It’s Sergeant Ms. Nunez.”

“Right, sorry. Sergeant Howell, Garret had nothing to do with any of this and I’ll take the full brunt of the consequences. Please let him go.”

“Ms. Nunez, why don’t you let me focus on the police work? I’ll decide who stays, who goes, and when any of that is going to happen.”

Sergeant Howell gets a text message on his phone and excuses himself from the interrogation room. He tells Veronica that he’ll be right back and that she should do herself a favor and be honest with him when he gets back. She nods solemnly. The door slams aggressively as she tries to collect her thoughts.

How could this night have gone so bad? I hope Garret is ok. He didn’t have to stay with me as we waited for the cops. A lesser man would have left me curb side. He has won me over and now I doubt he’ll want anything to do with me after this night.

Veronica looks down at her hands and reflects on how blue her hands look under the glow of the fluorescent lights. A minor observation to distract her from the reality of the situation. She is now going to have to decide how much of the truth she is actually going to tell Sergeant Howell. She knows how this works. Veronica is in real danger once the police are involved.

The door clicks open and Howell walks in and sits down with purpose. He looks at her intensely for an awkward amount of time. He looks back down at the file and opens it slowly, sighing, and making a wide range of moaning sounds as he goes over the arriving officer’s initial report. God, spare me the intimidation dramatics please, thinks Veronica.

“Alrighty, Ms. Nunez lets get to the bottom of this.” Howell clicks his pen several times before he continues, “Can you please explain to me why a young lady, such as yourself, with no priors, would have five kilos of marijuana and 100 pills of ecstasy in the trunk of your car?”

“Well offic…um sir…Sergeant, can I be frank?”

“I would prefer it.”

“I want to be honest with you. I really do. I want nothing more then to explain everything away to you, but I am afraid. These guys know where my family lives and I just can’t put them in danger.”

“Ms. Nunez, prison is not a good place for a pretty girl like you. Help us out and we’ll help you out. Plain and simple.”

Veronica begins biting on her lip and twirling her hair. “OK. I’ll tell you everything I know, if you promise me that I can call my mom. I’ll also need permission to go to Arizona to bring her back over here.”

“We’ll see what we can do.”

“You are going to have to do better then that Sergeant. My mother needs to be safe. I care less if I am in prison if my mother is not safe.”

Veronica locks eyes with Howell. He can tell by the forcefulness of her gaze that she will not back down from this request. He needs this break. He hasn’t solved a case in a month and his performance review is coming up. He smoothes down the corners of his well groomed mustache. “OK. I will personally drive you to Arizona. You have my word,” caves Howell.

Pleased with his word, she begins, “What do you want to know?”

“Start from the beginning,” Howell clicks his pen.

“I don’t know where the drugs came from, but I know who put them in my car. About 2 weeks ago I went back to Arizona to visit my family and my mother confessed to me that my cousin Arturo had been bullying her to use her car. My mother takes care of my grandmother and needs to take her to dialysis regularly and had turned him down repeatedly. I called him up to set him straight and he agreed to leave my mother alone if I would let him use my car. I did for the sake of my mother. Now, it is no secret what Arturo is involved in. I knew what he was going to use my car for but I just wanted my mother to have some peace.”

“So you admit that you knew he was going to transport illegal drugs with your car?” Howell questions as he scribbles a note in her file.

“No. I knew what he might use my car for. He never mentioned specifically what he would do. He borrowed my car one afternoon for two hours. I got it back just as I had given it to him, or so i thought. I didn’t think anything of it. In fact, I had forgotten all about it until tonight.”

“Says here in the report, Mr. Galles and you were on a date. Night golfing?” He smiles mockingly.

“Garret’s last name is Galles? Yes, it was our first date. I opened my trunk to get my golf clubs when I discovered what Arturo used my car for. It seems like my cousin decided to cram as much drugs as he could in the side compartments of my trunk. The small door buckled under the pressure and the packages tumbled into my trunk.”

“How do you know your cousin had anything to do with this? How can I trust what you say is true?”

“Sergeant, I called the police as soon as I opened my trunk. Why would I do that if they were my drugs? Besides, my cousin called me and left a message saying he wanted to come visit me next weekend. I think my cousin set me up as a mule, sir.”

“Can Mr. Galles cooperate that story?”

Veronica rolls her eyes at the absurdity of the question. “No sir, the man has only known me for a few hours. We nave been sitting here at the station in separate interrogation rooms for twice as long as our actually date was.”

“OK. I’ll be right back.” Howell closes his file and walks out.