into his black-leather office chair. He waited for the programs to come alive before sticking the thumb drive in an available USB port.
Emily stood across the desk and placed her hands on the edge, craning her neck to try to get a glimpse of the screen. “Do you think we have time to watch the video before Delia shows up? All we know is that Isabel was able to get a confession, Colin. We haven’t seen any of the video ourselves yet.”
“We all agreed to the plan, so if Isabel stuck to the script, there shouldn’t be any surprises.”
“Surprises? What surprises?” Isabel asked, standing in the doorway. “We don’t want no stinkin’ surprises.”
“Very funny.” Emily spun around, crossed her arms, and sat back against the edge of the desk.
“Emily was wondering if we should watch the video before Delia shows up,” Colin said. “I stuck the thumb drive in and it’s all queued up.”
“Let me give you the short version. I told Jerry if he confessed before the prints came back from the lab, I wouldn’t have him arrested.”
“How can you promise that?” Colin asked.
Emily grinned at her girlfriend. She knew how Isabel’s mind worked. “It’s easy, Colin. She didn’t say you wouldn’t arrest him, she said the Feds wouldn’t arrest him.”
“Ahh—I get it. Evan was murdered in my jurisdiction. It’s not a Federal case. Very clever, Isabel.”
“I do have my moments. Although, he’ll probably be in the grave before it ever got to trial, so what would be the point?”
“True,” Colin had to admit.
“Now, back to the video. Jerry did confess to the murder, but when I told him Ricardo’s prints were on the bullet still in the gun, he started to backpedal.”
“Why would he confess then think he could recant?” Emily asked.
“We’ll need to figure that out,” Colin replied. “Hopefully we can squeeze something out of Delia.”
“Colin,” a female voice blared from his desk phone’s intercom speaker. “Delia McCall is here to see you.”
Colin depressed a button and spoke toward the phone. “Tell her I’ll be right out.” He released the button and rose from his chair. “It’s show time, ladies.”
~*~
Emily and Isabel were already seated at the table in the conference room when Colin escorted Delia in, dressed in her customary tailored suit and expensive jewelry. Her long dark hair floated around her shoulders in waves.
The laptop sat open in the center of the table, ready to play the video of Jerry’s confession, alongside a gun sealed in a clear plastic evidence bag.
“Have a seat, Ms. McCall.” Colin pulled a chair out for her, then he took his place at the table and set a file folder down on it.
“Thank you, Detective.” She eyed the gun and computer as she sank down onto her chair. Her gaze rose to Colin. “But you can call me Delia. It’s not like we don’t already know each other.” She set her purse on the floor and scooted her seat up to the table. “Hello, Emily, Isabel.”
“Hi, Delia,” Emily replied pleasantly.
Isabel looked at her with a deadpan expression.
“I didn’t expect all of this.” Delia gestured around the table with her open hand. “I thought you simply needed to ask me a few questions to clear something up. What’s going on?”
“I do have something I want to talk to you about, and I thought it’d be best if Isabel and Emily were here.”
“All right, I’m listening,” she replied, with a hint of hesitation in her voice.
“Several years ago, someone tried to kill Evan Parker. Did you know that?” Colin asked.
“No.” Delia shook her head. “I only knew he was murdered about a year ago.”
“From what we’ve discovered, he managed to wrestle the gun away from the perpetrator during the attempt. He hid the gun with a note saying he hoped one day he could use it to identify his attacker.”
“I don’t know anything about that, Colin.”
“Obviously, the gun has surfaced, along with the note, or we wouldn’t be talking about it,” he said.
“The FBI lab traced that gun back to your father, Jerry Banderas,” Isabel added.
“Oh, my.” Delia put a freshly manicured hand to her chest. “I had no idea. Really.”
“You had no idea?” Isabel crossed her arms and leaned forward on the table, staring into Delia’s dark eyes.
“No, none.” Delia pursed her perfectly painted lips.
“Jerry confessed that he attempted to shoot Evan that night,” Isabel said.
“He never told me—honest.”
“I videotaped his confession, Delia. He stated Evan wrestled the gun away from him and shot him in the shoulder as he escaped.”