He’d have been well outside his area. He operates mainly in the ’hood surrounding Temple University.” He gave a dour grin. “Runs an ‘enterprise’ that encompasses about ten square miles, give or take.”
“You put him away for a few years.”
The other detective snorted. “Damn few. Some dirtball encroaches on his territory, right? Emmons ties him up, has his goons dip the poor bastard in a vat of acid, as a warning to anyone else with the same idea.”
Risa’s stomach gave a quick vicious lurch. “Nice.”
“Yeah, he’s a charmer. How the guy doesn’t die isn’t the miracle, though. I had Emmons solid for the crime and he walks on appeal.” Obviously the memory still rankled.
“Tough break. What happened?”
“Some of the physical evidence went missing from the evidence room and couldn’t be used at the next trial.” He shrugged. “He’s supplied by the Rodriquez family, and they have very deep pockets. I imagine their influence is far reaching, although why they’d give a shit about someone like him, I don’t know. He’s just a cog in the wheel.”
Risa and Nate exchanged a glance. “How big a cog?” she wanted to know.
Randolph lifted a shoulder again. “Too big to bother with selling a little pot to your wit, I’d think. He’d send a runner. You sure you got the right guy?”
“No.” Nate smiled wryly and held up the folder the man had given him. “But this might help us figure out who the right guy is.”
Randolph half turned to leave. “Well, if your wit was looking to score, there’s no shortage of scumbags willing to deal it to him. I run into plenty of high school kids selling dope. The guy you’re looking for might not even have a record yet.”
“Thanks again for your help.”
The other detective nodded. “Like I said, we all want to see you catch who’s responsible. You need some eyes on the street, just give me the word.”
Risa waited until the door closed behind the man before looking at Nate. “If there’s another Juicy out there with no record yet, it’ll make the search a bit more interesting. But Crowley identified the other guy, right? Dwayne Jersey.”
Nate was already reaching for his cell phone. “I’ll give Pelton another call.” A few minutes later, he turned on the speakerphone. “Officer Pelton, this is Lieutenant Detective Nate McGuire calling from the . . .”
“McGuire, I was just going to return your call.” There was an almost continuous sound of phones ringing in the background. “Got your message when I got in this morning. I want to do whatever I can to help you catch the bastard killing cops. Just ran down the most recent information I could find on Dwayne Jersey.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Ah . . .” There was the slight sound of shuffling papers. “You’ve got his basic info on the arrest sheet you pulled. Hasn’t been in trouble with the law recently, at least nothing he’s been caught at. Been in trouble of a different sort, though. Word is he had his ass handed to him the other night for hitting on the wrong woman at Lil Tony’s nightclub.”
“What’d you find on him the time you arrested him?”
“Couple pounds of marijuana, a few pills. He didn’t go away for it. Did a stint in county lockup because he couldn’t pay the fine. I checked with his probation officer and he’s not exactly a model of clean living, but he hasn’t flunked a drug test yet.”
Nate’s gaze met hers as he said, “He’s been identified as someone who sold some pot in the park where the last victim was found.”
“Damn. Christiansen, right? Everyone’s talking about the murders. And Jersey might be your guy. The way I hear it, he doesn’t deal much with the heavier stuff, but he does move a ton of weed. Unless that last arrest worked a miracle of rehabilitation.”
“Where do we find him?” murmured Risa. Nate narrowed his eyes at her and turned partially away.
“Do you have a current address? I want to verify his whereabouts for a couple mornings ago.”
“Sure, I got it right here.” Nate scrambled for a scrap of paper on his desk and a pen to write down the address the man recited to him. “But if you’re talking about a couple days ago, it wasn’t Jersey in that park selling dope.”
“How do you know?” Risa and Nate uttered the words simultaneously.
“He’s still in the hospital. Has been since Saturday night. Well, early Sunday morning, I guess. That fight at Lil Tony’s? Jersey