self-inflicted gunshot wound on May 8. His body was found by his wife, Susan, who first called Bledsoe. Bledsoe, officials said, went to his partner’s apartment, destroyed a note he found in the dead detective’s shirt pocket and altered other aspects of the crime scene to make it appear that McCafferty had been killed by an intruder who had grabbed the detective’s gun. Police said’—Do you want me to keep reading, Jack?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“ ‘Police said Bledsoe went so far as to fire an additional shot into McCafferty’s body, striking him in the upper leg. Bledsoe then told Susan McCafferty to call 911 and he left the apartment, feigning surprise when he was later informed that his partner was dead. In killing himself, McCafferty had apparently already fired one shot into the floor of his home before placing the gun in his mouth and firing the fatal shot. Investigators contend that Bledsoe attempted to make the death appear to be a murder because Susan McCafferty stood to receive a higher amount of death, health and pension benefits if it could be proved her husband had not killed himself. However, the scheme unraveled when suspicious investigators interviewed Susan McCafferty at length on the day her husband died. She eventually admitted to what she had watched Bledsoe do.’ Am I reading too fast? Are you taking notes?”
“No, it’s fine. Keep going.”
“Okay. ‘Bledsoe refused to acknowledge any part in the scheme during the investigation and declined to testify in his behalf during the Board of Rights hearing. Jerry Liebling, Bledsoe’s fellow detective and defense representative during the hearing, said Bledsoe did what any loyal partner would do for a fallen comrade. “All he did was try to make things a little better for the widow,” Liebling said. “But the department has gone too far. He tried to do the good thing and now he’s lost his job, his career, his livelihood. What kind of message does this send to the rank and file?” Other officers contacted Monday expressed similar feelings. But ranking officials said that Bledsoe had been treated fairly and cited the department’s decision not to file criminal charges against Bledsoe or Susan McCafferty as a sign of compassion for the two. McCafferty and Bledsoe had been partners for seven years and handled some of the higher-profile murders in the city during that time. One of those killings was attributed in part to McCafferty’s death. Police said that McCafferty’s depression over the unsolved killing of Polly Amherst, a first-grade teacher who was abducted from campus at the private Hopkins School, sexually mutilated and strangled, led him to thoughts of killing himself. McCafferty was also struggling with a drinking problem. “So now the department hasn’t lost one fine investigator,” Liebling said after Monday’s hearing, “it has lost two. They’ll never find two guys that were as good as Bledsoe and McCafferty. The department really blew it today.” ’ That’s it, Jack.”
“Okay. Uh, I’m going to need you to send that to my computer basket. I have my laptop. I can get it.”
“Okay. What about the other stories?”
“Can you go back to the headlines? Are any of them about McCafferty’s death or are they all stories on cases?”
She took a half minute to scroll through the headlines.
“It looks like they are all about cases. There are quite a few on the schoolteacher. Nothing else on the suicide. And you know what, the reason that story I just read didn’t come up on my search on Monday was because the word ‘suicide’ was never in it. That was the keyword I plugged in.”
I’d already figured that out. I asked her to ship the stories on the teacher to my computer basket, thanked her and hung up.
I called the main detective bureau of the Baltimore Police Department and asked for Jerry Liebling.
“Liebling, autos.”
“Detective Liebling, my name is Jack McEvoy and I’m wondering if you can help me. I’m trying to reach Dan Bledsoe.”
“That would be in regard to what?”
“I’d rather talk to him about it.”
“I’m sorry I can’t help you and I’ve got another call.”
“Look, I know what he tried to do for McCafferty. I want to tell him something that I think will help him. That’s really all I can say. But if you don’t help me, you are missing a chance to help him. I can give you my number. Why don’t you call him and give it to him. Let him decide.”
There was a long silence and I suddenly thought I had been