Bay of Deception Read Online Free Page B

she mustered a reply.
    “Because...they’re cops , I suppose.”
    “Cops wanting a promotion can act like one of your old squad-mates, especially in a small town with a limited number of detective positions.”  He watched her make the connection and only when understanding softened her face did he pick up the thread once again. 
     
    “His name was Larry Caulkins and he’d taken the detective examination six years straight.  He was a good cop and in any profession, there is the underdog that wins the hearts of their coworkers.  It also happened to be my first year to take the exams after transferring into the area a year earlier, and apparently I lacked the good manners to score lower than Caulkins.  It was like a funeral the day I made detective, with few people other than myself and Chief Williams seeming pleased.”     
    "For Caulkins, failing to make detective a seventh time caused his occasional drinking to escalate and eventually, broke up his marriage.  His brother-in-law tried to keep his drinking under control but Caulkins wrecked a squad car down by Lover’s Point and was given the option to quit or be fired.  Last I heard he lived in San Jose somewhere, working as a security guard and been on the wagon close to a year. 
    "That should have been the end of it and despite some initial attitude from Larry’s friends, I thought it was.  Larry himself held no grudge against me, never has.  But Jack Sullivan, the District Attorney was not only Larry’s brother-in-law, he was like a big brother and a best friend; introducing him to his sister, getting him into the Police Academy and pushing him year after year to try for detective. 
    "I even heard he was being groomed for the Chief’s job, but that all went down the toilet when he started drinking hard.  I admit relief was mostly what I felt once he quit and perhaps naively hoped to put it all behind me. 
    "It started small, as most things like that do; a speeding ticket I received while off duty turned into a scathing reprimand from a normally even-tempered Judge, along with a three hundred and fifty dollar fine.  Minor cases I brought to the District Attorney’s office seemed to get bungled or stalled for months on end.
    "Nothing was ever said or done directly by Sullivan or his office, and yet the effect began to add up.  My first year job review as detective was less than spectacular and I was working sixty hours a week.  It was a new job for me, so I redoubled my efforts with little improvement.  If not for Linda helping me to step back from it all, I probably would have gone down trying.
    "It was a rare Saturday off and after listening to me rant about my job review for an hour, Linda pulled out a yellow pad and started asking me questions: ‘Why did the judge lower the bail on this suspect and why was that rape case delayed for three months?  How did the evidence from that drug case get misplaced on the opening day of the trial and what was the reason given when it was found.’ 
    "I admit I thought the county DAs office was a pretty sloppy operation, mostly because I thought all the department’s cases were being handled like mine.  It didn’t occur to me that someone was sabotaging my efforts, I just wasn’t that paranoid.
    "Linda finished her many questions and after I made a few calls regarding jurisdiction and local influence, a pattern emerged with Sullivan at the spidery center.  Then I got paranoid!  Especially when I couldn’t prove any of it since legitimate errors are made on cases.   Like you, I could only watch my back every hour of every day.
    "I documented every aspect of each case I handled and pestered the DA’s office as to what pieces of evidence were needed and when.  This helped to a degree but if I slacked off even a bit, the errors picked up immediately.  And always Sullivan did nothing overt enough to prove, and it remained that way until Linda was injured and I was arrested for attempted