Read Online Friendly Fire by John Gilstrap - Free Book Online

refused,” she repeated. “We can show you the security tapes if you want.”
    Culligan shook his head. “Maybe in time.” Culligan never saw the prosecution team as enemies. Adversaries in the courtroom, sure, but at least in Braddock County, everyone pulled on the same oar in favor of justice. Even J. Daniel Petrelli, though his version of justice always came with a harsh spin and five exclamation points.
    â€œWhen he confessed, did he tell you why he attacked the guy?”
    â€œSome bullshit story about a kidnapping when he was eleven years old,” Hackner said.
    Culligan’s head snapped up. “I’m sorry, how old did you say Ethan is?”
    â€œTwenty-three.”
    â€œI don’t understand. Did the victim—what’s his name?”
    â€œWe don’t know,” Hackner said. “John Doe for now.”
    â€œDid Mr. Doe just get out of prison or something? Was there a vendetta against him?”
    â€œNot that we know of.”
    Culligan put his pen down and shifted in his seat. “Please don’t be difficult. Why did Ethan allegedly kill a man twelve years after he was kidnapped?”
    â€œThe suspect just had a birthday,” Hackner clarified. “So, it was closer to eleven years ago, or so he claims. That’s the bullshit part. There never was a kidnapping.”
    â€œHe made it up?”
    â€œIt’s not a complicated thing to look up kidnappings,” Hackner said. “He gave us a date and a place, and we checked both local and federal records, and there’s nothing there.”
    â€œWhy would he make something like that up?” Culligan asked. It made no sense.
    Hackner rolled his eyes. “Maybe when you look down at yourself and you see your hands and legs covered in someone else’s blood, you feel the urge to make up a quick story. How the hell should I know?”
    Culligan looked to Pam, whose eyes were somewhere other than the conversation. “Is that what my client told you at the time of his arrest?” he asked. “That he was kidnapped?” If he didn’t have as solid a relationship with Hackner as he did, the lieutenant might have taken offense at being second-guessed. As it was, Hackner looked away. “Detective Hastings?”
    She scowled as she inhaled deeply through her nose. “That is what he told me.”
    â€œBut?” There seemed clearly to be more.
    â€œIt was the way he told me,” she said. “He seemed genuinely flabbergasted to be put under arrest. Like killing the John Doe was the most obvious thing in the world.”
    Culligan scratched the back of his head. It seemed that every new answer deepened his sense of confusion. “What are you telling me?” he asked. “Or maybe what are you not telling me is the better question. I’m kind of lost here.”
    â€œI’m telling you that I believe him.”
    Culligan looked to Hackner. “You said no such kidnapping ever happened.”
    â€œLet me restate it then,” Pam said. “I think that Ethan Falk really believes it happened.”
    â€œJust as he might believe that he’s Santa Claus,” Hackner said. “Believing doesn’t make it true.”
    Pam wouldn’t back down. “You asked.”
    â€œBecause I need to know.”
    â€œHe could be delusional, of course,” Pam said. She seemed to be arguing with herself. “That’ll take a shrink to figure out. But I saw the raw emotion in the heat of the moment, and I’ll bet everything that if you could climb into his head and look around, you’ll see pictures that are scary as hell.”
    Culligan looked over to Hackner, and then back to Pam. “Okay, then. Anything else I need to know?”
    â€œNope,” Hackner said, and he stood. The meeting was over.
    * * *
    Ethan Falk did not look like a murderer. In Culligan’s experience, only sixty percent of criminals had the criminal