“Hello, Detective, this is Max Fried.” I said, pausing to allow him to say how glad he was to hear from me. When he didn’t, I continued, “Anything new on the break-in at my home?”
“No, Mr. Fried. I told you I’d call you if anything came up. How did you get this number?”
“It’s on the card you gave me. I didn’t expect you to have anything new, but I did want to tell you about something I found here.”
“I’ve got a new batch of cards. Is my cell number really on them? I gotta pull over and look.” He paused. “Damn, I gotta be more careful who I give these.”
“There’s a surveillance camera mounted in a tree in my yard and it’s pointed at my house.”
“Really? No kidding? Is it still there?”
“Yeah.”
“This I’d like to see. We’ll be there in about 20 minutes.”
“We’ll be waiting for you.” I really didn’t have anyone waiting with me, but I figured if he could be we, so could I.
About 30 minutes later, an unmarked police cruiser pulled up in front of the house. A city police van with an extension ladder on the roof followed it. Office Torres climbed out of the cruiser and two other men exited the van. When I saw the ladder, I was hoping one of them would be climbing it to take down the camera. I’m not that keen on heights.
“Mr. Fried,” called out Detective Torres, as he came up the driveway, “these men are from our Crime Scene Unit. They’re going to take a closer look at the camera while you give me some more information.” He took his pad and a ballpoint from his shirt pocket.
“Sure, what do you want to know?” I spread my arms and held my hands open wide.
He clicked his ballpoint pen and looked down at his pad, “When did you first notice it?”
“Yesterday afternoon.”
Torres held his pen over his pad and without moving his head, looked up at me. “And you’re just calling it in now?”
“Yes.”
He hung his hands at his sides and looked directly at me. “Do you have to work at annoying me or does it just come naturally to you?”
“Look, Detective Torres, I know you’re a busy guy and you’ve got a difficult job, but like you, I’ve got a job to do too and yesterday, I was out doing it. I didn’t have time to call it in and frankly, until I had a chance to look into something, I wasn’t sure I was ready to report it.”
He waved his hand around. “You mean this camera may have something to do with a case you’re working; a case you can’t discuss?”
“I think it may have something to do with Ray Kenwood’s murder.”
“Then you should have called me right away.”
“Next time, I will. I’ve got your cell number.”
He looked up at the sky. “Please, don’t remind me.”
“This time, I wasn’t sure it was connected. If it is, it seemed that I was safer with it here. I figure that if the killer is content with watching me, maybe he won’t kill me.”
“Then, what changed your mind?”
“This did.” I said and handed him the envelope containing my A. V. Designs ID and my print out.
He looked at me with his head tilted to the left.
“You might want to run prints on the ID card.”
Torres nodded without any facial expression.
“Look, Detective Torres, it takes a long time to call you “Detective Torres”. How about, I call you Leo and you call me Max.”
“No.”
I opened my mouth to utter a reply but was interrupted when the two guys from the van came around to the front of the house. One was carrying the ladder back to the van. The other was holding a large plastic evidence bag and walking towards Detective Torres. He held up the bag with the camera inside. “Leo, we got the camera. No prints on it. Anyone can buy one on the Internet. Transmits a radio signal to a recording device. Range isn’t much, but the recorder could be anywhere. We bagged and tagged it but we’re not gonna get anything more from this.”
Detective Leo Torres turned to the guy, “Thanks, Bob. After you check it in, can you please leave me a copy of the report on my desk? Thanks.”
Bob nodded and went to join his partner in the van.
“Gee.” I said, “Bob calls you Leo.”
Detective Torres turned and walked to his cruiser. With his back to me, he said “Good day, Mr. Fried,” and then both vehicles pulled away.
At least the camera was gone and I didn’t have to climb a tree.