Nik Kane Alaska Mystery - 02 - Capitol Offense

Nik Kane Alaska Mystery - 02 - Capitol Offense Read Free

Book: Nik Kane Alaska Mystery - 02 - Capitol Offense Read Free
Author: Mike Doogan
Tags: Mystery
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    “You want me to take a job the firm won’t take, for ‘complicated’ reasons?” Kane said.
    “Can’t take,” the chief said.
    “Why not?” Kane asked.
    Jeffords looked around to make sure no one had entered the firing range.
    He probably arranged for this place to be empty, Kane thought. He didn’t want anyone else to hear this conversation, and he’s still not saying anything. I wonder who he thinks might be listening.
    “The case involves a politician,” Jeffords said. “It would be…incongruent…for me, or the firm, to be involved with this.”
    And that’s as close to an admission that he owns the firm as I’m likely to get, Kane thought.
    “Incongruent,” Kane said. “I guess those word-a-day calendars really do pay off.”
    He was silent for a moment.
    “If you’re trying to lay low on this, why send me?” he asked. “All your political pals will figure you’re involved the minute they see me anyway.”
    Jeffords’s job title was chief of police, but for the past decade or more he’d actually run Anchorage, stage-managing the elections of mayors and assembly members who did what they were told. Because so much of the money that made the city go came from the state and federal governments, he had made himself a force in state and federal politics as well.
    “I’m not responsible for what people may think,” Jeffords said. “But if anyone asks, you can truthfully tell them that I am not involved in this case.”
    Kane decided to let that go.
    “This politician have a name?” he asked.
    “His name is Matthew Hope,” Jeffords said. “He’s a member of the Alaska State Senate.”
    Kane was silent as he thought about what Jeffords had said. Matthew Hope’s name had been all over the news in the past couple of days. He’d been arrested for the murder of a young woman in the state Capitol. The victim had been beautiful and “scantily clad,” as the newspapers and the TV newsreaders put it. She’d also been white, and Hope was an Alaska Native. The story had everything needed to crank up the media—sex, politics, violence, and race. The crime had even been given a tabloidy nickname—The White Rose Murder, for the flower embroidered on the front of the garter belt the victim had been wearing.
    Maybe that’s why Jeffords is being so careful, Kane thought. A case this hot could burn anybody involved. Or even anybody in the wrong place at the wrong time.
    “The White Rose Murder case is a lollapalooza,” Kane said. “Is Hope one of yours?”
    The chief smiled.
    “One of mine?” Jeffords said. “What do you think, Nik, that I have a stable of politicians who jump when I snap my fingers?”
    Actually, that’s exactly what Kane thought, but he couldn’t see that saying so would get him anything but a lecture on how representative democracy worked. Instead, he asked, “Is he a friend of yours or not?”
    Jeffords was silent for a moment.
    “I think it’s fair to say that Senator Hope and I don’t see eye-to-eye on some things,” he said.
    Jeffords was clearly not going to tell him anything useful about his relationship with Matthew Hope, so Kane changed the subject.
    “What do you know about the case?” he asked.
    Jeffords looked around the firing range, as if expecting to see a grand jury sitting in it somewhere.
    “The newspapers have given it extensive coverage,” he said.
    So he wants to be able to tell people he never discussed the case with me, Kane thought.
    “If you don’t like this guy’s politics, why get involved?” he asked.
    “I’m not getting involved,” Jeffords said with a thin smile. “You’re getting involved.”
    Kane opened his mouth, but Jeffords spoke again.
    “I really can’t tell you any more, “he said.
    Can’t, or won’t, Kane thought. Either way, he knew trying to pry information out of the chief was useless.
    Kane thought about what Jeffords was offering. He wouldn’t put it past the chief to dump him into a sticky

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