Authors: J. A. Faura
Simms hung up and almost immediately second-guessed his decision. He liked Felix Garcia, and the kid had proven to Simms that he had common sense and that he could really keep his sources clean, but this felt to Simms like it might be a big deal and big deals tended to throw off the judgment of even seasoned reporters. It was too late now. Simms would just have to trust that the kid would keep his word and his common sense.
Robert Grady and Mark Mullins were waiting in the conference room. Just five minutes earlier, they had finished arguing with Captain Freeman in this very conference room. In spite of Loomis’s request, Grady had no choice but to tell Freeman, even though he knew what the consequences would be. In fact, the actual exchange had been worse than either Mullins or Grady had anticipated. They had both expected that Freeman would insist on being in on the interview, but neither had thought he would come as unhinged as he did upon being told the subject of their investigation would only speak to Mullins and Grady.
Freeman wanted to have his finger in everything of substance going on in the precinct. It gave him the sense that he was in control, and finding himself on the outside looking in on the biggest case the precinct had ever caught was something that Freeman just couldn’t reconcile himself with. Grady had finally gotten him to calm down by explaining that he and Mullins were planning on coming at Loomis hard and they needed to have someone in charge outside the loop, so when Loomis and his attorneys wanted to go up the chain of command, Freeman would be there to catch them. It made sense and wasn’t entirely untrue, but it was something he had come up with on the fly. Now that they were waiting for Loomis, Grady was thinking that it was actually a pretty good idea. He had diffused the situation and at the same time he had made an ally of Freeman, which could come in very handy if they did indeed have to get a bit ugly with Loomis or his attorneys. Grady had a very hard time believing that Loomis would lose his cool or that he would hire obnoxious mouthpieces; he seemed too controlled for that. Still, you never knew and Grady had seen weirder things in his time.
He and Mullins hadn’t really talked about how to go about this. They had both done hundreds of interviews and had heard more than their share of confessions, but this case was completely different than anything either man had dealt with. In addition to the fact that Loomis was different from any other defendant they had talked to, there was the matter of the warehouse and the way in which Riche had been discovered. Grady doubted that Loomis would play that card, but men changed when they were facing the loss of their freedom or having to hurt their families. They also had to consider the fact that Loomis wasn’t coming in alone, he was coming with what was probably the best legal team money could buy, a team that was unlikely to sit idly by and watch their client spill every bit of information that would make the prosecution’s case. It was crazy to speculate on all the possibilities; there were just too many variables. In spite of all of this, Grady still felt good about the interview and he was still glad that things were unfolding this way. He knew he and Mullins might still have to deal with some tough questions about the warehouse, but clearly it was much better than having to go upstairs and let them know that they had given Steven Loomis information about the case and that he had most likely orchestrated the incident at the warehouse. Whatever way this was going to unfold, it was going to happen in the next two minutes.
The young officer led the three men through the hallways of the homicide unit and to the conference room where Mullins and Grady were waiting. As they were walking to the conference room, it occurred to Steven that he would most likely not see daylight again for a few days, if at all. He was confident of his actions, but the fact remained that if the prosecution chose to make an example of him, he faced serious time in prison. And while he had thought about that quite a bit, walking down this hallway and into a place where he was going to admit what he had done still gave him pause.
Once they got to the conference room, Steven wanted to make sure that he didn’t let Zeidler control the meeting, so he went in first and immediately walked up to Grady.
“Hello, Detective Grady.”
Grady stood and shook his hand, “Hello, Mr. Loomis.”
Loomis also shook Mullins’ hand and introduced his attorneys, “Detective Mullins, good to see you. This is Max Zeidler and Drew Willis, they are my legal representation.”
Grady and Mullins shook both men’s hands.
Grady had to grin at the sight of Zeidler, “Max, good to see you. Mr. Willis, nice to meet you.”
Max also smiled, “Bob, been a while.”
They shook hands. Both Drew and Steven were a bit surprised by the exchange.
Drew asked, “You two know each other?”
Max answered the question, “Yes, we do. When you’ve been in the business as long as Detective Grady and I, you can’t help but run into each other.”
Grady also responded, “Are you kidding? What cop in town with any time in the vice or homicide squad hasn’t heard of Max Zeidler.”
Thinking about it, Drew felt a bit silly being surprised by that. Zeidler was a fixture and one of the most unique characters in the New York legal system.
After the introductions, Loomis wanted to get this done as quickly and efficiently as possible, “Well, shall we sit down and have a chat?”
Grady motioned to three chairs and sat down across from the three men next to Mullins.
Both officers pulled out notes pads and Grady pulled out a tape recorder, “Mr. Loomis, we need to record the interview, do you have a problem with that?”
Loomis went to answer, but Max beat him to it, “Detective, we thought this would be an informal fact-finding interview. We don’t need to have a recorder in order to do that.”
Loomis turned to look at Zeidler. It was clear he hadn’t been expecting him to interrupt with this statement and was annoyed by it.
He took the opportunity to assert his intentions regarding this process, “No, Detective Grady, I don’t mind if you record the conversation.”
He said this while giving Zeidler a subtle look that said ‘This is my meeting.’
Zeidler was taken aback and began to protest, but Drew reached out and grabbed his arm. Max looked over and Drew shook his head almost imperceptibly. Zeidler backed off. Grady proceeded; he began by stating the names of all present in the room, the date and time, then asked Steven if he was ready to begin with the interview.
Loomis, hands folded in front of him on the table, simply answered, “Yes, I am.”
Grady continued, “Mr. Loomis, I am sure your attorneys have advised you of your rights, but I am required to tell you that anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have exercised your right to have an attorney present at this meeting. Are you satisfied that you understand your rights?”
Loomis once again responded simply, “Yes, I am.”
Grady went on, “And you are willing to move forward to make a statement?”
Loomis leaned back ready to get this done, “Yes, I am.”
Grady leaned forward and the interview officially started, “Alright, where would you like to start, Mr. Loomis?”
Loomis knew this was outside of interrogation protocols. Grady and Mullins’ job was to take charge of the interview and direct the questioning. Two seasoned homicide detectives did not normally politely ask a suspect where he would like to start.
Loomis folded his hands on his lap and began talking, “Well, gentlemen, as you know, my daughter was one of the victims of Donald Riche. You both were involved in the investigation, and during the course of that investigation I had the fortune of getting to know you, which is the reason I requested to speak with you only.”
Grady was taking notes, but he was getting nervous about where this conversation was going. Loomis looked to be heading down a path where he was getting into their personal relationship, and that was not an area Grady wanted to get into, especially here, but he simply nodded in response.
Steven continued, “You also know that while he was at the courthouse building being arraigned, he was shot in the head as he was being transported.”
Everyone in the room except for Loomis was taking notes. It was a charged atmosphere, everyone knew what was coming, but nobody wanted to rush it.
Loomis never broke his tone or pace, “I am here to let you know that I shot Donald Riche. I shot him from an office window in a building two blocks away.”
The men continued taking notes, also seemingly unaffected by the news. Grady gave Loomis a few seconds to compose himself, although he clearly was the one who needed composing.
Grady wanted to get a detail that had been bothering him quite a bit, “What about the meeting that you were supposedly in? We have a time-stamped video of that meeting, a video that your company provided.”
Loomis listened impassively and when Grady finished, he answered the question, “I utilized a simple video editing program to change the date on the video. I then asked an intern at the company, an intern I have no intention of naming, in case you were planning to ask, to take the actual video of the meeting and change it with my doctored copy. That meeting takes place regularly and includes the same people almost every time so it was not difficult to do.”
Grady wrote everything down. He was waiting for Steven to explain why he had denied having shot Riche instead of doing this back when it happened.
When it appeared that Loomis was not planning on moving on, Grady asked the next question, “Okay. Can you tell me the reason you decided to shoot Donald Riche?”
Loomis looked at Grady with no expression. He simply answered the question, “No, detective, at this time I do not care to explain why I shot Donald Riche.”
Mullins jumped in at this point. He had been quiet the entire time and he wanted to make sure that he was a part of the interview, even if it was to a lesser extent, “Mr. Loomis, I think it would seem obvious why you shot Donald Riche, so why not just deal…”
At this point, Max interjected and Loomis was actually thankful for it, “Detective, I believe my client just explained that he does not want to explain the reason he did what he did.”
Mullins turned to Zeidler and snapped, “I understand, Mr. Zeidler, but your client just admitted to shooting Riche in public, in broad daylight. I think at this point we need to clarify a few things.”
Max countered, “I should remind you that we are here voluntarily and that our client is making these statements of his own free will. He has a constitutional right to stop talking any time he wishes.”
Grady intervened quickly, the last thing he needed was for this to turn into a pissing contest, “Alright, alright, we don’t need to jump ahead. Mr. Loomis, can you give us any information about how you shot Donald Riche?”
Max now turned to Grady, “Detective, I just explained that my client doesn’t have to …”
Grady interrupted him, he was willing to let Loomis do this his way, but he still had to get certain information, “I am fully aware of your client’s rights, counselor, but you of all people should know that we hear confessions all the time from people that weren’t within two blocks of the crime they are supposedly confessing to.
“And you know something like this is going to bring the nuts out in force. Already has, actually, so although I do not want Mr. Loomis to say any more than he is comfortable saying, I do need to get enough information from him to verify that he did in fact do this. In order to do that, I have to get information that only the shooter would know.”
Max was about to start up again when Loomis put his hand up, “That’s alright, Mr. Zeidler, I don’t have a problem telling detectives Grady and Mullins what they need to know. I understand what you are asking, detective, and hopefully what I have to say to you will provide that confirmation.
“Donald Riche was shot with a cutting-edge sniper rifle, a CheyTac M200 Intervention with a custom .408 round. You will find that the rifle was taken from the weapons storage of Globalview Intelligence Consultants and you will find that the serial number comes back to that same company.
“You will find the rifle tucked behind a water pipe in the emergency stairway at 1720 East 5th Ave. The shot was taken from the second-floor window at the northeast corner of the building. It was an empty office and the door lock has been picked, so your forensic team will find striations from a metal tool.
“I’m sure you already knew the caliber of the round, but the CheyTac M200 Intervention is a relatively new and not widely available sniper rifle. The round I used has a standard ballistic coefficient of over 3500 yards and a muzzle velocity of 3000 feet per second, but I modified it to make it subsonic in order to help with sound suppression. Is that specific enough, detective?”
The question was asked without sarcasm. Grady had been taking copious notes, along with Zeidler and Mullins. He already knew the caliber of the bullet and the weapons it was likely fired from. Although most of the SWAT guys he’d talked to thought it had probably been fired from a Barrett, they wondered whether a suppressor had been used. You could not mistake the bang from a Barrett. They were still doing 3D renderings of the scene to calculate where the shot had come from exactly, but the crowds and onlookers had made it difficult. Now they knew.
He looked up and also without sarcasm answered, “Well, Mr. Loomis, if we are able to verify that, then yes, it is specific enough for us to believe that you shot Donald Riche.”
There was a pregnant pause where everyone in the room was waiting to see who would speak next.
After a few seconds, Max spoke up, “Okay, Mr. Loomis has made his statement, so I would suggest that we move on to whatever is next.”
Zeidler knew what would be coming next, but he had to get it on the record and he had to take control of Loomis’s statements and movements from this point on. For his part, Loomis truly seemed relieved. His posture and his entire countenance were tangibly changed. To Drew Willis, he now really looked like a man at peace. It’s not that he did not realize or understand what was happening around him, he clearly knew what he was involved in, but it was also clear that he was relieved to get this part of it off his chest. Drew didn’t know what it was about, how Loomis was acting, but he was getting the idea that he was protecting someone. It made sense, he had to have gotten help from someone within his company and most likely from someone in the press or in the police department and by confessing to the shooting, he preempted the necessity for an exhaustive investigation that may have put some people in uncomfortable situations.