The Curious Case of Christopher Comtois (Part VI)

Choices

    

     It was just after midnight when the phone rang.  For most people, a phone call in the middle of the night is a rare occurrence. One that generally does not bring good news. But for a detective, phone calls after hours are commonplace.  Crime happens at night.  Sometimes late at night.  But Geoff Laney hadn't been a detective for all that long and still hadn't gotten used to be awakened mid-dream.  He fumbled for the receiver and answered in quiet voice as to not wake his wife. "Hello?" He was still half asleep.  "Detective Laney?  Sorry to call you so late."  He didn't recognize the voice.  "This is Todd Bortz. I'm a teacher at Orlando Lutheran Academy."  Laney sat up in bed as his wife opened her eyes.  He held up his finger towards her to indicate not to talk.  "Yes, Mr. Bortz, how can I help you?"  he said as he wiped his eyes to shake the sleep away.  "When you came to school last month to talk to us about Chris Justice, you told me that I would need to tell you if he contacted me," Bortz told him.  "Yes, that's true.  Go ahead."  Bortz continued.  “Well, I got off the phone with him just a few minutes ago.  And he knows.  He knows that you came to talk to us."  Laney asked him to hold on.  He wanted to get out of bed and go to another room.  He wanted to give Bortz his full attention and write down some notes.  He got out of bed and gave the phone to his wife so she could hang it up as soon as he got on in the other room.  Bortz waited.  "Thanks for holding," Laney said as he sat down at his desk and fumbled for a clean sheet of paper to write on. "So, did he call you or did you call him?  Take me through the conversation."

     Bortz began to relay the facts of what had happened just twenty minutes previous.  After he hung up with his friend of the previous year, he felt conflicted.  He genuinely liked Chris but he was also was a husband and father of two.  He didn't like the fact that Laney had, in a way, threatened him and his co-workers with arrest if they didn't tell him immediately if Justice contacted them.  He knew that the photo that Laney showed him wasn't Chris.  He was very upset that his boss, Mr. Wudke, believed otherwise.  He didn't know exactly why Laney had come to the school to ask the questions that he did but after much conversation with other teachers, the conclusion was that something had happened that involved Chris and another student.  They had all been talking about Laney's visit since he left the building.  Bortz and a few others who were better friends with Chris really wanted to call him to see what was going on.  To tell them about Laney's visit.  But the warning from the detective was enough of a deterrent. They debated Wudke about his conviction that the photo was of Justice.  And they all feared that Chris would call them and that they would have to decide whether or not to tell Laney.  It took everything in him not to just blurt out all of the questions that he had when he called earlier in the night.  It was hard to act as it was a normal conversation and it was especially tough to outright lie to him when he asked if any police had visited the school asking them questions.  He hated the position he was in.  But he and his wife had already discussed it and determined that whatever was going on with Chris wasn't worth risking being arrested.  They had no idea what an arrest would mean for him, the family or his career.  Friendship aside, whatever was going on with Chris wasn't going to change.  He knew that if he called that he'd have to tell Laney.  And he hated it. 

     "Chris called me about twenty minutes ago.  We talked for a bit about normal stuff just like we would any time he called.  But then he asked me if any police had been to the school asking questions.  I lied and acted like I had no idea what he was talking about just as you instructed" he told Laney.  Laney replied, "That's it?  Did he say anything else about my visit?  Do you know who told him? Is there anything that you're leaving out, Mr. Bortz?"  "No sir, that's it.  After he asked and I told him no he changed the subject and then the conversation was over.  I have no idea who told him or how he found out."  Laney didn't have any other questions for Bortz and thanked him for his cooperation.  He hung up and sat at his desk trying to decide what to do next. 

     Laney called his boss.  He was awake and answered immediately.  The conversation revolved around whether or not they had enough on Justice to issue a warrant for his arrest.  They had 3/4 of the witnesses at the hotel positively ID'ing his photo in the lineup as the guy they had met earlier the night of the crime.  This included the victim.  They had one key staff member at his former place of employment that ID'd him as the man in the photo taken of the suspect the night of the crime.  They had his history of frequent residence changes that was consistent with that of a predator.  And they had a driver’s license photo that looked very similar to the suspect.  But that was it.  They didn't have any connections to the man they were pursuing being a member of any band or any personal information on him that they had gathered from the witnesses.  All along they thought that perhaps the Chris Justice who committed the crime had fabricated all of his stories about his music career.  Maybe he had made it all up to impress the girls.  The man the witnesses that night described was outgoing and personable and everyone Laney talked to echoed the same about his Chris Justice.  It was very possible that he wasn't a musician at all.  They had to keep that possibility in play.  They were at a crossroads and decisions had to be made quickly.  Now that the cat was out of the bag, so to speak, there was a real chance that the Chris Justice in Denver was already on the run.  The investigation had taken much longer than they expected.  There were still key elements that they were searching for but time had ran out.  Sometime after 1:30am eastern time, on March 1st, 2002, they decided to issue a warrant for the arrest of Christopher Carl Justice of 275 Grant St., Denver, Colorado   

     Laney had to get ready and go down to the station.  There was paperwork to do.  Phone calls to make.  He wasn't ready to issue a warrant and had to make sure that everything was in order.  He and his boss had discussed the details of what they wanted to do and figured that by getting Justice in custody and waiting for extradition, it would buy them time to finish their investigation and have everything they needed for a conviction.  Having him in jail eliminated the threat of him running as well as potentially committing his crime again.  Plus, they would eventually be able to interrogate him.  If Justice had still lived in Florida it would have been different.  They didn't have enough for a slam dunk prosecution yet and if he were living just down the street, and unless he confessed during questioning, the case wasn't yet strong enough to bring him in.  They needed more time.  Having him in Colorado was a blessing.  They could have him arrested and sitting in jail while they continued to work.  They knew that if he waived extradition, they would have just ten days to go and get him and more days after that to bring him back to Orlando.  And the clock wouldn't even start until sometime next week since he'd be arrested on a weekend.  Maybe they could even ask Denver to slow play it and wait a few extra days to officially talk to him regarding extradition.  But if Justice decided to fight extradition, he would appear in front of a judge and might be able to post bond and would then be on the clock to make his way to Florida on his own to turn himself in.  This was risky since it again opened the door for him to run.  Both Laney and his supervisor figured that bond would be in the high six figures.  Justice was single and a teacher and most likely wouldn't even be able to come up with the ten percent necessary for a bail bondsman.  Plus, if he fought extradition and couldn't bond out, they would have up to ninety days to go to Colorado to get him.  The risk was worth it.  They were convinced that they had their guy.  They just needed a few more key pieces of evidence to prove it. 

     Laney finished the warrant and the list of charges against Justice.  They included five felonies with the highlights being kidnapping and committing a lewd or lascivious act against a minor.  Those two charges alone had major jail time attached to them.  Laney was satisfied with his warrant and charges, which his supervisor signed off on.  He faxed the warrant to the Denver Police Department and then called it in.  He spoke with the night commander and asked to be contacted once Justice was in custody.  Laney didn't like it that he was leaving his work to someone else, not to mention another jurisdiction in a different state, but he had no choice.  He hung up the phone and began to wait for the call that the man he had spent nearly two months learning about was in custody.