63. Interview with James Bennett: Part 2
5 July 2011
– I thought I’d hit the jackpot when I—we—got the call, especially after we got Bishop’s license plate number off that Hill guy. I’m wired when we pull up to Bishop’s apartment and, I mean, he opened the door and I just knew.
– He was my meal ticket. Case closed in twenty-four, no questions asked. Go straight to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect your two hundred dollars.
– Kid mouths off to me a little, pushes my buttons, tells me I’ve got nothing on him, like we’re in some ‘50’s detective flick or something.
– So, in my excitement, I—yeah, I rough the kid up a little bit, tell him to shut his mouth. Step into his apartment and put him in cuffs, rifle through some of his shit, maybe push him up against the wall a couple of times. Nothing I’ve never done before, nothing any officer hasn’t done before.
– You gotta keep perps in line or they’ll take advantage of you, you know?
– And, I mean, I was seeing stars I was so excited, imagining the half empty bottle of Jack in the closet at my apartment and thinking about how hard I was going to celebrate that night. Maybe even get into the bit of Crown I had stashed under the sink.
– Yeah. Wasn’t really roughing him up though. More like…an intense arrest situation.
– Yeah. So we get him down to the precinct and I’m all smiles until the kid’s greaseball lawyer walks in. And suddenly my golden ticket ain’t a sure thing anymore, you know? A little more like bronze now, or fucking steel.
– [Mr. Bennett grinds his teeth and takes a sip of his water] Lawyer’s a character too. State-appointed, one of those aspiring types. The kind of guy that thinks pro bono’s an erection or something.
– He starts raving about how Bishop’s rights have been violated. This is before we even get to really questioning him, mind you. Hadn’t really gotten into it and he’d already admitted that he was there when the fire started, back at the apartment when I’d roughed him up a little. Officer Harold heard it, I heard it, full disclosure in my report, got the kid to sign a confession and everything. Bishop said he was there but he wasn’t the one that started it, his friend was.
– The mystery friend nobody could ever find.
– Which was all bullshit, but it was close enough to get his ass in a windowless room.
– Anybody can fake genuine. I’d have gotten the real truth out of him if all that other stuff hadn’t gone down. Five minutes, tops.
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