I leaned against the wall in Maureen’s office. I was too amped up to sit. We needed answers, and we needed them days ago. Killers were roaming the streets, one whose identity we knew for sure, yet they all remained invisible. We had to change that, and hopefully, once the TV news networks began airing their faces, we would get callers telling us where they might be hiding out.
Maureen began by asking what we’d found out in the last hour. Renz took the lead.
“We know that Julie Beckett and Douglas Blake aren’t very cooperative, and it makes me wonder why.”
Taft cocked her head. “Possibly hiding something?”
I laughed. “I’d say it’s more probable than possible. It seems like their personalities change dramatically when questions are aimed directly at them.”
“Sure, so what do you need from me?”
Renz said he would need a warrant for all billing, service, and phone records between Douglas Blake and Michael Kent going back at least a year.
“Done. What else?”
I wondered whether cleaning up messes was documented and what kind of records the mayor and Julie Beckett had kept. There had to be work-related documents concerning hours billed so the mayor would know how much the city had to pay her unless she was on retainer. Maureen said she’d get the judge to sign off on that too.
“You know if word gets out that warrants are being issued that involve Milwaukee’s mayor, all hell is going to break loose with the press.”
I shrugged. “It won’t be a problem if nothing illegal comes to light. We’re just doing our job by trying to find the maniacs who slaughtered ten innocent people, and as it stands, the people we’ve interviewed are the connections between the mayor and the victims, and now some of them don’t want to talk.”
That epiphany struck me like a lightning bolt. It was something that we’d discussed earlier. The only people who had a problem talking to us were the attorney, the personal assistant, and the mayor and his wife. The bartender and the owners of Silver Shores didn’t take issue with us because they weren’t personally acquainted with Michael Kent. That gave us even more reason to be suspicious and to expedite the warrants.
Maureen glanced at the clock. “I’ll get the judge to move on those warrants as fast as humanly possible. The TV stations will start airing the breaking news about Cole, Lucas, and Erik at the top of the hour, so that means I’ll have to alert the crew upstairs to be ready on the tip-line phones. Right now, we’re in a holding pattern while we wait for those warrants, and to be honest, I don’t think speaking to extended family will result in anything that’ll help the case.” Taft picked up the phone’s receiver. “We need one more warrant, and it probably won’t sit well with the judge.”
I gave Renz a side-eyed glance. “And who is that warrant for?”
“If we’re going to solve this case before more people die, we need to go to the source himself—the nexus. The warrant will be for the mayor, and all of you will go through his personal and work-related documents, as well as those of his attorney and his assistant, for the entire month of May.” She looked from Renz to me. “Has anyone found anything incriminating that involved the mayor on the fifth of May?”
“Not to my knowledge, ma’am,” I said.
Taft rubbed her chin. “That was an evening event with a speech from the mayor about the new firehouse, then dinner, and lastly the silent auction, correct?”
“That’s what Amanda’s parents said. An hour before and two hours after the fundraiser, people congregated at the bar to be entertained by Paul Lawrence.”
“Hmm… so maybe there wouldn’t be any news on that particular date. That could be why nobody has found anything involving the mayor on the fifth of May. Start looking at the headlines for the next day or even two days later.”
“On it.” Renz and I rushed to our office and began searching through the local news archives for all of May. During the hour I searched, I couldn’t find anything damning about the mayor. I slapped the desk in frustration with my open hand. “Seriously, Renz, what are we missing?”
He rolled his neck until it cracked. “I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s buried big-time. My gut says the assistant and the attorney are knee-deep in a cover-up with the mayor. They wouldn’t be squeamish about talking to us otherwise.”
I agreed then propped my chin on my open hand and continued scrolling. “Wow, what a sad headline.”
Renz gave me his full attention. “Yeah, what’s that?”
“I didn’t read the article, but it’s something about five siblings who drowned when their van went into a lake just south of Capitol Drive. Sounds like they had been missing for a few days before the van was discovered.”
Renz frowned. “They drown and the parents survived?”
“No, the vehicle was driven by the eldest sibling. I guess he was a nineteen-year-old man according to the article. The parents weren’t with them.”
“Yeah, sad stuff all right and probably a lot of guilt associated with it on the parents’ part. Still nothing on the mayor?”
I shook my head. “I haven’t found a damn thing. How about you?”
“Same.”