“Why did you park outside, Amber? I thought it was Kate’s week to drive.” I bit off another piece of my cream-cheese-slathered bagel and washed it down with a gulp of coffee.
“Jack wants to go over my yearly review before everyone shows up, and Kate has a dentist appointment at one o’clock anyway.”
“Got it, and good luck with the review.” I grabbed my purse and briefcase and headed to the garage door. “Tell Jack it better be a good one, or I’ll come after him.”
Amber laughed. “I doubt if he’s afraid of you. When it comes to one-on-one combat, he can easily take you, Sis. Sorry, but it’s true.”
I feigned hurt feelings then grinned. “Maybe so, but I have seniority over him. He can’t change that.” I waved goodbye, raised the overhead, and backed out of the garage with hopes that the Milwaukee traffic wouldn’t be a nightmare that Wednesday morning.
Luckily, without a traffic bottleneck slowing me down on the freeway, I was at work by seven forty-five. We needed to organize our plan of how to approach Douglas Blake and Julie Beckett, and both would have to be confronted at the same time. We couldn’t risk either of them calling the other to give a warning that we were there.
Renz spoke up. “According to Douglas Blake’s website, his office doesn’t open until nine a.m. By the time we finalize our plan and get to city hall, it’ll be close to nine o’clock.”
Taft agreed. “Where exactly is Mr. Blake’s office?”
“Somewhere downtown, so the police precinct will be the same for both city hall and the attorney’s office.”
Maureen continued. “Okay, split up and go to city hall and the attorney’s office, take Mr. Blake and Ms. Beckett to the downtown precinct, and question them there. Make sure you arrive at the police station at the same time so they see each other. That in itself will cause one of them to start talking right away.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Tommy said. “After one of them starts singing like a canary and we find out how the mayor is involved, we’ll hit his residence. He may very well be arrested today and taken into custody if it’s warranted.”
Maureen held Mike and Carl back. Once we knew what was going on, they would be dispatched to the mayor’s residence and wait for the rest of us to arrive.
We left our headquarters at eight thirty and took two cruisers. It would be a fifteen-minute drive to downtown Milwaukee in the morning traffic, then we’d have to park wherever we could snag a spot and go through security at city hall. Renz, Tommy, and I were tasked to that building, while Fay, Kyle, and Charlotte took the attorney’s office, which had a private parking lot.
Once we had passed through security and reached the administrative wing which housed the mayor’s office, I called Tommy’s phone and told him that they should enter the attorney’s office—we were in place.
We were instantly stopped by the gatekeeper, but with badges in hand, we continued past her. We reached Julie Beckett’s office, pushed open the door, and found it empty. We turned back.
Tommy took the lead at the gatekeeper’s desk. “Where is Julie Beckett?”
“She isn’t here,” the woman hissed. “She never came to work today, and she didn’t call in either, but you barged past me before I could tell you that.”
I gave Renz a frown when I remembered that we couldn’t reach her the night before either. Right then, Renz’s cell phone rang. He talked for several seconds then hung up. He jerked his chin toward the outer hallway, and we followed him out.
“That was Kyle. He said the attorney hasn’t shown up for work this morning and his staff can’t reach him.”
“What the hell is going on?” I asked. “We couldn’t get ahold of him last night either.”
“Okay, we need to go to their residences and see if they’re home. There’s the chance they’re both on the run if they know we’re close to finding out the real story of May fifth. Let’s go.”
I called Kyle as we walked to the parked cruiser. “Kyle, you guys need to go to Douglas Blake’s house and see if he’s there. He might be on the run. We’re heading to Julie Beckett’s house too. I imagine Renz told you she wasn’t at work. Keep us posted.”
I hung up and climbed into the back seat. Tommy peeled away from the curb just as I slammed the back door. We reached Julie’s house twenty minutes later and headed up the sidewalk. Tommy gave the door several hard raps, and we waited longer than it should have taken for anyone to answer—unless they were avoiding the cops. I jerked my head at the guys.
“I need your help at the garage door.” They followed me to the overhead, where I pointed at the small decorative windows at the top of the door. “Give me a boost and don’t drop me.” I stepped on Tommy’s entwined fingers and grasped Renz’s shoulder as they boosted me up long enough for me to see inside the garage. “Damn it, guys, her car is inside.” I stepped down, and we returned to the front door and pounded again. Nobody answered. “What do you think? Should we kick in the door?”
Renz rounded the house with Tommy and me on his heels. He pushed up on every window that he passed. I’d hoped for a slider patio door but no luck. Julie had French doors with sheer drapes over them. We couldn’t open the door or see inside unless we broke one of the window panels.
“One piece of glass is cheaper than breaking down a door,” I said. “I think we need to do an emergency wellness check.”
“I agree.” With his jacket on to prevent glass cuts, Tommy hit the pane of glass nearest the door lock with his elbow. The glass fell to the floor, and he reached in and unlocked the door. The thought of breaking into somebody’s home that easily and quickly was unnerving, especially since it was obvious that Julie didn’t have an alarm system.
We stepped over the glass and called out to her but didn’t get a reply.
“Don’t touch anything,” Renz said. “This entire house could be a crime scene.”
We called out again with guns drawn as we divided up and cleared each room. It didn’t appear that there was a forced entry or an altercation until I reached the master bedroom.
“Oh my God! Guys, get in here.” Renz and Tommy had been clearing the opposite end of the house.
Julie lay on the floor inside her bedroom, half in the walk-in closet and half out. She had been brutally murdered, possibly with a knife, and had what looked like stab wounds all over her body. From the position she lay in, it seemed that the perp could have been lying in wait in the closet and attacked her when she opened the door.
“Shit,” Renz said as he and Tommy rounded the corner. “I better warn the others. There’s a chance that Douglas Blake may have met the same fate.”
Kyle answered Renz’s call on the second ring. From the conversation we heard when Renz set his phone on Speaker, they were looking at the throat-slashed body of Douglas Blake lying on his garage floor.
“Damn it,” Renz said. “Secure the scene. I need to call Taft and update her. Meanwhile, call the ME and Forensics, tell them we have two crime scenes, and ask if they can get extra manpower to pitch in. Stay put, and we will too. Taft needs to contact the police and have them secure the mayor’s house. She’ll likely send Mike and Carl there as well.”
“I’ll make the call now. We should probably get the local PD involved too.”
“Yep, go ahead and have a couple units come to our location.” Renz ended the call and dialed Taft, who said she’d send the PD and our agents to the mayor’s mansion immediately.