“Let me get this straight, Lieu.”
Detective Sgt. Isaac Taylor stood by his desk in the pit, his gaze skimming over the file his boss had given him at the morning briefing only moments ago.
“Those hate crimes that have been all over the news the last few days, the ones where the victims — all minorities of some sort — have been brutally beaten and left for dead. That’s what you’re talking about here?”
Lt. Gavin Hayes began nodding before Isaac even stopped talking. “Yes, it is. And we just got a tip early this morning that identifies one of the three perpetrators in that grainy video footage the news keeps circulating as 23 year old Jasper Duke. I want Mr. Duke found and brought in today. This hate crime shit has to stop.”
The beatings had occurred over a week and a half period, one every couple of days, always at a different location around the city. So far, there’d been five victims, and Isaac sure as hell didn’t want that number to rise anymore than Lt. Hayes did.
But he still had questions.
“But that’s a Violent Crimes case, isn’t it?” Detective Pete Vega chimed in, and Isaac got the feeling his partner was just as confused as he was. “Cooper and Davenport are on it, I think.”
“No, it was a Violent Crimes case,” Gavin corrected. “But overnight, two of the five victims finally succumbed to their injuries. Which means it has now become a double homicide case. Violent Crimes has turned it over to us, and I’m putting the two of you on it.”
Gavin paused, pointing a finger between them.
“You just closed the firefighter case last week, and there is nothing more you can do on the Cazacu case unless the Romanian authorities see fit to honor the extradition treaty and send him back here. So I know you don’t have any hot cases clogging up your desks at the moment.”
“And this tip came in from the hotline?” Isaac was still flipping through the file. If he was going to take over this case and bring in a person of interest today he wanted to at least have the particulars down.
“Actually it was a 911 call. You know how the dispatchers usually hate when people do that, tying up the 911 line with something that’s not technically an emergency. But since this beating spree has become so high profile she let it slide and took the tip.”
Isaac nodded at that, but he didn’t respond.
He closed the file and handed it off to Pete.
“All right, Lieu. We’ll familiarize ourselves with the case and then head out to see if we can talk to this Jasper Duke. But I have to ask though, why aren’t we simply sending a patrol car to pick this guy up?”
“I think that would be risky. There’s a lot of heat on this case right now. A lot of attention in the media, and from the mayor’s office. I don’t want the sight of a cop car and a couple of uniforms at his door spooking this guy. If he is one of the assholes on that grainy video footage who’s beating innocent, defenseless people then he may bolt at the first sight of a cop.”
“All right.” Isaac sat down at his desk. “We’ll get out of here within the hour.”
Gavin nodded and then headed for his office. Isaac glanced over at Pete, who was absorbing all he could from the new case file.
“This is disgusting, Ike.” Pete sounded disheartened. “Five victims. One Black man, one Asian man, one middle-eastern woman, one Jewish woman, and one gay, Latino man. It’s like they purposely went out of their way to find a member of each demographic they don’t like, you know?”
“Seems that way.”
“What the hell is wrong with people, man?”
Isaac drew in a deep breath and sighed before he replied. “I don’t know, partner. But I feel like I ask myself that question more and more these days.”
“You and me both. And that video footage that Lieu was talking about? Grainy or not, that was hard to watch. Did you catch it?”
“Unfortunately, I did. And Lieu’s right about something else. It has to stop. I want to get these assholes. I think that file says that Asian man was in his seventies?”
Pete consulted the file. “Yep. Andrew Nakamora, aged seventy-one. Still in critical condition, along with the other two.”
“I don’t give a damn what you believe in. Just keep your hands to yourself, you know? Nothing gives you the right to harm another person just because you don’t like the color of their skin, or who they pray to, or who they love. Just pisses me off.”
“I’m right there with you, man.”
“And now Rafael Garcia and Gamila Al Hadid have both died from the beatings these jerks gave them. Andrew Nakamora, and the other two are all still in critical condition. These guys deserve to be put under the prison, not in it.”
Pete smirked at him. “Tell me how you really feel, partner.”
“Don’t get me started. It’s way too early in the day to get fired up.”
“I think it’s too late. And I’m ready whenever you are. Let’s go get this bastard.”
They stood and headed for the stairwell. On the trek out to the unmarked cruiser, Isaac glanced over at Pete and smiled.
“The countdown is on, man. How you feeling?”
The smile that lit up Pete’s face was almost blinding. “Next Saturday can’t get here soon enough for me.”
“Yeah? No cold feet yet?”
“Nope.”
“No second thoughts?”
“Only thoughts of the future. I’m telling you, Ike, once I marry my girl and we make these adoptions final, life will be perfect.”
“Well, I’m happy for you, man. I really am. Jada’s a good woman.”
“Hell yeah, she is. Hey, don’t forget to do the final fitting for your tux by this Friday.”
Isaac slid behind the wheel and buckled in. “I won’t forget. Sid has all the important wedding tasks all written out on a calendar at home. Final fittings, when to pick up my tux and her dress. Bachelor party, bridal shower, wedding rehearsal. The whole nine yards. She won’t let me forget a thing.”
“That woman is way too good for you, you know that, right?”
Isaac pushed air through his lips, making a raspberry sound. “Of course I know it. I thank my lucky stars for her every single day. I’m sure you do the same about Jada.”
“You know it. Thanks again for taking part, man. Means a lot.”
“Thanks for asking.”
He and Sidney had been more than honored when Pete and Jada had asked them over dinner one night if they would each be a groomsman and bridesmaid in their upcoming wedding. It was something Isaac was happy to do for the man who had become one of his closest friends.
That thought brought about a smile.
He could remember a time, not that long ago, when he was suspicious and untrusting of Pete. At one time he’d even entertained the possibility of Pete being the department leak at the PD. But that had been back during the early days of their partnership when they’d barely known each other.
A lot had changed in a year.
They pulled up to the poorly kept house in the Tremont neighborhood and Isaac parked the unmarked cruiser.
“Let’s go get him,” Isaac said, reaching for the door. They exited the car and approached the house.
Without warning, gunfire erupted.
Bullets flew at them from multiple directions.
Isaac ducked, drawing his gun and searching for cover.
Pwap!
“Ugh.”
It was a loud, stalled sound, like all the breath had been ripped from someone’s lungs.
Pete went down an instant later.
Isaac’s heart stopped.
“Nooo! Pete!”
Isaac scampered over to where his partner lay on the ground. A small pool of blood began to form at his side.
“Pete?”
Their eyes locked and Isaac’s gut seized.
“Get these sons of bitches, Ike.”
Pete’s labored words stirred something inside him. Like lighting a stick of dynamite. “You stay down. I’ll be right back.”
Bullets still flying, Isaac ran to the small porch of the house.
He raised his gun and shot the lock. The door flew open.
Isaac burst inside.
A guy turned from the front window and raised his gun.
A flick of Isaac’s tingling right hand sent the man flying across the room and crashing into the wall head first.
The man fell to the floor, out cold.
Isaac was vaguely aware that at least one other guy had run out the back as he came in, but he couldn’t be concerned with that right now. He pulled out his portable radio.
“This is Detective Ike Taylor, officer down at my location. I repeat, officer down. I need a bus now!”
He rushed further inside the house, eyes scanning for more perps as he pulled out his cuffs and secured the man to a radiator pipe against the wall.
Then he ran back outside.
He knelt next to Pete and placed both his hands on the wound at his partner’s side, applying pressure.
A glance at Pete’s face had him reeling.
Pete’s normally light tan complexion was deathly pale. But his eyes fluttered open and connected with Isaac’s.
“I apologize for making you have to touch me, man.” Pete’s voice was weak, but Isaac could see the hint of a smile. Even now, his partner was enjoying giving him a hard time.
Isaac tried to grin. “Shut up and concentrate on not dying, okay?”
“Did you see something, Ike? From touching me just now? Am I dying?”
Isaac stared him in the eyes. “If you die, I’m going to kill you.”
Pete smiled, trying to laugh. And Isaac said a silent prayer when the sirens he heard in the distance grew louder and suddenly came screeching to a halt on the street in front of him. A dozen police cruisers, and in the distance he could hear the ambulance.
Uniformed officers leapt from cars and came rushing toward them.
Still putting pressure on Pete’s wound, Isaac started barking orders.
“I’ve got a perp cuffed to a radiator in the living room. Get him to the station and put him in the cage in 3. And start a canvas of the neighbors. I want any and all information on Jasper Duke and who his friends are.”
The ambulance came to a stop in the middle of the street.
“Help is here, Pete. And you’re getting married next weekend so don’t you dare die on me. Do you understand? Because I don’t want to have to explain that to Jada.”
“Let me take over there, Detective,” one of the medics said as they rushed over. Isaac slipped out of the way and let them get to work.
He stood by and watched — hands covered in blood and stomach coated in helplessness — as the paramedics got Pete stable enough to move. When they finally loaded Pete into the back of the ambulance Isaac sprinted over to the unmarked cruiser and flipped on his lights and sirens to follow.
As they sped through traffic all he could think about was whether he should call Jada now or wait until he got to the hospital.