The warrants for the residences had arrived, but the one for the website would take longer to get. We still had an hour before Ted Sorensen would be home to allow us entry into Robert Smith’s apartment. Lutz sent Frank, Henry, Shawn, and me out to serve the warrants on both residences. Since both men were dead and nobody knew who their next of kin were, serving the papers was just a formality and something we legally had to do. We would enter Cliff’s home ourselves since there wasn’t a landlord to let us in. We hoped to find evidence of a will, insurance policies, an address book, or something similar to help us track down a family member who would handle his property and belongings. After that, we planned to secure the home until somebody took it over. Robert’s situation would be less complicated, and all we hoped to find—besides the common thread between both men and the killers—was the name of his next of kin.
We grabbed two cruisers and headed out, planning to go through Cliff Howard’s home first. When it was time for Ted Sorensen to arrive home from work, Frank and I would leave for Robert’s apartment and begin searching it.
We arrived at what appeared to be a recently refurbished brick two-story, now with a white contemporary look. Situated on a tree-lined street, it resembled several of the others in the well-to-do neighborhood. The style, somewhat like my own home, had the garage tucked under the living quarters. A row of narrow windows spread across the overhead garage door. They looked to be just above my eye level, but since Frank was several inches taller than the rest of us, he’d be able to see inside. He parked along the curb, and we climbed out. Henry snugged the nose of his cruiser against our rear bumper, then we walked up the driveway together.
Standing on his tiptoes, Frank peered into the garage. “There’s a Corvette inside but no Jeep.”
“Meaning the killers definitely have it,” Shawn said.
We continued to the front door. Frank turned the knob—it was locked as we’d assumed it would be.
“Check the usual places for a key before we pick the lock.” I began by looking under decorative stones strategically placed in the flower beds along the stoop.
Henry and Shawn scoured through the shrubbery, and Frank ran his hand along the top of the doorframe then patted the top of the porch light. “Got it.”
I shook my head. “At least it wasn’t under the welcome rug.”
We entered into a long hallway that doubled as a foyer. It opened up to an expansive living room with a huge eat-in kitchen to the right. From all appearances, Cliff had it pretty cushy—modern furniture, an expensive home in a well-off neighborhood, and possibly a housekeeper who kept the place immaculate. It was the quintessential bachelor pad.
“Let’s do a quick walk-through and then put our focus on the kitchen area and wherever the office space is located. Those two places are where we’ll find his computer, tablets, possibly a phone, and paperwork.”
We walked the main floor first. The living room, kitchen, dining area, a half bath, and laundry room were on that level. Below that were the stairs that went to the garage and a partial basement. We took the staircase to the second floor, where we found the en suite master bedroom with an attached office, two other bedrooms, and a full hallway bath.
“Okay, let’s go through the master bedroom first, and then when we have to leave, you guys can finish off the rest of the house. I’d like to clear the entire upper floor before we go if that’s possible.”
We immediately spotted the laptop sitting on the desk, and I powered it up. I was disappointed to find it would open only by facial recognition or the PIN, meaning we couldn’t access the contents. We would take the computer back to the tech department and let them try their hand at it. Cliff probably stored his passwords in a file on that computer, which could give us valuable information.
I took a seat at the desk and began going through the drawers, looking for whatever we could use. Finding Cliff’s log-in information for the dating site would likely tell us who his killer was. That would be the second thing on my list of to-dos after feeding Bandit when I got home. With a different IP address, I could look through singlechicagoprofessionals.com to see if Cliff Howard, or In-Demand, had something worthwhile to tell us.
After finding nothing in his desk that would lead us to his killer, I resigned myself to focusing solely on the dating site. If I could find messages between Cliff and the last person he dated, we could follow the bread crumbs and apprehend the people responsible for his death and probably seven others.
With the laptop cradled under my arm, I left the office. Frank had just finished going through every dresser drawer. He’d already checked between the mattresses, under the bed, and behind the artwork on the walls.
Shawn called out from the walk-in closet. “I found a safe!”
We crossed the room, not sure why that wouldn’t have been the first thing he noticed when he entered the closet.
I looked around, as did Henry and Frank. “Where?”
Shawn grinned. “Check this out.”
What appeared to be rows of drawers was actually a false front with a safe behind it. I wondered why Cliff Howard had gone to the trouble of having that built. What was he hiding?
“Let’s leave everything as is and give the kitchen a quick look. I think the tech department and Forensics need to be on scene. Somebody has to get that safe open and see what Cliff felt needed to be hidden so well.”
Henry piped in. “He could have rented a safe-deposit box unless—”
Frank furrowed his brows. “Unless what?”
“Unless it was something he wanted to access whenever the urge or need arose.”
“Interesting theory, Henry, and I tend to agree. I’ll give Lutz a call and see what he thinks. Meanwhile, start going through the kitchen. I remember seeing a built-in planning desk in there. If luck is on our side, you’ll find an address book with names we can follow up on or a calendar with important dates circled.” Once we were downstairs, I excused myself, stepped out onto the small deck off the back of the house, and called Lutz. “Boss, we’ve found something interesting at Cliff Howard’s house.” I pressed Speakerphone and placed my phone on the wooden railing.
“Go ahead.”
“Other than his laptop, which is locked, but we’ll bring it back to the district, we found a safe.”
“Interesting.”
“I’d say it’s a little more than interesting.” I scanned the horizon as I talked, and in the distance was the top of the Willis Tower.
“Sure, you have my attention.”
“The safe is located behind a false row of drawers in the master closet. If there’s something inside that’s so valuable, then why wouldn’t he just rent a safe-deposit box?”
“True. So that means he needed to keep whatever it was well-hidden but wanted instant access to it any time day or night.”
“Exactly.”
“Does it look like something a locksmith could open?”
I sighed. “I’m not an authority on safes, but I’d like to have Forensics and Tech give the house and safe the once-over before we call in outside help. Cliff may have gotten himself killed because of what’s inside.”
“Okay, I’ll have them head out.”
I checked the time. “Frank and I are going to head out, too, so we can have that talk with Robert Smith’s landlord, but Henry and Shawn are going to keep searching the house for anything that might help.” I hung up and went indoors. “Lutz is sending Forensics and Tech out, and Frank and I need to get going.” I tipped my head at Henry and Shawn. “Be thorough, guys.”