I stopped by Lutz’s office and gave the door two raps. He called out for me to come in.
“What’s up, Jesse?”
“Just wondering if that warrant for Cliff’s dating-site messages has come in yet.”
Bob chuckled. “You’re chomping at the bit, aren’t you? You do realize the courthouse doesn’t open until eight, right?”
I glanced at the clock on the opposite wall—7:49.
“Damn it, my mind is preoccupied with getting those killers behind bars as soon as possible.”
“Understood, but I can’t do anything until they open for business. I’ll give the judge a call before our morning updates. That way, I can let the entire team know when to expect the warrant.”
I patted his doorframe. “Fair enough. And the guy about the safe?”
“He’ll meet with the person I put on that detail at Cliff’s house at nine thirty.”
“I’ll volunteer.”
“Okay, that’ll work. See you at roll call in a half hour.”
My head was filled with too many thoughts. I’d entered my credit card information on the dating site last night but hadn’t responded to TravelingBabe90. I needed a minute to think about the consequences of beginning a relationship with someone. I pictured the loving parents I had, and the happy home I grew up in came to mind. I doubted that many people had that kind of relationship in today’s world. Thirty years ago, life was simpler, and love was stronger. At least it seemed that way in my home.
As I sat at my desk, I worried that I had become jaded, and I didn’t want to be that person. I pulled my phone from my jacket pocket and logged on to singlechicagoprofessionals.com and responded to TravelingBabe90’s message. I kept it short and simple. “I’m interested. Tell me more about yourself.” That was a safe start—baby steps. It gave me a chance to learn more without committing to a meetup right out of the gate. I needed to know if there was a spark before I wasted her time or my own. I hit Send and logged off, then I put my phone away. It was time for our morning roll call and updates. I grabbed a coffee and headed down the hallway with Frank.
Just like every other day, Lutz put his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat before beginning. The room went silent. He took roll call first then moved on to the updates.
“Confirmation has just come in from Judge Banks that the warrant has gone through. I should have it on my desk by nine o’clock, and it’ll be forwarded to the administrator at singlechicagoprofessionals.com to give us access to the messages received and sent by Cliff Howard. They’ve been given until the end of tomorrow’s workday to provide us access to Cliff’s communication logs, or they’ll be held in contempt. Those messages should contain valuable information and hopefully enough to crack this case wide open. I’m cautiously optimistic that by tomorrow, we’ll have our killers in custody.”
The room erupted with hoots and hollers. It was time to put an end to the mutilating and killing of innocent Chicago men. If it was proven that the killers had also committed the crimes in Charlotte and Sacramento, then the police departments in both cities could close the books on those open cases too.
We returned to the bull pen, and like me, everyone appeared to have had a fifty-pound weight lifted from their shoulders. Smiles lit up faces for the first time that week. Our detectives and officers could get back to a normal life, go home at a reasonable hour, and spend long-overdue time with their families.
My desk phone rang at a quarter till nine. It was Lutz calling.
“Go ahead and leave for Old Town. It’s going to take a while to get there with the morning traffic. Maybe by the time you and Frank return, we’ll have news from the dating site.”
“And maybe we’ll have news about what was so secret that Cliff needed to have a faux dresser built into his closet to hide his safe.”
Lutz sighed into the phone. “It might turn out to be a good day after all.”
Frank fired up the cruiser and we pulled out of the parking lot. I was curious to find out what was inside that safe and couldn’t wait until the technician opened it. It could be nothing more than common documents or even old photos he wanted to preserve, but to go to that extreme to protect something was odd. We reached Cliff’s street at 9:22—traffic had been reasonable.
“What the hell!” My head snapped forward.
As Frank approached the home, we saw the bright-orange Jeep sitting in the driveway.
“You better call Lutz and get Forensics back out here. That vehicle absolutely wasn’t here yesterday.”
We turned in time to see a van with an advertising logo that read UnLockIt on the side panel, and he parked at the curb behind our cruiser. The safecracker had arrived.
I jerked my head toward the man and walked to the porch. “You deal with him while I call Lutz.”
Frank approached the locksmith, who had pulled his tool bag from the rear of the van and was headed our way.
I waited as the phone rang on Lutz’s end.
“Come on, already. Answer it.” I didn’t have time to leave a message since it looked like a storm was brewing over the lake, and valuable evidence could be washed away with rain. I hung up and called the forensic office. I was relieved when Mike answered on the second ring.
“Forensics, Mike Nordgren speaking.”
“Thank God you answered, buddy. It’s Jesse.”
“Sure, what can I do for you?”
“Frank and I just arrived at Cliff Howard’s house to meet with the safecracker. The damn orange Jeep is sitting in the driveway!”
“No shit?”
“No shit. I tried Lutz’s office phone, but it just goes to voicemail. Time is of the essence, Mike. It looks like a storm is heading toward us.”
“Roger that. I’ll get the flatbed on its way so we can bring it back to the garage. I’ll be right behind it, but first, I’ll track down Lutz and let him know what’s going on.”
“Okay, but have Lutz call Abrams to get the closest officers from Patrol over here to canvass the neighborhood. These are decent homes, so maybe something got captured on a security camera. Meanwhile, we’re going to take the safecracker inside so he can get started. Have Bobby call me when he gets here with the truck.”
“Will do.”
I hung up and gave Frank a nod. “Mike is coming out, and the flatbed is on its way. Mike said he’d let Lutz know that we need guys out here to look for home security systems on this block.”
I apologized for the holdup and introduced myself to the man whose shirt had Zack P. embroidered on the chest pocket.
“So there’s a safe you need to access, huh?” he asked.
“Yep. The homeowner is deceased, and we’re trying to find his next of kin. Hopefully, there’s information in the safe that can help us.”
“Weird. That type of information is usually kept in a file cabinet or a simple address book.”
Frank took his turn. “Well, we weren’t able to find either, so the safe is all we have left. Hope you can open it.”
“Let’s take a look.”
Zack followed us up the stairs and into the master bedroom.
“Right this way,” I said as I entered the enormous walk-in closet. “For some reason, the homeowner felt the need to hide the safe even though it’s too heavy for anyone to walk off with, plus it’s mounted to the floorboards.”
Zack looked around. “Where is it?”
I smirked. “Watch this.” I pulled the handle on what looked to be the bottom drawer. A click sounded, then I pressed the façade, and the false dresser front popped open.
“What the hell?”
Frank chuckled. “That’s what we said.”
Zack scratched his forehead as he knelt down and took a closer look. “That’s a first. Let me see what I can do. Looks like a midlevel safe, nothing too complicated. It has a combination dial and a key lock, so I can try to jimmy it open first, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll drill it out. It’ll have a simple direct-drive cam mechanism, so it shouldn’t take more than a half hour.”
I tipped my head toward the door. “Okay, just let us know when you get it open, and don’t touch anything inside.”
“Will do.”
Frank and I wandered downstairs and out the front door. I pushed back my sleeve and checked the time—the flatbed should arrive in about twenty minutes. I shielded my eyes and looked in the direction of the lake. The clouds had become darker and closer.
“Let’s glove up and take a quick look at the Jeep,” I said. “I just hope they get it back to the garage before the storm hits.”
Frank opened the cruiser’s trunk and pulled two sets of gloves out of the box. We stretched them over our hands and approached the Jeep. I grabbed the door handle, gave it a jerk, and was surprised to see that it opened.
“Nice of the killers to make getting inside an easy task.”
We weren’t going to disturb anything, just observe. I snapped a few pictures of the dash, door pockets, floor mats, and console then moved to the back seat and did the same. Frank went to the rear of the Rubicon, opened the gate, and looked inside.
“Not seeing anything suspicious.”
“Yeah, me neither, but take pictures, anyway.”
Minutes later, the flatbed arrived. Bobby pulled to the curb, parked, and climbed out. “Mike said to wait for him before I load the Jeep.”
“Yep, good plan.” I glanced down the street, and two patrol cars were coming our way. The troops were arriving. “Frank, tell them what we need. I’m going to check on Zack.”
“On it.”