| |
At that moment, the SWAT team pushed in behind Stacy.
“Go, go, go,” Chad Means called out, leading the first group in.
The boy tried to disappear into a narrow gap between the moving bodies, but Stacy grabbed his shoulder.
“Hold it,” she said, firm and resolute. Before he could say a word, Stacy had spun him around and pulled his arms behind his back. He whimpered as she removed the handcuffs from her belt and clicked them around his bony wrists.
Austin trailed behind the team. Stacy looked behind her as he came into focus. “Get him out of here.”
The boy squirmed and mumbled something Stacy couldn’t understand as Austin led him outside onto the porch and passed him off to a uniformed officer.
Stacy nodded. “Let’s move.”
Stacy trailed up a narrow set of polished, wooden steps behind the entryway. She didn’t notice them earlier, but she realized that this gave whoever was upstairs an advantage as they could look down from the second-floor landing onto anyone coming up.
Having the SWAT team go in first was a smart decision.
Stacy dislodged her Glock from the holster and cocked the hammer, holding the gun firmly with both hands with the weapon pointing at an angle to the steps as she crept along the left wall. Austin moved a step behind her, flanked against the right side of the wall.
At the top of the landing, two SWAT team members whirled by them in a streak of dark gray.
“Colton DeVito,” Stacy called out. “Cleveland Police.”
Nothing could be heard except for the SWAT team’s heavy movements and doors opening and closing.
When they reached the top step, Stacy and Austin locked eyes. Austin looked at Stacy and nodded to the hallway behind her. Stacy returned the nod, and Austin pivoted to the right as Stacy moved left.
After a few seconds, one of the SWAT team called out from a doorway near the end of the narrow hallway. “It’s clear in here, Lieutenant.”
Stacy peered into a bedroom on the left, which contained a small bed that was disheveled and covered in clothes and had a dull-stained bureau—without any mirror—bracketed by a small table.
At the end of the hall, two men from the SWAT team emerged, their submachine guns resting loosely in their hands. Stacy locked eyes with one of the men, whose pale gray eyes dulled behind the protective mask. He shook his head.
Stacy entered the room. It was a room with a bed and nothing more. The bed wasn’t pushed up against the wall but occupied more of the center of the room. A mahogany headboard stood out from behind the bed. The windows had no drapery curtains, and there were no pictures on the wall.
“Lieutenant, we’ve found something.”
Stacy cocked the safety back on her Glock 22 and put it back in the holster. She took off the delivery jacket and hat and dropped them casually on the floor.
Several uniformed officers from the department ascended the stairs and began moving into the room to the right.
Austin, sweat-smeared and breathing heavy, bowed in front of Stacy, resting his hands on his knees. “We found the rifles.”
Stacy stepped around Austin to find another handsome boy. His thick, dark hair was wrapped in a tight bun and held in place with a rubber band. He sat on the floor with his right hand cuffed to one leg of a large couch. He had a welt forming on the side of his cheek that had begun turning a sickly shade of purple.
Austin followed her eyes. “This one was particularly nasty. He put up a fight,” Austin said between breaths.
Chad Means held up one of the AR-15 rifles in a gloved hand and studied it intently. “It was freshly fired.” He stepped back and made a gesture into a room behind him. “Bullet landed in that wall over there.”
“It was a warning shot,” Stacy said, flashing a look of anger at the boy on the floor. She squatted down beside him. “Tried to scare us away. Sorry. It didn’t work.”
“Cops,” the boy snarled. “Never trusted them.”
Austin had slipped by Stacy and into another small room off the living room and reemerged with two girls, one blonde and the other dark-haired, both wearing nylon shorts and loose hanging T-shirt tops. Both girls stared at the floor, their heads lolling like they were detached from the shoulders. The sickly pungent odor of marijuana wafted from them. Both girls had been handcuffed.
“The party was either just starting, or it never stopped,” Austin said as he and the other SWAT member passed the girls off to two of the newly arrived uniformed officers. They led the girls away, one of them sobbing quietly.
When they disappeared into the hallway, Austin watched them leave and then whirled around. “I think the crier was also the screamer.”
Stacy blinked back tears from her watery eyes as the marijuana odor lingered in the room. She crouched down over the boy. Chad laid a hand on her shoulder.
“We’re going to finish up here in a minute and then move out if that’s okay, Lieutenant?”
“It’s fine,” Stacy said coolly. “Thanks for the help.”
She felt Chad step back. “Okay, boys. Make one more pass through, and then let’s move out.”
Stacy waited a moment for the men to leave the small room. It was cramped and cave-like, with broken, mismatched pieces of furniture in different colors lining the space. A narrow strip of carpet ran through the middle of the stained wood floors, graying with filth. There was a small single bed to the right of the room, sheets crumpled. The small window in the room was layered with dust, and the net curtains swayed slightly. Stacy thought about how nice the house looked from the outside but smarted when she remembered how college-aged kids could ruin anything through sloppiness and laziness.
Stacy looked over at Austin. “Sit him up.”
The boy squirmed and began flailing his legs. Stacy pressed a hand into the bend behind his knee. “Stop it, or we’ll bind both legs together.”
Stacy reached into the pocket of his shorts and removed his wallet. “Will Akers,” she rattled off, staring at the driver’s license as she looked through the flaps in the wallet. Stacy came across a fuchsia red card protruding from the top flap.
When she removed it, she saw Colton DeVito etched in silver lettering on the front of the card, and it also had Wells Fargo Bank emblazoned on the front.
Will stopped squirming long enough for Austin to drag him up to a seated position. The boy pressed his back into a faded orange recliner. Stacy pinched the card’s edge between two fingers and bent her wrist, nearly flipping the card at Austin. “It’s Colton’s card.”
Austin cleared his throat. “How long have you had the card, son?”
His skin became gray.
“Answer my partner,” Stacy said in a low growl.
“A couple of weeks,” he murmured.
Stacy and Austin exchanged glances. “Cut the rubber band.”
At hearing the command, Will’s face scrunched, and his eyebrows arched.
Austin put his hand behind Will’s neck and squeezed, tugging him close. “Hold still.”
Austin removed a knife from his pocket and cut the rubber band. The bundled hair whipped and unraveled. Austin took some strands, pulled it around the boy’s ears, and put a few wisps near his forehead.
Austin pulled out the picture of the suspect from the surveillance camera at the Wells Fargo ATM. He stood back and regarded Will for a moment and then tossed a glance between the boy and the picture.
“Looks like the same guy to me.”
Stacy glanced at the photo and slid on one knee across the floor until her face was a few inches away from Will.
“Colton DeVito.”
He looked down at the floor and shook his head.
A beat passed. Stacy took her hand and slapped Will hard on the side of his head, just near his ear. Will winced and whimpered. Stacy felt her hand sting, which meant she had connected with the right amount of force.
“Think.”
Will’s eyes were as wide as they could stretch, and his mouth hung with lips slightly parted.
“I don’t know who that is.”
Stacy slapped him on the other side of his head, but harder. “That’s funny because you’re the one that’s been using his ATM card at the Wells Fargo Bank on Euclid Avenue.”
Will looked down at the floor again. Stacy reached back and took the folded picture from Austin.
Stacy put her hand under Will’s chin and pushed it up. She pushed the picture under his nose. “That’s you, isn’t it?”
When Will looked away again, Stacy grabbed his chin and jerked his head to the side.
“This isn’t a game, Mr. Akers, and I’m running out of patience.”
Will flared his nostrils and took in short, heavy breaths. “That’s me.”
Austin crouched down beside them. “Why do you have Colton DeVito’s bank card?”
“I don’t know anybody by that name.”
Stacy felt her face burn red. She tried to maintain a stony expression but felt the anger smoldering beneath her.
She snarled more than she spoke. “We’ve watched you take money out of an ATM using a card that doesn’t belong to you.” Stacy leaned closer. She could smell the remnants of cigarettes on his breath.
“Where’s Colton?”
The whites in his eyes turned dark, and his eyes glowered a shade of teal.
“I don’t know anyone named Colton.”
Austin leaned into his left ear. “Don’t be protecting anybody,” he spat out in clipped words and harsh tones. “Everyone we took out of here is going to be questioned and talked to, and people are very forthcoming when it means saving their own ass.”
“I don’t know him,” Will barked. “I don’t know a Colton DeVito.”
Stacy leaned closer until she was nearly touching his nose with her own. “How did you get this card?”
Will said nothing. Stacy felt her entire body stiffen. She frowned and leaned away. As she reared back to swat Will again, he began to stammer and slur his words.
“I got the card from a woman I’ve been seeing recently.”
Stacy froze, her cupped hand in mid-air, keeping the threat there.
“Keep talking.”
“Her name is Maria.” Will nodded, flexing his shoulders against the chair, trying to loosen the grip of the handcuffs.
“Does this Maria have a last name?”
Will looked away again. “I can’t... I can’t remember.”
Disgust rippled through Stacy. “Don’t play me, Mr. Akers.”
“I-I’m not,” he said, frothy streams of saliva crowding the corners of his mouth. “She’s Hispanic. Her last name begins with an F...Fer-Fernando or something like that.”
Stacy looked over at her partner, who kept eyeing Will suspiciously.
“Fernandez, perhaps?” he asked Will.
Will’s head snapped back. “That’s it. Fernandez.”
Stacy folded her arms as Austin pulled out his small notepad from the pocket.
“I never met this Colton person,” Will blubbered, his tone more manic. “I didn’t get the debit card from him. Maria gave it to me. She asks me to make some withdrawals using the card, and she gives me some money to do it. That is it. I swear to God!”
Stacy cocked her head to the side. “Did Maria ever mention how she got the card, or did she ever mention Colton’s name?”
“No,” Will said, defeated. “She told me not to ask too many questions. If I did, she said she’d find someone else to make the withdrawals. And she’d break up with me.”
Austin pulled out a small notepad from his pocket. “Got an address for this Maria Fernandez?”
Will shook his head. “We’ve only been dating a few weeks. She and I always meet in public.” Will cast a lazy look around the room. “I’ve got roommates, and there’s never any time for privacy, and she hasn’t offered to meet at her place.”
Stacy sighed, and Austin’s shoulders bowed in response. She wanted to reach over and slap some more information from Will Akers, but she was tired of him and his talking.
“Okay, let’s go,” Stacy said, grabbing Will by the arm and lifting him up. Austin moved over and unlatched the handcuffs.
“Wait, wait. Where am I going?” His eyes darted between the detectives, frantically seeking an explanation.
“To the station downtown for booking,” Austin said. “Drugs and firearms are not a good combination to have illegally.”
His eyes cut over to Stacy, pleading. “But I answered all of the questions.”
Stacy patted his cheek. “I know that, and we appreciate the cooperation.” Her tone changed, and her mouth tightened. “Get him out of here.”
Another uniformed officer came into the room. Stacy held an icy gaze on Will, who began to sweat and stammer.
"Please, don't arrest me. If my parents find out...."
The uniformed officer grabbed Will by the shoulder and led him out onto the landing and down the stairs.
They stepped out onto the landing near the steps. The air felt brisk as a breeze wafted up the stairwell. Stacy looked over at her partner. Austin wiped a streak of dust from his face. In the harsh overhead light, his cheekbones had been erased, and he looked wide-eyed into the glare shining up the stairs from the open front door.
Stacy puffed out a breath and ran a hand through her hair. The vest was heavy and sticky against her skin, and she wanted to rip it off, but she knew not to do that until the scene was completely clear.
She looked over to Austin. “So, what do you think?”
Austin tucked his notepad into his pocket. He waved a hand in the open space between them. “I think Maria and Colton and their friends here are in this together. They got this punk Will to withdraw the money from the ATM. He gives it to Maria, who probably gives it to Colton while he’s in hiding. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me.”
Stacy pursed her lips. “So Maria is helping Colton go on the run or hide. That means Maria might know that Colton killed Brooke. And they roped in Will to do the work so that neither of them will be discovered.” She recited the words in the space between them, addressing both and neither of them simultaneously.
“Now we just have to find Maria Fernandez,” Austin said, stepping toward the top step. “And let’s hope she’ll give up where Colton is hiding.”
Austin took a couple of long strides down the steps. Stacy followed, although her footfalls were lighter and shorter. Austin sensed the growing distance between them and looked back.
“What is it?”
Stacy picked up her pace and moved through the entryway. Outside, two police cruisers were pulling away. The SWAT team had cleared the scene, and Stacy could see a procession of headlights shining on the entryway to the driveway below and heard the hiss of car tires on the pavement.
“I’m thinking about something Monica DeVito told me.”
Austin stopped walking and whirled around to face her.
“She said that Colton would never date anyone after Brooke dumped him.”
Austin arched an eyebrow. “So? He could’ve been lying about that, or maybe Monica was embellishing the story.”
Stacy thought back to the frantic and pained look on Monica’s face when she was retelling the story of the relationship.
Stacy felt a silence in her gut. “I think she was telling the truth. She seemed sincere when she said it.”
Austin sighed and put his hands in his pockets. His vest pushed out from his chest slightly.
“Okay. What does that have to do with this situation?”
"Maybe something, maybe nothing." Stacy proceeded to walk ahead. "If he loved Brooke as much as he claimed, and he refused to date anyone else, then why would he give Maria Fernandez his debit card? That implies a lot of trust and you don't do that with someone you barely know."
Stacy shook her head. “Why would he trust a woman and some kid he barely knows to handle the withdrawals over a prolonged period, especially because he had such a large sum of money? Why didn’t Colton have them take out one big cash withdrawal and then take the money and run? Why have them do it repeatedly?” Austin, trailing his partner, finally caught up. “There could be more to these relationships than we know.”
As Stacy and Austin reached the slope in the driveway, Charlie Harris came racing up the middle of the pavement, holding Stacy’s cell phone away from him like it was an explosive.
“Lieutenant, it’s Captain Bannister.”
Stacy had left the phone in Charlie’s cruiser so it wouldn’t chime or get damaged during the raid.
“Yeah, Captain,” Stacy said. “Okay. Yeah. We’ll be right there.”
Charlie and Austin exchanged glances.
Stacy ended the call. Every muscle in her body froze. Charlie and Austin’s eyes desperately searched hers, waiting.
“Diana said that dispatch got a call last night from Ace Taxi Service. Miguel Olivo didn’t clock out after his shift from two nights ago.”
Charlie stepped closer while Austin shrugged his shoulders.
“A patrol car found the disabled cab this morning.”
Austin then leaned in, his face washed blank with confusion. “Did they find Olivo?”
“They did.” Her voice went hoarse. “They found pieces of him wrapped and stuffed in the trunk of the vehicle.”