July 1, 2016

 

FRIDAY WAS MY father’s birthday, so I called him when I got up for work. He was an early riser, so I knew he’d be up.

“Your mother wants you and Denise to come over for dinner and cake tonight,” he told me, and his tone warned me not to say no.

“Sure. I can make it by 6:00 if that’s okay,” I replied.

“That’s fine, and you can bring your new friend if you want. Denise told us all about him.”

“Sure. Your new grandson would love to meet you. Will Buster be okay with him, though?” I was referring to their beagle, who was twelve years old.

“Shit, he’s too old to fuss about another dog in the house,” he answered.

“Okay. Well, I have to get ready for work, so happy birthday, and I’ll see you for dinner. Bye.”

“Bye. Try not to get killed today,” he teased. That was always what he said ever since I joined the force.

I showered and dressed before fixing a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I made sure to set an alarm on my phone, so I didn’t forget about my dinner plans. I had no idea what kind of day it was going to be or how stressed I’d be at the end of it, so better safe than sorry. I needed to buy a gift yet, so I thought about my options. I had no idea what he wanted or needed, so I decided to stop by the Apple store and get him a gift card since he was into electronic gadgets.

While most people would be enjoying a long  holiday weekend, I’d be on call the entire time, and with the rapid abduction and killing rate of the St. Louis Slasher, I was sure to be busy.

I left the house twenty minutes earlier than usual in case traffic was a bitch, and it was. People were already heading out of town for the weekend. Large vehicles were towing boats as far as I could see down the stretch of highway. I walked into Homicide five minutes before my scheduled time.

“Crazy traffic this morning, isn’t it?” Liam asked, looking up from the file he was reading with a secretive grin.

“You bet. I’m glad I left early,” I answered and plopped down in my seat. “What’s the smile for?”

“Well, I have good news and bad news. I’ll give you the bad news first. A woman was abducted from a bus stop along Third Street last night. The good news is, we have an eyewitness. She’ll be in shortly to tell us what happened.”

“That’s great!” I yelped. “That is to say, it’s great if it’s related to our case.”

He nodded. “That’s true, but she did see a flash that might have been from a taser, so I’m hopeful.”

Eric and Marisol popped around the corner, and he filled them in. We all sat around, anxiously waiting for her to show up and give us direction. At 9:13, she finally appeared, and we ushered her into the conference room. She quickly explained that she was coming out of a bar along Third Street when she saw a flash of light and then a woman being pulled inside a large SUV around 10:00 p.m.

“Do you have any idea what kind of SUV it was?” I probed, feeling antsy.

“I want to say a Suburban. My sister has one, and it looked like hers, but the street lamp was out, so I could be wrong. It was dark in color with tinted windows. That’s all I know.”

“Did you see any of the license plate?” Marisol questioned, and she shook her head.

“Sorry, it drove off too quickly. It was all a blur once he had her inside,” she answered.

“You said once he had her inside. Are you sure it was a man, and did you get a good look at him?” I asked next.

She looked down at her hands, and her face fell. “I was half in the bag, so I didn’t get a good look, but there was enough light from his dome light to know it was a guy, and he’s white.”

Liam stood up and told her, “Thank you. This information will hopefully help us in our case. If you recall anything else, please get in touch. Any little detail might help, so don’t brush it off.” She agreed and then left us alone to talk in private.

Chris slapped his hand on the table. “Well, that’s better than nothing,” he declared. “It gives us some kind of direction.”

Marisol sighed and stood up to pace the room. “Yeah, but there has to be hundreds of dark Suburbans in the area.”

“Yes, but how many will have tinted windows? It’s hardly standard on vehicles,” I offered. “And if it’s a super dark tint, there has to be a form filed with the DMV for a medical exemption.”

Liam snapped his fingers. “That’s where we’ll start then. Look up medical exemptions on SUVs in St. Louis county, and try to limit it to Suburban models if you can.”

“I have an idea. We can check surveillance cameras for nearby businesses in that area to see if they picked anything up. Possibly a bank ATM got a snapshot for instance,” I suggested.

“Good idea. Let’s run with it,” Liam commanded. “Eric, you can look up the vehicles with tinting, and the ladies and I can go to the businesses to see what cameras have a view of the street. Also, we can check traffic cams. They might have a clear shot of the license plate. There couldn’t have been that many Suburbans in the area at 10:00.”

Feeling like we were finally getting somewhere, we separated to carry out our assignments. Liam, Marisol, and I found the bus stop at the intersection of Third and Biddle Streets where the abduction took place. We found the bar the woman had mentioned and walked along the sidewalk, trying to spot surveillance equipment. There was a pawn shop that looked promising, so we stepped inside and spoke to the manager.

“I have a camera on the door, and it can see some of the street,” he informed us. “You can have the disc to review if you want.”

We accepted the DVD disc and thanked him for his time. There weren’t any other businesses with cameras pointed toward the street, so our best bet for a clear shot at the plate was the traffic cam at the intersection. I called up to the station and had someone in the department review the footage from around 10:00 last night. I told them specifically what to look for, and they returned my call when we were back at the station.

“I can see the Suburban, which appears black in color, but it has something over the license plate that is blurring the image,” Officer Marsha Miller explained. “I can’t make any of it out, even after applying photo enhancing techniques.”

“Thank you, officer. I appreciate it,” I replied with a heavy heart and hung up to explain to the others. “He used some kind of cover or spray on the license plate to cause the image to blur. I’ve seen such spray sold online before. The gloss reflects the flash back toward the camera, blurring the image. It’s not high-tech, but it works against the traffic cams.”

“Apparently, it works against us too,” Eric added in a tense voice.

“Eric, did you find a list of Suburbans with tinting and a medical exemption?” Liam questioned and poised his pen over his tablet to take notes.

Eric shook his head with a loud sigh. “I didn’t find anything other than one that belongs to a middle-aged couple with five kids. The husband has glaucoma, thus the special tinting.”

We didn’t have to say it aloud. We all knew that man isn’t our killer. Our killer isn’t a family man. He doesn’t form loving bonds with others.

“What if he’s not from St. Louis County? We should search other nearby counties for exemptions,” I proposed. “It’s possible he lives a considerable distance away from the crimes as a way to dissociate from them.”

Liam’s face scrunched up. “I suppose that’s possible.”

“I think anything is possible at this point,” I pressed. “I wonder if he saw my interview on the news. He might try to change up his routine just to throw us off.”

Marisol tilted her head and cocked a brow at me. “But that would make him unorganized, and the profile you gave is of an organized killer, which I agree with.”

I had a gut feeling, and it was difficult to explain. “I just think he’s going to do whatever he can to outsmart us. It’s essential to his ego. He is playing a game, and he has to win.”

Liam stood and scooted his chair in. “Then it’s time we capture his pawn. Check with other counties if that’s what you feel we should do. I’m going to go update the captain.”

We went to our desks and printed out county maps. Then we split them up and began calling the DMV in each. The thing nagging me in the back of my mind was he could illegally have tinted windows too. He was breaking the big laws, so why not?

I called Maria and told her to keep a lookout and write down the plate number if she saw anything. She, in turn, told me to keep a lookout because the Bloods weren’t done yet. With the holiday coming up and all the people that would be enjoying the outdoor festivities, I was worried to the core.

By the time 5:00 rolled around, we didn’t have any workable leads on the Suburban, but, on a good note, we didn’t have any more dead bodies either. At least we were done with our work on the mass murder case. It was open and shut as far as we were concerned. We had the killers and their confessions, so it was a slam dunk for the district attorney. It freed up our time to focus on this madman while keeping an eye on the Bloods.

I was exhausted when I made it to my dad’s birthday supper with Duke in tow. I picked up a gift card to the Apple store on my way home from work. I figured he was due for a new phone.

They all questioned me about the case, but I didn’t have much I could share with them. “All I can tell you is, he doesn’t have a type, so watch yourselves. He isn’t discriminating. We think he’s driving a Suburban. That’s about it. We don’t have much to go on yet,” I told them.

“Okay, now what about you and the ADA? Denise said he was there the other night, so are you getting back together?” my mother asked.

I glared at my little sister. “Denise has a big mouth, and no, we aren’t getting back together. We’re just friends, and he was over because I was freaked out about the case.”

After I helped her with the dinner dishes, while Denise and my dad played with Duke, we all sat down for cake and a game of pinochle. Then I had to say goodnight. I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open.

I invited Denise to stay with me since Marcus wasn’t back from his trip yet, and after a scolding from our mother, she agreed. On the way home, we had an incident that neither of us would ever forget.

We were stopped at a red light on North Twentieth Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive when a white SUV full of thugs came at us. I recognized their colors—they were, of course, Bloods. I’m too tired for this bullshit.

They jumped out of the vehicle, and I grabbed my Glock and taser, but I tossed the Mace to Denise. “Keep the doors locked and call nine-one-one!” I barked at her.

I exited the car, with Duke on my heels, and trained my gun on the hoodlum in the forefront. “Stop where you are!”

“Whoa, mamacita. There’s no need to go all Rambo on us. We just want to say hey to you and your girl,” he drawled with a slur. “Plus, it looks like you’re outnumbered.”

Duke let out a low, vicious growl to let them know I had plenty of backup.

“You boys took a wrong turn,” I threatened with a snarl. “I suggest you get out of here right now.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the leader’s homie reaching for his gun, so I shot the taser, bringing him down to the ground in a shuddering heap. One of the others thought he’d catch me off guard, too, but he was also wrong. I shot him in the kneecap with my Glock when he drew his weapon, and he crumpled in a groaning pile on top of the other. Duke tackled the third man to pull a gun and clamped down on his throat. That just left the big talker and one more. Sirens closing in made those two run for the SUV.

“This ain’t over, bitch! We’ve got your number,” the pack leader yelled over his shoulder while I cuffed his buddies. Luckily, I had zip ties on me at all times. They were easier to carry than metal cuffs, and I could carry several.

“And my dog has yours,” I hollered back with amusement.

“Ouch! You shot my fucking knee,” the one yelped while I yanked him to his feet.

“Yes, and I’ll shoot the other one if you don’t shut up!” I growled, kicking their guns toward my car.

Three patrol cars showed up and called for an ambulance while giving me a questioning glance. They knew me, but I flashed my badge for any onlookers.

“You kneecapped him?” one of the young officers asked with a grin.

I shrugged. “He drew first.”

“Okay. I get that. Can you call your dog off this one, though?” he asked, pointing to the perp in Duke’s snarling grasp.

I whistled for my new partner, and they took the scum away. I told them I’d fill out paperwork on the incident in the morning. I was too tired to do it tonight.

“That’s fine. These asshats aren’t going anywhere but lockup tonight,” the senior officer told me.

When Duke and I climbed back inside my car, Denise gaped at me. “That was like…wow. I didn’t know you could be such a badass,” she stated in awe. “I knew Duke could, but not you. Respect.”

I laughed, “Do you feel safer staying at my place then?”

“Oh hells yeah,” she replied.

We drove to my house, and I went straight to bed. I sure had an interesting story for the watercooler tomorrow.