“Is that you, Jade?”
I heard Amber walking down the hall toward the kitchen. She knotted the belt on her robe as she rounded the corner and took a seat at the breakfast bar next to me.
“Sorry I woke you, hon. I was trying to sneak in.”
“Don’t ever try to sneak in. I might think you’re a burglar and shoot you.”
“True, but a burglar doesn’t know the code to the alarm.”
“Humph, you’re right. Give me a hug and tell me the latest. I haven’t seen you in almost two days.” Amber looked me up and down and wrinkled her nose.
“Yeah, I know, I smell smoky and I need a shower. I’m still wearing the same clothes I had on Wednesday morning when I left for work, for Pete’s sake.”
She squeezed my shoulder. “What’s the word on J.T. and his sister?”
I sighed and held my throbbing head. Lack of sleep guaranteed me a pounding headache. “We don’t have a damn thing other than knowing the Pirelli brothers are somehow involved.”
“They’re part of the Chicago mob, aren’t they?”
“Damn straight they are. Of course, nobody knows anything, so we got a warrant to have their phones tapped. So far, we’ve got zilch. I feel bad for Hopkins. He’s going on two days without sleep and he’s driving to Waukegan”—I glanced at the clock—“in about five hours to tell Curt’s mom that he’s dead. Curt was all the poor woman had.”
I got up and went to the cabinet that held the coffee cups, vitamins, and the bottle of ibuprofen. I shook four caplets into my hand, filled a water glass, and slugged them down. “I’m beat, Sis. I need a few hours of sleep.” I hugged Amber and kissed her cheek. “I love you, little sister. Say a prayer for J.T. and Julie. We need to get them home safely.”
“You know I will. Good night, Jade.”
“Night, hon.” I stumbled down the hallway with hopes that my headache would subside by the time I drifted off. Washed up and changed into my sleepwear, I climbed into bed, barely realizing how wonderful it felt, and set my alarm for seven a.m. If I was lucky, I’d get four blissful hours of sleep.
The repetitive knocking stirred me out of my slumber.
“Jade, are you getting up?” Amber yelled from the hallway.
“Huh? What?” I rolled over and looked at the clock—7:21. I hit the button on top of the clock to silence the blasting noise.
“So you’re awake? Your alarm has been screeching for—”
“Yeah, I know—twenty-one minutes. Thanks, hon, I’m up. Can you make—”
Amber opened the door and walked in. “Here, I already did.”
“Bless you my child.” I reached for the coffee mug and took a sip, kissed Amber’s cheek, and headed to the bathroom. I turned before closing the door. “Are you still going to be here when I come out?”
“What do you think? I bet you haven’t had breakfast since Tuesday. Scrambled eggs and bacon?”
“Yes, please. I love you, girl.”
I had thirty minutes to go from shower to breakfast to out the door. There would be no leisurely second cup of coffee that morning. I fed Polly and Porky, apologized for being such a lousy bird mom, chowed down my breakfast, and headed out the door.
“Wish me luck, Sis. Hopefully we’ll catch the bad guys and get J.T. and Julie home today.”
“Good luck, Jade, and keep me posted.”
The traffic gods were on my side, and I made it downtown in record time. I reached the parking structure at eight fifty and crossed the footbridge at eight fifty-four. I’d worry about that second cup of coffee later.
I walked into the conference room last but still before nine a.m. The obvious empty seats in the room tugged at my heart. J.T. always sat next to me, and that morning, SSA Hopkins was on his way to Waukegan, Illinois, to give Mrs. Belmont what was probably the worst news of her life.
Spelling sat at the head of the table, looking haggard, as if he hadn’t slept for two days—and he hadn’t. “Okay, people, I have some updates. First off, Frank Wyatt will be fine.”
We all breathed a sigh of relief.
“He’s still in the hospital but will be released after lunch. Cam, I want you to conduct a thorough interview with him.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Val and Maria, I want you to join Bill at the burned-out warehouse. I’ve been told there are a few vehicles inside. The fire inspector has already cleared the building, but he insists nobody try to get to the second floor. The floorboards aren’t stable enough for that. Go over the vehicles and anything on the first level that might prove helpful and take plenty of pictures. Forensics will show up sometime today too, so make sure you don’t interfere with their work. The police have already interviewed the building’s owner and sent him on his way. He wasn’t involved with the fire.” Spelling took a sip of his coffee then turned to me. “Jade, I want you to check with Forensics before they head out. Get the report on the Mercedes. I want to see the entire list of things found in that car—I don’t care if it’s a gum wrapper. After that, check on the phone tap and see if there’s any chatter. I’m going to go over that map and street list again. We need to know what the connection is between the downtown location and Brookfield. Those streets were written in that notepad for a reason, and we need to find out what it is. None of the buildings in a three-block radius of those intersections are vacant.” Spelling pushed back his chair and stood. “Any questions?”
We muttered a “No, sir.”
“Good, then let’s go. I want everyone back here by noon with an update.”
We filed out of the conference room, each with our own task to complete. I headed out in my personal car to the county’s crime lab a few blocks away. I signed in at the front desk then continued on to the lab, where Leah and Terry normally worked the day shift. They both nodded when I entered.
“It looks like we’re all going without much sleep. Working a double?” I asked.
“Yeah, we’ll be here until the night shift comes in. We were told we’re on call until J.T. and his sister are found.” Leah let out a long yawn.
“That sounds about right.” I crossed the room to their small coffee station and poured myself a cup. “Are you done with the Mercedes?”
Leah answered for both of them. “Yep, it’s been gone through about as thoroughly as possible. We found a few prints but nothing that was in the system. Whoever drove that vehicle last night was definitely gloved.”
I smirked. “Figured as much. Nothing comes easy these days. Find anything of interest? Spelling wants the complete list, no matter how insignificant it may seem.”
“Sure, give me a sec,” Terry said. “I’ll print out a copy for you.”
“You have everything bagged and tagged already?”
“Sure do,” Leah said.
“Good. Hang on to that stuff for now but send the photo file to my email.”
Terry returned with the copy and handed it to me. “There wasn’t a lot, Jade, so the list is short. I think that map and notepad you found was the most significant. Everything else seemed to be a nonissue.”
“Okay. Appreciate it, guys. Don’t forget to email me the photo file.”
Leah took a seat at her computer station. “I’ll do it right now.”
With the evidence sheet tucked in my purse, I left the crime lab and returned to our downtown building. Inside, I ducked into the computer lab and took a seat. I woke up a computer and logged in to my FBI email account. As promised, the photo file Leah said she’d send was waiting in my in-box. I pulled out my notepad and checked that task off my to-do list. My phone rang just as I was about to make the call to our tech department. Joe was calling.
I chuckled when I answered. “That’s why my ears were burning. You were dialing me right when I was about to call you.”
“You may want to hear this, Jade. There’s been some activity on the wiretap.”
“Give me thirty seconds. I’m on my way.” I power walked down three hallways to the tech department and entered. Joe sat on the other side of the room and waved me over.
“I have everything set up. Here, give it a listen.”
I pulled out my notepad and pen then gave him a nod.
Joe pressed the play button, and a back-and-forth conversation began. I heard an outgoing phone call made by Anthony Pirelli to his uncle Freddy, one of the patriarchs in the Chicago area. Anthony was looking for a place to lie low for several days. The uncle offered up his brother-in-law’s cabin, hidden away on a five-acre wooded parcel between Milwaukee and Wisconsin Dells.
“Come on. Give me a name,” I said as I wrote down everything I’d heard.
“It’s coming, Jade, in just a second.” Joe hit Pause at the two-minute mark. “Okay, he’s going to give the name right now.” He tapped Play again, and the uncle mentioned the brother-in-law’s name—Dante Leone.
“Bingo! That’s all I need. We can check the property tax bill under his name, and the location of the cabin should pop up.” I pushed back my chair and stood. “You’re amazing!”
Joe laughed. “It’s the wiretap that’s amazing. I just do the eavesdropping when an alert comes in.”
I returned to the computer lab and took my seat. With a quick jiggle of the mouse, the sleeping monitor sprang to life. I’d have to do a county-by-county property tax search since I didn’t have an exact address for that cabin. I typed in a search for southwest Wisconsin counties to see how many I’d have to call. I came up with six counties just to cover all possible areas. I made a call to Spelling’s cell phone to tell him my plan.
“Go ahead and get started on that. Did you get the inventory list for the Mercedes?”
“Yes, but I haven’t even opened the email from Leah yet. Just as I was going to, I got the call from Joe about the wiretap.”
“Give me that brother-in-law’s name. I’ll make those calls to the county courthouses and get the address. Go ahead and review the inventory from the Mercedes. If nothing pops, we can cross that off our list.”
“You got it, boss. I’ll let you know at lunchtime if I found anything.”