by Sonya Lee
Chapter 7
Katrina
Detectives Johns and Christian escorted Katrina into the officers’ lounge. They had given her a visitors badge and brought her a chef salad from the cafeteria. They told her to eat and relax on the sofa until they could get everything set up. Katrina sat at one of the tables and opened the chef salad. Her mouth started watering. She hadn’t known how famished she was until she smelled the turkey and ham. She ate the entire salad and drank two cans of diet Dr. Pepper.
She was sitting quietly at the table twiddling her thumbs waiting for one of the officers to come and retrieve her. She had been sitting for about ten minutes when she thought about her cell phone. She wanted to charge it. At the rate her life was going she might need it to call 911 again.
She searched around the lounge for a socket. She finally located one behind one of the end tables next to the sofa. She set the phone on the table and began moving the end table to reach the socket. Her cell phone vibrated then played the jingle for a text. Katrina looked at her phone in wonder. She hadn’t received a text in months. She wondered who was texting her now. She opened her text message box and read the message. The message said, “I’m here to help, check your e-mail,” it was signed the Guardian.
Katrina’s blood started to boil as she read the message. “Here to help my derriere,” she thought. “How is breaking into my apartment and stealing my laptop helping me? How is killing my friend helping me? How is sending me yellow roses with a creepy message helping me?” she fumed. Katrina walked out of the officer’s lounge in search of Detectives’ Johns and Christian. Officer Vasquez was walking down the hall, so she stopped her.
“Excuse me Officer Vasquez,” said Katrina.
“Yes, Ms. Castillo, right?” replied Vasquez.
“Yes, I need to find Detectives Christian and Johns. I just got a text message from the guy who killed my friend Kim,” said Katrina angrily.
“Follow me. They’re in with the captain,” said Vasquez.
Katrina followed Officer Vasquez down a long hallway. Several police officers were leaving the locker rooms to her right and left. It must be a change in shift, she thought. Vasquez made a quick right and then a left. They had made it to the officer’s desk. Katrina could see Detective’s Christian and Johns’ desk but they weren’t sitting at it. She continued to follow Vasquez. She could see Johns and Christian sitting in a glass enclosed office. When they reached the office Vasquez pushed the door open.
“Excuse me, Captain, Ms. Castillo just received a text message. She thinks it’s from the suspect,” said Vasquez.
“Come in,” said Captain Weatherspoon.
Katrina and Vasquez walked into the captain’s office. Officer Vasquez introduced Katrina to the Captain.
“Let me see the message,” said Johns reaching for her cell phone. Katrina handed it to him. Johns and Christian both read the message.
“What makes you think that message is from the perp?” asked Captain Weatherspoon.
“He signed it “The Guardian,” replied Katrina.
“It’s the same moniker, the perp used who sent the flowers and left the laptop at the hotel suite’s door,” said Det. Johns.
“Let’s check your e-mail,” said the captain. “You can use my computer.”
Katrina sat at the captain’s desk and pulled up her university e-mail. There were seven new e-mails. The subject bar read, “I thought you might need these.” All the e-mails came from the same person. Katrina clicked the first e-mail and opened the attachment. The word document opened to reveal the paper she was working on at the library.
“It’s the paper I was working on at the library,” said Katrina. She checked the rest of the e-mails with attachments. She looked at the officers. “They’re all my most recent papers, ones I’ve been working on this semester. Why would he return my computer, but keep my jump drive? Why would he send me my papers?” she asked.
“Katrina, do you keep backup copies of your work?” asked Det. Christian.
“Yeah, anything I’m working on gets backed-up to my jump drive in case my computer crashes. Why?” She inquired.
“Well, follow my logic for a moment,” said the captain. The perp has returned your computer. So more than likely he checked it out. He sees the papers, other school related materials and decides it has no relevance to him. He’s gotten what he wants, a peek into your world. So he decides to return it to you. He wants you to feel beholden to him like you owe him something. He decides to keep your jump drive so that he can have something personal of yours.” The captain paused for a moment. “Or on the other hand he’s our garden variety abuser. The kind that causes you harm and then tries to win you back by doing something nice. In this case giving you something he knows you need.”
“He’s more than likely the garden variety psycho. There’s no coming back from what he did,” replied Katrina.
All parties shook their head in agreement.
“Captain did you need anything else from me,” asked Officer Vasquez.
“Yeah, you might as well pull up a seat. You’re joining the team. We’re going to need you to pull guard duty when the safe house is ready,” said Captain Weatherspoon.
“We’re putting her in a safe house?” asked Vasquez.
“Yes, we were just discussing which one we want to use,” said Det. Christian.
“I’m thinking we need a place that’s spread out. Not close to other houses. Clear lines of sight,” said Captain Weatherspoon.
“Then we need to use the house on Donaldson. It fits that description perfectly,” said Christian.
“That’s the one I had in mind as well. I’ll make the call. The house should be ready in about an hour. While I’m making the arrangements, Katrina I need you to recall everything you did from the time you woke up yesterday until you met Detectives Christian and Johns,” said Captain Weatherspoon. Captain Weatherspoon excused himself from the room to make the arrangements.
“I have to go through this again,” said Katrina in vexation.
“Sometimes people remember much more once they’ve been away from the situation for a while. Captain Weatherspoon is one of the best interrogators the CPD has. He’ll pick up on things we might have missed yesterday. I think you’ll remember more now that you’ve had a chance to think about what happened,” said Det. Christian.
Captain Weatherspoon walked back into his office and stood in front of his desk. He faced Katrina. “Are you ready to go through the events of yesterday?” he inquired.
Katrina shook her head in acceptance.
“I want you to take a deep breath and relax. Good. Now close your eyes and think back to Friday morning. What’s the first thing you remember doing? Give me details, describe people and places and how they appeared to you,” said Captain Weatherspoon.
Katrina retold the events of her day on Friday. Captain Weatherspoon would interrupt her retelling in strategic spots and probe for more information. Katrina had reached the point in the retelling when she met up with Kim. Captain Weatherspoon interrupted her once again.
“How did you know what time to meet her?
“We scheduled it the day before. We had been meeting at least twice a week at the coffee shop to practice her Spanish. She was going to Spain during the winter break and wanted to increase her fluency,” said Katrina.
“Did anything unusual happen while you all were in the coffee shop?” asked the captain.
“No. We got a couple of cappuccinos and split a cinnamon roll. We sat at one of the tables and talked. Some of our friends came in and talked to us.”
“Who were these friends that you talked to?” asked the Captain.
“Adan and Maxi stopped by and teased Kim for a couple of minutes. They knew she was going to Spain and needed to brush up on her Spanish. So
they spoke really fast just to annoy her. Then they tried to talk us into going clubbing with them. I declined and Kim told them she would talk me into it. She told them she’d meet up with them later. She figured she could use them for more practice. A couple of minutes later Aisha and Saadat stopped to speak with me. Kim went to the restroom while I talked to them.”
“Did Kim dislike Aisha and Saadat?” he inquired.
“No, she knows when we get together we only speak in Arabic.”
“You speak Arabic?” asked the captain.
“Katrina speaks seven languages,” said Johns. “She speaks Spanish, Arabic, French, Italian, Mandarin, Russian and of course English.
Katrina looked at Det. Johns with speculation in her eyes. “You’ve been checking up on me?”
“Not really, just a routine background check. You were the last one to see your friend alive after all,” said Johns.
“So what are you trying to imply?” demanded Katrina.
“I’m just stating the facts. You aren’t a viable suspect for your friends’ murder in any case. You don’t have the strength to inflict the wounds your friend received before her death. So you can rest easy,” said Johns.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we can get back to your sparing match after I have finished my review of Friday night’s events,” said the Captain. Katrina and Johns looked at the captain, slightly embarrassed by their back and forth banter.
“How long did you speak with your Arabic speaking friends?
“Five minutes or so, we stopped when Kim came back from the restroom.”
As Katrina relayed this information, Detectives Christian and Johns were writing down the information they hadn’t gotten in the first interview.
“I just realized something. When I was talking to Aisha and Saadat a couple of guys at another table looked at me strangely.”
“What do you mean they looked at you strangely?” asked the Captain.
“I’m not sure how to explain it. I think they were just surprised that I spoke Arabic. They listened to our conversation for a while. Then they left the coffee shop a couple of minutes later,” she said.
“What did these two guys look like?” asked the Captain.
“At first glance they looked African American, but their clothing suggested Africa. But I had heard a word or two of their conversation. They had been speaking Arabic. But it was a dialect of Arabic I wasn’t familiar with. I can’t tell you how tall or short they were. I didn’t pay attention to them when they left. Kim and I left the coffee shop about fifteen minutes after they did. I offered her a ride but she said she needed to walk off the cinnamon roll. She walked towards her apartment. And I got in my car and drove home.
“You didn’t notice anyone outside of the coffee shop?” asked the Captain.
“No, the streets were empty. Kim had walked home from the coffee shop many times before. So I didn’t press her about dropping her off. The area around campus is relatively safe.” said Katrina.
Captain Weatherspoon was poised to ask another question when his phone rang. He answered the phone instead. The conversation was short. He hung up the phone and looked at his audience.
“The safe house is ready. We already know the particulars of what happened when she got home so there’s no need to rehash that information. If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know. Vasquez take Ms. Castillo to the safe house and take Timms with you. I’ll clear your overtime. Someone will relieve you at midnight. Now get a move on,” said the captain.
“Captain is it safe for me to stop by my parent’s house and gather a few things?” asked Katrina.
“Yeah, but don’t stay for too long. We need to get you to the safe house. This guy has already found you once. We want to minimize your exposure,” he said.
Katrina and Vasquez left the Captain’s office to find Timms. Once they located him they headed to Katrina's parents’ house to pick up some clothing before going to the safe house.
Johns and Christian went to find the patrolman who questioned the florist that delivered the flowers earlier that day. Det. John’s and Christian didn’t learn very much from the patrolman. “The Guardian” had used a prepaid credit card that could be purchased in any store around Chicago and its many suburbs. They assigned him to try to chase down any possible leads using the serial numbers from the card but they weren’t hopeful of gaining any information on the Guardian. After speaking with the patrolman, they set out to meet Vasquez and Timms at the safe house. They figured they could get there and check the area out before the other officers arrived with Katrina.