Montego Bay

by Fred Galvin

  The idea was that Gabi would slip in behind Vernon as he drove toward me. At the slightest indication that he made her and took some kind of evasive action she would simply drive past as if she was just another motorist and I would pick him up at the intersection. She would turn off and parallel us. This seemed unlikely given Vernon’s need to get away from the Day-O and the fact that it was now dark. Just to be safe Gabi had on my Yankees baseball cap and I was wearing a funky tourist straw hat for which Delyse was giving me endless abuse if for no other reason than to keep the tension as low as possible. She was ready to duck low if need be.

  If Gabi was unnoticed by Vernon then she would stay on him at a safe distance. As he approached the intersection I would pull out ahead of him and keep an eye on him in my rearview. Delyse was totally familiar with the streets and could direct me as needed if we had to break off.

  As expected Vernon’s car bolted from the Day-O within ten minutes of the end of Amelia’s call. He clearly wanted no part of confronting her with Ronnie being held against her will. He drove past Gabi’s position without noticing her.

  “He just went by my position. He was moving at a pretty good clip. I did not see Ronika in the passenger seat, as you predicted.”

  “Yes, he most likely has her in the rear seat and instructed her to stay low. She’s probably tied up and I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s also gagged.” Delyse shuddered as she heard that. “Oh, I’m sorry, Delyse.”

  “No, no, Dan. It’s okay. I understand that’s most likely but it’s just hard to hear and imagine what she’s going through now.”

  “Well, if it’s any comfort to you, my guess is she’s expecting something to happen very soon and very quickly. She passed her coded messages to Roje and he confirmed he understood and passed them on to us. She knows I would put some plan into place to free her. This will be over soon and she’ll be back with us.”

  I was confident but not quite as confident as I sounded to Delyse. Years of experience had taught me that anything could happen and a plan could go belly-up unexpectedly, especially with someone as stressed as Vernon must be. But there was no need to worry her needlessly. She just squeezed my arm and looked ahead waiting for Vernon’s car.

  It didn’t take long. Gabi’s voice on the phone said he was approaching the intersection at a good clip, not excessively speeding but close to it. He was being foolish as he could draw the attention of any random police officer who may be in the area. Geez, I hoped there weren’t any!

  I saw the headlights coming and pulled onto the road. I accelerated but stayed slower than Vernon. I didn’t want him to pass me but I did want to slow him down a bit. I wanted him to think I was just another car on the road. He slowed but was close to me, clearly impatient. I could see Gabi’s headlights in my rearview farther back. Delyse was under strict orders to lay low to avoid any possibility that Vernon may see and recognize her and I wanted to minimize her temptation to look back. She complied.

  After about a mile we approached an intersection with a traffic light which turned red as I neared. There was a convenience store, the Caribbean Carry-Out, on the corner and Vernon turned into it. For a moment I thought he was going to go through the lot and bolt up the road but instead he pulled up to the store and parked. He shut off the lights and I assumed he turned off the engine. This surprised me.

  I said into the phone, “Gabi, he’s pulled into the convenience store. I’m stopped at the light and can’t pull into the lot without possibly arousing his suspicion. You pull in and follow him into the store. Do not look into his car even though you’ll be tempted. Don’t worry, Ronnie will see you and that will raise her spirits. Go in and as inconspicuously as possible and find out what he’s doing. I’ll circle around and pull in after you’re inside. I’ll block his way out and come in to back you up. Be careful!”

  “Ten-four, understood.” I smiled. Gabi was also in full cop mode.

  ~~~

  In the back seat of Vernon’s rundown car, Ronnie was staying low as Vernon had instructed. She didn’t have much choice as she was handcuffed to one of the seat supports attached to the floor and she was gagged. If she strained she could raise her eyes just above the window bottom. Her heart leapt when she saw a figure walk by and into the store. In the store’s light she recognized the figure as Gabi Dixon and she was wearing a Yankees baseball cap. Ronnie laughed as much as she could inside the gag. That cap could only be Dan’s!

  She saw headlight reflections and strained to see behind her a car pull up perpendicular to Vernon’s effectively blocking his ability to leave. A car door opened and closed and suddenly Dan Deckler’s face filled her window. He tried to open the car door, which of course was locked, then he smiled and gave her a thumbs up. She started crying for joy. He held up his finger to his lips in the universal shhh motion and entered the store. She thought, He’s telling me to shhh? Can’t he see I’m gagged? He might as well tell me to stay put too!

  Ronnie figured she knew what was happening. Gabi was keeping an eye on Vernon in the store while Dan went in to back her up and survey the scene. In this type of situation, where you had a suspect cornered in a public setting, your primary concern was the safety of innocent civilians who were inside, such as the clerk and other customers. You couldn’t come in yelling “Police! Freeze!” The perp could do anything on the knee-jerk reaction spectrum from actually freezing on one end to shooting on the other. The former would be good, the latter could be very bad.

  She figured things were about to happen. She was right.

  ~~~

  Vernon needed a phone to contact Gillian. His own phone was toast and Gillian had taken Ronika’s. His only other option was to buy a burner. Most convenience stores sold them and he was fairly sure this one did too. He’d been in it several times on his way to or from work at the Day-O. Ha, he thought to himself. I’m never going to go to that shithole again. One hundred thousand total split with my brother will see to that. Goodbye Malcolm Marshal, you wuss.

  He needed to find another place to hold his hostage until Gillian gave the all clear that the job was done and he had the money. Then he could release her with apologies.

  Gillian would be mad that he had to move her but would be proud that he got her out before anyone found them. Vernon knew Gillian was smart and would know where he should to take her. He found the burner phones display.

  ~~~

  Gabi walked into the Caribbean Carry-Out convenience store unnoticed. The clerk behind the counter didn’t even look up when the door dinged as she entered. She was careful to keep turned away from Vernon who was walking toward a display of what looked like burner phones.

  She quickly surveyed the store and determined there were two customers in addition to the clerk. One customer, a middle-aged woman, was leisurely picking items from the shelves and putting them in a basket hung over her arm. Gabi imagined she probably lived nearby and this was her local place for shopping incidentals rather than trek into Montego Bay. The second customer was an older man standing at a magazine rack leafing through what looked like a Sports Illustrated issue. Both were close to the front of the store not far from the clerk.

  The problem was that the burner phone rack, with Vernon in front of it, was also in the front of the store, ostensibly so the clerk could keep an eye on it. Burners had been known to walk out unpaid for.

  Gabi had a basket hung over her arm and was putting items into it as she slowly made her way toward Vernon, keeping herself between him and the two customers as best she could. When the door dinged again she looked up at the wide-angle mirror in the corner and saw a man with a rather stupid looking straw hat walk in. She knew her backup had arrived and was ready.

  ~~~

  Of course, that stupid looking straw hat sat upon my head. I made eye contact with Gabi who held up three fingers indicating to me that there were three civilians in the store in addition to us two. I immediately located the man and woman and the store clerk and nodded to her. She then jerked her he
ad toward Vernon. He had just taken a burner off the rack and had turned toward the counter and the clerk. He looked up then turned my way, obviously attracted to my snappy headwear. A double-take and a flicker of recognition told me he remembered me as Ronnie’s New York friend from five days prior at the Day-O for lunch.

  I had my weapon, courtesy of the lovely ebony Jamaican beauty now standing outside next to Vernon’s car trying best to comfort her daughter through the car’s window, in my hand pointing at Vernon. “Freeze!”

  Eyes wide, Vernon started to reach into his pocket when Gabi jammed her Glock into his ribs from behind. “Don’t even think about it, Vernon. It’s over.” She relieved him of his weapon. The woman looked up and screamed and the man at the magazine rack ran to the back of the store. The clerk ducked behind the counter and I hoped he wasn’t about to come up with a gun. Gabi yelled in his direction, “Clerk, we’re the police. Stay down.”

  To his credit Vernon did freeze and just in time. I was ready to take out his kneecap if he had made a move to threaten Gabi.

  I yelled in my best Seventh Precinct cop voice, “Police!” (I had almost yelled NYPD! Old habits die hard.) “Everyone out of the store now!” Then louder, “That includes you in the back with the magazine and you, clerk, do NOT come up with a weapon. We have the situation under control.”

  Magazine-Man ran quickly out the door, still with his Sports Illustrated (I believe it was the Swimsuit Edition and understood why he wanted to hang on to it) and the still-screaming woman who dropped her basket and followed him into the parking lot.

  The clerk came up from behind the counter with his hands raised and, thankfully, both hands were empty. He called out in a shrill voice, “Don’t shoot! I didn’t mean it! I’ll pay it all back! I promise!” Interesting. The clerk’s “confession” was now recorded on the store’s security video, but that was for the clerk and the store owner to sort out. It wasn’t our problem.

  Gabi motioned him out the door. “It’s okay, nobody’s shooting anybody. We’re the good guys. Just get out and call the store’s owner. You’ll have some explaining to do about your last couple of comments.” She looked at me, grinning. I really liked her. She had spunk.

  I trained my weapon on Vernon who was muttering, “Fuck, fuck! He’s going to kill me.” I assumed he meant his brother. I nodded to Gabi.

  “Go ahead, Officer Dixon. You can do the honors.” Even though she was in an unofficial capacity, she was still local authority here and the arrest was hers.

  She smiled at me. “Thank you, Detective Deckler.” She handcuffed Vernon, turned him to face her, and held out a hand. “Keys!”

  “Huh?”

  “Car keys! Where are your car keys?”

  “Oh, uh, in my jeans pocket. The back pocket.”

  Gabi fetched them, her Glock still firmly planted in Vernon’s back, and tossed them to me.

  “You going to be okay in here with him?”

  “My friend Mr. Glock and I will be just fine with Mr. Whyte. Go, free your partner while I advise this idiot of his rights. Here, you’ll need these too. She also tossed me her handcuff keys.” Handcuff keys were fairly universal and would most likely work on the cuffs Ronnie was wearing shackling her to the car seat.

  Turning Vernon again to face her, Gabi got in his face. “Vernon Whyte, I am arresting you under caution for the kidnapping and illegal detention of Ronika Deveaux.” In other countries, Jamaica among them, arresting a suspect “under caution” is equivalent to reading them our Miranda rights. “You have the right to remain silent, etcetera.”

  With the keys in hand I moved quickly out of the store toward the car. Delyse was kneeling at the rear window crying. “Here he comes! Dan! Here! She’s in here!”

  Chapter 30: “Nice hat!”

  While Gabi was perp-walking Vernon to her car, I opened the driver’s door and clicked the unlock button. Delyse yanked the rear door open revealing Ronnie, her eyes wide. Delyse pulled off the gag as I unlocked the cuffs. She stumbled out of the car into her mother’s arms. Both women were crying.

  “Ronika, Ronika, you’re safe now. You’re okay.”

  “Yes, Mama, I’m fine.”

  I stepped back so they could have this time together. They just hugged each other rocking back and forth. It was heart warming. After a couple of minutes. Delyse kissed Ronnie and came over to me. Her eyes still wet with tears, she hugged me tightly then looked up at me. “Thank you for saving my daughter. Thank you.”

  I hugged her. Even in this situation, she smelled fresh and felt like she could melt into me. “It wasn’t just me. Gabi deserves a great deal of credit. She’s a brave young woman and a good cop.”

  “I know, Dan. But it was your plan. Without you I don’t know what would have happened.”

  There was nothing more I could say. Over Delyse’s shoulder I could see Ronnie standing unsteadily, giving us some space, watching us. Delyse turned and beckoned her for a group hug. Ronnie finally pushed herself back and looked up at me.

  “Thank you, DD. I knew you’d come through.”

  “My pleasure.”

  She stood back and looked up. “Nice hat!”

  We all laughed.

  “Dan, we have to call Roje to let him know Ronika’s safe. He’s on his way to Rio Bueno with Gillian. He has to know.”

  I took Delyse’s phone and checked location sharing again. His phone’s sharing was still active. I looked at my watch. “We’ve got about six hours or so before he’s due to arrive there. We need to think this through and plan our next moves carefully. It’s time for Gabi to get her police colleagues involved. Wait, I have an idea.” I called to Gabi and waved her to us. “Bring him with you.”

  She came to us dragging hang-dog-Vernon along. To his credit he lifted his head toward Ronnie. “Ronika, I’m really sorry. I really hope you’re okay. I didn’t ever want to hurt you.”

  Ronnie glared at him. “Well, Vernon, you did hurt me. You just can’t do something like this and then act sorry when you get caught.”

  Vernon just hung his head again and muttered, “I know. I’m very sorry. I hope your potassium levels didn’t fall too low.”

  Delyse and I traded looks. Ronnie laughed. “Let me explain.” She summarized her coded messages to Roje alluding to lyrics in Harry Belafonte’s Banana Boat Song including her “potassium problem.”

  “Partner, that was brilliant, especially coming up with it so quickly and under pressure.”

  “Why, thank you.”

  I held my hand out to Delyse. “Let me have your phone a minute, please. Ronnie, stand with your mother, Vernon, and Gabi and smile if you can. I think this picture will make your brother very happy.”

  Ronnie moved next to Gabi who was between her and Vernon. She held up her hand. “Sure, I have a smile for you. Go ahead and snap the picture.” Just as I was about to hit the button she defiantly held up her middle finger, a wicked leer on her face. “There. Let’s text Roje and tell him that’s my message to Gillian Whyte.”

  That’s my partner! I showed the picture all around. “Good idea. There will be no doubt in Gillian’s mind that it’s over on this end.”

  I held out the phone to Delyse and she pushed it back to me. “You do the honors, Dan, with the picture. Tell him it’s from you. It will make him very happy and will solidify a bond between you two.” My woman was a wise woman. My woman? Yeah, I guess I was beginning to think of her in that way, and it felt good. I forwarded a text to Roje along with the picture.

  RONIKA SAFE. SENDS GREETINGS TO GILLIAN. ADV YOUR STATUS-DAN

  “Done. Now we have to get Ronnie home.”

  Still rubbing her sore wrists, Ronnie let out a laugh. “No way, Jose! I’m staying with you to see this through. Rio Bueno? You have to get me up to date on what’s going on with Roje. I could use a quick shower and a bite to eat while we plan out the next moves. I suggest we then meet you and Gabi at MBPD. Okay?”

  “Jose, huh? That does it. I’m eighty-sixing this hat.”<
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  I removed the straw hat and stuffed it into an already full trash bin outside the store. The two customers were watching us, mesmerized. No sign of the clerk. I had a feeling he wanted to put as much distance between him and the soon-to-arrive store owner as he could.

  “Yes, you need to freshen up and recharge. Your adrenalin levels are going to crash soon.”

  I looked at Delyse. She defiantly grinned at me, those black pools wide and afire. “What … you think I’m bailing now? With my son still out there? Let’s go.”

  I knew I was outnumbered and surrounded. I didn’t even bother trying to convince them they should stay home while we finished this off. They were coming along. Done deal. I guess I couldn’t blame them. In their shoes I would have insisted too.

  Chapter 31: Quid pro quo

  Gabi asked me to accompany her on the transport of Vernon to MBPD headquarters in the city. Delyse and Ronnie agreed to meet us there after heading home for a quick freshen-up.

  I readily agreed and would have insisted anyway if she hadn’t asked. If at all possible, one never, ever, transports a suspect alone. Sure, Vernon was handcuffed and essentially immobile but anything freakish could happen from vehicle trouble to an accident along the way. So protocol was to have a backup officer along for the ride.

  Gabi got in behind the wheel as I deposited Vernon in the back seat of her car. He was subdued and seemed to be resigned to his fate. Gabi had Mirandized him, in the Jamaican sense, when she arrested him under caution. As a result she could interrogate him freely and he was free to respond or refuse until he had legal representation. Since I was a civilian, and not even a Jamaican civilian at that, it was proper for Gabi to control the environment as she saw fit on the short ride.