Mind (the) Game

by Kelly Shade

  “What happened? Why did you need to call the police?” Jane asked eagerly.

  “Somebody was killed in the back yard of my motel! In the bushes they found a young woman! I lost most of my regulars because of this!” Vitor explained excitedly.

  “Did they found the killer?” Jane asked.

  “Yes, they got a boy!” said he but something in his voice was showing that he wasn’t sure.

  “But you don’t think it was the boy?” Jane said.

  “The boy was crazy but he wasn’t a killer. I think they put the boy in jail just because they had to catch someone.” Vitor said with sadness.

  Blake thanked the man several times and hung up.

  After this information, everything was making more sense but somehow not enough. What was the connection between William, the money transfer, the murder of the woman in Japeri and William’s murder in Los Angeles? What if William was a witness to the murder and they paid him to keep quiet? But then where is the woman who was with William? Was she killed too? Or they paid her off too?

  Meanwhile in the homicide office

  “So for now we have 10k transferred in Spencer’s account from abroad?” Ian shouted at the team.

  Ian, Nick and Victoria were staying in front of the murder board, where they had written down William Spencer’s last days chronologically ending with the time of death, the information they had till now about his usual routine and family and trip information.

  “Well, his boss said everything was fine before that trip to Rio de Janeiro! Maybe something happened there!” Lee said.

  “Where are we with the lab results?” Valdez asked angrily.

  “Barbara is still checking all the fingerprints I’ve found.” Evans reported.

  “I don’t like that case. There is something weird in that murder!” Ryan added in a low voice staring at the board.

  “Where are we with the man he got in a fight with?” Ian asked.

  “Logan Martinez, twenty-eight, he practically grew up in juvie.” Lee read Martinez’s file “But after he got out, he has no more convictions.”

  “Where did they know each other?” Valdez asked.

  “Chicago.” Ryan said and went back to his laptop “Martinez and Spencer were in one school.”

  “Can you get a year book or something?” Lee suggested.

  “Yeah, give me a sec.” Ryan said casually and got to work.

  Several minutes later he was ready with the results.

  “Here.” Ryan waved them to join him at the desk. When they gathered around him he started showing what he had found “There, this is Spencer,” he pointed at the short skinny boy, “and this is Martinez,” he pointed at a plump and far too tall for his age kid. Ryan scrolled down and Evans shouted.

  “Wait!”

  Ryan, Nick and Ian looked at her questioningly so she explained “Scroll up again, I thought I saw something.”

  Gray did it and they all stared at a photo of a cute, black, shoulder length hair girl with huge green eye, big lips curved into a fake smile, dressed with the school uniform. The name above the girl’s picture was Caroline Thompson.

  “Jane?” Lee and Valdez exclaimed in one voice.

  “I think it is her.” Said Victoria quietly.

  “Why, in the hell, Jane didn’t tell us she knew the victim?” Gray said angrily.

  They sat quiet for a moment but then Ian decided to go back to work and asked “Well, we found Martinez and our victim were in one school. What else?”

  Ryan checked something else which took him some time but then he said with a wide smile on his face “Logan Martinez was put in juvie because he bullied William systematically and the last fight got out of control. Williams was with a broken nose and many bruises on his face. This is the reason Martinez was expelled and sent to juvenile!”

  “I call that a motive.” Lee commented.

  “Where is he now?” Evans asked.

  “He used to stay at a motel in Glendale but there is no information for the past two weeks ago. He’s under the radar.” Nick said.

  “It’s worth the try!” Ian said and waved them to go get their suspect.

  They arrived at the motel which looked as if deserted. It was the kind of a place which most of the people would avoid. The building itself was old and not taken care of.

  When Ian, Nick, Ryan and Victoria walked in they headed to the place that looked like a reception. The entrance hall was also in tragic condition, a dirty carpet was laying on the floor, a broken wooden hanger stand was covered with dust, the walls were with wallpaper, which was originally white with flowers but now looked yellow. The reception was a small wooden counter with a bell on it and a young woman chewing gum was behind it, not paying attention to the newcomers. She was playing a game on her phone and she didn’t bother to welcome the guests.

  “LAPD, detective Lee!” Nick showed his badge and introduced himself.

  At that point, the woman turned to him and left her phone to the side.

  “Yeah? What is it now?” rudely said she.

  “Which room belongs to this man, Logan Martinez?” Ian showed a photo of their suspect.

  “Two-one-six.” Said the receptionist and threw them a key “Whatever you do, don’t kill anyone, I’m not cleaning blood again!” she added and sat in her chair again.

  The team walked to the second floor and through the long corridor. The situation there was as bad as at the reception. The paint on the walls was ruined and falling, graffiti and all kinds of dirt were covering the walls of the sides of the hallway. There were holes in the walls, the doors of the rooms looked as if each of them was broken in at least five times. A heavy musk scent of urine and smoke was filling their nostrils.

  “I think I’m gonna puke!” Evans complained.

  “That’s the door!” Nick pointed.

  Lee and Evans stood on the left side of the door, Gray and Valdez on the right. Ian knocked on the door and shouted “LAPD! Open the door now!”

  Nobody answered, it was silent for a second or two but then they heard movement inside.

  “He is making a run for it!” Ryan whispered and Ian made a gesture to Nick that they should kick the door open.

  Lee and Valdes kicked the pour excuse of a door and walked in with their weapons drawn, Ryan and Victoria after them. They saw a short Afro-American with a backpack trying to get down using the fire escape ladder. He froze when he saw four guns pointed at him and lifted his hands.

  Ian and Nick walked to him and cuffed him. On the way down, Martinez tried to run several times but Nick’s grip was too tight and strong for Martinez to escape.

  They all got back to the Station and straight to the interrogation room.

  “Well, Logan, you came to LA to finish what you started in Chicago?” Ryan started the questioning.

  “What the hell do you mean, cop?” Martinez asked as if he didn’t have a clue why he was arrested.

  “William Spencer. You decided to revenge for the juvie time you had because of him?” Evans continued.

  “What are you talking about, people?” Martinez looked puzzled.

  “Why did you try to run, Logan?” Ryan kept asking.

  “Because of the…” Logan started but decided to stop.

  “Of what? Because you killed William Spencer?” Evans stood up and leaned forward with her hands on the table between her and the suspect.

  “Killed?” Logan yelled “Wow, wow, wow, so you are not arresting me for the … for something else?” he asked with hope.

  “Spill the beans, Logan! We are not drug cops, we care about the murder of William! Talk!” Ryan got angry.

  “I didn’t murder anyone!” said Martinez.

  “Why I can’t believe that? Let’s see, you have a motive, you have a history of violence and you got in a fight with the victim couple of days ago.” Evans sat down again and looked at Martinez.

  “Yeah, we fought but I didn’t kill the man!” Logan said.

  “What did you f
ight about?” Ryan asked.

  “He saw me near his boss’ apartment and he thought I was preparing a robbery, which I was not!” said Logan waving his cuffed hands “He hit me, I hit him and then he recognized me! We talked for a while and he offered to find me a job!”

  “Why would he do that?” Victoria lifted her eyebrows.

  “Because, I apologized. I went there in the first place because I wanted to make the things right with the dude!” Logan explained.

  “Where were you yesterday between five and six pm?” asked Ryan.

  “Willy was killed yesterday?” Logan asked and looked down “I was with friends in the ‘Bet23’ casino.”

  “We will check your alibi!” Ryan stood up but Victoria continued.

  “Isn’t that near Mr. Spenser’s house?” she asked Ryan.

  “Yeah, I think so!” Ryan sat down again and looked at Logan with a satisfied look “You could easily slip out and go to his house, kill him and go back to your friends.”

  “Willy was killed in his house?” Logan said with a high pitched voice.

  “Yes, why?” Ryan asked.

  “I wouldn’t dare go in his house!” Logan said and added “Check the cameras!”

  “He didn’t have security cameras!” Evans exclaimed.

  “He did, secret cams! Everywhere!” Logan said with a grimace.

  Ryan and Victoria looked at each other puzzled.

  They walked out of the interrogation room, Nick and Ian went out from the back room and they met in the hallway. All of them with confused and angry faces.

  They hurried back to Spencer’s house and soon they found numerous hidden cameras all over the place. They took them to the Station and started watching the tapes from the time of the death.

  The victim was indeed preparing for a swim when a thin figure in black jumped over the high fence of his house and walked towards him with pointed weapon. William froze and spoke something to the intruder. The one breaking in his home was cautions and fast, he was with a hat and a hood on, and hid his face very carefully. The figure got close to the victim, Williams didn’t do a thing. Seconds later, Spencer grabbed his neckless with the cross from his neck and kneeled in front of his killer. The murderer shoot once without hesitation and swiftly climbed over the fence, avoiding every camera.

  “What the hell was that?” sighted Nick with amazement.

  Ryan and Ian lifted their shoulders puzzled, Evans collapsed in her chair also confused.

  ◆◆◆

  After the development of William’s trip, Jane got back to his old school friend’s house. She crept inside, and after an extensive search, she also found the hidden cameras but not the tapes. The homicide team had already taken them, and Jane had to go back to her hacker friends and to make them extract whatever they could from the flash memory of the DVR.

  The boys did what they could and soon enough Jane had watched some of the records. Blake also saw the killer in black clothes and the way William handled the situation. Jane was confused and with the feeling, that this case was way more complicated that she thought.

  After paying the hackers for the second time this day, Blake went back to her bunker to look over all the recordings they got for her.

  Jane spent several hours in front of her laptop with a whiskey and a cigarette in her hand. She was slowly going back to her old self and the worst part was that she enjoyed it. She felt the thrill while breaking in William’s house and stole evidence, she felt good when she threatened the hackers, she liked it when she lied to Vitor and took all the information she needed. But most of all, Jane enjoyed that she was alone, doing things her way.

  With the end of the second glass of whiskey Jane put the laptop aside. She had found what she needed and she headed to the place where she can get it.

  Blake drove her car, as fast and reckless as never before, to Spencer’s house. Jane saw on the tapes that the killer threw something in the garbage can of William’s neighbors. “Smart”, she thought, “the police wouldn’t search the neighbors’ property without a probable cause. But I’m not the cops, so…”

  Blake stopped her car and carefully walked towards the garbage can. Luckily, the contents were still there. This time Jane put gloves and carefully started digging in the trash. Soon enough, she found a small black plastic bag. Jane took it out and felt it was heavier that it should. She opened it and she saw a gun wrapped in a latex black glove and lots of garbage, probably grabbed from the trash can. Whoever the killer was, he wanted to make it look like this was just a bag of garbage. Blake took out the weapon and the glove and before putting them in the vacuum bag she carried with her, Jane took a closer look at the gun. It was forty-fifth caliber. Jane sniffed it, took out the clip and checked the barrel – it was certainly fired recently.

  Blake walked slowly to her car, thinking. She had to decide in which lab she could take these evidence so she could find if there were fingerprints or DNA and to whom they belonged.

  Blake started her engine and looked up. She saw the work car of her team right behind her. Jane was about to drive off but Ryan stopped the vehicle in front of her.

  Ryan, Ian, Nick and Victoria walked out of their car and surrounded Jane’s. Blake opened her door and with one leg out she asked cheerfully.

  “What’s up guys?”

  “We are following a lead on your classmate’s murder.” Lee teased with a grimace, “And you!?”

  “Nothing, just having a drive!” Jane lied. “Good luck, guys!” she put her leg inside and reached to close the door but Ryan held it open.

  “You may wanna give us whatever in was in that trash can!” Gray said.

  “So you know, huh?” Jane was impressed.

  “We’ve been detectives before you came in the team, you know that, right?” Valdez was offended by her amazement.

  “Yeah, Ian, I know.” Blake said and added “But you kinda sucked at it.”

  “Guys, the evidence?” Evans tried to stop the upcoming fight.

  “Yeah, Victoria is right! Jane?” Nick joined in.

  Blake gave the vacuum bag with the black glove and the gun to Lee and asked arrogantly. “When are we going to have the results?”

  “Soon.” Ian said and walked back in the car angrily.

  “I’m coming with, no matter if you want or not.” Blake shouted at him.

  “Ok, Jane, but you will stay at the office. Hunt suspended you, and you gotta stay out of this.” Lee said.

  “But we all know you will do something way worse if we don’t let you in, so you can come.” Ryan said with a sad smile.

  Blake was angry at herself for not getting out of there fast enough. She drove to the Station furiously and had to wait for the others to arrive at the parking lot.

  Once they all were in their office, Nick went down to give the new evidence to Barbara Bradley. Blake waited at her office chair, not paying attention to the irritating looks Ryan and Ian were giving her every five minutes.

  Fortunately, Blake didn’t have to wait much longer for the results. Soon enough Barbara Bradley came upstairs to let them know what she had found.

  “Hey!” greeted Bradley and closed the office door behind her.

  She slowly walked towards Jane’s desk, took a chair and sat opposite her with mournful look on her face.

  “Hey, why so sad? What’s up?” Blake asked with a smile but Barbara’s face went even more worried than before.

  “I checked the weapon multiple times. This gun is the murder weapon for sure. I found a partial fingerprint…” Bradley breathed out heavily.

  “That’s great!” Ryan chirped.

  “So?” Evans asked.

  “Jane, it is yours!” Bradley looked in Jane’s eyes anxiously.

  “Well, Blake found it and she probably didn’t use gloves again!” Ian said and shook his head disapprovingly.

  “The print was on the third bullet inside the clip.” Bradley lifted the documents she held with trembling hands. “Also,” she said “Jane�
��s fingerprints were one of the one’s you gave me earlier.”

  “Blake was at the crime scene!” Gray said loudly.

  “But she never even got closer to the fence,” Evans said slowly.

  “What are you suggesting?” Jane looked at Victoria angrily.

  “Well, you didn’t tell us you knew the victim!” Victoria said.

  “Jane,” Barbara started with trembling voice, “the evidence shows that you are the killer!” she finished with horrified look.

  “You can’t be serious!” Blake laughed.

  Nobody answered. They all exchanged looks and silently agreed what they should do. Evans stood up with handcuffs in her hands and walked towards Jane. Blake was staring at her with amazement and confusion. Victoria made a gesture to Jane to stand up. Blake did it, Evans went behind her, grabbed her hands, said quietly “Jane Blake, you are under arrest for the murder of William Spencer!” and put the cuffs on Jane’s wrists.

  Chapter 19

  Wanted

  Nobody moved, nobody made a sound. Everyone was in shock, including Jane. She stood still with handcuffs on her hands and a cold expression on her face. Several minutes later, Bradley walked out of the office silently but the others were like frozen.

  “Do you really believe I killed the man?” Jane broke the silence.

  Ian opened and closed his mouth several times before he finally said “I don’t think you are a murderer, Blake! This must be a mistake!”

  “Me neither.” Nick said after Valdez and added “We will figure it out!”

  Blake looked back at Victoria who was also with a mournful look on her face.

  “I don’t know, Jane, but if Valdez and Lee are sure it’s not you, I believe them.” She said quietly.

  Only Ryan was silent and avoiding Jane’s eyes. She walked toward him and asked again “Do you think it is me?”

  “No.” he said shortly but the uncertainty in his voice was obvious.

  They all went quiet again. After some time, Valdez said with effort and with a grief expression “Jane, I’m sorry, but until we figure it out, we have to take you to the holding cell. The evidence is against you and we don’t have a choice.”