by C. M. Sutter
“Sure thing.” Jack looked over the photos, read each description, and made sure nothing that Lena had given us was left out. “Yep, let’s go with it, and we’re stating that two unidentified men were found dead in Washburn County. Remember, we aren’t mentioning COD.”
I grabbed my description sheet and reached for the phone on my desk. “Got it. I’ll take Channel Four.”
Chapter 7
We alerted all of the news stations and gave them the doctored facial shots of our mystery men and the descriptions we got from Lena. A picture of the Betty Boop tattoo was included with the younger man’s information. For now, we’d let the evening deputies take over the tip line calls if any came in.
“All right, everyone, it’s eight o’clock, so head home. Tomorrow is another day, and who knows what shit might hit the fan.” Jack gave us a tired smile. “Maybe we’ll have leads to follow up on by then.”
Billings, Clayton, Kate, and I left the building together. Jack stayed behind to update the night crew on that day’s discovery. We said good night to each other and headed to our personal cars. I’d go home, warm up some leftovers, and lounge on the couch until the ten o’clock news began.
At home fifteen minutes later, I punched in the alarm code as I entered the house through the garage door. Within seconds, I was greeted by an irritated Spaz. Being a few hours late with his evening meal did not sit well with him, and he showed his displeasure with an attitude and a hiss.
“Calm down, mister. Somebody has to go to work every day, and it doesn’t look like you’re up to the task.”
With my jacket off and my holster removed for the night, I poured kibbles into his bowl, and he got busy, ignoring me in the process.
I followed the hallway to Jade’s bedroom and tended to Polly and Porky. They seemed to enjoy the few minutes of cuddling and cooing I shared with them before filling their seed dish and changing their water. With that done, I headed to the refrigerator in the kitchen and pulled out the beef stew that I had prepared on Sunday. I dumped it into a saucepan, set the burner to a low simmer, and then poured myself a glass of wine. After taking a seat at the breakfast bar, I sent off a quick text to Jade and hoped that by then she was settled back in her hotel room, in whatever town she was in, and would be able to respond to my text.
Hey, Sis, are you done for the night? I have a question for you.
I gave the stew a stir and returned to my chair, where I browsed the daily newspaper.
What’s this?
I knew Joey’s Bar and Grille had eventually sold after my encounter with Dime there nearly two years ago. I hadn’t gone back since that day. That horrible incident had given me the final push I needed to quit bartending, finish my schooling, and begin my pursuit of the world of law enforcement. Having encouragement from my dad and Jade helped. The newspaper article showed the grand opening of Shooters was scheduled for Friday night.
Catchy name.
I was tempted to check it out, and with a different look and feel, it probably wouldn’t bring back the awful memories of that night. I’d see if Kate wanted to go, and if Jade was back in town by then, we could make a night of it.
I dished up my dinner and checked my phone again for a response from Jade. It hadn’t come in yet. Curled up on the couch with my bowl of stew and a piece of bread slathered with butter, I clicked on the TV to my favorite weekly drama. I had an hour to go before the news would begin. My wineglass sat on the end table, and from the looks of it, Spaz had gotten over his hissy fit. He jumped up next to me and settled in by my side. Within minutes, he was happily purring in his sleep.
“Spoiled cat.”
With my arm stretched out, I set my plate on the coffee table in front of me. I didn’t want to disturb the feline man of the house. I took a sip of wine right as my cell made that familiar chirp.
“Oh, good.” I tapped the message icon and saw Jade’s return text.
Sorry, Amber, I only have a minute. What’s up?
I responded quickly, knowing she must be busy.
Wondering if you knew why a DB would have a combination of peroxide, bleach, and acetone on their clothing, and their skin appeared dry, red, and irritated.
Within seconds, she replied.
Weird. I’ll get back to you on that as soon as I can. I have plenty of authorities nearby to ask. Later.
“Shoot. I guess I have to wait on that one.” I settled back, sipped my wine, and watched my favorite TV series.
A half hour later and with another splash of wine, I returned to the couch and clicked on the news. The anchorman on Channel 4 started with the disturbing discovery earlier that day in Washburn County. He said that a couple came across two male bodies along a country road and an investigation by the sheriff’s office was in the works. The face of the blond man filled most of the TV screen, and his description ran down a column on the right-hand side. The younger man’s face came up next, with the split screen showing his tattoo and description to the right. The news anchor went on to say that neither man had an ID on him, and law enforcement needed the public’s help in identifying them. The tip line number that went directly to the sheriff’s office was listed in a scrolling banner at the bottom of the screen.
“Washburn County needs your help in identifying these individuals. Please call the toll-free number at the bottom of the screen if you have any information on them, and as always, you can remain anonymous.”
Hmm, I guess that was about all we gave them and all they can say. Now it’s a waiting game for something reliable to come in.
I clicked off the television, lifted Spaz’s dead weight off my leg, and made sure the doors were locked and the alarm set. A good night’s sleep was exactly what I needed.
Chapter 8
I checked my messages before leaving for work Wednesday morning. Jade had sent a return text overnight saying she was still looking into that chemical mixture and would let me know her findings as soon as she could. She also said they were closing in on the killer they were after and she hoped to be home in a few days.
That would be nice. Maybe you’ll be home for the grand opening of Shooters.
I turned right onto Schmidt Road and made an immediate left into our parking lot at seven forty-five. Kate exited her car as I parked. She waited for me, then we crossed the lot together to the entrance of our building.
I teased her as we walked. “So, did you figure out the case of the dead guys in your sleep?”
“I wish, but actually I had a cool dream.”
“Really, about what?” I held the vestibule door open and let her pass through.
“Twins.”
“You had twins? Don’t you need a man in the equation for that to happen?”
“Smart-ass. No, I dreamed about two hot-looking guys who were twins.”
“Now you sound kinky. So what happened?” I leaned in with enthusiasm and waited to hear the salacious details.
“Nothing. They were just hot twins—end of story.”
“You give me that buildup and then let me down in the blink of an eye? Two seconds of excitement to start my day and then zilch—end of story? Next time, keep your hot-twin dreams to yourself unless there’s at least a paragraph to go with it and I’m also in the dream with my choice of the two.”
She laughed as we climbed the stairs to our floor. “Sorry, but having a nice dream once in a while, no matter how brief, is a good thing.”
“Just razzing you, girlfriend.”
We entered the bull pen and went to our desks. Clayton and Billings had already arrived. I glanced toward Jack’s office and saw him through the wall of glass.
“Any leads come in last night?” Kate asked.
Jamison and Horbeck, our night shift detectives, hadn’t left yet. Jamison tipped his head in Jack’s direction. “Plenty, but we’re waiting on him so we can have a group powwow before we leave.”
Moments later, after I filled my coffee cup and Kate poured hot water over her tea bag, Jack exited his offi
ce and took a seat on Clayton’s guest chair.
“Morning, people. Hope you all got a good night’s sleep. According to the list of calls that came in last night, it looks like we’re going to have a busy day following up on the leads.” He turned to Horbeck and Jamison then glanced down at the sheet of paper in his hand. “Did any of the ninety-seven calls that came in sound promising?”
Jamison lifted a similar sheet off his desk, and Horbeck did too.
Horbeck said he’d checked off eight leads that needed further investigation. “The other thirty-seven calls I took can be looked into later, but they were the typical ones where somebody saw both men at a craps table in Vegas the night before, or they said that the blond guy resembled their daughter’s fourth grade science teacher. That sort of thing.”
“What about you, Lee? Anything that sounded legit?”
“I had”—he ran his index finger down the sheet of paper as he counted the checked-off leads—“fourteen that are worth checking out, at least initially. One woman in particular piqued my interest. She said she recognized the Betty Boop tattoo on the news, but then she got spooked when I began asking more questions. She ended the call abruptly before I could get her name or number.”
Jack raked his hair with his fingertips and looked at the ceiling. “Okay, we need to track down that woman. If she knows the younger man, she likely knows the other guy too. The tip line captures the incoming phone numbers, right?”
I answered the question for the group. “It does unless the person is deliberately blocking the number.”
Jack cocked his head toward the door. “Kate, run down to Tech and have them pull up those incoming phone numbers. We’ll compare the total calls to the numbers we have on the sheets and cross off the duplicates. Hers has to be one of the leftover numbers.”
“Right away, sir.”
Jack began again. “Do you have any idea what time she called?”
Jamison responded. “I know it was before midnight. That’s when the majority of calls came in. I’d say only twenty-five percent were later than that.”
“Then we’ll start with all of the tips that came in before midnight and see if we can narrow it down. So between the two of you, you had twenty-two first-tier leads. We’ll try to track down the woman, then move on to those, see what shakes out, then decide if a second run on the news is necessary. Hopefully it won’t be.” He turned to Jamison and Horbeck and waved them toward the door. “Thanks, guys. Now go on home and get some rest.”
Kate was back within ten minutes with a sheet of perforated computer paper in hand. “Here we go, the list of all ninety-seven calls and the times they came in. Of course, some are blocked.”
“Good, let’s see what we have. Grab those sheets. I’ll begin reading off the phone numbers that came in before midnight. Call out when you find a matching one on your sheet. We’ll find her by a process of elimination.”
The sheet of incoming calls showed sixty-three that came in before midnight. It took a half hour to go through those numbers as Jack checked off each one that matched ours. He let out a sigh when he reached the last one.
“Okay, there are seven numbers left that you guys don’t have, and one of them is hers. Let’s get her back on the line. Kate, here’s a number. Make the call. Clayton, here’s one for you. Amber, take this one, and Billings, you get this one. I’ll take one too. If we don’t locate her with these, we’ll finish up with the last two that came in before midnight. After that, we’ll continue on until we find her.”
I filled my water glass and took a seat at my desk. Each of us made a call to the number we were assigned. I had no luck with the number Jack gave me. A man answered and said the blond guy looked like his cousin, Jeff, but then the man had made the call to Dane County lockup that morning and realized Jeff was still incarcerated. I thanked him for calling the tip line and hung up. I took the next available number on the sheet and returned to my desk. The phone rang in my ear three times while I took a gulp of water. A woman’s voice finally came on the line. She sounded as if she had been sleeping.
“Hello?”
“Good morning, ma’am. This is Deputy Amber Monroe calling from the Washburn County Sheriff’s Office. You made a call to our tip line last night regarding the two deaths in our county.”
“How did you get my number?”
“We’re law enforcement, ma’am, and we have access to all kinds of helpful tools. I believe you said you recognized the photograph of the tattoo.” I waited for a response. I wasn’t even sure she was the correct woman, but I’d run that statement by every female who answered the phone until I located the right one.
“Yes, I recognized it.”
I waved my hand to catch the attention of my colleagues, then I pointed at my phone and gave a thumbs-up. They hung up their phones and waited. Jack came out of his office and sat on the edge of my desk. I clicked on Speakerphone and set the receiver down.
“May I have your name, please?”
“It’s Denise Lockhart.”
Jack took notes, and I gave him a thumbs-up. He waved to Clayton and motioned for him to step out into the hallway with him. Clayton disappeared seconds later with the name Jack had written down.
“And how do you recognize that tattoo, and where was its placement on the body?”
The voice on the other end sounded nervous. I was about to lose her.
“I don’t know if I should get involved. I—”
“Denise, wait. We have two unidentified men in our morgue. No matter if they were good people or not, they have family somewhere who would probably want to know what happened to them. Somebody has to be held accountable for their deaths. Now I need to know if you’re a responsible person we can believe or not. Where was the location of the tattoo, and who was it on?”
“Okay, am I going to be in trouble for anything?”
“Were you involved in their deaths?”
“Hell no. I haven’t seen Charlie for nearly a year.”
“What is Charlie’s last name, and where was the tattoo?” I wasn’t about to put much more effort into the call unless I knew she was being truthful.
“Dupree, and that stupid tattoo was on his right hip.”
I shot off another thumbs-up to the crew.
Jack motioned for Billings to check out that name. Adam took off out the door.
“Do you have an address for Charlie, Denise?”
“Nah, he moved since I saw him last. The only thing I know was that he still lived somewhere in Milwaukee. We only dated for six months, but what the hell—why is he dead?”
“I don’t know, Denise, but with the information you gave me, I’m pretty sure our chances of finding out just got a lot better. Thank you very much.” I clicked off the call and hung up the phone. “Hot damn. This is going to be a good day.”
Clayton returned to the bull pen first. “I have info on Denise Lockhart. She has a jacket with the Milwaukee District Four station. That’s a high-crime district with a lot of projects in the area.”
“What were her arrests for?” Jack asked.
“Drug possession, disorderly conduct, and theft.”
“And I bet she hangs out with like-minded people,” Kate said. “People don’t get shot in the head for nothing.”
“Possibly drug related,” I said.
Jack raised his brows and nodded.
Moments later, Billings was back with his information. He took a seat at his desk. “Okay, Charlie Dupree has an extensive record, and last known address was documented two years ago on a rental agreement.”
“Then it isn’t current.”
Adam turned to me. “What do you mean?”
“That’s right, you had already left the room. Denise said Charlie moved somewhere else last year, but she didn’t know where.”
Jack stood. “Let’s head to Milwaukee. What was his former address?”
Adam read it off the paper in his hand. “He lived at 2519 North Sixtieth Street near West Villard.”<
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“Yep, that’s the fourth district too. Saddle up, people, we’re leaving in five. Clayton, let Bryant and Davidson know they’re taking the calls while we’re gone. If anything urgent comes up, they should call my cell.”
“Sure thing, and I’ll be waiting downstairs.”
“Okay, Billings, you and Clayton ride together, and Kate and Amber will go with me.”
I grabbed an extra magazine for my Glock 22 just in case, dropped my phone and a new notepad into my purse, and was ready to go. We exited the building at ten o’clock. As we walked to the cars, Jack said he’d make the call to Milwaukee and give them a heads-up that we were on our way.
Chapter 9
“Marco, come in here, please.” McKinley hung up the desk phone and waited for Marco to knock on his door. Minutes later he heard footsteps, then the knock sounded. “Come in.”
“You need something, Mr. Moore?”
“Yes, I want you to load the trunk of the Chevy with thirty thousand in tens and twenties. Make sure they’re in four boxes, seventy-five hundred in each. I want five grand in twenties and twenty-five hundred in tens in each box. We’re heading to several of our outlets in Chicago. Tell Juan he’s joining us.”
“Yes, sir, and I’ll come and get you when we’re ready to leave.”
By ten thirty, the Chevy’s trunk was loaded with money, and the roller door had been lifted. Marco sat behind the steering wheel, Juan took the passenger seat, and McKinley relaxed in the back. Marco pulled out of the run-down building and drove five blocks to Silver Spring—the nearest east-west street—to catch the freeway.
Chapter 10
We followed Clayton in a matching black cruiser and had just taken the exit ramp off Highway 41 and turned east on Silver Spring Drive.
“Seriously, downtown Milwaukee is only forty minutes from North Bend, but do any of us ever go there? There are plenty of hip restaurants and clubs along the river.”
Jack frowned at me. “Why do we need to go to Milwaukee? Just because it’s there?”