by C. M. Sutter
“Back again? Forget something?” She kept the door open only about six inches. I wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t want her child to go out or to keep us from coming in. Either way, all we wanted was information.
“This will only take a few minutes, Lila, and we’d really appreciate your help.” I smiled and figured if I played the sweet role as Jack did, she might let her guard down and give us something we could use.
“Sure, what do you need?”
Humph, that wasn’t so bad.
Kate took over. “A name, that’s it. Pretty easy, right?”
Lila studied Kate suspiciously. “Yeah, okay. I’ll bite. Who are you looking for?”
“Charlie mentioned Joe’s name, but now we can’t get ahold of Charlie to ask him where Joe lives. We really need to speak with him.” I had to admit that lying to get information was becoming easier all the time, and it was something that all cops did.
“Yeah, I know Joe. You mean Joe Tantor, right?”
“Of course. He’s the only person named Joe that Charlie spoke of.”
“Sure, I have his phone number inside. They’re cousins, you know.”
“Yep, that’s what he said.” When Lila turned her back, I elbowed Kate. “Do you know where Joe lives? Our job would go a lot faster if we could just pop in and talk to him. Charlie said Joe likes pretty women.” I grinned at Lila and thought about the meeting scheduled to take place later between Charlie and Joe at Dirty Deeds. Even though Kate and I were upstanding, law-abiding deputies, we were still young women and good-looking at that.
Lila grinned back and showed off her cigarette-stained teeth.
I winced.
“Yeah, I get your drift. Got a piece of paper?”
Kate pulled out her notepad. “Absolutely.”
Chapter 16
We thanked Lila for the second time that day and left.
“Call Jack and update him. I’m sure the boys will be disappointed to be leaving Dirty Deeds right after they got there, but duty calls. Give them Joe’s address and tell him we’re on our way.”
Kate nodded. “I guess charm and a few fibs work like magic, regardless of whether you’re a man or woman. I’ll have to practice that.” She covered the microphone with her hand. “His phone is ringing. Wonder how loud it is in that place.” Several seconds passed, then Kate began speaking. “Hey, boss, I wasn’t sure you’d hear your phone over the sound of your panting.”
I looked at Kate with bulged eyes and burst out laughing. I didn’t know she had that kind of quick wit or guts. I heard a few choice words on the other end, and Kate laughed. “I’m just busting your chops. Anyway, Amber and I got Lila to cough up the info on Joe. Apparently he’s Charlie’s cousin. Yeah, and we’re heading there now. Here’s the address.” Kate read off the address she had written down on her notepad. “Yes, I understand. We’ll park a few houses away from his so we don’t raise suspicion. I promise we’ll wait for you guys.” Kate clicked off the call and laughed. “I surprised myself with that ballsy comment.”
“Yeah, that makes two of us. Good thing Jack is not only our boss but also a close personal friend.”
We arrived at the home of Joe Tantor at two o’clock, and I parked several houses back on the opposite side of the street. I wanted a good visual of the man in case he happened to leave.
Kate tipped her chin toward the house. “There’s a car in the driveway, so he must be home.”
“Look for binoculars in the glove compartment. Confirming the name and address the car is registered to will help us know if Lila was being honest or if she sent us on a wild-goose chase.”
Kate opened the glove box and searched through it. “No binos.”
“Damn it. Check under the seat and in the backseat pocket.”
She felt under her seat then moved it back with the lever. “Nothing under mine except a quarter.” She pocketed the coin, unfastened her belt, and turned around. She reached into the seat pocket behind her and came back with a grin and a pair of binoculars. “Bingo!”
“Awesome. Hand them here.” I held the field glasses against my eyes and made a few adjustments with the focus. “There we go. Ready?”
“Ready.” Kate had her notepad and a pen in hand.
“Plate number is Wisconsin 620-N94. Call it in to Tech and have them pull it up. Hopefully it’s registered to Joe Tantor and that address. Tell Billy to call you back the minute he has it.”
Kate made the call and relayed the information. She hung up seconds later. “He’s on it.”
I checked my surroundings through the rearview and side mirrors and saw the familiar black cruiser turn onto our street a block to our rear. “Looks like the boys have arrived.”
I watched as Jack, who was driving, parked at my back bumper. The men got out and stepped up to my driver’s-side window. I grinned and gave them one final jab. “Enjoy your five minutes at Dirty Deeds?”
Billings responded. “To be honest, we were glad Kate called. That place was nasty.”
Jack leaned into my window. “Which house is it?”
“Right there.” I pointed out the windshield. “The white house with the striped green awning. Haven’t seen any movement yet, and Kate just called Tech and gave them the plate number. We should hear something any—”
Kate’s phone rang before I finished my sentence. She pulled it out of the cup holder. “It’s Billy.” She answered and tapped the speakerphone icon. “What have you got, Billy? Everyone is listening in.”
“Hey, guys. Okay, that plate number does indeed come up for Joseph Philip Tantor, and the residence on record is 359 West Stark Street.”
“Perfect. That’s exactly what we needed. Thanks.” Kate clicked off the call and pocketed her phone.
“Okay, we know he’s home, or at least his vehicle is. The guy is Charlie’s cousin, and at this point, we have no idea if he’s guilty of anything. Billings, come with me. We’ll do the missing-grandfather routine. You guys hang back until we return. Meanwhile, get back on the horn and have Billy pull his name. We have enough probable cause, since he’s affiliated with Charlie, to at least see if he has a record. For all we know, he could be the shooter.”
I gave Jack a nod. “We’ll have our eyes on you.”
He patted the doorframe and jerked his head toward the house, then he and Billings headed in that direction.
“Kate, call Billy back and have him pull Joe Tantor’s name again and check for a police record. Stay on the line with him until he lets you know.”
“Sure thing.”
Kate spoke to Billy in the background as Clayton and I kept our eyes peeled on the front door and windows. Jack and Adam approached the house, took the two cement steps to the stoop, and knocked. I held the binoculars to my eyes and watched their every move.
“Nothing is happening yet. Looks like Jack knocked several times already.” I watched as Adam took the sidewalk to the driveway. He pressed the back of his hand against the car’s hood. I saw him shake his head at Jack. That told us the engine was cold and the car hadn’t been driven for a while. I turned the binoculars back to Jack at the door. He knocked again. I handed the set to Clayton. “What do you think?”
Clayton peered through the glasses and watched. “Billings just circled the driveway and went into the backyard.”
Kate ended her call. “Okay, Billy said Joe is a petty criminal with three charges of robbery, under one hundred dollars each in value, two possession charges, one breaking and entering that was eventually dropped, and two charges of forging checks. His offenses took place over a period of seven years, so it never appeared like a lot of wrongdoing at one time. Joe never served more than nine months in the city lockup for any offense.”
I gave Kate a nod as she put her phone back in her pocket. The three of us continued staring at the front of the house. With the sun glaring down on the windshield, I pulled out my sunglasses from my purse and slipped them on. Moments later, Billings returned to the stoop.
&nbs
p; “Did Jack just turn the knob?”
Clayton was still watching through the glasses. “Yeah, he sure did, and now it looks like he wants us.”
Jack waved his arm in our direction. Clayton took a few steps back so I could exit the car. Kate got out on the passenger side, and we headed toward the house. I sent Jack a quick text to avoid the sound of a ringing phone.
What do you want us to do?
He responded immediately.
Surround the house and check every window. If you see anything that warrants entry, we can legally breach the door.
I relayed the information to Clayton and Kate. “He wants us to surround the house and check for movement or anything illegal through the windows that would give us reason to enter the premises.”
“Got it.” Clayton pointed to the right and whispered for Kate and me to circle the house that way. He waved to Billings. They would take the left, and we’d meet in the back. Jack nodded and gave us a thumbs-up. He’d stay put and hold down the front of the house.
I took the first window on the north side, and Kate scurried to the second. We both leaned against the wall and did several quick checks through the glass. I shook my head, and she did the same.
“Go ahead and give that room a good look,” I whispered. I waited while Kate peered through the window, then she knelt and ran back to me.
“I don’t see shit.”
I checked the window to my side and peered through. I cupped the sides of my face to block the sun at my back. “Hmm—weird.”
“Nothing, right?”
“Yeah, take a look.”
“Uh-huh, same as mine, but it seems abnormal for a guy’s house.”
I nodded toward the back. “Let’s see what Clayton and Billings found.”
We continued to the backyard and met with the detectives.
Clayton whispered, “What did you see?”
I shrugged. “Nothing except furniture.”
“Same with us, and it seems suspicious. No movement at all, lights are off, and the house is dead silent, yet the guy’s car is in the driveway. He may be stuffed in some closet. I think we should enter the premises.”
We returned to the front of the house and told Jack our findings. Billings suggested breaching the door. “There could be a chance of the guy lying dead in there somewhere. If his associates are all two-bit criminals and druggies, as he is, who knows what could be going on?”
“All right, stand back.”
I knew Jack would volunteer to break in the door. First and foremost, he was in charge and responsible for everything we did. And second, of all the men, Jack was the youngest and appeared to be the strongest. He gave the door a few more knocks with his ear against it.
“Doesn’t sound like a solid-core door, and thank God it isn’t steel. Remind me to stock each car with rams in the future if our budget permits.” He rubbed his hands together, took a look at the hinges, and told us to back up to the lawn.
Jack took five steps back until he was at the edge of the stoop, inhaled a deep breath, and ran at the door with the full force of his left shoulder. The door gave but not completely.
“Son of a bitch that hurt.” Jack rubbed his shoulder as he backed up again. On his second attempt, the door fell inward and crashed to the floor. “There.” He rolled his shoulder and grimaced as he stepped on the door and crossed into the house.
We followed him into what was obviously the living room. We looked around.
“This is BS,” I said. “What criminal do you know who runs with other criminals but keeps his house neat and tidy? I don’t see a damn thing out of place.” I wrinkled my nose and sniffed. “Smell that?”
Everyone inhaled and filled their lungs with the scent wafting through the house.
Jack looked at me and nodded. “Yeah, it’s bleach. First things first, though. Let’s clear this house to make sure there isn’t a corpse lying somewhere. That bleach smell in the air could have come from somebody trying to clean up after a crime was committed. After we clear every room, I’ll decide how to proceed.”
We searched each room, in the closets, and under the beds. We pulled the shower curtain aside and even looked in the linen closet, the cabinets, and finally the garage—we didn’t find a body anywhere. We regrouped in the living room, where Jack called out his instructions.
“All right, now we’ll do a slow, methodical search of each room, but this time, look through drawers, closets, under mattresses, the couch cushion, in the bathroom medicine cabinet, that sort of thing. Take in what is and isn’t there. There has to be something here that can tell us what’s going on. All we have so far is that Charlie is one of the two dead guys and that Joe is his cousin. We need more than that.”
Our hour-long search resulted in nothing out of the ordinary. Something was off given the type of person we assumed Joe was. We didn’t find one slip of paper anywhere in the house. Other than furniture that appeared to be secondhand, there were no liquids, personal items such as mail or bills, or any kind of drug paraphernalia in the residence. The house resembled a staged model home. The only items left behind were miscellaneous tables, two beds, a sofa, and a closet of clothes.
I pulled off my gloves and pocketed them. “Somebody has been here and cleaned the house out. I’d venture to say it was the killer or somebody who works for him.”
Jack ground his fist into his eyes. Blooming spring flowers were clearly causing havoc with his allergies. “I’d have to agree with you, Amber. Whatever was here was something the killer didn’t want found.”
“What about the bleach smell?” Kate asked. “Whoever cleaned out this place couldn’t get rid of that.”
Jack shook his head. “There’s no evidence of a bleach bottle anywhere. Billings, check for garbage cans out back and in the garage. Amber, I want you and Kate to look for keys belonging to that car. Whoever cleaned out this house may have forgotten about the vehicle.”
We searched the typical places—kitchen junk drawer, dish on the entryway table, and the bare hook in the laundry room—but found nothing. I walked into the garage, where I saw Billings.
“Find any garbage?”
“Nope, not even an empty toilet paper roll. I’m going to check that garden shed in the backyard.”
I gave Adam a nod and walked along the inside walls, looking for anything that could help us. “That’s weird.” I pulled a bottle of motorcycle oil off the shelf. It hadn’t even been opened yet.
Hmm, maybe he has a bike too and left on that.
I continued on. The garage was full of the types of things nobody cared about yet wouldn’t throw away. Rusty canisters of this and that, old tires, tools scattered around, and then I saw them. A wide grin crossed my face. “Way to go, Joe.” Three exposed nails extended from the side of a shelf above my head. Two keys hung from them. I slipped the gloves back over my hands and stood on my tiptoes. Even though I was five foot seven, it was still a reach. I lifted both keys from the nails and walked into the house. “Check this out.”
Jack stopped his search. “What did you find?”
“Two keys, one for a Honda touring bike and the other for that hunk-of-crap Buick outside.”
“Nice work, Monroe. So he might have a bike too, huh?”
“It appears so since I found a quart of motorcycle oil in the garage.”
Jack followed me through the house and out to the garage. “Let’s have a look.”
Chapter 17
“We’ll drop you off at Joe’s house, Juan, and you can drive his car back to the shop. It can be used in place of the Chevy we had to destroy. Either of you know how to drive a motorcycle?” McKinley swatted Juan’s shoulder from his position in the backseat. Juan didn’t respond. “Still pissed about what happened earlier?”
“It didn’t just happen, you deliberately murdered a cop. It isn’t something you had to do. With all due respect, Mr. Moore, I think you’re becoming paranoid.”
“I won’t defend my actions again. Spend your life i
n prison if you want to, but I choose to go a different route. My life is filled with money and freedom, and that’s exactly how it’s going to stay. I’ve come too far to be thrown in the can at my age. I wouldn’t last a week.” McKinley stuck his head between the front seats and stared at Juan. “Go ahead, Mr. Know-it-all. Tell me how you would have handled that cop once he opened the trunk.”
Juan huffed and looked out the side window. He didn’t have a response.
“Exactly.” McKinley pointed ahead to the next cross street. “Okay, turn left there on West Stark. Joe’s house is halfway up the block.” Marco made the turn and continued on. McKinley peered through the windshield. “It’s that white house with the green awnings above the windows.”
“I remember, sir.”
“That’s right, you cleaned out the place.”
“Mr. Moore?”
“What is it, Marco?”
“Check out those two black cruisers parked along the curb. They don’t look like personal vehicles. See the side-mounted spotlights by the rearview mirrors?”
“Shit! What the hell is going on? Drive by, anyway. I need a closer look.”
Juan spun in his seat. “You really like to play the odds, don’t you? Why don’t we just turn around?”
“Because that would look even more suspicious than if we continued forward. I think you should check yourself and stop trying to push my buttons. You don’t want to be on the wrong side of me.”
“I’d have to agree with Mr. Moore on this one.” Marco gave Juan a sideways glance. “I’ll drive by, and we can nonchalantly look toward the house as we pass.”
Juan snarled with disgust. “Kiss ass.”
Marco continued on. “Juan, reposition your visor over the passenger window. It will help hide the fact that we’re looking at the house.”
“Good idea. Hurry up,” McKinley said.
Juan turned his visor and lowered it just before they reached the property.
McKinley partially shielded his face with his hand and peered out the window. “Son of a bitch.” He stared at the house as Marco drove by. The Buick’s doors were open, and the trunk was popped. A female officer stood in the driveway and watched as they passed. Several other officers were gathered in the garage and appeared to be sorting paperwork. “Tell me you remembered to empty the car of anything important when you were here.”