Jamie Hill Triple Threat (A Cop In The Family)

by Jamie Hill

  The tattooed intruder did as instructed. Crystal pleaded with his partner, “Please don’t take us. We don’t have anything you want.”

  He grinned wickedly at her. “Don’t be so sure of that, baby. But it’s not really what you have that we’re after. It what we can trade you for.”

  She shivered at his implications, but tried to reason with him. “You have to know that we don’t have the money. Jack’s a cop. He turned it in as soon as we found it.”

  “So you did find it. Must have been one hell of a hiding place. We’ve been tearing that place apart for over a week now.”

  Crystal nodded and decided to tell him, hoping it would help somehow. “It was under the bathroom sink, behind some stained sheetrock. It was hard to see. Believe me, if I’d have known it was there, we wouldn’t be sitting here today.”

  He chuckled grimly. “I believe that. A person could disappear far, far away on a quarter of a mil. Erickson got greedy.”

  Crystal glanced at Devon sadly and then back at the man. “Dave stole it from you, then?”

  “Dave was a liar, a thief, and a junkie.” He looked at Devon. “How does it feel to know that about your old man, kid?”

  Crystal started to speak but Devon looked him squarely in the eye. “My dad had problems, but he was a nice dad.”

  “Yes he was.” Crystal smiled at the little boy, so proud of how he was holding up. She could only hope Mark was faring as well, wherever he was, and that he could somehow get to Jack. She looked at the stranger. “Take me and leave the boy. Please. You don’t need him. He’ll slow us down. Please.”

  The tattooed man returned through the garage and said, “We’re ready to go.”

  “Please,” Crystal implored the first man. “Just take me.”

  “We’re taking you both, for insurance. There were supposed to be three of you, and we’re going to catch enough hell for that. Now come on.” He ripped her hands free of the chair and tied them behind her back with the tape, while the tattooed man did the same to Devon. They pushed them both toward the garage.

  Crystal prayed neither of them would look down and spot the answering machine tape circling. She leaned down to Devon and said softly, “I love you, Devon. It’s going to be okay. Jack will find the two of us.”

  Devon smiled nervously at her and answered, “I know he will. Jack’s the best, Crystal. I love you, too.”

  The door opened and Crystal saw a black SUV in the garage.

  Devon asked hopefully, “Is that Jack’s truck?”

  “No, but it looks like it. Jack has an Explorer. This one is the same color but bigger. An Expedition, I think they call it.”

  “Would you shut the fuck up?” The assailant shoved Crystal out and into the back seat of the truck. “Lie down.” He wrapped a strip of tape around her ankles. He commanded his partner, “Put the kid down on the floor. Tape his feet, and both their mouths. That talkative bitch is driving me crazy already.”

  Crystal grimaced as the tape covered her mouth again. She tried to make eye contact once more with Devon, but his head was opposite hers and it was too dark. She nudged her knees over to him, and he leaned up and rested his head on them. She felt comforted somehow, and hoped he did as well. Even a little bit.

  She'd done everything she could think of to give Jack some clues. It was up to him now. She thought about the angry intruder and the way he looked at her. She didn’t think they'd kill her right away. They were using her to get the money. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t do other things to her while they waited. Hurry Jack, she pleaded in her mind. Hurry.

  Chapter Eleven

  The first thing Jack noticed when he arrived home was that his garage door stood open. The second thing he noticed were the bullet holes in the heads of the two police officers in the patrol car outside his house. “Damn! Damn! Damn!” He reached across the driver’s body for the police radio. “This is Dunlevy. I’ve got two officers down at my house, 2325 Sycamore Lane. I need a wagon for sure and maybe a bus.”

  He knew the cops were dead, and dead bodies were transported in wagons. He wasn’t sure what awaited him in the house—a bus in cop lingo meant an ambulance. “And I need backup. Get Brady Marshall and a team over here. My witnesses are either gone or…” He couldn’t let himself say it. “Just get me some backup, now!” he croaked into the microphone and dropped it.

  “Ten-four detective,” the radio chirped back at him. “Be advised that backup is en route. You are instructed to wait until they arrive before proceeding.”

  He was already in the garage with his gun raised and his hand on the doorknob. He knew he needed to wait for backup. The first thought that struck him was if he found three dead bodies inside, he might very likely turn his gun on himself. But he had to know. He couldn’t sit outside waiting when Crystal could be inside dead or dying. He pushed open the door and entered slowly.

  There were signs of a struggle in the dining room—things knocked over and duct tape on two of the chairs. But there were no bodies, no visible signs of blood. He said a silent prayer and went to the front room. The Playstation had gone into pause mode, meaning whoever had been playing left in a hurry. Music blared from the TV, but he ignored it and inched his way down the hall. It took just a few minutes to discover the house was empty, with no signs of blood anywhere. He slapped off the TV and the video game as he walked back through, and leaned against the sofa.

  They were still alive…so far. He let himself be comforted by that for a moment, then went back into the dining room. The broomstick lay next to the door. The creeps had probably gotten in when Crystal was letting Zeus in or out. Where was Zeus? Jack went into the backyard and didn’t see him, until he got clear out by the gate. He saw his dog lying quietly with a bullet hole in his shoulder.

  “Son-of-a-bitch!” Jack knelt by the dog. Zeus raised his head feebly. “Hey buddy, you’re hanging in there. Thank God! You just sit tight. I’m going to call the vet.” He nuzzled the dog’s neck and pulled out his cell phone. He called the police dispatcher and said “Hey, this is Dunlevy again. I need a vet to pick up an injured canine officer at my address. You still got it?”

  “Yes, detective. We’ll find one and get them right over there.”

  “Where’s my backup? I’ve got a hell of a situation over here.”

  “They should be there momentarily,” she replied, and even as she spoke Jack heard sirens in the distance.

  “Okay, I got ’em. Thanks.” He hung up and kept his hand on Zeus’s neck. “Hey, back here!” He hollered.

  Two uniformed officers came through the gate cautiously.

  “The scene is secured. Far as I can tell we’ve got two dead cops, one injured canine, and three missing witnesses.”

  “Holy Christ,” one of the officers muttered. Jack glanced up. The guy looked about twelve years old.

  “Stay with my dog until the vet gets here, will you? He put in a lot of years on the force, and now he’s taken one in the line of duty.”

  “Uh yeah, I can do that.” The officer knelt opposite Jack. He seemed relieved to have a relatively easy job assignment.

  “Hang in there, Zeus.” Jack patted him one more time, then stood up. “Come on,” he told the other officer. As they entered the back of the house, Brady Marshall and two more officers entered through the front.

  “Dunlevy, what the devil went down here?” Marshall looked around.

  Jack slapped his hand against the wall. “They’re gone. I promised them they’d be safe, and now they're fucking gone.” He pounded the wall again.

  “Okay, okay.” Marshall took him by the arm and shook him briefly. “Stop touching things and give me a description we can get out there. She has long red hair and is what? Five-six, five-seven?”

  Jack collected himself and nodded. “Five foot six, about a hundred and twenty-five pounds, red hair, green eyes—contacts.”

  “Any idea what she was wearing?”

  Jack remembered what she was wearing the last time he
saw her. A whole lot of nothing. He shook his head. “I have no idea.”

  “Okay, now the kids—” Marshall started, but Jack’s cell phone rang.

  He snapped it open and barked, “Dunlevy.”

  “Detective, this is Osborn down at the department. We have a kid here asking for you. I tried to get his name, but he says he won’t talk to anybody but you.”

  “What do you mean a kid?” Jack asked distractedly.

  “A small human male. Looks to be seven or eight, scruffy brown hair. Half frozen, too. Seems he ran here without a coat.”

  Jack’s heart leapt. “Scruffy brown hair?” Mark or Devon? Jack's mind churned. Teeth. “Does he have all his teeth?”

  “What?”

  “His teeth! Does he have his two front teeth?”

  “Yeah, I think he does. He’s not smiling much, though.”

  “Mark!” Jack exclaimed. “Sit on him, Osborn! Warm him up, but don’t let him leave. I’m on my way. Ten minutes.” He snapped his phone shut and looked at Marshall. “I think Mark just showed up at the department looking for me.”

  “Excellent! Go, I’ll handle things here, and meet you back there later.”

  Jack gave him a nod and a quick smile before he ran to his truck. He slapped his portable flashing light on the Explorer's roof and broke all speed records getting to the department. He pounded the elevator buttons and ran through the halls, forcing people to jump aside. Arriving at his office, he saw the little boy wrapped in a blanket and sipping from a mug. Jack was elated. “Mark!”

  “Jack!” He set the cup down and flew into Jack’s arms.

  “Oh my God, baby, I’ve never been so happy to see anyone in my entire life.”

  “Me too, Jack.” Mark hugged his neck tightly.

  Jack embraced him for another minute, then inhaled and pulled back carefully. “Mark, do you know where Crystal and Devon are?”

  The boy dissolved into tears and answered, “They took them!”

  “Who took them, honey? Think real hard.”

  “Two men. They came in the back door. I was—”

  “Okay, wait.” Jack held a hand up to him. He looked up and saw his lieutenant and a couple other detectives standing nearby. “We should go into the other room with someone to take down his statement.”

  Reeder nodded. “Let’s do it. Right in here, guys.” He motioned to the little room they had used before, and nodded for Jack and Mark to go first. He got a stenographer and the other two detectives. With everyone assembled, Reeder closed the door. “Can we get you anything, son?” Reeder asked Mark, who didn’t reply. The lieutenant looked to Jack.

  Jack asked, “Mark, you want anything before we start this?”

  “No.” He shook his head.

  “Okay buddy. Start from the beginning, and tell me everything. What were you doing, and what were Crys and Dev doing?” Jack realized Mark might say something that would tip the lieutenant off to the true nature of his relationship with Crystal, but he had to risk it. “Go ahead,” he encouraged.

  “We were drawing in the dining room,” Mark started.

  “Drawing?” Jack repeated.

  “Yeah. We got in trouble fighting over the Playstation, so Crystal made us shut it off and take naps.”

  Reeder interrupted. “He calls his mother Crystal?”

  Jack shrugged it off casually. “Kids these days. Go ahead, Mark.”

  “She made us draw pictures after our naps. I got mad because it was stupid. You don’t have crayons or markers or nothing, just pencils.”

  “You got me there.” Jack smiled. “So you were drawing…?”

  “Yeah, but Crystal finally gave in and let us play the Playstation again, as long as we didn’t fight. I started playing. Dev kept drawing. He was making some stupid pumpkins or something, and he was all happy about it.”

  “What happened next?” Jack asked softly.

  “I don’t know exactly. The next thing I know Dev shouted, and I looked in and saw two men pushing them around.”

  “Did they say anything? The men, I mean.”

  “No. They had this silver tape and they put it across Crystal’s mouth. When I saw them put it on Dev’s mouth, I ran back to my room and hid in that little crawl space in the closet. Remember, you told me about it?”

  “Yeah.” Jack ran his hand through the boy’s hair. “That was really quick thinking.”

  “I heard one of them come into the bedroom, and he was calling to me like, ‘Come out, come out wherever you are.’ For a second I thought I should go out and try to help Crystal and Devon, but I was scared. His voice sounded mean. So I just stayed where I was. After a while I didn’t hear anything, so I snuck out and saw they were all gone. I grabbed my shoes and ran out to the policemen in front of the house.” He looked stricken. “They were dead, Jack.”

  “I know, buddy.” Jack pulled the boy close to him. “I know. I’m sorry you had to see that.”

  “I just started running. I kind of remembered where your office was, from the other day. I stopped and asked one guy, and he gave me directions here.”

  Jack sat back and looked at him, amazed. Then his fatherly side kicked in and he inquired, “So you grabbed your shoes but you forgot your coat?”

  Mark’s eyes filled with tears. “Crys and Dev don’t have coats, Jack. I don’t even think they have shoes.”

  Jack fought back his own tears as he hugged Mark tightly to him. Once he was sure he could speak without his voice cracking, he said, “We’re going to find them, Mark. One way or another, I promise you, we’re going to find them.”

  The door to the conference room flew open and Brady Marshall bounced in. “Wait until you get a load of this!” He set a tape player on the table and practically beamed.

  “What is that?” Jack cocked his head.

  “The tape from your answering machine. Take a listen.”

  He started to press Play but Jack said, “Wait!” He was trying to remember what was on his message tape. What was it that Marshall wanted to play for the whole room?

  They looked at him expectantly and Jack finally cleared his throat and pondered, “Is this something that Mark should hear?”

  Marshall grinned and shrugged. “Not a problem as far as I can tell. Damn, Dunlevy, this woman is one smart cookie.” He pressed Play.

  “What?” Jack was confused, but listened along with everyone else.

  There were muffled scuffling sounds, and then a voice said “I thought there were supposed to be two kids.”

  Another man’s voice said “There are.”

  “Then where’s the second brat?”

  There was another long pause and muffled sounds.

  “What the hell? How are we hearing this?” Jack stared at the tape.

  Marshall grinned. “She hit the Record button. At some point before he tied her to the chair, she was quick thinking enough to hit the damn record button!”

  Jack looked at Marshall, who was grinning. Jack grinned back at him and Mark. He turned the sound up and heard a ripping noise.

  “Ouch!” Crystal said.

  “That was Crystal!” Mark hollered.

  “Yeah.” Jack put his arm around the boy. “Let’s listen.”

  Unknown man: “Where is the other kid?”

  Crystal: “He’s not here. He wanted to get out of the house, so Jack took him to the grocery store. They’ll be back any minute.”

  Unknown man: “Don’t lie to me,” followed by a loud slap.

  “He hit her!” Mark cried, and Jack pushed the Stop button. He looked at the boy. “Maybe you shouldn’t be in here.”

  “I can handle it.” Mark shoved out his chest. “But why did she lie, Jack? I never went anywhere.”

  “She was trying to protect you,” Jack answered softly. “I’ll let you stay, but I need you to be real quiet, okay? And if you change your mind and decide you want to leave, just tell me.”

  “Okay.” Mark nodded, and Jack started the tape again.

  “Whe
re’s your brother?” Unknown man apparently talking to Devon.

  “At-at the store. He wanted to pick out his own cereal. Jack kept buying stuff he didn’t like.”

  There was another long silence and Jack nodded. “Devon picked up on Crys’ lie. Pretty astute for a little kid.”

  They stared at the machine again and Marshall said, “Now get a load of this.”

  Crystal’s voice came on. “That’s a cool red dragon tattoo. Did it hurt?”

  The second man said “Not really. When they first started I thought—”

  “Shut the fuck up,” unknown man returned.

  Marshall hit the Stop button and smiled at Jack.

  “He has a red dragon tattoo!” Jack ran a hand through his hair. “God damn, Crys, give us something else.”

  They listened as the tape started again.

  Unknown man: “Go pull the truck into the garage, and shut the door. We’ll take these two before the cop gets home with the other kid.”

  Crystal: “Please don’t take us. We don’t have anything you want.”

  Unknown man: “Don’t be so sure of that, baby. But it’s not really what you have that we’re after. It what we can trade you for.”

  Jack’s jaw tightened. He knew they wanted to trade her for the money. He just didn’t know what they would do to her in the meantime. He thought for one moment that he might be sick.

  Crystal went on: “You have to know that we don’t have the money. Jack’s a cop. He turned it in as soon as we found it.”

  Unknown man: “So you did find it. Must have been one hell of a hiding place. We’ve been tearing that place apart for over a week now.”

  Crystal: “It was under the bathroom sink, behind some stained sheetrock. It was hard to see. Believe me, if I’d have known it was there, we wouldn’t be sitting here today.”

  Reeder hit the Stop button. “Why did she tell him that?”

  Jack shrugged. “What difference does it make? I think she’s trying to be friendly with him.”

  Marshall muttered, “Friendly can be dangerous. Hope she can take care of herself.”

  Jack frowned and punched the player back on.

  Unknown man laughed: “I believe that. A person could disappear far, far away on a quarter of a mil. Erickson got greedy.”