Determinant

by E. H. Reinhard

  The front door of the bar opened and the two men walked out. The door closed behind them. Ray watched the look of surprise cross the men’s faces. The man leading the way held a switchblade. The one in the back grabbed his friend by the shoulder.

  Ray stood pointing the gun at them. The barrel of the pistol was just a few feet from their heads. “You guys planning on doing something?” Ray asked.

  The guy with the switchblade tried hiding it behind his leg. “No. We were just trying to leave.”

  “You always walk out of the bar after people with a switchblade?” Ray motioned with the barrel of the gun back toward the bar. “You sure the bartender didn’t call you guys up to come and try to roll me in the parking lot?”

  The one in the back spoke up. “No one called us. I don’t know what you’re talking about. We don’t want any trouble. We were just leaving.” He grabbed his friend’s shirt and tried to pull him to the side. “Come on man.”

  “Just wait a second there guys. Toss the blade on the ground.”

  The man tossed the switchblade at Ray’s feet. Ray kicked it across the parking lot. “Now, pull out your wallets and pass them over.”

  “Hey man, what is this? You’re going to rob us?”

  Ray stepped toward them. “Wallets.”

  They handed them over. He opened the first and found the I.D. “Which one of you is Jeff Kearn?”

  The shorter of the two pointed to himself.

  He opened the next wallet. The I.D. said: Thomas Reynolds—the guy with the switchblade.

  Ray pulled the cash, driver’s licenses and credit cards from both wallets and stuck them in his pants pocket. He tossed the empty billfolds behind him in the parking lot.

  “Now I’m going to teach you guys a little lesson. How about you first, Tom?”

  Ray holstered his gun and jammed his hands into the front pockets of his suit jacket. The two men looked at each other confused. His hands came from his pockets. The dim street light that lit the parking lot shined off of the brass knuckles he wore on each fist. Ray swung on the man named Thomas first. Connecting with his cheek, Ray felt his fist shatter bone. He swung three more times—two lefts and another right that sent Thomas to the ground. Ray reached down with his left hand and grabbed Thomas by his hair. Ray delivered three more rights. Jeff ran for his truck. Ray walked after him. Jeff got inside and locked the door.

  Ray walked up along the driver’s side of the truck and punched through the window. Jeff, covered in shattered glass, fumbled with the keys in the ignition. Through the void of the window, Ray struck him twice in the side of the face. Jeff rolled to his side on the seat. He scrambled to get to the passenger door to escape. Ray got the driver’s door open and yanked him out of the truck by his feet. As soon as he hit the ground, Ray swarmed him and rained down punches. When the blood started to splatter his suit, he stopped. Ray stood over Jeff on the ground. The man’s mouth hung open. Most of his front teeth had been broken out. His nose was crushed. Ray lifted his foot and stomped Jeff’s head until he stopped moving. He stuck a finger into the collar of his shirt and cracked his neck from side to side. “I think maybe you guys picked the wrong person to start something with.”

  Ray let out a large breath through his nose. He put his hands in the front pockets of his suit jacket and let the blood covered brass knuckles fall inside. “Amateurs.” He lit a cigarette and headed for his car.

  Chapter 5

  It was a beautiful morning. The temperature was right around sixty five. The humidity was low. I opted to take the one mile walk from my condo to the station. I entered the building a few minutes before nine o’clock. A tall fresh cup of coffee accompanied me. Callie had just picked me up a new thermal mug. The last few times she stayed over she’d get up before me and make sure I had a cup for the road. I unlocked my office door and walked inside. As soon as I sat, Hank walked in.

  “Are you just getting here now?”

  I took the lid of my coffee mug and had a sip. “Yeah, I walked.”

  He sat on the couch at the back of the room. “Didn’t want to drive your fancy new car?”

  “It’s not that. It’s just nice out. I thought I’d enjoy the morning.”

  He pushed himself back into the cushions and made like he was steering a car. “If I had that thing I’d be driving the wheels off it.”

  I smirked. “Instead you’re driving the wheels off a pink hybrid.”

  “Raspberry. It’s raspberry.”

  I nodded. “Keep telling yourself that.”

  “So how did your date last night go?”

  “It was fine.”

  “I was looking for a six month anniversary card at the store last night, but I couldn’t find one.”

  I glared at him. He smiled and kicked a leg over his knee. I noticed he had reverted back to a normal suit and shoes instead of his high fashion attire from weeks past. Hank’s wife had recently signed with some high priced mail order suit subscription. The service came complete with a fashion consultant. I was guessing he finally saw the bill. “Did that outfit come from Box O’ Style? Looks pretty tame.”

  He shook his head. “I decided to cancel.”

  “Really?” I smiled. “Why is that?”

  “I just wasn’t into their selections.”

  I nodded. “You mean the bill came?”

  He was quiet.

  “How much per?” I asked.

  Hank looked down. “Twenty-three hundred.”

  I laughed.

  “How many boxes before you saw the bill?”

  “Five. In the last box was a four hundred dollar pair of socks. That was it.”

  I smiled. “So did you just come in here to shoot the shit or what? Don’t you have some police work to do?”

  “Not really. I was thinking about stepping out to grab a coffee? The coffee machine in the lunch room is on the fritz again.”

  “Hey, maybe you can find a coffee upstairs in Missing Persons while you’re seeing if they have anything on our floater.”

  He sat quiet for a second. A perplexed look covered his face. “Do you want me to go upstairs and talk to the guys about the Jane Doe?”

  “Bingo. I need to fire off an email quick. I’ll meet you up there in a minute.”

  “Am I supposed to talk to Schmidt or Steinberg?”

  “Steinberg is on vacation.”

  Hank nodded and left my office.

  My sister had sent me somewhere along the lines of twenty emails containing photos and instructions over the last few days. She took my nephew Tommy to see Santa Claus at the mall. I needed to pick which photo I wanted sent to me. On top of that, they had just got family Christmas photos done, and I needed to go to the photographer’s website and choose some of those as well. I played the role of a good brother and uncle and chose my photos. Where I’d put them when they arrived would be another story. My condo was starting to become a shrine to my nephew.

  I rode the elevator upstairs to the fourth floor and headed down the hall to Missing Persons. It was a small department tucked in behind our administrative unit. The walls were light gray and stacked to the ceiling with file boxes. There were three offices separating the front. The offices belonged to Detective Schmidt, Detective Steinberg and their secretary.

  I walked in and spotted Hank and Schmidt’s desk toward the back. There was no one else around.

  “Schmidt.” I reached out, shook his hand and took a seat.

  Detective Schmidt had been in our Missing Person’s department ever since I took the job a few years back. He wore black rimmed glasses, a white shirt and tie. From the lack of gray in his hair, I was sure he dyed it. The wrinkles around his eyes said he was in his forties.

  “Kane, I was just telling Rawlings here that it only took me a couple photos to find your girl. I recognized the tattoos. Her name is Jenny Cartwright. I made the call to Ed. He said he’d make the call to her parents to come and identify the remains.”

  “When did she get reported missing?�
� I asked.

  He slid the file on her over to me. “A week ago today. Her roommate reported it.”

  “Have we been in contact with the family?”

  “Daily. Her roommate called it in to us. We contacted the family. Parents hadn’t talked to her in a week or so prior to her going missing. They’re local though.”

  I opened the file and thumbed through the contents. “I’ll take a look at this in more detail in a bit, but give me the short version. What do we have as far as information?”

  “Her roommate stated she went home with some guy she’d met at a bar. It was the last time she was seen or heard from. We had a few officers go to the bar, but didn’t come up with anything.”

  “What bar?” I asked.

  Schmidt reached over to the file and rustled through it. He tapped at a name on one of the papers. “Frank’s is the name. Her roommate said she didn’t come home that night and didn’t show for work the next day. I guess they both worked at the same restaurant. Anyway, her roommate kept trying to call her and never got an answer. She reported her missing after she missed her second shift in a row.”

  Hank put his elbow up on Schmidt’s desk and sat his chin on his hand. “Did her roommate leave a description of the guy she went out with?”

  “She never saw him, but gave a description from what she was told by the Cartwright girl on the phone—big Russian guy with longer hair. Name was Ray,” Schmidt said.

  I flipped through the papers in the folder. “Roommate’s contact info is in here correct?”

  “Yup. Should be everything we gathered in there.”

  “Thanks Schmidt.” I took the folder from the desk and stood. Hank followed my lead.

  Schmidt’s attention went back to the files on his desk.

  We left the Missing Persons office and headed back down the hall. I hit the button for the elevator to take us to three.

  “Plan of attack?” Hank asked.

  The elevator doors opened and took us in. “We need to get some interviews set up, parents and roommate.”

  Hank leaned against the back wall of the elevator. “Does it seem kind of weird to you that her parents wouldn’t have talked to her in a week? I mean if I had a college aged daughter living with a friend I’d be checking in on her every twenty minutes.”

  “I agree. We’ll get to the bottom of it.”

  The elevator let us out, and we made our way over to the captain’s office. His door was open. We entered.

  He looked up from his computer. “Well?”

  “We got a positive. The girl’s name was Jenny Cartwright.”

  “What do we know?”

  “We know a little more about our suspect. Jenny Cartwright’s roommate said she went home with a big Russian with longer hair. He went by the name Ray. It gives us a loose description to work with between the two. That description doesn’t ring a bell does it?”

  “Not in the least. Circulate it around the station and see if anything comes back. When did this Jenny girl go missing?”

  “Roommate reported her missing a week ago. She went home with a guy from the bar and wasn’t seen or heard from again. I’m going to try to get some interviews set with the roommate and the girl’s parents.”

  “Have her parents been notified?” the captain asked.

  “Schmidt called over to Ed and gave him her name. Ed was going to call in the family to make a positive identification,” Hank said.

  I tapped my fingers on the captain’s desk. “Still plugging away on that budget?”

  “Yeah. I’m trying to find a way to get Jones back on first. I’m not sure if we can. The money just isn’t available.”

  “I’d appreciate it if you could.”

  The captain nodded and pointed to his computer screen. “I’m working on it. I know you guys could use the help.”

  “Thanks, Cap.” I stood. “Come on Hank.”

  The captain let out a deep breath and went back to staring at his computer. “Keep me updated guys.”

  We left his office and headed to Hank’s desk. I handed him the file. “Call up the roommate and try to get something setup.”

  Hank squeezed the back of his neck and ran his hand through his hair. “Am I breaking the news to her?”

  I shook my head. “Not until the parents make a positive identification. Tell her we’d like to follow up with her and setup a time for an interview. I’m going to call Ed and see what the status on the parents is.”

  He took a seat at his desk and I headed for my office. I sat and grabbed the phone. I dialed up the medical examiner’s office. The receptionist picked up within a few rings.

  “County Medical Examiner’s office, this is Brenda.”

  “Hi Brenda, it’s Lieutenant Kane. Is Ed in?”

  “Sure Lieutenant, one moment.”

  She put me on hold and I rocked back in my chair throwing my feet up on a file box next to my desk. The hold music was interrupted a minute or two later by Ed coming to the phone.

  “Lieutenant, what can I do you for?”

  “Hey Ed, what’s the status on this Jenny Cartwright’s parents?”

  “They should be in soon. I called them about twenty minutes ago.”

  “Can you give me a call after they identify her?”

  “No problem. Anything else?”

  “Yeah, tell them that I’ll be working the case and give them my contact information. Have them call me as soon as they can.”

  “Will do.”

  “Thanks Ed.” I hung up the phone.

  I opened her file and spread the papers across my desk. The next half hour was spent going over each sheet on the girl two or three times. Jenny Cartwright was twenty four and studying to be a social worker. She worked part time at Chick Stop, a chain restaurant that specialized in wings and waitresses that wore tight shirts and small skirts. There was no boyfriend in the picture. Our best chance to get to the bottom of this sat with her roommate or the bar she met the guy at. I pulled myself from my chair and went out to see if Hank was able to get something setup with her roommate.

  Chapter 6

  “Anything?”

  Hank reclined in at his desk chair. “We’re supposed to meet her at noon. I was just going to come grab you.”

  “Today?”

  He nodded. “We have to meet her at her work. Guess she starts her shift at twelve thirty and wants to meet prior.”

  I sat across from him. “Where’s it at?”

  “Right over the causeway heading into Clearwater.”

  I caught the time on my watch. It was a little after eleven. “Okay, let me grab the file from my desk. I’ll meet you back here in a few.”

  “Yup.”

  I turned and headed for my office. As I gathered up the file I noticed my voice mail light flashing on my desk phone. I picked up the receiver and hit the button for it to play. The message was a couple minutes old.

  Kane, it’s Ed. I’ll try your cell in case you’re out. Jennifer Cartwright’s parents identified the body and left. I gave your information to her father, John. He said he’d contact you this afternoon. If you need anything else give me a buzz.

  I hung up the phone and felt my cell vibrate in my pocket. It was the medical examiner’s office. I clicked talk.

  “Hey Ed. I just got your message at my desk.”

  “Oh, OK. One more thing I forgot to add. Her father is a father.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “A minister. Her father is a minister.”

  “Got it. Thanks, Ed.”

  “No sweat.”

  I hung up, finished putting all the papers back into the file and went to round up Hank. We took an unmarked from the lot and pulled out a couple minutes after eleven thirty.

  “So her father is a minister?” Hank asked.

  I merged to the right to hop onto the Memorial Highway that would take us up to SR 60. “That’s what Ed said.”

  “Could be why that hadn’t talked much.”

  “What do you m
ean?”

  “Well, if my daughter worked at a place like that I wouldn’t be all that jazzed. Plus I’m sure it doesn’t look that hot if you’re working in the church.”

  “It’s just a restaurant. Someplace guys can daydream and watch sports.”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  I merged over onto the entrance of SR 60. “So you’re saying you’d rather not go? You want me to swing around and drop you back at the station.”

  “Well, I suppose it’s getting toward lunchtime and I might as well eat.”

  “That’s pretty much what I figured.”

  A few miles down SR 60 we found the place on the right. The lunchtime crowd had the parking lot packed. I found a spot at the back and parked. I grabbed the case file and Hank and I walked through the front doors. We were greeted by the twenty something year old blonde hostess. “Welcome to Chick Stop, how many today?”

  “Two. We’re actually here to speak with one of your employees, Kelly Pearson.”

  “Sure. I’ll just get you guys a table and I’ll try to find her for you. Follow me.”

  We did. Hank’s eye level never got above her waist as we followed. She sat us at a table against the back wall.

  “I’ll tell Kelly you’re here.”

  “Oh, thanks,” Hank said.

  She walked off toward the bar.

  “First time seeing a female?” I asked.

  “It’s like staring into the sun. You’re not supposed to look but I can’t help it.”

  I smiled. “Yeah, pretty sure that’s the point of this place.”

  We ordered a couple cups of coffee and waited. A girl in street clothes walked up a few minutes later. “You the guys from the police station that called?”

  I took a drink from my coffee, sat it down and swallowed. “Yes, I’m Lieutenant Kane, this is Sergeant Rawlings that you spoke with earlier.”

  She pulled a chair out and sat. “Did you find Jenny?”

  I nodded and thought about my words for a second before speaking. “Miss Pearson, I’m sorry to be the one to have to tell you this but…”

  She cut me off mid-sentence. “She’s dead?”

  I let out a breath and nodded confirmation.