Ryan pounded his meaty fists on the glass above the screen door. “Thomas Sanchez, this is the Jefferson County Police Department’s task unit. We have a warrant to search your home.”
The porch light flicked on.
Ryan shifted his weight as the wooden door opened.
Wearing a t-shirt and a pair of boxers, Thomas applauded and grinned, displaying gapped teeth wide enough to whistle a stream of water through them.
“Thomas Sanchez?” Ryan asked, flashing his badge.
“Yes?”
“We have a warrant to search these premises and your vehicle. Please take a step back, sir.”
Ryan returned his gun to his holster and patted Thomas down. “He’s clean. Is there anyone else here?”
“No.”
As Ryan pushed Thomas to the side, and the rest of the VTFU team moved into the home, Lily took a few steps forward, resting her foot at the base of the porch.
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Sanchez said.
“We’re just looking around,” Lily stated, tucking her gun back into its leather case.
“Make it quick.”
Lily shivered as Thomas passed her. Besides his possible connection to her sister’s death, something struck her emotionally. She considered this for a few moments and reflected back to when Celine’s case had been at the forefront before all the leads dried up.
Sanchez’s name was on a list of people to speak with during the investigation, but Sanchez gave Evan an alibi and was let go.
Evan leaned over and said, “Not here.”
“It’s him,” Lily said, moving toward Thomas.
Thomas took a step back.
Evan grabbed the tail of Lily’s jacket and pulled her to him. “Everyone’s watching, so save it for later.”
Lily nodded and drifted toward the rear of the house.
For twenty minutes, Lily, Morgan, Evan, and Alec made an exhaustive search through four bedrooms, two main rooms, and the garage. Two areas of the house remained: the basement and the cellar.
Lily gave the place a once over while the others continued to search. Satisfied that everyone was doing their job, she proceeded toward the basement.
Coming out of the living room, Lily entered the kitchen and took a right. She strode down the first three stairs. When she reached the landing, she took a left and looked up at the unsteady light bulb above. It rattled, swinging from side to side as people moved about above.
Carefully, she descended the wooden stairs, venturing further into the damp basement.
As she made it past the final step, she waved her flashlight, breaking up the dusty cobwebs suspended loosely in front of her.
She moved toward the far wall that angled around to an opening underneath the stairs. In the corner was an old green metal desk cluttered with a combination eight track player, turntable, and tapes.
A humming noise from the next room caught Lily’s attention. She aimed the flashlight in its direction and walked toward it.
Once inside, she realized she was in the furnace room. Duct work ran along the beams above. She ran her gloved hand along the concrete walls, which crumbled at her touch.
The circuit breaker box located next to the small awning window looked the worse for wear. Its panel dangled from the hinge and had been defaced with red paint. A carpet roll leaned against the wall in a nearby corner. Blankets of dirt covered an old dressmaker form, a chest of drawers, and stacks of picture frames.
Small boxes shipped from Seamstress Alterations were strewn all over the floor. Lily bent down, opened the flaps of the boxes and found an array of fabrics in different colors accompanied with pattern hooks and measuring tapes. Rows of pink and white cloths, like the ones used on Tanya and Samantha, filled the boxes.
Lily surveyed the room, noticing a wardrobe storage cabinet missing its handles.
She clicked on her radio. “Evan, can you meet me downstairs? And bring your flat bar?”
“Be there in a sec.”
Lily worked at prying the door open, but it wouldn’t budge.
Evan came into the room. “Stand back.” He took some quick photos of the closet door. After Evan finished, he wedged the flat edge of the bar between the door jam and the lock.
Snap. It opened.
Lily scrunched her nose at the musty smell leaking from inside the closet. It was filled with ankle length floral dresses suspended on wire hangers.
Evan reached in and began thumbing through the moth eaten garments, many with price tags still dangling from the sleeves.
“Not sure I’d call this a storage area,” Lily remarked.
“Why not?”
“It’s too clean. There are clothes with moth holes, but no dead moths lying on the floor.”
Lily took a step back, standing on her tip toes to look up on the shelf. Buried underneath a pile of shirts was a black shoebox. “Hand me that box.”
Evan retrieved the box and gave it to her.
“Well, I’ll be damned.” Using her gloved hand, she lifted a black work boot by the heel and turned up the bottom side.
Evan flashed his light on the boot. “Looks like dry mud.”
Lily’s heart fluttered instinctively as she continued to move about the closet.
Tidbits of the case flashed in her mind. The cloths that had covered the victims’ nude bodies. The boot prints found above their heads. It was like panning for gold in the streambeds of Black Earth Creek, hoping that anything recovered would be linked to its owner.
As positive as she was, the items needed to go back to the lab. Lily snapped a photo of the boots and the rest of her findings.
“An investigator is on the way,” Evan said, flipping his phone closed.
Suddenly, a loud crash and muffled voices were heard above.
Lily dashed out of the furnace room, up the stairs and through the kitchen. Soon she came upon Morgan and Nick pinning Thomas to the ground.
“Stay still!” Morgan shouted.
After Nick locked the cuffs on Thomas’s wrist, Morgan rose. Nick grabbed Thomas’s arm and lifted him off the ground.
“Put me up. Lock me up. I’ve done nothing wrong. I served my country faithfully during Desert Storm, and this is the fucking thanks I get?”
Morgan said, “I’ll wait here with Mr. Sanchez while you go get your car.”
Nick trotted out of the house and disappeared around the side.
Morgan elbowed Lily. “We’ve got company.”
Lily followed her gaze. She observed Hauser as he parked his car and stepped out from the driver’s side. “Will you be okay here with him?”
“No prob.”
Lily pressed the button on her radio. “Alec, can you back up Morgan with Mr. Sanchez?”
“I’m on my way.”
“Just go. I’ll be fine,” Morgan said, taking a step to the right and standing behind Thomas, distancing her gun from his reach.
Lily looked intensely at Thomas. He kept his gaze forward, his jaw tightened.
“I’m going to go check in with Hauser,” Lily said. She stepped onto the porch into the cool breeze. “Hauser, over here.”
“It’s a zoo out front,” he said, walking up to her.
She smiled. “I thought we only call your office if we find a body?”
“The mayor ordered us here in case things needed to be handled quickly and neatly,” he replied, zipping up his jacket.
“I’m so tired of hearing about the damn election. It’s over, yet it looks like my case is only a priority because everyone wants to use it as a bumper sticker that says, ‘look what I can do,’” she said, turning to go back inside.
As Lily entered the living room, she tensed and browsed the main rooms. “Morgan?”
Morgan and Sanchez were gone.
With every second that passed as she searched for her partner, guilt trickled in and consumed the images already riddling her brain. The images of Celine.
If something had happened to Morgan, it would be he
r fault. She should have never left her alone. Her carelessness would haunt her forever, just as it did with her sister.
Chapter 20
“I thought she was with you,” Evan said, walking toward Lily.
Lily aimed her attention toward the kitchen located several feet from the bedroom. She put her hand up and shielded herself behind the second entryway, which was catty-corner from the bedroom door.
She panned the hallway, catching a glimpse of the door leading to Sanchez’s bedroom.
It was closed.
Through the kitchen window, Lily observed her officers outside continuing their search of the area, including the cellar. “I’ll go first.” She crept across the narrow hallway and placed herself laterally against the door trim.
Lily stiffened as she heard footsteps pacing near the door. If it was Sanchez inside the room, then where was Morgan? Was she in there with him?
She balled her fist and pounded against the door. “Sanchez?” she yelled. “You need to come out.”
The pacing stopped.
Before Lily had a chance to say another word, Ryan and one of his team members moved in armed, and positioned themselves for entry.
Ryan air signaled his comrade. “You’ve got two seconds to come out or we’re coming in.”
There was some fumbling with the door knob. Then, slowly, the door opened and out came Sanchez, still in handcuffs and holding a gun.
“Drop your weapon,” Ryan shouted.
Sanchez immediately did as he was told.
After Ryan grabbed Sanchez and walked him up front, Lily took a quick look in the room.
No Morgan. Where is she?
As Lily emerged from the house, Nick ran from his police cruiser toward her. “What’s going on?” Lily demanded. Nick’s expression alarmed her.
“After Morgan put Mr. Sanchez in our cruiser and left, someone hit me from behind and fled behind the house. I ran over to assist and Mr. Sanchez ducked back inside.”
“Where did Morgan go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes ma’am. I tried to make the right decision. That’s when I went to get Ryan.”
“Did you get a look at this guy?”
Nick shook his head. “Just that he was in uniform.”
Lily’s radio beeped. “Go ahead.”
“I found Morgan,” Evan said. “She’s okay. We’re on the south side of the house by the big willow tree in the back.”
“Good. Xavier is on the property. I need every officer on alert. I’m on my way.”
*
Xavier turned off his police radio and crouched down behind the willow tree. He looked at the officers searching for him. And then there were three.
He took the safety off his nine millimeter and watched the three detectives in front of him. Alec, Morgan, and Evan stood with their backs facing him, waiting for Lily as she stalked toward the detectives. It’s a shame I won’t see their faces.
He pointed his gun at the detective in the orange blazer and fired.
In that split second, Lily heard the crack of a shot being fired, forcing her to the ground. As she raised her head, she saw Morgan slumped against Alec. No!
“Oh, shit! Morgan,” Alec said, taking her in his arms. He laid Morgan down gently on the ground and opened her blazer. Blood saturated her orange silk blouse underneath. “She’s been shot.”
Lily scooted on her belly across the grass. More shots rang out.
“We got him!”
“Hold your fire,” an officer shouted.
To Lily, the words sounded as if she was in a tunnel. It felt like time had slowed down, keeping her from getting to her friend.
Lily got up on her hands and knees and crawled over to Morgan. She reached for Morgan’s hand and squeezed.
Nothing.
Lily’s hand shook as she radioed dispatch. “This is 113, I have an officer down. Send an ambulance now to N126 Knickerpass Road out by the old Schroeder farm.” She checked Morgan’s pulse.
“Copy 113. They’re already en route.”
“Stay with me, Morgan.” Lily’s voice cracked as she squeezed Morgan’s hand again. “I need you around so we can go to one of Alec’s stupid poker games. Only this time it will be gals against the guys.”
Morgan remained still.
“Where’s that damn ambulance?” Lily asked.
“They’re coming, Lil,” Evan said.
Sirens wailed in the distance.
Evan sprinted across the front yard to the end of the driveway and flagged down the ambulance.
To Lily, it seemed forever before the paramedics arrived and did what they could to stabilize her friend.
Lily rose and wrung her hands anxiously.
“How you doing?” Evan asked, taking Lily into an embrace.
“I wish this was some horrible nightmare. One that I could wake up from.”
The EMTs loaded Morgan onto a spine board, strapped her down and placed her inside the ambulance. A couple of minutes seemed like an eternity as the siren blared and the ambulance pulled out and sped down the road.
Lily’s breathing slowed as she took an involuntary step back, watching the sight of the flashing lights as they reached the top of the hill.
*
2:00 p.m.
Light snow flakes drifted down from the sky and landed on the windshield of the Charger. Nick worked to seal off the area as forensics moved quickly to preserve any possible evidence related to Morgan’s shooting.
Lily felt a tingle in her chest as she walked along the outside of the taped off area. She wandered among the patrol cars, counting. The number of cars they arrived in were all accounted for. If Martinez left the station in his car, where was it parked?
She bolted around back over to the property line that divided Mr. Sanchez’ and Joshua Robins’ home, separated by the wooden fence.
In the distance she saw a black vehicle parked in front of the outbuilding.
“Did ya come back for some apple pie?” Nanna asked from the porch.
Lily waved. “Hey, Nanna. Is that Mr. Sanchez’s vehicle?”
“I don’t believe so. I thought it belonged to one of your people.”
“I’m sorry?”
“A cop stops by and visits from time to time. Come on over,” Nanna said.
“Some other time,” Lily said, running towards the house, where Evan was talking to Sergeant Owen.
“I found Martinez’s car. It’s parked down by the outbuilding,” Lily said.
“I’ll request a warrant and have it towed back to the garage,” Owen replied.
“I’d like your permission to speak with Thomas,” Lily said.
“It’ll have to wait until we get back. Whatever comes out of his mouth, I want it on record,” Sergeant Owen said.
Lily turned and left. She could hear Evan catching up to her as she made her way to the front of the house. “Go back, Evan.”
“You heard Owen; he wants it on record. Let it go.”
When Lily reached Nick, he was in the driver seat with the engine running. She walked up to the passenger side and said, “I have a quick question for Mr. Sanchez.”
“I think it can wait, Detective,” Nick said.
“Tuck in your balls, Nick,” Lily said. “A cop has been shot and might die. I want answers. Now roll down the damn window.”
Lily glared at Thomas as Nick rolled down the rear window. “If you have any decency left you’ll tell me why Martinez shot one of my detectives.”
“It’s not about decency. It’s about loyalty.”
“Loyalty?”
“Yes. Like your devotion to your sister, even after her death; mine is no different. But I’ll give you a hint. He was protecting a secret. Secrets are a family’s burden we’re both familiar with, right, Detective?”
As Lily reached for the car door, Evan slid in front of her.
“Move,” Lily said.
“He’s just baiting you.”
<
br /> Nick rolled up the window and pulled away.
Exhausted, Lily took a deep breath. What secret was Martinez protecting? And what did that have to do with Morgan? She knew that even though Martinez was dead, it wasn’t the end. In fact, things were just beginning.
*
At one the next morning, blurry eyed and frustrated, Lily waited for Sergeant Owen to return. The debriefing had lasted longer than she imagined. And what she wanted more than anything was to go see Morgan in the hospital.
As the door to Sarge’s office opened, he entered carrying a box.
Heaviness settled in Lily’s legs.
“It’s your father’s belongings,” Sarge said, handing Lily the box. “I’ve tried getting a hold of Deena, but she hasn’t returned any of my calls. I figured it’d be okay to give you his stuff.”
Lily set the box on the desk, lifted the top off and scanned its contents: pictures of the family, several hunting and camping magazines, an envelope marked FPC, and a leather-bound journal. Loose change littered the bottom of the box. Dad’s journal. She rubbed her fingers over the letters “CB.” Wishing you were here.
“You’re to stay away from this case involving your dad. I’ve given it to Evan,” Sarge said, drifting toward the door. “We need to meet with the others so we can wrap this up.”
“I’m coming.”
Soon, with Sarge a few steps ahead, Lily emerged from his office, following him inside the conference room where Evan and Alec were already seated. She placed the box on the floor and poured herself into the chair next to Evan.
“Who let Xavier inside?” Owen asked as he remained standing.
“He was in uniform, which meant he had radio access,” Lily said. “He knew what we were doing and when.”
“Well, Internal Affairs is all over this one,” Owen said.
“I knew he was bad news,” Alec stated.
Sarge looked at his lead detective. “You got anything else to add?”
“I want to have a go at Sanchez.”
“After the stunt you pulled with Nick? Forget it. Alec will interview him.”
“Then at least get Joshua to look at some photo arrays and see if he can identify Martinez. We need to know if Martinez was the one he saw pulling into the driveway the day that Tanya and Samantha were there,” Lily said. “Oh, and double check to see if we collected a DNA swab from Sanchez. Penny Wenword was raped. I want to see if the crime lab can get a match to the DNA found on Tanya.”
Promised Lies (A Detective Blanchette Mystery) Page 13