DEAD ON ARRIVAL: Angie Bartoni Case File # 14 (Angie Bartoni Case Files)

by Marshall Huffman

  “Do you have a warrant?”

  “Don’t be a smartass. Just look up who you sold it to,” Dan said.

  “That is privileged information.”

  “Really? Are you a doctor?” I asked.

  “My client’s rights are protected,” he replied.

  Why can’t anything be simple? Why was he being such a jerk? I really didn’t want to play games with Mr. Proprietor.

  “Tell you what. I’m going to send for a warrant. We will just hang around until it arrives. When it comes we will shut you down and do a full audit to ensure that you are up to snuff on all your FCC paperwork. We will also make sure the IRS is involved so they can do an audit of all your transactions. Now I guess if they really put a rush on it, they can probably get it done in two or three days. Unless they find problems,” I told him.

  “Do what you have to do,” he replied.

  “Fine,” I said and took out my cell phone.

  I didn’t actually dial but made it look like I had.

  “Linda, this is Detective Bartoni. I need a warrant for a complete inspection of Spyline. It is located at 698 Market Avenue. The owner is named. Wait just a second,” I said faking the entire conversation.

  “She needs your name.”

  “Look, you don’t have to get all bent out of shape,” he said starting to backtrack.

  “Just give me your name,” I said gruffly.

  “Robert Planner.”

  I said into the phone, “Robert Planner. P..L..A..N..N….”

  “Stop. I’ll get you the information,” he said with a panicked look on his face.

  “No screwing around. I mean it,” I told him.

  “I promise,” he said.

  “Alright. Linda, I guess we aren’t going to need it after all. Thanks for your time,” I said and hung up.

  A total bluff.

  “You have the number. We want to know who bought the device,” Dan told him.

  “I’ll need to go back to my office,” he told us.

  “Fine. Dan will just go along to make sure you don’t get lost along the way,” I said.

  Poor Planner. Who knows what kind of stuff he was pulling. I’ll bet the IRS would have had a field day. Fortunately for him I hate the IRS and would never report anyone. Not even my worst enemy.

  It took longer than I expected. Finally Dan and Planner came walking back.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “It seems it was sold off the books as a cash transaction. Somehow it didn’t make it into his records. It took a little longer to find who it was sold to.”

  “But you do have a name?”

  “Wendy Liners.”

  “Who?”

  “Yep. That’s what it says.”

  “Did she show you identification?” I asked Planner.

  “I didn’t ask. She paid full price in cash.”

  “I need a description. Absolutely everything you can remember,” I told him.

  “I’ll do the best I can,” he replied.

  “Do even better. I want everything, and I mean everything you can remember about her,” I warned him.

  “I’m just saying that it was a few days ago and I didn’t think much about it at the time,” he protested.

  “Mr. Planner. Please don’t make me do this the hard way. I will haul you downtown and put you in a room and grill you if that is the way you want to play it. We are investigating two murders and possibly two attempted murders. I am in no mood to play games with you. You need to dig into that brain of yours and come up with a description,” I said leaning over so that I was just inches from his face.

  “I promise I’ll do everything I can. I sell quite a few of these transponders to woman who want to keep an eye on where their husband is going.”

  “Just women?” Dan asked.

  “No. Some men too but not nearly as many,” he informed us.

  “I’m not surprised,” I replied.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  “Go,” I said to Planner.

  “She was tall, almost six feet. Not as big as Detective Roberts but still pretty tall.”

  “Go on.”

  “She had dark hair and was very attractive. She had a great body with long legs and a nice bu…”

  “Yeah, I get it.”

  “Her eyes were brown. Really dark.”

  “What else?” I asked.

  “She had a nice body.”

  “You said that.”

  He just shrugged.

  “What about distinguishing marks?” I asked.

  “Great boobs.”

  “That is not a distinguishing mark,” I said.

  “Was to me.”

  Men are such jerks. Boobs and butts are all that get their attention. Half the men out there don’t know if women even have eyes.

  “Dan, that sounds like Lisa Winters. I think our Wendy Liners is actually Lisa Winters. I guess she thought she was being really clever,” I said.

  “How does she fit into all of this?” Dan said.

  “I’m not sure but she does. Maybe she bought it for Megan to help her get the CEO position.”

  “That woman is a killer?” Planner asked.

  “At this point it is just speculation,” I said, grabbing Dan and heading for the door.

  ***

  “What now?” Dan asked.

  Gurrr. I hate that.

  “We are going to see Megan Stewart and her girlfriend. Something is going on and they had better have some answers that I like or we will take them in.”

  “You really believe that Lisa Winters was the Wendy Liners listed on the sale?”

  “Of course Dan. She thinks she is being clever but the description along with the name is just too much to overlook,” I told him.

  We had hit rush hour and traffic was moving at a snail’s pace. Make it even slower was a wreck that had taken place and was blocking one lane so that all the traffic had to funnel down into two lanes. Even with signs telling people they needed to get over, there were always those that thought it didn’t pertain to them and tried to cut in at the last minute.

  As we were getting to the bottleneck a guy came rushing up and tried to force his way in. Dan just stayed in place, inching forward. The two cars got closer and closer.

  “Dan.”

  “I see him.”

  “I take it you are not going to let him in.”

  “He can wait like everyone else,” he said.

  The two cars were almost touching. The guy was shouting and giving Dan the universal sign. Dan rolled down his window and looked over at the guy.

  “Hey you jackass, let me in,” he yelled.

  Dan held up his badge and he saw the guy’s look of surprise.

  “You were saying?” Dan asked.

  “Nothing man, go ahead.”

  “Why thank you. Now nice of you,” Dan replied.

  “Feel better?” I asked.

  “You bet.”

  Men have too much testosterone. Driving becomes a test of wills. We finally got to Stewart’s place after almost an hour. We parked in the driveway and walked up to the door. Dan knocked.

  Megan opened the door and invited us in.

  “Megan, we need to talk to your friend, Lisa,” I said.

  “She isn’t here.”

  “Really?”

  “No. She went to visit her parents in Ohio.”

  “Ohio. When did she leave?” I asked, looking around.

  “A few days ago. Right after you were here the last time,” she said.

  She was fidgeting with her hands and her eyes were darting around.

  “Megan, we really have to talk to Lisa. She is still around here someplace. We can sit outside and watch your house 24/7 if that’s what you want,” I told her.

  “I can’t help it if she needed to go home for a while,” she insisted.

  “Alright. Have it your way but I don’t think this is a very smart move. You are putting yourself right in the middle of two murders and two at
tempted murders. There is a good chance you are going to get pulled into this as well,” I said.

  “I would like for you to leave now,” she said motioning toward the door.

  I stood there looking at her for a few seconds longer. Finally we turned to leave.

  “You are making a big mistake,” Dan said as she closed the door.

  We were walking out to the car when the garage door opened. We stopped to see what was going on when a dark blue Rover shot out of the garage, slammed into the driver’s side of our car and raced out of the drive.

  Dan and I raced to the car. I tried to open the door but it was shoved in too far. Dan got in the passenger’s side and slid over behind the steering wheel. I jumped into the passenger’s seat. We both grabbed our seatbelts and Dan spun us around and headed out the way Lisa had gone.

  She had a fairly good lead on us but Dan had the bit between his teeth and was driving like a maniac.

  “Easy Dan. We won’t catch her if we are dead.”

  “I want his woman,” was all he said as we slid around a corner missing a light pole by just inches.

  We hit the I-465 interstate and couldn’t see her car in either direction.

  “What do you think?”

  “Call it in and hope for the best,” I said.

  I called in the description of the car and had them also use the information signs that were posted indicating the police were looking for a dark blue Range Rover with damage to the side and front end.

  Dan decided to take a chance and go south on I 465. The interstate is a complete circle around the city but there would be almost no chance of finding her unless someone spotted her or another patrol car located her and called it in.

  Dan was driving like a normal person again. We both had a sinking feeling that she had slipped past us. I got on the microphone and called the station to have patrol cars go to Megan’s house and detain her. The last thing I wanted was for her to disappear as well. She may not give up Lisa but at least we would have her and that was more than we had up to this point.

  We were just about ready to head back to Megan’s house when a call came in over the radio. A citizen had spotted what they thought matched the description and had called the station. The vehicle had exited I-465 and was heading for I-65 toward Chicago.

  I called the state police and put out an APB for the car and driver. They even pulled in extra patrol cars to help with the search. There was nothing more we could do at the moment so we drove back to Megan’s place. Four cruisers were parked in the driveway.

  “She won’t answer the door,” the first officer I met said.

  “You tried to get her to come out?”

  “Yeah, but she ignored us.”

  “Are you sure she is still in there?”

  “She looked out the window a couple of times.”

  “What’s around the back?”

  “I put two men back there and one on each side of the house in case she tried to slip out a window.”

  “Good man,” I said patting him on the shoulder.

  “Shall we?” I said to Dan.

  “The sooner the better.”

  We walked up to the front door and Dan beat his palm against the door.

  “Megan. We know you are in there. Either you open the door or we will use force to enter. Do yourself a favor and just open the door,” I yelled at her.

  “Just leave me alone,” I could hear her scream.

  “That isn’t going to happen, Megan. This has gone far enough. You can end this or we will use whatever force necessary to breach the house.

  “Why can’t you just leave us alone,” she said sobbing, “She is gone. You have ruined everything,” she bellowed.

  “We didn’t ruin anything. This is all on you sister,” I said, “Now open the door this instant or we are going to break it down.”

  It was quiet for a few seconds then I heard the lock ‘click’ and she opened the door.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Megan was sobbing uncontrollably and we were making little progress with her. She was denying any knowledge of either of the murders. Of course we expected as much. It would have been too simple if she had confessed.

  People seldom just spill their guts no matter what they show on television. Most of them know their rights and play it close to the chest.

  “Megan, where was Lisa going?”

  “I don’t know. Honestly. She just bolted from the house and went toward the garage. The next thing I knew she was ramming your car and just took off.”

  “Are you’re telling us you didn’t know she was going to run?”

  “I swear I didn’t.”

  “Right,” Dan interjected.

  “I didn’t. I had no idea,” she said starting to cry again.

  I can take the crying routine only so long and then it gets old. I was at that point.

  “Megan, I am going to read you your rights. Understand?”

  “Are you arresting me?”

  “Listen to me. You have the right to remain silent. If you chose not to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have….”

  “Please. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, the court will appoint one for you. Do you understand your rights?”

  “I don’t understand any of this,” she said.

  “Do you understand your rights,” I said again, less pleasantly.

  “Yes. I just don’t know why you are arresting me.”

  “For now, obstructing a police investigation. Other charges may follow,” I told her.

  “I didn’t obstruct anything.”

  “You did when you lied to us about Lisa being here,” Dan added.

  “What are you going to do to her?” Megan asked.

  “That depends entirely upon her,” I replied.

  I called in CSI and asked them to go through the house. I didn’t expect to find much but you never knew. They might turn up a murder weapon. Lisa was running from something.

  We loaded Megan in the back of our car and headed for the station. Dan was driving and I heard over the radio that a chase was in progress. A state trooper had spotted the car that matched our APB and had taken up chase.

  “North bound. Speed in excess of a hundred,” came the excited report.

  Others soon joined in the general chatter as they began to converge on the speeding SUV.

  “Don’t let them hurt her,” Megan cried out from the back of the car.

  “She just ran a car off the road,” one of the officers reported.

  “Do we have a chopper in the air yet?” someone asked.

  “It’s five minutes out,” came the reply.

  “They had better hurry. She is really hauling,” came the rejoinder.

  “Where is she now?” I broke in.

  “Mile marker 31 north on I-65.”

  “Can they get a road block set up?” I asked.

  “We are working on it,” came the tense reply.

  I decided I would just butt out and let them do their job. We continued to listen to the various voices as they started closing in. The chopper had arrived on site and was shadowing Lisa’s SUV.

  “We have spike strips out in one mile,” I heard.

  “We see her,” another voice said.

  “Got her. She ran right over them. Two tires are blown out,” he yelled.

  He was so excited I had to turn the radio down to keep from getting my ear drums blown out.

  “She is still going. She is throwing up a trail of sparks,” someone said over the radio.

  “She can’t go on much longer. Just hang back and wait for the car to give up,” a different voice ordered.

  “She is still doing seventy-five.”

  “Just hang back. She can’t go much longer.”

  We were heading in the general direction and Dan had turned onto I-65 north and was picking up speed. I turned on the lights and sire
n. We couldn’t go as fast as we would have liked since we were transporting a civilian in the back. I know it was all Dan could do to keep his speed down.

  “She sideswiped another car and hit the guard rail,” an excited voice said.

  Megan gasped.

  “Oh crap. The car is flipping over. Man oh man.”

  “Holy crap,” someone said.

  “Get the traffic stopped,” a different voice ordered.

  ***

  It took us another fifteen minutes to reach the scene of the wrecked SUV. Fire trucks had arrived along with several ambulances. The car was upside down with the wheels sticking in the air like a turtle on its back. We made sure the back doors were locked so Megan couldn’t get out and walked up to the crash site.

  Debris was scattered everywhere. A battery was sitting upright in the middle of the road. Dan and I walked over to see how Lisa was doing.

  She was still in the car and it was obvious that she was pinned there. The firemen were working with the jaws of life to try to cut part of the car away so they could get her out.

  Her eyes were open but blood was running down her face. This was the second time that someone lived through a wreck that I thought was impossible to survive. That is, if she made it.

  ***

  Once Lisa was finally extracted from the car we drove Megan down to the station and booked her. She cried the entire time and it was starting to wear Dan down. Neither of us is very good about that.

  We went back upstairs and checked in with the captain.

  “So what is the deal?”

  “Lisa Winters is the girlfriend of Megan Stewart. When we went to talk to Megan, Lisa bolted. She hit our car and then took off. The state police finally were able to stop her. Her car flipped and she had to be cut out.”

  “But she is alive?”

  “She was when we left. We will head to the hospital in a few minutes to check on her,” I told him.

  “Is she the one who killed Wittman and Meyers?”

  I was shocked. I didn’t expect him to remember the names.

  “We don’t know for sure. There are still some unanswered questions. If she killed Wittman, how did she get access to the nuclear materials? She doesn’t work there. It is possible that Megan got it for her and after Wittman died, decided to eliminate Meyers as well. Lisa is certainly strong enough to have pulled it off. Tall enough as well,” I said rubbing my eyes.