The gunman ran across the pavement to the curb and looked both ways down the street. No one. He rolled up the ski mask so he could see better.
A light shone in a third-story window of the building next door. That window had been dark when he arrived. The light went out. Shit. These buildings are warehouses. No one’s supposed to live here.
Hurrying to the fallen man, he rolled him onto his back and felt for a pulse. God, the bastard is still alive. He fired another round into Franco’s forehead and holstered his gun. Then he picked up the shell casing and stuck it in a pocket. Searching the dead man’s pockets, he transferred the contents to his own.
With gloved hands, he retrieved the fallen gun and wrapped Franco’s fingers around it. Gripping the dead man’s hand from the palm side, opposite where the gunshot residue would spray, he aimed at the entrance to the building where the light had flicked on and off and fired three times. That should convince them.
Returning to his shooting position, he pulled a flashlight from his pocket and glanced nervously at the window next door. Shielding the lens with two fingers before he switched it on, he aimed it at the pavement where he had stood and spotted two spent shell casings against the wall. Glancing again at the window, he bit his lip, undecided whether to run. He scooped up the casings and searched frantically for the others, his breath coming faster. Six feet away, he retrieved another one. Only one more. Where is the damn thing? His breath came thick and ragged now. Don’t panic, don’t panic. It’s here somewhere. A glint of brass in the crack between the entrance landing and the asphalt parking lot gave him hope.
Aiming the flashlight into the crack, he reached for the casing. Too far down. He snatched off his leather gloves and jammed his little finger into the crack, feeling for the brass, but he couldn’t hook it. The little finger of his other hand yielded no better result. No use. He cast around for anything to dig out the casing. Nothing. The third floor window next door caught his attention as he spotted a figure, dimly illuminated by the streetlight, move back from the darkened window. Christ!
He bolted down the street. Homicide will find the slugs from Franco’s gun in the next building. They won’t find any casings there, so they won’t even look next door. Right? Right?
Chapter 2
Chuck McCrary finished the first section of the Port City Press-Journal and turned to the local news. Break Expected in Franco Murder splashed across the top of the page. Underneath was a picture of Detective Kelly Contreras at a news conference. Chuck’s cell phone rang as he began reading the story.
He didn’t recognize the number. “Good morning. McCrary Investigations. This is Carlos McCrary. How can I help you?”
“Amigo, this is Jorge.” Jorge Castellano was a detective lieutenant for the Port City Police Department.
Chuck smiled when he heard his old friend’s voice. He leaned back in his office chair, pulled the bottom desk drawer open with a practiced toe, and put his feet on the edge. He was never too busy to catch up with old friends. The newspaper could wait.
Chuck switched to Spanish. “Hey, it’s the Cuban Supercop. Been a while, bro’. How’re things at the North Shore Precinct?”
“Not so good, Chuck.”
“What’s up, Jorge?”
“I need your help.”
Chuck put the phone on speaker. He grabbed a notepad and pen. “Sure, bro’, anything you want.”
“I’m in trouble. I need a private investigator.”
“I’m in my office, amigo. Can you come down here?”
“No, I’m at the precinct.”
He glanced at his watch. “So come over after your shift.”
“I’m not at work.”
“Then why are you at the precinct?”
“I’m in jail. I’ve been arrested for murder.”
Chapter 3
A sergeant led Jorge into the precinct visitation room. The orange jail clothes were too small on him and, in shackles, he shuffled like a seventy-year-old man.
Chuck remembered the sergeant’s face but couldn’t recall his name. They nodded to each other. The cop shrugged. Chuck knew he didn’t like to watch over another cop. Chuck waved through the partition at Jorge.
“Thanks, Barry,” Jorge said. “You know I don’t take this personally, right? You’re just doing your job.”
Chuck remembered the sergeant’s name now: Barry Kleinschmidt. Kleinschmidt clapped Jorge on the shoulder. “Hang in there, Jorge. You did Port City a favor. That rat bastard Franco deserved it.” He moved back and leaned against the wall.
Jorge sat in a metal chair. Chuck did the same on his side of the wire mesh.
Jorge’s eyes were bloodshot, and he hadn’t shaved. “Boy, am I glad to see you, Chuck.”
Chuck studied his friend through the wire barrier and tried to smile. It wasn’t easy. “You look like death warmed over, amigo.”
Jorge rubbed his stubbled cheek. “I feel worse than I look. I didn’t sleep all night.”
“You should’ve called me as soon as they arrested you.”
“I thought it was a misunderstanding. I figured that as soon as I explained everything, they’d take me back home. Instead, they processed me into a cell and slammed the door. Next thing I know, it’s 6:00 a.m. and they’re serving breakfast. I decided to eat before I called you.”
“Well, I’m here now.”
Jorge’s eyes widened. “I didn’t do it, Chuck. I’ve said that all night long to anybody who’d listen.” His hands shook. “But no one pays any attention. They won’t listen to me. Nobody will listen to me.”
“Kleinschmidt said ‘that rat bastard Franco.’ Is this about the Garrison Franco murder?”
Jorge nodded and started to speak.
Chuck raised both hands to stop him. “I know you’re pissed, Jorge, but don’t say anything more about the case. Nothing you tell me is privileged. Don’t talk about the case with anyone until your attorney retains me. And don’t talk to any cops—even to deny you did it.”
Jorge looked about to protest.
“I mean it, amigo. Don’t talk to anyone, friend or stranger. Right now, the cops aren’t on your side.” He leaned toward the plastic partition and lowered his voice. “Nobody around here is on your side.”
Jorge scowled. “I get so frustrated that they all think I did it.” He slammed the metal counter with a fist.
“Easy, big fellow. You heard the sergeant. Even if they think you whacked him, they consider it a public service. Who’s your attorney?”
He glanced at the sergeant standing against the wall. “I can’t afford an attorney. I’ll have to take my chances with a public defender.”
“Okay. At your arraignment, the judge will allow you to ask for a PD. Who was the arresting officer?”
“Kelly Contreras and Bigs Bigelow.”
That was a break. “I’ll talk to them and poke around a little. I’ll come back tomorrow and find out who your attorney is. I’ll get the public defender to retain me, so my work will come under their attorney-client privilege.”
Chuck gestured at the institutional green walls. “Then we can meet in an interview room without this partition and without an audience.” He pointed to Sergeant Kleinschmidt at the wall. “You can tell me all about this mess, but not here and not now.”
“Sure, Chuck.”
“Anything you need? Anybody you want me to call?”
“I’ve talked to Karen and my parents. And Dan knows, of course. But how the hell can I pay you?”
“You and I go back a long way, amigo. Remember when you took that bullet for me?”
Jorge smiled a little. “Just a flesh wound.”
Chuck remembered his time on the force with Jorge. Chuck was a rookie and it was his first time to break up a fight between rival gangs. Police policy was to respond in force and arrest the leaders of both gangs. Chuck made the mistake of trying to be a peacemaker. He stepped between the two gangs. Jorge, standing on the sidelines where Chuck should have been, saw one ga
ngbanger aim a pistol at Chuck’s back. Jorge shouted a warning and tackled Chuck as the gangbanger fired. The bullet hit Jorge instead of Chuck.
“If you hadn’t knocked me to the ground… Let’s just say that I’m not worried about money right now.”
“Well I am.” Jorge put a hand on the counter. “You gotta make a living, and I don’t have that kind of money. And don’t give me your crap about truth, justice, and the American way.” He looked down at the counter. “I wasn’t thinking clearly when I called you.”
Chuck stopped him. “Jorge, you’ve had my back more than once. Now it’s my turn. I just collected a large check from another client—and I mean large—so I have enough money to last for the duration. I’ll put your fee on the cuff. After we get you out of this, you’ll find a way to pay me. Or not. I don’t care much either way.”
Jorge started to object and Chuck raised a hand. “Don’t say another word about money until this is over. You know what I always say about friendship.”
“What’s that?”
“What are friends for, if you can’t use and abuse them once in a while?”
Chapter 4
When Kelly Contreras was promoted to detective, she’d tried wearing tailored jackets in various sizes so she could wear her badge on the pocket like the male detectives did. Whatever size she tried, her ample bosom and service pistol combined to make it look like either a straitjacket or a circus tent. She tried wearing her shield on her shirt pocket, but it just called more attention to her breasts. So, she’d decided to wear it clipped to her gun belt. She’d wanted the formality that male detectives achieved by wearing a tie and had settled that by wearing a scarf around her neck. Today she’d chosen a gold and black one and tied it just above her white silk shirt.
Kelly glanced up from her desk in the squad room of the North Shore Precinct when Chuck McCrary walked in. She patted her hair into place and straightened her scarf. She’d had a crush on Chuck when he’d been a detective there, but the guy had been oblivious to her hints. After he left the force, he’d taken up with Terry Kovacs, a patrol cop from the same precinct. Oh well, it just wasn’t meant to be, she thought as she waved Chuck over. “Nice to see you, Chuck. I was glad you called. I know how close you and Jorge are.”
“Thanks for seeing me, Kelly. Where’s your partner?”
“Bigs went to pick up lunch. He’ll be back. Make yourself at home.” She gestured to the visitor’s chair. God, he looks good in that suit and tie.
Chuck sat. “I saw your picture on the front page of the local section this morning. I guess the break in the case the Pee-Jay was referring to was the arrest of Jorge.”
Kelly reached over and put her hand on Chuck’s. “I can’t begin to tell you how bad I feel about arresting Jorge. But the lieutenant always says to follow the evidence, and that’s where it led.”
“It’s not like I blame you for it, Kelly. You didn’t have a choice.” He smiled at her and she almost melted. “On the bright side, at least you looked great in the picture.”
She felt her face flush. Oh, God, when he smiles like that. “They got my best side.”
“What can you tell me?”
“Bigs and I did this by the book from the get-go. We did this right.”
“There’s the right way, the wrong way, and the Army way.”
Kelly scratched her head. “Jorge says that too. I don’t get the joke.”
“Just thinking out loud. Jorge and I were grunts in the Army—he was in Desert Storm and I was in Operation Enduring Freedom. Sometimes doing something the right way isn’t the best way. To get results, sometimes you do things the Army way.”
Kelly knew as well as any cop that there was no such thing as a perfect investigation. “If Bigs and I missed something, we want you to find it. We need you to find it—for Jorge’s sake.” She pulled two large binders off the credenza and handed one to Chuck. “We made you a copy of the murder book.”
“What did I do to deserve this?”
“Barry Kleinschmidt called after you left the visitation room. He overheard you tell Jorge you’d poke around. Bigs and I don’t like the way this case turned out either. Maybe your Army way will find something we missed.”
“How bad does it look?”
She frowned. As bad as it gets. “Tight as a guitar string.”
“What can you tell me?”
“You know about the victim?”
“Garrison Franco, street thug and mid-level drug dealer. Newspaper said he was killed in a drug deal gone bad a few weeks ago.”
“That’s what we thought at first. But when Bigs and I got the case, we found evidence that linked Jorge Castellano to Franco’s death.”
“What evidence?”
She tapped the file. “Take your pick. Start with motive: Jorge and his partner, Dan Murphy, had tried for months to make a case against Franco for drug dealing. A few weeks after they started their investigation, Franco threatened Castellano for interfering with his business.”
“So Franco had a motive to kill Jorge, not the other way around.”
Kelly wagged her hand back and forth. “Actually, Franco told Castellano that his wife was very attractive and that her hours at the gym had paid off. Franco showed him a candid photo of Karen taken as she exited the gym. Jorge grabbed Franco by the throat, threw him across the sidewalk, and slammed him into a wall. Dan had to pull him off. Jorge said if he ever saw Franco near his wife, he’d kill him.”
“Any witnesses?”
“Dan Murphy. And Jorge admitted it to Bigs and me.”
Chuck shook his head. “That’s a pretty good motive. What else you got?”
“The most damning evidence is the ballistics test. One bullet that hit Franco was in good enough shape for a ballistics match. It came from Castellano’s service pistol.”
“How close was the match?”
Kelly opened Chuck’s binder and turned it around so he could see it. “Look for yourself.”
Chuck flipped to the color photograph of the ballistics test. One side featured the test bullet fired from Jorge’s service pistol. The other side was the forensics photo of the bullet recovered at the crime scene. He studied the two photos. “Oh shit. That’s a match. What else you got?”
“The night of the killing, Jorge got an anonymous tip that we later traced to a burner phone. The tipster claimed he had taken video of Franco doing a drug deal at Northwest 87th Street and Sixth Avenue. The guy promised to deliver the video to Jorge and to testify at Franco’s trial if the DA could get him into the witness protection program.”
“How do we know that?”
“Jorge’s statement. And Dan Murphy confirmed that Jorge called him at home and told him about the call. This happened a little after ten o’clock the night of the murder. Bigs and I confirmed the call with phone records. Jorge told me the caller had been frightened and would only meet him in secret and only if he came alone.”
“Sounds like a setup.”
Kelly nodded. “Jorge and Dan thought the same thing. So Dan followed Jorge to the meet and parked around the corner in case he needed backup.”
“So what happened?”
The Latina detective shrugged. “The caller never showed. Jorge hung around the meeting place for an hour then they gave up and went home.” She closed the binder. “While they waited for the no-show witness, Franco was gunned down four blocks away.”
“Did either one hear the shots?”
Kelly sighed. “No such luck. Industrial area with three-story, concrete block and stucco buildings that make great soundproofing.”
“Yeah,” Chuck agreed, “that’s why they make freeway sound barriers out of concrete. Dan Murphy should be his alibi for the time of the shooting.”
“Nope. Murphy waited a block away around a corner. He listened to Jorge’s open cell phone line. He couldn’t see Jorge.”
“Could Murphy have sneaked off and killed Franco himself?”
“Bigs and I checked the GPS recorders
in both unmarked cars. Neither one left the spots the guys reported in their incident report.”
“So if Jorge or Murphy did it, he left his car on foot. Any security cameras in the neighborhood?”
“There were two logical streets that either Jorge or Dan could use to get to the site: 85th and 86th. We canvassed every business on both streets. We found three security cameras at two businesses. No sign of anyone walking on the street.”
The elevator dinged and Kelly looked up to see her partner come out carrying two brown paper bags in his massive hands. He maneuvered his six-and-half-feet of bulk carefully between the desks.
Arnie “Bigs” Bigelow had retired as a defensive lineman for the Port City Pelicans when he was in his early thirties. He had been such a dominating force for the Pelican defense that sports journalists dubbed the entire defensive line The Bigs Brigade. Kelly first met Bigs when he trained at the police academy between football seasons. He became a ride-along, unpaid volunteer in the off-season.
When the Pelicans retired his jersey, he decided to do something meaningful with the rest of his life, so he joined the Port City Police Department. He worked his way up to detective and Kelly grabbed him as a partner.
“Got your lunch, Kelly. Hey, Chuck. You had lunch?” He set the bags on Kelly’s desk and shook hands. His giant hand swallowed the young PI’s.
“Thanks, I’m good. Y’all go ahead.” Chuck picked up his binder. “I won’t interrupt your lunch. I’ll take this binder to that empty desk and study it while you eat. I’ll come back in a bit.”
###
Kelly and Bigs stuffed their Chinese take-out dishes into the bags Bigs had brought them in. Kelly dropped the trash into a waste can beside her desk and waved Chuck over. “Okay, back to work. Whatddya want to know?”
“Walk me through this.”
“Lieutenant Weiner said to treat this like the victim was a solid citizen instead of a drug dealer. ‘By the book,’ she said.”
Bigs smiled. “Mother Weiner always tells us, ‘Scumbags deserve justice too.’”
Day of the Tiger (A Carlos McCrary Mystery Thriller Book 5) Page 27