They got to the ground-floor apartment number 109, and Don knocked. No answer. Don knocked again, this time much harder. “Jerome Whiting, this is the police. We would like to ask you a few questions,” Don stated in a loud voice.
Suddenly, they heard some cursing, then some bumping and running inside. Don banged on the door. “I said this is the police. Open up!” Don peered inside through a crack in the drapes and saw what looked like heroin lying out. Drawing his gun, Don threw his body against the door and it burst open. The back window was gaping wide. Don bolted through the apartment and jumped out the back window.
With his gun drawn, Luke checked the rooms in the rest of the apartment. No one was there. Luke radioed Don. “Where are you?”
Sprinting as fast as he could, Don managed to talk into the radio on his collar. “Running south on Steele Street towards 40th Avenue,” he shouted. “I have the suspect in sight.”
Luke burst out of the front door and leapt down stairs out toward 40th Avenue. His legs churned and his feet pounded the pavement like a jackhammer. Hopefully, he could intercept Jerome from another angle for Don.
Jerome was wiry and fast, but Don was hot on his trail. The suspect dodged in and out behind cars and threw trashcans and anything else he could find in Don’s way.
Don hurdled over the obstacles and kept running, pumping hard. The gap narrowed. Jerome ran into the street. Tires screeched as he was almost hit by a car, but he managed to squeak by and kept running. Don slammed the hood of the car with the palm of his hand as he ran by so the driver wouldn’t start the car moving again.
Jerome ran by some old furniture that was out to be dumped. He grabbed a chair and threw it at Don. Don dodged it and kept going. Suddenly, Jerome slipped on some ice and fell on his stomach. Don caught up with him and put a knee on his back. Both men created clouds of steam as they caught their breath.
“You have the right to remain silent...” Don handcuffed Jerome and completed the Miranda rights as Luke sprinted up. Luke bent over with his hands on his thighs, sucking air.
“Good job, Cheeto, good job,” he said between gasps. He looked at Jerome. “Hey Pal, why were you running? Don’t you know you aren’t supposed to run from your friendly neighborhood police officers?”
Don hauled Jerome up. Jerome had a dark look on his face. “What’s the charge?” he snarled.
“Evading a police officer,” Don said. He wanted to keep it simple for now. He called in the address of Jerome’s apartment so the drug team could get it processed. Meanwhile, it was time to take Jerome in for questioning.
Two hours later, Jerome faced charges for drugs and evading a police officer, but they could not tie him to Alicia’s murder. Don and Luke came out from the interrogation room and wandered over to their respective desks, which faced each other. Luke slammed his hand on his desk and swore. “I hate that. I got my hopes up. I thought we found our man.”
“Yeah, I know.” Don chewed his lip. “Still feels like we’re following the wrong leads.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s the axe. We aren’t focusing on the murder weapon. In all of the files last night I saw no history of an axe or any type weapon of that type. Period. That’s not to say that the killer wouldn’t have one now. I keep thinking that if we follow the axe it’ll lead us to the killer.”
Luke booted up his computer. “Let’s research the places that sell axes and see if we can cross reference what we find out with an address in the files that Rebecca gave us. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get really lucky and find a credit card purchase that matches one of the folks in our fine box of files.”
Don felt a burst of energy as he turned on his computer. For the first time in this investigation he really felt as though he was following the right trail. “I’ll take the west side of the city, you take the east.”
“Sounds good, Cheeto.” Luke continued typing. A door opened behind him, but he didn’t bother looking up at the noise.
“What are you two doing? You bring one man in for questioning and you think you are done? In case you didn’t know, it’s pretty difficult to catch bad guys when you’re sitting at your desk.” Belinda stood next to their chairs with a red leather portfolio in one hand and the other hand positioned on the side of her hip. Her face wore a familiar scowl. “Yeah, I’ll bet you didn’t think I’d be in today did ya’? I just passed Keith in the hall and he gave me the scoop about your arrest.”
Don spoke up, “Belinda, we’ve been ignoring one of the most important clues in this case: the murder weapon. If we find a connection between an axe and these files that would narrow the field down considerably. Give us a much better chance of finding this guy in a lot less time.”
“Oh please, spare me your sob story of not having enough time,” Belinda scoffed. “Hmmm…let’s see if we can figure this out.” She held up an index finger. “Here’s an idea for you. Get up off your behinds and go out there and work your leads.” She pointed to the door then spun around and stormed back to her office. As she slammed the door, the blinds on her windows rattled as an exclamation point.
A few of the other detectives in the office looked in Don and Luke’s direction with sympathy. Don knew each one of them had suffered through a similar speech more than once.
Luke studied the ceiling, clenching and unclenching his fists, too angry to say anything.
Don rubbed his face several times and then looked over at his partner. Luke seemed like he was about to blow. “Let’s get out of here.” Don kept his voice low. “We’ll get Rebecca to follow the axe lead for us while we do what Belinda wants. Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky with the files.”
Luke’s eyes were still black with fury.
Don stood up and put his hand on his partner’s shoulder. “Come on, Luke. If Rebecca helps us, we can really make some progress.”
Luke’s face was a tight mask.
Don patted his partner on the back. “Come on, big guy. You have a new baby on the way. You have a beautiful family to take care of. You don’t want to create a problem for yourself at work. Belinda’s not worth it. Forget about her. There’s a killer running free in Denver and we have to find him. And we will find him in spite of Belinda Mann.”
Luke closed his eyes. He inhaled and exhaled a couple of times with determined deliberation. Then he finally stood up and straightened his yellow tie.
As Don prepared to leave, the Mayor walked in carrying a thick report. Belinda rushed out of her office and greeted him.
“Mayor, welcome to my department!”
“Thanks for coming in so late on the weekend, Belinda.” He tapped the report. “As I mentioned when I called you earlier, I just went over the city’s budget and I want to thank you for how much you’ve streamlined your unit. The efficiencies make a big impact in my fiscal policy. I have a budget meeting tomorrow and I wanted to go over a couple of things.”
Belinda led him into her office. “No problem, Mr. Mayor. I am happy to be here to answer any and all questions you may have.”
Luke stared after the two of them with his mouth open and eyes blazing. Don grabbed him by the arm and they exited the building.
Chapter Eleven
The sleeves of his Nike sweat suit were rolled up. Lots to do. The killer examined the computer screen in his office while he talked on the phone. “Yes, Steven, I know you won’t regret this. This investment is a good one. You’ll be delighted with the results.” He hung up the phone and sat back in his chair.
David’s efforts were starting to pay off. He leaned forward and stared at his computer. This was really going to work, wasn’t it? I haven’t lost my touch!
He went back online to look at the Brazilian investment fund. The investor in Brazil was knowledgeable, had answered his questions easily, and sent some forms via overnight mail. The killer had already opened an account, so it would be easy to inves
t more. I have money in the bank for myself, I have my old clients quiet for now, so why not? I’m on a roll. Besides, dealing with the investor directly was much more profitable than going through an investment house. He invested thousands of dollars right on the spot.
Stretching his neck and back, his eyes wandered to Alicia’s picture posted on the corkboard behind his computer. A smile came to his lips. He searched through some papers on his desk and pulled out a list of about fifty names and addresses. Eight of them were circled including Alicia Kendrick’s name. The killer drew a line through it. One down. He put the list near his right hand as he got on Facebook to do some research. This was going to be fun.
A couple of hours later, he made a decision. He picked up the list and highlighted a name. Gail Gonzales was the winner. After hours of stalking her on Facebook, he settled on Gail. She taught at an elementary school, played in a co-ed soccer league in the summer, and was single. That would make it easier.
He held some photos that he’d printed from the pictures on Facebook of all the remaining women on his list. Wasn’t Facebook a wonderful invention? He came to Gail’s picture. It showed a tall, athletic woman with short hair that was an interesting mixture of copper and gold. Her eyes were a couple of shades lighter than a dollar bill, more like a pistachio. She was grinning at the camera while holding up a ribbon that she won in a marathon in Denver last May. There were a lot of exercise psychos in Colorado. Apparently, she was one of them.
He put her picture up next to the one of Alicia and stared at it for a while. Then he checked the time on the Rolex his mother sent him from Switzerland for Christmas last year, which was just another one of many Christmas holidays throughout his life during which his parents had been out of the country.
Hmmm… he wondered where Gail was right now. It might be a good idea to go out and get the lay of the land. He looked up her name online and found her address. Picking up Buddy, he got into his car.
He wound up driving around a while but finally found Gail’s place. She lived in a brick duplex and he didn’t see any residential security. Turning off the ignition, he studied her residence for a few minutes. “Buddy, it looks like no one is home. Let’s go check, shall we?” Stuffing the dog into his pocket, he went up to her door, examined the lock, and knocked. No one answered. He looked around and didn’t see anyone walking along the street, so he stepped off the front porch and trudged around in the snow to look at the locks on any other doors. The back door looked promising. There was no deadbolt there. As he walked back to his car, he smiled.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kate sat back in the chair in her office and rubbed her eyes. One downside of being a controller for the downtown Denver Marriott was budgets. She referred to budgets as an occupational hazard due to the seven-day work weeks and the numerous hours she spent creating and scrutinizing worksheets with lots of numbers. Budget season was almost over, and her eyes stung due to the time spent staring at her computer screen. Her cell phone buzzed.
“Hi, Father Tim. What’s up?”
“Hi Kate. Father Bill asked me to give you a call to see if you could swing by Regis at some point to give him an opinion on the toy drive. The building he was planning on using for it is being painted and they aren’t going to be done on time.”
“Are they ever?”
She heard a chuckle on the other end. “No, I guess not. Anyway, would it be a problem? It shouldn’t take long.”
Kate looked at her watch. “I’m still at work so how about if I swing by there on my way home?”
“That’d be great. I’ll call him back and let him know you’ll be there tonight.”
Kate closed down her computer and headed over to Regis University. As she got into her car, thunder roiled.
After a short drive, Kate stood on the front porch of the priest’s residence and rapped on the door. it opened before she even had a chance to put her hand down.
“Hi, Father Bill. Wow. Were you standing by the door waiting for me?”
The clergyman was just a couple of inches taller than Kate and she found herself looking right into his twinkling blue eyes. He pointed to the ceiling. “Maybe the Holy Spirit told me you were here.”
Kate tilted her head. “I think that might be a stretch, Father.”
“Okay, okay.” He bent over and picked up a couple of lanterns. “I was bringing these to the door to be ready when you got here. The place where I was thinking we could use for the toy drop off doesn’t have any electricity.”
Kate wrinkled her nose. “Why not?”
“We’re going to store the toys in an entrance to an old chapel that was first built here back in 1887. The electrical system that was installed later is old and would cost thousands to bring up to code. We have a beautiful modern church and I just can’t justify spending that kind of money.” He handed her a lantern.
“Makes sense.”
Lightning flashed as they made their way to the old chapel. “Looks like we got ourselves a storm coming in,” Father Bill observed.
Kate made her way through the grove of trees that nearly surrounded the old chapel. As they approached the gray limestone structure, she looked up and saw some old gargoyles adorning the building. A shiver ran down her spine.
Father Bill noticed her apprehension and let out a belly laugh. “Don’t you love those? Those are the rain gutters of the days of old. Kept the rain from damaging the masonry. The style just sort of stuck for a while.”
Kate continued to gaze up at the gargoyles. A muscle in her jaw twitched as she pondered their creepy faces.
Father Bill fiddled with the lock and the chapel’s door creaked as it swung open. A pungent musty odor rushed to Kate’s face and she drew back. Father Bill held out his lantern and motioned her inside.
She stepped forward and looked around. As she swung the lantern, shadows moved and jumped. Tree branches tapped against high ceiling windows. They sounded like a creature knocking to get in. “Wow. This is crazy.” She looked at the priest. “I don’t think I would want to be in here by myself.”
“Yeah, I guess I can see why someone might find it a little scary. I should air it out before we put the toys in here. Let me walk the perimeter of the room so you can see it better. This is the entrance of the chapel. I think it will be big enough to store the toys until the Alumni House is ready.”
“I don’t think you want to put them on the floor.” Kate bent over and touched it with a finger. “It’s filthy. Can you bring some tables in here so we can stack them when people drop them off?”
“Sure can. I’ll make sure it’s cleaned too. So, do you think this is okay if we store the toys here?”
Kate straightened up and walked around holding her lantern out. Some cobwebs adorned the walls. “You’ll want to get rid of the resident spiders. I don’t think the kids want them crawling out of their toys.”
“Good idea. Come to think of it, I’d better get an exterminator out here in case of rats.”
“I could have gone all night without hearing that.” Kate moved toward some oak doors. “Is this the entrance to the chapel itself?”
“Yes. Want to go inside?”
Kate clapped her hands together. “Absolutely!”
Following Father Bill, Kate held her lantern in front of her and explored the room. Small stained-glass windows with artistic etchings lined the walls and old, cracked wooden pews sat in rows leading up to a stone altar. Paintings, dimmed with age, showing various scenes from the Bible were on the walls behind the altar. The stone ceilings were vaulted, making the room feel bigger than it really was.
“This is gorgeous,” Kate whispered. “I love the paintings! I’ll have to come back here sometime when it’s light outside.” Her stomach sank. “It’s too bad the cost to get it up to speed is so high.”
“I agree. But my fiscal responsibi
lity is to my students.” The priest turned to Kate. “Do you want to see the basement? It’s pretty cool too.”
“I’d love that.”
Father Bill found a skinny door in a corner and led them downstairs. “There are so many little rooms down here.” He led Kate around opening doors. “And some of them even have smaller rooms inside.” He showed her the tiny spaces. “I think these were used to pray.”
Kate brushed the cobwebs out of the way as she examined her surroundings. “I love it down here. I can imagine someone kneeling in this room, praying her heart out.” She turned to the priest. “Thank you for showing me this. It’s just what I needed after a hard day of budgets.”
Kate followed Father Bill outside. A fresh dusting of snow was on the ground and more floated down from the sky. Thunder crashed. She hugged herself. “Thudersnow! I love it!”
The priest smiled. “Life is always full of surprises, isn’t it?”
Chapter Twelve
“Forty files.” Luke heaved a big sigh and looked at Don. “We busted our butts and went through forty files and the most productive things that we have done is nab a drug dealer and start Rebecca working on the axe angle.”
“Yeah. A long day and night. Let’s call it. We can start early again tomorrow. We made faster progress in the morning when the people we were trying to connect with were all in bed and we didn’t have to drive all over the city catching up with them. I’ll drop you off at home. Should I come by about the same time tomorrow?”
“Yup, that’ll work.”
Don pulled up in Luke’s driveway, and Luke exited the car and waved a hand as Don drove off. Luke unlocked the front door and walked into the house. “Sabrina?”
“I’m in here.” Sabrina lay in bed watching TV, waiting for him. “Lucy is in bed for the night.” Luke sat down on the side of the bed next to her and kissed her. “How’d it go?” Sabrina asked. “Did you find your maniac?” She listened as Luke told her about his day and his frustrations. She patted his arm as he spoke.
Deadly Gratitude Page 6