by Tom Barber
‘We figure this is the best way to prevent that. Put a stop to all the attempts on her life, for good. But to achieve that, she’s gotta be out in the open for a short time. And with our plan…’
The Chief shook his head.
But there was a long pause.
‘I can’t get this green lit myself,’ he said eventually. ‘I need to bring it to the other Chiefs.’ He impaled the two men with a look. ‘This goes wrong, it’s on you two. Badges in the trash, reputations destroyed. We’ll hang your asses out to dry.’
‘We know,’ Franklin said quietly.
‘You better. You people have done good work in the past, I’ll give you that,’ the Chief said, taking out his cell before walking to the door. ‘It’s the only reason I’m prepared to pass this up the line. But you better all be as good as you think you are,’ he told the two men as he left.
Neither Franklin or Shepherd replied.
Much as they didn’t want to admit it, they knew the man was right.
THIRTEEN
‘Where’d he get this map?’ Josh asked, stationed at CSU’s lab in Queens later that morning with Marquez alongside him. Inside some evidence bags were the singed pieces of paper found in Vargas’ apartment building basement, including the edge of the Chelsea theater school schematic where Isabel had been attacked.
‘I checked, and the school has it on their website,’ Marquez said. ‘He must’ve printed one off.’
‘We’re focusing on getting you a lead from the knives and springs from the child’s bed,’ a CSU investigator in the room told them. ‘But we found part of a receipt in the trash can. He bought two sets of six blades, three days ago.’
‘We know what store?’ she replied.
The investigator shook her head. ‘Just that he made the purchase Saturday July 1st, at 1:32pm. Rest of the receipt was torched, but it looks like it came from a bigger chain. Mom and pop stores often have more basic receipts. And he might’ve bought other things with the blades. We don’t know.’
‘Saturday. So he picked the items up day before the carnival,’ Josh said. ‘Means the bed attack was always the back-up plan.’
‘Where would you purchase garage door springs?’ Marquez asked. ‘Any home depot store, I guess, right?’
Josh nodded. ‘Or a specialist place.’
She glanced at her watch. ‘Let’s make some calls to the main stores in the Queens area. Ain’t certain he bought the knives in the city, might’ve arrived in town on Saturday night or Sunday morning, but I’ll stack chips on the fact he didn’t want to carry all this stuff too far.’
‘Maybe we’ll score big and find he purchased all these things at the same time,’ Josh replied. ‘And we know the specific time of the transaction. That makes this easier.’
Marquez thought of the consequence if they didn’t succeed, of Issy being used in their planned operation as bait. ‘So let’s get to it,’ she said, taking out her phone.
One of the focal points of New York City’s July 4th celebrations was the peninsular neighborhood of Coney Island, located in the Lower Bay area of the southwestern tip of Brooklyn. A hot-spot during the warmer months, Coney Island had two amusement parks with rides, numerous bars and restaurants, boardwalk games and several sand beaches, a few of which were private but others accessible to the public.
People were out in force today. Families, couples, tourists and locals were moving back and forth from the beach or playing games on the midway, signs of sunburn already evident on the unwary. ‘USA! USA!’ some college-age young men chanted, moving down the boardwalk, dressed in red, white and blue boardshorts and vest tops. The food and drink venues had a constant stream of customers, and street vendors were doing a roaring trade in ice cream, cotton candy, burgers and other snacks.
‘No sign of our guy yet,’ Archer said to Chalky, the two men standing on the boardwalk scoping the place out. ‘I’m not seeing anyone near as tall as you described.’
‘Why would he follow us down here? He’s probably not watching us. He wants the girl.’
‘But we stopped him, twice. We keep doing that, we’re gonna catch his interest. He’ll want to make sure we’re nowhere near when he tries again.’
Chalky nodded, continuing to scan the crowd around them. ‘How many people are gonna come through here before nightfall?’
‘Over a hundred thousand, Marquez told me. That’s before the fireworks later, too.’ Archer looked past his friend at some clean up going on behind the Nathan’s hot dog stand, a large crowd that had gathered to watch the annual hot dog eating contest beginning to disperse, the TV crews who’d been filming it wrapping up. A large screen set up in a bar on their right showed replays of the number one pick having apparently defended his title. He was American, which had gone down well with the crowd. ‘You should’ve entered, the speed you eat,’ Archer told his friend, the pair watching twenty seconds or so of the clip; Chalky smiled but both men quickly switched their attention back to the crowd.
Everywhere they looked were people wearing red, white and blue, stars and stripes on clothing or hats, everyone enjoying the carnival atmosphere.
If the CT Bureau’s team operation was fully approved, Isabel was set to be among them.
As bait.
‘What time was this purchase made?’ the man at the other end of the phone said, an employee from Home Depot’s national customer service helpline.
‘1.32pm,’ Marquez told him. ‘Two sets of knives, maybe a box of garage springs too. Would it be recorded in the system?’
‘Should be. You don’t know for sure if this individual bought these items from one of our chains?’
‘No. But you got an outlet close by our target area, so it’s possible.’
‘There are hundreds of hardware stores in New York City, Detective. Big chains like us and then the smaller guys. This won’t be easy.’
‘I’m aware of that. But we gotta start somewhere, so I’m starting with you. I can email you a composite sketch of what the suspect looks like. Can you forward it to the stores after you call them and explain?’
‘Sure.’
‘Even if he doesn’t show on CCTV or the purchase isn’t on the register, get management to ask cashiers and employees working that day and time if any of them recall a man resembling the drawing, buying knives or springs from them.’
‘They’ll serve a lot of customers.’
‘This guy’s someone they should remember. He’s tall. Six foot seven or eight.’
‘Lot of cashiers are off for the holiday. Someone not in store right now might’ve rung his order.’
Marquez rolled her eyes and bit back a sharp comment. ‘Just get them to ask around and hit me back if you get something,’ she said impatiently before ending the call. After emailing the composite to the address the man had provided, she leaned back in her chair and looked at Josh.
‘Just made the same dial to Walmart and Kmart,’ he said. ‘Sent them the description.’
‘Nothing?’
‘Nada.’
‘Guy from Home Depot made the point, there are hundreds of stores in the city that could sell shit like this. He might’ve bought them from some hole-in-the-wall place anywhere in the city.’
She looked at the phone, then at the time, which was moving on towards 4pm.
‘C’mon. Someone give us a break here.’
*
Minutes continued to tick by, sliding into hours, and tension was rising. Approval hadn’t come from the senior NYPD leadership yet for the proposed operation, and the day was drawing on, the sun starting to go down, casting its dying rays over the festivities.
However, nature’s show was lost on Vargas. She’d come down to Coney Island to join Archer on reconnaissance detail, Chalky having gone back to the Bureau to see if he could help improve on the composite drawing of the suspect. Her ex-boyfriend couldn’t recall ever having seen her look so nervous.
They’d only just met up and exchanged a few words when Archer’s ce
ll rang. ‘We’re not getting shit over here,’ Marquez said, Shepherd patched into the call. ‘We’re putting the search for the flytrap parts out to every general hardware store we can think of, but no-one’s got a man matching our description buying any of that stuff on our time-stamp.’
‘Any sightings around the city from the APB?’ Archer asked.
‘Nothing,’ Shepherd replied. ‘If the green light comes though and we’re gonna set this up, we’ve got to do it soon.’ He swore. ‘I wanted this done in daylight.’
‘We need more time, boss,’ Marquez told him. ‘If we get an ID, we can keep her out of this and go after this asshole.’
‘We get authorisation from the top, I’m proceeding.’
‘Nothing from the lab?’ Vargas asked anxiously, as Archer put his cell away.
‘Not yet.’
She swore, her agitation clear. ‘Do we understand what we’re doing here?’
‘We need to lure him out. Or this just keeps happening until he succeeds.’ He glanced at her. ‘And unless we catch him, he will eventually. We both know that.’
Vargas swallowed. ‘I can’t lose her,’ she said quietly, her voice breaking, her throat tight.
‘He’s not gonna get her. We won’t let him.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘We’ve been here before, right?’
She looked up at him and managed a shaky smile. ‘Unfortunately. Yeah.’
People cheered nearby as a person on stilts dressed as Abraham Lincoln walked past juggling, the last rays of the sun casting a golden light over everything, making the fear in Vargas’ brown eyes even more evident.
Their phones didn’t ring and the minutes continued to tick past.
At the Bureau HQ, Chalky was sitting with Isabel, who’d just been taken through their plan again by Shepherd and what part she was going to be asked to play. They’d been very careful to make it absolutely clear that this would only happen if she felt up to it. A team leader from ESU, Sergeant Michael Hicks, was also in the room with them, his team briefed and ready to go.
‘You sure you can do this?’ Shepherd asked the girl.
‘I guess. Vargas said it’d help.’
‘It will. It’ll just be like being on stage,’ Chalky told her. ‘Don’t let anyone see you’re afraid. Pretend it’s all normal.’
‘But it’s not, is it? He could throw a knife at me again or something. Or fire a gun.’
‘That’s why we’re all going to be there.’
‘Might be too late for me. I’ll be dead.’
‘We won’t let that happen,’ Shepherd said. ‘You won’t see it but there’ll be a circle of protection around you. If this works, we can get this man. And then you’ll be safe.’
‘Alice said you thought you might have something on him.’
Shepherd glanced at the clock. ‘Some investigators with Marquez and Josh are trying to get a result for us right now.’
‘We need an answer from-’ Hicks started, but then Shepherd’s cell started to ring. He looked at it, seeing Franklin’s name, who’d gone to the meeting of the Department heads to represent Shep and his team. He answered.
‘Department gave the go-ahead,’ he told Archer moments later in a fresh call, who’d put his phone on speaker so Vargas could listen, their heads close together so they could hear above the noise around them. ‘Isabel’s agreed, and ESU are getting into position.’
Archer checked his watch; Shepherd had given Marquez and Josh an extra twenty minutes over the forty he’d already allocated before Shepherd made his decision, but neither of them had been in touch.
No leads. No breaks.
So it was back to Plan A.
‘It’s your call,’ Archer said to Vargas. She looked around them at the midway, taking in the crowds of people and the noise as festivities continued.
She took a deep breath and looked at him.
‘OK. Bring her down.
‘Operation is a go,’ Archer told Shepherd over the phone.
FOURTEEN
Warm darkness had descended like a cloak over the city; however, the celebrations at Coney Island were only just heating up, with waves of people continuing to roll in like surf on the beach, many of them establishing their place on the sand for the firework display that was due to start in twenty minutes or so. Bars and restaurants already busy were getting even busier, while media crews were gathering to film the fireworks and crowd reaction.
Isabel had just arrived with Chalky and was now standing beside Vargas on the boardwalk, all of them hearing the distant bangs from other people’s firework displays around the five boroughs, revellers passing by either side as Archer and Chalky watched from less than thirty feet away. Archer had an earpiece and small wireless mic clipped to the collar of his shirt, his right hand never straying far from his Sig Sauer pistol, as he constantly monitored everyone around them. Chalky wasn’t carrying, but he wasn’t planning to let that stop him; the team had told him as the only person who’d seen Issy’s attacker, it was important he was there.
‘Any sign of him?’ Archer asked his friend, looking around at the brightly-lit boardwalk.
‘None. But he’s got to stand out.’ Chalky replied as he scanned the crowds. ‘That son of a bitch was tall. He can’t just blend in.’
‘He managed it at the carnival,’ Archer said, picking up on the fresh note of tension he heard in his friend’s voice. This whole operation had been Chalky’s idea after all and Archer knew he’d be feeling the weight of responsibility.
Archer looked back at Isabel, who alongside Vargas, was doing her best acting job and trying to look as if she was having a good time.
He felt acid churn in his gut.
This was starting to feel like staking out a lamb to catch a lion.
‘Rifle 1, report,’ ESU Sergeant Hicks ordered over the radio.
‘In position,’ a sharpshooter said into his mic from where he’d set up on a roof several hundred yards away, Ledger beside him watching the boardwalk through field glasses. Although darkness was now descending, the whole area was well illuminated so the NYPD cops and ESU had a clear view of their target area. The officer beside Ledger was tucked in behind a Remington M24 rifle, but they were on overwatch more than anything else right now. With the crowds on the midway and on the sand, every bullet fired could potentially hit a bystander, and there were hundreds of people down there, many of them kids, which was precisely why the Department Chiefs had been so reluctant to give permission for the operation to go ahead. Killing an innocent person while trying to save Isabel would defeat the purpose of all they were trying to achieve.
Ledger watched Issy through the lens of his field glasses, and thought back to their exchange over the donuts this morning, and the way she’d giggled. Behaving the way a girl her age should behave, not trying to escape a psychopath intent on murdering her. ‘She’s hella exposed,’ the sharpshooter beside him said to Ledger, looking down his scope. The NYPD detective’s own tactical training had never left him, and the ESU rifleman was right. Her position right now was horribly vulnerable. ‘All we’re working on is a sketch and that this prick is tall?’
‘Rifle 2?’ Hicks asked over the radio, cutting in before Ledger could reply.
‘In position. No sign of the target.’
At the Queens CSU lab, Josh was looking at the remnants of what had been found in Vargas’ basement as Marquez talked with one of the investigators, both having remained behind in case a lead came through and needed to be followed up immediately.
Then the computer that had been silently searching the assorted databases made a sound.
All three of them turned and looked at the screen. The forensic investigator peeled off her gloves, and went across to the computer, examining a profile that had appeared.
‘You got a hit,’ she said, turning to look at them as they both jumped up and rushed over.
With a screech, the first firework shot up into the air and exploded in a fountain of white stars over Coney Island.
&
nbsp; It raised a round of applause and cheering from the people below as the display began, each firework providing squeals and shouts from the ground as they went off. Archer’s adrenaline and heart rate peaked with each explosion as he moved through the now mostly static crowd, following Vargas and Isabel who were making their way down one of the short wooden piers. ‘Is she OK with the flashes?’ Chalky asked, looking at Isabel, who’d stopped beside Vargas to watch another set of fireworks go off.
With so many people staring up at the sky, the eleven year old’s lack of attention on the display as she continually glanced around her went unnoticed.
‘She took her medication this morning,’ Archer said, not taking his eyes off the crowd, searching for anyone who matched Chalky’s composite sketch. ‘Vargas watched her do i-’
‘We got a result off one of the knives!’ Marquez said over the radio, interrupting him.
Archer and Chalky saw Vargas put her finger in her ear, stiffening, one hand resting on Issy’s shoulder, the other in a bag slung over her shoulder; she’d also heard Marquez’ words. ‘A store location?’ she asked.
‘No, a fingerprint!’
‘Who?’ Shepherd asked.
‘Man called Levi Polonsky,’ Marquez read from a printout as she and Josh made their way quickly out of the CSU lab and climbed into their car. They were speeding away down the street within ten seconds of leaving the building. ‘Forty two years old, owns a butcher’s shop on the Upper West Side, lives in the apartment above it.’
‘Record?’
‘Charged with a DUI on I-95 and causing a three car pile-up, which is why he’s got a file. But this man is five foot seven,’ she added moments later. ‘He’s not the same person as the guy from the theater.’
‘And his print was on the knives?’
‘On one of the handles.’
‘Do we get the girl off the boardwalk?’ Hicks asked.
‘Not yet,’ Shepherd said. ‘Go check it, both of you.’