“Did you close it?”
“Yeah. One of Marco’s CIs tipped him to where we could find the gun. Flores’s prints were in the system and on the gun. When we picked him up, he didn’t deny it, practically bragged about it. Took a deal for life with a shot at parole in twenty-five.”
“Why’d the CI drop a dime on him?”
“Cause the asshole was fucking the CI’s sister.”
“Is that so bad?”
“It is when the sister is ten years old.”
“So you think the Locos may have caught Kyrie trying to steal from them?”
“Could be.”
Rossi sighed. “That would let Dwayne off the hook.”
“Maybe not.”
“Why not?”
“De’Andre Waiters and Dwayne were in the same gang, so Dwayne would have known what happened to De’Andre. If he wanted to make it look like the Locos killed Chapman, he’d have known just how to do it.”
“Either way, let’s nail it down.”
Harris nodded. “How about you? Anything to work with on the Hendersons? What about the gun used to kill Jameer?”
“Different gun, nine millimeter. It was another close-up, like Chapman, only face-to-face. Close enough for blood to have splashed back on the shooter. Lena Kirk is testing some fabric we found in the fireplace at Dwayne’s mother’s house. After the way Jameer testified at the Wilfred Donaire trial, if any of the victims’ blood is on that fabric and we can tie the fabric to Dwayne’s clothes, we’ve got him cold.”
“What about the rest of the Henderson family? Anything in their background that would make someone besides Dwayne go after them?”
“Not so far. I checked Henderson out after he testified against Dwayne. Best I could tell, they were just a family trying to get by.”
“What about the way the wife and kids were killed? Any help there?”
Rossi took a deep breath. “It was fuckin’ ugly, man, what happened to them. Autopsy found flakes of aluminum on the kids’ skulls and in the mother’s vagina. The aluminum is the kind used to make baseball bats. Whoever did this cracked the kids’ heads and then raped the mother with the bat. If he hadn’t strangled her, she would have died from the internal injuries.”
“Man,” Harris said. “I been doing this a long time, and I still don’t know what kind of man does something like that.”
“I do,” Rossi said. “The same kind of man that cuts another man’s dick off and shoves it down the victim’s throat.”
“Hey,” Fowler said as he opened the door to the interrogation room. “Things have changed.”
“What?” Rossi asked.
“I just got off the phone with Tommy Bradshaw. Judge Upton released Dwayne Reed on his own recognizance.”
Rossi came out of his chair. “You are fuckin’ kidding me!”
“I wish I was. It gets worse. Bradshaw says that Reed threatened the doctor at Truman who sewed him up, a woman named Bonnie Long. Said he was going to be waiting for her when she got home from work.”
Rossi started to leave, stopping when Fowler put his hand on Rossi’s arm.
“Where are you going?”
“To warn the doc, and then I’m going to find Dwayne and put his ass back in jail.”
“No, you aren’t. Dwayne was probably just mouthing off, but in case he wasn’t, I’ve alerted Truman Medical’s security and I put two uniforms on her house. So I don’t need you warning the doctor or harassing Dwayne Reed. You handle solving crimes and I’ll handle preventing them.”
Rossi rolled his eyes, giving Harris his can-you-believe-this-bullshit look.
“I’m not asking your opinion, Detective Rossi,” Fowler said. “I’m giving you an order. You’ll do things my way or you’ll take your cowboy act to the rodeo. Are we clear?”
Rossi clenched his jaw. “Crystal clear, Commander.”
“Good,” Fowler said and left, head high, triumphant.
“What are you going to do now?” Harris asked.
“Like you’ve got to ask,” Rossi said.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Alex had been sweating since she left Judge West’s chambers, her encounter with Dwayne on the courthouse steps ratcheting her body temp up another notch. The day was half over and she was as drained as she’d been after running the Warrior Dash, a 5K obstacle course that included mud pools, barbed wire, and fire pits. She did it to test her limits, and when she finished she was elated. Now she was just grimy and edgy, looking over her shoulder, sensing that trouble was gaining on her.
Needing to calm and clear her head, she went for an aimless walk through downtown, finding herself at the public library, an ornate building that was home to a bank in its earlier life. It was cool inside, the quiet comforting. She sank into a soft chair in one of the reading rooms and closed her eyes and meditated, concentrating on her breathing, shoving Dwayne to the periphery. Half an hour later, she was back on the street.
She tried Bonnie again, knowing what she had to tell her but uncertain how she would say it. When she got Bonnie’s voice mail, she called the ER, grateful that she recognized the voice of the nurse who answered.
“Emergency room.”
“Eddie, is that you? It’s Alex Stone.”
“Yeah, it’s me. What’s up Alex? You looking for Bonnie?”
“Yes. I’ve been trying to reach her. You guys must be getting slammed and she’s probably tied up with patients.”
“Nope. All we’ve got is a kid with a bellyache and an old lady with a twisted ankle. But you aren’t the only one looking for her.”
“What do you mean?” Alex asked, her voice catching in her throat.
“Black dude was in here a few minutes ago asking for. Said he had something for her and wanted to know if I knew where she lived.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him I didn’t know but that he could leave whatever it was with me and I’d give it to her, and he said no thanks, he was the only one who could give it to her.”
Alex struggled to keep her voice under control. “Do you know where she is?”
“Not my day to watch her. You okay?”
“Yeah. Fine. Just in a hurry. Can you page her and ask her to call me right away? Tell her it’s urgent.”
“Sure thing.”
Alex was at the entrance to the parking garage when Bonnie called.
“I know why you’ve been trying to reach me. The judge let Dwayne go. Don’t worry. I’m fine,” Bonnie said, hurtling her words at Alex, not giving her a chance to say hello.
Alex leaned against the exterior wall of the garage, relieved that Bonnie was okay but not surprised at the chill in her voice.
“How could you possibly know? I just left the courthouse an hour ago.”
“Because the hospital’s director of security got a call from the police warning them that Dwayne had threatened me. He summoned me to his office so he could tell me the good news and promise me they’re going to protect me from that fucking asshole client of yours.”
“Oh.”
“Oh, is right. I was in his office when Eddie paged me and told me about your call and the black guy who came looking for me and who wanted my address and who I assume was Dwayne.”
“I feel terrible.”
“About what?” Bonnie asked, her tone sharp as a scalpel.
“About what happened and that you had to hear it from someone else. You must be furious with me.”
“You aren’t the one who let him go.”
Alex dreaded telling Bonnie that she was the one who had asked the judge to release Dwayne. She’d leave that confession for later, after they’d polished off a bottle of wine.
“What are they going to do? The security people, I mean.”
“The police emailed a photograph of Dwayne and it’s being circulated to all the hospital’s guards. And they’re putting a guard in the ER who will walk me to and from my car.”
“That’s good.”
“Yes, it is, in the same way fixing a broken leg is good except that not breaking your leg would be even better.”
“I know. I get that and I’m really sorry. Tommy Bradshaw says that the police will have a patrol car keep an eye on our house.”