The Detectives of Engelwood
By
Anthony Ivins
Copyright ? 2017 Anthony Ivins
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of very brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Jack eased back against the wall. His pistol had a round in the chamber as he held it tightly in both hands, pointing towards the sky.
"Mike?" he whispered.
"Yeah," replied Mike, equally softly.
"How many guys do you see?"
"Three. Two behind that yellow Corvette and one in the doorway of the drug store."
"I get the same count. What we gonna do?"
"If we move from here we are going to get blasted. We need to stay put and wait for backup."
"How long did they say?"
"Dispatch said they were ten minutes out and that was about five minutes ago."
Jack felt his palms sweating, the gun starting to slip in his grasp. Each minute that passed felt like an eternity. It was as if he was on death row, waiting for his last rites. Throughout the fifteen years he had been on the force, he had been in these types of situations many times. This is what he was trained for; such situations were his bread and butter. His partner of those fifteen years, Mike, was like a brother to him. They had grown up together, attended the same school, both went to police college and ended up being partnered together when they graduated.
They had even chased the same girl, Millicent, who they called Milly for short. Jack had dated her first but then they had a fallout and Mike took over, eventually marrying her. At first Jack was upset but soon came to terms with his 'loss'. Now he saw Mike and Millie as the brother and sister he had never had; they were his family.
Jack and Mike were both highly decorated detectives in the Chicago Police Force, working the Engelwood district. Englewood had one of the highest crime rates in the Chicago area. Hell, it had one of the highest crime rates in America. That's what kept Jack and Mike busy. There was enough crime to keep five pairs of Jack and Mike busy.
When it came to assigning cases to Jack and Mike, they had their pick of the litter. To their credit, they never took the easy ones - they left those for the rookies. They enjoyed the high-profile cases, the tough nuts to crack, but although they had solved a few high value robbery cases, they preferred murder cases, Mike seemed to have a sixth sense, and found evidence at crime scenes that baffled the smartest of crime scene experts.
Each crime scene told a story and Mike was able to read the scene like a book. He would walk up and down the crime spot, muttering to himself under his breath. He would then recount to Jack what he saw in his 'vision'. Nine times out of ten he was right. Sometimes they would apprehend the suspect before they had any proof, based solely on the vision that Mike had. They always got the proof in the end, sometimes even getting a confession before it was required.
The clouds parted slightly, letting some of the moonlight fill the gloomy air. There was a chill in the air but nothing like the cold winter air that bites through to the marrow of your bones. Jack let out a small shiver.
Dammit. It's cold and I'm sweating. Surely I can't be nervous? Jack slid one hand off his pistol and used it to pull up the collar of his jacket, placing it against the back of his neck. Although not adding too much warmth, it was more a psychological feeling of being warmer.
"Which one is the killer?" asked Jack, still in a hushed tone.
"One of the guys behind the Corvette," replied Mike, matching his tone.
"How did he know we were coming?"
"He didn't, I think his crew was also waiting for him and saw us first."
"We need to get him alive, or we may never find out where he buried that girl."
There had been a few break-ins at the St. Bernard Hospital. It was small stuff, some medicines here and there. Nobody took too much notice and didn't even bother to investigate the case. Then a week ago, one of the night shift nurses stumbled upon the robbers busy looting the dispensary. They were stealing prescription medication to sell on the streets. There was a major drug supply problem and demand for prescription alternatives had gone through the roof.
All that was left at the scene was a large blood stain and a broken cupboard with empty shelves. The nurse's name was Rose Turner, no relation to the famous singer, although she did once dream of becoming one. The blood stain was matched to her DNA, a sample of which was taken from the hair brush that her flat mate had given to the detectives. Given the amount of blood found on the scene, the detectives assumed that she had a severe head injury.
It seemed she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Five minutes earlier or five minutes later and she would have missed them. Her body was never found. Mike had done his walkabout of the crime scene and had pieced together the sequence of events. The robbers were thorough and had all worn gloves, leaving almost no trace. Almost no trace - Mike had found a partial thumbprint on a pair of bolt cutters used to break open the cupboard. The robbers must have left the cutters behind in their haste to clear the scene.
The fingerprint was traced to a Declan Armstrong, a juvenile offender who had turned mechanic. At first he claimed to have sold the bolt cutters on Craig's List but a quick search of the site proved this a lie. He was taken downtown and after a few threats of doing time he finally came out with the truth. His brother had borrowed his bolt cutters a fortnight ago and had yet to bring them back.
Both Declan and his brother, Martin, had spent time in a juvenile detention facility. Declan had followed the straight and narrow when he was released but Martin had continued on his crooked path. He had picked up numerous misdemeanours, theft out of motor vehicles, public drunkenness and even a charge of basic assault. He had always managed to walk away with a slap on the wrist and a threat that next time he would be in serious trouble. It seemed now that he had found serious trouble.
The detectives had Martin placed under surveillance for a few days, hoping he would lead them to Rose, praying that she would be found alive. Deep down both Mike and Jack knew that the chances of Rose still being alive were slim at best. With her losing that much blood she would have needed urgent medical care. A quick check found no record of her being booked into any of the local hospitals; there weren't even any Jane Does to cross-check.
The breakthrough in the case came when a phone call was intercepted between Declan and Martin. Martin had mumbled an admission to Declan about the robbery. How the nurse had stumbled upon them and he had to hit her over the head to keep her quiet. He kept saying over and over again that he didn't mean to do it, he just wanted her to stop screaming. Jack and Mike knew that this meant the girl was dead. To prove the crime however, they needed a body and Martin was the only one who knew where it was.
Now that the detectives had real evidence, they planned their next move. They wanted to take Martin by surprise. The last thing they wanted was to have to kill Martin, or worse, to have him kill himself. This often happened when they cornered suspects. The thought of doing time was sometimes too much for them and they took their own lives, often with a bullet through the brain.
Martin worked at a drug store, Rex Pharmacy, on Halsted Street. This would expla
in where he got the information to rob the hospital. Jack and Mike had gone into the drug store that morning to scope it out. They had bought a bottle of pain killers. The elderly lady at the front desk was angry and rude and Jack had wondered if she wasn't also an ex con.
They didn't see Martin but assumed he must have been working in the back, probably unpacking stock. The detectives went back to their office and planned their next move. They would wait until Martin had finished his shift. From the information that Declan had given them, this would be around 8pm when the store closed. They would approach Martin casually as he left the store, take him by surprise and arrest him,
Their plan had almost worked. As Martin left the store the two detectives got out of their car and started walking towards him. What they didn't count on was that Martin's crew were also waiting for him and had noticed the two detectives walking towards him. One of the crew, Isaac, had been taken in for questioning by Mike beforehand he recognised Mike instantly.
Before the detectives could get close to Martin, Isaac pulled out a .38 Special stubbie Revolver that was hidden in his belt under his shirt. He pointed it at the Jack and at the same time shouted out to Martin, "Take cover, they're coming for you!"
At first Jack and Mike were confused but instinct kicked in immediately. Jack crouched