Chapter 12
Detectives Johns and Christian arrived at the safe house around 4:30 in the afternoon. They checked the area before pulling into the driveway. It was relatively quiet. No one was out and about. The CPD and other law enforcement agencies made use of the property when needed. The neighborhood mainly consisted of older retirees. No teenagers or small children running up and down the streets. That’s why they had chosen this house. Vasquez opened the door for them. She had a cheeseburger in her hand. Det. Johns looked at her.
“Is that department issued?” he asked with a chuckle in his voice.
“Yeah, the department issues them once or twice a month for a job well done,” said Vasquez, “besides this cheeseburger is more lethal than a gun. It’s been fried so hard it could knock a perp out just looking at it. The next time we’re put on protective duty tell the captain to partner me up with someone who can cook,” she replied.
“You shouldn’t have thrown out that challenge earlier,” said Timms with annoyance in his voice.
"Well, you did prove me right," said Vasquez.
Johns and Christian entered the house chuckling at the exchange between Vasquez and Timms. If you didn't know they worked together on a lot of cases you'd think they couldn't stand one another. Vasquez closed and locked the deadbolt behind them. Timms was sitting at the monitors with a Guns for Fun magazine in his hands.
“What’s been going on?” asked Johns.
“It’s been quiet,” said Timms.
“Where’s Ms. Castillo?” asked Johns.
“She’s been in the room watching TV since about 2:00 this afternoon,” said Vasquez. “She talked to her roommate earlier. She’s still coming home today, but she’s staying with some male cousins in Hyde Park.”
Christian walked over to the sofa and stretched out. “I need to catch a couple of z’s. Wake me up in an hour and a half,” he said.
“Why don’t you sleep in one of the twin beds?” asked Vasquez.
“Because this sofa is way more comfortable than either one of those beds could ever be,” he replied. Christians closed his eyes and promptly fell asleep. Detective Johns went to check on Katrina. He opened the door to the room she was using. He watched silently as tears raced down her face. He wondered what was wrong, and then he caught the end of the news broadcast. The female broadcaster said,
“The police have no clues in the torture murder of Ms. Kim Dubois. All requests for interviews with the lead detectives on the case have been declined.” Katrina looked at Det. Johns, pure agony written all over her face.
“How could someone do that to her? Kim was so kind, so full of life. She was the perfect daughter. She was the perfect friend, never judging, always standing by your side,” she said before she dissolved into tears once again.
“Who the hell let out that M.E.’s report,” he thought. He looked around for assistance. He’d never been comfortable dealing with the bereaved. Officer Vasquez was nowhere to be found. Det. Christians was sound asleep on the sofa. Officer Timms had even less skill dealing with the bereaved than he did. He sat next to Katrina and slowly wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She turned into him retching sobs escaping her lips. Slowly the tide of sorrow ebbed. Her sobs lessened until she finally ran out of tears.
“I’m sorry for crying all over your shirt. I was watching the news and had no idea what had happened to Kim. Allison told me that the news was reporting that Kim was tortured. But to actually hear some of the details was too much,” said Katrina.
“As policemen we’re trained to deal with atrocities such as this, but it still bothers us. We wouldn’t be human if things such as this had no effect on us. But as a civilian we don’t expect you to be able to understand the kind of evil that exists in this world. That’s why we don’t give out details. Sometimes it can be too much to bear,” said Det. Johns. “That report should never have been broadcast. I’m sorry you had to hear the details in a room all by yourself without any support. Come into the living room and talk with the other officers. It’ll get your mind off of the situation.”
Det. Johns decided to wait awhile before discussing the theories they had concerning her case. Katrina went to join the other officers. Vasquez returned to the room after Katrina had sat down. She glanced at Katrina and saw the signs of grief written all over her face. Johns looked at Vasquez. She took the hint and started regaling everyone with one of her famous stories about her sons’ antics when they were growing up. Everyone sat around exchanging stories, while Det. Christian slept like the dead.
An hour later det. Johns decided it was time to tell Katrina their theory.
“There are something’s we need to discuss,” said det. Johns. He explained to her their theory that she might know her stalker. Katrina didn’t like the idea that someone might have been watching her and she was unaware of it. They talked about her daily routines. Who she had came in contact with, who might have made her feel uncomfortable. By the time they had finished discussing Katrina’s life she was hungry and tired.
Det. Christian finally aroused himself from his nap and volunteered to cook that evening. The aroma of spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread permeated the house. Katrina’s mouth started watering well before Det. Christians finished cooking.
Officer Vasquez took over monitor patrol as they ate dinner. Halfway through the meal, Vasquez let out a warning call. There was a lone male walking towards the front door. The suspect was carrying something in his hands. Detective Johns ushered Katrina into the bedroom and told her to get down by the bed. Detective Johns told dispatch to send a car. He remained on the line with dispatch. Timms went towards the back of the house and Det. Christian and Vasquez went to the front door. The suspect looked around for a moment then knocked. When no one answered the door, the male placed the object on the porch and left. Det. Johns had patrol pick up the suspect. Det. Christian opened the door in a crouch. He looked for an unforeseen threat, but didn’t see any. He picked up the package and closed the door.
Det. Christian called for the all clear. Everyone gathered back in the living room.
“Its’ flowers again, except this time we have what looks like twelve yellow roses and two red roses. He had them create a pattern. It actually looks like a set of eyes. Six yellow roses encase each red rose.” said Det. Christian.
“What does the card read?” asked Det. Johns.
“Beware the wolves come out at night, but the Guardian never sleeps.” said Det. Christian.
Det. Johns looked at the others and said, “This guy knows where she is already. We've barely been here over twenty four hours. He must know someone on the inside and he's getting his information fed to him. It’s too late to move her tonight. I’m going to get a patrol car to make some extra rounds tonight. We’re in teams of three with two hour rotations one on the back door, one on the front, and one on the monitors. Stay focused and sound the alarm for anything you think might be suspicious.”
Det. Christian took the first watch on the monitor. Det. Johns went to the back of the house and Vasquez to the front. Timms went into the second bedroom, but it wasn’t to sleep. He kept watch out the side window. Det. Johns made the call to dispatch. Katrina sat on the sofa across from Det. Christian. She was shaking all over. Det. Christian grabbed the blanket from her bed and wrapped her in it.
Det. Johns got off the phone and told them what dispatch had reported to him. “The guy who just dropped the flowers off is so hyped up he wouldn’t know his own mother, even if they detox him, they doubt he’ll be of any use,” said Det. Johns
The house grew steadily quieter. No one had said a word for about an hour. Everyone was on edge. Katrina looked at Det. Christian, fear written all over her face.
“If he comes, will you be able to stop him?” she asked.
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“Yeah, we’ll be able to stop him. He’s just one guy and we’ve got back up. If he comes tonight, it’ll be over tonight,” said Det. Christian.
Det. Christian looked at the monitor. He saw a sedan passing by. It appeared to slow down as it neared the house. He held his hand up to silence Katrina. He told Johns about the sedan and asked him to put patrol on the car. “Have them run the plates when it passes them,” he said. They decided not to take any chances tonight.
Patrol contacted them a couple of minutes later. They said the car was a rental and they’d need to contact the corporate office to see who it was leased to. Det. Johns thought it might have been someone looking for a particular address. Everyone settled down again. Another hour passed with no disturbances.
Det. Christian was talking to Vasquez when the tapping began. He looked at the monitors. At first he didn’t see anything. But after a couple of seconds four men came into view. They were approaching the house, semiautomatic machine guns drawn. He could see the muzzle flashes. They were shooting at the house. He yelled for Johns to call for backup and told everyone else to get down. Timms came flying out of the second bedroom, gun drawn in a crouch. Katrina was lying in front of the sofa huddled in a ball. A patrol car pulled up in front of the house. The four gun men changed direction and started firing at the patrol car.
“We’ve got four perps with automatic weapons out front. They were headed towards the house but they’re firing at the patrol car now,” said Det. Christian to everyone in the room. Suddenly the tapping on the house resumed, but it had decreased from its’ original onslaught. Detective Christian looked at the monitors again to see what the situation was outside. One of the perps was on the ground. He watched as another one fell. As the third one was falling the fourth perp ran towards the side of the house. He continued to follow the perps trail on the monitors, until he lost him when he ran behind a dumpster. He appeared to be injured. The tapping on the house had stopped by this point.
“Can you see where the shots are coming from?” Christian yelled to Vasquez.
“No, I’m not sure. I didn’t see them go down,” said Vasquez.
“Back up should be here any minute now.” said Det. Johns.
“Three more patrol cars just pulled up,” said Vasquez.
“One of the perps got away."
Detective Christian looked back at the monitor. He watched as the patrolmen exited their cars, guns drawn. Several more patrol cars pulled up in the alley. Within five minutes the neighborhood was saturated with police. The officers approached the bodies with caution. One officer checked for signs of life. It took ten minutes before the two police officers approached the safe house. Officer Vasquez cautiously opened the front door.
The first officer to enter was 6’4, ebony complexioned with a bald head and baby face. His partner was about 5’8, slender, and gray haired with kind looking blue eyes. They examined the room with practiced eyes. Katrina sat on the sofa, mild shock written all over her face. Det. Johns was sitting next to her trying to calm her down. Officer Timms had moved to the back door, waiting for the unexpected. Det. Christian was on the phone talking to Capt. Weatherspoon. Having looked over the situation in the safe house, the older officer spoke.
“I’m Sergeant Jones and this is my partner Officer King. We didn’t expect so much excitement when we were told you’d be housing a witness here,” he said.
“Neither did we,” replied Det. Christian. “What’s the situation outside?”
“We have three dead bodies, no I.D. on any of them. They’re dressed in army fatigues. We have one officer injured, a flesh wound to the upper thigh, so he’ll be okay. His partner was glad when you’ll started taking the perps down, it saved their lives” said Sergeant Jones.
“We didn’t take them out. We’re not sure where the shots came from, but they weren’t from us,” said Det. Christian
“Sergeant Jones scratched his head in consternation. You could see the wheels churning in his head. “My guys didn’t take out the perps. They didn’t get a shot off. The minute they pulled up they were under heavy fire. They thought you’d taken the perps down from the windows,” said Sergeant Jones.
“No we didn’t get a shot off. So who took out the perps?” asked Det. Christian. All parties looked at one another. “Your officers need to be careful. Can you have them do a perimeter search? The shooter is still on the loose along with one of the perps,” said Det. Christian.
Sergeant Jones spoke into the radio giving instructions for a perimeter search. Once he finished giving instructions over the radio he told them what else they had found.
“One of my officers called in a description of the perp that got away. He jumped into the rental you called in earlier. We have an all points bulletin out on him and the rental car. But if he’s smart he’s dumped the car already,” said Sergeant Jones.
“We need to take a look at the perps. Maybe we’ll recognize one of them,” said Det. Johns getting up from the sofa. Vasquez and Timms stayed with Katrina while they went outside to examine the scene. Neither one recognized the first perp they unmasked, but the second one had a build that had been described to them by Katrina.
“He might be the guy who left Kim at the apartment. She never got a look at this face, but she was right, he has a very distinctive build,” said Det. Johns. The last perp they knew, it was Adan Medina.
“We need to put out an all points bulletin on Maximiliano Medina, Adan’s cousin. From what we’ve learned from Katrina they do everything together.” said Det. Johns to Sergeant Jones.
“So you know this perp,” said Sergeant Jones.
“Yeah, we were checking him out, but not fast enough evidently. This one here is Adan Medina. But it still doesn’t explain anything about this situation. We don’t have a clue why they targeted Katrina or why they killed Kim,” said Det. Johns.
“Are you starting to think that there’s something she isn’t telling us?” asked Det. Christian.
“Maybe, with them in the mix, it blows the stalker theory out of the water,” said Det. Johns.
Sergeant Jones bent down to examine the perps more closely. He didn’t see any obvious wounds. He examined the bodies more closely. He shined his light on the first body. He started at the head and traveled down the body. He finally found the entrance wound. The perp had been shot directly in the heart. He examined the other bodies and found the exact same thing. He looked at the two detectives. “They were all shot in the heart, a kill shot. Whoever killed them knew what he was doing. My guys didn’t see a sign of another perp anywhere. Of course they were pinned down by automatic gun fire, praying back up would get here in time,” said Sergeant Jones. The sergeant’s radio cackled. He clicked to receive the message. Everyone listened.
“This is dispatch, they’ve spotted the rental car. It was involved in a two car accident. The suspect rear ended a pick-up truck. Paramedics are on the scene. They are in the process of transporting all the injured to Holy Crest Hospital.”
“We’re headed to the hospital now, said the Sergeant to dispatch. “I’ll leave a couple of officers posted with your team. You want to let your guys know what’s going on?”
Det. Johns looked at Det. Christian, “let them know where we’re headed, but don’t volunteer any details of what we’ve found out here,” said Det. Johns.
Detective Christian shook his head in acknowledgment. He left to inform Timms and Vasquez of where they were headed. Det. Johns got on the phone to Captain Weatherspoon to let him know the latest development.
The Hospital
Detective Johns and Christian arrived at the hospital with Sergeant Jones and Officer King not far behind. They learned from an emergency room nurse that the man and child involved in the accident were fine. They only sus
tained minor cuts and abrasions. But Maxi was in emergency surgery. He’d lost a lot of blood from the gunshot wound and lost consciousness in transport to the hospital. The doctors weren’t sure if he’d make it.
Det. Johns asked who the ambulance drivers were and if they’d remained at the hospital. The nurse pointed them out. They were sitting in the emergency room drinking coffee. They both stood up when the officers walked into the waiting room.
Detective Johns made the introductions. The ambulance driver was Adam Harris and the paramedic was Jill Anderson. Detective Johns conducted the interview.
“We need to know anything you can tell us about the gunshot wound victim. What kind of shape was he in when you arrived on the scene?” asked Det. Jones.
“He was lucid, but bleeding profusely,” said Jill. “He was able to give us his name, Maximiliano Cruz, and his age twenty-seven.”
“What did you say his name was?” asked Detective Johns excitedly.
“He said his name was Maximiliano Cruz, it’s a mouth full, but that’s what he said,” replied Jill.
Detectives Johns and Christian exchanged looks. Det. Christian excused himself from the interview.
“Did he say anything else while you were attending him?” asked Det. Johns.
Jill thought for a moment, “Well, I’m not quite sure what he said, but he did say the word “Bitch” in Spanish.”
“He said because of that bitch,” said Adam. I know a little Spanish. “He said because of that bitch.”
“Did he say anything else?” asked Det. Johns.
“No he lost consciousness right after that,” said Jill. “Is there anything else you detectives need? We need to get back to our station.”
“No, that’ll be all for now. If we need anything else we know where to find you. Thanks for your assistance,” said Det. Johns. The EMT’s left to get back to the station.
Det. Johns, Sergeant Jones and Officer King sat down in the waiting room. They had been sitting for about five minutes before Sergeant Jones said, “It might be awhile before Maxi’s out of surgery. I can put two uniforms on him. They’ll contact us when he’s out of surgery and is able to talk.” They agreed and decided to go back to the safe house. Det. Christian rejoined them as they were leaving the emergency room.
As they were walking to the car det. Christians said, “I spoke with the Captain, they’re running Maxi Cruz’s name through the system. He’s also getting homeland security to run the name as well. We need to get all the information we can on Maxi and Adan. Katrina can tell us what she knows about those two. The captain is getting search warrants for their residences as well. Maybe we can have some answers by morning.”
When they arrived at the safe house the coroner’s van was just leaving. There were still several crime scene techs gathering evidence around the house. Detectives Johns and Christian had decided to take Katrina back to the precinct. Looking at all those bullet holes in the safe house reminded them of how close they had come to death.
“My guys will get you all the lab results as soon as they process everything,” said Sergeant Jones.
Detectives Johns and Christian gave Sergeant Jones their cell phone numbers in case something pressing turned up. Timms and Vasquez escorted Katrina out of the safe house and into Det. Johns’ and Christian’s cruiser, soon after they headed back to the precinct.
The Guardian
The Guardian watched them leave the safe house. He replayed the events of the night over in his head. He hadn't expected them to be so heavily armed. He was able to take three of the perps down with relative ease. His last shot hadn’t been as true as the others. He was shooting to incapacitate but Maxi’s reflexes were better than he had anticipated. Maxi had sensed the danger before the others. He had managed to jump behind a dumpster. He was only able to get one shot off before Maxi disappeared. He took a deep breath. Even though Maxi was able to get away, he didn’t get very far. He was in Holy Crest Hospital now. They weren’t sure if he’d live. The Guardian knew his ending, but he needed information first. It was time to head to the hospital.