To Die For

by C. M. Sutter

“What do we know so far?”

  “A man named Jeff Barry called 911, and the message was forwarded to John’s department.”

  When Lutz said John, I knew he meant Commander Fredricks.

  “John was told about a call that came in on Mr. Barry’s cell phone less than fifteen minutes ago. His wife, Deidra, who had left for work shortly before that, called him, but it was a man who spoke through her phone. She had pulled over for a flat tire, which I’m sure the man caused, and then was ripped from her car. The mystery man said she’d be killed if Jeff didn’t reveal the door codes to the CMS Pharmacy on East Fifty-Sixth Street.”

  “That’s in our district.”

  “Exactly, and that’s the main reason our department will be teaming up with John’s crew. We need as many people working the case as we can spare, but you and Frank will continue to focus on the bus stop area. The end goal is the same—track down those killers and stop them. The biggest problem facing us is that they have a hostage, making them in control of the situation. We have to tread lightly.”

  I turned the corner and headed northwest. “Did Mr. Barry give him the codes?”

  “Not yet. He said something about wanting to talk to his wife. The man said she could speak to him at nine o’clock then hung up. Mr. Barry called 911 immediately after that.”

  I checked the time and pressed the gas pedal deeper against the floor. “Mr. Barry needs to meet us at the precinct.”

  “Yep, and he’s on his way.”

  I told Lutz I’d be there in ten minutes and clicked off.

  When I arrived, Frank, Henry, and Tony were already crossing the parking lot. I parked and caught up with them before they reached the door.

  “Looks like another crazy day is in store for us.”

  Frank huffed as he jerked open the door and let us pass through. “Hopefully, it doesn’t go south like in Eileen Harper’s case.”

  We took the hallway that turned opposite the bull pen and gathered in the roll call room. Half of our police force, along with Shawn, Kip, and both commanders, were already present. We found our seats and waited for the remaining officers to show up.

  Ten minutes later and with everyone accounted for, Commander Fredricks addressed the group.

  “I’m going to keep this short since we all have a heavy load in front of us.” He pointed at Lutz. “Bob has volunteered the help of some of you detectives and officers since you guys and gals have a couple of days on us. We’ll need you to fill in the blanks however you can, and since we haven’t had an abduction yet with this case, we don’t know how the kidnappers will behave. Mr. Barry should be here momentarily. We’ll meet with him, get his take on the situation, and wait for the call. The tech department pinged Mrs. Barry’s cell phone at the time the call came in, and it bounced off the towers between Brookdale, Grand Crossing, and Cheltenham.”

  I looked at Frank then at Lutz. “That bus stop falls dead center between those towers. There has to be a reason they go to that area. Familiarity, maybe?”

  Lutz jerked his chin toward the door. “You’re right, and that’s your cue. Head out. Take Kip, Tony, and six officers with you. The more eyeballs out there, the better. Everyone else hold tight until we talk to Mr. Barry.”

  The phone rang on the counter behind the podium. Lutz held up his hand as if to tell us to wait while he answered it. I tipped my wrist and checked the time—8:42. The killers would be calling in less than twenty minutes.

  “Commander Lutz speaking,” he said. “Thanks, Debra. Show him to the tech department.” Bob spoke to Commander Fredricks, motioned for Frank and me to join them, then told the other eight to head out. He said we’d catch up with them as soon as we could. “The room is excused for now,” Lutz said. “I’ll update everyone as soon as I can. Shawn and Henry, go pick up those other pharmacists and bring them in for questioning. Maybe their memories will improve if they’re being questioned from a jail interrogation room.”

  Frank and I followed the commanders to the tech department. I assumed Todd and Billy had already set up what was necessary to record the call that was about to come in on Jeff Barry’s phone. He wanted proof of life, and he would have to insist on a one-on-one phone call with his wife. As much as he wanted to make sure his wife was unharmed, we couldn’t allow a video chat. With the tech department visible in the background, the kidnappers would know within seconds that Jeff Barry had gone to the police.

  Debra and a distraught-looking man walked in seconds after we did. She introduced him to our crew then excused herself and closed the door at her back. Todd asked for Jeff’s cell phone so he could set up the recording device. We had twelve minutes to prepare Mr. Barry before the life-changing call would come in.

  Fredricks sat across from Jeff and coached him. “No matter what, you have to stay calm. You can’t excite your wife or the kidnappers, or they’ll likely harm or kill her.”

  “Jesus Christ!” Jeff rubbed his furrowed forehead and groaned.

  “Stay with me here, buddy. Ask her if she’s okay, talk in a soothing voice, and then ask to speak to the kidnappers. Tell them you’ll give them the codes, but only the first one until your wife is released. After that, they’ll get the second one.”

  I frowned in concern, and Lutz apparently noticed.

  “What’s wrong, Jesse?”

  “That could trigger outrage on their part. I’m not a hostage negotiator, but I wouldn’t deliberately piss them off either. They abducted your wife to get the door codes. My question is, have they contacted you in any way prior to this morning? We need the absolute truth since your wife’s life depends on it.”

  “No, they’ve never contacted me before. I can’t speak for Deidra, but I’m sure she would have told me if somebody threatened our lives.”

  “Then that means they’ve flipped the script and aren’t giving out warnings anymore. Their greed is escalating, which makes them even more dangerous than before.”

  Lutz paced. “What do you suggest, McCord?”

  I looked at Jeff. “You need to ask her if she’s seen their faces. That’ll be the second question after you ask if she’s okay. Her odds are better if she hasn’t.”

  His eyes bulged. “Her odds?”

  I patted his shoulder then began jotting down instructions for him. We had seven minutes left.

  Chapter 23

  After a minute of back-and-forth conversation between Frank, the commanders, and me, we agreed that Jeff should give the kidnappers both door codes. No matter what we gave them, we had no reason to believe they would release Deidra. We could give them one door code and a threat that they wouldn’t get the other until Deidra was released, or we could give them both and they might still kill her. We just didn’t know. The kidnapping angle was new, and we had no experience with it.

  Todd gave Jeff a thumbs-up and checked the connection between his phone and our recording system. Everything was a go, and we had two minutes remaining.

  “May I have some water? My mouth is so dry.”

  Billy pulled a cold bottle from their minifridge and passed it to Jeff. “Take a couple of good gulps. They’re about to call. We’ll mute everything on our end except your voice since we don’t want them to hear sirens outside or accidental chatter in this room.”

  I stared at the clock’s second hand as it ticked down the last minute.

  “Any second now.” I gave Jeff a nod. “Go ahead and breathe, Mr. Barry.”

  “Sorry, I’m just so nervous.” He breathed in deeply and let it out slowly right as his cell phone rang.

  Fredricks nodded. “You can do this. Just follow the guidelines Detective McCord put together for you.”

  Taking a second to calm himself, Jeff answered his phone. “Jeff Barry speaking.”

  A man’s voice sounded angry yet frantic. “We need those codes now, or your wife dies.”

  Jeff looked at us for reassurance, and with another nod, Lutz gave it to him.

  “I want to speak to my wife. No recorded messages or vi
deos, only real-time conversation, and I need to do it now. Put her on the phone, and then I’ll give you the door codes.”

  A moment of silence passed as Todd did his best to pinpoint where the phone call was pinging from.

  “Jeff?”

  “Deidra! Honey, are you okay? Have they hurt you?”

  “No, but they’re threatening to. I’m scared and I want to go home!”

  “I’ll do everything I can to make that happen, I promise you. Dee, have you seen their faces?”

  “Yes.”

  Panic overtook Jeff, and he nearly gave away the fact that the police were involved. I pointed at the slip of paper with instructions, which he needed to follow to the letter. The next step was to get the kidnappers back on the line regardless of her response.

  “I need to speak to those men, honey. You’ll be home soon, I promise.” Jeff wiped his eyes with his sleeve while he waited.

  The same male voice returned to the phone. “Got the codes?”

  “Yes, yes, I do. Please don’t harm my wife. I’m doing exactly what you asked!”

  “Give them to me now. If they’re wrong, she dies.”

  “But when will you release her? I promise they’re the right codes. I wouldn’t risk my wife’s life like that.”

  The man laughed. “Don’t worry about it. She’s in good hands. Now the codes.”

  Jeff rattled off both six-digit codes, then the call abruptly ended. He cried into his hands. “They’re going to kill her, aren’t they?”

  We stood silently without answers for him.

  Todd offered what he’d found. “I pinged the location of Deidra’s phone, and it’s still in that triangulated area, but they’ll probably destroy it since it’s doubtful they’ll let you speak to her again.”

  Jeff sounded panicked. “Then how will we know anything going forward?”

  Lutz spoke up. “We have detectives and officers en route to that area as we speak. We’ll have eyes on the neighborhood around that bus stop, and every camera that catches that spot will have their footage reviewed today. Detectives McCord and Mills are heading out now, and they’ll be searching for that car.”

  “What about the public? Can’t they help track down that vehicle or even Deidra’s? They must have stashed it somewhere. You need to put something on the news!”

  Fredricks took over. “Mr. Barry, it would be a huge risk to do that while your wife is in their custody. We’re going to do our best to bring her home to you, but at this point, we don’t want to anger her kidnappers. They’re far too volatile. We do have a BOLO out on your wife’s vehicle, and as long as it isn’t hidden in a garage somewhere, it’ll be found.”

  I added what I could to ease Jeff’s anxiety. “Frank and I are leaving now. We’re going to have plainclothes officers stationed at your pharmacy and on that street around the clock. If the black car or your wife’s vehicle is spotted, we’ll be alerted immediately.”

  “What can I do? I’ll go crazy waiting.”

  “Do you have family in the area?” Fredricks asked.

  Jeff nodded. “Not in Chicago but in the state.”

  “Then I’d suggest waiting this out with them.”

  “No, I can’t be that far away.”

  “All right, but maybe someone can come to you. Either way, we’ll keep you updated. You have my word.”

  Frank and I excused ourselves and headed out. The murderers had to live somewhere in that neighborhood, I was sure of it. We would find the black car on the street, or we’d see it on video surveillance. All we needed was the plate number, and their reign of terror would end. We had to catch a break before Mrs. Barry was harmed—or worse.

  Chapter 24

  With her mouth taped and her hands zip-tied behind her back, Deidra was locked in a small room the size of a typical bathroom. They needed her out of the way while they planned the break-in of the pharmacy where her husband worked.

  “We really aren’t going to let her go, are we?” Wes asked.

  With his brows furrowed, Rory stared at his co-conspirator. “Are you crazy? Of course not. She can identify us, remember?”

  Wes paced the small house that belonged to Mark Perry, an acquaintance who had served time at Central Michigan Correctional Facility in St. Louis with Rory and him and who now lived in Chicago too. Expanding his criminal enterprise in Grand Rapids, he’d left town a few days prior and would be gone for a month. Wes had promised to keep an eye on the house in his absence, but Mark had no idea that Wes would not only squat there but invite Rory to stay as well.

  Milling over Deidra’s abduction in the early hours of the morning, Wes grumbled his regrets. “That was stupid on our part—to let her see our faces, I mean.”

  “What other choice did we have? We couldn’t act like helpful guys coming to her aid to change a flat tire with masks on, idiot. She’s going to die either way. From now on, there’s no forewarning. We snatch up the family member, get the door codes from the pharmacist, and then dump the dead spouse or kid. In and out, quick and easy. Pretty soon, we’ll move on to another town since I’m sure the cops will be staking out the pharmacies before long.”

  “But they don’t know which ones we’ll hit. As long as we have the loved one with us, the pharmacist isn’t going to tell the cops anything. They won’t know about the burglary until we’re long gone.”

  Rory snickered. “In a perfect world, that might be true, but we have to be ready for anything. Now focus. We have to put a plan down on paper.” He glanced at the clock on the stove. “Don’t forget we have to leave in an hour. We’ve got that delivery in Woodhull Park at noon. That’s two grand going right into our pockets. How sweet is that?”

  Wes grinned. “Pretty damn sweet.”

  Kicks to the wall sounded from the small space off the living room. Rory leapt from his chair and marched to the door.

  “Stupid bitch is going to learn a painful lesson. I guarantee she won’t be doing that again.”

  Chapter 25

  I called Kip’s phone as Frank drove. “Hey, it’s Jesse. What’s the word?” I pressed Speakerphone and set my cell in the cupholder.

  “We’ve scattered our cars throughout a four-block area so it doesn’t appear that we’re together. Tony and I are walking the street across from the grocery store and bus stop shelter as we speak. We have two squads combing a ten-block grid for the black car, and two more officers are on foot, checking the shops behind the grocery store.”

  “Okay, so no sightings of that car yet?”

  “Nope, but we’re about to walk into Maas Jewelers and ask to see their camera footage for the dates in question.”

  “Good. We’ll meet up with you in fifteen minutes and hit every store with a camera, see how far back they record, and watch everything we can.”

  “Roger that. See you in a few.”

  When I hung up, Frank blew out a puff of air.

  “What?”

  “Do you really think they’re going to let her go?”

  “No, but they don’t know that Jeff called us either. We have a small window of opportunity to find them before they try the codes to that pharmacy. They won’t kill her before they know for sure that they can get inside. After that, I don’t believe she has a chance in hell of surviving.”

  Moments later, Frank made a right-hand turn into the grocery store’s parking lot. I pointed at a spot dead center in the lot.

  “Park there where the cruiser will be well-hidden among all the customers’ cars.”

  After parking, we crossed the asphalt and walked to the bus stop shelter, where we sat and took in the stores that faced us.

  “There’s the jewelry store.” Frank pointed at the opposite side of East Seventy-Fifth Street.

  I nodded as I scanned the storefronts. “I see a couple more cameras that might catch this shelter. No matter what, if two scrawny guys are passing any store camera on this street and are heading toward the bus stop together, they’re worth checking out. Let’s go see what we c
an find.”

  We entered the jewelry store first to let Tony and Kip know we’d arrived. The owner showed us to their office, where our two detectives, sitting on folding chairs at a table, were reviewing the surveillance footage from the day Alvina taped the envelope to the bottom of the bench.

  “See anything suspicious?” Frank asked.

  “Nothing where two guys are entering the shelter together at or around three thirty that day.”

  With an uncertain feeling, I pulled my phone from my inner jacket pocket and scrolled through my gallery. “Damn it. You have to backtrack the footage.”

  Frank looked puzzled. “Why?”

  “Thankfully, I took a picture of the letter the burglars sent Alvina.” I spread the image so I could clearly read their instructions. “I forgot that the letter said one man would be watching the drop and the other would be watching the school. Just because she taped the envelope to the bench around three thirty doesn’t mean they picked it up then.”

  Tony groaned. “So we could be looking for one guy around three thirty, one guy later, or even two guys later.”

  I sighed knowing we’d just increased the length of time we would be watching videos. “I’m afraid so. The only way to know for sure is if one or two guys show up at the stop, never get on a bus, and walk away within a minute or so. The distance from a camera on this side of the street is too great to actually see a person reach under the bench and remove something. Keep at it and look for scrawny guys. We’re going to find another camera and check out Sunday’s footage. The burglars instructed Paul to leave the envelope there at noon, and even though he didn’t, we can cross-check your footage with what we find to see if the same person shows up both times.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Kip said.

  “Okay, what about the others?”

  “Nothing yet,” Tony said, “but they know to call you with an update in a half hour.”

  I patted the table. “Good enough. We’re going to check the footage from the sub shop on the corner.”

  Frank and I exited the jewelry store and walked to the end of the block. With any luck, the camera on the corner would catch a wider angle of the street. We entered the sub shop, and I took in the place. Four customers stood in line to order, and three tables were occupied. I was surprised to see that many people since it wasn’t even lunchtime yet. Three workers stood behind the counter—one took the orders and cut the bread, another filled the sandwiches, and the last one rang up the purchases. I approached the person who rang up the orders since she wasn’t busy at that moment.