by C. M. Sutter
“Jesse, come on in and have a seat.”
I turned back, entered the commander’s office, and sat. “What’s up, Boss?”
Lutz let out a sigh, which got my attention. I knew something bad was about to come out of his mouth.
“You know we’ve been in constant contact with Burglary since the pharmacy homicides.”
I raised a brow, knowing there was more to come. “Right, and?”
“And I was informed ten minutes ago that burglars hit the Hyde Park Animal Hospital sometime after hours.”
“What? That’s where Hanna works!”
Lutz gave me a solemn look. “None of the doors had been pried open, so the person had to have had a key. One of the vets went to the pharmacy to fill a prescription this morning and saw blood on the floor and empty shelves.”
My gut was beginning to do flip-flops. “Jesus, did anyone talk to Hanna?”
“Jesse, she didn’t show up for work this morning.”
I leapt from the chair and headed to the door.
“McCord, sit down and let me finish.”
I remained standing. “I can’t sit here, Bob, when there’s clearly something wrong. She and I went out for a drink last night, I drove her home, and then I left. I was in bed by ten thirty. I texted her after getting home, but she never responded.”
“Okay, the animal hospital is in contact with the company that takes care of all the surveillance equipment. It’s handled off-site. Apparently, there’s a camera in the pharmacy and a crime that’s been committed. Blood tells us somebody was injured, and empty shelves tell us Wes Nash and Rory Gibbs were probably involved.”
“But who would think to rob an animal hospital?”
“People who know many drugs prescribed for pets are the same drugs humans take except in lower dosages.”
“How soon before the surveillance company knows something, and are they going to the clinic, or do they check the footage at their site?”
“Not sure yet. Patrol and Commander Jenner from Burglary are at the animal hospital right now. They’ll let me know when they hear something.”
“I’ve got to go to Hanna’s house and see if she’s there.”
“Not alone, you’re not. Take Frank, and have a patrol unit meet you there. Call me the second you know something.”
I ran down the hallway to the bull pen. “Frank, get up. We have to go!”
He spun in his chair. “What the hell is wrong?”
“Grab your shit, and I’ll explain in the car.”
Frank ripped his coat off the chairback and raced out the door with me. We took the stairs two by two and exited the building at our lot, where the cruisers were parked.
“I’ll drive. I know where we’re going.”
I dove into the driver’s seat, and Frank rounded the nose of the car and climbed in. With the sirens blaring and the lights flashing, I tore out of our lot and headed southeast.
“Now what the hell is going on?” he asked.
“I’m not sure, but Hanna could be in danger.”
“Hanna? Why the hell would Hanna be in danger? She should be at work, shouldn’t she?”
“I need to see if she’s at home. The animal hospital was broken into last night, there’s blood on the floor in the pharmacy area, she’s not at work, and I can’t reach her.”
“Holy shit. That’s a whole lot of bad news. I never even had a chance to ask if the night shift crew had a sit-down with the public defender and Jennifer. You literally ran in five seconds after I took my seat.”
I made it to Hanna’s house in under fifteen minutes and squealed to a stop at the curb, right behind the patrol unit that was already on-site. The officers stood on the porch where I had just said good night to Hanna less than twelve hours earlier.
“Did you bang on the door?” I asked as I ran up the sidewalk.
“Nobody answers, Jesse,” Foxworthy said.
“Check around the back. I’ll try her phone again.”
Foxworthy and Paulson headed around the side of the house while I tried Hanna’s phone for the umpteenth time. I pressed my ear against the door and listened for a ring but heard nothing.
Foxworthy yelled out from behind the gate. “You’ve got to see this, Jesse. The back door has been breached.”
“Son of a bitch.”
Frank and I ran around the house and met up with Foxworthy and Paulson, who already had their guns drawn. A shattered windowpane on the back door told us somebody had definitely broken in either last night or that morning. I turned the knob, and we crept in, trying to avoid the broken glass. The kitchen was clear. I motioned for the officers to turn right, and Frank and I continued straight ahead. I had been in Hanna’s house several times and knew the layout. To the right was a family room and hallway to the office and downstairs bathroom. The bedrooms and two baths were upstairs, and straight ahead was the dining room and living room. The officers disappeared down the hallway, and we continued on toward the front of the house.
I tapped Frank’s arm and pointed. Dried blood smears covered a six-inch spot on the floor in front of us, and a bloodstained dish towel lay near the front door. On three, I grabbed the closet doorknob and pulled while Frank took aim at the door. He was ready to fire if necessary, but nobody was inside.
I cursed in frustration and headed upstairs, but nobody was hiding under beds or in closets. Foxworthy said the basement was clear too. I was sure without a shadow of a doubt that Hanna had been taken by force, and it was likely her keys had been the ones that unlocked the doors at the animal hospital. I told the officers to stay put while I called Lutz. We needed to know if he wanted Forensics to print the house, if we should tape it off and have the officers stand by, and if we should head to the animal hospital, or return to the station.
“Tell Foxworthy to wrap the house for now and to remain there until Abrams contacts him. I’ll send Mike and Danny out to test that blood and check for prints. You and Frank head back in. I still haven’t heard from Commander Jenner yet, so it’s a waiting game. As of now, we don’t have a reason to be at the site of a burglary without knowing that there’s a positive connection to Rory Gibbs and Wesley Nash.”
I didn’t want to admit Lutz was right, but he was. Burglary wasn’t our department, and kidnapping wasn’t either. Although I had a personal connection to Hanna, nobody in law enforcement had been contacted by the perps, and we didn’t have a clue where they might have taken her.
Frank drove back to the station. My mind was too full of possible scenarios to focus on getting us and the cruiser to the precinct safely.
“If the burglary was committed by Rory and Wes, then how the hell did they know who Hanna was, where she lived, and where she worked? They turn on a dime and go from stealing drugs from CMS pharmacies to burglarizing animal hospitals?”
Frank shook his head. “I don’t have those answers, partner, but I wish I did.”
Somebody had to call Lee, Hanna’s mom, and tell her what was going on. I knew it should be me, since I was a friend and a cop, but I wondered if it was too soon. Would there be a crazy, mixed-up explanation for Hanna’s disappearance? I knew I was kidding myself by hoping for such an outcome. There was nothing mixed-up going on. The bloody towel in her house and Hanna’s disappearance were the results of pure evil, and in my gut, I knew it had to be Rory Gibbs and Wesley Nash.
“Step on it,” I said, fueled by anger. “Hit the lights and siren. We need to get back to the station and quick. Jennifer gets one more chance to cough up those bastards, or she’s going down for all of it, along with Wesley Nash’s mom. I’m having the Detroit PD pick her up for questioning.”
Chapter 49
Hanna sat in the corner of the living room with her hands and feet tied. Through her eye that wasn’t swollen closed, she watched the men as they sat at the kitchen table. From her position, she heard Rory and Wes plotting how to get the detective’s car. She would be the bait, and they’d lure him to a quiet location with threats of kill
ing her if Jesse didn’t come alone.
Barely able to breathe through her broken nose, Hanna sucked in air and exhaled through her parched mouth. She needed water but was afraid to ask.
“Can you keep it down over there? You’re wearing on my nerves with all that panting or whatever the hell you’re doing,” Wes said.
“I’m sorry, but I can only breathe through my mouth. May I have some water?”
Wes snickered something about how it must suck to be her.
Rory pushed back his chair and crossed the room to the kitchen cabinets. He filled a glass with water, walked it over to the badly bruised woman, and handed it to her. “You look like shit.”
“Thank you.”
He chuckled. “For saying you look like shit?”
She focused her left eye on him. “No, for the water.”
Wes huffed his disgust at Rory. “I think you’re going soft on me.”
“Hardly, but a dead woman isn’t much of a bargaining chip, is she? The car was your idea, so you can take care of her from now on.”
After sucking down the last gulp in his bottle of beer, Wes cracked open another one. He tossed the empty bottle into the garbage can at his back.
“So when do we make our move?” he asked.
“Tonight. For now, we’ll lay low and watch TV to see if there’s any news coverage throughout the day. We have to be on our toes if we want our plan to go without a hitch. First, we need to decide on a spot where we’ll meet the detective.”
Wes leaned back in the wooden chair and stared at the ceiling. The chair teetered precariously, with the rear legs nearly giving out. Rory scowled at him and shook his head.
“You’re a weird one, that’s for damn sure.”
“I’m trying to think, okay? The silos. That’s where we’ll have him meet us. That’s as secluded as it gets.”
“Humph, that’s the smartest thing you’ve said all day. Okay, the silos it is. We’ll contact him late tonight and tell him to go there alone. If he doesn’t, the vet dies.”
Chapter 50
I called Bill as we crossed the lot and entered the station. “Put Jennifer in the first box and let her sit. I’ll get back to you as soon as I reach her public defender.”
We raced up the stairs to our floor, and I banged on Lutz’s door before continuing to the bull pen.
I stuck my head around the partially opened door. “Boss?”
“Come in, guys. I have news. I spoke with Commander Jenner, and they were able to view the footage from the animal hospital’s pharmacy. The person who emptied the shelves was positively identified by the staff as Hanna Bradley.” Lutz stared into my eyes. “I’m sorry, Jesse, and I know this has to be difficult for you.”
I took two deep breaths as I tried to remain calm. “What was her condition? You said there was blood in that room, and we found blood at the house too.”
“They described her as pretty banged up.”
“Those two will pay, I promise you that.”
Lutz knuckled his desk. “Jesse, you have to keep a level head if you want to help with this investigation. I won’t allow anyone to go off half-cocked. It creates a dangerous environment for everybody.”
I nodded. “I know, but it’s tough.”
Lutz continued. “According to the animal hospital and what the officers on site have said, there aren’t any outdoor cameras. We have no way to see what kind of vehicle they arrived in.”
Frank spoke up. “It wasn’t Hanna’s Lexus since it’s still parked at the curb outside her house.”
“And the Fiesta and Impala are in our evidence garage. They’ve obviously stolen another car, and hundreds of cars are reported stolen every day,” I said.
“Maybe we can narrow down the time to within a few hours of when Jennifer was picked up. Those two wouldn’t have gone far on foot. I’ll get Henry and Shawn on that immediately. They can work with the auto theft investigation unit and see what pops.”
I paced Lutz’s office as I thought. “I need to contact Lee Bradley, Hanna’s mom, and tell her what’s going on, and then we have to get Jennifer’s public defender back here. She has to tell us where Rory and Wes are since that’s where we’ll find Hanna too.”
Lutz agreed. “Go ahead and get started on that. The night shift guys said they didn’t get anywhere with Jennifer.”
I smirked as I reached for the doorknob. “I’ll paint a picture of prison for her that she won’t soon forget. We’ll see how fast she reconsiders. Also, the Detroit PD should haul in Wesley Nash’s mom. She knows where he is, she just isn’t talking.”
“I’ll take care of that right now.”
I nodded a thanks to our commander as we walked out.
Once seated at my desk, I realized I didn’t have Lee’s phone number. I dialed Dean to get it and knew full well that I would have to tell him what was going on too.
Dean usually kept his cell phone within reach if he was indoors, and as I expected, he picked up right away.
“Jesse, I never heard back from you about those young men who came to buy your tools. If I’d known you wanted to sell some, I would have taken a look at them myself.”
“Yeah, I didn’t get back to you because it was a mistake. I don’t have any tools for sale.”
“Hmm… that is odd, especially since they called you by name. Actually, if I recall correctly, they addressed you as Detective McCord, but then they said Mark must have given them the wrong time. I went inside to call you, but when I returned, they were gone.”
My radar was immediately triggered. If I were to post anything for sale anywhere, I wouldn’t include my full name or my work title. “They mentioned somebody named Mark?”
“Yeah, that’s what they said.”
“Dean, give me your best description of the guys.”
He rubbed his chin. “Both in their twenties, I’d say. Average height and slim built. One had blond hair, and one had brown hair. Oh yeah, they pulled up in a red Ford Fiesta and parked it at the bottom of your driveway.”
I felt the hard thumping in my chest. It was me. I was the connection between those killers and Hanna. It wasn’t the officers they’d noticed during our street clothes surveillance of the CMS Pharmacy—it was me. They’d learned who I was and which precinct I worked at, found out where I lived, knew my car, then followed me after work when I drove to the animal hospital to pick up Bandit’s heartworm medicine. They saw Hanna and me together then followed me to her house. It was their hatred for law enforcement that had led to Hanna’s kidnapping. Realizing that an animal hospital carried prescription drugs, too, was a bonus they probably wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. It all came back to me, and it was my job that caused danger to my friends and loved ones. I was racked with guilt and could hardly think, but I had to explain to Dean what was going on, and I needed to call Lee and tell her what had happened to her only daughter.
“Dean, you need to listen to me closely. Those two men were killers, kidnappers, and burglars. They were likely there to see if they could break into my house, but the cameras made them think otherwise. They’ve kidnapped Hanna.” It pained me to say those words, but like Lutz told me, I needed to keep a level head if I wanted to be part of the investigation, and I was sure it was Wes and Rory who had Hanna. They knew where she lived, and that was because of me.
“I don’t follow, Jesse. You’re saying Hanna, my niece, has been kidnapped? How is that possible? She’s a veterinarian. Who would have a reason to kidnap a vet?”
I sighed in remorse. “I’ll explain everything when there’s time, but right now, I need Lee’s phone number. I have to tell her what’s going on.”
Dean stepped away from the phone but was back within a minute. “Okay, can you write this down?”
“I’m ready when you are.” I jotted down the number Dean read to me then assured him we would find Hanna. “I’m so sorry this happened, and I promise you I’ll find her and bring her home safely.”
Chapter 51
“How’s it looking on that public defender, Frank?”
“He said he’d be here in twenty minutes.” Frank turned to Henry. “What’s going on with the auto theft reports?”
“Thompson is compiling what came in yesterday afternoon on the southeast side. Time of day doesn’t help since a car could have been stolen hours before the owner realized it, but I’ll let you guys know as soon as we hear from Thompson.”
I stared at the phone then at the slip of paper sitting on the desk in front of me. I dreaded the thought of making the call to the number I’d written down, but Lee needed to know, and I couldn’t put it off any longer. I picked up the receiver then placed it back on the base—I needed privacy and couldn’t make the call in front of my colleagues. I grabbed the paper and my cell phone, left the bull pen, and took a seat in our empty cafeteria. Then I dialed Lee’s number and waited for the ring.
“Hello.”
“Lee, it’s Jesse McCord.”
“Jesse? Well, this is a surprise.” She chuckled. “What can I do for you, dear?”
“It’s Hanna.” I cleared my throat, fearing my voice would crack.
“Hanna? What about her?”
“It’s breaking my heart to say this, but you need to know. Hanna’s been kidnapped.”
The line went silent for a few seconds. I was sure Lee was trying to process what I’d just said, then the painful wail of a mother who had lost her only child echoed through the phone line. I wiped my eyes as I gave her some time.
“Lee, the police department is doing everything they can to find her. I give you my personal promise that I’ll work until I drop to bring her home safely.”
“I need to go to her house. She’s probably there.” Panic sounded in Lee’s voice, and she was becoming irrational.
“I’ve already been to her house and it’s empty. Our police department has it taped off, and nobody other than us and the forensic team is allowed inside.”
I could barely make out her words through the sobs. “Why would a forensic team be at my daughter’s house? What aren’t you telling me, Jesse?”
