Killing Frank Barnes

by Ruth DuCharme

  “And none of that was true?”

  Werner moved in close to Lizzie. Anger washed over his face, “Listen miss goody two shoes, that man is a menace. Luckily for me my duty weapon wasn’t a match and the one used to shoot the dealer has yet to be found. I was cleared easy peasy and Dekker got what was coming to him. Demotion was too good for him if you ask me.”

  “What happened to the informant…Barnes?”

  “No one knows. He ran off and hasn’t been seen since.”

  Werner leaned his meaty arm against the car, all but pinning Lizzie against the driver door. “Now back to our earlier conversation. What do you say we grab a drink after work?”

  Lizzie looked at him in disgust. “I have a boyfriend.”

  “So. Why should that stop you?”

  “Officer Noble!” Lizzie turned to see Dekker walking quickly towards her.

  “Lizzie get in the car now.” It was clear he was pissed. Lizzie squeezed out from under Werner’s bulky arm and opened the driver door of her car. Dekker glowered at Werner as he got into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut.

  “Hey man. We were just talking,” said Werner. Werner put his hand the driver door preventing Lizzie from closing it. “Hey kid if you ever need some real training or have any questions, I’m your guy.” He winked as laughed as Lizzie jerked her door free and slammed it shut.

  Dekker put his hand on the steering wheel, “What did he want?”

  “Nothing really. Just blowing hot air. I shut him down pretty quickly.”

  “Watch out for that guy. He’s trouble”

  Lizzie was still smarting from Werner’s unwanted advances and it made her bold. “Funny, he said the same thing about you.”

  “Is that so? Enlighten me, please.”

  Lizzie turned in her seat to face Dekker. “He suggested I ask you about someone named Barnes.”

  Color infused Dekker’s face and he took measured breaths before answering. “Barnes is nobody you need to worry about. And another thing, don’t ever ask another officer for training advice. I’m your training officer and you do things the way I teach you, understand?”

  Clearly Dekker was trying to shift the focus to her but Lizzie wasn’t about to let it go. “I lied to you. When I said I hadn’t looked at the CSI file…I had. And I saw the name Frank Barnes. Why are you hiding this from me?”

  Dekker looked straight ahead at the people leaving the courthouse. “Look kid, that was Werner’s mess and I had to clean it up. Barnes could’ve cleared up a lot of information but he disappeared. Now it looks like he’s dead and I need to figure out what happened to him. You don’t need to get caught up in this. You’re a rookie and reputation matters. It’s bad enough you have to be trained by me, I’m not going to put you in any further position to get ruined before you even become relevant.”

  “I’m on your side! I want to help you!”

  “What do you really think you can do, rookie? You have five days on. Five. You don’t know anything at this point. This conversation is over!”

  Lizzie drove Dekker back to station in silence. She could feel his anger still bubbling under the surface and she was afraid to say anything further. She refrained from mentioning anything about Barnes for the rest of the shift but Dekker was wrong, this conversation was far from over.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  The next day Lizzie drove to work and parked in her usual spot. She turned off the car and sat silently collecting her thoughts and her nerve. Yesterday had been tough. She hadn’t liked the way she and Dekker spent the rest of their shift in almost complete silence. Only saying what needed to be said regarding the different calls they had gone to.

  Lizzie watched Camden pull into the parking lot and park his car next to hers. He waved at her through the window and then smiling, he motioned for her to roll her window down.

  “What’s up beautiful? What are you doing just sitting there?”

  Lizzie was reminded of Werner’s flirting the day before but for some reason she didn’t mind it so much from Camden. He didn’t mean anything by it and she could tell it was just his way of speaking. “Yesterday was kind of tough. Im trying to get up the nerve to walk in and face another day of the same.”

  “Has it been that bad?”

  “I made some mistakes and Dekker wasn’t too happy about it.”

  “Oh is that all? Got to put that behind you girl. Everyone makes mistakes and as long as you learn from them, you will be fine.”

  “But I hate making mistakes, especially in front of other people. I don’t want to let anyone down.”

  Camden laughed loudly “You can’t avoid making mistakes and you WILL make them in front of others. And you WILL get teased about it for the rest of your career. You can’t let it bother you though. It’s the way we are here. You don’t get a good reputation by being perfect at everything. You get respect when you can admit your screw ups, prove you can stay in the fight no matter what and accept help from more experienced officers.”

  “Like you?”

  “Sure like me. Or any of the other guys on the team. We only expect you to show up for us, do your job to the best of your ability and don’t make us look bad,” he said with a wink. Camden rolled his window up and getting out of his car he walked around to Lizzies driver door and opened it. “Come on, I’ll walk you in.”

  “I’m not sure I’m mentally prepared.”

  “Can one really ever be fully mentally prepared for this city and all its craziness?”

  “From what I’ve seen so far? Not a chance!”

  “Well there you have it. Now pull up your big girl pants and lets go!”

  Lizzie playfully shoved his arm. “You won’t be embarrassed being seen with a rookie?”

  “Hell no! You’re the smartest of the bunch and I have a sneaking suspicion I’ll be working for you someday.”

  Lizzie felt more encouraged to know that she had at least one person on her side.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Briefing had been just that, brief. Dekker and Lizzie bought their usual beginning of shift cup of coffee and Lizzie sipped it carefully. She needed this.

  The car radio came to life, “two Lincoln Six.”

  Lizzie picked up the mic and responded, “2L6?”

  “2L6, 98 at 4678 Parker Rd. Info in detail.”

  “2L6 copy,” Lizzie replied and then looked questioningly at Dekker as she hung the mic back on its metal pin.

  Dekker reached over to the in car computer and pulled up the details dispatch had just sent them.

  Lizzie looked at Dekker and asked, “What does that mean?”

  “You know your radio codes, don’t you? What does 98 mean?”

  “To meet someone somewhere, but she didn’t say who or why.”

  “For some reason that information isn’t meant for everyone else’s ears so let’s look at the detail and see what they are sending us to.” Dekker said. “Looks like Shaw finally got her search warrant.”

  “Are we going to serve a search warrant?” Lizzie asked

  “Looks like it. She might just need us to cover the rear yard or something when they go in. Let’s get over there and see what she needs.”

  When they arrived at the Parker Rd address Lizzie pulled their car to the curb behind several other patrol cars. Clearly they weren’t the only ones called.

  “Wait here” Dekker said as he got out of the car. Lizzie felt a little relieved. After yesterday’s issues she was looking forward to sitting in the car alone for few minutes. Let those guys kick in a door. Certainly they wouldn’t expect her to do something this advanced in her first month of training. She could stay outside and watch the cars. She wasn’t too worried she’d screw that up.

  Dekker returned minutes later. “Ok kid lets go,” he said as he popped the trunk and started taking items out of it.

  “What? Me too?”

  “Of course you too!”

  “But I have no idea what I’m doing” Lizzie said quietly as Dek
ker handed her a black nylon windbreaker with the word POLICE stamped on the back in huge block letters. “Put that on,” he said gruffly.

  Lizzie obeyed and had just zipped it up when Dekker handed her a large heavy metal object. Lizzie almost dropped it! “What the heck is this thing?”

  “It’s the key.”

  “The key? It looks like a mini battering ram!” Two feet long, circular like a tree trunk but only about ten inches in diameter, it had a handle welded on to it. Lizzie almost dropped it. Lizzie hefted the key onto one shoulder. The thing probably weighed a good thirty pounds!

  Dekker took his rifle from the trunk and slammed it shut. He pushed Lizzie ahead of him “Let’s go.”

  Lizzie’s heart immediately jumped into overdrive and her adrenaline started to surge.

  Lizzie and Dekker reached the sidewalk in front of the target house. Shaw started calling out orders. “Camden you’re on the door.”

  “Got it,” replied Camden. With a wink he took the key from Lizzie and made his way to stand next to Shaw.

  “Next up; Ramos, Noble, Dekker, Dorsey and Summers.” Shaw called out the order of entry. “Patterson and Jackson I need you as rear cover”

  “You got it Sarge,” said Patterson. He and Jackson jogged to the fence and hopped over it into the backyard.

  Lizzie followed Dekker’s example and squeezed into the developing line of officers lined up against the front yard fence. She squeezed into her assigned spot between Ramos and Dekker and she drew her gun from its holster. Dekker put his right hand on her right shoulder and said, “I’m up”

  “Uh ok.”

  “We do this so that the man in front knows the guy behind him is right there and ready to go.”

  “Oh ok.’

  “Keep your gun down at the ready and pointed inboard.”

  “Inboard?”

  “Pointed at the building so if shots get fired through the wall you can return fire without hitting one of us. You need to keep your gun pointed in the direction of the possible theat. Wherever you think you the threat could be coming from that’s where you point your gun. See how Ramos’s gun is trained on what’s directly in front of him?”

  Lizzie looked and saw that Ramos had his gun forward and down at the ready.

  Before Lizzie could comment, Shaw commanded, “Move!”

  Ramos started to walk forward and then paused. He spoke over his shoulder “You up rook?”

  Lizzie tapped his right shoulder and said “I’m up” just as Dekker had done to her. Ramos continued forward and Dekker gently pushed her from behind.

  Dekker continued to talk to her in a low voice as the line of officers moved toward the front door of the house. “You want to be pointing your gun to any areas not covered. Everyone in the line is responsible for covering open areas. The one thing you need to make sure you never do is to cover one of our own with your muzzle.”

  “Ok,” Lizzie said breathlessly. She felt smothered, so tightly sandwiched in between these officers. She was being carried along by the tide and it was moving too fast for her to comprehend. But what choice did she have. Her thoughts raced. What if someone started shooting through the door? What if she had to shoot back? What if there was a dog on the house? Could she actually shoot a dog? What did she do when she got inside? What if she totally screwed up on front of anyone? Good lord, her heart was slamming into her chest. What if she passed out? She wanted to yell out “Wait! I’m not ready! Don’t you know I am a rookie and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing?” But there was no time for insecurity.

  The line of officers reached the front door and Lizzie stood awkwardly on with one foot on the front step and one foot on the second. They couldn’t all fit on the porch. She made sure to scan her surroundings as Sgt. Shaw nodded at Ramos.

  Ramos pounded loudly on the front door “Roland PD! Search warrant! Open the door!” There was no answer. Lizzie silently counted two seconds before Ramos pounded on the door again as hard as he could. “Roland PD! Search warrant! Open the door!” Still no answer.

  Ramos stepped back and Camden brought the key forward. Without another word Camden swung the heavy piece of metal back and then forward, slamming it into the knob on the door. The door splintered open with a loud crack and Lizzie was carried on the tide of officers moving quickly through the open door and into the living room of the small house.

  Lizzie had no idea what she was doing but instinctively she peeled off to her left as Dekker moved right. Lizzie scanned the room from the left corner around to the hallway. She saw the rest of the officers moving down the hallway, searching rooms and along the way calling out loudly “Clear!”

  Lizzie moved to follow them but Dekker held out a hand to stop her. They both stayed in the living room, silently, guns still drawn, until the call of “ALL CLEAR!” came loudly from the back of the house.

  Until this moment, Lizzie hadn’t realized she had been holding her breath. She saw Dekker holster his weapon. Taking his action as a cue that things were safe Lizzie exhaled heavily and holstered her own gun.

  Officers began searching through drawers and under couch cushions but Lizzie had no idea what they were looking for. The place was a mess. The smell of burnt marijuana was so thick it seemed to have been painted into the walls. Dirty clothes were piled in various corners of the room and Lizzie could see dirty dishes scattered on every surface.

  Lizzie looked around for Dekker and not finding him she went out onto the front porch to get some air. She saw Dekker standing on the curb, rifle casually slung over his shoulder, speaking quietly with Shaw. He noticed Lizzie watching them and waved her toward him. As she reached them, Dekker handed her the car keys and said, “Go get the car and load up the key.”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Lizzie took the keys from Dekker and walked down the sidewalk towards their patrol car. She opened the trunk and shook off her raid jacket. She closed the trunk and drove the car back to the front of the house just as Camden was bringing the key in her direction. She got out and opened the trunk once again. She smiled gratefully at Camden “Thanks. That was pretty awesome watching you bust that door down.”

  “I know, I know. I’m pretty impressive. I can see why it would be hard not to idolize me so why fight it?” He joked.

  Dekker walked to the car and pushed Camden aside. “Down boy.”

  Camden took a fake swing at Dekker who blocked the fake punch and delivered a fake one of his own. Lizzie smiled at the two full-grown men acting like little boys. Lizzie was happy to see Dekker smiling at least. Maybe he would be in a good mood for the rest of the day.

  Camden put an end to playtime. “All right all right I gotta get outta here or O’Connell is gonna be pissed that I’ve stayed off my beat for so long.” Camden walked away but called to Lizzie over his shoulder, “Good job rook!”

  Lizzie moved to get into the car but Dekker stopped her. “Let’s not go anywhere just yet. Tell me about what we just did. How do you feel? Do you have any questions?”

  “I was pretty shocked that you let me do that! I really had no idea what I was doing or what we would find inside. I mean, it was like walking into a lion’s den!”

  “A lion’s den, I like that. That’s a good analogy. The only one who knows what we are going to find inside is the guy who’s already inside. It’s a dangerous job going into someone else’s house, especially as dynamically as we just did.”

  “Do other rookies get to do this stuff?”

  “If they don’t they should. You felt like you weren’t ready? Welcome to police work! You are going to routinely go to calls for service or find yourself in situations where you have no idea what to expect. And you’ll have to act anyway. The more experience you get the better your responses will be. They will fit the situation. Hopefully.”

  “I have to admit my heart was pounding a little”

  “So was mine kid. It should be pounding. It’s an intense situation with a very realistic possibility of injury or death to you or to
someone on the team. Heck even the bad guy could get popped, depending on what he chooses to do. But Camden was right, you did well for your first time.”

  “Like how? Just so I know to keep doing it, for next time.”

  “For starters, you didn’t follow Ramos down the hall. You went into the room and took your own position without waiting for someone else to tell you what to do. That’s good. You never know what’s going to happen and you can’t wait for someone else to tell you what to do.”

  The radio crackled, interrupting Dekker once more.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  “Two Lincoln Four. Failure to yield!” Lizzie recognized Camden’s voice over the sound of his blaring sirens.

  “Northbound on Parker approaching First Street. Blue Toyota, occupied three times, speeds are 45 miles per hour!”

  “Crime?” Asked another voice on the radio.

  “He just tossed a gun! We’re eastbound on First Street. Looks like he’s heading for the freeway.”

  Dekker jumped into the driver seat and yelled at Lizzie, “Get in!”

  Lizzie hadn’t even shut her car door before Dekker sped up the street to catch up with Camden.

  Dekker looked over at Lizzie “Put your damn seat belt on!”

  “I’m trying! Lizzie replied yanking hard on the shoulder strap. Apparently the seat belt locked if the car was moving too fast. After a few tries she managed to have it buckled and just in time. Dekker made an eastbound turn at about 45 miles per hour. The force threw her into the center console. Lizzie grabbed onto the handle of the spotlight. She held on for dear life as Dekker sped up to about eighty.