Boom-BOOM!

by Wally Duff

  “A little gentle coaxing. He finally admitted he bought it from a new guy on the street.”

  “Who was it?”

  “Guy from the Middle East.”

  I let out the breath I’d been holding in. “Looks like Mr. al-Turk is a drug dealer.”

  “Or it’s all a set-up.”

  Is that even possible?

  “Why would he do that?”

  “Wouldn’t. Bad guys don’t like working any harder than they have to.”

  “You vote drugs?”

  “Unless I’m missing something, I do.”

  “At least I can narrow the focus of my investigation. What else?”

  “Autopsy showed the vics were tied face-to-face. Bomb made of C4 was placed between them.”

  “Where was the detonator?”

  “Bomb squad chief thinks it was small, probably about the size of a deck of cards because it had to be pretty close to the device.”

  “Did your guys find Lorenz’s house key at his dental office?”

  “Not sure they searched for it. Why?”

  “The killers came into his house after they blew up the victims. I think they took the key from him before the device was detonated.”

  “I’ll check the murder book.”

  “As long as you’re at it, read the autopsy report and see if the ME could tell if Lorenz or the girl might have been tortured before the explosion.”

  “Why?”

  “Even if the killers had Lorenz’s key, they still needed the code to his home’s security system and that would be the quickest way to get it. Plus, they stole his computer and they needed his password to access his files.”

  “I’ll check on it too.”

  “What about the DNA I gave you from Lorenz’s bathroom? Did your captain okay the money for the test?”

  “Only after he read the report about the heroin. But the lab didn’t get any hits.”

  “Darn it. I was positive they would.”

  “Don’t want you to be surprised, but I had to send the C4 residue from the dentist’s office to the feds. Asked them to compare it to the C4 our lab found on the trash you stole.”

  “Good idea.”

  “But the report might not come to me.”

  “Why?”

  “Captain wants to move the murder investigation to Narcotics.”

  Crap.

  “Because of the heroin?”

  “You got it.”

  “Are you off the case?”

  “Kind of, but no way I’m givin’ up a double homicide. I’ll keep workin’ the girls at the Twenties, but off the clock.”

  “Good. I need your help.”

  “But hangin’ out with all those strippers is wearing me out.”

  “I have a suggestion. Maybe you need a couple of those blue pills for all of your ‘hard work.’ ”

  “Hard work! That’s a good one. Gotta remember that.”

  It shouldn’t be difficult. What else do you think about?

  105

  Tuesday morning, Kerry and I were playing outside in her sandbox when my cell phone rang.

  “Tina, this is Corky Gibson. I wanted to call and tell you goodbye.”

  “Goodbye?”

  “Uh-huh. You were super nice talking to us about Donna and all, and I wanted you to know we’re leaving.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to San Francisco, and Sammy’s moving to L.A.”

  “Wow. That seems sudden. Why?”

  “Mr. al-Turk promised to make us featured performers in his new clubs there.”

  “Congratulations. Are you excited?”

  “We all are, for sure.”

  “All?”

  “A bunch of us from the Twenties are going to new locations he is opening all over the country.”

  “I would love to say goodbye to you face-to-face before you leave. Why don’t we meet at Hamlin Park after my daughter’s morning nap? Say around eleven?”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “Please. I want to.”

  Because I need one last interview.

  “Okay, see you there.”

  At eleven o’clock, Corky and Sammy arrived in the black GMC Envoy. Sammy drove. I pushed Kerry on the swings. In their tight-fitting exercise outfits, they would draw more attention than I would in my mommy uniform of blue shorts and a white top.

  Corky stooped down to greet Kerry. “Who is this cutie?”

  “My daughter, Kerry,” I said. “Kerry, this is Corky and Sammy.

  Kerry held up Elmo and Ralph.

  “I’m sorry, Honey.” I pointed at her two companions. “These are Kerry’s friends, Elmo and Ralph.”

  “Is it okay if I pick Kerry up?” Corky asked.

  “Sure, but don’t forget Elmo and Ralph.”

  “Let’s go play on the jungle gym with your friends,” she said.

  She took Kerry out of the swing and slowly twirled her over her head. Kerry giggled. She walked to the jungle gym with my daughter and her two friends.

  Sammy and I sat down on my favorite bench. I reached into my backpack and took out my knitting. I needed to relax and really focus because it was my last time to interview them.

  “Are you excited about leaving?” I asked.

  “Kind of,” Sammy said. “We’ll miss Chicago, but we’ve worked the dancing circuit in other clubs around the Midwest. Moving is part of the business. Making new friends is too.”

  “Are you going to miss your doctor?”

  “Doctor?”

  “The one who did your breast surgery.”

  Her voice became hard. “I’m not supposed to talk about it.”

  Easy. Don’t lose her.

  “I realize that. I’m asking because I have a friend on the police force who is working the case to find out who killed Donna.”

  “Is the cop named Tony?”

  “You know him?”

  “He’s been hanging around the club and has questioned all of us dancers.”

  “Did he ask about the doctor?”

  “He did, but I blew him off.”

  “He’s trying to pick up any loose ends on the case, and since there’s a dentist involved, he’s investigating the doctor too.”

  “I get that.”

  Ask her right now.

  “What’s the doctor’s name?”

  “It’s like Dr. Middleton or whatever.”

  I stopped knitting. “What did you say?”

  “Middleton or Mittelman.” She furrowed her brow. “That’s it, Mittelman.”

  106

  “What did you say?” I repeated, hoping I’d misunderstood her.

  “His name is Dr. Mittelman,” Sammy said.

  You have to be wrong!

  Micah could not be the surgeon working with al-Turk. I began to sweat, and it wasn’t from the humid Chicago weather. “Where does Dr. Mittelman do the surgery?”

  “At his office.”

  “Where’s it located?”

  “It’s in a brand new surgery center around the corner from the Twenties.”

  Is it the building I saw when I drove past the Twenties?

  “How do you know the surgery center is new?”

  “The first time I went in, there were plastic covers on a couple of the chairs.”

  “Is it a busy place?”

  “Don’t think so. The girls from the club are the only people I’ve ever seen there. And our apartment building is on the corner across the street from it. We can have our surgery and go right home.”

  It is that building.

  Why was Micah doing breast augmentation surgery? He definitely didn’t need the money.

  “Did Lorenz ever ask you about your breast surgery?”

  “Yeah. He did at the Twenties on the Saturday night before Donna died. I remember because Corky said he questioned her about her boobs on Sunday.”

  “She mentioned that to me too. She told him to get out of her face.”

  “I d
id too.”

  “Why do you think Lorenz asked you about the surgery?”

  She stared down at her hands. “See, ah, Donna got drunk on Friday night and told him about her surgery. She was terrified Mr. al-Turk would find out, and she begged us not to bust her out to him.”

  Friday was when I’d seen Donna go into the dentist’s house. “When did she tell you about it?”

  “On Saturday morning, when she finally got back to our apartment building. She was super hung over, and she didn’t want Mr. al-Turk to know about that, either, because we aren’t supposed to drink.”

  “Did al-Turk ever find out that Donna told Lorenz about the breast surgeries?”

  Sammy’s face turned red. “We didn’t mean to, but Mr. al-Turk called me and Corky into his office on Monday morning. He started screaming and threatened to fire us if we didn’t tell him about Donna and Lorenz.”

  “And did you?”

  She nodded but remained silent.

  Corky brought Kerry and her two companions back to me. I gazed at the empty swings, digesting what I’d just heard.

  “Tina?” Sammy asked. “Are you okay?”

  “What? Right… Sorry, I was having a moment.”

  Corky and Sammy were my only witnesses to whatever was going on, and they were moving.

  107

  Keep pushing!

  I had to take the risk they would catch on that I was asking way too many questions.

  “When are you guys leaving?” I asked.

  “We were scheduled to move in late September, but that’s all changed,” Sammy said.

  “Changed?”

  “We’re leaving Thursday, which is why I called to say goodbye,” Corky said.

  The lump in my stomach felt like it would explode. “Thursday? Like two days from now?”

  “It is,” Sammy confirmed. “My plane leaves O’Hare first at five o’clock in the afternoon. Corky and the other girls leave after that. But Mr. al-Turk said we should all be there by two at the latest.”

  “Other girls?”

  “There are nine of us going to different cities,” Corky said. “Mr. al-Turk gave us our tickets this morning.”

  “Are you all flying out of O’Hare?”

  Sammy nodded. “We are.”

  “Is Jamie driving you to there?”

  “Nope,” Corky said. “All of us can’t fit into Jamie’s SUV with our luggage. Mr. al-Turk gave us cab fare.”

  “By the way, what’s Jamie’s last name?”

  “Gosh, I don’t think he ever said, and I sure never asked,” Sammy said. “Do you know, Corky?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  Kerry began playing in the wood chips with Elmo. Ralph watched. I put down my knitting and watched too. I didn’t want another wood chip catastrophe with Kerry’s airway.

  “Al-Turk is being nice to you,” I said.

  “He sure is,” Corky said. “We’re supposed to meet at the United Room South on the B concourse, and one of his guys will give us extra expense money.”

  “What about your furniture and personal items?”

  “We don’t have to worry about that. Our apartments are furnished, and our new ones will be too. We can take two suitcases, and Mr. al-Turk will have Jamie send the rest to us.”

  “Seems well organized.”

  “I guess, but there’s like this big rush for all of us to leave Chicago,” Sammy said. “And nobody is telling us why.”

  “But don’t forget the bonus,” Corky said.

  “Bonus?” I asked.

  “After a couple of the girls bitched about moving so fast, Mr. al-Turk gave each of us five thousand dollars in cash to cover any of our extra expenses,” she said.

  And to keep you and your friends’ mouths shut.

  108

  They drove away. I secured Kerry in the stroller and pushed her home from Hamlin Park. On the way, I called Linda on my burner phone and told her what I’d learned from Corky and Sammy.

  “Wow,” Linda said. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “I need documented proof of the breast surgeries. Do you think Micah kept records of the operations?”

  “I have no idea, but as a physician and scientist, I’m sure he’s used to keeping files about all of his work.”

  “Do you think it’s in his computer?”

  “It’s where I would keep it, but I wouldn’t do it at my lab. I would store it on my computer at home.”

  “And if the information is there, can you hack into his hard drive without his password?”

  “All I need is physical access to his computer.”

  “Last Monday, Molly mentioned Hannah might have all of us over the middle of this week. I’ll text Molly and see if she can set up the play date for tomorrow morning.”

  “And while the moms and kids are playing, I’ll download the data from Micah’s hard drive.”

  “Without going room to room, how are you going to be sure where the computer is?”

  “I’ll hack into the power grid to their house,” she said. “It’ll show me where his computer is being used.”

  “Great. I’ll text Molly and set it up.”

  109

  When Kerry and I returned home, we had a snack and went downstairs to my computer. I texted Molly about having a play date at Hannah’s house the next day. My daughter began yawning. I put her in the portable bed and she fell asleep.

  I stepped into the wine room and called Linda on my burner phone.

  “I’m going to text you the pictures of the apartment building behind the Twenties and the non-descript building around the corner from it. I need to run the addresses, but I can’t use my computer keyboard.”

  “Got it. I’ll text you back on your new cell phone when I have the information.”

  Twenty minutes later, Linda texted. The apartment building had been purchased on April first, the same day al-Turk closed on the sale of the Twenties. The Arun Corporation owned it. The other building had been purchased the same day, but the Chicago Surgery Center, LLC was listed as the owner. It was a shell company which was also owned by the Arun Corporation.

  She found building permits registered to an Illinois company that did build-outs for outpatient surgery centers. The certificate for the operation of that center had been filed with the state medical association on April fifteenth and the permits to open for business had been issued on June twenty-second.

  The two purchases and the certification to operate a surgery center were building blocks for my story. If the breast surgeries were done there, I had to know when those procedures began to prove my story.

  Hopefully, it would be on Micah’s computer.

  Part 5

  110

  Molly had come through with her assignment. On Wednesday morning, I walked into Hannah’s home to help Linda break into Micah’s computer. Kerry and Elmo were in my arms. Ralph was in my backpack.

  “Hannah, your home is stunning,” I said, as I walked into her family room. “I love your art.”

  “They are original pieces I inherited from my parents.”

  My interest in Hannah’s home had more to do with checking for internal security cameras than with the original Renoir painting of a yellow flower hanging over her couch. There were the external cameras I’d seen before, but I didn’t spy any inside.

  The house itself was at least twice as large as ours. Linda’s home had been professionally and tastefully decorated. Hannah’s interior was a huge step up from that. The furniture and objets d’art could have come straight out of Architectural Digest.

  Linda and Sandra arrived right behind me. As an accomplished hostess, Hannah switched her attention to Linda.

  “Welcome to our home,” she said, effortlessly placing her right hand on Linda’s shoulder.

  Wow! She IS better.

  “Thank you for inviting us,” Linda said. “Where is your kitchen? I need to plate up the treats I brought.”

  “Just there, down the hall and to yo
ur left.”

  Linda never brought food for our playgroup, but Hannah had no way of knowing that. Linda would have plenty of time to hack into Micah’s computer while the rest of us played with our kids.

  Linda went to the kitchen. I took Sandra with Kerry and me. Hannah led us down to the lower level. She walked without a limp.

  I glanced around. “Hannah, where is your manny? Molly told me all about him.”

  “He is presently not staying with us because I’m feeling much better.”

  No kidding.

  The playroom looked like a branch of Toys “R” Us. “Your kids are fortunate to have all these toys to play with,” I said.

  “I am a little embarrassed, but Micah cannot say ‘no’ to our children. If they ask him for a toy, he buys it.”

  The doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of the remaining playgroup members. Hannah went back upstairs and brought them down. A few minutes later, Linda rushed downstairs. There were droplets of sweat on her forehead.

  “The food will be ready shortly, but I need a little help,” Linda said. “Tina, could you lend me a hand?”

  Linda remained silent until we stepped into the kitchen. She whipped around to face me. “The door to Micah’s study is locked.”

  “No problem,” I said. “Be right back.”

  After retrieving my backpack from the foyer, I carried it back into the kitchen. I opened it and showed her my electric lock pick and torque wrench.

  “What is that?” she asked.

  “A little device that is going to get us into his office.”

  “I don’t know how to work it.”

  “But I do. I’ll let you in and you can do the hack.”

  “Okay, but Hannah might wonder what’s taking so long with the food,” she said.

  “We can tag-team it,” I said. “I’ll let you in, and you start the download. You leave and relock the door.”

  “And you go back in about fifteen minutes and shut down his computer.”

  “Tell me how to do it.”

  Linda wrote the instructions on a piece of paper and showed me a flash drive. “Follow the instructions and remove this when the download is complete.”

  “Where’s his office?”