I wasn’t sure what it meant, but I definitely thought it was interesting. I glanced back at the crowd and made a quick decision. No one else looked overly suspicious and the clean-up was well underway. I broke from the crowd, keeping my head down and followed the man.
He stalked down the center of the road a bit, since traffic wasn’t coming down the road yet, then up onto the sidewalk to take a right at the next street. I followed behind a bit, staying close to the buildings on the right. There was still street traffic and pedestrians due the commercial district. He didn’t seem to be paying attention to much, just walking determinedly. He was leaned forward a bit and had the posture of someone you didn’t want to mess with. He resonated with anger and frustration.
I lagged behind a bit more when he paused at convenience store. He headed in and I continued on past the store to cross the street and stand looking at magazines at a newspaper stand. I perused covers as I kept my peripheral on the convenience store.
Before long, he came back out, paper sack in hand. It had the distinctive shape of a tall 40 oz, but he kept it wrapped as he crossed the street across where I was standing. I ignored him and continued perusing until he was nearly out of my vision, then turned lazily and crossed the street in pursuit.
He walked another block, slowing down a bit. This block was more residential, and I stuck closer to the few trees that lined the sidewalk. It looked like some of the anger had drained off him. His jerky, tension-filled movements indicated that he still had some pent-up frustration to work out.
He slowed down even more and started scanning the street. I turned and walked up to a ramen shop that was tucked between some apartment buildings. I stood there, pretending to read the menu, then subtly glanced back to see he had crossed the street again and was heading to a dark blue sedan with rusted wheel wells.
I turned and crossed the street as quickly as possible, heading up to where he was. I was determined to get the license plate. I just had to get a little closer, fast. He started edging the car out and I was too far away, so I broke into a run, not worrying about my cover at this point. I was afraid I wasn’t going to catch it.
A screech sounded, and I jerked my head to the left to see a sports car coming down the road a little too fast. The blue sedan braked as the sports car honked and careened around him. The sedan paused a couple of seconds longer, then pulled away.
It was the few seconds I had needed to get close enough to get the plate. A42 1781. I had it. I would have to stop by the station tomorrow to try asking a favor and find the owner of the sedan. I headed back to my Jeep and pulled out my notebook to note the plate number.
As I drove back home, I tried to figure out what my next move should be. I wanted to poke around the preschool in Ravenswood to see what I could find out about the fire. I still didn’t have a lot to go on with regards to evidence against Dessi. I had lunch scheduled the next day with Dr. McSleazy, and hopefully would get a lead from that.
I also had dinner with Rhodes the next night. Damn, I wasn’t sure what to do about that. I was surprised by how much I was looking forward to it and a little uncomfortable with the fact.
I also realized Jen and I never got around to lunch last week. With the craziness of Suzy’s rescue and wrapping up Pete’s case, it just never happened. It was with this thought in my head that I made an impulse decision to swing by Hungry’s.
It was early enough that they had a local band on stage, but I bypassed that and headed out to the back patio. The patio was why we all loved it so much. When the weather was nice, we’d sit out until they closed the place down. Well, I used to. They probably still did. I felt a small pang of something slightly resembling regret about dropping out of the academy.
It didn’t last long, though. I was much happier being my own person with my own schedule, even if I didn’t have the security of a steady job, with a pension, vacation time, sick time and a 401k. Ugh, I would not let myself regret my decision. Ultimately, I much preferred my life. I could take cases that mattered to me. It’s just that I missed the camaraderie with the crew. It was a family and I sometimes missed being a part of it.
I stopped by the bar before I stepped outside. I wasn’t in the mood for a beer tonight, but asked for a Negroni instead. Hungry’s had some great cocktails. Most of the guys were strictly beer, but I did enjoy a cocktail now and then, especially earlier in the evening. The bartender was fast and efficient, and I was outside in the cooling early evening.
I scanned the crowd, eyeing a few officers I knew, a few I didn’t, and several civilians cross-mingling with them. It wasn’t strictly a badge bar, but its location meant it was a favorite hangout.
I finally spotted Jen and let a short sigh of relief. I was just taking a guess that she’d be here on Monday night, her least favorite day of the week, and was glad I was right. Not that I couldn’t bullshit with the others long enough to enjoy my drink, but Jen was a good friend of mine and I wanted to keep that friendship going.
When Jen saw me walking up, her face split into a large grin. She jumped up from the wrought iron patio tables and hugged me.
“Geez, Jen,” I complained half-heartedly, hugging her back. “You’d think you hadn’t seen me in weeks.”
“It’s been over a week, for sure!” Jen replied, still smiling.
I couldn’t really be annoyed with her, and if I was being honest, I was flattered she was so pleased to see me.
“What brings you here? Are you having a crappy Monday, too?” Jen asked.
“It didn’t start out that way,” I replied, pulling out a chair to sit down. “I just got back from a fire near Lincoln Park. I think it’s related to the fires nearby.”
“Fires?” Jen asked, intrigued. “I know there’s been a few more than normal, but they’re related?”
“Well, I think so,” I replied, taking a swig from my cocktail. I really liked the gin and Campari.
Jen took a long pull on her pint of beer and settled back further into her chair to relax. “What do you know?”
“Not much so far, but this makes the 6th fire in past few weeks and they are all city-funded programs,” I filled her in. “And all of them are also supported by Fire Chief Sullivan.”
“That’s interesting,” Jen replied.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Not sure how it’s all related, but something’s going on here.”
Jen nodded, frowning slightly. “Do you know who’s working the investigation?”
“Not yet,” I replied. “But if you have any ideas, that would be helpful.”
“Not sure they could give you too much information, if it’s an open investigation, but I’ll see what I can do,” Jen promised. “You’ve consulted with us before, so it really depends on who’s on the case, you know.”
“Yeah, I know,” I grimaced. I hated bureaucracy.
I started to relax a bit, easing deeper into my chair, matching Jen’s relaxed pose.
“So, what else is new,” I asked, eyebrows raised.
“Well, Charlie started soccer last week. He’s very excited about it,” Jen laughed. “I see a summer of sitting in the hot sun.”
“There are worse ways to spend your evenings,” I replied. Charlie was Jen’s nephew and she doted on him.
We laughed our way through catching up and finished our drinks. Just when we were getting ready to get seconds, a pitcher of beer slammed down on our table with a stack of cups. Several other police officers had decided we had enough private conversation and helped themselves to the table.
“Mal! How the hell are you?” Stevens bellowed, throwing an arm around my shoulder and a glass of beer in my hand. “I haven’t seen you in Hungry’s since you and Alex broke up.”
I shook my head, my grin slipping at the mention of Alex.
“I’m doing fine, Stevens,” I replied, elbowing him in the arm to give me some space. “How is Melissa?”
“Melissa’s good,” Stevens nodded, smiling.
Walker and Bradshaw slapped me o
n the arm, as they came around to fill their beer. They crowded around the table, pulling up chairs and pouring beer.
I smiled and shook my head at them, it seemed I was still close enough to be part of the family on occasions like that. It made me happy. I accepted a beer and joined into the conversation. They were teasing one of the rookies for losing his lunch because of a motorcycle accident earlier that day. I was glad nothing had changed.
It was just the evening I needed. It didn’t even kill my mood when I noticed Rodriguez at another table further down the patio. I just ignored him and enjoyed the company.
Much later, heading home to write down my notes for the day, realization struck me, the fire tonight puts the locations of the fires in a fairly confirmable pattern, South. I frowned, waiting at a light. What, then, are they headed towards?
Meanwhile, at a much more peaceful Italian place,
Peter opens the bar cash register, tallying the night’s receipts and cash. The rest of the crew is busy with cleaning and other closing duties.
“Holy damn!” Peter shouts, banging a fist on his bar. The bar drawer came up $200 short compared to the cash receipts for the night. Shelly had struck again, one final time.
He sighed, stuffing the cash in the bank envelop, noting the discretion. He lets out one final ARGH of frustration and slams the door shut, stomping off to his office to finish the tally.
Phil and Marco glance at each other, frozen by Peter’s outburst. Sally doesn’t even look up, she just continues drying a glass behind the bar, then puts it away to grab another.
Chapter 14
Even though I had been out a bit later than normal, I still got up fairly early. The first thing I did after making some coffee was check the Tribune. Not surprised at this point, that the fire wasn’t mentioned. However, there was a story listed on Inside-Booster. There wasn’t much more information than what I had seen, except more information on the program itself. The center had just finished getting up and running. Donations had been made over the past few weeks and they had just opened to start accepting applications to the program where participants could select a free outfit for job interviews. Should they get the job, they would then get four more outfits, for a full week’s worth of clothes. That was to get them by until they started getting pay checks.
It appeared to be a good program and I was sad to see the fire had damaged so many of the clothes. The clothes that weren’t burnt were full of smoke and heavy cleaning would be required to see what was salvageable. There was concern that the funding for the program wouldn’t even cover the losses and cleaning expenses, but two of the local dry-cleaning business had stepped forward to help clean the clothes.
Part of the program application process required the participants to be enrolled in at least one course of the continuing education facility in Uptown, but since that burned down almost two weeks ago, they had to waive that requirement until they got back on their feet, assuming they would be able to.
I was still surprised by the lack of connection between the fires. It was highly unlikely that the reporter hadn’t made the connection yet. I noted the name of the reporter on this article and noticed it was the same one that had reported on several of the local fires. However, the Uptown fire was listed in the News-Star and had a different reporter handling that story.
I went for a short run to clear my head, then headed out to follow up on some leads.
Travel mug in hand, I pulled into the street parking in front of Adult Learning Education, the continuing education facility in Uptown. This was the site of the first fire according to my assumptions. There was a dumpster fire a few weeks before in Edgewater, which was North of Uptown and fit the pattern of moving South. It was possible the dumpster fire was an initial arson test, but it could also just be coincidence. Dumpster fires were far from rare.
The fire had happened only two weeks ago, so there was still evidence of the flames. Soot covered the front of the building. A plywood door had been nailed in place to exposed beams holding up the brick around the door.
A sign on the plywood said it was closed until further notice and left a phone number for questions. I gave it a quick call.
They answered on the third ring, “Hello?” came a man’s voice.
“Hi, I just stopped by ALE in Uptown and was wondering if you would be rebuilding or reopening?” I asked.
“Oh, well, we’re really not sure yet,” he replied. “Are you a participant?”
“Not exactly, I was looking to donate to the cause.”
“Oh, that’s great. We haven’t been able to contact every participant yet, since they don’t all have home phones or cell phones to contact. We were hoping that the rest of them would stop by ALE and contact us. I can give you an address to send donations if you’d like,” he offered.
“That would be great, thank you,” I said. I took down the PO Box he provided. It was still a good cause and I was happy to contribute.
“Did you hear about the fire near Lincoln Park yesterday?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, yes,” the man sighed.
“Seems like some bad luck,” I prodded.
“Yeah, seems like,” he replied slightly tinged with something that reflected he thought there was more to it than that.
“Just doesn’t make any sense. Why would anyone want to stop these services?” I nudged just a little more, hoping he’d give me something.
“I know, it’s such a shame. We put so much effort to get these off the ground, you know?” he answered passionately. “Most of the effort is in setting everything up. After that it’s just keeping things afloat. I tell you, no one is more upset than Sully, uh, Chief Sullivan. He put in so much effort fundraising and helping us maneuver the political waters.”
“Really? Are there a lot of politics around the center?” I asked.
“There’s always politics involved with City funded programs,” he replied. “Chief Sullivan really knows his way around the City and all the players, if you know what I mean.”
Hmm, I raised my eyebrow.
“Well, I’m sure an investigation has been made into these fires. Any idea what they’ve determined?”
“Uh, not really,” he paused. “They don’t really tell us much, but Sully did say they were looking into it.”
“Well, I sure hope everything works out,” I replied. I didn’t think he’d give me much more information. Then added, “tell you what. I’m happy to help out wherever I can. If you want to take down my number, you can call me if you need some help getting back on your feet.”
I gave him my number and hung up. My interest was two-fold. I was happy to help the cause, but also thought if I was embedded in the efforts, I could get more information out of the volunteers.
I headed back into Roscoe Village to stop by the police station. The parking lot was fairly empty of cop cars at this time of the day. Most were already out on their rounds. It didn’t take me long to find Jen, she was back at evidence again.
“Mal! Long time no see!” Jen laughed, throwing an arm around me.
“Good to see you too, Jen,” I laughed, returning her hug.
Jen was a perpetual optimist, with that perky blonde hair and sky blue eyes. Hell, she even had dimples. It was good for me. I wasn’t terribly touchy feely, but for close friends. Jen met those requirements.
“I’m so glad you stopped by last night,” she said. “It was great catching up.”
“Yeah, it was,” I agreed, nodding my head and tucking my hair behind my left ear. “It was good to see the guys, too.”
“See,” she teased. “I told you it would be fine. Alex didn’t even bother you.”
“You were right,” I admitted, shaking my head in defeat.
“You should listen to me more.”
“Don’t push your luck,” I said, teasingly elbowing her.
“Fine, fine,” she laughed.
“Hey, I got that name for you,” she said, pulling a slip of paper from her pocket. “Detecti
ve Harris is the one working the arson investigation with the fire department. I didn’t find out who was the arson investigator with the fire department, but Harris would know. Don’t know if he’ll share it with you, but he’ll know”
“Thanks, Jen,” I nodded, taking the paper. “I know he can’t tell me much, but I’ll stop by and see what I can find out.”
“No problem,” she smiled. “He’s down at 19th, in Uptown.”
I spent a few more minutes chatting with Jen, before making my way back to the offices. I wanted to stop by and see Rodriguez. Well, I didn’t really want to see Rodriguez, but I wanted to see if he had any updates for me.
He was sitting at his desk when I showed up at his door. It was a shame he was so good looking. His Mexican heritage looked good in the blues. His mom must have been so proud of him when he made detective, I thought. Too bad he was unfaithful and so very full of himself.
“Mal,” he slowly smiled, rising to his feet. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Not that I’m complaining.”
“Relax,” I held my hands up, not wanting him to come toward me. “I’m not staying. I was just stopping by to see if you had anything new on Jeremy or Dessi.”
“Unfortunately, no,” Alex frowned, tucking his hands in his pockets. “Not since we found his car, and Dessi denied everything. We have nothing on him. We still have an APB on Jeremy, but if we haven’t found him by now, he’s laying low or left the area til things cool down. There’s really not much we can do.”
“Yeah, I figured, but thought I’d check,” I wrinkled my nose. “You could put a tail on Dessi and see what he’s up to.”
“We did initially, but Mal, you know how it is. We can’t follow him around forever,” Alex put his hands up in offering. “He’d call us in on harassment. He’s got enough pull to cause problems. We don’t need that.”
Bad Company Page 12
