“Well, it’s actually really smart of him. It will be damn hard to get officers in there to nail him…so to speak. Okay, we’ve got no choice. I’ll get a couple of men together and we’ll be in and around the movie room and we’ll still pick him up. At least it’s more than an hour from now so that we can set this up properly. I expect to see you there by one-thirty, you got that?” asked Sam.
“Yeah, I got it. This should be real fun.” Evans hung up the phone.
“Well, Roger, feel like paying a visit to a bathhouse, get yourself a steam?” Sam asked with a huge smile.
“Huh?”
“Our suspect scheduled a meet with Evans for two o’clock at a gay bathhouse. Lemme get a couple of other uniformed guys in on this and we’ll get there about one-fifteen or so.”
Roger was not happy. Sam giggled as he picked up the phone and called the Chief of Detectives and brought him up to date on the meeting and put in a request for two younger officers to go with them. They were to meet in Sam’s office at twelve forty-five for briefing.
“Roger, call that place and find out how much a locker is and make sure they’re open this afternoon.”
Sam knew if he planned this right, they would be nearing the end of their case. If the suspect did not turn out to be their killer, then they were back to square one. Sam looked at his watch and saw they had one hour until the other officers arrived for the briefing.
Roger hung up and said, “Lockers are $15 and yes, they are open and look forward to our visit,” he said with a smile. “Who’s paying for this crap?” Roger wanted to know.
“Well we can badge in or we can pay to get in. One is safer as far as our cover being blown,” Sam said. “Don’t use that word in relation to this assignment,” Roger said with a laugh.
Sam made the decision to pull the money from the investigations fund rather than announcing who they were to get in for free. Once he had the money, Roger and Sam ate a quick lunch. When they arrived back at their office, the other two officers were already there waiting on the details of their assignment.
“Okay guys, here’s the deal. Either one of you ever been in a gay bathhouse before?” Sam asked knowing what answer he was about to get.
Both young cops answered in unison, “Fuck no!”
Roger and Sam both laughed out loud and Sam said, “Well, after today you will never be able to answer that question with a no again.”
The young cops looked at each other and sank down into two chairs. One of them asked, “I thought this was a murder investigation, not vice?”
“It is a murder investigation. We have an informant meeting the suspect inside the bathhouse today at two o’clock. The four of us are also going to be in there to arrest the suspect,” Sam explained.
“But don’t we have to be naked or something? How we gonna carry cuffs and a weapon?” asked the rookie.
“First of all, we don’t have to be naked. You’ll have a towel wrapped around you. Keep your underwear on, and Roger and I will have the handcuffs on us. As for a weapon, we’ll be armed with a two-incher,” replied Sam.
“Damn, I didn’t need to know the size of your dick as well!” the first officer said, which cracked them both up at what they thought was a damn fine joke.
“Well Junior, if I did have two inches in that department, I’d still be larger than you!”
They stopped laughing.
“Okay, time to be serious here. We’ll leave in about fifteen minutes, so if you want coffee, get it now. When we get in there, you two will enter into the movie room and sit towards the back. You’ll act as backup for the arrest when we move on him. Questions?” Sam asked.
“No sir,” was the response.
Roger and Sam pulled a pair of gym shorts out of their locker room at the station and folded them up for the bathhouse. They swung back by their office and got the two other officers from patrol who were now in their civilian clothes, and headed out to the cruiser. As they swung out into traffic, Roger asked the two officers again if they had any questions.
“Yeah, one. What if your suspect starts shooting? We won’t have body armor on, we’ll be unarmed and holding our dicks in our hands!”
Sam couldn’t help himself. He looked into the rear view mirror and asked, “I thought you said you had never been to a gay bathhouse before?” Roger couldn’t stop laughing for at least a minute. “Very funny,” was the only reply his wisecrack earned from its target.
They parked about two blocks away from The Steam House and walked the rest of the way in. They left their jackets in the car, and put their badges in their pants along with the two easily concealable .38s that they brought with them. They gave a quick look around before they opened the door and entered the dimly lit passageway that led to a Plexiglas window. No one was behind the counter, so they rang the bell that was sitting next to the window. The air smelled stale with a slight odor of poppers.
“Can I help you gentlemen?” and clerk asked.
“Yeah, we’re interested in four lockers,” Roger said.
“Have you guys ever been here before?” the clerk asked as he looked each man over.
“Why, don’t we look like we belong here?” Sam asked with a smile. “We know it’s a bathhouse, that’s why we’re here,” he continued.
“Okay, just don’t want no trouble. If you’re paying for everyone, that will be sixty dollars, and that gets you a locker for twelve hours.”
The clerk took their money and shoved a towel down and up through the bank-like metal tray for each man. When everyone had their towel, he hit a button that made the steel door buzz, and they entered the bathhouse. It was as dim as the hallway, and was predominately red. A sign pointed in the direction of the lockers where they were expected to remove all their clothes and wrap a towel around themselves. As each man took a locker and started to undress, Sam and Roger stripped down, put on their gym shorts and put cuffs and their .38s into their pockets. They then quickly wrapped themselves in towels so it appeared that they were completely naked underneath the towel, just like everyone else.
“We supposed to walk around barefoot?” asked one of the patrol officers.
“Looks like it to me,” replied Roger.
Sam said, “Okay, let’s check out the entire place, and then find the movie room. Once there, you two guys take seats in the back of the room, and we’ll float around until we see our informant. If he tells us that the suspect is here, we’ll wander into the movie room as well.”
“What if some guy wants to blow us or something?”
Sam sighed and looked at the officer and said, “Tell him you’re busy, and get his number to meet up later.” Roger broke up laughing again and they all began to wander around the different hallways, steam rooms, and even a swimming pool. There were clocks on the walls through the place, and when Sam saw that it was one-thirty, he motioned with this head for the two patrol officers to get into the movie room.
“Rog, just sit by the pool for a couple of minutes and then go into the room and take a seat on the opposite side from where the other two are. When I come into the room, that’s your signal that the suspect has entered the room and get ready to make the move.”
“Okay, see you at the party.”
“Enjoy the movie Rog,” Sam said with a parting smile and a wink.
Sam headed down into the reception area where there were chairs and newspapers to read. He began to worry a bit as Evans had not arrived on time. Just when he felt that Evans might have set them up, the door opened and in walked Evans. He came over to where Sam was sitting and said, “You guys ready?”
“Yes, you just get into a towel and wait for your client to show up. When he goes into the movie room, you make sure you are right next to him so that I know we got the right guy.”
“Okay. Can’t wait for this to be over,” Evans muttered as he headed to the lockers with his towel.
Sam got comfortable again, making sure that no one could see his shorts on under the towel. At five minu
tes to two, the door opened once again, and a black man walked through the doors and headed directly to the lockers without even looking at Sam. Sam couldn’t tell if that was their man or not as he didn’t look anything like the only picture he had ever seen of the suspect.
After a minute or so and hearing the locker door slam shut, Sam got up and headed in the direction of the movie room. The suspect passed in front of him and entered into the movie room and Sam counted to ten before following him into the room.
After Sam entered and pretended to be interested in the sex that was going on the movie screen, he looked to the back of the room and saw the suspect standing directly next to Evans. Sam observed Evans actually talking to the suspect and Sam knew this was their man.
Sam looked over to Roger and nodded, and snapped his fingers at the two junior officers to get their attention. All four men casually began heading to the back of the room and when Sam and Roger were about even in front of Evans and the suspect, Evans abruptly turned and walked away leaving the suspect standing all by himself with a confused look on his face.
Sam turned to the suspect and said, “Police, turn around and put your hands on the wall, now!” When the suspect didn’t move, Sam and Roger laid hands on him and spun him around so fast that his towel opened and dropped to the floor. The suspect was wearing a jockstrap, and in the strap was a switchblade which was immediately taken from him and handed off to the other officers. Sam and Roger dropped their towels and now put the cuffs on the suspect and began to move him out of the room under escort of all four police officers.
They headed to the locker room where the patrol officers quickly dressed and then took custody of the prisoner while Sam and Roger dressed. When all of them were ready, they took the cuffs off of the prisoner and told him to either get dressed or go like he was. He chose to get dressed while protesting his innocence of whatever it was that he was being arrested for. One of the patrol guys had called it in and there was a cruiser waiting out front to transport the suspect to the precinct.
They headed out the door, turned the prisoner over to the patrol unit and headed for their own car. Everyone was happy that the plan had gone off without a hitch. On the way back to the station, the young patrol officers complained at having to sit in the movie room watching “two guys suck and fuck,” and oh, how they would need eye transplants now that their own had been seared by what they saw.
Sam made the only reply. “Wow, methinks thou dost protest too much! Did you get aroused or something and now feel like you have to reclaim your masculinity by telling us how terrible it was?”
More protests from the back of the cruiser and laughter from the front seat. As they were pulling into the precinct parking space, Sam said, “Look guys, we really appreciate your help on this one and I’ll make sure it gets into your jackets. Stay safe out here.” The patrol officers were now all smiles and it was like they had never been inside the bathhouse.
Danny Erickson was sitting in the holding cell in Interrogation Room One while Sam and Roger made notification phone calls to their superiors that they had the suspect in custody and were about to interrogate him. The Chief of Detectives was incredibly happy and complimentary to Sam upon hearing the news. Sam was ordered not to go home until they rung every last detail out of Erickson that they could.
Sam and Roger got their note pads and a file and headed into the interrogation room. They locked the door behind them and then let Erickson out of the holding cell and removed his handcuffs. Before Sam could even open his mouth, the suspect was demanding that an attorney be provided to him.
“First of all Mr. Erickson, I’ve got to read you your rights. Then I’m gonna ask you to sign a paper that says that I did in fact read you your rights and that you understand them,” Sam said. He then read the rights to the suspect who again stated he wanted an attorney.
“Okay, I hear you want an attorney and that’s cool. We’ll notify the Public Defender’s office unless you can afford your own attorney?” Sam asked.
“Motherfucker, I can afford my own attorney. I don’t need no broke motherfucker who can’t get a real lawyer job to defend me. You must be crazy to think I’d let someone from there fix a parking ticket. What the hell am I being held for anyway? I bet it’s something that loser Evans said, isn’t it? What did he say?”
“You’ve been brought in on suspicion of murder in the first degree with at least three counts along with charges related to what you’ve had Mr. Evans doing for you. It’s a shame that you’re going for a lawyer; see that takes things out of our hands then. We can’t help you once the lawyers get all up in this because the system takes over. By the way Mr. Erickson, what do you do for a living that you were able to be out and about today instead of stuck in an office somewhere?”
“I’m a florist. I own my own shop and have done quite well for myself.”
“Yeah, but that fancy Yale education didn’t seem to help you much if you ended up pushing flowers, now did it?” Roger asked. This question struck a deep nerve.
“Yeah well, Yale was supposed to not only educate me, but set me up with contacts. The contacts part is how men become senators and presidents. I didn’t get treated right , so no contacts resulted.”
“So, one could say that you’re kinda pissed over that, huh?” Roger asked.
“Yeah, wouldn’t you be pissed? Instead of a life of power and money, I have to end up selling flowers. At least I finally bought the place and now I own it.”
“Do you blame your lack of contacts on Jazmon Williams and others?” Sam asked.
“Those sons of bitches fucked me big time, no doubt about it. So much for brothers!” he replied angrily.
“Well, as I said, you’ve asked for an attorney, so we must stop and allow you to get one even if that’s not the best decision you could make. Roger, will you bring a phone in so that Mr. Erickson can call his lawyer?”
“Wait. What the hell can you do for me anyway?” the suspect wanted to know.
“Well, if you cooperate and answer our questions, we can tell the court that you helped us close these cases and that the court should take that into consideration at sentencing time. The judge usually listens to us when we make a pitch for a defendant. So, it’s up to you really what you want to do,” Sam responded. Sam then opened up the file he had brought with him and revealed the photographs that were seized at the Tomb. When the suspect looked down and recognized what was sitting in front of him, a look of anger overtook his face.
“Yeah, those motherfuckers right there,” he said pointing at the one picture that had Jazmon Williams being seated as President surrounded by Holder and Brighton with Erickson in the back of the room behind all the white guys.
“Who? The guy being seated here? Sam asked.
“Yeah, that’s Williams and his two butt buddies.”
“Ya know, when I looked at this picture the first time, I immediately wondered why the only other black guy in the room was way in the back instead of with the other men. Why is that?” Sam asked.
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” he replied while folding his arms and sitting back.
Sam knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Roger asked if he should get dinner ordered in for everyone. “Well, are we going to be here long enough to eat dinner or are you going to booking and then to the tombs?” Sam asked.
“You’ll really talk to the D.A. and the judge? Maybe make a deal of some kind?” Erickson asked with a look of hope on his face.
“Yep, you have our word. We’ll do whatever we can for you with the system.”
“Order dinner. After we eat, maybe I’ll talk,” the suspect replied.
“Okay, I want this to be clear on the record. Are you willing to talk to us after dinner without an attorney being present?” asked Sam.
“Yea, what the fuck. Might as well finish this life as a loser like I’ve been since Yale,” he replied.
“Okay, well we have to put you back in the cell there until the food arrives; it’s
regulations,” Sam said as he got up and moved Erickson back into the cell. Roger and Sam then left the room locking the door once again.
Sam looked at Roger and smiled. They practically skipped to their desks where Roger got on the phone to a local carry out that they got prisoner food from once in a while for special cases. Roger ordered for all three of them while Sam dialed the number to his boss.
After briefing the Chief of Detectives, he was told not to blow it, and that the food was on the department. The Chief wanted a call at home if they got a full confession no matter what time it was that night. Sam then called for an Assistant District Attorney to sit in on the interview so that their office would know first-hand what the confession was and how it was obtained. The A.D.A. could also make any promises that they were so moved to do during the course of the interview.
The food arrived just after 4:30 and they took it into the interrogation room and they all began to eat. They ate slowly so that the A.D.A. could get there and sit in.
“Now sir, we have asked an assistant D.A to sit in on this so that they know how much cooperation that you give us in this case. That’s the best way to make sure they know and can let the court know. It’s for your benefit,” Sam advised between mouthfuls of lasagna and salad.
A knock at the door made Roger get up and unlock the door to find Ms. Darla Jenkins, Chief Assistant District Attorney for the City of New York, standing on the other side. He made a bowing gesture and with a sweep of his hand invited the A.D.A. into the interrogation room.
Sam made the introductions and everyone sat down. “Mr. Erickson, before we go any further, I’ve got a document here for you to sign that says you are willing to talk to the police and my office without the presence of an attorney. I need you to sign and date it at the bottom, and then I will countersign, date, and time the document as well,” said Ms. Jenkins.
The Orchid Murders Page 17
