by C. M. Sutter
“But Jim was cleared, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah, but Internal Affairs kept the file. I didn’t have access to it anymore.”
“Okay, what about the investigation into Mason?”
“They arrested all the workers and destroyed the lab. Someone from Patrol told his parents of his death, and the case wrapped. That appears to be it.” Finley flipped several more pages. “There isn’t anything more about Mason Daily in this file.”
“Then that’s where we have to start. His parents need to be interviewed, and it doesn’t sound like they ever were. Is a home address listed for them?”
“Yeah. Hopefully it’s still current.”
“Good, I’ll have Johnson and Mills head out. If I were you, I’d get some of your detectives out in the field to work on finding names of Mason’s known associates. We need every name we can get.”
Finley stood. “I’ll start on that right away. Everyone who’s left needs to put eyes on the officer roster. I want every file of a John and Jack pulled, especially the men who worked today’s morning shift. I don’t care if they’ve been an officer for twenty years or two. Everybody named John and Jack is going to be checked out. Somebody kidnapped Jesse and murdered Jim, and they were two of the best men I knew.”
“And I’m responsible for Kate. Somebody in a squad car apprehended her this morning. I have to explain that to her boss in Wisconsin, and I doubt if that’s going to go over well.” Lutz closed the folder and stepped up to the podium. “I want everyone here to start going through the roster of officer names. Pull every file for a John and Jack and set them aside. That includes anyone here who’s unfortunate enough to have that name. Get busy.” He jerked his chin to the left. “Henry and Frank, I need a word with you.”
The two men waited as Lutz made a call to Truman. “It’s Lutz, Paul. I need a list of every patrol officer on duty this morning whose name is John or goes by Jack. I also need to know if any squad car is unaccounted for. It’s imperative I get that information ASAP.” Lutz hung up and turned to Mills and Henry. “I need you two to pay a visit to the Daily home. Turns out, the folks were never interviewed. Write down every name of anyone Mason knew or was related to and I don’t care if it was a third cousin. Get on that now.” Lutz handed Mills a slip of paper. “Here’s the address.”
Chapter 50
The bed frame was my best bet. I checked the corners where the front and back pieces connected to the side rails. I was hoping for sharp edges so that by sawing back and forth, I could weaken the zip ties enough to break free.
I scooted against the bed corner and lifted my left arm over the rail. There wasn’t a lot of room between my hands with the figure eight knot that John had used to secure the ties, but there was enough to work with. It would take time to break free, so I began right away.
I had been sawing the plastic against the metal rails for what felt like hours, and my arms were cramping from the constant back-and-forth motion. Footsteps sounded in the hallway and were getting closer. I jumped on the bed, checked that the blanket over the window looked normal, and kicked the pillow back to its original position. I pretended to be asleep when I heard the key jiggle in the knob.
John flipped on the light switch, walked in, and locked the door behind him. “Get up. I have something for you.”
I sat up. “Really? You brought my gun and your car keys?”
“You’re a joke a minute, Kate. No, it’s even better than that.” He jerked his head toward the chair. “Have a seat.”
“I remember the last time you said that to me. You tied me to it, punched me, and knocked the chair over. I think I’ll stay on the bed.”
“Suit yourself.”
John was on me in two seconds and flipped me over. I fought with everything I could muster, but his weight on my back was too much. I couldn’t squirm out from under him and had to turn my head to breathe. John pulled the straps out from under the mattress and secured them around my elbows. I was sure he was too preoccupied to notice that I’d been sawing away at the zip ties. I was facedown and couldn’t budge.
“Now you’re going to get it.”
“Get what?” I yelled as I spat my hair out of my mouth.
“This.”
I felt the sting of a needle puncturing my skin and then the heat coursing through my veins. I screamed with fear. “What was that? What did you inject into me?”
“Come on, Detective. I thought you were smarter than that. You act like you know everything about me and my enterprise with Mason. Surely you know what that was all about.”
“Let me go! Get the hell off my back.”
“In a minute. I want you to enjoy the rush first. Pretty soon you’ll be a bony, hollow-eyed addict that’s begging for more, just like Jesse. He cries like a little bitch because he wants his meth. He’s nothing but a strung-out piece of shit.”
“I doubt it.” I bucked against his weight and tried to kick him away.
“I’ll leave you alone, but you’ll be getting a double hit later. I have more product to make now, anyway, and then there’s Jesse. He got a good beatdown yesterday, and come to think of it, I haven’t heard much from him. I guess I should check to see if he’s breathing. For all I know, he could be dead.”
John released the straps and walked out, then I heard the click of the key in the lock. I sat up on the bed and cried with frustration. Tears stung my eyes and ran down my neck as I thought about Jesse and the condition he must be in after nearly a week of constant meth injections. I thought about Henry and wondered if he was able to connect the dots and if IA gave up Jim’s file. I didn’t know why or how John—a police officer—was connected to Mason, but there had to be valuable information in that report. Lutz and his detectives just needed to read between the lines.
I got back to sawing the plastic cuffs thanks to the sudden adrenaline rush that I attributed to the meth. I had work to do and needed my hands free as fast as possible.
Chapter 51
Henry glanced at the slip of paper in his hand then squinted at the house number. “This is it. Did Lutz tell them we’re coming?”
“I don’t think their phone number was with the report. Better to take them by surprise, anyway.”
Henry looked at Mills as he unfastened his seat belt. “Why, so they can’t concoct a story two years after the fact?”
Mills nodded as he grabbed the door handle.
Henry exited the passenger side and waited as Mills rounded the nose of the car. “They wouldn’t have a reason to make something up, would they?”
“Who knows? The family wasn’t interviewed. According to Jim’s testimony, somebody from Patrol informed the parents of the shooting, and that was that. Nobody has talked to them since. Finley said the family never came in asking for answers.”
“That seems odd.” Henry walked to the front door alongside Mills then pressed the bell.
Mills shrugged. “He was a drug dealer, Henry, and up to no good. His crew was selling meth to school kids. Bad shit happens when you decide to take on that kind of lifestyle.”
“I guess.”
The knob turned, and a man who looked to be pushing sixty stood on the other side of the door. “Can I help you gentlemen?”
Both men exposed the badges clipped to their belts and introduced themselves. Mills took the lead. “Sir, are you Mr. Daily?”
“I am. What is this about?”
“Do you have a few minutes? We have questions concerning Mason’s death.”
“A little late, aren’t you?”
“Who’s here, Norm?” A woman, drying her hands with a towel, came to the door. She looked at the badges. “What on earth?”
Henry spoke up. “I assume you’re Mrs. Daily.”
“You’d assume right, and the name is Irene. Has something happened to my son?”
Norm glanced at his wife. “They’re here to talk about Mason, dear.”
“Mason? Why now?”
“May we come in, ma’am? We have
some questions that may help us with a current case we’re working on.”
She huffed. “I suppose, but we don’t have much to say. Norm is who you want to address.” She moved aside. “Let them in, honey. Better late than never.”
Henry raised an eyebrow at Mills then followed the couple into the living room.
The springs groaned as Mr. Daily took a seat in the recliner. He pointed at the couch. “Now what is this all about?”
Mills pulled out his notepad. “We have general questions about family members and acquaintances. Who did Mason hang out with?”
Norm smirked. “Nobody we knew, but I think you’re well aware of that considering what Mason did for a living. I wasn’t privy to his personal life or what he did with it and didn’t know anything about the meth lab until after the fact. I thought Mason had a real job.”
“Apparently that was his real job, sir,” Henry said. “He made a lot of money in a year’s time.”
“I wouldn’t know and only saw him on occasion.”
“Are there other siblings?”
“We were both married before and never had kids together,” Irene said. “Norm had a son, and I had a son and daughter. They were all on their own when we married twelve years ago.”
“Any longtime friends that Mason confided in, like a best friend from high school?”
Norm shook his head. “He lived with his mom during his high school years, so I wouldn’t know those kids, anyway.”
“What about someone who took him under his wing? We’re looking for the person who fronted Mason with the seed money to get that lab underway.”
Norm looked at Henry. “I have no idea. Why didn’t anybody come here two years ago and ask these questions? Everything we learned about Mason’s death came from Irene’s son.”
“How would Irene’s son have confidential police information? Sorry, but I’m not following,” Mills said.
“Officer Conrad is Irene’s son. He’s the only person from the police force who ever spoke to us about the shooting. He was at the scene when everything unfolded and came by here later that day and broke the news. He said Narcotics didn’t have any questions for us and that Internal Affairs would be in touch when the investigation into the shooting got underway—nobody ever called.”
Henry stared at Irene. “Officer Conrad works in what department?”
“Patrol and has for years. He and several other units were there as backup when the bust went down. He said he witnessed everything.”
“What is your son’s first name, Mrs. Daily?”
Frustration took over her face. “John—John Conrad. Are you saying you don’t know him? Isn’t every officer in the Chicago PD on a first-name basis?”
Mills stood and handed each of them a card. “Hardly, ma’am, since there are over ten thousand officers on the Chicago police force. We’re going to need John’s address.”
“All I know is that he lives on the north side in one of those month-to-month apartments. I don’t know the address, and I’ve never visited him there in the three years he’s called that place home. He usually just pops in here when he feels like visiting.”
Henry jerked his head toward Mills. “Lutz can pull it.” He shook the couple’s hands. “Thank you for your time.” Outside, he was on the phone before they cleared the sidewalk. “Boss, we have him. He’s a patrol officer named John Conrad. Turns out he was Mason Daily’s stepbrother. The mom didn’t have his address, but she said it was a month-to-month apartment on the north side. Yep, we’re on our way back.”
The drive took only fifteen minutes. Frank and Henry went directly to roll call after clearing the security door. The room was humming with detectives checking databases and making phone calls to learn more about John Conrad.
Lutz let out a frustrated slap to the podium. “John Conrad has his mother’s address listed in his file and on his driver’s license. I’m sure it’s his way of getting around the requirements of living within the city limits.”
Mills growled. “It sounds like he has several reasons not to list his real address in his file. He knows how to bullshit the system.”
Finley hung up the phone. “Truman is checking to see which car John was assigned to this morning. It should only take a few minutes before he calls back. Hopefully pinging that squad car’s location will tell us where he’s at.”
Lutz paced the room while Finley stared at the phone. It rang seconds later. “That has to be Truman.” All eyes were on him as he answered. He waved wildly while making a writing motion above his head. Henry grabbed paper and a pen and raced to Finley’s side. “Yep, I have it.” Finley scratched out the address on the paper. “We’re on it. Thanks, Truman.” He hung up and addressed the crowd. “The squad car is parked at an old warehouse on the south side. Truman has Patrol en route.”
Lutz pointed at his detectives. “Murray, Potter, Mills, and Johnson, head out. The rest of you keep looking for a different address for Conrad. Wherever he’s at is likely where we’ll find McCord and Pierce. Okay, let’s go.”
Chapter 52
I sawed back and forth on the zip tie until my energy was exhausted and my arms felt like limp noodles. I couldn’t see my progress and only hoped I had accomplished enough to weaken the ties. I felt them stretch as I wiggled and twisted my wrists in opposite directions, then a quick snap sounded, and the zip ties gave way. My hands were free, and I’d won the battle. The plastic restraint fell to the floor in one long, blood-tinged piece. Time wasn’t on my side, and I needed to get to Jesse, a phone, or a weapon as quickly as possible. Worrying about my aching wrists would have to wait.
I pressed my cheek against the cool tile as I peered out the one-inch gap of space beneath the door. I saw a long hallway with a closed door on each side and no way to know what lay behind them. John, Jesse, or nothing significant at all might be in that direction, but the door in front of me wouldn’t be my escape route. I needed something more discreet. I looked back at the blanket nailed to the wall. That window was my only way out.
I wonder what time it is. Did John leave? Could I actually be that lucky? Is the place he cooks the meth here or somewhere else? He said he had to make more.
I had no way of knowing anything other than there was a thin sheet of glass that stood between me and freedom. I returned to the blanket and pushed my head through the opening. That window definitely faced the back of the house, which was good for me. I didn’t know what lay beyond my field of vision or where Jesse was being held, but one of the rooms in that house was his prison.
Knocking out the window was my only option. I’d wrap my hand with the bed’s sheet and jam the pillow under the door gap to muffle the sound of breaking glass. It would take only a few minutes to get outside, then I just had to stay out of sight. My heart pounded as I wound the sheet around my right hand. Once I began, there would be no turning back. I ripped the wool blanket down, lifted my left arm to shield my face, and began punching the glass. Spiderwebbed cracks covered the glass, but it wouldn’t break. I lay on the bed and began kicking the panes with everything I had. The glass finally blew outward, and I was free. I carefully avoided the shards as I climbed through the framework, leapt to the ground four feet below, and hugged the wall as I inched to my right. The edge of the wall was twenty feet away, and I needed to see what was beyond that. I looked back every few seconds to make sure John hadn’t heard the sound of breaking glass and was coming after me—so far so good.
I crouched as I passed beneath the window that likely belonged to the room on the left of the hallway. The corner was five feet from me. Staying low to the ground, I carefully peered around the wall’s edge and saw part of the driveway as it went from the garage into the tree cover. I knew the road was beyond that. I reached into my mind and pulled the memory of turning in to that driveway. We crossed over ruts and potholes, then John stopped, and the overhead door lifted. It couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds from the road until we reached the garage. I had to get out unseen.
I looked farther west and saw an outbuilding with windows facing the house and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. If that was the meth lab and John was in it, he’d surely see me pass. I retreated in the direction I had come from and knew the only way out was to pass that cement slab. What I didn’t know was whether a patio door filled that wall space, but it was the only other way around the house. I inched cautiously to my left.
Chapter 53
Henry reached for the radio’s handset when the call came in. “Yep, we’re two miles from the location.” He shook his head. “Son of a bitch. Yes, sir, we’ll see you there.” He clicked off and stared out the window.
Mills swatted Henry’s shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yeah, you heard Lutz. The squad car is at that warehouse all right, but Patrol said nobody is in sight. Lutz is sending Forensics to give the vehicle a thorough search, and then they’ll take it to the garage. I guess I was hoping for more.”
“What would you have expected, Henry? It isn’t like Conrad was going to be waiting at the warehouse for us. That scenario tells me he had a vehicle stashed there to swap out with the squad car. Jesus, dude, he’s a cop. He knows all police vehicles have trackers on them.”
“I know, I’m just frustrated.”
“Well, shake it off and get on board. There’s no time for pouting. Hell, Jesse is my best friend and partner. Let’s focus on finding him and Kate.”
Henry gave Mills a side-eyed glance. “You called her Kate instead of the ‘carnival con artist.’”
“Humph, I guess I did. She and I had a civil conversation, and I’m beginning to understand her a little better. I was being a closed-minded jackass earlier in the week, and I’m sorry.”
Henry smiled. “Glad we’re all on the same page now.” He pulled his notepad from his chest pocket and flipped through the pages. “Has anything ever come in on the dark-colored SUV Jesse’s neighbor said was hanging out in the area?”
“No, and without the plate number or a make and model, we’re just pissing in the wind.”
