Chloe went home, changed, and waited for Kaylin to pick her up. Kaylin had insisted on driving. She couldn’t imagine why. Chloe was a model of decorous driving habits. She never exceeded the speed limit, did illegal U-turns, or ran yellow lights—and never blasted through red ones with her lights flashing. Right. And if you’re interested, I have a bridge in Brooklyn…
They split the list of properties to be checked out with Del who had commandeered a uniform as backup. The evening’s reconnaissance was following the pattern of the previous night. Chloe and Kaylin checked out five vacant buildings. They were getting impatient when they got to the sixth and last address on their list—the one that had been mentioned in the UCC filing. There were no lights or cars, but they both just had a feeling. They got out of the car and cautiously approached the side of the building where there was a heavily grilled window. They peered through, and it appeared to be another empty building. But this one had a couple of closed doors at the back of the large, open space.
They went around to the back of the building, and Chloe tried the rear door. Much to her surprise, it opened. She glanced at Kaylin and said, “We have to check this out. This door was standing wide open. It’s our duty to secure the premises.”
“Don’t you think we should wait for backup?”
“No, there isn’t time to wait. The building looks deserted anyway.”
Kaylin looked doubtful, but she pulled her gun from the back of her waistband and followed Chloe into the building. Chloe went in low, and Kaylin went in high. They split off and called “clear” as they checked the entire space. There were no girls, but again there was trash left on the naked floors. “It looks like they might be getting jumpy and moving the girls to a new location every night.”
Kaylin looked disappointed. “It’s going to be tough to hit the right location on the right night. We’re not even sure we have a complete list of properties, not to mention they could be using abandoned properties that don’t belong to them.”
“Nothing about this case has been easy so far. Why should we expect it to change now? We’ll have to get another warrant and have CSU come out here again tomorrow morning. It’s like following a trail of breadcrumbs.” Chloe was willing to bet a pile that they would have the same outcome as from Thursday night’s hit. They always seemed to be a day late and a dollar short on this case, and she was getting damn tired of it. Maybe they would finally have enough to get warrants for all of the McGrath properties as well as the law firm’s office, and the McGrath’s home, and they could finally bring Anne Marie McGrath in for questioning. Then, she knew, the proverbial shit would hit the fan. There would be no more flying under the radar. It would all be out there.
“Damn it. If only I had spotted this address sooner, we might have gotten them last night.”
“Chloe, we can only do what we can do. Don’t second-guess yourself. I’m going to call Del to see if they’ve gotten any hits on their addresses. I’ll tell him that we’ve found another location so he can get working on the warrants.” She dialed Del and had the phone to her ear as she waited for him to answer.
They holstered their weapons and were walking back out to the car when two men rushed out of the shadows and got the drop on them. Before they knew it, the two had taken their weapons and bound their hands with short pieces of rope.
“Shit, man. These bitches are BSO.”
“What the fuck are they doin’ snooping around the warehouse?”
“Guess we have to ask ʼem—real nice and gentle like.”
Chloe heard Kaylin grunt and hit the ground. The last thing she saw was the ground rushing up toward her face as pain exploded in the back of her head.
* * * *
When Chloe woke up she saw that she and Kaylin were tied to chairs. They appeared to be in the middle of another large, dark, empty warehouse space.
“They’re waking up, Phillip.”
“Check outside, Jean Louis. See if there are any more of them. What you bitches doing in the warehouse?” When they didn’t respond, Phillip reached out and slapped Kaylin, and her head snapped back. The two men had dark, Mediterranean complexions, and were muscular and covered in tattoos. They didn’t look like the brightest bulbs in the box, but they did look tough.
“Leave her alone. We were on patrol and saw the open door and decided to check it out in case there was a robbery in progress or something. The warehouse was empty and we were just leaving.” Chloe knew their only hope was that Del had heard the altercation over the open cell phone line and even now had all of the BSO cruisers looking for them. If he had, she knew he’d check out their list of addresses first. They needed time for him to find them. She could only hope their present location was on the list.
“Why don’ I believe you?”
“I don’t know why. I’m telling you the truth. Let us go before this gets more serious.”
Jean Louis reached out and this time slapped Chloe. “Shut you smart mouth, bitch. Is already pretty damn serious. We better call the boss, Phillip.”
“You know she don’ like phone calls at home.”
“I think we better call anyway. I don’ want to make this decision.”
What decision? Where to kill us and drop our bodies? Chloe was now officially scared. This was going downhill fast. And who was the female boss? Anne Marie?
“The more people you involve in this problem, the harder it will be to solve.” Chloe had an idea that if Anne Marie saw them here, their problems would be over—permanently.
* * * *
Del looked at the cell phone in his hand. It said, “Missed Call from Kaylin.” Before it had disconnected, he thought he heard angry men’s voices and the sounds of a scuffle. Now he couldn’t get Kaylin back on the phone. Next he tried Chloe’s phone with the same result. He turned to his backup uniform. “Jed, get a BOLO out on Kaylin’s SUV. She was driving tonight.” They both ran for his Jeep. “Let’s start checking out the addresses on their half of the list. We might get lucky.” Del looked at his watch. They had been on the street for a couple of hours already. “Let’s start at the bottom of their list and work backward. This problem didn’t come up on their first address.”
* * * *
Chloe and Kaylin strained to hear what Phillip was saying to the boss on the cell phone. All they could hear was the angry buzz of a female voice from the other end of the phone and several “yeahs” and “okays.” This didn’t sound good. Chloe dearly hoped the voice wasn’t saying “get rid of them.” They needed time for Del to find them, if, in fact, he was even looking.
“Don’t worry, Chloe. I know I made a connection with Del’s phone. I’m sure he heard us hitting the ground and is looking for us.”
“I hope so, honey, or we are in big trouble. If the boss is Anne Marie and she realizes we are on to her we can kiss all our other problems good-bye.”
* * * *
Del and Jed checked out the last address on the list and found Kaylin’s SUV parked around the corner from the warehouse. They checked out the building and found the back door unlocked. They did a quick walk-through and noticed the tell-tale debris. Kaylin’s cell phone was lying on the floor. The story was pretty clear. Chloe and Kaylin’s search of the building had been interrupted. Where the hell were they? If they weren’t here, there were a myriad of possibilities. Del got on the phone with Sergeant Kelly who called in the cavalry. Every available deputy was called in to begin rechecking the addresses on the list of McGrath properties. With that many feet on the ground, the list of possible locations was rapidly dwindling.
“Let’s check the last address on our list, Jed. Maybe we’ll get lucky.” When they reached the dark and deserted area off Andrews Avenue between the port and the airport where the last warehouse was located, they drove slowly around the block. Jed spotted a black Ford Explorer parked behind the building, and even more interesting, two shipping containers. Del looked at Jed. “This might be it. Let’s check it out.” They crept carefully up to one of the
barred windows at the side of the building and peered in. There was one lit light bulb hanging from a cord in the middle of the space. It was shining on Kaylin and Chloe tied to chairs. It looked like two men were standing just outside the circle of light. Del motioned Jed to back away. “I’m going to call for backup. There may be more than two of them.” They retreated behind Del’s Jeep, and he pulled out his cell phone. “Sarge, we found them. Looks like there are two men inside, but there could be more. Send backup but come in quiet. I don’t want to spook them into shooting Kaylin and Chloe.” He gave the sergeant the address and a brief description of the premises and the situation.
Within five minutes, the entire area was surrounded by cruisers, and the SWAT unit had also been mobilized. Del had never seen such a fast response. It must be those damn cookies that Kaylin brought in on a regular basis. Shit, at least it isn’t donuts. That’s such a cliché.
Once the SWAT team was in place, the unit commander gave the signal, and the deputies approached and surrounded the building with weapons drawn. They burst through the back door while simultaneously breaking open the front door with a battering ram. The commander of the SWAT unit was on the bullhorn. “Throw down your weapons. This building is surrounded.”
Del and Jed followed the SWAT team in and immediately headed for Kaylin and Chloe, grabbed their chairs, and pulled them out the door and around the corner to safety. Del slit their bonds with his pocketknife and helped them to their feet. “Are you guys okay?” Del carefully turned each of their faces to the light and frowned when he saw the bruises. Then he saw the blood on the back of their heads. “I’m calling the EMTs to check you out.”
In the building the two men realized the futility of resistance and that their only other option was leaving the building riddled with bullet holes. They threw down their weapons and went down on their knees with their hands clasped on top of their heads.
It was over quickly, and Del couldn’t hug the two women hard enough. “I swear, the next time you have a hairbrained idea like this, I’m tying you to chairs.”
The ambulance pulled up at the scene. The EMTs checked both Chloe’s and Kaylin’s head wounds, cleaned, and bandaged them. “A trip to emergency for X-rays would probably be a good idea. You could have concussions.”
Kaylin said, “We’re okay. They just roughed us up a little. We want to go back to BSO for the interrogation.”
“You have head wounds. You can come in after you’re checked out. End of discussion.” Del knew he had a stubborn look on his face.
“You’re so bossy.” Kaylin looked like she wanted to continue to argue.
Chloe grinned. “Maybe he should consider becoming a Dom.” At Del’s look she burst out laughing hysterically. He knew it was just the release of tension, but he wasn’t going there.
The EMTs dropped Chloe and Kaylin off at the emergency room of Broward General with Del and Jed following behind with the cars. They were both quickly checked out and X-rayed. The trauma doctor said, “I wouldn’t mind keeping you overnight for observation, but I can see I’m going to get an argument. I don’t think you have concussions, but if you have headaches or your pupils become dilated, you’ll need to come back in.”
By the time they got back to BSO, the suspects had been fingerprinted, photographed, and booked. The two men were brought into interrogation. Del read them their rights and then started the interrogation.
“Where are the five girls you’ve been holding in those warehouses?” Del got right in their faces. “If they’re dead when we find them, you’ll both be facing the needle. There is already one dead girl. She may have died by accident. Don’t make this worse for yourselves. You won’t find a sympathetic jury for your trial on charges of abducting and killing six teenage girls. You two will be the next Ted Bundy. We want to know who the boss of this operation is. It’s pretty clear that wouldn’t be you two geniuses.”
Their fingerprints came up on the system. It was determined that the suspects were Jean Louis Beaudreau and Phillip Beaudreau, cousins who were originally from Louisiana. They had convictions for burglary, robbery, and other various petty crimes.
Del continued to pound at them with no results. The men still refused to talk or name their coconspirators. These two had obviously been through the routine before. “We wan’ our lawyers, man. We’re not sayin’ nothin’.”
At that point they were taken to the Broward County Jail to await further interrogation with legal representation present. They would be arraigned on the current charges of assault on a police officer on Monday, with possibly kidnapping and murder to follow. They would see how willing the two were to make a deal when those charges hit the fan.
Chapter Ten
The McGrath residence in the Idlewyld section of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Saturday morning, September 13, 2014, 10:30 a.m.
On Saturday morning, Chloe was relieved that Del had pulled in some favors and gotten search warrants signed. Getting warrants signed by a judge over the weekend took some fast talking, but the dire straits the girls might be in helped to expedite the procedure. This time a full complement of warrants was issued for all of the McGrath properties as well as their home and the law firm.
When Chloe, Del, and Kaylin went to serve the warrant on the McGrath residence accompanied by several uniformed deputies, Anne Marie was not there. The home was a two-story, Mediterranean-style extravaganza with a gated drive set on at least an acre and a half of land directly on the Intracoastal. The tennis courts and pool were visible at the back of the property. Dan and Anne Marie’s cars were in the garage, but their daughter’s car was not there. That might not mean anything. After all, the girl could be out for breakfast with friends or running errands. When it turned out the girl and her younger brother were still upstairs in bed, Chloe had a feeling that Anne Marie had made a run for it after receiving a call from her guys last night. She would have known that BSO was closing in on her. The recent call history on the men’s cell phones had been checked, but the last call was made to an unregistered burner phone and was untraceable. Del immediately called in a BOLO on the daughter’s car, a red Miata convertible. Anne Marie had a head start, probably having left sometime during the night before. She could be almost to the state line by now. Nonetheless, they put out her description to all airports, ports, bus stations, and rental car companies in the state.
Dan McGrath was at home and was questioned about his wife’s whereabouts. “I don’t know where Anne Marie is. She wasn’t here when I got up this morning. She must be out shopping or something. What is this all about?”
Del got in his space. “This is about the kidnapping of six runaway teenage girls from the streets of Fort Lauderdale, and the death of one of them so far. If you know anything about where they are, it would be in your best interests to tell us now before there are more dead girls. This can only get worse for you and your wife. CSU is going to go through this house, your office, your cars, your telephones, your computers, and all of your properties with a fine-toothed comb. You had better hope we find them alive. Any cooperation you give us now would go a long way toward mitigating your situation.”
McGrath looked sick. “I have no idea what you are talking about. This makes no sense at all, and I’m calling my attorney.” He took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed. “John, I need you at my house immediately. BSO is here with warrants to search the house, office, and my investment properties.” He listened for a moment. “They think Anne Marie has been kidnapping teenage girls. I’ve never heard of anything so ridiculous.” He was quiet again. “Yes, I’ll wait for you if I can. If not, I suspect I’ll be at BSO.” He hung up and looked at Chloe. “Why are you doing this?”
“It’s nothing personal, Mr. McGrath. I’m only doing my job and following up on the leads that have come my way in this investigation.”
“It’s very personal to me, young woman. Very personal. How can you possibly think my wife would be involved in something like that? Why would she do something
like that?”
“Perhaps your current financial situation? I don’t know, Mr. McGrath. Our background searches have turned up a lot of litigation filed recently by creditors, and it appears that this house is on the verge of foreclosure. In addition, a woman fitting your wife’s description driving a black Mercedes with a license plate starting with the letters ‘XEL’ was seen in the downtown area. She was trying to get young girls into her car with the promise of lunch and new clothes.” Chloe looked into his eyes and saw fear there. “There are several witnesses who will be able to identify her.”
Del continued. “You’d better talk if you know anything, McGrath. If those girls turn up dead, you and your wife will be facing capital murder charges.”
McGrath looked panic-stricken. “I have no idea what you are talking about. I swear. Oh, my God—the kids, my firm…I’m not saying anything else until John gets here.”
* * * *
This was Chloe’s worst nightmare. He had called his attorney, John James Temple. She knew J.J. specialized in commercial real estate and that he would not be handling the McGrath defense if it came to that, but he had been called in to provide representation for the preliminaries this morning. Obviously McGrath didn’t have a criminal attorney, and he trusted his partner. She prayed J.J. wasn’t involved. He had drafted all those property deeds after all. She wished she could disappear, but there was no place to go. She felt as hunted right now as Anne Marie must feel.
When J.J. Temple walked through the front door he was dressed in jeans and a white, button-down collar shirt, not his usual three-piece suit, but he still looked formidable and angry as hell. He went immediately to Dan McGrath and said, “Dan, don’t say anything unless I’m here and until we have had a chance to confer privately.” Then he turned to Chloe. “What the hell is this about? What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?”
Chloe's Rescue [The Black Iris Club 2] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) Page 9
