NOTHING TO LOSE - Angie Bartoni Case File # 5 (ANGIE BARTONI CASE FILES)

by Marshall Huffman

  “Do everything in your power to see that doesn’t happen.”

  “We are, believe me, we are. Hopefully talking to Hall will give us something we can use.”

  “Uh...listen, I gave him a sedative. Something to ease his anxiety. I think you will be able to get a little more out of him than normal,” he said quietly.

  “What did you give him?”

  “You don’t want to know. Just ask your questions. It will only last about thirty minutes.”

  “Thanks Doctor Warman.”

  “Ben. Ben Warman.”

  “Angie Bartoni. Dan Roberts.”

  “Yes. I Googled you to see what you were all about,” he said.

  Drop mouth again. I was getting tired of looking like a fool in front of this guy.

  He took us down the hall and opened the door. He didn’t enter with us. Justin was sitting half up in the bed. His eyes were open but sort of glazed over. He looked kind of out of it to tell the truth.

  “Justin,” I said.

  He slowly focused in my general direction.

  “Justin. I’m Detective Bartoni. Do you remember me.”

  “Yes.”

  “Justin. I need to know who all is working with you. I know you work for Belk, but who else is involved?”

  “Belk?”

  “Yes. Who else works with him?”

  “Pete.”

  “Pete Anderson?”

  “Pete Anderson,” he repeated.

  “Who else?”

  “Another guy.”

  “What is his name?”

  “I don’t remember,” he said.

  “Think. You work with him. You must remember. When you talk to him, what do you call him?”

  “Dude.”

  “Justin. He has a real name. I need that name.”

  “Murray.”

  “What is Murray’s last name?”

  “I don’t know. Never heard it.”

  “Okay Justin. Where is Belk now?”

  “Brownsburg.”

  “Where in Brownsburg?”

  “Country Road.”

  “Where on Country Road? East Country Road? I need the address.”

  No answer.

  “Justin?”

  I heard a slight snore. He was totally out.

  “I think we got all we are going to for now,” Dan said.

  “I want more but you’re right. He is out of it. We need to find out who the Murray guy is. Pete Anderson I have a file two inches thick on. Maybe Marsha can do something with it.”

  “What did the doctor give him?”

  “He wouldn’t say. He said I probably shouldn’t know.”

  “Isn’t that just the sweetest thing?”

  Did I mention I was going to really hurt him when he least expected it? Well I am. Probably.

  **

  “Did you get anything of value?" Doctor Warman asked when we came out of the room.

  “Yes, thanks to you. Whatever you gave him made him a lot more forthcoming than the last time we talked to him.”

  “Excellent. I hope it helps you to apprehend these guys.”

  “It’s a lot more than we had.”

  “If I can be of further assistance, please let me know.”

  “Angie,” Dan chimed in, “you said you wanted to drop in on Penny. Why don’t you do that while I run this back and do the background checks?” he said.

  “Dan. We only have one car. That would be a problem don’t you think?”

  “Not really. It won’t take that long to get things rolling.”

  “We haven’t eaten yet,” I reminded him, more to get him off the subject.

  “No problem,” Doctor Warman said, “We have a great cafeteria here. Not your run of the mill hospital food.”

  “No really, I should get back,” I said but before I could put a little more protest into it Dan was already walking down the hall.

  “Good man,” Warman said.

  “A real peach,” I managed to choke out.

  **

  Penny was a joy. She melted my heart as we sat there. She was so smart and took things in stride so much better than I could have.

  “Are you going to get the people that did this?”

  “Honey, I will do everything in my power to catch them and see that they get just what they deserve.”

  “Mommy says it is bad to want to see people hurt but he hurt my daddy. I don’t care if he is hurt,” she said in a small little voice.

  “I know Penny. I want the same thing. You have a good mommy and she is trying to help you not be bitter over this. You listen to her and let me take care of everything else. Okay?”

  “Okay,” she said, yawning.

  “Better let her rest,” the doctor said.

  Outside the room I had to bite my lip to keep from sniveling. I just wanted to hold her and make it all right again.

  “You did very well in there. She likes you.”

  “I like her a lot too. She is a lot braver than me.”

  “I’m not so sure about that. Shall we grab a bite to eat? I’m starving.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “So Detective Angelina Bartoni, I read that you are quite some hero. The list of commendations is very impressive,” Ben said as we were looking over the menu board.

  “I’ve seen your vita as well. Talk about impressive,” I replied.

  I am so not good at small talk. I probably sounded like a blockhead.

  “You save lives your way and I do it my way. They are pretty similar when you think about it,” he replied.

  I was glad when it was my turn to order. When we got to the register he insisted on paying for my meal. Damn, it was difficult enough without feeling guilty or obligated. We found a table and sat down.

  “So, do you think you can you get these guys?”

  “I never make promises that I can't keep but I can tell you I sure intend to give it everything I have.”

  “I don’t think I would like to have you coming after me,” he said taking a bite of his sandwich.

  I ate fairly dainty bites half my normal size so I wouldn’t seem like a raptor tearing flesh off a dead dinosaur.

  “Sandwich no good?” he asked watching me.

  “No. It’s fine. Just great. Why?”

  “Cause your nibbling at it. You afraid to take a bite in case I’m evaluating you?”

  “Are you? Evaluating me?”

  “Actually I was thinking how fortunate I was to be having lunch with you. I must properly thank Dan.”

  “Doctor...”

  “Ben.”

  “Ben, look. I’m just a lowly detective. I’m exactly what you see. It gets marginally better if I really try but the key word is marginally. That and the fact that I don’t try very often. My job is crazy. I have to be crazy to do it. You on the other hand are a skilled surgeon. I’ve already noticed at least three nurses giving me the evil eye for even sitting here with you. I think you are an incredible guy but I honestly can’t see anything really happening.”

  “Why?”

  “Why? I just told you why.”

  “I must have missed something. I didn’t hear one thing in there that said you had no interest in me whatsoever.”

  “Ben.”

  “Angie.”

  “Damn it Ben. I’m no good at relationships. It’s taken me over a year to even halfway like Dan.”

  “I have lots of time. I’m in no particular hurry.”

  “I am not going to have any further discussions along these lines,” I told him.

  “Okay. How about those Cubs? Think they have a chance at the Word Series this year.”

  “Don’t make me cuff you.”

  “And then what?”

  **

  It took old fashion police work before we were able to put a last name with Murray. Murray Rice has been in and out of jail since the age of twelve. His escalation of crimes has been growing for years. He started with B & E and worked his way up to murder. Now it appeared he had hoo
ked up with Richard Belk. He couldn’t go much higher than partnering with a mass murderer.

  Like Belk, he was a psychopath who had no feelings for anything or anyone. This wasn’t done for money or personal gain. It was done because he liked hurting people. Great, another misanthropyh running around lose. Two hours ago I didn’t even know what one was and now I had two.

  It was an hour later that the next nightmare cropped up.

  “Bartoni. The Mayor wants us to have a statement for the press.”

  “Captain. We can’t. It would be irresponsible to do that. One word could set this guy off and cause the death of more people.”

  “I realize that, you realize that, what we have to do is convince him that we, read you there, have to do the talking.”

  “Oh yeah, like that is going to happen. There are leaf blowers with less wind.”

  “Less wind than whom?” came from the doorway.

  I turned around and saw the Mayor standing there with his team of ‘yes’ boys and girls.

  “Captain, Detective. I just caught the last part of that. I assume you were referring to me?”

  “No,” the Captain said.

  “Yes,” I said.

  He looked at me and then laughed.

  “Bartoni you are the balliest person on the force. What’s got a bee in your bonnet?’

  “Sir. First, sorry about that. But the truth is we are dealing with a person that is believed to have misanthropy. It means he doesn’t really care who he hurts. He sees all of us normal people as a waste. To him hurting people is like us breathing. He also has something they call Intermittent Explosive Disorder or IED. It’s a lot like what the military calls IED. They happen to mean Improvised Explosive Device. They are similar in some ways. You never know who or what is going to set them off. Nevertheless they can explode at any time and it only takes a small spark to trigger them.”

  “And you think I might just do such a thing?”

  “Sir, I’m afraid anyone could do such a thing. I would like to have the profiler from the FBI, Marsha Baker, handle the press. She has been studying him and hopefully can keep from letting the press get out of hand.”

  The Mayor rubbed his chin.

  “Sir,” one of the minions said. “You set the tone for the city. We can’t let him do this and get away with it. People need reassurances.”

  “Cut the crap,” I said angrily, “They need this guy caught, they need him in control of his faculties. They don’t need reassurances which we can't deliver.”

  “Bartoni,” the captain’s voice cautioned.

  Assurances. What kind of assurances did this twit think we could offer? Piss him off and I know one assurance. He is going to kill a heck of a lot more people.

  “I’ll tell you what Detective, I will hold the press conference and have the FBI woman with me to make sure everything goes as planned. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’m pretty sure I know how to butter popcorn,” he said and in an instant was gone.

  “Bartoni...awe hell. Just go get this guy before he kills half the people in the city.”

  “Captain, if the Mayor holds that press conference you know more people are going to die. Butter on popcorn. What a moron.”

  “I can’t do anything about it.”

  “I know. It’s just so frustrating.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “Good afternoon. As you know we are facing a serious problem in our city. I want to assure you that we are diligently working on this nonstop,” the Mayor said, “We have called in not only the FBI but Homeland Security as well. I have with me Marsha Baker from the FBI’s Profiler Unit. Ms. Baker,” he said turning it over to her.

  So far so good. Maybe this wouldn’t be a disaster after all.

  “Ladies and gentlemen. We do not profess to know what the human mind is capable of. We all work differently. No one profile fits all and no one term covers all conditions. What we do know is that it is likely that we will see an increased progression of violence. I’m afraid, as bad as the library and bank bombings were in terms of lives lost and injured, that it will continue to escalate. So how do we protect ourselves? Vigilance, first and foremost. Don’t just assume something is as it appears. Make sure you take the time to check it out. The most secure countries in the world are those that train their citizens in how to look for anomalies. You need to know how to take the proper steps to report suspicious activity. You must become involved in your own safety, not hope someone else will do it. Do not rely on the police, FBI or Homeland Security. Rely on your own powers of observation and common sense. If it doesn’t look right to you, it probably isn’t. Err on the side of caution,” she said.

  The media immediately started shouting out questions but she stood her ground. She chose her words carefully making sure that nothing could be taken out of context. Well, as much as you can ever be sure with the press.

  I was starting to feel pretty good until the last two questions.

  “Mayor. Do you have any words for the person who did this?”

  “We will find you. We will hunt you down like the common criminal you are.”

  “Sir, I heard there was a substantial reward, is that true?”

  “One hundred thousand dollar...”

  I turned it off and looked at the captain. He was just shaking his head.

  **

  Belk threw the remote control across the room shattering it. He was ranting at the television like it was a living person. Pete had quietly left the room because when Belk became like this he was totally unpredictable.

  “You fat stupid bastard,” he was yelling at the top of his lungs, “Hunt me down. Hunt me down? I got news for you fatso, I’m going to be the one doing the hunting.”

  Pete heard a sudden crash and stuck his head in the door to see what caused it. The television was gone and the window was broken out. He had thrown it through the front room window. Pete decided it would be a good time to take a little walk.

  **

  Belk and Anderson sat in the basement making the final assembly of the fertilizer and ammonium nitrate bomb. They were packing everything into two large construction boxes where the renovation work was being done.

  “How are you doing?” Belk asked Pete Anderson.

  “Maybe twenty more minutes.”

  “Make sure you put the Napalm on top as well.”

  “Got it right there,” he answered.

  “I want the timers set for 6:30 p.m. That is when the most people are home,” Belk told him.

  The Lakeside Condos were just five years old but new management had acquired them and decided to make some renovations to the lobby and upgrade the security systems by placing them in the subbasement.

  Ambassador Construction got the bid and was in the process of making the changes. Pete had been able to get a job and for the last four days had been scouting the entire area. It didn’t take him long to figure a way to disable the current security system and to move the explosives in.

  Belk designed the actual bombs and decided where the best placement was to cause the maximum destruction. There were two large ten foot by ten foot tool containers in the basement and they were on rollers.

  Belk looked at this watch. Ten more minutes and he wanted to be ready to get out of the place.

  “Ready?” he asked Pete.

  “Ready.”

  “Yours goes right here he said.”

  Pete already knew where it went but he also knew that it took only the slightest thing to set Belk off.

  “Help me get the other one on the freight elevator,” he said.

  Pete helped him push the heavy container into the elevator. The building was ten stories tall. Belk closed the gate and pushed the button for the fifth floor. Once it was on the way, they picked up their tools, put their hats on and walked out into the garage.

  Pete got in the driver’s side and they calmly drove out of the parking garage and headed down the street. Pete pulled into a
second parking garage. They took the tools out of the van and placed them in the SUV. Belk had walked over to the edge of the garage and was watching the condos.

  “Ready for some fun?”

  “Whenever you are.” Pete answered.

  Belk took the detonator out of his pocket, played with it a second, and then pressed the button.

  **

  The building almost seemed to lift off the ground for a moment before the fire and smoke started to shoot out of every part of the structure. The blast reverberated off the surrounding buildings and windows exploded.

  Car alarms were going off all around the area. People started coming out of buildings to see what was going on. Belk and Anderson watched as one wall of the building came crashing down. Then another and another. Finally the rest was obscured from the smoke and debris being thrown up.

  “That was satisfying,” Belk said and got into the SUV.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Holy smokes. He brought the entire building down,” Dan said when we pulled up.

  “Darn close to it. I’m afraid the death toll is going to be staggering.”

  “This is ridicules. How come they can’t put the fire out?” Dan wanted to know.

  “I guess there was a lot of flammable stuff. The water doesn’t seem to be doing much good.”

  “Hey Chief,” I yelled.

  He finally located me and waved me over.

  “What gives with the fire?’

  “Napalm. We have sent for a smothering agent but it is still ten minutes out.”

  “Napalm? You mean he dropped a Napalm bomb on the building?” Dan asked.

  “No. He added it to the other explosives. Probably a fertilizer and ammonia nitrate type device. They used at least two devices. One in the lower section, probably the basement and one about half way up for maximum destruction.”

  “So if someone did happen to live, more than likely the Napalm is going to finish them off.”

  “Between the heat and the smoke? Yeah, probably,” he said.

  “Any survivors yet? The first responders don’t look very busy at the moment.”

  “Not until we can knock the flames down. They have worked on a few people that happened to be walking by or in cars next to the building. Not many though.”