He looked at Jake, then back to Dani. “Both of you step back. Let me handle this.”
Neither one of them wanted to comply, but it was the best course of action at the moment. They stepped back. Dani took out her phone.
“Michaels, I need you to get me a life story on a Billy or William Lacca. Within the the next hour would be great.”
She closed her phone and leaned against the wall.
Jeremy turned to Daren. “Daren, you are in a lot of trouble. Your father is in a lot of trouble. Right now we don’t have Billy so we can’t match his prints to what we found in the house and warehouse. You will go down for these murders if we can’t find him. Your father will go down at minimum for Ms. Granta’s murder if we can’t find him.”
Jeremy leaned a little closer. “Now tell us everything that happened, first the night in the warehouse, then the morning Ms. Granta was killed.”
Daren took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. “I need one more thing before I tell you.” He looked around the room. “I’d like to have a minute to talk to Katie.”
“Not on your life,” Jake said through clinched teeth.
“I just want to apologize. I honestly don’t know what came over me. It did happen once before. I don’t know why that happened either. I’m willing to get some help to figure it out. I’m sorry all this happened. I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt, let alone killed. Please just let me apologize to her.”
Dani and Jake looked at each other and nodded to Daren. “We’ll leave it up to her. It’s the best we can offer.”
“I’ll take it.” He sat up straight. Though he barely took a breath he recited what happened the night and morning Zach and Jennifer were killed.
It was close to ten p.m. when Daren was taken to a holding cell and Matt was released. They all knew Matt had nothing to do with Jennifer’s murder, so with Daren’s account of what happened they didn’t have anything to hold him on. They headed back to the squad room.
When they walked in Katie and Willy were arguing with Wilson and it seems Mr. and Mrs. Textler.
“Did you know they were still here?” Dani asked Jake as she headed over to them.
“Nope. I figured they left hours ago.”
Dani stepped between Wilson and Willy. “What’s going on?”
“We found them,” Willy and Katie said at the same time that Wilson said, “They’re trying to go after the others.”
“Whoa, hold on.”
“But…”
“No ‘buts.’ Just hold on a second.”
She turned to Mr. and Mrs. Textler. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were still here. I wasn’t expecting to be away so long.”
“It’s okay. We were having fun watching Willy and Katie work. It’s been way to long since we took the time to see him in action,” Mrs. Textler smiled at Willy.
“But it’s been almost five hours. You must be exhausted and starving.”
“We tried to get them to take a break,” Mr. Textler said. “But they were having none of that, so we ordered pizza for the whole squad. There is some left if you want it.”
He pointed to Wilson’s desk.
“Thank God, I’m starving.” Jake headed for a slice.
“I’m sorry you had to do that. Please send me the bill.”
She turned to Wilson. “What’s going on?”
“They think they found the others. They’ve been trying to sneak out of here for the last half hour.”
“We can’t just sit around,” Willy argued. “We have to go get them.”
“This is not the damn movies,” Wilson yelled. “We have procedures that need to be followed.”
“I don’t give a damn about your procedures. I’m going to get my friends.” He started to leave, but Jake grabbed him by the back of the collar.
“Hold on.” He took a bite of his pizza as he pulled him back to the group.
“Tell me what you found out,” Dani ordered.
“It’s this house,” Willy pointed to a print of the house they got from Google earth. “We have to get them out of there.”
“How sure are you about this?”
“One hundred percent. That’s the house.”
“Okay, Wilson, get on line with the locals. Have them do a drive-by. Let’s get a handle on what’s going on there. Then get with a local judge to get a warrant to search the house.”
“That’s going to take too long,” Willy yelled.
Katie grabbed his hand. “Willy, you have to trust Dani. She won’t let anything happen to them.”
“Katie, I promised them I’d get help. It’s been three days. They’re probably thinking I forgot about them.”
Jake handed Dani some aspirin and a drink. Before she even realized what she was doing she threw them in her mouth, taking a long swallow to wash them down.
“Okay, we’re working on it. If they are there we’ll get them out. Let Wilson do his job. As soon as we get confirmation they are there or a signed warrant, we’ll head over to the house.”
She turned to Michaels. “Michaels! My office, now!”
Jake followed her with a slice of pizza in his hand and another on a paper plate. As soon as she sat at her desk he placed it in front of her. “Eat!”
Dani stared at the pizza as tears started in her eyes. “Please stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Taking care of me.” She looked up at him. “Did you give me the aspirin I just took?”
“You have a headache.”
“I think I know that. I was going to take them. I was also going to eat. I don’t need or want you to make sure I eat.”
“Okay, sorry. I was just trying to be a good partner. I’ll let you suffer from now on.”
Dani didn’t have a chance to answer because Michaels came in and dropped a folder on her desk. She picked up the pizza and took a bite as she opened the folder.
Since her mouth was full Jake asked, “Have they found him yet?”
“No, but an APB is out on him and his car.”
“Any known associates we can harass?” Dani took another bite.
“Yes, Martin and I were just heading out to see if we can run him down. Name’s Paul Rabone. They did some time in juvenile detention together. Rabone is now a bouncer at a bar on 4th Avenue.”
“What about family?”
“Mother and Grandmother live in Brooklyn. Two sisters. We’re running them down now. Father in Florida. He’s in prison for murder.”
“Seems the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.” She closed the file and handed it over to Jake as she took the last bite of her pizza.
“We’ll try Rabone first, then head out to Brooklyn.”
“Okay, be careful. This guy is obviously not playing with a full deck.”
Jeremy came in as Michaels walked out.
“I’m heading out. Did you need anything else?”
“No, but copy me on the report. Jake will send ours over sometime in the morning.”
“If you need any help with Lacca, let me know.”
“Thanks for your help. You’ll square everything away with your DA?”
“He’s not going to be happy, but I’ll fill him in and have him call Pendleton.” He leaned in and kissed Dani on the cheek. “It was good to see you again. Call me if you need anything. Even if it’s just to talk.”
Dani smiled. He really is a great guy. At the time she just wasn’t ready to give him what he wanted. “Thanks. I may take you up on that.”
He shook Jake’s hand and left.
Dani sat back down at her desk. Jake took the seat across from her. “I’m still mad at you for giving him that deal.”
Dani glared at him. “Since you’ll be gone by Monday, I’m not too worried about that.”
“You think we’ll find this guy by tomorrow?”
“Oh yeah. Since I don’t plan to stop the search until I have his neck in my hands.”
He leaned against the wall. He didn’t realize how restl
ess he was, but it’s been a long day. Now that they had some answers he just wanted it all to be over. He changed the subject as Dani finish her second slice of pizza.
“Wilson showed the list of names from Dr. Oberman’s journals to Willy. The seven geniuses were all at the meeting in the café. Kim, Melony and Leon were in the lab with him. He talked to Henry the day before he was kidnapped. He hasn’t heard from Travis in about a month. Melissa is the last one. She was at the meeting but didn’t keep in touch with anyone as far as he knows. He put out an APB on all of them. He is checking with other morgues for Jane Does. I told him to get in touch with other precincts for recent missing persons.”
Dani laughed. “I guess I can’t call him rookie anymore. He’s impressing the hell out of me on this case.”
She got up and called out the door. “Mr. and Mrs. Textler, can I see you in here, please?”
“Maybe you should tell him that.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
She closed the door behind the Textlers. Jake held the chair for Mrs. Textler. Then he pulled a chair from the corner of the office over for Mr. Textler, but he was too busy staring at the case board to sit.
“Do you lay out all your cases like this?”
“Yes. It makes it easier to review when everything is laid out in front of you like that.”
“Huh, I suppose it does.” He took one last look at the board and sat. “Those poor kids. First being brought into this world as a clone of someone else, then being killed because of it.”
Jake grinned. “I see you’ve been filled in on the whole case.”
“We did have plenty of time to observe what goes on in a police squad room,” Mrs. Textler stated. “I have to say I was fascinated at the whole process.”
Dani smiled. “While I’m glad you enjoyed yourselves, I am sorry that we kept you waiting. We’re working on another case also. It’s come to a head tonight.”
“We heard,” Mr. Textler said. “We’re sorry that Katie seems to have had the month from hell. But I’m glad she found Willy. Maybe she’ll be able to keep him grounded a little. We know he’ll be able to help her. His compassion and sense of humor helps everyone he knows get through their troubles.”
“I know Jake filled you in on what happened out in the parking lot this afternoon. Does he do things like that often?”
“More than we would like.”
Wilson knocked and came in. “Oh, sorry to interrupt.”
“It’s fine. What’s up?”
“I talked to the judge. He’ll sign the warrant but only if we can prove that something is going on in that house.”
“Damn,” Jake said. “Judges pull the same bullshit on the East Coast that they do on the West Coast.”
“Meaning?” Mrs. Textler asked.
Dani motioned to Wilson to answer.
He cleared his throat. “Ah, it’s going to be almost impossible to prove something is going on in the house if we can’t get in. We can’t get in if we don’t have a warrant.”
Willy pulled Katie out into the hall. “Come on. They’re not looking. We can go get the others.” He pulled her toward the exit.
Katie grabbed his hand. “I don’t think we should do that. Dani and Jake will kill us.”
Willy stopped. “Katie, I promised I’d bring help. I have to go.” He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “Try to stall them when they find out I’m gone.”
He gave her another quick kiss and headed for the door.
Katie stared after him a moment before running to catch up.
“Katie, it might be better if you stay. It could be dangerous.”
She grabbed his hand. “It’s dangerous for you, too.”
“Yeah, but I do this stuff all the time. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I don’t want to lose you again.” She gave him a quick kiss.
“Okay, but you have to listen to me when we get there.”
“We’ll see.” She pulled him toward the exit.
“I know they seemed pretty intense on finding the house,” Dani commented. “But did Willy say anything that we could maybe spin to give the judge reason to sign the warrant?”
Wilson thought for a moment before shaking his head. “Not that I can think of.”
“Get them in here. Let’s see what we can come up with.”
Wilson headed into the squad room. Less then a minute later he was back. “They’re not here. I think they took off.”
“Damn it!” Jake yelled and ran out the door.
“You left them alone!” Dani followed.
“No, I told Ormrod to watch them,” Wilson told Dani as he followed.
They all rushed into the squad room. Dani saw Ormrod on the phone with her eyes on her computer screen.
“Where are they?” Dani yelled.
Every detective in the room stopped what they were doing and looked up. Ormrod answered, “They’re right over… damn it.” She jumped up. “They were staring at the board a minute ago.”
Dani, Jake and Wilson took off out of the room. When they got to the front desk, Dani stopped. “Did you see Katie and Willy come by here?”
“I don’t know the guy she was with, but Katie and some guy ran out of here about two minutes ago.”
“And you didn’t stop her!”
He took a step back. “Nobody told me I was supposed to.”
Dani ran out the door. Jake and Wilson followed. She didn’t stop running as she spouted out orders. “They only have a two minute head start. Wilson check the buses. We’re heading for the subway.”
The closest subway entrance was four blocks away. They didn’t stop running until they hit the gates at the entrance to the tunnel.
“Do you have a card?” Jake yelled.
“Not on me,” Dani sighed as she looked through the gate.
“There they are.” Jake shook the gate. “Katie, get your ass back here.”
Katie and Willy looked at them as the train came in. Willy pulled Katie further down the tracks. Dani grabbed the card of the next person walking up to the gate and swiped it. “I owe you four bucks,” she yelled back as she dropped the card and ran after them.
Jake quickly picked up the card, swiped it, and ran after her. “She owes you eight bucks,” he yelled back.
They were still twenty yards away when Willy pulled Katie onto the train before the doors closed. They were five yards away when the train pulled out.
Jake hit the side of the train. “Damn it. I’m going to kill him.”
“Only if you beat me to him.” She took out her phone. “Wilson, they made it onto the train. Pick us up outside. Call the locals. Have them pick them up at the closest train station to the house.”
“We can probably get to them a couple of stations ahead.”
“Yeah, like they’re going to stay on that train.”
She headed back to the gate, but was stopped by a gentle hand on her arm.
“Eight bucks, please.” The guy put his hand out.
Dani looked at Jake. “Give the guy his money,” she ordered, and kept walking.
Jake pulled out a ten and slapped it into the guy’s hand. “Hey, you said you owed it to him, not me.”
Dani smiled and kept walking.
CHAPTER 41
WILLY NOTICED THE COPS ALL over as the train pulled into the station. He grabbed Katie’s hand, pulling her to the last car.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he scanned the tracks on the opposite side of the station.
“The station is loaded with cops. We have to go out this way.”
Katie scanned the tracks. “What if another train comes in?”
“It’s clear now. If we jump we should make it.”
“But the train hasn’t stopped yet.” She moved back a few steps.
“It’s going slow enough. Come on. We can make it.” He grabbed her hand.
Katie sighed. “This just keeps getting better and better.”
She closed her eyes and jumped.
Jake pulled into the train station lot on the way, but when they saw six officers waiting for the train, Dani ordered him to continue to the house. The sheriff was waiting for Dani, Jake, and Wilson when they pulled up the street, a block and half away from the house. It seemed that this house was on a block all by itself. There wasn’t another house in the general vicinity, but they had traveled through a few neighborhoods to get here.
They got out of the car and introduced themselves.
“I just got a call from my men. The kids weren’t on the train.”
Jake shook his head. “I’m starting to hate this kid.”
Dani couldn’t help but smile. Something told her Jake was going to be worst than a father when it came to the boys Katie dated. She was angry with Willy but she was starting to feel sorry for him. If anything happened to Katie, Jake was going to kill him.
After a quick glance at Jake, she turned to the sheriff. “Anything happening at the house?”
“Not that we can see. I’ve ordered six drive-bys since Wilson called me. There has been no reports of any teenagers hanging around outside. As you know, we can’t go in without a warrant. From what I can see, nothing is going on that will give me cause to ask for one.”
“Is the owner home?”
“There’s a car in the driveway.” He took out his notebook. “2001 dark blue Mustang, convertible.”
“Matches the description a witness told us about at one of the murder scenes.”
“Any idea how we can get inside?” Jake asked.
Wilson answered, “Why can’t we just walk up to the front door and ask to speak to Dr. Oberman?”
They all looked at him. He shrugged. “We have plenty of evidence that points to him as a suspect. Don’t we always question the suspects?”
They all shook their head. “That’s a very good point, Detective.” Dani smiled at him. “Come on, Jake. Wilson, stay close. When Willy and Katie show up, arrest them.”
He looked solemn, but nodded.
“I know you want in on this, but all three of us can’t go in.”
“It’s okay. I let them get away, I should be the one to bring them down.” He smiled. “Do you mind if I put cuffs on him?”
Fatally Linked Page 33
