At Large

by C. M. Sutter

  John addressed Luca. “Can you go to a store and pick up a burner phone for me later?”

  “Of course. No problem at all.”

  “Good. Maybe after dinner.”

  Luca excused himself to answer his buzzing phone. The screen door’s broken spring caused it to slam behind Luca as he stepped out to the porch.

  John waited until he saw Luca cross the driveway then began talking to Curt. “I’m putting the order in place to have both guards from the arsenal killed. Trent Harvey is already dead, and now it’s the guards turn to meet up with foul play.” John looked up and to his left as he thought. “So that leaves—”

  Curt leaned closer to his brother and whispered. “It leaves Conway, Cruz, Luca, his two cousins, and the two border patrol officers.”

  John let out a low whistle. “Wow, that’s a lot of people, but it needs to be done. Conway and Cruz will go last. They can take care of Mauricio and Antonio up north, and we’ll take care of Luca and the border patrol officers here.”

  “Then who’ll kill Cruz and Conway?”

  “We will when we return to Chicago to take out McCord.”

  Luca crossed the porch and entered the house. “That was Antonio.”

  John eyed him suspiciously. “Is your cousin going rogue? He deals with Conway and Cruz, and they’re supposed to pass along information. There’s never supposed to be direct communication with the hired guns.”

  Luca shrugged. “I’m sorry, John, and I don’t know why he called. Maybe he was proud of what they did today and wanted to boast.”

  “Yeah, and I’ll discuss that with Cruz. Calling here directly isn’t allowed. It leaves a communications trail from his phone to yours. You are related, damn it!” John raked his hair, and a red flush climbed up his neck. “So what did he say?”

  “That he and Mauricio laid a good beating on McCord at his house. Apparently, two security company men pulled up in a work van just as he and Mauricio arrived. They put a beatdown on them first, impersonated them, and when McCord showed up, they worked him over.”

  The image of McCord being beaten made John smile. “Were they wearing their masks?”

  “Antonio said they were.”

  “Good. Very good, but nobody that’s related to you ever calls you directly. Understand?”

  “I do, sir, and again, I apologize for my cousin.”

  John chugged his beer. “I’ll make sure Cruz takes their phones away. He can pick up burners for them to use when necessary. Your cousins were allowed one pass, and they just used it.”

  Chapter 26

  “You are stubborn. I’ll give you that.” Lutz shook his head at me.

  “Boss, just because my body hurts doesn’t mean my mind isn’t capable of working.”

  I sat with the rest of our detectives in the roll call room as we put together a plan of action. After the security company driver positively identified Mauricio from his mug shot, an APB was issued for the Vasquez brothers. The DMV records showed Mauricio owned a 2008 black Chevy Caprice, and a BOLO was put out for the vehicle.

  “Now it’s time to put the pressure on Maria. We’ll let her know we have a DNA match and she’s going to take the fall for Tina Morton’s murder if she doesn’t start talking. We need names of every Vasquez relative and known associate of the brothers,” I said.

  “I’ll get their faces on every news channel. It’s about the only thing the media is good for these days. Usually, they interfere more than they help,” Lutz said. The commander pointed at Frank and me. “I’ve already contacted Maria Vasquez’s attorney, and he’s on his way. Lay everything on the table and make sure she knows where your injuries came from, McCord. Say that Hal threw her under the bus, and he’ll get immunity for his testimony against her. Neither Maria nor her attorney will know if that’s true or not. Tell her she’ll stand trial alone and get thirty to life unless she coughs up every detail about Tina’s murder and where her brothers are located. I’m sure her attorney will want to make a deal since she has nothing to bargain with.” Lutz jerked his chin toward the door. “Go ahead and do that now.”

  I let out an involuntary groan as I stood, then I held up my hand right when Lutz started to protest. “I’m good, Bob, just sore.”

  Frank led the way but not to the stairs.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “To the service elevator. As slow as you’re moving, it’ll be time to go home before we get to the interrogation room.”

  I snickered as I held my ribs. “You’re a laugh a minute, buddy.”

  Frank raised his brows. “Yeah, take a look in the mirror. Now get in the elevator.”

  Bill Rebach, the daytime officer in charge of the jail area, had already placed Maria in box three by the time we arrived. With our weapons stowed, we met up with Maria’s attorney in the hallway and entered the interrogation room together. Maria glanced at us with a look of surprise covering her face.

  “Get into an accident, Detective McCord?”

  “Yeah, as a matter of fact, I did, but it was a run-in with your brothers, not another vehicle.”

  She suddenly went quiet and stared at her attorney, Jared Bell.

  Frank slid out both chairs, and we sat down. Her lawyer took a seat at Maria’s side. “Cat got your tongue, Maria?” Frank asked.

  “I’ll talk on her behalf.”

  I nodded. “That’s fine. She can listen. She’ll get a reduced sentence, but it’ll only be honored if her information pans out. As of right now, she’s looking at thirty to life.” I locked eyes with Maria. “Hal has given you up and said you orchestrated the murder of his wife and had your brothers carry out the deed. We have DNA proof.”

  She pounded the table. “How dare he—”

  Attorney Bell snapped his head toward her. “Maria, shut up. I’ll do the talking.”

  I smiled and knew we were getting to her. “We want to know who your brothers run with, what members of your family have no problem working outside the law, and where your brothers are hiding out. We have officers watching their apartments and your parents’ home. Neither of your brothers has shown up. We’re thinking you gave them the ‘get out of town’ orders before we picked you up or when you made your call from here yesterday. Am I getting warm?”

  Her attorney jotted down notes. “Continue.”

  “Family names and known associates right now, or she’ll be charged with the murder of Tina Morton and Hal will be released.” I passed a legal pad across the table. “Start writing, or we’re leaving.”

  Attorney Bell nodded at Maria. “Go ahead.”

  Fifteen minutes later, with ten names on the pad, Frank and I stood and walked to the door. “We’ll be in touch.”

  Frank chuckled as we entered the elevator and rode it to our floor. “Maria is going to go ballistic when she realizes that all of them will be charged with Tina’s murder.”

  “Yep, all four of them are looking at a minimum of twenty to life. Now, let’s find those Vasquez brothers.”

  We made a stop at Lutz’s office before returning to the bull pen, and I waved the legal pad at the commander. “We have names, Bob.”

  Lutz pushed back his chair and rounded the desk. “Good. Let’s sit in the bull pen and go over the list. The news stations will be airing the brothers’ descriptions and mug shots around the clock. The BOLO for the Caprice and the APBs are in place. Now it’s up to us and Patrol to track down those murderers.”

  We gathered around the table at the back of our bull pen. Lutz and six homicide detectives with laptops in front of them went over the names Maria provided. How honest she was, we didn’t know. Some names could be fictitious, some could be real, and the most important people could have been left out altogether, but we had to start somewhere. Maria’s parents had been interviewed already and gave us nothing, but since we had no leverage to use against them, they had no reason to talk. With a list of four Vasquez names in other states and another six known associates, we had something to begin with.


  “Let’s enter these names into the criminal database first and see where we are with them, then we’ll go from there,” Lutz said.

  It was pushing five o’clock by the time we had compiled the information we needed. Out of ten names, six were men with police records, and none of them had the last name Vasquez.

  I slapped the table. “Was she playing us?”

  Henry pulled up the surname Vasquez in the national database. He nodded. “I bet she was. There are over one hundred thousand men with the last name Vasquez in the United States, and many of them have the same first name.”

  Lutz groaned and told me in no uncertain terms to go home. They would work the list on their own for the next hour, then the evening crew would be in at six o’clock. He reminded me that not only was my house still unsecure, but I hadn’t picked up Bandit from the animal hospital either.

  “Abrams has a patrol unit stationed in front of your house and one at each end of your block. You’ll have police protection around the clock until the threat to you is over. Nobody will get past those officers. Do what you can to get those cameras set up, and make sure you get an alarm system installed as soon as you can that connects directly with the district police station.”

  I knew protesting would fall on deaf ears. When Lutz put his foot down, it generally stayed down. I left our district precinct and headed to the animal hospital. My pup needed to go home, and I couldn’t wait to see him again. As I drove, I called the security company and asked if somebody was still available to show up that day. They agreed to send a crew to my house at six o’clock. With a thanks for their understanding and an apology for the earlier attack on their employees, I hung up and made my final work-related call of the day. I asked Lutz to have Abrams tell his patrol officers that a security installation crew was coming to my house at six o’clock. They needed to be allowed through, and I would do my best to be home before that.

  I turned in to the lot at the Hyde Park Animal Hospital, parked and went inside, told the receptionist who I was and my pet’s name, then waited as she made a call. I noticed the longer-than-necessary stare she gave me.

  I gently touched my head injury. “I tripped over my feet.”

  She nodded as if she accepted that answer. “The vet tech is bringing Bandit out. It’ll be a few minutes.”

  I thanked her and took a seat. A program about dog training played on the TV in the corner of the room. Minutes later, I heard the click, click, click of toenails against the tile. Bandit was headed my way under his own power. He squealed and lost traction on the smooth tile as he tried to get to me faster than his feet could manage. I knelt on the floor and scooped him up in my arms. “How ya doing, buddy?”

  He answered by covering my face with wet licks.

  “Ready to go home, Bandit?”

  He let out more squeals and spun in circles as I fastened the leash to his collar.

  “Give me just a second here to settle up.”

  The vet tech laughed. “Just make sure Bandit drinks plenty of water and stays relatively calm. He was lucky this time. Please check that there aren’t any harmful chemicals or products within his reach too.”

  I thanked him and paid the bill, but I wasn’t going to explain that two lowlife criminals had deliberately poisoned Bandit. I was one hundred percent sure the Vasquez brothers were behind everything that had happened to me over the last few days.

  Bandit happily trotted to the car and jumped in on the passenger side. Hopefully, within the next few days, the Vasquez name would be just a bad memory. Everyone involved in Tina’s murder, Bandit’s poisoning, and the attacks on the security installers and me would be behind bars where they belonged.

  After pulling onto my street, I rolled up to the patrol unit at the next block and stopped. “Hey, Graves. Has a security company come through on their way to my house?”

  “Not yet, Detective McCord. They may have entered the block from the other end, though.”

  “Sure, no problem. Thanks, and keep up the good work.”

  Continuing on, I passed six houses by the time I reached my own. A patrol car sat along the curb on the opposite side of the street, and there was no sign of a security van. I waved to the officers and pulled into my garage with time to get Bandit settled and fed before the installers arrived.

  I had mapped out the spots around the house where I wanted the six cameras and motion-sensor lights. Each corner, the side gate, and the sliders would have cameras. The corner cameras would face outward, and the gate and slider cameras would face those points of entry. Every camera and light would be triggered upon movement that was twenty inches above the ground’s surface. I would schedule an alarm system to be installed next week, and that would alert the police station. For now, the cameras and lights would be a good deterrent.

  My phone rang at exactly six o’clock. It was Graves calling from the end of the block. “We just let a Windy City Security van through, Detective McCord.”

  “Okay, I see them coming. Thanks.” I hung up, made sure Bandit was lying comfortably on the couch, and grabbed the diagram I had plotted. I would walk the perimeter of the house with the installers and show them exactly where I wanted the cameras.

  Chapter 27

  By seven thirty, the two-man crew had all the cameras in place and activated. Two monitors were set up for me—one in the living room, next to the TV, and one in my bedroom. Whenever I wanted, I could check the six-way split screen and view what was going on outside from the rooms I was in most often. I walked the men out and thanked them, then I passed through the gate on my way inside. The motion-sensor light came on immediately. I entered the backyard, walked up the steps to the deck, and then to the sliders. The entire deck lit up.

  Good. It looks like everything is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.

  I felt better already, and I wanted everyone around me to feel safe, so I made the call to Dean.

  “Hey, neighbor. I have two empty glasses here just begging for some Macallan to be poured into them. How about a proper thank-you for coming to my rescue today? Bandit wants to say thanks too.”

  “Bandit is home?”

  “You bet. Come on over and bring Jackson along.”

  Dean and Jackson showed up minutes later, and I walked them around the outside of the house. I wanted my dearest neighbor, and a man I’d known most of my life, to feel safe living next door to me.

  “The cameras and motion-sensor lights should keep unwanted guests away, but if anyone insists on trying to get in, I’m having an alarm system installed next week. That should keep the bad guys at bay.”

  Dean seemed impressed with the system, and I was sure it helped to relieve the anxiety he might have felt earlier that day.

  “Have those two guys been caught?”

  “Unfortunately not yet, but we know who they are, and they can’t hide forever. You’ll probably see their faces show up on every news channel.”

  “Did they come here because of John Vance’s escape?”

  Dean’s question took me by surprise. It was the talk of Chicago and the national news when our sting operation took down a good number of John’s heavy hitters more than four years ago. It was also broadcast nationwide that I had shot and killed his brother, Jake, during a shoot-out between him and our narcotics team. A year later, I was lucky enough to put the handcuffs on John Vance myself. His drug cartel was crippled for a while, especially after he went to prison, but during the last three years, he’d managed to build it up again with outside help. I wouldn’t have expected Dean to remember all of that.

  “No, unrelated case. This is about a recent homicide I’ve been working on. Sorry, but that’s all I can say about it.”

  He tipped his chin toward the house. “I understand. How about going inside? I’m excited to see how Bandit is doing.”

  In the kitchen, I poured two glasses of Macallan while Jackson and Dean played with Bandit. My pup was back to normal, and I would do everything in my power to keep him that w
ay. I watched with a smile plastered across my bruised and stitched face, and everything felt safe once more, exactly as it should.

  In bed that night, I had a feeling of calm wash over me. My dog was alive and doing well, my neighbor felt safe, and I knew the system I had installed would give me fair warning if anyone was prowling around. I would inspect my door locks tomorrow to see if they were good enough and buy a bar to put in the patio door track instead of my baseball bat. Before turning off the light, I looked at the monitor sitting on my dresser. Everything outside appeared quiet. I glanced at my dog lying on the blankets near my feet. He was sound asleep, without a care in the world. I turned the switch, closed my eyes, and knew I would sleep peacefully that night.

  Chapter 28

  I woke feeling refreshed on Thursday morning but shook my head as I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but wounds healed and bruises faded over time. During my lunch break, I planned to call an alarm company to have a system installed. My home would be a mini Fort Knox, and soon enough, the Vasquez brothers would join their sister and Hal Morton behind bars. Life would continue, and we would move on to the next case.

  I gave Bandit a thorough scratch behind his ears as he ate, then I put him outside to do his business while I showered and got ready for work.

  An hour later, I placed my hand on the palm reader as I checked through to the homicide unit at our precinct. Henry, carrying a folder, met up with me as I walked the hallway toward the bull pen.

  “It’s crazy in there, Jesse. Just giving you a heads-up.”

  I frowned. “Crazy how? Were the Vasquez brothers found?”

  “Nope, but something very interesting came over the wire this morning.”

  I folded my arms over my chest as I leaned against the wall. “Go on.”

  “That list Maria Vasquez gave you and Frank yesterday went out to every law enforcement agency in the Midwest just in case the Vasquez boys decided to run.”

  “Uh-huh, and then what?”