At Large

by C. M. Sutter

  “There was a hit just outside Poplar Bluff, Missouri. A local man walking his dog this morning smelled a rancid odor coming from the woods about a mile from his house. I guess he let the dog lead the way, thinking it could be a dead deer or something of that nature. Curiosity, if nothing else, I imagine. The man stumbled upon a Honda Odyssey with two dead men inside, hidden deep in the brush. The local forensic team printed the bodies on-site and got a hit. They were Norman Flek, aka Nubby, and Lonny Mares, both names on Maria’s list. The Honda was reported stolen right here in Chicago last Sunday night.”

  “Wow, I have to process that and figure out how everything ties together.”

  “Yep, Lutz said that’s our job for today. The rest of the team is working on the other names to see if they all connect somehow.” Henry tipped his head toward the bull pen. “Frank is already here and digging in.”

  “Where were you going?”

  “To give Lutz the files on both men. They had extensive criminal records, mainly here in the Chicagoland area.”

  “Okay, I’ll see where Frank is with everything.”

  I walked into the bull pen and saw Frank at his desk. Paperwork and empty cardboard coffee cups surrounded his laptop.

  “Jeez, what time did you get here?”

  He looked at me then at the clock. “Sevenish.”

  “Why?”

  “Lutz called and said to get a head start on the men found in the woods. They’re tied to the Tina Morton murder case, but we don’t know how.”

  “And nobody thought to call me?”

  He shrugged. “Take it up with Lutz. He said to let you get some rest.”

  “Humph. I guess he meant well. So what do we know about these guys in Missouri?”

  Frank picked up the receiver. “I may as well put Attorney Bell’s name on speed dial. The information we need has to come from Maria herself since nobody else in the family is talking, and as long as we have to interview her one more time, she better tell us what she knows about every name on that list.”

  A half hour later, Maria’s attorney arrived, and we passed Lutz’s office on our way downstairs.

  “Hang on a sec, Frank.” I knocked on the commander’s door, and he said to come in.

  “Boss, what are we going to do with Hal?”

  Bob looked at the clock and rubbed his forehead. “We have to cut him loose for now. Maybe we can get Maria to turn on him if we can’t track down the brothers. He may not have stabbed Tina to death, but he knew what was going on and did nothing to stop it. That much I’m sure of.”

  I slapped the doorframe before continuing on. “Okay, we’re headed there now to see how she knows those dead men in Missouri and why they were in that area.”

  Lutz opened his top desk drawer and pulled out Hal’s folder then handed it to me. “Have Bill Rebach sign Hal’s release forms and then bring them back here.”

  “Sure thing.”

  Downstairs, Frank and I again took seats opposite Maria Vasquez.

  “This is getting tiresome, Maria. You’re playing a dangerous game that you won’t win.”

  Attorney Bell interrupted. “You’re supposed to be speaking through me.”

  “Okay, buddy, tell your client we want to know how she’s acquainted with each name she gave us. If we have to come down here one more time, the deal is off the table, and we’ll go with Hal’s testimony that she orchestrated the murder of his wife with the help of her brothers.”

  Maria yelled out, surprising us all. “I don’t know anybody by their full names. Keeping real names secret was a deliberate act to protect identities. What I gave you is what I know.”

  Frank leaned toward her. “Who are Nubby and Lon?”

  “They’re hired helpers.”

  “To do what?”

  “Whatever my family needs. Lawn maintenance, handyman services, that sort of thing. They’re harmless.”

  I smiled before correcting her. “Were.”

  Bell frowned at me. “Clarify that please, Detective McCord.”

  “They were both found dead in Missouri this morning, and my question is, why were they in a stolen van and shot in the back of the heads, execution style, if they were such harmless men?”

  She curled her hands into fists and slammed them against the table. “I don’t know.”

  With my index finger, I jabbed the list of names. “Who on this list do Mauricio and Antonio hang out with?”

  Her face reddened, and her eyes bulged as she turned to her attorney. He nodded for her to continue.

  “My brothers are close to Conway and Cruz. I don’t know their first names or where they live, so don’t bother asking. Find them and you may get the answers you want.”

  “Are they local to the area?” Frank asked.

  She rolled her eyes then pressed her head between her hands. “Like I said before, I don’t know shit other than partial names. Now, may I go back to my cell?”

  I laughed. “Sure, you may as well get comfortable there since finding the people on your so-called list could take a hell of a long time.”

  Frank and I left the interrogation room and returned to the bull pen, where we began the tedious job of looking through criminal records for people with the last names Conway and Cruz. We would start locally and hope for a hit on the right men. If Chicago didn’t pan out, we’d have to expand our search.

  I called out to Henry, whose desk was three away from my own. “Johnson.”

  “Yep?”

  “Who’s following up on Norman Flek and Lonny Mares?”

  “Potter and I are. Lutz has the hard copies of their police records. Their crimes go back twenty years or more. It seems like the Vasquez family only works with criminals, including their own sons, and it makes me wonder why.”

  I rubbed my chin while I thought. “Okay, we know that van was stolen right from Chicago, so we’ll consider that their starting point. They didn’t shoot themselves in the heads and dump the Odyssey.”

  Frank chimed in. “So somebody was with them that wanted them out of the way. Lon and Nubby were disposable. Call the Poplar Bluff coroner and get their TOD. Then find out if anyone reported a stolen vehicle in a twenty-mile radius of that area and within an hour of their deaths. Somebody drove away from that scene, and we need to know who it was and where they’re going. They probably took the plates with them and put them on the next car. Have Tech check into reports of plates stolen off of vehicles right here in Chicago.”

  Henry wrote that down. “Sure thing, and I’ll keep you updated.”

  I let out a long groan and looked at Frank. “Ready to spend the day with our asses planted on these god-awful uncomfortable chairs?”

  “Yep, if it’s going to get us the answers we need. If we find out who Conway and Cruz are, we may locate the Vasquez brothers too.”

  Chapter 29

  There were more irons in the fire than I was comfortable with, but I knew that somehow, everything would tie together. We would track down the Vasquez brothers, and there was a good chance that while fleeing the area, they killed not only Tina Morton but also Nubby and Lon.

  I set down my pencil, rubbed my temples, then picked the pencil back up and scratched the latest entry off the sheet. Frustration was getting the best of me, and Frank noticed.

  “Going in circles?”

  “Yeah and getting pissed off too. I thought my idea was going somewhere, but I guess it wasn’t. The timeline doesn’t work.”

  “Go ahead and bounce it off me.”

  “I thought the Vasquez brothers might have killed Lonny Mares and Norman Flek as they fled the area, but that would mean it couldn’t have been them that attacked the installers and me. One of the guys positively identified Mauricio by his mug shot.”

  “Right. Too many days would be unaccounted for. The van was reported stolen Sunday evening and was found in Missouri this morning. They could have made it to Poplar Bluff by Monday.” Frank turned in his chair and called out to Henry. “Anything from that coron
er yet?”

  “He was at a crime scene when I spoke with him earlier. He said he’d get back to me when he returned to his office.”

  I shook my head. “Hurry up and wait, as usual.” I dug back in on the name Cruz while Frank worked on Conway. With the same pencil, I scratched off the sixteenth Cruz that popped up in the criminal database for Illinois. Glancing at the bottom of the page, I saw I had eleven more pages to go through and twenty-five names on each one. I rose and filled my coffee cup. “How’s it going on your end?”

  Frank scrolled down to the bottom of his current page. “Only five pages left.”

  “Good. Then you can help me.” I returned to my chair and adjusted my seating position. Every bone and muscle from my neck down ached twice as much as before.

  “Hey, this could be our guy!” Mills said.

  I immediately stood up and walked the three steps to his desk. “What have you got?”

  “A Mark Conway. His rap sheet is nearly identical to the Vasquez sheets. Same types of crimes with virtually no prison time served. Every charge there’s ever been against him was reduced to fines and community service, and his most recent address on file is within five miles of Mauricio Vasquez’s apartment.”

  “Let’s go rattle his cage.” I called Kip Murray over and told him to keep my seat warm. “Finish up the Cruz police reports. Delete anyone over sixty and look for men who had charges worth jail or prison time but didn’t serve a day behind bars.”

  “Sure thing, Jesse. Good luck out there.”

  I called Lutz’s desk phone as Frank and I left the bull pen. “Hey, Boss, Frank found a good candidate for the Conway name. We’re heading out to have a talk with the guy. It’s a half-hour drive, so can you get Patrol to sit on the place until we arrive?”

  “Sure thing. I’ll call Abrams and set it up. Go ahead with the address.”

  We were climbing into the cruiser by the time I’d read off the address and hung up with Lutz. Frank got in behind the wheel, and I was fine with that. My time was better spent trying to connect the pieces rather than riding somebody’s bumper.

  We arrived at the Conway address twenty-five minutes later. Rows of older homes that had seen better days, and been converted into multifamily residences long ago, lined the streets of the rough-looking neighborhood. A squad car snugged against the curb had two officers sitting inside.

  “This must be it.” I poked my head out the window and checked the address above the main entry door. “Yep, right place.”

  We exited our cruiser and approached the squad car. The officer on the passenger side lowered his window and peeked out.

  I recognized him as Terry Malone, a longtime patrol officer and a pretty decent poker player. “Malone.”

  “Detective McCord.” Terry pointed at the driver. “This is Sam Lest, the newest officer in our unit.”

  I leaned in and checked out the officer behind the wheel. “Welcome aboard, Lest. This here is my partner, Frank Mills.”

  Frank reached in and shook the officer’s hands. “Have you seen our guy since you been here?”

  “Nah,” Malone said. “Nobody has come in or gone out, but we’ve only been here fifteen minutes.”

  “Mind helping out?”

  “Nope. Let me radio Dispatch quick, and then we’ll be right with you.”

  Frank and I glanced around. The homes—devoid of yards, trees, or anything that could possibly look pleasant—were surrounded by fences and had barred windows. Not a single child played outside, yet I noticed several dogs tied to porch support beams. I imagined they served as security in that neighborhood, and a twinge of sadness swept over me before I continued up the concrete steps. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Lest and Malone behind Frank. I gave them a nod and pushed the buzzer for apartment 1-B.

  “Who’s there?” A gruff voice spoke through the intercom.

  “It’s the Chicago PD. We’d like to have a word with you, Mr. Conway.” I motioned for Lest and Malone to sit on the rear exit in case Conway tried to slip out, and I made sure they knew the vehicle registered in his name on the DMV database was a 2007 red Toyota Tacoma.

  “About what?”

  “About things I won’t discuss with an intercom. Let us in.”

  “Give me a second. I’ve got to put on some clothes.”

  I jerked my head at Frank after waiting several minutes. “He’s going to run.”

  Frank whistled to the officers at the back of the house. Lest poked his head around the corner, and Frank yelled out. “He’s coming your way.”

  A commotion sounded from the back of the building, and we ran down the narrow path between the houses to see Mark Conway lying on the ground. Lest, with his knee jammed in the small of Mark’s back, was cuffing him, and Malone had him covered with his service weapon.

  I was impressed. “Nice work, guys.”

  Lest and Malone pulled Mark up by the elbows while he swore he would file charges for battery against the PD.

  I stood face-to-face with him. “Were you in a hurry to get somewhere, Mr. Conway?”

  “Yeah.” He spat on the ground and just missed my shoes. “Anywhere away from cops.”

  “Why? Up to no good?” Frank lit a cigarette and locked eyes with Conway.

  “I’m sick of being harassed by you pigs.”

  I laughed. “Hell, buddy, calm down. You don’t even know why we’re here. Big mistake on your part, though. Now that you tried to evade the police, we’re going to have to haul you in. Got anything on your person that can injure us?”

  “I wish.”

  “Nice comeback. Malone, give his vehicle a once-over. I’m sure we’ll find something in there or in his residence that we can hold him on.”

  People slowed in the alley behind the house, pulled out their cell phones, and began recording.

  “Move along. There’s nothing here worth watching.” I waved the group of young adults away.

  “What the hell is wrong with people?” Lest asked.

  “They hate cops, that’s what’s wrong, especially in Chicago.” I yelled to Malone at the truck. “Find anything?”

  “Yeah, it stinks like shit in here.” He pulled a bag out from under the seat. “Think I found the culprit.” He peered inside the grocery bag. “It’s a plastic wrapper and bloody Styrofoam tray from a pound of hamburger and an empty rat poison pouch.”

  I spun toward Conway and punched him in the gut. Coldcocking him in the face would have been more satisfying, but I didn’t want to leave marks. “You son of a bitch tried to kill my dog! Give me that bag and throw his ass in our cruiser. I’ll deal with this piece of shit personally. Tear his house apart and lock up that truck, then get the flatbed and Forensics out here. I’m hauling this son of a bitch to jail.”

  Chapter 30

  Frank pulled the cruiser into the detainee bay at our precinct. I climbed out before the car was fully stopped, grabbed the rear door handle, and swung it open.

  “Get him out of here.” I nodded to the officers who were waiting to escort Mark to a jail cell. I was too angry to deal with that trash right then and needed a minute to calm down.

  Frank and I went upstairs and rapped on Lutz’s door, but his office was empty. We continued on to the bull pen, where we found him with the rest of our detectives. With the pure hatred I felt in that moment, I was sure my face was bright red.

  Lutz stood as soon as he saw us then stared at me. “Are you all right? What the hell happened with Conway?”

  Frank pulled him aside while I filled my cup and guzzled the water.

  “We’re ninety-nine percent sure it was Conway who tried to kill Bandit.” Frank held up the grocery bag then walked to his desk, where he pulled out a pair of gloves and slipped them over his hands. With a dozen napkins spread across his desk, he dumped out the cellophane wrapper, Styrofoam tray, and empty rat poison pouch from the bag.

  Lutz spewed a few choice curse words then punched his open hand with his right fist. “That son of a bitch. So we can pro
bably get breaking and entering to stick, an attempt to kill Bandit, which violates anti-cruelty laws, and what else?”

  “Stalking, of course,” I said. “How would he know where I lived and the fact that I have a dog unless he was watching me?”

  Lutz slapped his hands together. “Good enough. He’ll be in lockup until a court date is set. I’m sure they all have the same attorney as Maria, and that’s fine. It just goes to show that the entire family and their associates are criminals. The nooses are getting tighter around their necks, and now we have even more to work with. Somebody is going to cough up the Vasquez brothers, and it just might be Mark Conway.”

  Frank took a seat in my guest chair. “You want to sit this one out, buddy? It might be too personal for you.”

  “Hell no! I’m going to slip that noose around his neck myself. You mess with my dog, you mess with me. What’s the date and time stamp on that hamburger wrapper?”

  Frank smoothed out the sticker and read it. “We’ve got him dead to rights. Stamp shows the meat was purchased at 4:12 p.m. on Tuesday.”

  Lutz checked the grocery name on the bag. “Even better. We know where he bought it too. Potter and Johnson, head over there now and look at their store footage. I want confirmation that he exited his vehicle and went inside. Look at the indoor footage and follow him through the store to the meat department and the aisle where the rat poison was located. Get back to me with an update as soon as possible.”

  “You got it, sir.” Henry pulled his sport jacket off the back of his chair and slipped it on. “Let’s go, Potter.”

  I was aching to interrogate Mark Conway, but I needed to organize my facts and give him a reason to talk. I wanted the name of the person who sent him after me. I jotted down questions to ask, printed out his police jacket, and was ready to head downstairs. “You coming with me?”

  Frank turned toward Lutz and got the nod he needed. “Yep, it looks that way. Let’s rip him to shreds.”

  I made the quick call downstairs and told Bill to put Conway in a box. “Make sure he’s cuffed to the table’s bar too. I don’t trust anything about that guy.”