Chapter 3 #2
“That’s a lot older than our dead guy, so that seems legit.
” She wondered if that meant Gilbert had moved deeper into gang territory after the arrest. If he was in fact a newer recruit, that made the most sense.
She knew drug money paid for those apartments where the owners didn’t ask too many questions as long as the monthly rent was paid on time.
“We should still talk to the rest of the people living in the apartment building. Someone must know or remember Levine.”
“If we can convince them to talk,” he agreed with a nod. “If that’s the goal, we should do that sooner than later. I doubt Andrews will get there tonight, but he might head over to follow up eventually.”
“What’s his deal?” She eyed Jarek over the rim of her water glass. “He acts as if people are getting killed just to ruin his day.”
Jarek chuckled. “He’s counting the days until he can retire. As of tomorrow morning, he has forty-two left to go. His current partner is on a paternity leave, so he’s working solo for the next two weeks.”
She rolled her eyes and took another bite of her pizza. She’d known some army officers who were similar. Just biding their time until they could get out and coast on their pension.
“I’m next in line for his job,” Jarek said.
“That’s great.” She forced a smile, even though in her mind, being a detective was even worse than being a street cop. If Jarek knew the truth about what she’d done, she’d be tossed behind bars quicker than she could blink. “Congrats.”
“Thanks.” He frowned and nodded at the police report. “We can ask questions, but I don’t want to do anything that will jeopardize my career.”
She nodded slowly. Obviously, he cared about his job. And normally, she’d admire that in a man.
The pizza she’d eaten sat like a lump in her gut. Jarek had been a good soldier and was no doubt an even better cop. Working with him on this case had seemed like a good idea at the time. But that was before she realized how much he had to lose.
Now she understood it would be better for both of them if she took off and worked the case on her own.
Jarek sensed Di’s withdrawal as they finished their meal. As he stood to carry their dirty dishes to the sink, he glanced back in time to catch her taking a picture of the police report with her phone.
“You’re not going to question the apartment residents without me.” His tone was sharp as he battled back a flash of anger. “We agreed to work together.”
“We did agree to that.” She looked him square in the eye. “But it’s better for you if I take off. You have a life here, a career. There’s no reason to risk it for this.”
“You have a life and a career too,” he said, annoyed. “Why is mine different?”
“Because I can live and work anywhere. And you can’t.” She spread her hands in a helpless gesture. “I mean, sure, you can be a cop anywhere, but you’ve already been working here for what, at least ten years, right?”
“Closer to thirteen,” he said with a nod. “So yeah, I don’t want to mess that up. But asking questions and working the case is fine. I’m off the clock. Considering how this guy has tried to kill you twice now, it’s better that we stick together.”
She looked away, clearly not comfortable with the plan. Then she shrugged and nodded. “Okay, have it your way. If things go south, I’ll do everything I can to cover for you.”
Her offer to cover for him was nice, but he resented the possibility that he’d need to be bailed out of trouble. She was the one who’d been targeted by gunfire. Not the other way around. But as long as she stayed close, he decided not to argue.
“Let’s go.” He swept his house key from the table where she’d left it.
She nodded and fell into step beside him. When she grabbed her duffel, he frowned. She caught his expression and raised a brow. “I’m just keeping it close in case we need to go our separate ways.”
He swallowed a protest and led the way outside. Somehow, he had a feeling Di would bolt the first chance she got. Why she was so skittish was a mystery. Especially since he knew she’d worked with the two narcotics officers just a few weeks ago.
Working this case with him should be no different.
He drove to the area of Gilbert Levine’s last-known address. He parked on a side street a few blocks away, then pushed out of the car. Di did the same on her side, looking around with interest. “Not a terrible neighborhood.”
“I don’t see much in the way of gang graffiti either,” he agreed.
The summer sun was still bright at six in the evening. Dusk wouldn’t fall for several hours yet, which was both good and bad. People were more likely to open their doors during daylight, yet if the gunman was anywhere nearby, he could easily execute another attempt to shoot Di.
“I didn’t get a chance to talk to Ray Bond and his partner, Jeff Schnor.” He glanced at her as they made their way toward the apartment building. “They may know more about what your buddy Gilbert Levine was up to recently.”
“Wouldn’t there be a report on file of Levine being involved in drugs if the narcotics guys knew of him?” Di asked with a frown. “I assume you guys work together on most things.”
“We do, and yes, if they’d caught Levine with drugs, it would be on record.” He grimaced. “I was thinking more about the possibility of this guy being a snitch. We’re assuming the gunshot was meant for you, but if he was a snitch for the gang, he may have been the intended target all along.”
“I don’t think so. He followed me shortly after I left my place to grab lunch. There’s no reason a snitch would do that. And let’s not forget the same gunman was waiting outside my place for round two.”
It was a good point, so he let it go. The first rule of police work was to not make assumptions, so it was important to consider all angles. Maybe the gunman was afraid Levine had said something important to Di? For all they knew, Levine wanted protection from the gang too.
Jarek still planned on touching base with Bond and Schnor, but that would have to wait until morning. For now, he was hoping they’d find something they could use to further their investigation.
Using caution, he approached the main door of the apartment building.
As earlier, the main door wasn’t locked.
He held the door for Di, then followed her inside.
When she paused and glanced around, he gestured toward the stairs.
There was an elevator, but he preferred walking. “Second floor. Apartment 211.”
Di didn’t hesitate to head up to the second floor. He stopped outside apartment 210 and knocked. He didn’t identify himself as a police officer, hoping that would garner a better response. There was no answer, and when he listened at the door, he didn’t hear movement inside.
Didn’t mean someone wasn’t in there, but he moved on.
On the third apartment, 213, a woman finally answered the door. She only opened it a crack, and he could see the chain lock was in place. Nothing that would stop a well-placed kick, but he smiled to indicate he was no threat. “We’re looking for Gilbert Levine; he used to be in 211?”
A flicker of something that could have been recognition moved through her eyes, but she shook her head. “Don’t know him.” Without saying anything more, she shut the door and slid the dead bolt home.
“You should let me try,” Di said. “I’m less intimidating than you are.”
He cocked his head. “You think so?” With her scar, he would have thought she would come across as tough and scary.
“Trust me.” She smirked a bit as they moved on.
They made their way down the hall, striking out more than they got responses.
When they headed down to the first floor, a woman came into the building holding a baby.
She eyed them warily as she moved to the edge of the staircase as if to stay as far away as possible.
“Hey, you know where Gil’s been?” Di asked, inserting a heavy New York accent into her tone. “He owes me, but I haven’t been able to track him down to pay up.”
“Nah, he’s been gone a while,” the young mother said. “Probably living with his buddy Stewey.”
“Yeah, okay.” Di played along beautifully. “Figured I try there next.”
“Hope you find him.” The baby in her arms started to cry, so the young mother hastened up the stairs. A moment later, Jarek heard a door slam shut.
“Stewey?” He eyed Di curiously. “Any idea if that’s a first or last name?”
“No clue. But at least we know one person remembers Gilbert.” She frowned, glancing up in the direction the young mother had disappeared. “Could be the others knew him, too, but were holding back.”
The hardest part of police work was trying to convince people to cooperate.
Jarek was impressed she’d gotten more out of the woman than anyone he’d tried to talk to.
“We can head back to my place and see if we can find any drug or weapon arrests by a guy with either a first or last name of Stuart spelled both ways.”
“After we try talking to the occupants here on the first floor too,” Di said. “People mingle with other tenants regardless of the floor they live on. I happen to know a few people on different floors in my building.”
“You do?” He couldn’t hide his surprise. “I would have thought you’d keep to yourself.”
She shot him an exasperated glance. “I’m not an ogre. Or a hermit. Believe it or not, my scar sometimes has the opposite effect of keeping people away.”
Again, it was hard to cover his surprise. “Really?”
“Yep. There’s a guy by the name of Barry Olden who lives on the first floor of my building.
He kept trying to convince me I should move in with him so my boyfriend”—she used air quotes to emphasize the word—“wouldn’t be able to hurt me anymore.
I tried to assure him I didn’t have a boyfriend, but he was so persistent I eventually put him up against the wall with my hand around his throat to demonstrate my ability to take care of myself. ”
He couldn’t help but smile at that. It was all too easy to imagine her getting the upper hand on some poor unsuspecting shmuck.
Back in Afghanistan, he’d watched her lay out a drunk soldier without breaking a sweat.
Di could take care of herself, but fighting against an armed guy who hid from sight while taking shots from a distance was different from hand-to-hand combat.
“Okay, I get what you’re saying. We need to expand our search parameters.
That’s fine with me, but you should take the lead from here on. ”
“Gladly.” She made her way down the hall, stopping at the first door.
Di fared slightly better than he had, especially when she expanded their request to looking for either Gil or Stewey.
Jarek found it interesting that both men and women alike tended to respond to her.
Yet when they were finished, the only real information they’d gotten was the name provided by the young mother.
It was one small piece in their otherwise gaping hole of a puzzle.
“I guess that was better than doing nothing,” Di said, as they headed outside.
Overhead, a scattering of dark clouds had gathered in the western sky.
Summer storms often popped up without warning, and he was relieved the gloomy sky provided a bit of cover.
Di gestured to the apartment building next door.
It looked to be a twin of the one where Gilbert had lived.
“What do you think? Is it worth going door to door there?”
“I don’t think so.” He eyed his watch. They’d only been there about an hour, but he was anxious to get back to his place.
“I think our time is better spent looking for Stewey. Since Gilbert had a rap sheet, it stands to reason Stewey was arrested at some point too. Maybe we’ll find he has outstanding warrants.
That will give me a legitimate reason to haul him in for questioning. ”
“Okay by me.” She turned to look back at the apartment building they’d just left.
He followed her gaze to the second-floor windows overlooking the street.
He glimpsed a pale face pulling back from the third window from the right.
He couldn’t say for sure, but he thought it was one of the apartments who hadn’t responded to their knock.
“We’re being watched,” he said, nodding at the window.
“I know.” Di shrugged and shook her head. “I’m not that surprised, even though it would have been nice if some of these people would have been a little more forthcoming.”
“Welcome to police work where people are often less than cooperative with providing information that could keep their community safe.”
“Yeah, well, it’s hard to pass judgment.” She grimaced. “If you were that young mother with a baby and knew gang members lived nearby, you wouldn’t be so eager to point the finger at them either.”
“Maybe not. But not cooperating only keeps the bad guys living next door when the police might have enough to toss them in jail,” he argued.
He paused, then added, “Maybe a couple of them sensed I was a cop, even though I didn’t flash my badge.
I must say, you were great. I’m impressed at how well they opened up to you. ”
“Thanks, but it’s more about how much you look like a cop. Even without the uniform. Nobody would look at me and assume I’m with law enforcement.” A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “I’m glad we learned something, even though I was hoping for more.”
“We’ll find Stewey.” He started walking back toward his car. “It’s a good lead.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when he saw a beige sedan round the corner up ahead. The beat-up Chevy looked exactly like the one described in Gilbert’s police report. The car sped up, coming straight toward them.
“Look out!” He grabbed Di’s arm and yanked her down just as the rear passenger-side window rolled down, revealing the barrel of a gun.
He ducked and dragged Di behind the closest parked car just as several rounds of gunfire rang out.
Bullets pinged off the car, whizzing past his head as he and Di took cover.
He crawled quickly to the rear of the parked car. He pulled his weapon and leaned against the vehicle to take aim at the retreating sedan, but he was just a few seconds too late. The beige Chevy careened around the corner and quickly disappeared from sight.
This was the third attempt against Di in one day, and he was getting mad. And worried.
Clearly, this guy wasn’t going to stop until she was dead.