Chapter 11 #2
“I’ll keep it in mind.” His tone was light, and she sensed he didn’t really mean them. But it was her cue to drop the subject.
Rex called just as they were getting settled in their new rental car, the tantalizing scent of tomato sauce and meatballs teased her senses. “Hi, Captain.”
“Okay, I have another place. This one is a bit north of the city. Hope that’s okay, because it’s not as if there are a lot of homes to choose from.”
“North of the city is fine. We have a car.” She glanced at Jarek who nodded. “What’s the address?”
Rex rattled it off. She repeated it for Jarek. “I’ll send the code and the address to this number. Call me if you need anything more.”
“This should hold us for a while. Thanks.” She lowered the phone, then watched the screen for the text message to land. She entered the address on a map app so that she could figure out the best route to get there. “Keep heading north until we reach Cumberland. Then we’ll hang a left.”
“I think staying north of the city is a good idea,” Jarek said as he did as she instructed. “The farther from gang territory, the better.”
“You’re probably right.” She glanced around at their surroundings. “I’m not as familiar with this part of the city.”
“I am. This used to be my patrol route.”
“Really? I’d think you’d be more focused on the south end.”
He frowned. “Narcotics tends to handle that, but as you pointed out, there could be some bad apples in the bunch.”
She felt bad for making him doubt his fellow officers. Just because she was suspicious and wary by nature didn’t mean she was right about Ray and Jeff. Especially Jeff, who had never warmed up to her. Not that she’d cared, unless it was a sign he was dirty.
They found the rental house without a problem.
Jarek pulled up to the garage while she got out and used the code to enter the home.
He parked in the garage, grabbed their food and the pair of duffel bags, and joined her in the kitchen.
She set the table while he unpacked the containers of salad, spaghetti, and meatballs.
As they sat down to eat, Jarek glanced at her. “I’d like to say grace.”
“I know.” She bowed her head and linked her hands in her lap.
“Lord Jesus, we ask You to continue keeping us safe in Your care. We know You are always there for us, no matter what. We need You now more than ever. Please grant us the strength and knowledge to bring the gunmen to justice. Amen.”
“Amen.” She met his gaze as she took a bite of her salad. When she’d swallowed, she said, “Why do I think a big part of that prayer was intended for me?”
“We are all sinners.” His blue eyes were serious. “Trust me, Di. God will be there for you, if you believe.”
She wasn’t sure how to answer that, so she focused on keeping her mouth full of great food.
Silently admitting that Jarek would change his tune if he knew the truth about what she’d done.
For a moment, Jarek thought he’d convinced Di to give God and faith a try. But then she ate their dinner as if determined to complete a mission that needed to be accomplished within a specific time frame. He tried not to be disappointed.
He wasn’t a pastor; he had no clue how to talk to someone about faith. If he could get her to attend church with him, that might help.
But he wasn’t going to hold his breath on that possibility either.
By the time they’d finished eating and cleaning up the kitchen, they still had over an hour to waste until they could head back to check out the warehouse. He doubted Di would consider another combat nap, so he dug the laptop out of the duffel and booted it up.
“What are you looking at?” Di asked, joining him at the table.
“Figured I’d look into Kyle Dimitri, a.k.a. Kiko.” He tapped his credentials into the police database. “I’m curious about his criminal record.”
“Good point.” She leaned so close he could feel her breath against his cheek. What would she do if he turned his head to kiss her? Kiss him back? Or slug him?
Probably the latter. Besides, they had work to do. This wasn’t the time or the place to allow his personal feelings for her to become a distraction.
“That cop mentioned he’d been in Rikers.” She glanced at him. “That means he did more than a year.”
“Yep.” He kept his gaze trained on the screen.
He wasn’t the type to lose control, but she was sitting far too close for comfort.
“Well, looks like he was arrested for possession with intent to sell and a weapons charge. And assaulting a police officer.” He tapped the screen.
“And check out who the arresting officer was?”
“Jeff Schnor.” She sat back in her chair. “As a cop working narcotics, that makes sense. I still think it’s strange they didn’t show up to the scene of the shooting.”
“Maybe you’re right about them working a different angle.” He didn’t want to believe one of his fellow officers was involved. But he wasn’t na?ve either. Anyone could be swayed by greed.
And the drug trade brought in big money.
“How long was he at Rikers?” Di asked.
“Almost three years.” He toggled to another section of the report. “Looks like he was released just three months ago.”
“Stupid to get right back into the drug business.” She drummed her fingers on the table. “Then again, I’m leaning more and more toward these attacks being a paid hit. Our pal Kiko was probably thinking he’d make some easy cash.”
“Going up against you?” He scoffed. “Not likely. Someone should have warned these guys that you’re a former army soldier.”
“Exactly.” Di was always beautiful but turned downright stunning when she smiled. “Guess he’ll have plenty of time to think about that as he rots in prison.”
“Yep.” He glanced at her bandaged arm, then turned his attention back to the screen. “I’m going to send a message to Andrews, encouraging the DA to offer Kiko a deal in exchange for information.”
“You can do that later.” She put a hand on his arm. “I don’t think we should communicate with anyone at this point. Besides, Andrews won’t take advice from you. If you know anyone in the DA’s office, you could go directly to them.”
“I do know one of the ADAs, Gemma Holland.” He and Gemma had dated briefly but parted as friends. He had to admit that going to the DA’s office directly was a good idea. “I’ll call her tomorrow. I think you’re right about holding off on engaging with any direct lines of communication.”
“Maybe we’ll know more after our foray to the warehouse later tonight.” She rose to her feet. “We should have bought coffee. It’s going to be a long night.”
He nodded and glanced at his watch. Still thirty minutes to go. He glanced outside, noting dusk was just starting to fall. Times like this, daylight savings was a real pain. “We’ll stop on the way.”
“I was thinking we should stop at the port authority first.” She shrugged and added, “Can’t hurt to see if there were cases of Liquid Gold Coffee and Tea dropped off earlier. And if so, where they might be headed.”
“We can, but we already know where their warehouse is located.” He wasn’t sure stopping at the port authority was a good idea. “I think we’re better off heading straight to the warehouse. Maybe we’ll get there in time to see them unloading the boxes of cargo inside.”
Her eyes lit up. “That’s a great idea. But that means we should go now. Maybe we can slip inside the warehouse while they’re unpacking crates.”
He sighed. “That’s called trespassing.”
“Yeah, but if we find drugs, I’m sure we can make a case for probable cause.” She waved a hand as if the details of how they’d make their illegal search work out in their favor was inconsequential.
It wasn’t. But he knew that wouldn’t stop him from going along with her plan.
“Fine. We’ll head out now, grab a coffee to go, then find a place to park that’s not too close to the south side.” He rose and closed the computer. “By then, it should be dark enough to set up a surveillance.”
“I have binocs.” Di rummaged in her duffel and held up a small pair of binoculars. “Check this out.” She flipped a switch. “It has night vision capability.”
He shouldn’t have been surprised. She had everything but an AK-47 semiautomatic weapon in that bag of hers. She was making him look like a rank beginner in comparison. “Sounds good to me. Let’s roll.”
Fifteen minutes later, they had their duffel bags along with the laptop computer in the back of the rental car and were driving to the closest coffee shop. The hour was a quarter to nine, and it was still a little too light for his peace of mind.
Glancing up at the sky, he noticed there was a full moon overhead. More ambient light to worry about. After they fueled up on coffee, he headed south.
“I really wish you would at least drive past the port authority,” Di said as they grew closer to the river. “It can’t hurt to see if there are supplies waiting on a pallet or being stocked in a truck.”
He swallowed a groan and nodded. “Okay. We’ll check it out.”
“Thanks.” Di touched his arm again. “This way it will for sure be dark by the time we get to the warehouse.”
“Dark except for the full moon.”
“I noticed.” She glanced at him. “Do you see more criminal activity during a full moon?”
“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate. “Ask any cop and you’ll get the same answer. Although I guess it’s never been scientifically proven,” he added. “I can only say from my perspective, it sure seems like we get more calls during the full moon.”
“Can you park here?” Di gestured to the right. “I think we’re within walking distance of the port.”
“I thought we were just driving past?” Even as he spoke, he slowed and turned into the lot. Knowing Di, she wasn’t going to be dissuaded from going inside. “Are you thinking we’re going to climb the fence?”
“Yeah, why not?” She shrugged. “We won’t stay long. I just want to see if there’s a pallet of boxesfrom the Liquid Gold Coffee and Tea waiting to be picked up.”
“More trespassing,” he muttered with a sigh. He pulled into a parking spot and killed the engine. “We need to be careful.”
“Of course.” She flashed a grin. “I still think the warehouse is our best option.”
He pushed open the car door and stood. Di climbed out and came around to join him. As it turned out, they didn’t have to climb a fence. The gate was open. He wondered if they always left it open until everything was picked up.
Di took the lead, slipping through the open gate and making her way toward the dock area. He followed, covering her back. She paused at the edge of a building and peered around the corner.
“See anything?” he asked, his voice a low whisper.
“A pallet of Liquid Gold Coffee and Tea.” Her brown eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “We need to take a quick look inside those boxes.”
“Di, we can’t just . . .” He didn’t finish as she darted out from behind the building to the pallet of boxes.
Gritting his teeth, he scanned the area, then quickly followed. By the time he joined her, Di had already opened one box. Swallowing a protest, he watched as she pulled out several large bags of coffee grounds.
Then she pulled out a bag that was clearly not coffee. Leaning in closer, he could see there was a layer of what appeared to be heroin lining the bottom of the coffee crate.
Stunned, he looked at her. Di’s instincts were right. She’d found the drugs, just as she suspected.
And he knew if they were in this box, they were likely in all the others.
“Quick, take a picture with your phone,” she whispered. “Then we can get out of here.”
He pulled out his phone, took the photos, even though he still wasn’t convinced he could use them as evidence in a court of law.
When he slipped his phone away, she quickly repacked the box.
Then she moved the boxes around, placing the opened box beneath two others so that it wasn’t obvious it had been tampered with.
Turning away, he headed back the way they’d come. Di followed, apparently eager to get to the warehouse for the second phase of their mission.
“Hey, stop!” A cry from behind them indicated they’d been caught.
Jarek put on a burst of speed, wishing he was the one behind Di, rather than the other way around. All he could do now was hope and pray they’d make it to the relative safety of the building before another barrage of gunfire rang out.