Chapter Twenty-Five
Gonzo nudged her into the elevator ahead of him.
“This is going to ruin him,” she said softly on the ride to the lobby.
“He’s already been to hell and back once. He’ll get through this.”
“She’s his reason to live,” Sam said bleakly. “He’s said that so many times.”
“She still will be. They’ve gotten through a lot already. They’ll get through this, too.”
While she appreciated his assurances, she feared for the young man who’d become a friend to her under the most unlikely of circumstances.
After the shoot-out had left him paralyzed, he’d vowed to leave his life of crime behind him.
Sam had helped to get him the job he had now with the city.
She’d been relieved to hear he was back at it after his medical leave.
They went to City Hall in search of Roberto, and when they walked in, all heads turned to take in the second lady, which made her want to scream. How she missed the ability to move through her day with the anonymity people took for granted until they lost it.
Following the signs to the Tax Assessor’s office, Sam arrived at the closed door and took a calming breath before she went in to find Roberto at the reception desk. At the sight of him in the chair, diminished by his injury, her heart went out to him over the new blow he would have to withstand.
“Yo, yo it’s my favorite lady cop!” His handsome face lit up at the sight of her.
He had short dark hair and world-weary eyes.
He’d worn a matching burgundy shirt and tie to work.
Seeing him looking so professional made her proud of the progress he’d made.
She hoped the news about Angel wouldn’t set him back too far.
“What brings you by?”
“Is there somewhere we can go to talk?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “Ah, yeah, sure. The conference room is open.” After asking someone to cover the desk for him, he rolled his chair into the conference room.
Gonzo closed the door behind him.
Sam introduced Gonzo to Roberto.
“Where’s my boy Cruz?”
“Home sleeping. We’re working round the clock to find these shooters.”
“Man, that’s so psycho. People can’t even walk around without having to be afraid. I told my peeps here that with my friend the lady cop on the job, those guys would be behind bars before long.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” How she wished she had gotten them before they’d gotten to his Angel.
“Heard you brought in Trace Simmons after the first shooting.”
Sam nodded. “He’s involved with the vic’s sister, but he checked out.” She wanted to continue making small talk, but that wouldn’t get this taken care of. “So listen, Roberto… The reason I came by… Last night, the guys we’re looking for, they grabbed a woman off the street.”
“Heard about that, and someone said she fell outta the car this morning? Is that true?”
Sam nodded. “Roberto…”
“What’s a matter with you, lady cop? You’re all pale and pasty.”
“It’s about Angel.”
His sharp gasp was followed by a cry. “Don’t you tell me she is dead. Do not tell me that.”
“She’s not dead.”
“Oh, thank you, Jesus.” He dropped his head into his hands and began to sob. “Please, whatever it is, just say it. Say it, Sam.”
“She was taken by the same men we believe are behind the shootings. They took turns assaulting her. She managed to escape, but she was injured and is in the hospital. She’s going to make a full recovery, but it’s going to take time.”
“Take me to her.” He wiped the tears from his face. “Please take me to her. Right now.”
“Let’s go.” Sam held the door for him as he rolled back into the office.
“My girlfriend, Angel,” he said haltingly to an older man whose beer belly made his tie about six inches too short. “She was abducted and assaulted. She’s in the hospital.”
“You’re just back from medical leave, and now you’re going again?”
“Please,” Roberto whispered. “She’s my whole world. She needs me.”
“She’ll still need you after work.”
“What’s your name?” Sam asked the guy.
“Jeff.”
She pulled her notebook from her pocket. “Jeff what?”
“Why do you want to know?”
Pen poised on the pad, she said, “So I can report your lack of compassion to the mayor, who’s a friend of my husband’s.”
Jeff’s face flushed with a color reminiscent of the shade that Lieutenant Stahl’s face would get when she challenged him back in the good old days before he tried to kill her. Twice. “That won’t be necessary. I’m sure we can work something out. Go ahead, Roberto.”
“Thank you, Jeff. Thank you so much.”
Sam stashed her pad in her back pocket and nodded to Jeff, who glared at her as she pushed Roberto’s chair to get him out of there faster.
“That was awesome,” Gonzo said when they were in the hallway.
“Mean people suck.”
“Can’t believe you played the husband card,” Gonzo said.
“I save that one for when I really need it.”
“Well done, Lieutenant.”
Sam moved as fast as she could to get Roberto out of City Hall and to the car.
He got himself into the front seat, and Gonzo stashed the chair in the trunk.
Sam took the backseat.
“Tell me everything that happened,” Roberto said. “Don’t leave anything out.”
“I think you should hear it from her.”
“That means it’s gotta be real bad.”
“It is,” Sam said.
He began to weep softly again, which broke her heart.
Sam took a gamble and texted Jeannie to see if she might be able to come in early and talk to Angel before her shift.
Jeannie didn’t reply right away, but she would when she woke up, and Sam felt confident that she’d be willing to help.
She also sent a text to Nick.
This case gets more screwed up by the minute. The girl that was taken? Is the girlfriend of my friend Roberto from the Johnson case.
He responded right away. Ah damn, babe. So sorry to hear that.
She’s badly hurt, but she saw their faces, and she may be the key to breaking this whole thing.
I hope so. When will I see you?
Later. Much later.
Okay, be careful. Love you.
Love you, too.
When they arrived back at GW, Sam pushed Roberto’s chair into the hospital and took him up to Angel’s room where the Patrol officers on duty asked for identification from all three of them.
“I can vouch for him,” Sam said of Roberto. “He’s her boyfriend. I know them.”
“Go ahead, Lieutenant.”
Sam held the door for Roberto as he rolled into Angel’s room.
He took one look at her, bruised and battered in the bed, and began crying again. “Oh, baby. Oh my God.”
Angel held out her hand to him and they cried, their heads bent together.
Roberto wrapped an arm around her and kissed her forehead while whispering softly to her.
Watching them, Sam felt like she was coming out of her skin. She walked over to place a hand on Roberto’s shoulder. “I’ll be back to check on you guys in a little while.”
He pulled back from Angel to look up at Sam. “Thanks for coming to get me, lady cop.”
“Anything for you.” To Angel, she said, “I’m going to need your help.”
“Whatever I can do.”
“I have an idea I need to run up the flagpole at headquarters. I’ll be back to discuss it with you.”
“I’ll be here.”
“Let’s go,” Sam said to Gonzo.
“What’s this big idea?” he asked in the elevator.
“Angel said that one of them got a call while they were in the car that his mother died. What do you think about making the rounds of the local funeral homes hosting wakes for women old enough to have a son in his twenties with the first initial of D?”
“I think that’s a brilliant idea.”
“Let’s see what the brass thinks of it.”
“I don’t like it,” Farnsworth said an hour later after Sam laid out her idea for him and Malone. “It feels disrespectful to me, marching into the middle of a family’s grief to look for a suspect.”
“It wouldn’t have to be disrespectful,” Malone said. “We take the young woman who was attacked and we let her have a look at the mourners to see if she recognizes anyone.”
“And how do we keep her safe while she’s doing that?” Farnsworth asked.
“That’d be my job,” Sam said.
“It can’t be you,” Malone said. “Everyone knows who you are. It’d have to be someone like Gonzo, who could pretend to be her significant other.”
“I want it to be me,” Sam said. “It was my idea. I can keep her safe.”
“You’ll cause a stir that’ll compromise the integrity of the investigation,” Malone said. “Everyone will be looking at you.”
“Yeah, and while they look at me, she can look at them.”
“I agree with the captain,” Farnsworth said. “It’s not going to be you.”
Fuming, Sam had to tell herself it wasn’t about her. It was about finding these scumbags and making them pay for what they’d done. But once again she longed for the good old days when no one knew who she was. “Fine. Whatever. Do we have your authorization to proceed?”
Farnsworth thought about it for a minute. “With utmost respect to the deceased and their families. And the funeral directors are to be notified of what we’re doing.”
“Understood.” She turned to leave the chief’s office, nodding at his admin, Helen, on her way by. In the lobby, someone grabbed her arm, spun her around and punched her in the face before she could begin to catch up to what was happening.
“You fucking bitch! You ruined my life!”
Lying on the floor, Sam could see only stars and didn’t recognize the voice.
“What the fuck are you doing investigating your fellow officers?”
Oh, she thought. Offenbach is home, and apparently he’s heard he was busted having an affair when he was supposed to be at a conference. Oops. Sucks to be him.
Her face throbbed from where he’d punched her, but she stayed on the floor and pretended to be unconscious while he continued to shriek about how she’d ruined his marriage and his career.
Um, heads up. You did that all on your own, pal.
It only took a few seconds, but it felt like much longer, for other officers to intervene.
Sam heard Malone’s voice and Farnsworth’s. She heard Offenbach being dragged away, still screaming about all the ways she’d ruined him. Then she heard Malone, close to her, and felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Sam.”
She opened her eyes and looked up at him. “Is he done?”