Chapter 14
I remained on scene until a little after eight o’clock.
Gomez had attempted to print the downspouts but found nothing.
The dumpsters were sealed shut and taped off for us to return in the morning and collect the contents.
With the amount of land behind the storage facility, and active railroad tracks, we couldn’t exactly tape the area off, so Hunt assigned a pair of his patrol units to watch the place overnight.
One unit was going to remain inside the storage facility grounds, and the other would park on the shoulder of the Dolphin Expressway with eyes on the bike path and rear access.
My plan was to return first thing in the morning.
I walked back into the station and popped into my office. I wanted to make a couple of quick calls to check in with the guys before heading home. I grabbed a seat at my desk, scooped up the phone, and dialed Colt.
“Greenway,” he answered.
“Hey. It’s Harrington,” I said. “Anything since the meeting?”
“No, not much,” Colt said. “I actually just finished up on Mehen’s truck. Unfortunately, not too much to see in there. Or at least not much that would tell us why he was killed or who did the killing.”
“So the truck is a bust?” I asked.
“Seems that way. I’ll get going on the ballistics stuff right away in the morning.
Skip said he’d have the rounds retrieved from Mehen sent over to me by eight o’clock, so if I can get those run right away, I would think we should have some results by lunch.
Provided that there’s any results to be had. ”
“All right,” I said.
“How was that storage-unit scene?” Colt asked. “I just talked to Gomez a couple minutes ago, and he said the victim was in pretty rough shape.”
“Understatement,” I said. “We have to go back out there in the morning and pick up where we left off.”
“Yeah, that’s what he said.”
“We have video of the suspect, and while it’s pretty dark and grainy, hopefully, Tech can do something with it.”
“Yeah, hopefully,” he said.
“Okay. I just wanted to check in,” I said. “I still have Garcia and Steve to call, so I’m going to get to it so I can get home. Amy has probably sent me a half dozen texts about eating, so I imagine that she’s watching the clock, stomach grumbling and waiting on me.”
“Do your thing,” Colt said. “I’ll touch base with you in the morning.”
“Sounds good.”
I ended the call and dialed Garcia. He picked up right away.
“Hello,” he said.
“Hey, it’s Harrington.”
“What’s up?”
“I just got back from that storage-unit homicide,” I said. “I wanted to see if you were able to make contact with Mehen’s wife.”
“Valerie Mehen,” Garcia said. “Yeah, I talked to her briefly.”
“Anything?” I asked.
“Not really, no. She was pretty upset, as you can imagine. Like, of the ‘she can’t do this right now’ variety. So I have her scheduled to come in at noon tomorrow. Hopefully, she’ll have something that can help us out.”
“Okay,” I said. “I guess that’s about all that I needed to know.”
“Yep. She’s coming in tomorrow.”
“Got it,” I said. “Hey, I didn’t even get a chance to ask how the doctor thing went. Everything good?”
“Yeah, yeah. It was just an annual checkup. Full results from the blood work and all that in a few days, but the doctor didn’t seem to think there was anything to be concerned about.
Blood pressure was good, no nagging ailments, in the prime of my life.
She said that she’d never seen someone so fit and handsome.
That she wished her husband was as manly as me.
Then she called me a stud. I don’t know, I guess it was pretty much normal for my visits. ”
I smirked. “That’s what she said, eh?”
“I don’t know if that’s word for word, but it was something to that effect.”
“Right,” I said. “Okay. I have to call Steve. I’ll catch you in the morning.”
“Yep. Have a good night.”
“See ya, Garcia.” I hung up, shook my head, then dialed Steve. The phone rang and rang. Just as I was about to hang up, he answered.
“Walsh.” He sounded out of breath.
“Did I catch you in the middle of something?” I asked.
“I was doing laps in my pool,” he said.
I furrowed my brow, not necessarily buying what he was selling. “By doing laps, do you mean floating on a raft with a drink?”
“Well, yeah. But I had to swim across the pool to my phone. So technically, that’s like one lap.”
“Kind of,” I said.
“Is something up?” he asked.
“No. I just got back to the office from that storage-unit scene.”
“How was it?” Steve asked.
“It was pretty ugly out there,” I said. “Blunt force trauma to the head. Older guy was the vic. Not much in the way of evidence or motive or leads. We’ve got some grainy video, though.”
“The grainy video and not much in the way of evidence seems to be a trend today,” Steve said.
“Yes, it does. Anyway, I think you may have to take over the Mehen thing tomorrow. I’m going back out to the storage unit for a bit more in the morning and then will have to start digging into the case.
Make contact with the vic’s next of kin and all that.
Have a better look at the area in the daylight in hopes of finding anything. ”
“All right,” Steve said. “Any place you want me to start tomorrow?”
“Stay on the tech guys. See what they can give you. Colt said he didn’t get anything from Mehen’s truck but is going to get on the ballistics first thing. Garcia has Mehen’s wife coming in at noon tomorrow. If you aren’t doing anything when she shows up, sit in on that.”
“Okay. That shouldn’t be a problem,” Steve said.
“Sounds good. I’ll let you get back to your drink and floating,” I said. “Amy is waiting on me to go eat, so I’m going to get my butt home.”
“Talk to you in the morning,” he said.
I hung up, grabbed my keys from the desk, and locked my office.
In the text messages Amy had sent me asking about food, it seemed like she wanted to hit our local sports bar for some wings and drinks.
I left the office, made the quick drive to my neighborhood, and drove down my street, which was being lit by everyone’s Christmas lights.
As I pulled into my driveway and parked, I had a look at our place, which was lit pretty much from top to bottom.
My family always did a fair amount of holiday decorating when I was growing up, and as an adult, I carried on the tradition.
I hopped out of the Bronco and headed for the front door, looking at our big lit-up Christmas tree that filled the front window. As I stepped inside, I expected a barking, slobbering, tail-wagging greeting. Yet I got nothing—no dog in sight. And no wife.
“Hello?” I said. “I’m an armed intruder.”
“Come back when my husband is home!” I heard Amy call out.
Lucky came from around the couch as I stepped into the room. She gave me a look, stretched, then slowly came toward me, wiggling and squinting.
“You aren’t much of a guard dog, are you?” I said as I crouched.
She curled between my legs, sat, and looked up at me as her tail swept the floor around my shoes.
“How was your day, Girl?” I gave her chest a scratch. “Did you lay on the couch? Sleep all day?” She gave my face a lick. “Did you chase any squirrels?”
The word “squirrel” sent her from sleepy and sweet to savage, and she rocketed to the back patio slider. I followed her and let her out to protect our lands from the evil kingdom of squirrels.
“Get in the shower,” I heard Amy call.
Her voice sounded like it had come from the bedroom, so I headed in that direction. Amy sat in front of her vanity thing doing her makeup. She quickly stood, turned around, and gave me a smile and a kiss.
“How was your day?” she asked.
“Long.” I wrapped my arms around her waist. “How about you?”
“I got a lot done,” she said. “Cleaned up the house a bit, ran errands, did a little last-minute shopping and present wrapping. Had a run.”
“Sounds like a full day.” I gave Amy a look up and down. She was wearing a black dress and looked far too good for our local sports bar. “Why are you so dressed up?”
“Yeah,” she said. “About that. I made an executive decision. We’re going to Jenning’s.”
“Jenning’s?” I asked. “How did we go from cheap wings and beer to a four-hundred-dollar dinner?”
“It won’t be that much,” she said. “Well, it won’t be that much if you lay off the forty-dollar apiece smoked old-fashioneds.”
“They’re good, though,” I said.
“I just figured it’s Christmastime, so before we go insane with people and family and driving all over, we should go someplace nice and dim and cozy and have a glass of wine and a nice quiet meal.”
“Don’t we need a reservation?” I asked.
“We have one. I made one about an hour ago when you said you were heading home. But you need to get in the shower and get changed, or we’re going to miss it. The reservation is at nine thirty. It was the last one they had available.”
I glanced at my watch. “That’s going to be tight.”
“It won’t be as tight if you get your butt in the shower,” she said.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.”
After I had a quick rinse and changed, we were on our way downtown to hit the steakhouse and lighten my wallet.