Green Light (Sam Archer 7) (5 page)

‘
No, no, I don’t mean that,’ she said hurriedly. ‘I mean do you
think there’s a possibility he went after someone? On his own,
without telling us?’

‘
Why would he? The case is closed.’

‘
Maybe he found something.’

Before
Josh could reply, Marquez’ coffee arrived. As the female detective
thanked the waitress and picked up the cup, wrapping both hands
around it in an attempt to warm her cold fingers, Josh considered
the possibility of his detective partner planning to exact his own
justice after what had happened in that parking lot four weeks
ago.

It
wasn’t exactly a stretch to see him doing it.

‘
Let’s track back, to the beginning,’ Marquez said, cradling
her cup. ‘See if we can figure out where he could possibly
be.’

Josh
nodded. ‘I’ll start. Archer and Vargas are on their way home and
stop to pick up a six pack and some pizza. As they’re about to
leave a van pulls up, someone shoots a girl then takes out Arch and
Alice before they could react. Vargas takes one to the neck, Arch
two to the chest; the vest saves his life.’

‘
With the shooting going down in their Precinct’s jurisdiction,
Homicide from the 114
^th
take charge of the investigation,’ Marquez
continued. ‘But they don’t make any progress in almost a month.
When we go over there last Saturday to find out what the hell is
going on, Archer loses his shit and lays out one of the
investigative team.’

She
paused.

‘
A Lieutenant.’

‘
Archer’s suspended on the spot and his badge and gun are
confiscated,’ Josh continued. ‘Four days later, the two leading
suspects are found and the case is closed, which was Thursday,
seventy two hours ago.’

‘
And Archer’s hearing for assaulting the Lieutenant is tomorrow
at 10am,’ Marquez finished. ‘If he’s lucky he’ll be demoted. If
he’s not, which is far more likely, they’ll kick him out of the
Counter-Terrorism Bureau. That’s if he even shows up.’

Josh
cursed. ‘I don’t know much about the guy he punched, but I heard he
has a bad reputation.’

Marquez nodded. ‘I’ve got a friend at the
114
^th
;
she said if you get on the wrong side of this guy, he’s like
kryptonite to your career. He’s a vindictive bastard and right now,
Archer is the number one target in his crosshairs. Lieutenant
Royston wants him on a platter with sides.’

There
was another pause. Frustrated and worried in equal measure, Josh
looked around the coffee shop as Marquez took a sip from her
drink.

‘
How’s Isabel?’ she asked, keeping the cup close to her
lips.

‘
Confused.’

‘
What does she know?’

‘
Nothing. When it all went down, Archer told her Vargas had to
go away to see some family. She doesn’t understand why Alice hasn’t
called in a month. Or Arch, now.’

‘
When was the last time he spoke to her?’

‘
Three days ago. She keeps asking where he is and why he hasn’t
called. I’m beginning to run out of excuses.’

Marquez
took another mouthful of coffee then reached inside her jacket and
pulled out a folded brown envelope, sliding it over to
Josh.

‘
After you called, I stopped by the Bureau. Ethan pulled it for
me. It’s the 114
^th
s closed case file from the
shooting. Check it out.’

Quickly
scooping it up, Josh opened the envelope, curious to see first-hand
the details of the investigation that they were all so invested
in.

The
uppermost sheet was a photo of a dead blonde woman slumped on
concrete, keys and bag lying beside her, the girl who’d been shot
in the parking lot. A small square police mug-shot of her holding a
placard was pinned to the top; she was very attractive with a
porcelain complexion, arresting green eyes and long blonde hair.
She wouldn’t have looked out of place on a catwalk or gracing a
magazine cover.

‘
Her name was Leann Casey,’ Marquez said, as Josh studied the
girl’s photo. ‘She was a nineteen year old escort.’

‘
Pretty girl.’

Marquez
nodded. ‘Expensive too, not street trash. The day that mug-shot was
taken, she was arrested in a Vice bust on an Upper West Side hotel.
Client unknown due to an injunction, which means he had a profile
to protect. But apparently her rate was $5000 a night. She served
three months in the women’s facility on Rikers Island.’

‘
A kid like this?’ he said. ‘She’d be feed in a place like
that.’

‘
She was,’ Marquez said, turning the photo over.

There
were several of the girl’s face, this time badly battered and
bruised, her lip split, one eye swollen, her beautiful face almost
unrecognisable.

‘
She was lucky to get away with just that,’ Marquez
added.

Josh
stayed silent, looking at the photographs for a moment, then turned
the page to her report from the rehabilitation facility.

‘
She was killed the day she left rehab,’ Josh noted, reading
the notes.

‘
Less than two hours after she walked out. She’d admitted
herself into Covenant Housing, who supported her through a four
week drug rehabilitation program for addiction to pain-killers. The
staff there were the last documented people to see her alive, apart
from Arch and Alice. And her killers, of course.’

‘
Homicide talked to the clinic?’

Marquez
nodded. ‘It was out on Long Island. Near Jones Beach.’

‘
Was she scared to leave?’ Josh asked.

‘
Quite the opposite,’ she said. ‘They had nothing but good
things to say about her. Said she was upbeat, positive, excited,
confident. A different person from the one who’d checked herself in
four weeks earlier.’

Flicking
back to the first page, Josh glanced at the crime-scene photo of
the girl whose life had been so brutally and suddenly extinguished.
She’d been shot once in the chest and twice in the head.

Executed.

Turning
to the next sheaf of paper, he stared down at a series of
photographs clipped to an incident report, these images taken from
inside a run-down apartment somewhere, old battered furniture,
peeling paint and a litter-strewn floor.

Two
Latino men were laid out on that floor, dead from gunshot wounds.
They looked to be a similar size and build, both wearing jeans, one
with a hooded sweatshirt and the other in a blue Giants football
jersey. One had a buzz-cut, the other a longer straggly mop. The
guy with all the hair had been shot twice in the chest, the other
in the side of the head, a grey silenced pistol lying in his open
hand.

Suddenly
remembering he was in a public venue, Josh tilted the photo close
so no-one around him could see what he was looking at.

‘
The suspects,’ Marquez said. ‘Mario Valdez and Hector
Carvalho, two low-rate pimps who pushed girls in Spanish Harlem.
Both were found dead on Thursday afternoon at Valdez’ apartment on
168
^th
and Amsterdam. They matched the descriptions of the car park
shooters provided to detectives by several witnesses, including a
liquor store clerk and a mechanic who was working across the street
when Leann, Arch and Vargas were shot.’

‘
I thought they were wearing masks?’

‘
They were but in relation to witness statements, their hair,
build and the pistol put them at the scene.’

Josh
looked at the photo, focusing on the grey handgun resting in
Carvalho’s open palm.

‘
That’s a Steyr M9. German weapon.’

‘
The same gun that killed Leann Casey.’

‘
They held onto it?’

‘
Judging by their priors, these two weren’t exactly Mensa
material. How they died underlined that.’

She
tapped the photo.

‘
Homicide and CSU figured they had a fight. Carvalho lost the
plot, shot his buddy then for some reason killed
himself.’

Josh frowned.
‘
Four weeks after they killed Leann and shot Arch and Vargas,
they suddenly end up dead with the murder weapon at the
scene?’

‘
And take a look at the suspected motive.’

Josh
thumbed through the incident report, quickly finding what Marquez
was referring to.

‘
Eliminating competition,’ she said as he read.
‘Apparently.’

‘
But Leann Casey only has a history of working in the Upper
West and East Sides,’ Josh said. ‘And she charged around five grand
a night.’

Marquez
nodded. ‘Completely different patches and a totally different class
of girl. Valdez and Carvalho ran street trash for thirty bucks a
trick in Spanish Harlem and Leann was anything but. She was in an
entirely different league.’

‘
And even if they were trying to up their game, why kill the
golden goose?’ Josh said. ‘Five thousand a night? She’d be worth a
hell of a lot more alive than dead.’

Marquez
nodded, but didn’t speak, the unanswered questions hanging in the
air. Taking a last look at the folder, Josh shut it and placed it
on the table in front of him.

‘
Shit,’ he said.

‘
Exactly.’

‘
There’re more holes in this than a Texas oil
field.’

‘
According to the 114
^th
, it’s good enough. They’ve
locked it down and moved on. Ethan said he had to call in a big
favour to get this.’

‘
It’s obvious that this needs more attention. Something is way
off here.’

He
paused, thinking.

‘
Why the hell would they just leave it like this? That’s a good
team over there.’

‘
I think the pressure was on from the Department and the city
to find who shot Vargas; the press are right into this case too.
Homicide was clutching at straws, then suddenly they have a stroke
of luck; two suspects dead with the actual murder weapon at the
scene. Forget asking questions, the glove fits so it’s staying on
the hand.’

‘
Every loose end tied, case closed, everyone happy,’ Josh said.
‘Not left with an investigation that could drag on for months
staining the 114
^th
s reputation.’

Marquez
nodded and tapped the file. ‘But four weeks after they shoot Leann,
Vargas and Archer, this hombre suddenly ups and kills himself after
dropping his friend? It doesn’t make any goddamn sense.’

Josh sat
quietly for a moment, looking at her. ‘You reckon Arch is thinking
the same way?’

‘
Count on it,’ she replied. ‘You and I saw these anomalies in
minutes. Imagine what he’s had time to dig up with a week’s
suspension.’

‘
How could he get the files?’

‘
Ethan’s source at the 114
^th
said someone else asked to
see them earlier in the week. My friend told me that apart from a
few of his favourites he groomed from the Academy, Royston’s hated
by most of the guys over there. They reckon he gives them a bad
reputation. I think they’d help Arch out if he needed
it.’

Josh
paused as the thought of Archer reminded him of someone
else.

‘
How’s Alice doing?’ he asked.

‘
Still on the private recovery floor. She’s
improving.’

‘
Her security?’

‘
Still in place. Shepherd’s insisted on it until she’s out even
though the case is closed. Two cops outside her door at all times.
Archer’s been banned from seeing her since his suspension, but
hospital staff said he hasn’t called either since Friday
lunchtime.’

Josh
swore. ‘That really makes me uneasy. He’d walk barefoot over hot
coals to get to her. He’d never just stop checking on her
status.’

Marquez
looked at him for a moment then focused on her coffee. Across the
table Josh stared out of the window, trying to work through this
latest information.

It’d
been over two days since anyone had seen or heard from his
detective partner; Archer seemed to have disappeared right off the
face of the earth. Josh imagined him working alone, trying to find
out if Valdez and Carvalho really were the killers. Asking
questions, digging deeper, possibly finding something or someone
Homicide had missed.

And
quite possibly getting himself into deep shit, with no-one to watch
his back.

Thinking
back to his visit to Archer’s apartment building thirty minutes
ago, he suddenly straightened, realising something.

‘
What?’ Marquez said, noticing the shift in his
behaviour.

‘
His car wasn’t outside his place,’ Josh replied.

Reaching
into his pocket, he pulled out his cell phone and dialled the
Bureau.

‘
I’ll get Ethan to run a trace on the plates. If he’s parked it
somewhere in the city, we can find it.’