Walk in Darkness - A Thriller (Jon Stanton Mysteries) (15 page)

31

Stanton stepped out under the guise of getting sodas and made sure the video recorder was on in the interrogation room. Slim Jim walked by sucking on an unlit cigar.

“Who you got in there?”

“Just some follow up.”

“Follow up to what?”

“Routine case, nothing interesting.”

“
Wew, I know it’s interesting when Jon Stanton is being evasive. I’m in. I wanna be bad cop.”

“It’s not like that. He’s already agreed to talk. I was just making sure the camera’s working.”

“Well, can I second at least?”

“I don’t think so, Jim.”

“All right. I got better stuff to do anyways.”

Stanton walked back in the room and sat down with a pad and pen. He pushed the photos toward Cameron and leaned back and purposely put his hands on the table in an open position: crossed arms tended to signify disbelief in what the speaker was saying.

“That girl, her name is Sarah; I want to know about her. When did you meet her?”

“That’s that chick that got kidnapped, huh? I only met her once at one of Tracey’s parties.”

“Tracey Aviary?”

“Yeah. Hey, where are those drinks?”

“I didn’t have enough change. I told someone to bring them. What were Tracey’s parties like?”

“They were crazy.” He hesitated. “I don’t know if . . . I think I want to ask to not be arrested on this stuff.”

“You’re asking for immunity and I’ll consider it. If you help me, I’ll definitely help you.”

“There was a lot crazy stuff there, man. Like chicks way young like these
here and there were lines a coke on the table and people in masks just fucking right in front of you. Crazy shit.”

“Where were these parties held?”

“Tracey’s house. Her mom was the one that would have them.”

Slim Jim opened the door and walked in with two sodas. He placed them down, smiled at Cameron with a slight nod, and then walked out.

“She knew there was young girls there?”

“Oh yeah, man. She was the one that would pay me to pick ‘
em up. But that’s all I did. Tracey was like friends with ‘em and her mom, Angie, she would tell me to go pick them up.”

“Is that what you were doing at the school today?”

“Yeah.”

“So why’d you run if you were just picking somebody up?”

“I don’t know. I just ran. I was scared. I thought I could get in trouble even though all I did was pick them up.”

“So you’d pick them up from school, take them to the Aviary’s house, and then what would happen?”

“They’d get drunk or high and we’d chill for a bit. Then Tracey’s mom would come down and start teachin’ ‘em about sex. I would watch but I never did nothin’.”

“There were drunk girls there willing to have sex and you expect me to believe you never did anything with them?”

“I don’t . . . I’m not into that.”

“Into what?”

“Girls.”

“Oh. Okay, I understand, and that’s okay, Cameron. You have nothing to be ashamed of, okay? Not with me.”

“Okay,” he said with a slight grin.

“Okay. So how many parties were there?”

“Um, like five so far. We’re supposed to have one tonight. That’s why I was there to pick up this chick.”

“Which chick?”

“Her name was Kim. I don’t know her last name.”

“If I go over to the Aviary’s house tonight, am I going to find them in the middle of a party?”

“Yeah.”

“What time would be best for me to see what’s happening?”

“Like probably around ten.”

“Okay, wait here.”

Stanton stepped out of the interrogation room and saw Slim Jim, Childs, and three uniforms standing around listening through the two-way mirror set up as a window in the room. Childs looked at him and shook his head.

“I told you no more Sandman case.”

“You heard what he said. How could I not follow up?”

“Because I fucking told you not to. I am your boss, do you get that?”

“Yeah, but that was the wrong call, Danny. I had to do it.”

He exhaled loudly through his nose and looked to Cameron through the mirror. “We’re
gonna raid that fucking house tonight and tomorrow morning I want you in my office first thing. Got it?”

“Yeah.”

“Slim Jim, go get me a warrant. I want three uniforms and three detectives besides Jon.”

“Got it, Chief.”

“Jon, I want you to go in there and tell him to go to that party and act like nothing’s wrong. He’s also gonna have to wear a wire.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that, Sergeant.”

“Why the hell not?”

“He’s nervous and weak. He can’t handle the pressure of a wire.”

“I disagree. Get him sounded up.”

“Danny, he can’t do it. Let’s just have him call and say he couldn’t find the girl but he found another one that he’s bringing later.”

“Do as I fucking say, Detective. Or you can just go home.”

“Yes, sir. But I still think it’s the wrong call.”

32

Stanton sat outside the Aviary’s house at ten o’clock in the van with a tech, Slim Jim, and Cameron. The moon was out and he watched it through the van’s back windows a long time. There was something about a full moon that could appeal to a man’s sense of peace, and also their sense of madness. He didn’t know if there was anything else like that, with the exception of women.

“This fucking hurts,” Cameron said.

The tech was taping the wire to his chest. “It’s
gonna hurt worse when you rip it off.”

“It itches.”

“Well be glad I’m not taping it to your balls then.”

Slim Jim snorted out a laugh and kicked over an empty soda can that was on the floor. “And I was just
gonna sit home and watch reruns of Battlestar Galactica tonight.”

“Slim Jim, you ready to go?”

He got on the horn. “Ready, Lieutenant.”

“Send him in.”

Stanton opened the back doors and helped Cameron hop out. He stepped outside with him and stood there a while, looking up at the house. He imagined Bob at some sports bar with his friends, thinking about the beautiful wife waiting for him at home who he figured was in bed watching television.

“Listen to me, Cameron; you don’t need to do anything out of the ordinary. Just go in and hang out. We’ll be in soon and we’re going to act like we’ve never met. You’ll be arrested and I’m going to be the one to do it, okay?”

“Okay.”

“You’re doing the right thing here. You’re going to have a future and life because of it.”

“I don’t . . . I don’t know if I should be doing this, you know? Maybe I shouldn’t.”

“Too late to go back now. It’s going to be easy. Angie’s who I want; not you.”

“Okay.” He took a deep breath. “How do I look?”

“Like a rock star.”

He turned and walked to the home half a block up as Stanton climbed back into the van. Slim Jim looked at him and smiled.

“Does he know he’s just as liable for the rape of those kids as Angie?”

“No.”

“There’s no fucking way Childs is
gonna not pursue that. He’s gonna slam that kid hard.”

“Danny tends to take it easy on people that cooperate. If we can get a good word in with the DA too, he’ll probably be okay.”

“Okay? Okay in the sense that he might get out of prison one day I guess.  Don’t justify it to yourself, Jon: the guy’s a piece of shit and deserves what’s comin’ to him.”

“
Shh,” the tech said, attempting to pick up the signal from the wire.

There was music and then conversation underneath, but the music was so loud it was impossible to make out what was being said.

“He needs to go to a quiet room,” Slim Jim said.

“He doesn’t realize the music’s too loud.”

There was conversation perhaps another five minutes, most of it inaudible with the music. Then there was some commotion and the music began to die down. Eventually it was little more than thumping bass. Stanton could hear liquid being mixed and then a faucet running for a bit. A fridge opened.

“How come you couldn’t pick up Kim?” a female’s voice said.

“She wasn’t there. I waited for like twenty minutes.”

“I told her you were coming to pick her up. That’s really weird. I hope she’s okay.”

“That’s got to be her,” Slim Jim said.

“We’ll have to get her next time. She’s a little princess
,” the woman said.

“How’d you meet her?”

Good boy, Stanton thought.

“She’s one of Tracey’s tutoring students. She’s over here all the time. I told her parents we’re having movie night over here and she’d be back by midnight. Want some coke?”

“No, I’m not feeling very good.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, just sick. So do you have enough girls here?”

“Yeah,
there’s some cheerleaders here. I think they’re already drunk in the hot tub. You wanna come watch us?”

“No
, I’m okay.”

“Slim Jim,” Childs’ voice crackled through the horn. “Time to move.”

“Got it.” He turned to Stanton. “Let’s go.”

They threw on their Kevlar vests and jumped out of the van. They didn’t expect any gunplay but the regulations were clear and Stanton didn’t want anything to go wrong
; not while he was under investigation by IAD.

They ran on the sidewalk and as they approached the house they saw officers running up the other side of the lawn to the front door. Two other officers ran around the side of the house to cover the back door.

They gathered on the front porch and Childs brought out the ram used to smash open locked doors. He held up his fingers indicating three, two, one.

He bashed the ram through the door while shouting
, “Police, search warrant!” The door flew open. Down the hall in the living room several young girls began to scream. The officers rushed in with weapons drawn and secured the room. Stanton saw Cameron in the kitchen with Angie and he ran in and lifted his sidearm. He threw Cameron against the fridge and pinned him there. He turned to tell Angie to get down on the floor when he saw her reach into a drawer and pull out a handgun.

Stanton let go of Cameron. They stood motionless, Stanton staring down the barrel as Angie pointed the weapon at his chest. Every fiber in his body told him to go for a kill shot if he had to fire—his training had emphasized that the only time to withdraw a weapon was when you intended to use it—but he couldn’t bring himself to. He lowered the weapon a few inches, aiming at her pelvic bone. It would be extremely painful, but she would live.

“Drop your weapon.”

“No.”

She was frantic; he could see it in her eyes. She had the look of an animal that had been cornered and knew it was about to die.

“There’s nothing you can do, Angie.
There’s half a dozen cops in your house and more on the way. Drop the gun and we can sit down and talk.”

“I want my lawyer.”

“You’ll get your lawyer. I promise you. But you have to drop the gun first.”

“No, no, go get my lawyer and then I’ll put the gun down.”

“Doesn’t work like that, Angie. I need you to drop the weapon right now.”

She looked behind her as two officers made their way in through the back door and looked toward the kitchen.
Her eyes were wide now, she was in hysterics. Stanton could sense that she would fire; she didn’t know what else to do.

He lowered his weapon and holstered it.

“See, I’ve put my gun away. You’re not in any danger. We just need you to drop the gun and then we’re gonna get your lawyer over here and you can talk to us or not talk to us. Up to you.”

She stepped toward the counter. “I want my husband too.”

“Him too.”

“Okay, okay I’m
gonna put the gun down on the counter but you don’t move.”

“I won’t move, I promise.”

She only managed to take a couple of steps before the uniforms coming in through the back made their way into the kitchen and saw the gun. Both raised their weapons and began shouting orders at her. Stanton saw the look in her eyes and he yelled, “No!” as she turned with the gun in her hand toward the officers.

They fired four rounds in quick succession. Three hit her in the chest and one in the head just above the right eye. Stanton sprinted toward her and cradled her in his arms. He ripped off his vest and tore his shirt, placing it on her chest and pushing to keep the blood contained.

But the wound on her head spurted blood like a fountain. Black-red and pooling on the linoleum of the kitchen like milk.

“
Get an ambulance!”