SACRIFICES (7 page)

              Brad stands up and says to the chief. “Boss, we will find something. With all of the manpower we have out there something will turn up. Just be patient.” Brad explains his theory sharing in the chief’s frustration.

              Todd approaches the desk and says with a slight grin. “I think we might have
something
.”

              Brad and the chief quickly turn there heads and as if they rehearsed and say in unison.
“What?”

              Todd sits down next to Brad in front of the chief’s desk and says while he takes out a piece of paper from a folder. “We’re looking into a lot of things right now but I found this to be very interesting. The other night in Canton, the sight of the fifth attack, a neighbor woman says she heard a car door shut and looked outside. Nothing out of the ordinary, but when she heard about what happened to Mrs. Stein she thought it might be important.”

Brad and the chief hang on his every word while he runs down the details. “So anyway she said she saw a black sports car, not a Corvette or a Trans Am or a car like that but she said it looked
sporty
. From the way she described it to the officers she talked to in Canton they guessed it could be a Toyota Camry or possibly a Honda Civic, something on those lines.”

              The chief shakes his head from side to side and responds with a touch of sarcasm. “Todd, do you realize how many black
sporty
cars there are in the state of Illinois?”
              “I know that boss, and on that alone I wouldn’t be optimistic either. But when a jogger was
positive
that they seen a
black Toyota Camry
in the Knowles the other day around the time the coroner said the homicide took place I started to feel something might come out of this.” Todd shrugs his shoulders hoping that this might lead to something.

              Brad reaches for the folder and glances at the report from Canton and Chicago. He looks at Todd and says. “Did either one get a look at the driver?” He flips the pages of the report while he crosses his legs leaning back.

              “Unfortunately not, but the jogger did say that the car wasn’t tagged. And he did see the orange temporary sticker in the back window as it drove off. The neighbor in Canton only said it didn’t look to her like there were plates on the car from the angle she saw it.” Todd happily explains these new findings hoping to cheer up the guys.

              The chief starts to rub his head grasping for anything. “This is probably really reaching here, and it’s probably a one in a million chance. But why don’t we check with the state police and the locals in all of the towns where the attacks took place and all towns that they would have had to gone though traveling back and forth.” The chief rubs his eyes and takes a deep breath. “Then see if any uniformed officers gave out any tickets during the time between the first attack and the second shooting. Hell, why don’t we check the description on the car and have em go back an extra week up until now? Who knows? Maybe this guy was caught speeding one night before or after one of the attacks and got ticketed. If it’s a recent purchase that hasn’t been plated yet that should cut down the amount of cars to look for.” He shakes his head and exhales. “It’s worth a try.”

              Brad walks back over to the coffeepot and takes the remainder of the coffee and says as he turns the coffeepot off and comments with a slightly smug voice. “These are
wonderful ideas
, but let’s not get too excited about this. For starters the jogger seeing a black Camry in the Knowles wouldn’t be out of the ordinary, it’ a nice car in a nice neighborhood. And as far as linking that car to the vague description...” He glances at the folder from Todd with the report from Canton PD. “from the 78-year-old woman in Canton that says she saw a
sporty black car
. Well let’s not get our hopes up. I mean it‘s worth a shot but lets not get to overly excited.” Brad sits down and takes a sip of his coffee.

              The chief stands up and looks at Brad. He shakes his head and points and yells
. “DO YOU HAVE ANY BETTER FUCKING IDEAS?”
The chief walks over to the board shaking his head as the stress gets to him.

              On that rather loud note, both Todd and Brad casually get up from their seats, without saying a word, and walk out avoiding eye contact with the chief. They know he’s upset.

              In the hallway Brad turns to Todd. “Have Tammy check with DMV, she has a friend down there, we should be able to cut through all the red tape that way. And I want you to
personally
check with everybody like the chief said about tracing possible traffic violations from a week before the first attack up until now.” Brad clears his throat and looks toward the ceiling trying not to forget anything. “Then make sure that the husbands all have 24/7 watch put on them. Make sure to let the locals know to keep it low profile. I want them to watch the guys without being seen. I’d like to catch this guy trying to get into the house or snooping around. If he suspects for one second he’s being watched this son of a bitch wont make a move I guarantee you that he’s way too smart.” Brad sighs as he thinks he covered all bases.

              Todd jots down the last detail into his notebook and asks. “What do you think? Do you think this black sports car thing will amount to anything?”

              Brad smiles and presses his lips together. “I really don’t know, but at this point in time it’s at least something to go on and give us a little hope.” Brad places his hands in his pockets as they walk down the hall and reiterates. “I still think our best hope is to find a link between the husbands.” They continue to walk to Brad’s office as they talk softly as officer’s passed. “I almost forgot to ask did you get anything back on their education yet.”

              Todd stops in front of Brad’s door and explains. “I’ve got Chamfers working on that as we speak. I’m sure that if there is a link there we’ll find it.”  Todd smiles as he walks away and says. “I’ll call you later on.”

CHAPTER 6

AFTER LUNCH BACK AT THE STATION BRAD WAITS FOR TODD

             
Tammy walks into Brad’s office and says as she hands him a sheet of paper. “Betty sent this over. It’s her report and here’s a sealed envelope she said for you to open this one yourself.”

              Brad nods his head and takes the paper from her and the envelope. “Thanks honey.” Tammy walks away and Brad reads the report.

              Brad finishes reading the report that states basically the same things that he and Todd believed. He opens the envelope and starts to read the typed letter:

Brad, I personally think that after the homicides that the motive all along was a way to pay back the husbands for something that they did. I don’t think the women were the targets. My gut says that someone has it out for these guys and they used the attacks on the wives to hurt the husbands. This is just my opinion but it’s just too much of a coincidence that these guys were killed shortly after the rapes.

P.S. I heard that someone might be trying to bug your office. The media is trying everything to find out what it is you know so that’s why I wrote you this letter. I know your trying to keep things out of the press so I just thought I’d tell you what I heard. See you later and get a hold of me anytime if you need something.

                                                                                                                Betty

Brad folds the letter and places it into his pocket. He looks around the room and feels a little uneasy about her hearing that his office
might
be bugged. He stands up and starts toward the door when his phone rings at his desk. He picks it up and says. “Jostler.”

              The voice on the other end of the phone is Todd. He says extremely exuberant.
“Brad, we struck gold.”

              Brad responds still thinking about the possibility of the office being wired to get information. “Hey Todd, meet me at the Waterloo, I’m getting ready to leave.” Brad says pretty straightforward not saying it with the normal tone.

              Todd happily agrees and says. “I’m leaving now with Chamfers, we’ll meet you there in about 20 minutes.”

              Brad nods his head as he looks at his watch and says. “See you there.”

He hangs up phone and walks to Tammy’s office and leans down close to her face and says while he looks around whispering.
“I heard that someone might have bugged my office. It might be just a bunch of shit but I want you to get the guys from the Tech center with some of there equipment over here to check out your office, Todd’s and mine, just to be on the safe side.”
Brad nods his head.

              Tammy raises her eyebrows as she looks up at him and says with a touch of skepticism in her voice and on her face. “
Sure Brad
. I’ll get right on it.” She starts to spin her Rolodex looking for the tech center number.

              Brad winks and says. “If you need me call my cell. I’m going to be out of the office for the rest of the day. For now I’m going to be meeting Todd and Chamfers at the Waterloo for lunch.” Brad smiles winks and walks out.

WATERLOO PUB 25 MINUTES LATER

             
Brad walks into the up-scaled pub and eatery just off of Lake Shore Drive near the waterfront. The nightspot is a favorite for some of Chicago’s society folks and many political figures as well. A lot of Chicago Police Department brass frequents this cozy restaurant for the occasional drink and meal. It has a warm cozy atmosphere and the foods excellent.

              Brad shakes the hand of the doorman and notices Todd and Chamfers seated already in a booth in the back. The restaurant is mostly quiet this particular day after the lunch rush. There’s just a few woman seated together at the bar. They look like a couple of secretaries and there’s also a couple seated near the window. Brad makes his way to the booth.

              “How you guys doing this afternoon?” Brad asks as he slides into the circular booth and lets out a deep breath.

“This goddamn heat is about to kill me.” Brad shakes his head and loosens his tie.

“Brad, I think we have found our link.” Todd grins from ear to ear as Brad settles into his seat wiping sweat from his face with a napkin. He signals for the waitress.                    The waitresses here wear white long sleeve shirts with a burgundy bow tie. The rest of the outfit includes a black snug fitting skirt that stops in the mid-thigh region, incredibly sexy. They are also outfitted with black three-inch heals to accent these beautiful waitresses’ shapely curves.

              Chamfer nods his head and smiles as the waitress approaches the table. “Hi they’re young lady.” The pretty lady takes a seat next to Brad.

              Chamfer's real name is Dustin Leonard. Todd gave him the nickname Chamfers shortly after he started in the detective branch of the fifth precinct. The name doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, but it stuck. In fact it isn’t even a
name
. The real meaning of Chamfer means to carve the edge of wood to round it over. It has nothing to do with either his first or last name. It doesn’t rhyme with his name or anything. Todd Avery is just that kind of guy. Plus he was a little drunk that night in his defense.

              Shortly after meeting him at a get together he told the young man that from here on out his new name would be Chamfers. Leave it to detective Todd Avery to give someone a nickname that isn’t even a name. Just to note he has a friend that works traffic that he calls ‘Lamp-shade.’

              Chamfers used to work for the Chicago Tribune for several years as an investigative reporter. He was able to get in cahoots with some of the detectives because he was always asking them questions about different cases as part of his job for the paper and they would come to him when they were having trouble finding out specifics that he had access too.

              Todd took it upon himself to take this young man that he was fond of and pull some strings to get him employed by the Chicago PD to use some of his investigative background skills to assist them on investigations. He’s been a great attribute to the force being able to dig up information with the best of them. Plus with some of his past shady contacts he’s even been able to get info some other officers couldn’t get.

              “What will it be gentlemen?” The exceptionally attractive waitress with shoulder length auburn hair and a golden bronze tan asks. This girl looks like a model, high cheekbones and a perfect smile, tall, tan and gorgeous. She’s appears to be in her late thirties and has a body of a swimsuit model.

              Brad responds with a smile. “I’m still on duty so give me an Ice tea with lemon.” He loosens his tie a little more.

              “What about you Mr. Avery?” Veronica jots down Brad’s request.

              Todd smiles at the pretty lady and explains. “I’m on duty as well…” He winks at Brad. “…but give me a screwdriver. Chamfer is driving so what the hell.”

              Chamfer smiles and looks away. “I’ll just take the same as Brad.” Veronica smiles at the guys playful joking around then writes down their drink orders and stands up and taps the receipt book down next to Brad’s hand. “Coming right up.” She winks at Brad.