Tail of two killers, p.25
Tail of Two Killers, page 25
part #4 of Dog Groomer Mysteries Series
However, when she checked the driver’s door mirror and saw who was getting out of the car, she doubted those concerns should be at the top of her list.
Lieutenant Danvers had his sidearm drawn and was approaching the car from the rear.
‘What do we do, Patty?’ Barbie chattered nervously, her eyes watching the seasoned cop as he neared their car. He was on the sidewalk, coming up on Patricia with his gun pointing down and both hands interlocked to control it.
Would he simply shoot them all? Just how dirty was he? Twenty million was a lot of motivation after all. Maybe he killed Kris Wu.
Coming alongside their windows, the five women in the car were silent. Nervously, Patricia powered down her window.
Danvers stared inside, his eyes narrowed, looking at each face in turn. Three seconds ticked by and just when Miss May was about ready to burst from the tension, the cop’s shoulders sagged, and he swore.
‘You teamed up then?’ he concluded. ‘And brought in another friend,’ he added observing Teeny sandwiched in the back of the car. ‘How are you all still alive? Are you all okay?’
His demeanour was throwing Patricia. Her left hand had been gripping the door handle, ready to throw it open and into his shins if the cop showed the slightest sign of raising his weapon. Now he was asking how they were? It was such an unexpected shift from what she expected, she felt it much akin to discovering her dogs could play the bagpipes.
Wrestling her eyebrows under control for they had made a bid for freedom via the top of her head, she was beaten to the punch by Miss May when from the backseat, she asked, ‘Why didn’t you call for backup in the alley?’
Lieutenant Danvers put his gun back into the holster inside his jacket and reached up to grab something out of sight on top of the car. A wrenching sound of metal on metal preceded his hands coming back into view with a hatchet in them.
‘I guess you met the Tianjin gang. The hatchet is their calling card.’
Patricia chose to seek clarification, ‘Eye masks, nice suits, generally murderous disposition?’
‘That’s them,’ Danvers confirmed. ‘Led by a nice lady called Vera Wong. She likes to kill people by cutting them into pieces.’
Barbie cringed. ‘Ewwww.’
Miss May levered her door open. It was cramped in the back of the car, and she had a truckload of questions for the officer who was yet to answer her first one.
Hearing Miss May’s door open, Barbie got out too, closely followed by Teeny and Chelsea. Finally, Patricia worked out how to put the car into ‘park’ and joined her friends on the sidewalk, though obviously she thought of it as a pavement.
Seeing the women leave the car, Danvers met Miss May’s eyes. Her expression was expectant, and he supplied the answer she wanted.
‘I couldn’t call for backup, it would have tipped off the person I am trying to catch.’
‘And who is that?’ Miss May demanded.
Barbie held up her hand, saying, ‘Wait. The man you are trying to catch? As in catch for the murder of Kris Wu?’
Lieutenant Danvers had the decency to look guilty. ‘Maybe.’ Seeing that he was about to get hit with a stack of questions, he followed up quickly with, ‘Look, I don’t know. Okay? You’re about to ask if I think Bobbie and Petey did it, and the answer is no, okay?’ He had to raise his voice and plough on to stop the barrage of questions coming from the five women. ‘I had to lock them up. The beat cops arrested them, and I knew if I let them out, the gangs would have picked them up five minutes later.’
The five women formed an imposing line a yard in front of his face, their glares forcing him to take a step backward.
Patricia growled. ‘I think you’ve got some explaining to do, Lieutenant.’
Danvers wanted to go somewhere safer, to get the women off the street, but they could feel the opportunity to find out the truth and after his revelation about knowing the boys were innocent, they were going nowhere until they heard everything.
‘Okay,’ he relented when it was clear they were not going to give up and wouldn’t be moved. ‘Kris Wu is … was a confidential informant – a CI - a person who reports to law enforcement on criminal activity. Most usually, these people are operating on the wrong side of the law and that was certainly true of Kris Wu.’
‘How did you recruit him?’ asked Miss May.
Danvers gave a tired laugh. ‘I didn’t. He wasn’t my CI,’ he explained though it added little clarity. ‘He was CI for an FBI agent called Hu Chang. I was assigned by my chief to be Hu’s local liaison officer. We’ve been working together ever since the Alliance of Families was exposed.’ He looked at Patricia and Barbie. ‘I believe I have you to thank for that.’
Patricia hated being praised. Hated it. She inclined her head to show thanks and left it at that.
Danvers continued, ‘Agent Chang was sent to crack the new gangs taking over in New York. They were quick to jump on the opportunities up for grabs with the loss of the major organised crime families. There had been a power struggle and the gangs are still sorting out where the new territory lines are. The Shenyang are the biggest but there are other major players. Kris Wu just got married a short while ago – he met a woman on a trip to China last year. The point is, he wanted out and Hu Chang was able to recruit him. Kris Wu would get immunity for his crimes if he helped us take down the new gangs before they could establish their power base. New York is always going to be a hotspot – a lot of drugs come in through the ports and the gangs control its distribution. Then there is protection, prostitution ...’
Miss May butted in, ‘You can skip that part. We all know what gangs get up to.’
‘I don’t,’ said Teeny. ‘I’m interested. Are the hatchets part of the protection or the prostitution?’
‘No time,’ Chelsea pointed out. ‘We need to focus on Petey.’
‘Anyway,’ Danvers tried to steer the women back onto topic. ‘Agent Chang vanished two days ago, and I think he was killed. I tried to contact Kris Wu, but he had gone to ground. Then, yesterday I started hearing all these rumours that someone had ripped off the Shenyang gang. Before I know it, Kris Wu gets stabbed in an alleyway and dies. He was miles from his turf. I’m trying to work out what was going on, but I think he took the money and was planning to run with it.’
Patricia interrupted him, ‘He gave it to Freddie Lee.’
‘The loan shark?’ blurted Lieutenant Danvers, his jaw dropping open. Then he tipped his head back and closed his eyes. ‘Of course. That’s why there are people out looking for a missing marker. He dropped the money off with Freddie Lee. The Shenyang will try to resolve this without bloodshed – killing Freddie would be bad for business; he manages the finances of half the gangs in this city. It’s also why everyone wants the marker. They can claim the money and try to vanish with it. If they get away, they are rich. Or they can hand it back to the Shenyang because everyone assumes they are going to be the ones to take over the city’s criminal empire. Having the Shenyang owe you a debt would put a person in a strong position.’
‘Why would anyone want that?’ asked Teeny, still trying to catch up on all that had happened.
Lieutenant Danvers looked down at her face. ‘Imagine having a deadly gang you could call upon to do you a favour when someone ticked you off?’
Teeny pursed her lips. ‘Yeah, I can see how that might come in handy. I’d like to stop Big Dan’s ex-girlfriend from calling him and asking for “car repairs”. I mean, her car did break down, but come on, lady.’
Danvers went on. ‘For the smaller gangs, it could be a ticket to the big time, but whatever the case, there are a lot of people looking for the marker. The question is, why did Kris Wu take the money?’
‘His wife is about to arrive from China with his daughter,’ said Barbie. ‘We found a letter from him to his wife explaining it all.’
Danvers choked out a surprised gasp. ‘Wow. You ladies sure don’t hang around.’
Unnoticed by the small group, a panel van was approaching. It was dark grey to blend into the background and the windows were tinted almost completely black to hide the occupants. Traffic was going by steadily, so a van passing them was nothing unusual. However, as it neared the parked car and the gaggle of women on the sidewalk, the side door slid open.
This went unnoticed by the five women; they were all facing the other way, but Lieutenant Danvers saw it.
17
A SECRET NO ONE KNOWS
L ieutenant Danvers bellowed, ‘Down!’ and threw himself forward. As he reached for his gun a man appeared in the side door of the panel van, hanging on to the top handle.
Danvers saw a flash as the gun started spewing bullets long before he could bring his own weapon into play. He barged into Barbie, knocking her down as he tried to get his body between the civilians and the shooter.
Falling backward, Barbie heard the zip-crack of bullets going over her head. With panicked eyes, she checked left and right, to see her friends hunkering down to the sidewalk. The van could be heard accelerating down the street, its wheels burning rubber to escape the scene.
In an instant, the street was quiet again. Quiet except for the sound of Danvers’ laboured breathing and the tinkling noise of small glass fragments falling to the asphalt.
The lieutenant had some choice words to say. So did Teeny, who was staring in rapt horror at the three missing side windows on Big Dan’s uncle’s beautiful vintage Buick.
Acting with uncharacteristic poise, Chelsea already had her hands on the wound at the top righthand side of the cop’s chest. The bullets had been fired erratically from a moving vehicle, most of them striking the car or the wall behind, but two hit Lieutenant Danvers when he failed to heed his own advice and duck. Neither wound looked life threatening, but the one in his chest was still inside and would require surgery to remove.
Gritting his teeth as he levered himself off the ground with Barbie and Chelsea helping him, Danvers used his radio to report ‘officer down’. With that done, he turned his attention to the women.
‘I told you not to investigate this,’ he growled.
Patricia, feeling sympathetic toward the officer now that she knew he wasn’t dirty and had probably just saved their lives, said, ‘We had no choice. You could have told us Bobbie and Petey were innocent.’
‘What do we do now?’ asked Teeny. ‘They don’t have to go to the clanker, right? They get outta jail free, like in Monopoly?’
Danvers shot her a look. ‘Goodness no. I charged them with murder. The only other person who knows they are innocent is my chief. Without him changing things, they will be transferred to state pen in the morning. Like I said, if they get released the gangs will pick them up. It would be like signing their death sentence.’ He was starting to look a little pale.
‘But they don’t know anything,’ wailed Barbie.
‘But the gangs don’t know that,’ Danvers pointed out. ‘They had already been arrested by the time I got involved. It was too late to undo it. Look, worst case scenario they do a couple of days in state pen. Yes, it’s not a nice place, but they will be safe there.’
‘Safe!’ blurted Miss May. ‘The Fou Chin Clan already promised to kill them both the moment they arrive if we don’t find the marker and hand it over.’
Danvers clearly hadn’t thought of that. ‘Really?’ He swore, colouring the air a little more with his choice of words. ‘I need to speak to my chief.’ Danvers’ eyes dropped, and he mumbled his next words.
‘Hey, stay with us,’ demanded Barbie, gripping the man’s shoulder hard to jolt him back to life before he lost consciousness. ‘It’s better if you stay awake.’
She could see how much blood he had lost, they all could.
Remembering his train of thought, he managed to say, ‘We need to hold them at the station.’
The sound of distant sirens was coming closer, the cavalry on their way to save one of their own. Seconds later, a police car screeched around a distant corner and into sight, the wheels gripping the road’s surface as the driver controlled the skid. A second car followed close behind and an aid car was right behind it.
The sight drew the attention of the ladies for a few seconds and when they looked back down at the stricken cop, he was unconscious.
The paramedics gave aid and were swift to assess his need to be evacuated to hospital as a vital emergency. What had not initially looked like life-threatening wounds, were in fact exactly that. He was bleeding out, and though the paramedics were confident he would survive, they nevertheless acted as though they were in a race against the clock to keep him alive.
His departure left the five women on the sidewalk with the cops. They wanted statements but were surprised by what the women had to say now that Lieutenant Danvers was being treated. It all got too complicated for the officers to decipher so they had them follow them back to their precinct where they hoped to sort it out.
All five women hoped this was it. They were going to get to speak to Danvers’ chief and he would have sufficient pull to have the boys released. Or, if not released, then at least held at the station until someone could corroborate what they were saying.
It took over an hour of increasingly irritated sitting on the uncomfortable plastic chairs for the chief to finally summon them, but then they discovered it wasn’t the chief they were going to see at all.
‘Hi, I’m Captain Mainwaring,’ a haggard looking man in a cheap suit hung through the doorframe into reception. ‘I was told you ladies had a story to tell me.’ He had a coffee stain across his shirt and tie.
Barbie was the first to her feet, but the others all followed suit. Their reaction made the captain’s eyebrows rise and he made a down motion with one hand.
‘This doesn’t need all five of you. I’m sure one or two will do. Follow me.’
The women turned inward, looking at each other.
Barbie said, ‘You go, Patty. Make him listen, please.’ There was heart-breaking need in Barbie’s voice. She wanted this to be over for her brother.
‘And you, Miss May,’ Teeny volunteered her friend. Miss May was the best choice for their group – she was the least likely to lose her cool and everyone knew it.
The two older women looked inward at each other, nodded silently, and followed the captain, not that he had bothered to wait for them. It was a simple task – tell the senior cop what they knew, make sure Bobbie and Petey were safe, and then walk away. They didn’t need to solve this case. It didn’t matter about the stolen money and the missing marker.
Their sole focus was the two innocent young men.
They turned a corner in the narrow corridor behind the station’s front reception desk and found the captain waiting for them and looking impatient.
‘Come on, ladies. I have too many things on my plate already. Let’s get this done.’ He didn’t hold the door and didn’t ask them to sit or offer them a drink. He did, however, take a call when the women got into his office which made them wait another minute while he barked orders at someone.
When he dropped the phone back into its cradle – the office and its furnishings really were that old - he gave them a semi-interested expression.
‘Now, I believe you have evidence that the two men I have in custody for the murder of Kris Wu are innocent, yes?’
‘Where is the chief?’ asked Patricia, concerned that this was not going the way she expected.
‘He had a heart attack at six o’clock this evening. You’ve got me instead. I’m the standin chief. So, what evidence?’
A heart attack? Danvers said the chief was the only one at the station who knew what was going on!
‘The two men are innocent. They need to be released,’ blurted Patricia.
Captain Mainwaring waited for the punchline.
Miss May tried to explain. ‘Lieutenant Danvers only charged them so they wouldn’t be released. He wanted to protect them from the Chinese gangs who are chasing a marker worth twenty million dollars.’
‘Is that what they killed Kris Wu for?’ the captain asked.
‘They didn’t kill him,’ Patricia protested. ‘The chief knew about it. Can we speak to him? Did he … die?
‘Die? No. But he is in surgery. Emergency triple bypass apparently. He needs to get back quickly because doing his job is going to kill me. No wonder he had a heart attack.’
‘Please,’ begged Miss May. ‘You’re not hearing us. The situation is urgent. Desperate. Time sensitive. Should I keep going?’ She got a glare in response but powered onward. ‘Lieutenant Danvers knows the boys are innocent. So does your chief. Danvers said they were the only two in the loop. It has something to do with an FBI agent called Hu Chang. He went missing two days ago and Lieutenant Danvers thinks one of the Chinese gangs found out about who he was and killed him. Kris Wu was Agent Chang’s CI. Chang was killed and Wu took the money and tried to run. He had to stick around though, because his wife and daughter are on their way here, so he placed it with a loan shark called Freddie Lee. Danvers thinks Kris Wu was killed for the marker, but the marker’s missing and no one seems to know who took it. That’s why half of Chinatown is looking for it. You need to stop Bobbie and Petey from being transferred to the state penitentiary in the morning or they’ll be killed by the Chinese gangs when they get there. Can you do that for us?’
Miss May fell silent, her story told. She and Patricia waited for the captain to speak.
He swung his eyes from one to the other and then back to the first again.
‘I’m not hearing any evidence,’ he pointed out. ‘Do you have any?’
Patricia pulled out the letter they found in the briefcase. ‘This is a letter Kris Wu wrote to his wife. It’s in Chinese but we had it translated.’
The captain took it, inspected it for about five seconds and put it down on his desk next to a coffee spill.
‘I’ll have someone look into it, okay?’ Seeing their faces, he repeated himself with a little added hardness in his voice. ‘Okay? I’m stand in chief, one of my senior detectives got shot tonight in a drive by shooting that might have tie-ins to Chinese gang operations and I’m not making any decisions about anything until I know for certain it won’t cost me my pension.’
