No Stone Unturned Read online

  Frankie looked at the clock on the radio and questioned the wisdom of starting this so late. Chances are he would lawyer-up again, but it was still going to be an all-nighter trying to get their reports done. It was the right thing to do, but she was going to pay for it in the morning.

  She parked the unmarked car on the side of the road about a block from Sawyer’s house. The house was situated on the corner of 73rd and Wabash. His 4-door Honda was parked on the side street.

  “Do you think he’ll talk?”

  “No, but I could be wrong. Maybe he’ll want to confess his sins.” Frankie laughed.

  “Something tells me he doesn’t think he’s committing any.”

  Before Frankie could respond, a patrol car pulled up behind them. She and Mia stepped out and met Officers Shane and Stickler at the rear of their car.

  “Hey, if it isn’t the dynamic duo!” Frankie exclaimed.

  Reaching his arm around her shoulders Shane asked, “How ya doin’ kid?” He and Frankie had worked together when she was on patrol.

  “Hey Shane. Stick. How are you guys doing?”

  “Good. What’s the scoop on this one?”

  Frankie and Mia explained the history to the officers. “If you guys’ll watch the back we’ll attempt to make contact at the front.”

  “Copy that. Do you have a radio?”

  “No, I forgot to grab one when we left.”

  “Let’s split up then. I’ll go to the front door with you. Boden, you and Stick can go to the back. That way at least one of us has a radio in case shit goes south.”

  “Good idea. Let’s go.”

  Frankie and Shane crept their cars forward with their lights out. As they prepared to get out of the car the front door of the house opened. Sawyer was looking down as he exited the house and didn’t notice their cars.

  “1061 to 244. Stand by.”

  They watched as Sawyer got into the driver’s seat of his car and pulled away.

  “I’m going to follow him. Will you guys run parallel?”

  “Copy.”

  “Where do you think he’s going?” Mia asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe to find another girl? Or maybe just to the store. I guess we’ll find out.”

  Frankie stayed a couple of car lengths away and watched as Sawyer made his way to the highway then turned north towards the Avenue. Frankie hung back even more and watched his tail lights. At 39th Street he exited the highway and turned back to the east.

  “1061 to 244 on private.”

  “Go ahead 1061.”

  “He’s heading east on 39th Street. Probably going over to Prospect. You guys can stay in Metro. We’re just going to follow him a bit.”

  “Sure you don’t want some help?”

  “Naw, we’ve got him.”

  “Copy. Let us know what happens.”

  “You got it.”

  Just as Frankie predicted Sawyer turned north on Prospect. She watched as he slowed down at the corner looking, she assumed, for a woman who’d get into his car. There were women standing at the storefronts near 39th Street but he didn’t stare for long. He continued to drive north on Prospect. Frankie kept her distance so she wouldn’t spook him. He sped up as the businesses became houses. When he got to the 2900 block he slowed down again. Sawyer approached the Green Duck slowly and pulled into the parking lot. Frankie parked far enough away as not to be seen, but close enough she could see what he was doing.

  Sawyer pulled through the lot slowly. It didn’t take long for him to be approached. A young man leaned into the passenger window and rested his elbows on the window frame. Frankie couldn’t hear what they were saying but watched them talk for several minutes. The man stood up, looked around and then gestured for a woman to come to the car. She walked slowly, her gait unstable. She was a few feet from the car when she stopped. The man, Frankie assumed her pimp, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her closer. He put something in her hand, opened the car door, and shoved her inside.

  Chapter 44

  “You think he gave her crack or a condom?” Mia asked.

  “Both. Do you have a good description on him? I’m not convinced she got into the car willingly.”

  “Yeah, it’s already written down. Me either.”

  Sawyer pulled out of the parking lot and continued north. Frankie hung back, hoping he didn’t take too many side streets. It would be hard to follow him unseen if he pulled back into the neighborhoods. Much to her surprise Sawyer stayed on Prospect until he got to 18th Street. He turned back west and after a few blocks pulled into an apartment complex.

  “What are the chances,” asked Frankie.

  “You think this is where he brought Ciara?”

  “I’d bet money on it. We can’t let him get this girl inside.”

  Frankie grabbed the mic to contact the dispatcher, “1061 on East Zone. Copy a car check. Truman and Brooklyn, in the Brooklyn Apartment Complex. Gold 4-door Honda, Missouri plates 7 Boy Henry Young 8 Boy. Occupied twice. 1064 is with me but start us a second.”

  “1061 and 1064 are out at 2348. Any car in the area?”

  “142, we’ll respond to their location.”

  “Copy. 142 with 1061 at 2348.”

  Frankie grabbed her flashlight and prepared to exit the vehicle. The door was open and her left foot was out when she heard Mia yell, “Gun!”

  Sawyer was out of the car, pointing his gun towards her.

  Frankie’s weapon drawn, she ordered, “Drop the gun!”

  Sawyer hesitated then laid the gun on the roof of the car.

  “Back away from the car with your hands in the air.”

  Mia kept her weapon trained on Sawyer. Frankie holstered hers as she approached and put handcuffs on his meaty wrists.

  “Guess you’ll get a second chance to talk to us,” said Frankie.

  “Don’t hold your breath bitch.”

  A mere wisp of a woman sat trembling in the passenger seat of the Honda; her knees pulled close to her chest. The pallor of her skin was punctuated by the purple bruising already radiating from her left eye. One hand cupped her leg and the other traced the red marks circling her neck.

  Frankie thought to herself, “Are those from Sawyer or her pimp?”

  As if reading her mind, the woman said, “That guy grabbed my throat and choked the shit out of me when he saw your car behind him.”

  “What’s your name?” Mia asked.

  “Stephanie. Blackwell.”

  “How’d you know the guy you were with?”

  “I ain’t never met him before,” she stuttered.

  Mia nodded then asked, “How did you end up in the car with him?” She didn’t want to let on that she and Frankie saw the guy shove her into the car.

  “I was hanging out at the Green Duck. I wanted to score and my boy Damien said he’d give me something if I went with this guy and did what he wanted. Now, man, I didn’t want to go. You see Josie had done told me about the guy in the gold 4-door. I told Damien I had a bad feeling about it and didn’t want to go. He said it don’t matter what I ‘feel like’ that I had to go with him if I wanted the rock.”

  “Did the guy say anything when you got in?”

  “Naw he was cool for a minute but then he started driving around and he got all weird and stuff. When he saw your car, that’s when he grabbed my neck and said he was going to kill me.”

  Chapter 45

  After taking Stephanie’s statement, Frankie went to pull Sawyer out of detention. Standing by the elevator, Sawyer looked down and said, “I want a lawyer.”

  Frankie looked at him and said, “If that’s how you want it.” Looking towards the detention officer she said, “You can put him back in a cell.”

  Frankie and Mia fell into a familiar rhythm organizing the case files. Mia drafted the report on the car check while Frankie drafted the probable cause statement. Sergeant Baker started making DVD copies of the interviews and 9-1-1 calls.

  “How much longer do you think we’ll be?” Mia
asked.

  Frankie looked up and yawned. She stood, stretched, and looked at the white board of notes before responding, “An hour? Sarge, how many more discs do you have to copy?”

  “Just finished. Are we ready to make paper copies yet?”

  Another hour passed before Frankie said, “Done.”

  “Good job ladies. I’ve left a note for the dayshift. They’ll deliver the files to the prosecutor first thing.”

  Frankie grabbed a post-it note and jotted her cellphone number on it. “Just in case,” she said as she looked from Mia to Baker.

  Frankie sat in her Jeep thinking about the night, contemplating what to do next. She was too keyed up to drive home. Glancing at the clock it read 5:00 – was it too early to wake Derek up? As she started to pick up the phone it began to ring. Picking it up she smiled at the face on the screen.

  “Hey babe.”

  “Whatcha wearin’?” was the sultry response.

  “A smile now.”

  “Want to come by?”

  “You read my mind.”

  “How far out are you?”

  “Crossing the Paseo Bridge.”

  “Want me to stay on the line while you drive?”

  “No, it’s okay. I’ll see you in about fifteen.”

  Frankie disconnected the phone, turned up the music, and pressed her foot down. The Jeep seemed to be on auto-pilot as her mind raced. Her kids were in bed asleep and she’d be home before they woke up. She could sleep while they were at school. Knowing all of this, why did she still feel guilty going to Derek’s?

  Derek was glad Frankie had answered the phone. The nightmare was still fresh in his mind and she was the perfect way to excise it. Nightmares were not new, but this time was different. In it he was standing by his car in the parking lot. Bullets were tearing his flesh and Jessica was falling into his arms, her eyes wide, and questioning. The last thing he heard before he awoke in a sweat was her asking, “Why?”

  Fifteen minutes later Frankie was walking through Derek’s back door. He stood in the dark at the kitchen window waiting for her. With the help of two fingers of Johnny Walker Black, his hands had stopped trembling and his pulse had returned to normal. She took her coat and weapon off, slid out of her shoes and fell into his arms. Her body melted into his, her mouth finding his in the dark. Frankie shivered as his cold hands slid under her sweater and touched her bare skin. Hungrily she pulled his shirt off and ran her hands across his taut chest. He began to lead her towards the bedroom but she stopped and pointed at the couch, “No. There.”

  Together they removed their clothing as Frankie’s hands and mouth explored Derek’s body. She straddled him and their bodies became one. When they were both satisfied she lay spent against his chest.

  Chuckling Derek said, “Well that just happened.”

  Frankie lay silent for a moment then asked, “Why were you up? Did you have another dream?”

  Derek stroked her hair but didn’t immediately answer. He didn’t want Frankie to worry. Eventually he sighed and said, “Yes.”

  Frankie grabbed a blanket and curled up next to him on the couch. She looked at Derek and noticed his hair had gotten more gray and his eyes looked sad.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  Derek looked into Frankie’s blue eyes, pulled her in closer to his body, letting her head rest on his chest and said, “No, just let me hold you for a minute.”

  Chapter 46

  Frankie got home just as the alarm clock was sounding in her daughter’s room. She gently nudged Keith and told him she was home.

  “You work all night?”

  “Yeah. I left about an hour ago.”

  “How’s the counselor?”

  “Better every day.”

  Keith noticed Frankie’s elusive response and was about to question her when Tyler came running into the room.

  “Mom!” Tyler squeezed Frankie around the waist and said, “I’m so glad to see you!”

  Hugging her son, she leaned down and kissed the top of his head, “I’m so glad to see you too bud. Why don’t you go get ready for school and I’ll make us some breakfast?”

  “Kay. Toaster strudel?”

  Frankie laughed and nodded. She watched a weary-eyed Dani walk from her bedroom to the bathroom. She thought she heard a grunt that sounded like hello but she couldn’t be sure.

  “Are you working tonight?” Keith asked.

  “No. I have tonight off.”

  “Okay. Want to have dinner with James and I?” Keith asked. He and his partner James met while working for the Kansas City Missouri Fire Department. Keith was a firefighter and James was a paramedic. Keith lived next door and Frankie watched as the friendship became a romance. Eventually James moved in and became part of their extended family.

  “That would be nice. Why don’t I whip something up?”

  “Sounds good…”

  “Mom, where are my shoes?” bellowed Dani.

  Frankie rolled her eyes and said good-bye to Keith.

  The rest of the morning went smoothly. After dropping the kids off at school, Frankie returned home to sleep. The ringing of the telephone woke her from a deep sleep. It took a moment for Frankie to realize it was her phone and not part of a dream.

  “Thomas.”

  “Did I wake you?”

  Smiling Frankie said, “Yeah, but I’m glad you called. How’s your day going?”

  “Better now. I won the hearing this morning. You must have brought me good luck.”

  “Good. Did Jessica come talk to you this morning?” Frankie sat up and waited to hear what Derek would say.

  “I haven’t seen her. Why would she?”

  “She was the prosecutor I spoke with last night. She didn’t want us to pick Sawyer up. Said we didn’t have enough. Wanted our cases by 8am…”

  Before Frankie could finish her sentence, the call waiting clicked in.

  “Hold on a second.” She clicked over and said, “Thomas.”

  “Detective Thomas this is Jessica Moon from the prosecutor’s office. I have a couple of questions about the cases that were submitted on the in-custody.”

  “Can you hold for just a second?” Frankie told Derek she would call him back then returned to the call. After answering several questions, it became apparent Jessica not only had not read the files but had no intention of charging Sawyer in custody. “So, you plan to just let him go?”

  “I’ll revisit the cases once the kits have been processed and we have some DNA.”

  “What if he does it again? And he will. How many women does he have to rape before you decide to charge him?”

  “I don’t believe we can win the cases we have without DNA. Give me something more and I’ll charge him.”

  “What about the fact that he had a gun and the last victim was not with him willingly,” pushed Frankie.

  “I don’t recall seeing that in the case files. Perhaps…”

  Frankie bit her tongue. Inside she yelled, “You didn’t even read the fucking file!” To Moon she asked, “What about Trayvon Stockton. What are you going to do with him?”

  Moon shuffled some papers before saying, “Looks like Mr. Stockton has a failure to appear in another case so we will take a little more time to look at this one before making a decision.”

  Frankie disconnected the phone and yelled, “Bitch.”

  Giving herself a moment to calm down she grabbed her phone and called Sergeant Baker. She told him what Jessica had said in colorful terms.

  “What if we put a tracker on Sawyer’s car?” asked Baker.

  “We should just keep his car,” growled Frankie.

  “I’ll talk to Fitzmeyer in Intelligence and see if they can place a tracker before we release the car back to him.”

  Frankie was still angry but somewhat pacified with Baker’s plan. With the details ironed out she called Derek back. Getting his voicemail, she decided she needed to get up and burn off some of her anger.

  Chapter 47

 
Frankie and Isabelle started their jog slow, but steady. Once they were warmed up Frankie increased her pace. Step by step, breath by breath, Frankie felt her anger dissipate. She would get Sawyer.

  The afternoon flew by and before she knew it the kids were rushing through the door.

  “Stop it!” yelled Tyler. “Hi mom! I’m glad you’re home!”

  “Hey buddy. I told you I would be.”

  “I know.” Softly Tyler added, “But sometimes you aren’t.”

  Frankie felt a twinge of guilt. “Do you have any homework?”

  “Spelling words. I have to read a story too.”

  “Let’s fix a quick snack and talk about your day first.”

  Frankie smiled at the animated way Tyler talked about his day. Dani snuck in behind him and almost made it to her bedroom when Frankie said, “Danielle.”

  “Ugh.” The sound was barely above a whisper. “What?”

  “Come here. How was your day?”

  “Fine.”

  “Do you have any homework?”

  “Yes.”

  Frankie smiled at Dani’s one-word answers.

  “I was going to my room to work on it,” was Dani’s insolent response.

  “Why don’t you and Tyler do your homework at the table?”

  “Yes,” yelled Tyler.

  “I want to listen to my music,” whined Dani. “In my room.”

  “I’ll turn the radio on. Come on. You guys can do homework while I cook dinner.”

  Slamming her books on the table she said, “Fine.”

  The trio fell into a rhythm of work. Tyler writing his words, Dani doing a worksheet, and Frankie preparing dinner. Tyler finished his work first and went to his room to play with his Legos. Frankie got dinner into the oven and sat down with Dani as she finished her worksheets.

  “Anyone home?” hollered James.

  Frankie jumped up from her chair and grabbed James in a bear hug. Keith was only a few steps behind. Coming through the door he said, “Hey, get your hands off my man.”

  Laughter filled the room.

  Dinner was lively and loud. Tyler regaled the group with recess and lunchroom tales. Dani updated everyone with the latest middle school gossip. Frankie relaxed as she watched the scene unfold at her dining table.