The cost of vengeance - [11]

I looked at the crowd. “Anybody see what happened?”

“Are you kidding?”

“Uni’s canvas the building yet?”

“In progress. They’re going door-to-door, but so far nobody is talking.”

“Evidence techs done with the scene?”

“They’re finished. They saved the bodies for you.”

“Okay, let’s get them outta here,” I said, and they tagged and bagged the bodies. Once they were gone, I looked at the crowd again and walked over to three uniforms that weren’t doing anything. “Come with me.”

“Yes, sir,” they said and followed me back to the crowd.

I walked slowly along the tape line. “Get him,” I said, and one of the officers went and got him.

“What you fuckin’ wit’ me for? I ain’t do shit,” he protested.

I picked out two more and told the officers to keep them separated, and I would talk to them the later. “Okay folks!” I shouted. “Anybody who lives here can go back inside,” I said and the rest of the officers went about dispersing the crowd. As the building residences made there way back to the building, I looked them over carefully. I saw an older man shaking his head as he walked, and then he made eye contact with me. I caught up with him.

“Excuse me, sir. Did you see what happened here tonight?” I asked as we walked.

“No, sir, I didn’t see nothing,” he said louder than he needed to. Then he whispered. “Two thirteen.” And kept walking.

I let the rest walk by and get in the building before I moved. Just as I was about to go up to apartment 213 to hear what the man had to say, an officer rushed up to us. “Excuse me, detectives, but we found another body,” he said excitedly.

“Where?” Sanchez asked.

“In a vacant apartment on the third floor.”

“Call the techs back and tell them we got another one, Gene.” Sanchez pulled out his radio and got them to turn around, as we followed the officer to the third floor.

“Who found the body?” I asked along the way, then up the stairs.

“I did,” the officer said. “We were going door-to-door and that one wasn’t completely shut. I gave it a little shove and shined my light in there. Body is in the living room.”

“Anybody go in there?” Sanchez asked.

“No, sir. I left my partner to watch the door and I came to find you.”

“Good man,” Sanchez said and I shook my head. He might as well have patted the kid on the head and gave him a treat.

“See if you can get an ETA on the evidence techs,” I said as we got closer to the apartment. I borrowed the kid’s flashlight and shined it in the apartment. “Another woman, Gene,” I said and Sanchez looked in.

“You think this one is connected with the others?” he asked.

“Hard to say.”

“Lieutenant Reyes says he’s on his way up now,” the officer said, and we waited outside the apartment so the crime scene wouldn’t be distributed.

I waited until Reyes’s team got finished doing their job, before Sanchez and I went in. “What you got, Reyes?”

“Black female; shot once in the head at point blank range. Judging from the angle of the entry wound, either the shooter was very tall, or the victim was on her knees,” Reyes said.

“Executed,” Sanchez said. “I guess that answers our question about whether they’re related,” he said.

“Maybe,” I said.

“Maybe, but not necessarily, lieutenant,” Reyes said. “And I’m going purely on the state of rigor in the body. I’d say this one was shot a good seven hours before the ones outside. But give me some time and I’ll have a timeline for you; though she was definitely shot first.”

“Thanks, Reyes,” I said and left the apartment to let them bag and tag her.

I went downstairs and knocked on the door of apartment 213. When the door opened, the man hurried us in and scanned the hall to see if anybody had seen us come in. He quickly closed the door and locked it. I looked around the room and noticed the chair sitting next to the window. I motioned for Sanchez and he walked over to the window and looked out. “I’m Detective Kirkland,” I began.

“I don’t need to know all that. I know y’all the cops.”

I laughed a little. “Okay, sir, just tell us what you saw?”

“The killers; they rolled up in a black van, jumped out, and started shooting.”

“You were sitting here by the window when it happened?” Sanchez asked.

“I was watching television.”

“You always up this late?” I asked.

“I don’t get in from work ’til three. I always watch a little TV before I go to bed. I had been here about an hour when they come. Kenyatta and them other two, shot back, and the rest of them scattered.”

“You know what it was about?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

“What’s it always about, officer: drugs. That girl and her thugs been regulatin’ this buildin’ for years. People coming and goin’, buying they dope all hours of the day and night.”

“How long have they been setup here?” Sanchez needed to know since this spot wasn’t on his radar.

“Shit, about two, maybe three years,” he said. “Now y’all got to go. You been in here just long enough for me to tell you I ain’t see nothing.” He started walking toward the door.

“Okay, sir, we’re going; but did you get a look at any of the shooters, or can you tell me what kind of van it was?”