Almost an hour later, Elisa went back to the front, noticing that Ava's father had turned off all outward signs of the bar being open. Even the sign in the door's barred window had been flipped to say "closed".
He stood by the door, his jacket on, and holding his daughter's in hand. "We will go now, and talk to your officer Lopez. Sofia, Yasmine, and their families will meet us there." He helped his daughter into her coat. "You should have told me, Mija," he scolded quietly, and Elisa saw the tough bartender persona melt away in the face of his daughter's distress.
"I know, Papa," Ava said.
"Mr. De Leon…" Elisa began.
"Miguel," he said, holding his hand out to Elisa. "You may as well call me by my given name."
"Miguel," Elisa said, taking the offered hand. "Matt and I will follow up with you in a day or two."
""Thank you," he murmured, opening the door. Elisa walked out, meeting with Matt at the top of the small flight of stairs and watched as Miguel got on the old Harley parked on the street. Once he and Ava, helmets firmly in place, were gone, Matt turned to look at Elisa.
"Maria woke a judge up," Matt said. "It was Garcia. I swear, that man hears that it's for you and it's done." He shook his head. "We can go pick it up at the station whenever you're ready."
"Let's do it now," Elisa said, digging her keys out.
"Hey," Matt said, hurrying to the passenger side and looking at Elisa over the top of the car. "You okay?"
Elisa shook her head. "No. Nothing about what this guy did is okay," Elisa opened the door and slid inside. "But I want to get this guy. Now. Tonight."
"Let's do it, then," Matt said grimly. He fastened his seatbelt and braced himself for his partner's angry bat-out-of-hades driving.
{+}+{+}+{+}+{+}+{+}+{+}
Roth wasn't home, not that either detective was all that surprised.
When there was no answer, they had woken the building's super up and presented her with the warrant. Ms. Sing, who was ninety, give or take a decade, despite being woken up in the middle of the night, was only too happy to help the NYPD.
Hair in bright pink foam curlers under a blue hair net, a bright Hawaiian print house coat over her nightgown, she hurried up three flights of stairs ahead of Elisa and Matt. Waiting in the hallway outside the door were another four officers, all decked out in their official blue uniforms, and ready to assist in the arrest.
Ms. Sing fluttered and flirted with the officers, never missing a step in moving to the door, locating the correct key and opening the door.
She was adorable, and just what Elisa needed right that moment to remind her that there were still good people in the world.
It happened like that sometimes.
Hazard of the job.
When the superintendent opened the door, the officers swept in with Matt and Elisa waiting outside for them to clear the apartment. There were calls of "clear" every few seconds, then one loud f-bomb.
"Detectives," one of the officers called from the doorway. "I think we found what you're looking for, and you're not going to like it."
Judging from the look on the man's face, he didn't like it.
Resigned, already having a feeling of what they were going to find, Elisa and Matt followed the officer.
"Apartment has two bedrooms," the officer said. "One slept in and one… well, you'll see."
Matt entered first and waited for Elisa to follow.
Clothesline rope was strung throughout the room, most holding plastic clips and some holding pictures. Upon closer inspection, Elisa could agree that she didn't like it.
Snapping on gloves, both Elisa and Matt began careful and deliberate inspection of the workspace. A laptop was on a desk, but had been destroyed deliberately with a nearby hammer.
Spotting a closet, Elisa carefully turned the knob and glanced into a room that was lit with a dark red light.
"Dark room," Elisa said, walking inside. "Strong chemical smell in here."
"No ventilation," Matt pointed out. "This stuff is highly flammable. This guy's lucky he wasn't blown sky high."
Elisa gave a humming noise. "He left in a hurry," she noted, spotting loose and disorganized piles of negatives strewn around.
"Think he knew we were coming?" Matt asked.
"Oh he figured I would be coming," Elisa admitted. "I did flash my badge to get him to back off of Violet last night."
Matt nodded. "That's possible too."
"Let's tag the computer," Elisa said with a sigh. "See if the cybercrimes or the I.T. guys can get anything from it."
Matt said, "Are you done in here?"
"Yeah," Elisa said, pointing at the loose trail of negatives. "For the moment, but I'm going to want all of those bagged and tagged into evidence after the photographs are taken. Some of them might be Ava and her cousins, or they might point out the way to more victims."
"Should we put someone outside the building as a spotter and go check out his 'Studio'?" Matt asked, emphasizing the last work with a sneer.
"Yes. Let's go hit the 'Studio'," Elisa said, putting the same dark emphasis on the word studio that Matt had.
Matt nodded, and together, they went to the door to recruit assistance in what they needed done there. An actual crime scene tech team would come in and transport what was needed and get it logged into evidence, the officers at the scene would stand guard to make sure nothing was tampered with as well as plant themselves around the building should the man come back.
That was all well and good, thought Elisa.
They had one more stop to make before the end of shift.
{+}+{+}+{+}+{+}+{+}+{+}
The studio was emptied as well.
From the security footage provided by the building's rental agency, they had determined that Roth had been clearing out the last of his studio at roughly the same time that the entertaining Ms. Sing had been opening up the apartment.
It was disappointing, to put it lightly, but not entirely surprising considering the state of his apartment.
"Damn," Matt said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "What now?"
"We run the plates and play follow the money," Elisa said. "We put a watch out for any credit card or ATM activity."
"Think he'd go back to that bar you saw him at?" Matt asked.
Elisa shook her head. "If he was spooked enough to do all of this with just me flashing my shield? Not likely."
"I'm open to suggestions," Matt said.
"I may have an idea," Elisa said.