Chapter 12: Connecting Webs
Martin Van Buren Public Library
East Garfield Park
Later That Afternoon
Detectives Harrison, Tran, Dobbs, and Brooks pulled their identical-looking unmarked police cars into the abandoned and quite decrepit Martin Van Buren Public Library, located in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on Chicago's West Side. Harrison took note that the marked CPD patrol car that he and Tran had parked their vehicle behind was from District 13. The four Homicide detectives promptly exited their vehicles, at which point two female uniformed patrol officers followed suit and came out of their own vehicle. One of the female officers was a very appealing short-haired, brown-eyed brunette with blonde highlights in her hair.
"I take it you guys are the Homicide detectives from District Thirty-Four?" the appealing policewoman asked, extending a hand to Harrison.
Harrison shook the officer's hand warmly. "That's us", he said before motioning to his squad mates, "I'm Detective Troy Harrison. These are Detectives Sunny Tran, Nick Brooks, and Julius Dobbs."
"Nice to meet you all", the officer said, "I'm Officer Erin Lindsay with the Thirteenth District." She gestured to her partner who stood on the other side of the car outside the passenger door. "This is my partner", she said, "Officer Vicki Tate."
"Hello", Tate said. Officer Tate was a heavyset older officer appearing to be in her mid-forties. Her red hair was done up in a very orderly French braid. "So, Hank Voight said you guys needed some backup", she continued, "What's the story with this old library? It's been abandoned for about ten years."
"We've been searching for a murder suspect for the last couple days", Tran chimed in as she removed a printed photo of Maurice Vega from her pocket and showed it to the officers, "His name's Maurice Vega, twenty-six-year-old male Hispanic weighing roughly a hundred and thirty pounds. He's a thug for hire that we're looking at for the murder of Maxwell King."
"Mister King was killed in our district approximately three nights ago", Brooks added, "The victim's landlord saw someone matching Vega's description entering his apartment with him on the night of the murder. We found the body about half an hour to an hour afterward, and the crime lab techs found Vega's prints all over the apartment, including on the lamp that was used to beat King to death. An informant told Detective Harrison that Vega could possibly be squatting here at the library."
Lindsay nodded. "That fits", she said, "We're always getting calls about homeless people here. Fights, drugs, that kind of stuff."
Harrison nodded and motioned to the building with a nod. "Let me guess", he said, "This place only has one way in and one way out, huh?"
"Correct", Tate said as she pointed to a large plywood board that apparently functioned as a makeshift door for the building, "Squatters are constantly ripping down that big board there, sometimes even faster than the city maintenance workers are able to come and fix it."
Detective Dobbs emerged from the back of his and Brooks' unmarked car with a crowbar in his hand. "That shouldn't be a problem", he said with a big, cunning grin on his face.
The four detectives and two patrol officers then lined up in front of the plywood entrance, with Harrison and Dobbs at the forefront. Dobbs slid the pronged end of the crowbar just beneath the right-side corner of the thick board and easily pried it off, sliding it aside for the time being. Everyone else made soon their way inside in a very calculated and tactical manner with their guns drawn and flashlights illuminating every visible corner.
"Chicago PD!" Officer Lindsay called out in a very authoritative tone, "Anybody in here better put their hands in plain view!"
As everyone slowly advanced further into the abandoned library, they found themselves in what used to be the building's main room, but apparently was now being used as a sort of communal bunkroom, as every person's flashlight beam seemed to land on more and more ramshackle cots constructed out of everything from cardboard to old mattresses. There appeared to be cots between every looted and sparsely filled old wooden bookshelf in the room.
Harrison and Tran found their way to one of the few empty cots in the big room, at which point Harrison donned a pair of blue nitrile exam gloves and knelt down beside a pair of dirty mattresses stacked on top of one another. There was a very well-used black leather billfold sitting on the floor, which Harrison flipped open with his gloved pinky finger. The expired Illinois driver's license inside belonged to Maurice Vega.
"Hey guys!" Harrison called out to the others, "I've got an old wallet over here. It's got Maurice Vega's ID in it. Looks like he was crashing here at some point."
As everyone else made their way over to Harrison and Tran, they were suddenly startled when a dirty blanket on the cot beside Vega's started to move. "Chicago Police!" Harrison called out as he trained his gun on the cot, "Show me your hands now! I want to see those hands!"
Two pale, dry hands almost immediately appeared from beneath the filthy green blanket. The unexpected sight of a short blonde, pale, and considerably skinny preteen girl of around twelve was revealed to them as she reluctantly stood upright with her hands raised. "Please", the meek-voiced young girl said, "Please don't shoot."
Harrison exhaled with relief as he quickly holstered his gun and held his own hands out as if to beckon the girl's forgiveness. "I'm sorry, honey", he said with more warmth in his voice, "It's okay. My name's Troy." He pointed to his CPD Detective's badge he had clipped to his belt. "I'm a police officer", he said before motioning to his colleagues in the room, "All these other people here with me are police officers too."
"We're not going to hurt you, sweetheart", Lindsay said with an equal amount of tenderness in her tone, "My name's Erin. What's yours?"
"Becca", the girl said.
Officer Lindsay sat down on the edge of Becca's now empty cot to meet her at her level. "Well", she said, "It's nice to meet you, Becca. Are you here by yourself?"
The young girl lowered her head and frowned. "My mom and dad were here before I went to sleep. Did you find them here too?"
Lindsay shook her head. "No sweetie", she said, "We didn't. If you had to guess, where do you think they'd be right now?"
"My dad goes around the city looking for old metal", Becca replied, "he says that's how he gets money for us."
Harrison nodded. "I see", he said, "and what does your mom do?"
"She goes to stores and gets clothes for us", Becca replied.
When she said this, Dobbs noted the presence of sale tags still attached to the girl's pink camouflage-print pajama top. There were bar codes and unique metal buttons pinned to the tag. He knelt down to Harrison's ear. "It looks like Mom shoplifts", he whispered, "She's probably a booster. She swipes clothes from stores and what she doesn't give to the kid or her man, she probably sells on the street."
Harrison excused himself from the conversation and went to a corner of the room with Dobbs. "I hear you, man", he said in a soft voice, "I have an idea. Check with OEMC and see how many shoplifting calls came in from this general area this morning. Focus on any calls with a single female perp and send a patrolman to every one of those locations. I can't imagine Becca's mom strayed very far from here."
Dobbs nodded and took out his cell phone to make the call. Meanwhile, Harrison returned to Becca and Lindsay. "Becca", he said to the little girl, "Do you know any of the places around here that your dad would go to look for the old metal?"
The young girl nodded. "The only place he's ever told me about is the old garage", Becca said, "We can walk there from here."
"There's an abandoned auto body shop a block and a half away", Officer Tate chimed in, "That's probably the place she's talking about."
Officer Lindsay nodded in agreement, then turned her attention back to Becca. "Okay Becca", she said, "Have you ever been to the Baptist church here in the neighborhood?"
"Yeah", Becca replied, "They give us food there sometimes, and Pastor Dave lets me babysit some of the kids while their parents have lunch on Sundays."
"Why don't I take you over there?" Lindsay suggested, "You can stay there for a while we have some other policemen look for your mom and dad."
Becca then gave the officer a very worried frown. "Are you going to arrest them?" she anxiously asked, "Did they do something bad?"
Though reluctant, Lindsay shook her head. "No honey", she said, "We just want to find them to let them know you're okay."
Becca sighed. "Okay", she said, "I guess I'll go to the church."
Lindsay smiled. "Okay", she said, "Do you have anything that you want to bring with you?"
Becca turned and picked up an overstuffed and very worn out pink backpack. "All my stuff is in here", she said, "Whenever we have to go somewhere, I always take it with me."
Harrison smiled, impressed by the young girl's maturity and confidence, but was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder.
"Harrison", Dobbs said.
Harrison turned around to face his fellow detective. "Yeah?"
"Patrol's out looking for Becca's folks", Dobbs said, "OEMC put three district cars on it. Captain Broussard just texted me, he needs to pull Brooks and I off of this for now to go help out with another call in the Thirty-First District."
Harrison rose to a stand and nodded. "Okay", he said, "Sunny and I can hold things down here. I'll call the Crime Lab and have them collect the rest of Vega's stuff. Could you text the captain back and tell him we'll be back at the district as soon as the lab techs leave?"
"You got it, bro", Dobbs said reassuringly.
Harrison knelt down to Becca just as she was getting ready to leave with Officers Lindsay and Tate. "You did a really good job today, honey", he said, smiling, "You were such a big help. Thank you."
Becca giggled. "You're welcome", she said sweetly, "Are you coming with me to the church too?"
"Sorry kiddo", he said, "My partner and I have to stay here for a bit and make sure everything's safe. But if you want to talk to me again or if you remember anything else, tell Erin here and she can call me right away." He handed Lindsay one of his business cards.
"Okay", Becca said.
"See you later sweetie!" Harrison said as he watched Becca and the two officers go out the door.
