Chapter 17: Some Firm Warnings

Brewed Delight Coffee Shop
The Loop
1 Hour Later

After observing and photographing the uneasy introduction and interaction between Aiden Pearce and his secretive female contact, now known as Clara, Detective Harrison drove into The Loop and stopped into a neighborhood 24-hour coffee shop with his laptop and digital camera. He planned to use the building's free Wi-Fi to upload the photos of Clara and e-mail them to the CtOS Task Force so she could be formally identified. He was doing just that as he took out his cell phone and dialed the task force's direct number.

"Task Force Command Center", Dr. Bartholomew answered, "Doctor Bartholomew speaking."

"Hey Doc", Harrison replied, "It's Troy Harrison. Sorry to call so late."

"No problem Detective", Bartholomew said, "What can I do for you?"

"I just tailed Aiden Pearce to an underground train station where he met with one of his spooky hacker contacts", Harrison began to explain, "I was able to sneak in behind them and snap some photos. Pearce's contact was a very tattooed dark-haired woman who spoke with a very pronounced French-Canadian accent, and I just e-mailed you a few shots of her face. Could you use the CtOS facial recognition software to get a clear ID?"

"Sure", Bartholomew replied.

Harrison could hear his task force supervisor typing on some computer keys on the opposite side of the line. "Okay", Bartholomew said after a few moments, "Your mysterious tattooed woman is Clara Lille. She's a twenty-eight-year-old Canadian citizen who's here apparently on an expired Visa."

"Her immigration status isn't an issue for us, is it?" Harrison asked.

"Not at all", Bartholomew said, "We have way bigger fish to fry. Anyway, it appears Miss Lille has worked as a tattoo artist at a shop in The Wards the entire time she's been in this country. She works at a tattoo shop call 'Moonlight Ink' in The Loop. She has no solid last known address on record, so I'll send Vin and McCain there tomorrow afternoon to try and get a lead from her boss on where she might be."

"That sounds good", Harrison replied, "I'll get an update from you guys when I get to The Aquarium tomorrow night."

"Okay", Bartholomew said, "Anything else you need, Detective?"

"Yeah", Harrison explained, "Speaking of tomorrow, Doc, I might be a little bit late coming in for my next shift. My friend lives in Sheridan Park and she's out of town for a bit. She asked me to feed her fish while she's away, but I think I might crash there for a day or two. It'll be a bit more of a commute from Sheridan Park to The Wards, what with the train schedule and everything."

"No problem", Bartholomew said, "Just don't be afraid to give me a shout if you run into any issues."

"You got it", Harrison replied, "Thanks for understanding, Doc. I'll see you tomorrow night."

Residence of Abigail Asher
West Sunnyside Avenue
Sheridan Park
45 Minutes Later

After a ride on one of Chicago's infamous elevated trains, Harrison arrived at Detective Asher's apartment building, not only intending to honor his promise to feed her fish, but to also possibly stay for a few days to avoid a longer, unnecessary car ride back to both his work in The Wards and his motel in Parker Square. Asher lived in a seemingly enormous-looking three-story brick apartment building, one of a few located on Sheridan Park's West Sunnyside Avenue.

Harrison unlocked the building's outer door using the keys he had gotten from Lieutenant Broussard and made his way through the building's surprisingly cramped lobby. He soon found Asher's apartment, 114, tucked in a constricted hallway just off the lobby. Using a second key on the provided keyring, he unlocked the door and made his way inside.

At first blush, it appeared that the tenant in Apartment 114 was possibly a busy college student as opposed to a Chicago police officer. A brand-new mountain bike sat leaning against a wall just inside Asher's front door, and on either side of it sat a backpack, a pair of very well-used running shoes, and a sports water bottle. The young detective's living room was furnished with a very cozy-looking brown leather sofa with two matching leather recliners on either side of it. A handmade pine coffee table sat opposite the sofa.

Some very fond memories were triggered for Harrison as he noted the presence of a decorative fleece blanket draped across the back of the sofa, which bared the name and logo of their Vermont hometown athletic team, the Winterville Wasps. The blanket was even decked out in the distinctive black and brown color scheme of their high school. Harrison soon found Asher's aquarium and the needed fish food, tapping some flakes into the top of the tank. Asher's two yellow tetra fish quickly swarmed and consumed the food.

Harrison found his way into Asher's small kitchen, flipping on the overhead florescent light as he entered. He smiled as he passed her refrigerator and noted the presence of a photo, which she had stuck to the freezer door. It was of a younger Asher and Harrison posing together at the former's high school graduation ceremony, with Asher dressed in her black and brown cap and gown. Harrison had made a special trip that weekend all the way from his college in Mississippi just to support his friend.

The detective briefly searched the kitchen's cupboards looking for something to eat, that is until he found a small unopened bag of salted sunflower seeds in one of the cupboards above the sink. He then sat down at the small dining table, opened the bag with ease, and began eating the seeds. As he enjoyed his light snack, Harrison happened to notice that Asher had apparently left an official CPD case file folder on the table, unopened. The large bolded lettering beneath the official CPD seal read: "ROSSI-FREMONT HOUSING PROJECTS" and beneath that a corresponding case number. Harrison raised an eyebrow with tentative interest, but nevertheless was very conflicted about actually opening it and examining the contents within. Although he himself was a CPD officer, the folder detailed a case being investigated by Asher's Narcotics Squad, and the always respectful Harrison was bothered by the possibly of seeing things that Asher and the squad would've most likely wanted to keep confidential.

However, a lightbulb went off in Harrison's mind that seemed to override his apprehension. He flipped open the folder to find a piece of yellow paper, apparently having been torn from a yellow legal pad, sitting at the top of the accumulation of paperwork inside the folder. He recognized the handwriting on it as Asher's, written in black ink, and words such as "Pawned Off", "Wards", and a particular fragment of a sentence containing the words: "…upstairs apartment" jumped out at him.

"What the hell?" Harrison said under his breath.

The puzzled detective momentarily moved the piece of paper aside and was all but stunned by what he found beneath it: An enlarged photocopied image of the late Maxwell King's Illinois driver's license. Little by little, Harrison started to put the various pieces of everything together in his mind and realized that, judging by the dates on Asher's reports included in the folder, she had ostensibly known about the investigation of Maxwell King all along, even before the night when Harrison, Voight, Olinsky, and the other detectives had found him dead in his apartment above the pawn shop. Harrison needed to have a very important talk with Lieutenant Broussard.