Chapter 24: A Loose End

North Avenue Beach
10 Minutes Later

Detectives Harrison and Voight arrived to find a very hectic and crowded scene on the shores of Chicago's infamous North Avenue Beach. Aside from what seemed like hundreds of onlookers and beachgoers who had been pushed aside so the area could be designated as a crime scene, several reporters and senior CPD staff had apparently descended onto the scene. Voight had noted the presence of at least three commanding officers, all of whom were wearing the unique white uniform shirts unique to senior staff, and pointed them out to Harrison.

"This must be one major scene", Voight discreetly said as he pointed to one particular "white shirt" who was talking to Captain Broussard, "That's the First Deputy Superintendent talking with the captain."

"That's First Deputy Barron?" Harrison asked with a soft yet still anxious tone in his voice.

Voight nodded. "Yep", he replied in just as mellifluous a tone as his partner.

"Why the hell is he here for a beach floater?" Harrison asked.

The gruff detective shrugged his shoulders. "No idea, bro", he said, "Let's find out."

The partners made their way to the area just outside the taped off crime scene area where Captain Broussard, First Deputy Superintendent Barron, and Barron's official driver, Officer Frank Milne, were congregated and talking amongst themselves.

"Good morning Captain!" Harrison greeted.

Broussard then turned and extended a hand to his detective. "Morning, Detective!" he said to Harrison before repeated the gracious gesture with Voight, "Morning, Hank!"

"John", Voight politely said to the captain as he reciprocated the handshake.

Broussard then gestured to the First Deputy Superintendent. "I assume that you've both met First Deputy Barron", he said.

Voight saluted the First Deputy for a brief moment before shaking the man's hand. "Good morning sir", he said, "It's good to see you again."

"Detective Voight", Barron said, "I thought you were assigned to the Gang Unit at the Twenty-First."

"Hank's filling in for my partner while she recovers, sir", Harrison cut in.

"This is Detective Troy Harrison, Walter", Broussard clarified for the First Deputy as he gestured to Harrison, "He was partnered with Sunny Tran at the time of her shooting."

Barron frowned for a beat. "Oh", he said as he extended a hand to Harrison, "I'm so sorry for what happened to her and I'm sorry we're not meeting under better circumstances, Detective."

Harrison civilly reciprocated the handshake. "I appreciate that, sir", Harrison replied, "I spoke to Sunny on the phone last night. She'll be discharged from Chicago Med the day after tomorrow."

Barron nodded. "That's good to hear", he said.

"If you don't mind my asking", Voight said, "What brings you out here from the Ivory Tower, First Deputy?"

"I understand you had a Palin Correctional inmate named Raul Lionzo help you give aid to Detective Tran when she was shot", Barron said, addressing Harrison, "Is that right?"

"Yes sir", Harrison said, "Why do you ask?"

"I'm sorry to say that it's Mister Lionzo's body that washed up here this morning", Barron said, "Superintendent Daniels asked me to come down here just to observe things and report back to him."

A mutually befuddled Voight and Harrison traded looks upon hearing this sudden and very unusual news. "I…I don't get it", Harrison said, "It was our understanding that Raul was supposed to still be serving a jail sentence for a heroin beef."

"After the FBI was tipped off about the corruption at Palin Correctional", Barron began to explain, "The Governor ordered the facility shuttered immediately. All the remaining inmates were sent over to the Cook County Jail, including Mister Lionzo. Someone apparently posted his bail and sprung him not long after he arrived there."

"Who bailed him out?" Voight asked.

"That's what we need you guys to find out, Hank", Captain Broussard said.

The captain then motioned to a young white man appearing to be in his early thirties, kneeling next to the sheet-covered body, apparently taking notes. The man wore a black hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans and had a CPD Detective's badge around his neck. "That's Detective Jeff Shadley", Broussard continued, "He's with Narcotics at the Thirty-First District. He busted Lionzo a while back for possessing a felony amount of heroin. We put him in charge of the scene here until you guys arrived. I suggest you guys start with him."

Harrison and Voight made their way across the sandy beach to where Detective Shadley was kneeling. "Detective Shadley?" Harrison inquired.

Shadley rose to an upright standing position, putting his memo book in the front satchel pocket of his hooded sweatshirt. "That's me", he replied, "You guys are the Homicide detectives from the Thirty-Fourth, I take it."

Harrison nodded before extending a hand to Shadley. "That's right", he said, "I'm Troy Harrison." He then gestured to Voight, "This is Hank Voight."

The detective shook both of their hands before kneeling back down beside the yellow plastic sheet covering the body. "I'm sorry we're not meeting under more suitable circumstances, fellas", he said.

"Agreed", Harrison said, "What can you tell us about the contact you had with Raul when you busted him?"

"Almost three weeks ago", Shadley began, "My squad received an anonymous tip through the CPD Narcotics tip line about people supposedly dealing high-quality heroin out of a derelict apartment building in Irving Park. We sat on the place for eight days to gather intel, raided it, and took a half dozen people into custody on various charges. My lieutenant ordered me to follow Mister Lionzo from the bust to the courtroom, which I did."

"Did the judge give him high bail?" Harrison said, "It seems strange to me that someone would post bail for him when he was fourteen days into a sixty-day sentence."

"No", Shadley said, "His bail was about the average amount for a felony heroin charge, but Lionzo told me a bunch of times that he just could afford to put up the amount himself."

Harrison nodded. "I'll look into who posted his bail as soon as we get back to the squad room", he said, "I can't imagine anybody in his social orbit being able to post bail after keeping him cooped up in jail for fourteen days."

The three detectives then knelt to the neon yellow sheet covering the body. Harrison donned a pair of blue nitrile exam gloves and carefully pulled the sheet back at head level, exposing a very noticeably gruesome gunshot wound to Raul Lionzo's head. His corpse had become rather bloated from the accumulation of bacterial gases, which was a common indicator of decomposition.

"Damn!" Harrison exclaimed, "They got him right between the eyes." Pulling down the sheet a bit further, Harrison saw what looked to him like large pieces of seaweed clinging to the deceased's jacket, undershirt, and ragged jeans. He looked to Detective Shadley. "Who called in the body?" he asked.

"A two-man patrol unit responded to a nine-one-one call about people screaming on the beach", Shadley replied.

Harrison gestured to the seaweed. "Based on all this seaweed and the bloating of the body", he explained, "I'd say our late pal here was dumped from a boat, at which point his body sank to the bottom of Lake Michigan and got caught in some of the seaweed that drifts in from the Atlantic. He sat down there for however long until what I'm guessing were built up body gases caused him to float up here to the surface this morning."

Shadley grinned. "Were you a medical examiner in an old life or something?" he asked in a humorous tone.

Harrison shook his head. "I haven't been a Homicide cop here in Chicago for very long", he said, "But I have extensive training in forensic science. Needless to say, Detective, I've seen my share of putrid bodies."

Shadley nodded. "I got you", he said, "I'm going to head back to my district. If I come upon anything that may help, I'll call you guys."

"Okay", Harrison replied, "Talk to Captain Broussard before you take off. He'll give you our cell numbers. Thanks for your help."

Shadley nodded and walked away. Harrison briefly lifted the sleeves of Lionzo's jacket and noticed something. "Hank", he said to Voight as he waved him over to the body.

Voight knelt down beside his partner accordingly. "What is it?" he asked.

Harrison used both hands to lift up both of Lionzo's sleeves simultaneously. A partial albeit very deep rail-like bruise pattern was seen on the front of each wrists. "Handcuffs", Voight said softly, "You think Raul was offed by a cop?"

Harrison said nothing as he looked over to where First Deputy Superintendent was standing. His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone, at which point he removed one of his gloves and pocketed it before answering.

"Harrison", he answered.

"Hi Detective", Lieutenant Broussard replied from her end of the line, "It's Kathy Broussard from Narcotics calling."

"Yes Lieutenant", Harrison said as he rose to a stand and switched ears with his cell, "How can I help you?"

"I thought you'd like to know that Abby Asher and Ernie Machado got back from their undercover assignment just now", Lieutenant Broussard replied, "Abby says she stumbled onto something that might tie into a case that you guys are working."

"Copy that, ma'am", Harrison said, "Voight and I are working a homicide scene at North Avenue Beach at the moment but we'll be finishing up shortly. We'll be back at the district as soon as we can."