Chapter 25: "What's Going on With You?"
Detectives Harrison and Voight entered CPD District 34 to find a man in a very debonaire-looking black and white three-piece Houndstooth suit standing by Sergeant Mahoney's desk, holding a white cardboard evidence box. He also wore a CPD Detective's badge on a chain around his neck.
"I'll meet you upstairs", Voight said softly to Harrison, "Just so you know, that cop at the desk is from Internal Affairs. We've crossed paths a few times."
As Voight went to head upstairs to the squad room, Harrison crossed to the unfamiliar man in the suit. "Detective Harrison, right?" the man inquired.
"That's me", Harrison replied as he cordially extended a hand to the well-dressed detective, "And you are…?"
The detective shook Harrison's hand in just as amiable a manner. "Detective Lenny Marks", he said, "I'm with CPD Internal Affairs. I wanted to personally let you know that the Ivory Tower has officially cleared you of any wrongdoing in the Palin Correctional Center shooting." He then presented the cardboard evidence box to Harrison. "Here's your weapon back, Detective."
Harrison grinned with relief as he took the box and opened it, after which he removed his customized Sig-Sauer P-226 handgun and placed it in back in its rightful spot in his leather shoulder holster. Harrison had outfitted the firearm with a custom-made textured grip that he himself had crafted by hand, and the weapon had lasted him for the entirety of the time he spent in his previous occupation at the FBI.
"Thank you", the now exonerated Homicide detective said to the dubious-looking IA investigator.
Detective Marks grinned himself in response. "Just in case you were wondering, Detective", he said, "I didn't plan on joining Internal Affairs. Like you, I wanted to join Homicide. I see now why the latest spot on the squad was filled."
Harrison nodded. "I'll take that as a compliment, sir", he replied, "Here's to hoping we meet under different circumstances next time."
The reassured and vindicated detective then made his way upstairs, where he was told by a uniformed officer that everyone was meeting in the conference room. As such, he made his way down the hall and entered the large room. Sergeant Mahoney, Captain Broussard, Lieutenant Broussard, Detective Machado, Commander Brooks, Hank Voight, Alvin Olinsky, Detective Brooks, and Detective Dobbs were all seated around the conference table. Harrison was very thrilled to find Detective Asher seated at the table. The young woman then stood from her seat and reached out for a hug at the sight of her friend Harrison.
"Hey kiddo!" Harrison said cheerfully as Asher wrapped him in a very heartfelt and welcoming hug, "I'm so glad you're back. Even more so, I'm glad you're okay."
"Hey Troy", Asher replied as she broke the embrace, "It's good to be back, and yeah, I'm doing okay. I'm just glad to be me again."
Harrison nodded and sat down at the table as Asher went to her own seat. "Good morning everybody", he greeted the others, "What brings us all to the big table today?"
Detectives Asher and Machado got up from their respective seats and went to the front of the room. "As most of you know by now", Asher began, "Ernie and I have been away for a while on an undercover assignment. We've been authorized by Lieutenant Broussard, Commander Brooks, and the State's Attorney's office to divulge some of the details of our assignment, as we believe that doing so could provide assistance to some of the case that you guys have been working."
Machado then spoke up. "We began the assignment with Abby going undercover as a cocktail waitress named 'Riley Torrance' at a rough-and-ready casino in the Rossi-Fremont Housing projects", he said, "one of her main goals in the assignment was to observe and monitor drug activity in and around both the casino and the surrounding housing projects. My main job was to just hang back, watch over Abby, and snap photos of any of the major players that she reported about."
"Most of the drug operations at Rossi-Fremont go through Delford Wade, right?" Voight asked.
"Yes", Asher replied, "Our investigation determined that Delford Wade, or 'Iraq' as he known by most everybody in those projects, has about a half-dozen juveniles running both cocaine and heroin for him all up and down the North Side. I estimate his sales are somewhere in the three-hundred-thousand-dollar range or more due to their connections with the Black Viceroys."
Harrison then raised his hand. "Who are the major players associating with Wade at the projects, Abby?" he asked.
"The only real iron-clad associate that I was able to determine he had was Tyrone Hayes", Asher replied, "that's his cousin, known by the street name 'Bedbug'. He's a twenty-six-year-old black male, stands about five-ten, and weighs about two-hundred-thirty pounds."
"And he's listed as a complying witness to about a half dozen of our active Narcotics investigations", Lieutenant Broussard chimed in, "I think it's a pretty safe assumption that old Bedbug would finger his own mother if it meant that a judge would potentially give him a lighter sentence in return."
"Do we have a last known address for this 'Bedbug'?" Olinsky asked.
"He lives with their grandmother", Machado explained, "Doreen Hayes. She's a legally blind seventy-nine-year-old stroke survivor. It seems that Bedbug has been her sole caregiver for some time now."
"I don't see the point in rousing this Mister Hayes unless we have to", Commander Brooks said, "for his grandma's sake, I mean. My question is, how does this connect to Harrison and Voight's 'Raul Lionzo' case?"
"I was just getting to that, Commander", Asher replied, "Before he washed up on the beach, Ernie and I observed Mister Lionzo going in and out of Rossi-Fremont at least two or three times a week to score heroin from one of the low-level dealers. He apparently had quite the habit before somebody capped him and dumped him in the lake."
"What's making me wonder is", Voight cut in, "How does a decorated war veteran like Delford Wade become one of the biggest drug suppliers on Chicago's North Side? I guess a better question is, who's been bankrolling such a vast operation?"
"Based on the intel that Abby gathered", Machado began to explain, "A bulk of their funding seems to come from a shell corporation based in Lima, Peru called 'Lasef Enterprises'."
"Do we know anything concrete about this 'Lasef Enterprises'?" Sergeant Mahoney asked.
"The only thing we could find on them was a cheaply-made website that says the company was established in September of Two-Thousand-Two and has four shareholders", Asher replied, "One woman and three men: 'Lana Gerbsorf', 'Malcolm Wingood', 'Francis Linem', and 'Wallace Narrob'. We've been running the names through all the city and statewide databases, but so far, nothing."
Captain Broussard nodded. "Understood", he said before turning to Harrison. "Troy", he continued, "Where you guys able to find any next of kin for the late Raul Lionzo?"
"Yes sir", Harrison replied, "His paperwork from Palin Correctional lists his only known relative as his younger brother, Alejandro Lionzo. I ran Alejandro's Social Security number just before I clocked out yesterday. He's a bartender at the Unicorn and Dragon Pub here in The Wards."
"Okay", Captain Broussard said, "What do you all say we change our lineup a bit? Voight and Olinsky, I want you two to work with Detective Machado and try to dig up more dirt on The Black Viceroys and this weird shell corporation. Harrison and Asher, I want you guys to head to the Unicorn and Dragon to do the death notification on Mister Lionzo's brother."
Ten minutes later, Harrison and Asher were climbing into the former's unmarked black 2010 Chevrolet Impala LTZ. Harrison got behind the wheel, while Asher settled into the front seat and clicked on her seatbelt.
"Hey Abby?" Harrison asked as he shut his door and started buckling himself into his own seatbelt.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Can I ask you something?" he asked.
Asher scoffed blithely. "We've been friends for close to twenty years, Troy", she said, "You know you can, man. What's up?"
Harrison sighed, almost hesitant to even ask. "What's going on with you?" he blurted out after a brief second, "I noticed in the conference room upstairs that when you weren't talking, you kept sniffling over and over again, like it was almost involuntary. You doing okay?" He turned the Impala's ignition over as he waited for an answer.
Asher turned and looked out the window as Harrison put the car in drive and headed out of the district's rear parking lot toward the street. "Yeah", she replied in a very dull and indifferent tone, "Just allergies. I'm fine."
Harrison turned and watched the road as he contemplated her response. Something was going on with his longtime friend, and it most certainly wasn't any sort of allergies. In any event, they had more important things to handle.