Chapter 31: "Hello, Stranger" (Part 2)
Gaffney Chicago Medical Center
Emergency Room
One Hour Later
While awaiting an update on the condition of the abandoned baby they had found on the front steps of St. Augustine's Church, Detectives Harrison and Asher had fallen asleep in the ER waiting room at Chicago Med. Asher still had her head comfortably propped onto Harrison's shoulder, while Harrison had his own head resting on the armrest of the pink leather couch on which they were relaxing. This period of hushed slumber was hastily interrupted with the arrival of Commander Brooks, Lieutenant Broussard, and Captain Broussard.
Lieutenant Broussard knelt to the two detectives' face level. "Troy! Abby!" she softly but sharply said.
Asher and Harrison groggily opened their eyes and sat up when they saw their three superior officers standing there. "Hey everybody", Harrison said with a sleepy tone in his voice, "I guess word about the baby made the rounds already, huh?"
"Tran and Dobbs are on scene at the church now with the Crime Lab techs", Captain Broussard said, "I haven't heard anything further from them yet. How's the baby?"
"She was suffering from exposure when we found her", Asher began to explain, "We figured she didn't have time to wait for the ambulance, so we put her in the car and floored it here. She stopped breathing for a moment, but I was able to do pediatric CPR on her and got her back. The doctor hasn't come out yet to give us an update."
Lieutenant nodded with a very pleased smile. "Well done, Abby", she said, "it looks like you saved that baby girl's life."
"Thank you for that, Lieutenant", Asher humbly replied, "But I believe some of the credit has to go to our friend Detective Harrison and his stellar driving that got us here." She patted Harrison's shoulder.
Harrison sat up straighter in his chair. "Let's just write it off as a 'team effort' and call it good, okay?" he said with just as considerate a tone in his voice.
Dr. Howard then exited the exam room and came toward the five police officers. As the room's double doors swung shut behind her, Harrison could hear the sound of the baby crying from inside, which brought him great relief and comfort.
"Hello Doctor", Harrison greeted as he motioned to the three superiors, "Doctor Howard, this is Lieutenant Kathy Broussard, her husband Captain John Broussard, and our Commander, Darren Brooks. They're our direct superiors from our CPD district."
Dr. Howard shook each of their hands accordingly. "It's nice to meet you all", she said graciously, "Even considering the circumstances. It looks like our little angel from the church is going to be alright. I'm so glad you were able to get her here when you did."
"Is she out of the woods?" Asher asked.
Dr. Howard nodded. "She appears to be, yes", "Your more-than-adequate CPR was a great step in the right direction. Once we got her in the ER, we wrapped her in an electric baby blanket and gave her warm fluids through an IV. We got a decent body temperature back, and her color's gradually getting back to normal. Aside from the obvious cold exposure, she appears to be a very healthy seven-pound-four-ounce newborn baby girl."
"How long do you think it's been since her mother gave birth to her?" Lieutenant Broussard asked.
"Well", Dr. Howard said, "Her umbilical cord is still attached, and it appears to have already been cut. Usually, the cord stays on for about ten to fourteen days postpartum."
The doctor then produced a small square-shaped plastic bag from the breast pocket of her lab coat and held it up for the five officers to see. Contained inside the bag was what appeared to be a severed brown leather boot lace with bits of a dark substance, presumably blood, adhering to it. "My nurse found this synching off the edge of the cord cut", Dr. Howard continued, "This probably kept her alive immediately after birth. All in all, I would estimate that she's about three to five days old."
Asher nodded as she eyed the lace in the bag. "That gives us a place to start the investigation", she said.
"I second that, Detective", Lieutenant Broussard replied, "But unfortunately you guys can't be the ones running it. I've already notified the Special Investigations Unit at the Thirty-First District. Two of their detectives are on their way right now."
"But Kathy", Asher said in protestation, "We're the ones who found her. Shouldn't we be the ones to see this through?"
Harrison then put a hand on her shoulder, grabbing her attention. "SIU handles any sort of child abuse or abandonment cases, Abby", he said softly, "I think they'd be more qualified to manage this kind of case than Homicide or Narcotics might be."
"But..." Asher frustratingly muttered.
Just then, Captain Broussard's cell phone rang and he promptly stepped away for a moment to answer it.
Lieutenant Broussard, meanwhile, put up a hand to Asher, cutting her off. "It's done, Abby. I'd like you guys to give statements to the SIU people when they get here and then head back to the district."
Having finished his phone call, Captain Broussard reentered the conversation. "Detective Harrison's going to have to give his statement some other time, Kathy", he said to his wife before turning his concentration to Harrison. "There's been a homicide reported at Prestige Motorsports three blocks away", he said to him, "The Thirty-First District Homicide detectives are working Patrol tonight, too, so they asked us to pitch in. I just talked to Sunny and she'll meet you at the scene."
Harrison nodded. "Yes sir", he replied.
"I'll fill in the SIU detectives when they get here", Lieutenant Broussard added, "But I'd appreciate it if you'd type up your report, fax it to them by the morning, and keep your cell phone handy in case they need to reach you."
Harrison nodded once again. "Not a problem, ma'am", he said before nodding a silent "goodbye" to Asher and walking out the door.
Prestige Motorsports
20 Minutes Later
Harrison arrived at Prestige Motorsports to find the very atypical sight of three plain-clothed officers carrying shotguns guarding five rough-looking men, each of whom were respectively handcuffed to the front and rear passenger side door handles of two unmarked police cars. He approached one of the officers and held up his CPD Detective's badge.
"How you doing?" he greeted, "Detective Troy Harrison, CPD District Thirty-Four Homicide squad. What's the deal with these dudes out here?"
"I'm Officer Dave Ford with the Thirty-First District TAC team", the officer replied, "My guys and I were the first to respond to the call after they put it out over the zone. We entered the business to find one subject lying unconscious inside the front door and the rest of these suspects all packing assault rifles. The paramedics took the one guy away already and we're waiting on the CPD van to come and scoop up the rest of these jokers."
"Okay", Harrison said as he clipped his badge back onto the belt loop of his pants, "But my captain said something about a dead body inside."
"Yeah", Ford added, "There's a guy lying face down in the back room. Looks like somebody capped him in the back of the head. Apparently, there was a very brief power outage just before the body was found. Your partner, Detective Tran, is inside, and the medical examiner is on the way."
"Got it", Harrison replied, "Thanks for your help, Ford. Nice meeting you."
"You too", Ford said before he went back to quietly guarding his restrained prisoner.
Harrison went inside to find CPD Crime Lab technicians photographing and processing the scene for potential evidence. He donned a pair of blue nitrile exam gloves and stepped into a back room, where he found Detective Tran taking notes while standing over the body of a very smartly-dressed white male appearing to be in his late forties to early fifties.
"Hey Sunny", Harrison said, "Sorry it took me a little longer to make it here. The storm's still raging like hell out there."
"No sweat, Troy", Tran replied, "Sorry we had to pull you off Patrol. I heard that baby you and Abby found is doing much better. Nice work."
Harrison smiled. "Thanks, partner", he said as he leaned over to inspect the body more closely, "What's the skinny on this poor fella here?"
"Nicholas Crispin", Tran explained, "Age forty-nine. His home address is on Lakeshore Drive. He's some sort of tech startup millionaire or something. Those six guys who were here with him tonight are apparently his personal security crew."
"What was he doing at this place tonight?" Harrison asked, "And during a damn snowstorm, no less?"
"The dealership manager told me that he was here to test drive one of their newer high-end cars", Tran replied, "Next thing he knew, the power went out for about a minute and a half. By the time it came back on, Mister Crispin was dead and one of his six security goons was knocked out by the front door."
Harrison thought for a second as he took in all of what Tran was saying. "Is robbery out of the question?" he asked.
With a gloved hand, Tran held up the late Nicholas Crispin's leather billfold. "Definitely", she said, "There's close to a thousand bucks in here as well as several credit and debit cards. One of them is in Spanish, even."
Harrison's further interest suddenly peaked. "Could I see that for a minute, please?" he asked.
Tran handed him the billfold, at which point Harrison examined each of the cards until one in particular caught his eye. "El Banco Nacional Privado De Peru", he read out loud with an appropriately prominent Spanish accent, "'The National Private Bank of Peru'. It looks like a business credit card in the name of…'Lasef Enterprises'." A lightbulb went off in the detective's head and his stomach just about sank to his feet. "Oh fuck", he said under his breath.
"What?" a now concerned Tran asked.
In a bit of very uncanny timing, Harrison's cell phone suddenly rang. He recognized the number on the caller ID and promptly answered. "Hey stranger", he said into the phone.
"I need to talk to you, Detective", Aiden Pearce replied from his end of the line, "It's very important."
"I wish I had the time right now, Aiden", Harrison said, "But I'm afraid I'm in the middle of a homicide investigation that's just as important."
"Nicholas Crispin, right?" Pearce eerily inquired.
"Yeah", Harrison replied, "Wait. How the hell do you know that?"
"I can explain it if you meet me", Pearce said, "You say 'when' and 'where' and I can be there ASAP."
Harrison sighed in resignation. "Fine", he said, "Meet my partner and I at the Chicago Police Memorial on the lakefront. One hour."
"Done", Pearce said, "See you two in an hour."