Chapter 22
They had been unable to narrow down which buildings of the ten that Louis Howey had been keeping an eye on. That meant there were more buildings than SVU team members but they needed more personnel than just SVU to search them anyway. Huang had put in a call and one of his friends still at the FBI promised Captain Benson some FBI agents to help. Benson wanted to search the building that Howey had been keeping an eye on since twenty-fifteen. The others were split up between Fin, Klass, Bruno, Velasco, and Churlish. That still left four buildings. Trooper Gonzales had called Detective Klass to say he was on his way back, despite what the New Jersey DA said, and she told him what had happened. He promised to be at the precinct as quickly as possible.
"NYPD Search Warrant! NYPD Search Warrant!" Officers burst through the front doors of the large building. They had had to cut the chain with the padlock on it before being forced to use the battering ram to break open the heavy wooden doors. This entrance had all the hallmarks of an abandoned building. Still, Captain Benson knew that they had to check it.
The team of officers split up, covering the first floor, and then heading to the two upper floors. Their flashlights scattered over the floors as shouts of "Clear!" could be heard echoing through the empty halls. Her heart sank as the officers all came back to the bottom of the stairs; empty handed.
"Louis Howey has been watching this property for a long time. Now that we know the building is empty, I want it searched top to bottom for anything that seems out of place. Newer concrete, newer paint, anything that makes you question it. The search warrant does not allow digging but if we find anything suspicious, we can document and try to get a warrant for a more invasive search. Get to it," Captain Benson instructed the officers from the local precinct.
"Ok, you heard the Captain! I want Schwartz, Holland, Beck, Anderson, and Robbins on the third floor! Roberts, Spencer, Miller, Scoville, and Choudhary on the second floor! The rest of you are with me and Captain Benson! Get the generators and lights going in here! It should shine like the sun so we can find what we're looking for!" Lieutenant Jun Fukuzawa ordered. Her patrol officers quickly split off to their assignments. That's when the Lieutenant's radio crackled and a voice came over but it did not sound like English.
"Rikai shita (Understood)," Fukuzawa responded in Japanese.
"What was that?" Benson looked at her.
"Sergeant Izumi is part of the outdoor search team. They found something but she didn't want to broadcast it in case Howey was listening. You did say that this was his first site," the Lieutenant said.
"I'm impressed. Let's go see what she found," Benson smiled at her.
"I give Izumi some leeway, she's not your average patrol officer. She used to be part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department," Fukuzawa explained as they headed out the back door which had been broken in by the officer now out in the small yard.
"Sergeant! What do you have?" The Lieutenant asked as they approached a woman who seemed to only be about five foot two. Her uniform had obviously been ironed and her appearance was immaculate considering that she was walking around in a yard that had obviously not been mowed in some time.
"Disturbed earth Lieutenant. I would have ruled it animal activity but something about this…" Izumi shook her head.
"Good eye Sergeant. This definitely looks like someone has been poking around in the dirt," Fukuzawa said.
"Howey would know where he buried the bodies – if he buried them here. This…" Benson spoke up.
"You think someone else was out here?" The Lieutenant asked.
"I think I was CSU out here with ground penetrating radar," the Captain responded.
"I'll call it in but I can't hide it," the Sergeant grabbed her radio.
"Give them the address across the street and have one of your officers meet them," Benson told her.
"Hai!" Izumi answered in Japanese, which made Benson chuckle. Some habits were hard to break.
"Captain Benson! Lieutenant Fukuzawa!" It was Officer Hopkins from the first-floor search group.
"What do you have?" The Captain asked.
"I've got tracks in the dirt in the house. Floorboards look like they've probably been moved or are easy to move. Can we check under the floorboards? It's not digging," Hopkins said.
"No, it is not. CSU is on its way. Glove up and check the boards," Benson told him.
"Yes ma'am," Hopkins nodded.
To Be Continued…