The User Ch. 14

Since he and his partner had cleared up several of the cases they'd been working on, Tim had a bit of free time. He told his boss what he'd stumbled onto and asked permission to spend a little time working on it.

"How much time do you figure you'll need, Tim?" detective captain Alex Martin asked.

"No more than a day, if that," Tim replied. "I've got a plan that should get Juan to give me the information I need."

"How, exactly, do you plan to do that?" Alex asked. "This Perez kid sounds like a he could be tough."

"He thinks he's tough," Tim said. "He's a punk. I know the family. Here's what I plan to do..." He explained his plan to his boss.

Alex smiled. He liked the young detective and knew how capable Tim was from the high quality of the work he'd done since he joined the detective division. "Sounds like it might be worth giving it a shot. I'll ask Lieutenant Dawson to assign Lex work with you today."

"Thanks, boss," Tim said. He left the captain's office and went looking for Lex Dumont, his old partner.

"Hey, look who's slumming," Lex said when Tim walked into the roll call room.

"I just stopped by to see if you were still scoffing down cheese Danish regularly," Tim laughed. "And to find out if you've learned how to use the computer terminal in your patrol unit yet."

Lieutenant Dawson, the day shift patrol commander, was standing at a lectern in the front of the roll call room. He cleared his throat. "Dumont, I'm assigning you a special detail today. You're working with Sergeant Jackman."

Lex looked around and Tim nodded his head in the direction of the door. He and Lex walked out into the hall.

"What kinda deal have you gotten me into, kid?" Lex asked.

"I'm going to ride with you," Tim explained. "We're going to run radar over on Emerson Street."

"What the hell are you up to, kid?" Lex asked, looking at Tim as if he were crazy. "Why in the heck are they assigning me to work with a detective to do that?"

"Because..." Tim began. He explained to Lex what he hoped to accomplish.

"I'm glad to see you remember everything I taught you," Lex said, grinning, when Tim finished his explanation. "I gotta tell you, kid, bein' promoted didn't screw you up at all."

"Come on, partner, let's get going," Tim said.

A half-hour later, Tim and Lex were sitting in a police car in a used car lot on Emerson Street. The radar gun on the cruiser's dashboard was pointed down the street in the direction of Juan Perez's house. The car they were in had police department markings, but didn't have a light bar on the roof, so it pretty much blended in with the other cars in the lot.

Tim was wearing a dark blue jacket that had a police badge embroidered on the front and "JAMESTOWN POLICE" in white reflective letters on the back. He was sitting in the passenger seat, watching the reading on the radar unit while cars passed.

"Why are you rousting this Perez guy?" Lex asked.

"He's got information I want," Tim replied. "I figure if we're lucky enough to catch him dirty, he just might be willing to cooperate."

"Ah," Lex said.

A battered car with loud mufflers turned onto the street. It accelerated rapidly toward the police car, tires squealing.

"That's our boy," Tim said. "I ran his name through the computer before we left to get the make, model, and registration number of his car."

The radar display on the dash began beeping.

"Got him," Lex said. "He's doing fifty-five in a twenty zone."

"Let's take him down, partner," Tim said.

Juan's car shot by them and Lex switched on the flashing blue lights behind the cruiser's grille and on the car's rear deck and pulled out into the street. They closed in on the car they were after, but it didn't stop. In fact, it speeded up.

"Damn! He's running!" Lex muttered. The cruiser's engine roared as he shoved the accelerator to the floor.

Tim reached over and switched on the siren. Juan's car squealed around a turn.

Feeling the too-familiar surge of adrenaline, Tim picked up the radio microphone. "X-ray twenty-five to EOC," he said. "We're in pursuit. A brown Ford two-door, eastbound on twenty-seventh, registration X-ray, George, Young, three, five, eight."

"All units please stand by, X-Ray twenty-five is in pursuit," the dispatcher at the operations center said. "Suspect vehicle is a brown Ford two-door, registration X-ray, George, Young, three, five, eight. They are eastbound on twenty-seventh. Units available to assist, please identify."

Juan made a left turn. Lex, gaining on him, followed.

"X-ray twenty-five, we're southbound on Pulver," Tim yelled into the microphone. "At this time, vehicle is wanted for speed only."

"All units, X-ray twenty-five's pursuit is southbound on Pulver, subject vehicle is wanted for speed only," the dispatcher said.

"Adam fifteen to EOC," a female voice said. "We're northbound on Pulver, crossing twenty-fifth. We'll intercept X-ray twenty-five's suspect."

"Copy, Adam fifteen," the dispatcher said.

Tim could see the flashing roof lights of the other police car as they roared down the street.

"He's gonna try to make that alley!" Lex yelled. "He ain't gonna do it in that piece of crap he's driving!"

Tim watched the car they were pursuing swerve left, then begin to slide. With a jolt, it bounced over the curb, then it went out of control and slammed into a huge tree at the corner where the street and alley met.

"X-ray twenty-five to operations," Tim yelled as Lex brought the cruiser to a stop next to the wrecked car. "Suspect vehicle has crashed, middle of the twenty-six hundred block of Pulver. X-ray twenty-five is off at the scene. Start Fire and Rescue."

"EOC from Adam fifteen, we're off with X-ray twenty-five in the twenty-six hundred block of Pulver," Tim heard the radio say as he got out of the cruiser.

"Don't move, asshole!" Lex yelled. He was advancing toward the wrecked car, holding his pistol out in front of him. "Get your hands out the window where I can see them!"

Tim drew his gun, too, and kept it pointed at the wreck as he moved toward it. Behind the wreck, he could see two other officers approaching the same way.

"What the hell are you guys hasslin' me for?" Juan Perez whined as he stared, wide-eyed, out the window of his wrecked car, blood pouring from his nose. "What the fuck did I do?"

"You were speeding," Tim said.

Two hours later, Tim and Lex led Juan, who was wearing handcuffs, out of Jamestown Hospital and put him in the back of the cruiser. Juan's wounds were minor, and he'd been cleaned up, bandaged, and released to their custody. Lex started the cruiser's engine, and as he did, Tim turned around to look at Juan.

"OK, scumbag," Tim said, "you and I are going to have a little talk."

"About what?" Juan whined.

"About what you and your buddy Muhammad did to Melanie Sparks," Tim said. "And about reckless driving, attempting to elude a police officer, and resisting arrest. Oh, yeah, and about that stash of crack and pot we found in your car, too."

"Hey, man," Juan protested, "I don't know nothin' about no crack or pot. And I don't know anybody named Melanie Sparks."

"What do you think, partner?" Tim asked, looking at Lex, who grinned back at him.

"I figure he'll get a couple of years, minimum, for the traffic stuff," Lex said. "But he's got to be lookin' at five to ten for the crack and pot. Easy. Hell, depending on the weight, we might even have him for intending to distribute." He chuckled. "Should be good for five or ten more, don't you think, partner?"

"Easy," Tim said. "And that's just state time. If the D.E.A. wants, they might talk the U.S. Attorney into filing charges, too. Could get old Juan a bunch of federal time, too." He turned back to Juan. "Melanie Sparks," he said. "Tell me about that, Juan. Tell me why you did that."

"If I tell you, do I get a deal?" the young thug whimpered. "Huh? Do I?"

"Maybe, just maybe, I'll tell the prosecutor you cooperated," Tim said. He continued to gaze at Juan.

"Hey, I was just teachin' her a lesson, you know?" Juan said. "She was messin' around on me. I don't take that shit, man. No pussy disses me. No way!"

"How do you know she was screwing around?" Tim asked.

"Hey, I ain't stupid," Juan replied. "I seen her! I followed her to a goddamn fancy apartment building and seen her go in. She didn't come out for a long time. It don't take a genius to figger out what she was doin'."

"What was the address?" Tim asked.

Juan shrugged. "I dunno," he said. "I didn't check the fuckin' address. I just followed her, you know?"

"Could you show us where the apartment is?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Juan said. "But you gotta go over to the Jamestown Mall. That's where I followed her from."

Fifteen minutes later, the cruiser slowed to a stop next to the curb in front of Jamestown Manor, a large modern apartment complex on Everson Boulevard.

"That's the place," Juan said. "She went into that apartment right there."

"One-A?" Tim asked. "The first one from the end?"

"Yeah, that's the one," Juan said. "Fuckin' slut went in there and didn't come out. I sat out here for three fuckin' hours waitin' for her."

"Head on back to the station, partner," Tim told Lex.

"You think this Sparks girl has a new boyfriend who lives in that apartment?" Lex asked Tim. They were in the detective office at police headquarters and Juan was safely ensconced in a holding cell.

"I don't know," Tim said. "Let's find out who lives there." He turned to his computer terminal, accessed a city directory program, and punched in the address. "Benjamin Sanders," Tim said, reading from the screen. "Apartment 1A, 2769 Emerson." He pushed a button and the computer printed out that information. "Now," he said, "let's see what Department of Motor Vehicles records will tell us about Mr. Sanders." He did more work on the computer and another screen came up. "Benjamin Sanders, date of birth October 20, 1950. Brown hair, blue eyes. Height feet, ten inches, weight one hundred and seventy pounds," Tim said, reading the information from the computer screen. He shrugged. "Well, Mr. Sanders has no criminal or motor vehicle record, anyhow."

"The apartment's listed to a forty-five year-old guy," Lex said. "Think he's single?"

Tim shrugged. "I'm not sure how to find that out without going and talking to him," he said. Then something occurred to him. "Wait a minute!" he said. "If I'm not mistaken, there's a guy named Sanders who works at Jamestown High with Heidi. I met him once, I think. If I remember correctly, he could this guy. He's about the right age, anyhow."

"He married?" Lex asked.

"I think Heidi said he got divorced a year or so back," Tim said.

"OK, say this guy is single and is screwing high school girls," Lex said, "is that illegal?"

Tim shrugged again. "I guess it depends on how old they are," he told his partner. "The age of consent in this state is sixteen. Melanie Sparks is over sixteen. If he's having sex with her, that probably makes him an asshole, but he isn't something we can charge him for." He paused as another thought came to him. "But, if Melanie isn't the only girl he's screwing... If he's messing around with other girls, and some of them are under sixteen..." He smiled, then he frowned.

"What's the matter, kid?" Lex asked.

Tim checked with his Alex who, based on the information Tim had developed, told him to continue working on the case. Alex got permission from the patrol commander to let Lex continue working with Tim.

"You can wear street clothes tomorrow if you want," Tim told Lex when they left the police station at the end of the day. "You might as well be comfortable if you're stuck with me, I guess."

"Gee," Lex replied. "You're such a nice guy. Do I have to wear a suit and tie?"

"White tie and tails," Tim told him. "At least. And wear your formal flak vest, too."

"Eat shit," Lex laughed.