“What did he get locked up for?”
“Shot some other dude…deal gone bad.”
“Well…I don’t know…just seems like maybe—”
“I don’t wanna see him, okay?”
“I just thought—”
“How about you don’t think about that right now?”
“Okay, just trying to help.”
“I don’t need help.”
“Could have fooled me. So…how about your studies?”
“I went through all of it already. One more time on some of the science stuff and I’ll be good.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah…actually, some of it is really interesting. I’ve been visiting other sites, learning more. Wish I would have paid more attention in school.”
“Tell me about it. So, kid. I’m gonna grab some Zs, just in case tonight ends up busy. But I want you to think about what I said. You don’t want any regrets later. Trust me on that one.”
Walter had been snoozing a couple hours when his phone buzzed and woke him.
“Hello?”
“Walter…this is Larry Wilkins…down at District 1.”
“Yeah, you got something?”
“I…I don’t know. Don’t even know why I’m calling you. Might be something bad.”
“No information on the fires?”
“Nothing on that yet. Those forensics boys can take some time. It’s Handley. He’s missing.”
“Whoa, back up a bit. Who’s Handley?”
“You think you can meet me in person? Don’t know about the phones.”
“Sure, like a park or something?”
“Eden Park. I’m right by there. I’m in a cruiser.”
“Okay, I’ll find you.”
Ten seconds later, Wilkins heard a knock on his car window. He unlocked the car and Walter slid in the passenger seat.
“You got here fast,” Wilkins said.
“Well…I can get just about anywhere fast, and I don’t live too far away.”
Wilkins drove into the park and found a parking spot.
“I was telling you about Handley. John Handley, goes by J.R., does a lot of undercover work when the need arises. He was on an assignment and missed a couple check ins. We can’t ping his phone either. I don’t like it.”
“And you think he’s in trouble?”
“Man, I don’t know, but when you’ve been on the force as long as I have, sometimes you just have a feeling about something. This doesn’t feel right.”
“I’m not sure how I can help.”
“You’re all over town, right? Can you keep your eyes open, maybe if you find…if you find a body? Here’s what he looks like.”
Wilkins handed Walter a photo of an average looking middle aged man.
“Doesn’t really stand out,” Walter said.
“That’s why he was so good at undercover work. He doesn’t stand out. Anyway, he was on assignment. We’ve been trying to piece together evidence of a criminal enterprise operating in the city, but there’s not much to go on. Just seems like it could be something bigger. Crimes that don’t seem connected but carried off the same way, a few people ending up dead. Most of the guys on the force just think it’s random crime, but me and a couple other boys think there’s a boss operating here and he’s starting to expand.”
“And you send Handley to try to work his way in?”
“Handley went way undercover. Staged a few crimes to take the credit for, simple robberies and stuff, and before long he had made some contacts. He was checking in a couple times a day. Couple weeks ago he said he was in some organization, that it looked like they were planning something. Said they were set up in some other cities as well. He didn’t have any real hard intel yet, but was sure he was onto something. Then he didn’t call yesterday or today and his phone won’t track. I don’t like it.”
“That might explain the fires and the bomb.”
“Most we can expect from forensics is if they find evidence that the fires were started the same way, but if they can’t find anything more than that, we still won’t have much to pin it on anyone in particular.”
“Well, I’ll keep my eyes open, for sure. If…you know…if worse comes to worse and someone did him in, are there places they would dump the body?”
“Depends on if we’re dealing with pros or not. If it’s a mob type outfit, we might never find the body.”
“I have a pretty good sniffer. I can fly over the city and see if anything odd catches my attention, like maybe the river.”
“I’d appreciate that. That number I called you from? That’s my cell. You find anything…call me.”
“Will do,” Walter said, exiting the car and flying away.
Walter flew over the city, secretly hoping not to find what he was looking for. A myriad of smells confronted him, and he sorted through them and discarded them one by one. Restaurants and backyard grills were especially tempting, but whatever appetite was stirred up was quickly dispelled by the aroma of a litter box well past time to be changed.
“Could probably hide a body in the cat lady’s house and I’d never notice,” he said to himself.
He was over Walnut Hills, thinking he might as well head home since he was that close, when an unmistakable odor hit him, natural gas. This wasn’t someone just using a gas stove, but a gas leak. He followed the scent, and it seemed to come from a house on Hackberry St. He landed at the front door and rang the doorbell. No answer. He opened the door and walked in, calling out as he came in the house, but nobody answered. Walking in the bedroom, he saw someone lying in the bed.
“Hey, wake up buddy,” he said, shaking the man’s shoulder, a man who looked somewhat familiar. He checked the photo Wilkins had given him. Yep, that was him, and he was as dead as a doornail.
“No wonder he didn’t notice the gas leak. Wonder if it killed him?” Walter said out loud to no one in particular. Then the realization hit him when he noticed that Handley was already stiff. He’d been dead for a while, longer than if he had just fallen asleep when the gas leak started. He scooped Handley’s body up and was only ten feet out the door when the explosion happened. The
