His mouth hung open as he tried to think of a response.
“What’s your association with Jonathon DiMarco?” I said.
He didn’t answer. I stepped closer to him again, and he drew a sharp breath.
“What’s your association with Jonathon DiMarco?” I repeated. “I’m not going to ask you again.”
“He… my fiancé, Jenny, loves his posts. She adores him. I know him, but I’m not associated with him. He tries to make me do stuff with his lawyer page, but I don’t like to do anything with it.” He tried to look angry. “You can’t intimidate me. I’m a cop, you know?”
“Are you?” I grunted. “Because your friend Jonathon DiMarco is killing people and you’re doing nothing about it.”
He bit his bottom lip before clenching his fists. “Why should I talk to you? Who are you?”
I took out my phone and quickly snapped a picture of him and his wet trousers. “I can send this to whoever you want.”
His hand twitched and he went to reach for his gun, but I shook my head, opening my coat to show that I was packing heat as well. His hand relaxed.
“Talk.” I stated. “Tell me about DiMarco.”
He swallowed. “DiMarco is… well, he’s getting justice when the system lets people down.”
“What does that mean? He’s killing the lawyers?”
“No, he’s not killing them. Nothing like that.” He shook his head, but looked like he was about to cry. “He’s just pressuring them. They choose their own fate. If they want to defend dirty rapists, then they have to deal with the pressure that comes with that. It’s no one’s fault but their own.”
“Because they let the system down?” I baited him.
“Those lawyers forgot their commitment to the constitution.” There was a small amount of fire in him, but it wasn’t intimidating. It was the same way a five-year-old kid looked angry. “They forgot who they’re supposed to be defending. Karma came to Waltz and Fittler. That’s all it was. Karma. DiMarco had nothing to do with their deaths.”
I groaned. He was brainwashed by DiMarco’s posts, but he looked easily influenced. “You forget that we chatted, and I forget that I took this photo.” I waved my phone in the air.
He nodded meekly.
I shook my head, drew a breath, and stepped back through the hole in the bushes. I didn’t look back. Wilkerson didn’t kill anyone. And he certainly didn’t attack Casey. I don’t think he could hit anyone without hurting his own wrist.
He was off my list, and that didn’t leave many options.
Chapter 24
“You assaulted a police officer?” Detective Williams looked at me in surprise. “Are you serious? What are you doing, Jack?”
I lifted my eyes from my coffee. It was just before midday and the lunchtime crowd hadn’t made their way in. The café only had five customers in it, and they all were too obsessed with their phones to notice what Detective Williams said. It was my fifth coffee this morning. I still hadn’t slept after the attack on Casey, and I was relying on bursts of caffeine and adrenaline to keep me going.
“I don’t think the kid will report it.” I said as Williams sat down across from me on the brown stool. “He wet himself he was so scared.”
I called Williams after my encounter with Wilkerson, and he agreed to meet and discuss the case. We were meeting in a café in the neighborhood of Bucktown, just off the Kennedy Expressway. It was a small café, but it had an authentic charm. Wooden tables were crammed together, the counter was just big enough to hold the coffee machine, bean grinder, and the till, and the ceiling was too low. The pictures on the walls were of famous places in Italy, and I couldn’t help but admire the beauty. Run by two Italian men, the café served some of the best coffee I’d ever tasted. They’d told me that coffee tasted like that in Rome, but I said it was a little far to go for my morning hit of Joe.
Williams groaned as he sat down. I was silent as the server came over and took Williams’ order. A cappuccino with one sugar and a muffin. Williams was as predictable as he was boring.
“The cameras could’ve seen you.” He kept his voice down as he leaned forward on the table. “Someone in the station might’ve seen you harassing Wilkerson. What were you thinking? It wasn’t worth the risk. And what if he does report it? You’ll go to prison. That was a stupid move, Jack.”
“Nobody would’ve seen anything,” I responded. “There was a blind spot in the parking lot, behind a police van. I scoped the parking lot out before I confronted him.”
“But what were you even doing? Physically assaulting a police officer? Wilkerson could’ve arrested you on the spot.”
“I’m fine with investigating a case, I’m fine going after a killer, but if someone comes after one of my own, I’m going to rip them apart. You know that.”
“Jack.” Williams shook his head. “Confronting a police officer in a parking lot is a big risk. He might still come after you.”
“It’s time for big risks. I can’t sit around and let this killer go after Casey. I’m going to hunt him down before he gets another chance.” I took a sip of my coffee. “Attack is the best form of defense.”
Williams threw his hands up in defeat, and leaned back in his chair. He knew I didn’t operate with the same rules he did. He knew I didn’t care about his laws. It frustrated him, but he also knew that was why I was very effective at what I did.
