want to spend any more time with him, nothing was.
Mazzetti had told Stallings if they saw Byrd, to allow him to walk into the trailer so that Mazzetti could confront Joey Big Balls too. He recognized Stallings was not one of those detectives you had to explain everything to in great detail. For a jerk and an asshole he was pretty bright.
Mazzetti needed time away from the massive crush of leads and the constant requests for updates by the command staff of JSO. This was a perfect little job for the evening.
Stallings monitored a handheld radio that had been rendered almost obsolete by new, reliable cell phones. But nothing could replace radio’s ability to broadcast information to more than one person at a time. When conducting a surveillance or in a chase, it was vital to let every other unit know exactly where you were and what you were doing. It was important to be able to broadcast what kind of threat the suspect posed. If they were armed and dangerous. If there was an active warrant. Or if they were mentally unstable. A cop had to approach each situation differently, and getting the right information was imperative.
Tonight the three detectives from the crimes/persons squad were on a rarely used frequency that was not monitored by dispatch. That meant they could speak more casually and say things they normally wouldn’t say over the radio. This included somewhat idle chatter while they waited for Daniel Byrd.
Stallings heard the crackle of static before Mazzetti said, “The second he steps into the trailer we’ll move in. Simple, clean, and quick.”
Stallings had to chuckle. Experience had taught him nothing was ever clean, quick, or simple. That’s why he always tried to stay prepared mentally and said out loud to nobody, “Is today the day that changes the rest of my life?” As he said it, he reached down with his right hand and felt his Glock Model 22.40-caliber semiautomatic pistol tucked snugly into his Safariland holster on his right hip. He also had an ASP expandable baton in the rear left pocket of his jeans. He was too old to worry about punching people if he had something hard he could strike them with instead. But it was still his hope that Byrd would surrender without an argument. While he was hoping, he wanted Byrd to also confess to three murders and help them find Leah Tischler while he was at it. Those were the kind of wishes Stallings would ask if anyone ever cared.
Over the course of forty-five minutes a number of vehicles had rolled into and out of the lot directly in front of the administration trailer on the site of the renovation of one of Jacksonville’s older but more elegant office buildings.
At nine o’clock a truck rumbled to a stop directly in front of the trailer. Stallings caught a glimpse of the driver as he jumped down, leaving the truck running, and entered the trailer without knocking.
Stallings reached for the radio when he heard Mazzetti say, “That’s our man, that’s our man, let’s go.” The homicide detective had a tinge more excitement in his voice than normal. He liked to see passion in police officers. Even a jerk-off like Mazzetti.
Stallings didn’t rush as he put his Impala in drive and rolled across the parking lot a little faster than a jog. Mazzetti peeled up limestone dust as he skidded across the lot, struggling to maintain control of his big Ford Crown Vic. Patty followed Stallings’s lead and did the smartest thing she could’ve, waited in the lot. Stallings and Mazzetti reached the front door of the trailer at the same time.
Mazzetti drew his gun and said, “I don’t care if this is just an interview. This asshole has a long record and has been hard to find.”
Stallings agreed but left his gun in his holster as he pulled open the door. Stallings scanned the entire trailer but only saw an older, heavyset man sitting behind a desk.
Mazzetti looked at the man and said, “Where’d he go?”
The man said, “Who?”
Then Stallings heard the truck as it kicked shell and dust into the trailer.
Mazzetti scowled at the man behind the desk and said, “I won’t forget this, Joey.”
The man just shrugged.
FORTY
Patty suppressed a giggle as Mazzetti’s Crown Vic swerved one way then the other in the loose gravel parking lot. John Stallings drove slowly, under control, directly to the front of the trailer. The one look from Stallings told her someone needed to watch the outside of the building. She had already concluded that three detectives inside the filthy trailer was too many. She didn’t have to prove herself to anyone. Stallings appreciated her tactical sense and she could’ve had worse examples set for her.
So she sat in her Ford Freestyle, which was great for surveillance because she looked like a young soccer mom or a junior partner in a law firm downtown. No one gave her a second look until she popped on the hidden red and blue lights or blasted the siren.
Almost as soon as she’d seen Mazzetti and John Stallings step through the front door of the trailer, she noticed someone scurry from the far side of the trailer directly to the truck. It was so fast and unexpected that it took a moment for her to realize it was Daniel Byrd. The truck was pointed toward the exit when he jumped in and he was out of the lot in less than five seconds. Patty knew to stay on him until the others caught on to what had happened.
Patty tried the radio but realized neither of the other detectives had carried one into the trailer. She pulled out onto the street and barely caught a glimpse of the truck turning right at the next corner. Patty didn’t want to get into a high-speed chase with someone whom, at this point, they just wanted to interview. The Freestyle wasn’t the vehicle to push into a high-speed pursuit anyway. She’d use her natural advantage and wait until Mazzetti and Stallings could catch up to her.
After she made another turn and saw the truck clearly in front of her, she risked a quick call on her cell phone to Stallings.
Stallings answered on the first ring. He said, “I was about to call you on the radio. Did you see him when he came out?”
“Of course. I was where I was supposed to be. Now we’re on Myrtle Avenue headed north. He left in a hurry, but his speed dropped back down and there’s not much traffic.”
“You rock, Patty.”
She let a broad smile slide across her face. She needed to hear something like that today. All she could say was, “You bet your ass I do.”
Tony Mazzetti was fuming as he raced out to his car and kicked rocks in the air on his way out the exit. Thank God Patty was smart enough to wait outside in case something like this happened. Mazzetti realized that Joey Big Balls would’ve probably spotted him and Stallings earlier, but he never would’ve figured the fat man for a double-crosser. He didn’t know why Joey had felt like he had to warn Daniel Byrd. Mazzetti knew he’d pay for it one way or another.
He fell in behind Stallings, who was catching up to Patty. There was no way to justify this turning into a high-speed chase, just like there was no way he was gonna let that shithead Byrd give him the slip.
His radio scanned two frequencies. The one he, Patty, and Stallings were using and the main frequency. He’d heard some traffic earlier relating to a search warrant at the north end of the city. Now he noticed several panicked transmissions and realized something had gone terribly wrong. First he heard the dreaded “Shots fired” call; then he heard a narcotics sergeant named Fernandes request fire rescue and any available unit for a perimeter. Fernandes was a cool customer and wouldn’t call for the help unless it was needed. It was an unusual call for a slow Wednesday night in Jacksonville and Mazzetti knew every cop in the city was headed that way right now.
Mazzetti used the local frequency to raise Patty. “What’s your twenty, Patty?”
“We’re north on Moncrief a few miles from U.S. 1. He has no idea I’m behind him.”
Mazzetti said, “Excellent. I’m a minute behind you.” Mazzetti smiled, thinking about how smart his girlfriend was. If she was still his girlfriend. He’d missed talking to her the past few days, but he didn’t want to keep pestering her on the phone. He didn’t want her to think he was too needy. She’d made it clear she wasn’t ready to move in with him, so he told himself not to crowd her.
