While Everyone Was Sleeping by Donald Collins

Author:Donald Collins [Collins, Donald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-06T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Starbucks!” Litchfield said when Danski pulled two containers from a white paper bag the next morning. He put one on Gregory’s desk and the other one on his own desk before crushing the bag and tossing it in a waste-paper basket. “What’s the special occasion?”

“I thought it would be nice to celebrate our progress in the case by having some of the upper-crust brand coffee for a change. Don’t get used to it, though. For the money I paid I think I should have gotten a free lap-dance to go with the order.”

Danski’s desk phone rang as he draped his coat over his chair and sat.

“Danski,” he said as he pulled the lid and took his first sip.

“Detective Danski this is Lucy Santana. We spoke a few months ago when you took over my sister’s Mira’s murder investigation.”

“Yes, Miss Santana. I remember our conversation well,” Danski said as he flipped his computer switch on and brought up the Santana case. When he and Litchfield got to the Cold Case Squad six months ago they were assigned fourteen cases to investigate as a team. They realized it would take time for them to become familiar with each case, but they wanted to at least touch-base with the victims or their relatives until that time came. The Santana case was a murder investigation they’d inherited from retired Homicide Detective Monte Walsh. Mira Santana was caught in the crossfire in a turf-war between two drug dealers in Hell’s Kitchen. Walsh’s investigation strongly pointed to Felix Guzman, a known drug dealer who plied his trade on Manhattan’s West Side catering to longshoremen, dock workers and local junkies. Walsh had gathered all the evidence he needed to make an arrest, but Guzman disappeared into the bowels of the New York City Housing Authority before Walsh was able to pick him up and charge him with Santana’s murder.

“I’ve got to assume Guzman’s still dealing drugs somewhere in Manhattan, but Narcotics Squad detectives have told me that he fell off their radar screen right around the time Walsh was ready to arrest him,” Danski told Santana dejectedly after glancing over the computer notes. “Housing cops have kept an eye out for him, too, but they weren’t able to keep up with him. According to sources, Guzman’s got a lot of friends that take him in for a couple of days or a week and he just bounces from one project to another. One week he’s staying at the Carver house or the Clinton Project in East Harlem; the next week he’s in the Drew Hamilton Houses on the Upper West Side or the East River Houses in East Harlem. The last report we got said he was staying with a known associate at the Wilson Houses in Chelsea.”

“No, no!” Lucy interrupted. “That’s all changed. He’s not in New York anymore. He’s working for a commercial deep-sea fishing company in Orlando, Florida.”

“Orlando!” Danski gasped and then glanced at Litchfield. “That’s a long way from here. How do you know this?”

“My cousin Lilly was on vacation at Disney World.

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