Page 8 of Unhallowed Murder
She was in charge of the Violent Crimes unit, which consisted of a dozen deputies and detectives, plus three civilians. Most seasoned detectives were partnered with either a deputy or a junior detective, but she handled thetoughest cases herself, and her personal quick-response team was made up of five people, including Corey the tech geek. When the brass wanted something solved right-the-fuck now, her team jumped into action.
Agent Graham noted the pearl paint on the back wall, and set a small projector on the table. The Feds always had the cool tech. He used his phone to move through his presentation while he talked.
“Wendy Abrams was a twenty-seven year old postal carrier. Her mother’s younger sister gave birth to Kevin Ramirez within a few days of Wendy’s birth. The two children played together and were close until the sixth grade, when Kevin’s parents moved to Nashville. Kevin joined a Latino gang there, had some run-ins with the law while a juvenile, and finally went to jail for a few years as an adult. He came to Chattanooga to live with his uncle when he got out of prison. Six months later, he rented an apartment, which he moved out of when he came off parole. The duplex likely offered less prying eyes to his illicit activities once he was engaged in them full time, but an important note is that several gang members live in the vicinity.”
“The CHM doesn’t let gang members fully step back into their roles until they’re off parole,” said Detective Jamison Carter. “Smart, really, and I’m glad the other gangs aren’t in the same habit.”
Agent Graham nodded agreement and continued. “The Inspector General’s office asked us to take point on Miss Abrams’ case because the FBI is better qualified to handlesituations involving gangs and the cartel. There was no wrongdoing on the part of an employee, and no mail was actually sent, which limited their scope and allowed them to farm it out to us.”
Ronnie hated that the beginning of every briefing had to include why each department was given the case, but she’d learned to let the FBI guys talk while they were in the mood, because all too often getting information from them was worse than pulling teeth.
“Miss Abrams was approached via her personal cellphone in an attempt to bribe her.” Graham switched to a graphic showing arrows moving from the southern coast of the U.S. to midsized cities all over the country. “The Cortez Cartel has started using the post office to distribute their product. The largest cities have sophisticated sniffing equipment, but the mid-sized cities have cheaper, slower versions, so only mail fitting a certain profile is sent through it. The bad guys know this, so they ship their goods from, for instance, Naples, Florida to Chattanooga, Tennessee, coming from a homeowner in good standing and shipping to a homeowner in good standing, and nothing is checked because it bypasses every system that might flag it as suspicious. The trick is in sending it from and to the right people.”
Another man stepped forward. “They bribe a postal employee on both ends. For today’s discussion, we only need to tell you they ship it to an upstanding citizen, and they pay the mail carrier to hand the package off to them instead of delivering it to the proper address — the going rate isfive hundred dollars cash, and once the pattern is established, they often send a package a week.”
Another agent continued the explanation. “The handoff usually takes place in a parking lot without security cameras. Several local gangs work for the Cortez Cartel, and the Clifton Hills Mafia, usually called the CHM, has been gaining ground. Our suspect was high ranking in an affiliated Nashville gang before he was convicted. He started near the top locally once he was off parole.”
Agent Graham changed slides and continued. “Ramirez isn’t in charge yet, but I feel it’s only a matter of time — assuming Flores, the current leader, doesn’t kill him to keep him from taking over. But, back to the bribe: It’s likely they had another gang member make the call, since the victim would’ve recognized her cousin’s voice. She reported the caller having a Spanish accent, so from there it isn’t far to suspecting her cousin and his associates.”
“It didn’t occur to you that she might need protecting?” This from Deputy Myers, who had a protective streak eons deep.
“Our threat analysis didn’t put her in danger,” said Agent Graham. “I asked her if she felt as if she might be in danger for filing the report, and she said she did not.” He flipped to the next slide and looked to her. “Here’s my list of what happens next. Do you have anything to add before we figure out who’s doing what?”
Four items on his list were checked off: the APB on her car, obtaining a list of known associates, getting asearch order for the cellphone records of the cousin, and interviewing the victim’s immediate supervisor.
“You can check off searching her home. I typed my notes up already, and we should get the preliminary report from our crime scene people soon.” Her eyes scanned the slide again. “Not on the list, but completed — we’ve interviewed two people who didn’t show up for work at the corn maze. No reason to suspect either, but you’ll have the information anyway.”
Still to do were interviewing coworkers, notifying the victim’s mother, talking to the medical examiner, and a whole host of smaller items.
“I plan to ask Corey — my tech guy — to find a connection between a known gang member and the Haunted Maze. Whoever killed our victim knew about that diorama. Staging her as they did possibly means they want people to know what happens if you turn down an offer from their gang. Why else do something so public? They’re banking on the fact we’ll release details of the case, which will give them street cred. I vote that — when it’s time — we merely report her cousin joined the gang and she got caught up in the mess through no fault of her own.”
Corey flipped a tablet on and looked up. “Auto theft finally got the location of her car from the manufacturer. Strip mall parking lot about ten miles from the maze. Crime scene tech’s heading that way with a rollback.”
“Assuming they killed her somewhere else,” Ronnie mused, “drove her to the maze in her own car to keep fromgetting her blood in theirs, and then parked it — how did the bastard get home?”
“I’ll check cabs, Uber, and the like,” said Corey.
“Do it, because we have to follow every lead, but he didn’t use them.” Ronnie thrummed her fingers on the conference room table. “Can we find out where the car travelled that night?”
“The manufacturer claims they don’t log that information. They can search for a car and find it, but they don’t keep track of where every car is.”
“And he killed her phone at her house. He’s smart. I hate when the bad guys are smart.” She glanced at the large black man sitting to her left a second before meeting Graham’s gaze again. “Detective Carter helps our gang task force when they need more bodies. He’d already told me Kevin Ramirez shot straight to the top of the local hierarchy when he arrived, due to his rep in Nashville and then in Pikeville. We should aim him at the gang related tasks.” Pikeville was the Tennessee state prison where Ramirez had resided.
“We’ll need known associates while he was in Pikeville, too. We need to know who he made friends with inside.” This from Sergeant Detective Perry, her stereotypical grumpy old detective who took in everything and missednothing.
“I can handle that,” said Corey. “I have a murder board started.” He flicked his tablet and the interactive whiteboard lit up on the other wall. The room was silent while everyone took in the pictures of the victim and her cousin, pictures of her house and the outside of his duplex, various crime scene photos, anda note of everything missing — like the victim’s car, purse, and phone — and everything they needed to further investigate. Cory took the FIND sticker off the stock picture of the victim’s car. They’d replace it with a picture of her actual car soon.
“This is good,” said Agent Graham. “I have no problem working from your software, since all of you are used to it.” He met Ronnie’s gaze. “I propose we let your team focus on the murder, while my team focuses on the gang and cartel angle. While they do that, you and I should notify the mother and then the cousin.”
Ronnie’s Captain had told her Agent Graham was straightforward and good to work with as long as you were upfront with him and you were competent. She was pleased with him so far, but she’d been burned by the Feds before. However, his proposal made sense, so she nodded and added, “Once we talk to Ramirez, we’ll need to put someone on him. Might not be able to keep him alive, but we should show the effort.” Protection was just an excuse to tail him and monitor him, but it cut through a lot of red tape.
Agent Graham grinned. “Excellent plan.”
Between the two of them, they handed out all tasks to their people with no disagreements. When they finished, she motioned for her team to get to it, and everyone left except Deputy Myers, who’d be coming with her.
Agent Graham eyed the large former-marine a few moments before saying, “I assumed you’d ride with me.”
“That’s fine. If there’s room for Deputy Myers, I believe you’ll find him an asset. If not, he can follow us.”
