Cold Case Chase

Hey Hawahyah? I am Detective Alma Rossi from the Hillsford Police Department (HPD). We’ve had a slowdown in murders since we arrested our first ever serial killer. So, we’ve been working on a cold case from the 1990s.

When I say we, I mean my new partner, Detective Lucy Shi. The department recently promoted her to detective to replace Detective Cooke, who the serial killer murdered. Lieutenant Sophia Calderon (LT) is our lieutenant on the night shift. Our hours on that shift are from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.

LT has asked me about being a partner with Detective Shi because she has so much to learn. For the first time in my career, I accepted that role. LT also wants me to tutor Detective Reese on the day shift. She is another young detective.

The cold case we’re working on was the murder of a young mother in 1995. She had a three-year-old son. I understand why this murder bothers retired Detective Marco Castillo. The attacker stabbed her 17 times while her son was playing in the same room. Detective Castillo said that they found the three-year-old covered with blood. He was hugging his dead mother.

The good news is Detective Shi and I have a suspect named Paco Sainz we want to arrest tonight. He was the victim’s cousin. We don’t have a motive yet, but we’ve interviewed dozens of people, and all mentioned he was a troublemaker back then.

Judge Chabra had signed the arrest warrant for him an hour ago.

Back then, he was 32, and the victim was 28. That means he should be in his sixties now. I hoped we wouldn’t have a rabbit at that age, but everyone runs when the police arrive. That’s why I was changing my shoes from my cowgirl boots to running shoes.

“You own more than boots?” Shi asked.

“Yep. I learned this when chasing our serial killer. My cowgirl boots are the most comfortable shoes I own, but they don’t hold up well on a high-speed run.”

“Are you ready to make your first arrest as a detective?” I asked.

“Absolutely,” she said as she bounced up and down like a rubber ball.

We took the elevator down to the first level of the station. That is where our parking garage is. We jumped into my unmarked vehicle and headed toward the cousin’s house in the school district.

♦♦♦

Twelve minutes later, we parked in front of his house. We walked up to his front porch.

“You can do the honors,” I said.

Shi banged on the door and said, “HPD. We have an arrest warrant for Paco Sainz.”

The garage door opened, and Shi and I got back to my car quickly so we could follow him. We watched him drive off in a black Chevy Silverado pickup. I turned on the lights and sirens of my car, and the chase began. He traveled east on School Street.

“Do you think he is going to the public park?” Shi asked.

“Possibly. He might go to the warehouse district.”

Hillsford’s districts form a grid. The Warehouse District is on the east side of the city. The Downtown District runs the length of the city and borders the other three districts. In that area, the west side had the school district to the north, and the technology district to the south.

By this time, both vehicles were moving at high speed. I checked my car, and I was doing 85 just to stay close to him. Luckily, the warehouse district had little traffic at night. During the day, trucks clogged the streets in this district.

As we approached Ware Avenue, he took a right turn to go south into the district. The public park wasn’t his destination.

“You were right again,” Shi said.

“That’s just my experience talking.”

We sped south on Ware Street and crossed Main Street. The suspect made a quick left into the alley between buildings south of Main. We followed him through the alley and into an empty lot behind the buildings. He parked his car and ran.

I parked, and we gave chase.

The Warehouse District is eerie at night. Giant buildings with very few lights and little traffic. I kept expecting Freddie Kreuger to show up. It looked like a great place for a horror movie.

Shi was ahead of me and running faster than I could. I am glad I accepted her as my partner. It looked like the man was trying to exit Hillsford and enter Poway. I guess he figured we didn’t have jurisdiction there.

He had a choice to make. The lots we were on now had fences behind them. He would need to climb one to get into Poway. I knew there were buildings further south that had open lots and free access to Poway. At his age, I wasn’t sure he could make it that far.

At one point, he stopped, turned to face us, and started shooting at us. We had to duck to avoid the bullets. He climbed the fence on this lot, and I fired at him. It looked like I hit him in the shoulder because he fell off the fence and grabbed his left shoulder.

Shi caught up with him and rolled him over onto his stomach. She pulled his arms back and handcuffed him.

“Fuck you, bitch. You’re hurting my shoulder,” he said.

“Shut the hell up, dumbass,” Shi said.

Shi stood him up, and we heard sirens coming down Ware Avenue.

Patrol Officers Nolan and Santos were coming down toward us. Nolan and Shi were partners until her promotion. Santos is a new hire who loves to paint. My partner has an MFA degree in creative writing. Two artists becoming police officers. It’s a new world.

I’ve barely met Santos so far. However, as the swing shift patrol team, they will have lots of time to interact with us in the future.

“Take him back and book him. Have him sign a Waiver of Rights form so we can question him. Let us know which interrogation room you put him in.”

“Of course,” Santos said.

Shi and I walked back to my unmarked sedan, jumped in, and headed back to the station.

“That was easier than I expected,” Shi said.

“He helped us out by stopping in a lot with a fence.”

“It surprised me he fired at us,” Shi said.

“That’s why I tell you to keep your head on a swivel. When someone fires at us, we need to reduce our exposure to lessen the chance of being hit.”

“It amazed me how fast you dove onto the ground,” Shi said.

“That’s because of plenty of practice. I hope you noticed when I dropped, I was facing him.”

“Yes. I went down facing you and changed once I saw you do it,” Shi said.

“Wicked awesome. You did well today.”

Her cheeks turned pink, as if she were blushing.

♦♦♦

When we arrived at the station, we headed for our work areas. Because Shi is my partner, I moved her work area next to mine. Sometimes I would forget about Cooke because his desk was so far away from mine.

It took nearly an hour, but Nolan texted me that the suspect was in interrogation room number two. Shi and I walked over to the interview room area, which is on our floor in the station.

Officer Santos was guarding the door.

“Do you need me to stay here during your interview?” Santos asked.

“Yes, in case the suspect gets out of hand,” I said.

“Thanks a lot,” Santos said.

“We won’t be long. We have to move him to the county jail at 9:00 p.m.”

The current time was 8:36 p.m. Shi and I entered the room. Santos had chained Paco’s handcuffs to the metal bar on the interrogation table.

“Paco, why did you run?” I asked.

“I hate cops,” he said.

“Why did you kill your cousin?” I asked.

“That was 30 years ago, who cares?” Paco asked.

“You stabbed her 17 times, so it matters,” Shi said.

“I don’t remember that.”

“This is your last friendly meeting. The district attorney’s office will pull that reason out of you to ensure their case,” I said.

“I hate lawyers, too.”

This is a tough interview. He showed no interest in talking to us.

“Is there anyone you like?” Shi asked.

“Just my family.”

“Wasn’t your cousin family?” I asked.

“Cousins are minor family. All I care about are brothers, sisters, and parents.”

I had heard enough.

“Enjoy your stay at the county jail tonight. We are handing this off to the legal team,” I said.

The two of us left the interrogation room.

“The county sheriffs should be here soon to pick him up,” I said.

“Can I go back on patrol after that?” Santos asked.

“Yes, you can leave once they take him away.”

We walked back to our work areas, and LT was waiting for us.

“Hey Hawahyah?”

“What’s up?” LT asked.

“We just interrogated Paco Sainz. We like him for the cold case because he killed his cousin.”

“Marco will be happy to hear that,” LT said.

“I heard you had a chase and a shooting. Are you OK, Shi?” LT asked.

“Yes! Rossi taught me things tonight that made me safer,” Shi said.

“Excellent, this partnership works already,” LT said.

“Yep, we are a wicked team now,” I said.

The characters and events in this story are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.