Letters to Maxine

CHAPTER 43

ETHAN MARTIN

May 4 Saint Gabriel High School

Parking Lot 10:26 Hours

"Six three David to Central on TAC-2. Call us ten-eight, ten-nine on assignment. Mike Charlie 18226. How copy?"

"Ten-four, Corporal. In-service on location. 10:06 hours."

We pulled through the school's back lot, which used to be the front. That is until they built a state-of-the-art football complex.

The massive stadium scoreboard and five thousand capacity seating also had a tunnel running beneath the road from the locker room to the field entrance.

Shady alumni donations reaching into the millions gave the school a facelift. Church officials could suddenly afford to build a domed sports complex on the township property they had acquired for a song.

Athletic scholarships, transfers from all over the county, and high-priced coaching staffs tipped the scales in their favor. When the stes athletic association investigated, the school and church officials refused to cooperate. So they turned to our White-Collar Crimes Division.

As Chief of WCD, Maxine's old man tried to bring fraud charges, misappropriation of funds, and embezzlement but couldn't make anything stick. With pressure from the Archdiocese and a changing Heights political regime, Callum McMenamin fell out of favor. And within a year, he retired.

We pulled around the front of the school and waited to see who would greet us from Major Case.

Yesterday afternoon the DNA results came back from three rape kits testing positive for Ethan Martin.

The plan was to humiliate him before the student body and send the rats running for shelter. With the imminent arrests of Martin's peers, we hoped to flesh out more information to catch X-4 before his next kill.

I parked in a NO-PARKING ZONE away from windows or doors to hide from pain-in-the-ass student snitches.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" snapped Keegs. "Your uncle hates me. I knew it."

He pointed to an SUV pulling around the corner in full view of the front of the school.

"I'm telling you, Kelly. He's got it in for me. Freaking Sally."

Bongiovanni parked near the main entrance and sauntered his way from the truck. He tucked in his silk shirt and straightened his tie, his shoulder holster dangling from his side.

"Here we go," I said. "Say nothing, Keegs. Just let me handle this."

Keegs threw up his hands before emptying his tobacco into the Gatorade bottle he used as a spit cup.

I put the car in drive and slow-rolled until I was within feet of Bongiovanni's SUV.

There were no pleasantries when we exited. He didn't look at Keegan and only glanced at me. With a scowl, he jammed his hands in his pockets and lifted his chin.

We met him on the sidewalk but kept our distance. In truth, this was more awkward for him than for us. We had the upper hand in the investigation, and since he screwed up the UC and almost got Max killed, he was low on the pole.

"So," he said. "I have the kid's schedule. He's in the north cafeteria for the next thirty minutes."

I watched him and Keegan lock eyes. I looked at Keegs and slightly nodded to keep him focused.

"Does the admin know we're coming in?" I asked.

"No. Only the principal and vice principal. And if anyone lets on to the kid, they'll face obstruction charges."