Room #3 (An Alex Landon Thriller Book 2) Read online

  Room Number Three

  By Gavin Reese

  "Gavin Reese's Enemies Domestic hums like a live wire with action, authenticity, and suspense to spare." – NYT & USA Today Bestseller Michael Lister

  Download THREE stories featuring Detective Alex Landon.

  Also by Gavin Reese

  Alex Landon Start Library

  Room #3

  Enemies Domestic

  Copyright © 2017 by Gavin Reese Publications LLC.

  Published by Cyanide Publishing 2017

  www.cyanidepublishing.com

  All rights reserved. Copyright promotes and rewards creativity, encourages diverse points of view, protects free speech, and helps create and foster a vibrant, artistic culture. By purchasing an authorized copy of this publication, and complying with copyright laws that protect intellectual property by not reproducing, digitizing, or redistributing any part of this text in any form without permission, you support authors, their original stories, and make creative fiction possible. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Although based on some portions of true events, this is a work of creative fiction. The characters and their names, along with the events, plots, and motives are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Gavin Reese Publications LLC donates a portion of all our sales to non-profit organizations that benefit law enforcement professionals and veterans, their families, and the heirs, survivors, and memories of our Fallen Heroes.

  More information is at www.gavinreese.com

  Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Cast of Characters

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Gavin Reese

  Acknowledgements

  My lovely, incredible, gracious, and exceptionally understanding wife deserves a tremendous amount of recognition. I’d been discussing the concept of this story for several months before I ever had time to sit down and write it. I really liked the idea of letting the public see how hard investigators have to work, and how critical each step becomes, whenever they’re working a circumstantial case. I planned on putting together a 20-to-25 page short story, but, as I typed, Room Number Three organically grew into a 104-page draft four days later. Because she knows me better than I know myself, Mrs. Reese simply reminded me that I’m actually incapable of telling a short story. A short scene, sure, she said, but a short story? Impossible, Gavin.

  Throughout our relationship, and especially during the birth of this new career, she really is my everything. She pushes me to pursue and achieve my dreams and goals, helps me overcome all manner of obstacles, real and imagined, and, to the best of my knowledge, Senator, has never doubted me. I plan to spend all the rest of the days this lifetime affords me striving to be the man she and the kids believe I am. Mo Anam Cara.

  My dedicated group of beta-readers continues to provide constructive, honest, and forthright criticism that substantially improves the quality of my work, and I’m eternally grateful to them for their dedication, candor, and the time these books have taken from their families and personal pursuits. LW, ML, JS, JC, PK, TW, JL, and RK, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You cross my ‘Is’ and dot my ‘Ts.’

  Cast of Characters

  Dry Creek Police Department Employees & Investigators

  Alex Landon: Neighborhood Enforcement Unit Detective

  Michele Lindsey: Neighborhood Enforcement Unit Detective

  Mike Wall: Property & Persons Crimes Detective

  Doug Melner: Neighborhood Enforcement Unit Detective

  David Templeton: Patrol Sergeant and SWAT Team Leader

  Scott James: Patrol Officer

  Brad Johnson: Patrol Officer

  Mike Hansen: Property & Persons Crimes Detective

  Katherine “Kat” Guinn: Senior Evidence Technician

  Hershel Guy: Information Technology Professional

  Bernie Jones: Neighborhood Enforcement Unit Detective Sergeant

  Additional Investigators

  Tina Forsythe: Forensic Child Psychologist

  Dr. Kitty Maguire: Maricopa County Medical Examiner

  Civilians

  Buddy Stevenson: Person of Interest

  Robert Stevenson: Buddy’s Grandson

  Jezz Stevenson: Buddy’s Granddaughter

  Kevin Stevenson: Buddy’s Grandson, Reported Missing

  One

  Landon Residence. Dry Creek, Arizona.

  beep beepbeep beep beepbeep beep

  The predawn ring of his work cell phone stirred Dry Creek Police Department Detective Alex Landon from blissful slumber. He reached out from beneath his down comforter, knocked over a small flashlight that had stood upright on his nightstand, and fumbled, sightless, for the source of the intrusive racket.

  beep beepbeep beep beepbeep beep

  “Alex, phone,” Genevieve mumbled, clearly annoyed at also being awoken by the cell, just before she passive-aggressively pulled the comforter off her husband and used it to cover her head and ears.

  “Thanks, Gen, I got it,” Alex groggily responded and sat up, now just as annoyed as his wife. He roughly grabbed the phone, pressed a side button to silence its ringer, and flipped it over to examine the caller identification. Hansen. What the fuck does that guy want so early? He’s ‘spose to be out of town…

  He accepted the call, lifted the phone to his ear, and made no attempt to conceal his grumpy demeanor. “Landon.”

  “Hey, it’s Hansen, sorry to wake you.”

  “Yeah, me, too. I thought you were in San Diego.”

  “I am, but I need your help, man, it’s important.”

  “Isn’t everything at oh-five-hundred?”

  “Everything okay,” Genevieve inquired from beneath her covers.

  “Yeah, I think so, baby,” Alex replied, “it’s Mike Hansen.”

  “Ask him to tell Susan we said ‘hi,’ and go talk to Mike somewhere else,” Genevieve protested, “this workin’ girl needs another hour of beauty sleep.” Realizing she had a point, Alex stood up and started walking out of their master bedroom to accommodate his wife. “Don’t take that how it sounded, Alex. Just, go be noisy somewhere else.”

  After walking a reasonable distance from the bedroom, he returned to Hansen. “Go ahead, Mike. Whaddaya got?”

  “The Kevin Stevenson case. Remember it?”

  “Seriously? It’s the only significant case I haven’t been able to close. What’s going on?”

  “I’m out in S-D, can’t sleep, so I checked my work messages, and I got a voice message around ten-pm from Buddy Stevenson. That asshole says he’s gonna be back in the U-S
for one day to bury his daughter before returning to the Philippines with two of his grandkids. I can’t do anything from here, but hoped you could clear your calendar to take a run at this guy before he steps back outta reach.”

  “Wow, so grandad’s back in-country.”

  “Yeah, he’d stopped by Kevin’s house the morning the boy went missing. He’s probably the last person to see Kevin alive, but he bounced right after we interviewed him last year.”

  “Oh, that’s right,” Alex recalled. “He flew out quick, to, uh, to Thailand, right?”

  “Yeah. He’d just gotten custody of his seven-year-old granddaughter, unrelated to our case, and flew to Bangkok. He’s apparently relocated to Manilla, in the Philippines, though. Before she died, when I originally interviewed her last year, the mom told me Buddy had long-term business interests across Southeast Asia and it wasn’t unusual for him to be there for weeks or months at a time. On the voice message last night, Buddy said he’s here to make arrangements to bury his daughter and accept custody of Kevin’s older brother, Robert. I think that kid’s about fifteen now, and probably a freshman at Dry Creek High.”

  “Did we talk to Robert after Kevin went missing?”

  “I did, but you weren’t with me that day. Despite being a few years apart, Robert and Kevin were pretty close and played together a lot, even though they’re brothers. Last year, Robert told me he hadn’t seen Kevin for two days before he disappeared. I think he was gone on a camping trip, Boy Scouts or something.”

  “What happened to the mother?” Alex thought it suspicious that so much tragedy had befallen this family in such a short timeframe.

  “I dunno. I assume Buddy had nothing to do with it, since he was out of the country, but he has incredible assets and resources at his disposal. Like, ‘private charter jets’ rich, so anything’s possible.”

  “Do you know who’s looking into her death, Mike?”

  “I don’t. Maybe no one. I didn’t even know she’d passed, so she must not’ve died at home. If she died out of state, or the medical examiner didn’t have to perform an autopsy, it’s likely she went straight to a funeral home.”

  “Okay, so, where’re you at with Kevin’s case? Whaddayou need from me?”

  “Get to the airport. Stevenson’s flying in on Asiana Airways, don’t know the flight number, but they should only have one flight coming in this morning from Manilla.”

  “We’ve still got no probable cause for this guy, right?”

  “A-ffirm. I think he’s guilty as sin, but I’ve never been able to prove it. He’s always been a ‘Person of Interest,’ but we couldn’t ever officially push him over into the ‘Suspect’ column. He scooted town so quick we never got to search his home, never got to sit down for a second, impeachment interview with him, and he’s never returned a phone call. Until now. Out of the blue, he wants to make sure I know he’s gonna be in town, but leaves the message on my desk phone at ten-p-m, when I know goddamned well he’s got my cell phone number.”

  “So, you think he wants the appearance of being helpful, without actually being so?”

  “Yep, that’s it exactly. Or, he thinks we won’t be able to track him down and he just wants to rub it in our face that we missed him.”

  “Any contact info for him?”

  “Sorry, Landon, none. He called from an airport phone overseas, left me no numbers, and the one I had for him last year has been shut down since he left the country.”

  “What about funeral homes?”

  “Nothing,” Hansen responded. “I already searched for his daughter’s obituary, and there’s nothing. I can’t call the medical examiner’s records department until they open at eight, so we don’t even know if she died local or if anyone performed an autopsy.”

  “Fuck me, Mike, do you have anything that’s working for us?”

  “Just your ability to get people to consent to everything you ask,” Hansen joked. “Alex, here’s my thoughts on it. Get with T-S-A and Phoenix P-D, get ‘em to let you meet him at the gate when he lands. Get him into a box, but you gotta sweet talk him into it. If the girl is traveling with him, get a forensic psychologist to talk to her if he’ll even let her out of his sight. He’s supposed to pick up Robert, the fifteen-year-old, who’s likely in the custody of Child Protective Services because Buddy is now his only living adult relative. See if C-P-S can bring Robert to the station, and find some of our detectives that could talk to him.”

  “Wow, three simultaneous consent-only interviews that our suspect could terminate at any time? No small request, sir.” Alex pondered the logistics of bringing this to fruition. “Offhand, I think we got Lindsey, Wall, and Melner working today. What about getting Scott James from patrol, and sticking him and Lindsey with the teenager? Give the kid the choice to talk to a younger, male cop, or a pretty female detective. Surely, if he’s gonna open up and confess grandpa’s sins, he’s gonna be willing to talk to one of them.”

  “Whatever you all think’ll work. I can’t do anything by phone from here.”

  “No pressure, right?”

  “None,” Hansen responded sarcastically. “It’s not like all our hope of getting justice for this probably-murdered kid rides only on your shoulders.”

  “I don’t think it’s like that, Mike, it exactly is that.”

  “Yeah, sorry about this. Even if I was in town, I’d be calling you for help on this one. I’d start with Wall, and see what resources you two can put together. I’ll leave my phone on, and I’ll be driving back while you guys work on this.”

  “Alright. If he tells me to pound sand, I’ll let you know you can stop risking the run-in with California Highway Patrol.”

  “Thanks, brother, I owe you.”

  “Fuck yeah, you do.”

  “At this point, Alex, if you miss him at the airport, he’ll be in the wind until his return flight, and none of this’ll matter as soon as he takes off tonight.”

  “Got it. Safe travels.” Alex disconnected the call, and thought about the seemingly impossible task laid out before him. Sonuvuhbitch, I’d better wake Wall up and see what he thinks about the strategy and tactics to break this guy and figure out if he’s involved. Gonna be a really great, or really shitty, day. I may as well get dressed first and call him while I’m driving to the airport.

  While he dressed and donned his basic police gear, Alex thought back to his limited involvement with the original case, which had come in while he’d been applying for his current detective assignment with NEU, the Neighborhood Enforcement Unit that served as Dry Creek Police Department’s narcotics squad. Still in Patrol at that time, Alex had had to spend a week in Dry Creek’s Criminal Investigations Division, shadowing and helping out detectives from each specialty before moving on to the final oral board interview. As his current boss, Sergeant Jones, had explained at the time, NEU detectives were expected to help all the other investigative units with all manner of cases. He remembered Jones elaborating that their ability to work dope was a gift, a luxury in fact, that meant no higher priority victim crimes needed extra attention. “The dope’ll always be there,” he’d said in his heavy New Jersey accent, “we’ll never stop it. Victims, however, they always take priority and when other units need manpower or surveillance help, we’re the first place they stop to get it. If you’re putting in for this assignment because you only wanna work dope, and never have any involvement with rapes, murders, thefts, and burglaries, you may as well stay on Patrol. N-E-U detectives have to be good at everything, and our main job is, actually, our second job. We help the other investigators and Patrol first, and work dope and smuggling when we can.”

  Alex hated that the Kevin Stevenson disappearance was the last case he’d worked before the Chief called his number and promoted him to NEU, and this remained the only case that’d stuck with him. Not for the first time, Alex considered the effectiveness of their investigation. Did we really do everything we could to find Kevin and the person responsible
for whatever happened to him?

  Two

  Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Phoenix, Arizona.

  Escorted by supervisors from both the Transportation Safety Administration and Phoenix Police Department’s Airport Bureau, Dry Creek Detectives Alex Landon and Michele Lindsey hustled through Level Three of Sky Harbor Airport’s Terminal Four, toward the gates normally reserved for international arrivals.

  “It’ll be just a bit farther, up there just past the coffee shop on the right,” the Phoenix sergeant announced.

  “Thanks for your help, Sarge, and you as well, L-T,” Alex replied and nodded to the TSA supervisor. “You two have no idea how big a help this has been.”

  “Just remember me at Christmas time,” the sergeant replied.

  “You don’t mind cuttin’ a supp on a kiddie crimes case about helpin’ us get up to the gate, right?” Alex jokingly asked. He understood how much cops hated writing short supplemental reports when they had only insignificant involvement in a case. The shorter the supp, the greater the chance you’ll get subpoena’ed into court.

  “Now that you mention it, let’s just call it even, then,” the sergeant replied. His smile and wink conveyed he tracked Alex just fine. “No gift necessary this year.”

  “Did you talk to Jones this morning?” Detective Lindsey, never one for small talk, brought Alex back to business.

  “Yeah, briefly, just to let him know we got called in on this. Said he had some stuff to resolve anyway, so he’d meet up with us when he could. Not many cases that could be a bigger deal than this one, unless maybe he’s working a homicide we don’t know about.”

  “Maybe just working on the ‘murder’ part,” Lindsey wryly joked, “probably better off without him on this one. For someone who talks about needing to help other investigators and patrol, he’s always ruffled when we actually have to do it.”