Page 90 of The Fourth Option
“What’s NOPD saying about the scene in the Garden?”
“Officially? Or what I could dig up on my own?”
“Both.”
“Their story tracks with the reporter: drug hit, four dead guys in the morgue, Hispanic, John Does, zero identifying information other than a lot of tattoos. The NOPD is waiting on the coroner’s report, but that’s just to stall. One had his head almost taken off with a shovel.”
“A shovel?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s a new one.”
“The others were shot, according to the admitting tech I talked to. Three Draco AKs and one Desert Eagle were found at the scene.”
“AKs?”
“Well, AK-type pistols. They have become quite popular after their appearance in rap videos.”
“Seriously?”
“Soulja Boy? He’s not on your playlist, sir?”
“I prefer jazz.”
“Are you going to meet with DEA on this?”
“I’ll touch base with Mendez and link up with him as soon as he can cut away.”
“Want me to tag along?”
“Maybe for a follow-up. So, what’s the part that the NOPDisn’ttalking about?”
“It’s more of a sense, really,” she said.
“I tend to listen to those too. Paired with data, of course. What’s yours?”
“That the NOPD is moving fast with the cartel angle. The CSIs are already done at the house. Evidence is bagged and tagged.”
“All of that in less than twelve hours, you mean.”
“Feels a little rushed. Then again, nobody wants flashing lights in the Garden.”
“The DA is going to want to put a bow on this quick,” Stanton said, tapping his fingers on his desk and thinking about Isaacson’s announcementat the gala, the run for governor, the spotless record. The cartel message was just what she needed.Not on my watch, she could say.This is a failure of the federal government.
“J.J., you remember in the last staff meeting, when the rook on complaint duty mentioned a walk-in at the federal building who wanted to talk to someone at DEA but left?”
She smiled and flipped another page over. “I certainly do. In fact, I was about to mention that. I interviewed the U.S. marshal who was at the desk that day. He said the walk-in was blond, bearded, fit. Described him as a tough guy. I verified the description with the lobby cams, but there’s not a good shot of his face. He was in a ball cap, eyes down the whole time, almost like he didn’t want to be seen.”
“Anything we can run through facial recognition?”
“No, but we have the next best thing.”
“Tell me.”
“The marshal said he felt weird about the encounter, so he followed our mystery man out and saw him drive off in a beat-up VW camper van, eighties era, faded blue with a white roof. It caught his attention because it was raised on its tires, like a four-by-four.”
“Plate?”
