Lewis was a slender, light complected, black woman who made her reputation early as patrol woman. She solved the kidnapping of a young child in the high society district by the private Lexington College. The baby, daughter of the Dean of Academic Affairs, was snatched from the College daycare by an imposter posing as a nanny, supposedly a young female, dressed Land’s End, but skinny and gaunt. First on the scene, and responsible for follow up, Madeline, preferring Maddy, explored one thing others forgot: complaints by local daycare centers about suspicious individuals coming for children. It led to Nadine Christine Rivera, a white woman with multiple miscarriages from multiple sexual relationships with men for money to feed her crack habit. She also had a rap sheet for petty theft and public drunkness.
Somehow, in a twist of narcotic insanity, she believed she deserved a child for her troubles, and attempted similar kidnappings in several daycare centers over the last three weeks. The staff at the Silly Goose, blocks from the College, identified here from six pack mug shots. With Amber Alerts already out for baby Samantha, Maddy Lewis put a BOLO on Rivera.
Rivera was nabbed after attempting to use a stolen debit card for diapers and formula not a half mile from the College, and blocks from shit apart on Lemon Street. The surveillance cameras caught here, but more importantly the Manager recognized her. Putting a clerk in charge, she called the police and followed her to Lemon Street. Lewis was the first on scene and mad the arrest.
Things moved quickly for Lewis: youngest detective on the city force, first female, first black woman in the same position. The mayor paraded her out for his re-election bid. She smiled politely when he campaigned in the First. Former DA Kennedy Everson, wanting to be forward thinking, brought her to the County office. Lewis agreed for one simple reason: it took her out of the limelight. She was here to stay
Rome tossed a glance to Josie, and said, “Where’s the chief.â€
“Said he was going downstairs, Recorder of Deeds, and should be back shortly,†she replied. “You know how he is, man of few words, keeps things close to the vest.â€
“Yeah. That’s what spooks me.â€
Henry Mullen was different, and not so much. He was old school. Mullen joined the city police force when he was twenty. He dreamed of being a cop from the time his uncle came to his third grade class for a safety lesson. Mullen didn’t remember much except ‘don’t talk to strangers’ and the fact his uncle looked really cool in his uniform. He started on two-man car patrol, then crowd control at public events, on to fugitive sweeps with the Sheriff Department and the Marshals Service, and then his break came.
A white girl, was raped in the Third Ward, a blue collar area with mostly Scot and German descendants, which also bordered the mostly black Fourth Ward. Neither community weathered the civil and cultural revolution of the Sixties very well; racial tensions remained high for both. Bitter allegations and desparate, sometimes violent, demonstrations rose like intractable weeds in the those hot summer months
But Henry saw through this, and with the help of certain black detective, Tenacious D, who knew of his even demeanor and skillful community relations, they solved the case. The rapist was discovered to be a man from the Third, a disturbed loner with short prison time for aggravated assualt and trespass, who lingered about the Elementary school and a nearby day care. Henry found he had a juvenile record, but sealed because of his age. Washington persuaded the DA to persuade a judge to have it opened. As a teen, the man had exposed himself to other young children and attempted to rape a 12 year old.
He confessed, was convicted, and still remains in jail. Mullen was promoted to Sergeant, then moved to the detective squad. His first partner was Desmond Washington. When retirements hit the County office, Henry jumped at the chance. The DA made him chief and he promptly hired his friend Desmond Washington as his second, his deputy chief. That was a mere ten years ago.
Mullen still carried his M1911 ACP, the standard issue .45 caliber for most police and military until 1986 when the Army adopted Glocks, and then nearly all police departments later. He also liked street work when possible, eschewing the paperwork. Josie helped him with that. Curiously, against this, Henry adapted to computers rather easily, especially digital recordkeeping and the criminal data bases like NICaP. It fit his attention to detail and finding the facts amidst the speculation, just like the Wallace District case. But cell phones had to be kept simple. No smart phones for him, his large bulky fingers kept screwing up the icons when he tapped or swiped. Henry was a modern warrior with feet still planted in old-fashioned police work. That, and everybody liked him.
