Every Second Counts

I sat in the crime lab, staring at the evidence in front of me. I knew there was a connection that I wasn’t seeing. Ever since Kris and I had been fighting, I seemed to be off of my game, never being able to see something right away or even missing something that was important. “Got anything?” Logan asked me, ripping me away from my thoughts.

I shook my head, frustrated at myself. “No,” I groaned. “I know there’s something there that I’m just missing, and for some reason I can’t seem to find it.”

“Okay,” Logan began, sitting down next to me. “Well, let’s start at the beginning,” he suggested. “What suspects do you have so far?” he asked, grabbing the file from me and inspecting it closely, trying to see if he could find something that I hadn’t seen.

“I don’t know!” I exclaimed loudly, and Logan looked over at me, shocked by my little outburst. “We have so many suspects, and none at all, all at the same time,” I told him.

“I have no idea what that means,” Logan said, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the confused look on his face. I knew I was making no sense, but I didn’t know how to describe the situation at hand.

“Mar, I’ve got something for you,” Parker said, walking into the crime lab. I looked up at him eagerly. “I believe these could help you,” he said, handing me some papers. I looked down at them, a smile spreading across my face, as I realized they were the toxicity report from our current victim. I was hoping there was something in these reports that would bring us even a small step closer to our killer, as there had been no fingerprints or DNA left anywhere on the victim or around the crime scene.

I read over the report before looking up at Logan and Parker. “Heparin,” I stated.

“So?” Parker asked, tossing his pen up in the air and catching it. “That’s not a very uncommon drug. Maybe she had a heart condition?” he suggested.

“But at these high of levels?” I asked, shoving the report into his face. “They’re five times as high as normal,” I pointed out.

“So, what are you thinking?” Logan asked me.

I looked up at Parker, having had worked on this case with him and Davis the past few weeks, knowing he would know more about it than Logan. “Wasn’t her husband a doctor?” I asked him, the wheels turning in my head.

“Yeah,” Parker nodded his head, knowing exactly where I was going with this thought. “A cardiologist, actually, meaning he’d have plenty of access to heparin.”

“Parker, we’ve got to check him out,” I told him, and he nodded his head in agreement. “Let’s go find Davis,” I said, practically running out of the room, nearly tripping over Logan in the process, as he stayed in the chair he was sitting in.

Two hours later, Davis, Parker, and I, along with Detective Gillies and one of his officers were on our way to William Montenegro’s office, hoping to catch him there. We walked inside, seeing a nurse sitting at the front desk, and Davis flashed his badge at her. “We need to speak to Dr. William Montenegro,” he told her.

“Uhh,” she stuttered, and I immediately knew that she was trying to think up a lie on the spot, something that wouldn’t fly with three CSIs there. “He’s not here,” she told us.

“Really?” I questioned, looking around the nearly packed waiting area. “Then just who are all of these people waiting for? I thought Dr. Montenegro was the only doctor here,” I told her.

“Uhhh,” she stuttered once again, and I pushed past her with Parker and Davis following me towards the back, not waiting to hear the lie of an excuse she was trying to come up with. We walked into the first examination room, but Montenegro was nowhere in sight.

“Go to the next room,” Davis ordered Parker, who nodded his head and followed the orders. “Mara, look,” Davis said, pointing towards an opened cabinet door. I peered inside, seeing that it was a mess, as if someone had just taken something out of it. I shut the door to it, seeing that it was a locked cabinet. “Is there medicine missing?” Davis asked.

“I’d assume so,” I said, putting a glove on my hand before touching anything. “Yeah, there was definitely some drugs in here,” I said, pulling out a nearly empty, small bottle of heparin that was in the back of the cabinet. “My guess is he took them and ran.”

“Let’s see if Parker got anything,” Davis said, and I followed him out of the room into the one across the hallway. “Same thing,” he muttered when he saw the cabinet opened and an empty spot inside. “He must’ve acted fast. Or, he knew we were coming,” he said, talking mainly to himself. “Call back to the lab and have Fiona find out his home address,” he said to me, and I nodded my head, pulling my cell phone out of my pocket.

“Fiona Bellamont,” Fiona answered her phone moments later.

“Fi, I need you to look up an address for me,” I told her.

“Sure,” she replied, and I could hear her tapping away at the computer keyboard. “Who is it?”

“William Montenegro,” I said, spelling out his last name to make sure she got it right.

“I have two addresses for him,” she told me moments later. “One’s a doctor’s office on Kedzie Avenue,” she began.

“Yeah, that’s where we’re at now. What’s his home address?” I inquired.

“4957 Kinzie Street,” she read off, and I smiled at Parker and Davis.

“Thanks Fi. You’re the best!” I exclaimed before hanging up on her. “Let’s go boys,” I said, looking at the two men who stood across from me. “We’ve got an address.”

When we arrived at the house, I looked around the neighborhood, which looked extremely sketchy to me. I looked over at Parker, who took a look around the house towards the small garage to see a car parked inside. “There’s a car,” he announced. “Whether it belongs to him or not, I don’t know.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find that out,” Davis said as we made our way to the front door. Davis peered behind him to make sure Detective Gillies and his officer were ready before he began banging on the door. “Chicago PD. Open up,” he yelled loudly, making sure he could hear us. I could hear rustling coming from the inside, and I knew it was Montenegro. “Chicago PD,” Davis yelled again, but Montenegro still didn’t answer the door.

Davis looked behind him, and we backed up, knowing what was going to take place next. My hand instinctively got my gun out of its holster, preparing myself for whatever I found on the other side of the door. Davis kicked open the door, and Parker and I followed him inside. Davis nodded for me to take the kitchen and Parker the bedroom, while he went down the hallway.

My back was against the wall as I crept towards the kitchen. I slid around the corner, my gun out in front of me the entire time, just in case Montenegro would have been in there. When I found emptiness instead, I put my gun down at my sides, looking around, seeing if there was any sign that he had been in there.

Finding nothing, I walked back out into the living room, my gun armed and ready once again. Davis walked back, shaking his head, and I knew he hadn’t found him either. “Stop!” I suddenly heard Parker yell, and Davis and I quickly ran into the bedroom, trying to figure out what was going on.

I saw immediately what had happened when I saw the window wide open, the curtain moving slightly. I peered out the window and saw a figure of a man running down the sidewalk. “Move,” I ordered Parker, as I climbed through the window, knowing I was the only one of the three of us that could have fit through it. I jumped out, happy that this was only a one-story house, and I ran after him.

“Mara, I’m right behind you,” I heard Parker yell, and I knew he was running towards the front door of the house to try to catch up to us. However, Montenegro was much faster than I had expected him to be, as he was probably at least a half a block ahead of me.

My eyes stayed attached to the back of his head, not wanting to lose sight of him. It was more than obvious that he was the killer, and him running away from us was just more proof of that. There was no way I was going to let him get away now.

I could hear footsteps pounding away behind me, and I knew they were Parker’s, but they were just too far away to catch up to Montenegro. At this point, it was all up to me. I quickened my pace, keeping a firm grasp on my gun as I ran down the sidewalk after him.

I saw him take a sharp right down what appeared to be an alleyway. I kept my eye on the spot, making sure not to miss the turn. He obviously knew this area much better than I did, and one wrong turn by me meant he could be gone for good.

I finally reached the corner and I turned quickly, suddenly feeling a sharp prick in my arm from a needle going into me. I instantly forgot about Montenegro and the chase as my entire world went black.