An unmarked car pulled up to Nevis Drive, a couple of blocks from Donny’s house. Officers Morrison was in the surveillance van, waiting for orders. There was a different unmarked police vehicle on all four streets surrounding Donny’s house, watching the area closely.
Officer Hundler got out of his car and walked up to the van. After knocking on the door, Officer Morrison opened the door and let Officer Hundler in.
“Do you have it? I am sick of being locked up in this walk in closet.”
“It’s right here. Officer Hundler handed the warrant to Detective Morrison. After glancing at it briefly, he told Jimmy to call the others. “We are going in.”
Officer Hundler said he didn’t think it was a good idea to go in until Chanello and Mangino got there.
“Why should we wait? The warrant is right here. The longer we put this off the more likely Donny will realize we are watching him. When he figures it out, he will probably run.”
“I hear you man, but you can’t step on someone else’s turf. This is Chanello and Mangino’s investigation.”
“In my book this has nothing to do with turf. It is about taking care of the public, and that is what I intend to do.”
Being in the cramped quarters of the van had put Detective Morrison in a foul mood. Add to that the fact that the air conditioning system was all messed up and he had had it. It was too hot. They supposedly installed this great system since they had all this electronic surveillance equipment in the van. This kind of stuff had to stay cool but it either didn’t work in which it got so hot like now, or it worked too well in which he felt like he was freezing to death. He told the higher ups that this was some expensive equipment and extreme variations in temperature would ruin it but no one would listen.
“Detective Morrison, this is Chanello.”
“I’m here.”
“Has Hundler shown up with the warrant.”
“It’s right here. We can arrest him and search his house for all relevant evidence.”
“We’ll be there in a few. Is he still there?”
“We’ve been watching the house constantly. If he’s left, he had to make himself invisible first.” “Good. We’ll be there soon.”
“Shouldn’t we go in now just in case he tries to escape.”
“If you do your job, he won’t be able to escape. This is my investigation. We’ll be there quickly to make the arrest.”
“Sir, we’ve been waiting for three days. Donny is in his house now. The warrant says we are looking for size 11 sneakers and a wooden bat. We shouldn’t give any more time for him to dispose of these things.” As he said this the detective realized he had made a mistake by announcing the suspect’s name over the CB radio. He was supposed to use the code word they had for Donny, sinking ship. The police used code words because the media or individuals can monitor the police channel. He knew he had screwed up and it would mean a lot of pain for his career.
“Officer Morrison. I want you to stop all communication over the CB.” Commander Putter said.
“Yes Sir.”
“Beginning now dammit!”
“We’re minutes away Commander.”
“Go get him.”
“Yes Sir.”
Donny was in his living room with the police scanner on. He just heard every word they said. He ran into the room and picked up what he had and placed it in a black trash bag. After he opened the door to the utility room he ran out into the garage and out the door on the side of the house. He threw the bag over the fence and began to climb it into the neighbor’s yard.
Officer Hundler’s cell phone rang. “This is Detective Chanello. After Morrison’s shenanigan, I have to assume Donny has a police scanner. We need to go in now. I need you to send officers to Donny’s as well as his neighbors. If he is thinking about escaping, he might try to go through a neighbor’s yard.”
“Yes Sir.”
Hundler explained the orders to the four officers. Hundler went to the neighbor’s house to the right of Donny’s. He told them why he was there, and the man said he just saw Donny run through his back yard. Hundler hurried to the back of the house. As he was about to open the door to the backyard, he saw Donny jump over the fence. He yelled Donny’s name, but the suspect kept running. He was fumbling with his radio and running at the same time. As he was yelling for Donny to stop, he saw a body jump the fence the next house over.
“He’s running,” Hundler said into his radio! “Donny keeps jumping his neighbors’ fences. Officer needs assistance!”
Detectives Chandler and Mangino pulled up to the property where a couple of people were flashing them down. The neighbors ran to the car and told them what had just happened.
“How long ago?”
“Seconds.”
They drove about ten houses down and Mangino got out of the car. “Donny will run right into my pistol. In case he’s already past this house, you go several more down.”
She took out her pistol and ran to the fence that led to the back yard. It was perfect timing because Donny jumped into the same yard when Detective Mangino yelled, “Freeze!”
Donny looked back and there was Hundler with his gun pointing at Donny as well. “It’s over Donny.”
“Get on the ground now, face down, hands behind your head.”
He did as he was told. After being cuffed the officers helped him to his feet.
“What do we have here,” Mangino asked Hundler?
She looked in the bag and saw a pair of shoes. They were size eleven.
“Donny, why were you running and why do you have this plastic bag?”
“You don’t think he might be trying to get rid of evidence,” she asked Hundler?
“I do think that.”
“Why don’t we check all these neighbor’s yards he was running through just to make sure he didn’t accidentally drop anything.”
“Good idea.”
After three hours of investigation all they had found was the police scanner and the shoes.
Chanello spoke, “Now we know why he ran. He heard the whole damn thing.”
“It’s all Morrison’s fault for saying his name and describing the evidence.”
Chanello walked up to Morrison and was standing face to face with him. He pointed his finger at him. “Don’t you ever try to take control of my investigation again. You don’t have the experience and after this, I doubt if you have the common sense. You’re lucky we caught him, or I’d personally kick your but.
The detective just stood there and took the hammering as best he could. He knew Chanello was just warming him up for the chief’s hammering.
They finally left Donny’s, and Mangino said, “We didn’t find a bat.”
“He probably disposed of it once he saw all the blood. It would be nice to have but maybe we don’t need it.”
“The shoe is definitely the brand we are looking for and it’s a size eleven. There is a good chance that Melanie’s blood is on the bottom of one of those shoes. Our experts will be able to tell us if there is.
“I’m confident they will confirm it is Melanie’s blood. There appears to be a reddish coloring on one of them. Most criminals know to get rid of a weapon because they see the blood on it, but they never think that they might have stepped in the evidence they’ve created.”
“It’s going to take a few days to get it back so what do we do now?”
“We go and beat a confession out of him.”
Mangino just looked at him, wondering if he was serious.
Before going to question Donny, however, they had a stop they needed to make.