The place was a duplex one of many dotting the north and south side of Howard Avenue. Detective Sergeant Marshall and Detective Williams were standing in the doorway, comparing notes. I hoped Detective Williams would be in a better mood than she was the last time we met. I didn’t know if my constitution could take another woman going off on me.
“Oh hell, Max! Harry, did you call this son of a bitch? You are straight up stupid. I’ll be in the squad car.” She brushed past me deliberately striking my shoulder knocking me off balance.
So much for my wishes.
“Hey EJ, I might have an opening tonight at my table at Mader’s, if you’re interested?”
Once again, she saluted me with her middle finger before slamming the squad car door.
Women seemed to enjoy slamming doors in my face too.
“What’s the deal on this one Harry?” I said as I reached in my coat pocket and took out my pack of Lucky Strikes. I tapped the bottom pushing out a couple of sticks, making it easier for Harry to grab one.
I opened my lighter and brought it up to the end of the cigarette as Harry inhaled and blew smoke rings in the air. He glanced over at Detective Williams who was pouting in the car before looking down and opening up his notebook.
“To make my day a little easier, I ain’t lettin’ ya in to see this one, Max. Geez, just look at her in there, would ya? She sure has a hard on for you Max. I wish you would at least try to make nice to her and quit aggravating her. I am going to have to listen to her piss and moan all the way back to the precinct, which by the way, is where you are supposed to be in two hours. I told Lieutenant Halloran you would be in there at nine.
“I’ll be there; you got my word Harry.”
Harry rolled his eyes and turned to walk away.
“What is it with EJ? I asked. Every time I walk near her I cringe at the possibility of being bitch slapped.”
Harry turned back to face me and took another hit on his cigarette and blew out a stream of smoke before saying; “A couple of years ago, when she was working vice she took on an undercover assignment to clean up downtown of the prostitution trade. Once again our city fathers thought it was time to end sex for pay, which nobody has been able to do since the beginning of time. Anyway, EJ would walk the street with the whores. She developed a pretty good working relationship with the girls and some of them would share their corner with her. They knew if she got an arrest she would be tied up for hours with reports and they could make money uninterrupted by the vice cops. She was good, real good. Well, when an officer is solicited for an act and a price is given, they have to accept the quoted price. There is no negotiating. One night a Mexican named Hector pulled up to her on her corner and asked for a blow job and said; ‘I pay you twenty five cents now and the rest on payday.’
EJ slapped the cuffs on him and hauled him in to the precinct. She had to go to court and testify that Hector had asked for a blow job and offered to pay her a quarter.
After that, every time she walked into the precinct some wiseass would yell out “here comes the two bit whore.’ The first couple of times she let it pass but after a week of putting up with that shit, she hauled one dick’s ass out of his chair and cold cocked him. He was out for five minutes. Needless to say, that pole climber learned to keep his mouth shut but the vice captain thought it was time EJ moved on and here she is, sensitivity and all. I know better than to mouth off to her and you should as well.”
“Well I’ll be damned,” I said as I looked over at EJ stewing in the squad car.
“Okay, here’s what we got, Harry said; the body of a Miss. Sally Hammonds was discovered in the bedroom of her apartment by a concerned coworker at approximately 12:00 p.m. Miss. Hammonds was brutally murdered. The backdoor to her apartment was partially open when her coworker arrived. There were no obvious signs of forced entry into the apartment. Miss. Hammonds appears to have been deceased for some time prior to her body having been discovered. The coroner estimates that the murder could have occurred sometime between June 12th and June 15th. Miss. Hammonds was wearing bed clothes at the time of her death and her apartment is in disarray and several items appear to be missing.
Her body was wrapped in a blanket and tied with a rope. Her head is missing and the body’s chest has a hole measuring about eight inches by five inches and her left lung and heart are missing. That’s it. Now I gotta run.
“Whoa, wait up a minute Harry,” I said as I ran trying to keep up with him.
“Her heart and left lung are missing?”
“Yep.”
“Who was first on the scene?”
“Officers Petruska and Blomberg. Both seasoned cops who don’t like reporters. There, you have been warned.”
“You got the name of the coworker?”
“I do.” Harry replied as he turned and walked to his car.
“What was the coworker doing there?” I yelled.
He looked up before opening the door and stared at me standing on the sidewalk.
“Oh, since it doesn’t appear that Detective Williams will be meeting you at Mader’s for that German dinner, you can count on me. I have never been there. They serve brandy manhattans?”
I knew he wasn’t going to answer my question so I answered his. “Whaddya think, this is Milwaukee, isn’t it? Brandy flows everywhere, even in the sewers. By the way, if I’m lucky, Eloise will be joining us.”
“The more the merrier he replied as he flipped the butt of his cigarette in a puddle next to his front tire. I’ll let Detective Williams know Eloise is coming. That might make her change her mind knowing you will have to keep your hands to yourself. She hates it when she has to draw down on a guy in a crowded restaurant, which only happened a couple of times that I am aware of. What time?”
“Let’s make it eight o’clock. I’ll call Val and see if she can get us a nice quiet table.”
“Yeah, good luck. Don’t forget Lieutenant Halloran is expecting you.”
“Hey, Harry, where did Hammonds work?” I yelled.
He shook his head and slipped behind the wheel and took off without answering me, spinning his tires, making the rubber scream like a five dollar whore asking for a twenty dollar tip.
As they passed, I noticed Detective Williams sneering at me out the side window as she lifted her middle finger in my direction one more time just in case I missed the first one.
All I could think about was Sally Hammonds.
Did she piss someone off at work?
Did she meet her killer at a bar? A party?
Did anyone see her with someone new in the past few days?
It was 7:30. I had an hour and a half before I had to meet with Lieutenant Halloran so I thought I would get on the phone and see what I could dig up on Ms. Sally Hammonds and find out where she worked and who the coworker is who found her.