***
Renner tapped the keyboard as she scrolled through the endless streams of data. For the past two hours it had been a painstaking review of the NOPD criminal database checking the alias the bar manager had provided. The search seemed eternal. She focused on the monitor and without warning rocked back in her chair and clapped her hands with a loud crack.
“Sometimes, I even amaze myself.” She grinned at Lucas who sat opposite.
Snapped from his own reverie, he looked up. “Ok, genius, what you got?”
“Our victim. Jermaine Soileau, twenty-eight years old.”
“Last known address?”
“4876 North Rampart. That’s only six blocks from our scene. Ok, so it’s over ten years old, but check this out,” she said, as she continued to read the file. “He’s been in lock up for the past year.”
“Where?”
“That’s the best part – Beaumont.”
“Beaumont, Texas?”
“Beaumont, Texas.”
She picked up a Zephyr’s insignia baseball off her desk and lobbed it over the low partition to Lucas. He caught it tight to his chest.
“Wait. That puts his sentencing around the time of Katrina.”
“It gets better. He was released four days ago. They let him out of the cage and he runs straight home to Louisiana. Less than seventy-two hours later, he ends up dead. Now you tell me, that a coincidence?”
“It’s definitely starting to look gang related. That or tough guy just missed his mama?” Lucas chuckled as he sat forward.
“I don’t know,” Renner replied.
She took off her black-framed Wayfarers and cleaned the lenses with the corner of her shirt.
“I’m going to see if I can find the arresting officer’s details, give him a call, see what he knows.” She tapped the desk with her fingers as she finished the thought.
“Good,” Lucas replied. “By the time we run down his background, the prints will be back and we can run them through IAFIS. We can put together a motive.”
She sat forward and began to work through Soileau’s previous arrest records until she found the contact.
“Here it is, Gabe. David Guiterrez, detective in Houston homicide.”
She dialed the number and placed the call on speaker. Lucas came round the desk to listen as Renner made introductions and ran down the background of the case to date. He leaned forward and braced himself off her desk with both arms.
“Yeah, I remember him,” Guiterrez said, in a Texan drawl. “It was one of my first cases here, after my transfer. As I recall, there were two of them. Give me a second while I bring up the file.”
They waited and could hear Guiterrez tapping away on his keyboard on the other end of the phone.
“Okay, got it. Street names, Solo and Lil-Ray - Raymond Wells and Jermaine Solieau.”
Renner made notes as Guiterrez continued.
“We got Wells on first degree. Both of them raped the victim. She was a minor.”
“How old?” Renner asked.
“Fifteen.”
Renner tilted her head back and gritted her teeth.
Guitterrez continued. “She was dead by the time paramedics arrived on scene. Took several months, but we were able to prove Wells was involved. Jury found him guilty and the judge sentenced him to life.”
“And Solieau?”
“He was a real problem and got off much lighter.”
“What?” Renner asked.
“One year in the Pen. He served it and was released on parole.”
“One year?” Renner replied.
“Like I said, he was a problem.”
“What makes you so sure he was involved?” she asked.
“Witnesses. Well, at first, anyway.”
“Recanted?”
“DA wouldn’t prosecute without their testimony.”
Lucas scowled. “You said they raped the victim. So no DNA?”
“Yes and no. They were smart, they wrapped. I don’t think this was their first rodeo. We did find trace of DNA from Wells under the victim’s nails.”
“He still in lock up?” Renner asked.
“Checked myself, during Soileau’s parole hearing. He’s not going anywhere.”
“How did they kill her?”
“Beat her, then choked her out. It was brutal. Parents took it hard, particularly the father. They separated less than a year later.”
“Jesus,” Renner said, as she let out a sigh. The line went silent. “Okay, what more can you tell us about Soileau?”
“Smug son of a bitch, I know that much. No concept of accountability. We arrested him two days after he got off the bus from New Orleans—”
“Hold on,” Renner said, interrupting. “Let me get this straight. He bussed in from New Orleans; what, just after Katrina?”
“One of the first to arrive. We tried to trace the point of origin back but hit one dead end after another.”
“Okay.”
“We bring him in and right from the rip, he starts going on to all hell about how we can’t hold him, how we’ve only got sixty days.”
Renner looked across at Lucas and smiled.
He shook his head. “701.”
Article 701 of the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure states that no suspect can be held longer than sixty days on a felony arrest without an indictment. The suspect must be released from remand if the prosecutor has failed to meet the sixty day deadline.
“No witnesses, no indictment,” Renner said.
“Well, maybe in Louisiana. Here in the great state of Texas, we’ve got our own laws. Sure, he walked on the murder charge, but we got him on Felony Three for cocaine possession. Solo and Lil-Ray waited; the sixty days came and went. To be honest with you, I’m not sure if they believe it - even now.”
Renner looked across at Lucas who shrugged his shoulders.
“Hey, Guiterrez – thanks for the help. Can you send through what you’ve got on both of them?”
She proceeded to give him both their contact details.
“On its way. Take it easy down there in the Big Easy.”
The call fell silent for a moment before they heard a chair scrape back.
“You like that?” They could hear him laughing on the other end of the line.
“Nice one. We owe you,” she replied, as she rolled her eyes.
She terminated the call. Lucas made his way back to his desk.
He stared across at Renner. He didn’t say anything until the pause became uncomfortable.
“What?” she asked, as she rocked back in her chair.
“If it was my baby girl and they did that to her . . .” He stopped. “All I’m sayin’ is, it’s not a stretch for her father to keep close tabs on Solo. Pay him a visit after his release.” He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Makes me ask myself where he was when Solo was killed?”
Renner paused for a moment before she reached forward and picked up the phone. “I’ll call Guiterrez back. Get him to track down and interview the father. See if he can alibi out.”
As she finished speaking, Lucas’s mobile rang. He answered as Renner sat back and listened to the one-sided conversation. His voice was flat and the call was interspersed with single word answers.
After a couple of minutes he terminated the call.
He looked over at Renner. “Narcotics, getting back to me about Solo. Turns out he was one of the heavies for the Ninez. An enforcer. If you didn’t pay up, he’d knock on your door. He rolled with them for the last few years leading up to his arrest.”
“Plenty of enemies.”
“Without a doubt.”
“Anything else?”
Lucas shrugged. “Been off the grid Since Katrina.”
“Time in Beaumont accounts for that.”
“He arrives back in New Orleans to a welcoming party,” Lucas added. “Also explains why no one wants to talk.”
“I’ll run our guest list. See if anything stands out. You?
??ve got the crime lab. Track down the prints and run them. See if we can get a hit. Right now we need a win.”