Chapter 1

It was a hot, sticky tenth of July back in ‘65. I remember the day because I had just made Detective about a month prior and this was my first big case. I say my first big case but in reality, I was just one of many people working on it.

We had been trying to crack this big drug ring that had been plaguing the city of Chicago for several years. We knew they were operating in the city and we knew some of the smaller players – the dealers and pushers. We’d busted a couple of them, but only on minor things. We needed to get something big on some of the bigger fish. But we could never get anything solid.

Then one day, a couple of weeks prior, we got a lead that there was going to be a hit on a rival drug gang. While we weren’t able to stop the hit, we did catch a couple of the key members of the gang. We learned that there was a witness to it, and so the department picked up this important witness to put them under protection until after the trial.

“Jones, my office!” Captain Harris said. I got up from my desk and walked into his office to see what he wanted. “Shut the door,” he said. “Pull up a seat.”

I sat down wondering what he wanted me for. This was the first time I had been in his office since I first got there and I was just hoping I hadn’t screwed up!

“As you know the department has a witness to the drug hit that happened on the East Side the other day. The Chief has tasked us with keeping the witness safe until the investigation is completed and the trial is over.

“You are the new guy here, so it’s going to fall to you to babysit this witness. Mick or one of the other guys will work your cases for you while you are gone. We are putting you both up at one of our safehouses until the trial date. We are hoping to have the investigation wrapped up and the case ready for the D.A. by the end of the month.

“You won’t have any contact with anyone except the department – that means no calling friends or family, no ordering a pizza or anything. If you need something, you call the precinct and we’ll see what we can do,” he said.

“When do I start? Do I have time to throw some clothes in a suitcase?” I asked.

“I suggest you do that. You will come to the station here tomorrow morning and then we’ll take you to the safehouse where you will be staying with the witness,” he said.

So that evening when I got home, I packed some clothes and other things I thought I might need. This was my first time in a safehouse and I wasn’t sure how it all worked, but I was sure I’d be briefed on the way or when I got there.

I didn’t sleep much that night thinking about the next day. I wondered who the witness was and whether they would be any trouble. I had heard from other detectives that babysitting a witness can be a lot of fun, or it can be sheer hell – there was rarely any middle ground!

So I was hoping for a good first experience. I wondered how long I would be locked in the safehouse – I was hoping it wouldn’t be too long, as I had some cases I was working on and didn’t want to be away from them any longer than I had to be. Plus, I would be going on vacation shortly after this was over and I didn’t want it to run into vacation time!

The next day I met the Captain at the station and he drove me to the safehouse in an unmarked car. On the way we talked.

“Okay Jones, I’m going to drop you off at the safehouse and then go get the witness. Now, there are only three people that know where you will be – you, me, and one of the U.S. Marshalls who will be coming with me to deliver the witness.

“No one else at the precinct knows where you are, nor will anyone. There is a phone at the house but it can’t dial – it is a direct line to my office. If you need anything, just picking up the receiver will call me and I will get it to you,” he said.

After a few minutes of driving, we pulled up to the nondescript house at the end of a cul-de-sac off the main road. I looked at him curiously, and he explained that putting a safehouse at the end of a cul-de-sac would prevent anyone from doing a drive-by in the event word got out that someone was there. If the house was on a regular street, it would give the shooter an easy escape route.

We parked the car in the attached garage and closed the door so no one would see us unpacking suitcases and get curious. Then we unloaded the car and went inside. Once the Captain helped me get set up and all my bags were inside, he left to go meet with the Marshall to bring the witness over. I set about getting unpacked while waiting for my charge.

It took almost two hours before they returned. With all the drapes pulled closed on the street side, I didn’t see them pull up but I heard the garage door open. Then they walked in and I got my first look at the witness I would be spending the next few weeks with.

The first one through the door was the Captain, that way I would instantly know it was them and not get too jumpy. Then the witness came in, followed by the U.S. Marshall. It was the witness, though, that caught my eye and held my attention.

“This is Miss Garner, she is our key witness in the case against the drug ring. Miss Garner, this is Detective Jones. He is going to be watching over and protecting you, keeping you safe until you can testify in court. You and Detective Jones will be staying here in this safehouse until your day in court and then you will come back here until the verdict is read and the guilty parties are sent off to prison.

Miss Garner was a very attractive 24-year-old woman, about 5’4” tall with reddish-brown armpit-length hair and big brown eyes. From what little I could see of her figure (her long coat prevented any kind of close examination at the moment) she appeared to have a nice build to her – at least all the bumps and bulges seemed to be in the right places, and none of them were overly pronounced!

“After the trial is over, you will go into the Federal Witness Protection Program and get a whole new identity and a new life as we talked about before. You will get a name change, a new home in a new city, and a whole new life.

“You are luckier than some of the people who have to go through this – you have no family, and few friends that you will miss. Some people who are faced with what you are, decide it isn’t worth it and refuse to testify or they take their chances and refuse the W.P.P. I’m glad you decided to help us put these people away. You are helping to make the streets safer by getting this kind of trash off them,” the Captain said.

“When I met the woman whose family they killed and got to know her and how she loved them, I knew I had to speak up,” she said quietly.

“Well, with your help and your testimony, we will put these people away for a long, long time, I’m sure. Judge Anderson, who will be hearing the case, is tough on drugs and these guys are facing a very long time behind bars, if not the rest of their lives,” he said.

“I hope so Captain,” she said. She had every right to be skeptical. We had been after this group for several years and they had slipped out of our fingers several times. Once, when the key witness had “mysteriously disappeared”.

Another time, the judge hearing the case strangely threw it out on a technicality (we still think he was bought off or threatened if he didn’t). But this time we would make sure everything was in order – all our t’s were crossed and our i’s were dotted.

“Okay, you two, you have everything you need here. There’s TV to watch, food in the fridge, and you can call if you need anything else. Get comfortable, you will be in here for at least the rest of the month!” the Captain said. As he and the Marshall started to leave, he called me to the door.

“Be careful, Jones. I didn’t want to tell her and get her scared, but these people are not going to take this lightly. Lock this door and don’t open it with checking to see who is on the other side first. Don’t let anyone in here except for me or without my telling you who should be coming. If you have any kind of problems, call me and I will send help. Also, in the house directly across the cul-de-sac are three U.S. Marshall’s – two men and one woman. If anything goes down, they will be here in a flash,” he said.

“Don’t worry Captain, we’ll be careful. You just make sure that Mick doesn’t get comfortable at my desk – I’m gonna want that back after this is over!” I said.

Once the Captain and Marshall left, I came back into the living room. “Want something to drink Miss Garner? I think we have soda, water, and coffee,” I said.