- BRIAN BEERS
- Jan 7
- 18 min read
Updated: Jan 9
The sirens were blaring. The air was filled with smoke. The smell was acrid. Clearly there must be a fire.
Javier came out of a blackout knowing for sure he was in deep trouble.
Instead, he was on a gurney in an emergency room.
“Sir, sir, can you hear me? Can you hear me?”, a woman in a white coat was asking him.
“What, what.” , he responded.
“He is clearly still delirious.”, said the woman to a guy next to her.
“Give him some more oxygen, and another shot of naloxone.”, he said.
********************************************
“Javier, I am here. It is Valeria.”, she said holding his hand.
He was in a hospital bed on his back, his head slightly elevated hooked up to a lot of paraphernalia. He was groggy but awake.
“Sweetheart, thanks for being here. I am kind of spacy yet.”
“The police want to talk to you. Are you ready?”
“I will give it a try. I sort of want to know what went down.”
Valeria walked to the door and motioned to somebody. Shortly thereafter, a young woman entered. She was followed by a middle-aged man.
She spoke first, “Hello Javier. I am Judith Holt, a psychologist with the Albuquerque police department. This is Pedro Gutierrez , the detective assigned to the case. Can you tell us what happened?”
“I wish I knew. The last thing I remember was approaching this crack house in Quigley Park. I am sure you know that I work for Protective Services Division. I was going there because of reports that children were living there. I went and knocked on the door. A woman answered. I told her why I was there. That is the last thing I remember.”
Judith whispered to Pedro, “Protective Services Division is equivalent to Child Protective Services and is part of the Child, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD) of the state.”
Detective Gutierrez spoke next, “Somebody must have come up behind you and whacked you on the back of the head. You had a doozy of an open wound there when you were admitted 3 days ago. After that they administered some fentanyl, presumably as eye drops, but the doctors were not sure. Fortunately, it wasn’t enough to kill you.”
“No wonder I feel like shit. What else?”
“You were found lying on the sidewalk when the fire department arrived to try and put out the blaze in the crack house. They immediately attended to you and got you to the hospital.”
“Wow, I am really a lucky man. I think I knew there was a fire.”
Detective Gutierrez then said, “It has been determined that the fire was arson. Furthermore, there was a fatality…a male child of about 14.”
“Please, no more. I don ‘t want to hear it. No more. Please go away.”
Judith said, “So sorry Javier. We went too fast. We will contact you again after you are back home. We are out of here. Let your wife take care of you. We will hope for speedy recovery.
*********************************************
Two weeks later, Javier reported for work at the Pinetree Corporate Center on Indian School Road. He immediately went to his boss’s office, Superintendent Chavez.
“Chief. Where do I start? I really would like to follow up on the child’s death at that crack house in Quigley Park.”
“You need to let the cops do their thing. They have got it. It is now both arson and homicide.”
“Yes, but the family and friends need to be informed and consoled. That kid belonged to somebody even if just some crackheads….they suffer too.”
“Well, OK. But you will have other assignments. We are always overworked. There are more ignored or abused kids than we can keep up with.”
“Thanks. Is it OK if I get back to the cops?
“Sure, no problem. Good luck. This one is uglier than most. I am glad you are feeling better. You had a damn close call.”
“Thanks Chief.”
When he got home that night he related his discussions with the chief to Valeria.
“Javier. Be careful for crying out loud. We almost lost you once. Nosing around might put you in the sights of the same people who almost did you in.”
“Sweety, I just want to help those impacted by the boy’s death. That’s all.”
With that Javier went over to her and gave her a big hug and kiss.
“I love you and the kids. I won’t mess around”
Both Javier and Valeria were in their late thirties. They had two teenage twin children, a boy and girl.
“Bring the kids in and let’s talk to them. They are probably still scared to death.”, said Javier.
“Yes, but they are still at school. Won’t be home for an hour.”
“Maybe we should take advantage of that. I missed you during my recovery.”
“Oh, I would love that. Let’s get back to lovely usual boring life. Well maybe not always boring.”
In the bedroom, Javier's lean and muscular 5 foot 7 copper body was soon in evidence.
Valeria said,” I still love your body as well as your mind.”
As she said that, she undressed and displayed her petite, very well proportioned 5 foot 4 copper body.
“Its not just your body that I love. You are still absolutely gorgeous. And a dynamite mind. How did our kids get so lucky?”
****************************************************
The next morning, Javier went to the dispatch desk and asked if he could listen to the call that had sent him to the crack house in Quigley Park.
Jesse, the operator, pulled it up and they both listened.
“Hello, I want to report that several minors are living in the crack house in Quigley Park-there is no other crack house. I have seen the kids out on the street running in and out of the house as I drove by. Please do something.”
It was a woman’s voice.
“Jesse, did the police come by and pick up this call-in?”
“I don’t think so. Of course, I am only here during the daytime. If it came in at night that is Wanda.”
“Will you check with her please. Please forward that to me so I can take it to the cops when I visit.”
After he received the call to his phone, he headed straight to the police station at North Dominga Baca Park, the location closest to Quigley Park.
Arriving at the front desk, he asked, “ May I speak to Judith Holt. I am Javier Vega from Protective Services Division. I am here about that fatality in Quigley Park.”
“Yes, sir. Let me try her line………She will be right out.”
When she arrived, she held out her hand and said, “I am so glad you are feeling better. That was a really close call. What can I do for you?”
“As best I can tell, your department did not follow up on the anonymous phone call that started all this. I guess because it came to us rather than you. I have a copy of the call here on my phone. Is there any way we can get it to the officers who canvassed the neighborhood. Maybe they will recognize the voice,”
“Sure, send it to me, and I will send it on to the officers who did the canvas. In the meantime, do you have a bit of time?”
“Sure.”
“Let me tell you where we are.”
“We still do not have the name of the deceased. Everyone we interviewed just called him Joey. They said he belonged to a guy they called Ivan, which I guess is his street name. He was nowhere to be found. He is probably the perp.”
“How many folks were living there?”
“Besides Joey and Ivan and a woman with street name Tabby, there were 5 others, 2 men, 2 women and one kid age about 13.”
“Where are these people now?”
“Well, they all started at the Family Promise of Albuquerque, but I don’t think any of them are still there.”
“Were you able to talk to the boy? Did any of my colleagues get to him?”
“Yes, I was able to talk to him. I don’t think your colleagues got there before he took off.”
“And?”
“He is a runaway. Not attached to the adults there. He regularly sold himself downtown and used the house as a crash pad. Not clear what if any drugs he was using. The adults barely knew him but called him Little Willy.”
“Do you have pictures of the two women adults? I want to see if they opened the door for me. I will remember.”
“Sure, let’s walk back to my office.”
In her office, Javier looked at the pictures of the two women.
“Neither of those women opened the door for me. Do you have anything on Tabby?”
“We have not located her yet.”
“Would you agree that it was probably Tabby that opened the door for me and Ivan that clonked me. But why? I don’t understand.”
“You and me both.”, said Judith, “Let’s talk to detective Gutierrez and see if he has any insight.”
They walked back to his small office.
Judith asked, “Pedro, can you fill in Javier on the status of the investigation? We are having trouble finding any motivation at all.”
“Well, you came at a good time. We just found the woman Tabby. She is in the interrogation room. Come listen.”
They went and stood at the one-way window looking into the room.
Tabby was a scrawny 30 something woman with purple hair and a pretty face that looked very tired. She couldn’t have been 5 foot tall and less than a 100 pounds. She was definitely dressed like a hooker.
“That’s not the woman who answered the door.”, whispered Javier to Judith.
“Pedro needs to know that. Let me pull him out for a moment.”, said Judith.
Pedro went back in with the new information.
“What is your real name Tabby?”, asked Pedro.
“Amanda Romero.”
“Why did you leave the crack house two weeks ago?”
“Dumb question. It was on fire.”
“Yes, but the others waited for the fire department. You ran.”
“Well, we don’t like cops.”
“Who is we?”
“Me and Ivan.”
“Where is Ivan and what is his name?”
“He took off on me. I don’t know where he is or what his name is.”
“Did you and Ivan know the kid Joey?”
“Not really. Just another kid sleeping there.”
“So he did not belong to you and Ivan?”
“Hell no. What the hell would I do with a kid?”
“Didn’t you try and wake up the kid before you took off?”
“Sorry, no.”
"Do you know how the fire started?"
"No. Ivan just grabbed me, told me there was a fire and we left together."
“What is your relation to Ivan?”
“We are fuckbuddies. I guess they call it friends with benefits these days.”
“OK. You can go now. Don’t leave town, and if you hear from Ivan, please give us a call. Here is my card.”
Pedro came out shaking his head.
“We are not a bit closer to anything. Based on your knowledge, we now know that there was a fourth woman in the house when you arrived. And maybe another man who clocked you on the back of the head.”
**********************************************************
The next day Javier got a call from Judith.
“One of our uniforms who did the canvas thinks she can ID the caller. Why don’t you come to the station and we can talk to her?”
“Sure. Be there in about 15 minutes.”
When Javier got to the station and went in, he saw Judith talking to a very young female officer.
“Hey, Javier. Come meet Clarissa. She is pretty sure she knows the caller.”
Shaking her hand, he said, “Hi Clarissa, nice to meet you. I am Javier. What do you have for us?”
Timidly, she said, “Well officer Alverez and I canvassed the neighborhood together. I actually grew up in that nasty part of town, but that’s a story for another time. We got to an area a couple of blocks from the fire and knocked on a door not far from my childhood home. I was blown away when I saw who answered. It was old Mrs. busybody, the bitch who was always chasing us from the streets when we were playing. Her name turned out to be Jessica Lefevre. She claimed to have seen nothing.”
“Then Dr. Holt sent me the copy of the call in. No question. It is her. I would recognize that squeaky voice anywhere. I remember it from when I was a kid.”
“Thank you Clarissa. Let’s go Javier.”, said Judith.
*********************************************************
They were soon at the house of Mrs. Lefevre. Knocking lightly, she was soon at the door.
“Hello Mrs. Lefevre. I am Dr. Holt from the police department and this is Javier Vega from the Protective Services Division. We would like to chat with you about that fire down the street.”
“I already talked with some uniformed officers right after the fire. I told them everything I know.”
“Do you remember officer Clarissa Garcia?”
“Oh, yes. The young lady who grew up down the street.”
“Well, she recognizes your voice from her youth.”
“Yes, she was part of a group of rapscallions I had to give the bum’s rush to quite a few times.”
“Well, we have a recording of a message to the Protective Services Division informing us of minors living in that squat that burned down. Officer Garcia has listened to that recording.”
“Damn. I really did not want to have to explain myself. Yes that was me.”
Javier interjected, “Thank you very much for that call. You know that my job is to look after neglected children and get them in better circumstances.”
“Yes, that is why I made the call. I have lived in this neighborhood forever and have seen it get worse and worse. My husband has been gone for quite a while and my kids all moved to California. I just can’t afford to move.”
“What can you tell us about the kids. You know, one of them lost his life in the fire.”
“Yes, I am afraid I heard. Do have a picture of the deceased?”
“Yes, here.”
“Ouch. I am afraid that is the Gonzales kid. I don’t know his first name but I know where his home is.”
“That would be very useful.”
“The house is two blocks down the street. I’ll write the address for you.”
She handed it to Javier.
“What do you know about the kid?”
“The dad is almost never home. He works some kind of construction job that takes him away for months at a time. And I think the mom has gone to hell. Rumor has it that she takes in male customers. You can probably find her online. I think she is also an addict of some kind. Anyway, she never looks after the kid. He stopped going to school, and soon he was hanging around that crack house.”
“Do you know anything about the other kid?
` “Nada.”
“Can you tell us anything else about the crack house.”
“Well, there are some enforcers that come by once a month or so. I think they come to collect rent. They are a tough looking pair, a man and a woman.”
“A man and a woman. Would you recognize them if you saw them again?”
“I am not sure, but I think so.”
“Perhaps you can come down to the station tomorrow and look at some mug shots?”
“OK. Should I ask for you Dr. Holt?”
“Yes. Thank you so much, you have been very helpful.”, they said in unison.
*********************************************************
When they pulled up the Gonzales house, there was a pickup truck with the legend High Country Construction on the side. At the door they could hear a very loud screaming going on followed by the crashing of furniture.
Judith put a call in for backup and opened the door that was ajar. “Hello, who is here? This is the police. What’s going on?”
A short slender woman came running toward them, her face covered in blood.
“Stop that bastard. He is trying to kill me.”
Behind her came a 6 foot 2 burly man, his face red with rage.
“Get out of my fucking way. That bitch had our son killed.”
“Mr. Gonzales. Stop right now. Uniformed officers are right behind us. If you don’t stop you will be in handcuffs and in jail immediately.”, screamed Judith.
He stopped. “Who the fuck are you?”
“I am Doctor Judith Holt with Albuquerque PD and this is Javier Vega from the Protective Services Division. We are following up on the death of your son.”
“I don’t give a shit who you are. Get the hell out of my way. This bitch is the cause of my son’s death.”
Just then, two uniformed officers arrived with their weapons drawn.
“Sir, down on your knees, hands behind your head. If you strike that woman, we will shoot.”
He complied. They cuffed him and began to take him to the squad car.
He shouted back, “I will be back. I will get you. You killed our son.”
After he was whisked away, all three went into the kitchen and sat down.
“Mrs. Gonzales, what is your name and what was the name of your son?” Teary eyed, she said, “I am Teresa, and my son was Billy.”
Javier spoke, “You know you will be charged with child neglect. It would be best if you spoke honestly with us so we can understand in detail the situation with Billy.”
“Oh God. Do I have to do this now? I feel like the worst piece of shit on the planet. Please let me grieve. Come back in a few days. Maybe then I will be able to talk.”
“I am sorry Teresa, but we have to take you into custody. And before we do that we have to get you to the hospital to detox. You are clearly under the influence and I see the needles and drugs on the counter. We will not interrogate you further until you come down. Please gather some personal belongings and come with us.”
*********************************************************************************************************
Back at the station, Judith and Javier got together with detective Gutierrez.
“Pedro, I think we have a new lead for the fire and death over in Quigley park.”
“Let me have it.”
“We found out from the woman who called in the tip on children staying in the crack house that once a month some thugs come to collect rent from the occupants. Apparently , it is a man and woman.”
“So, do you have a scenario?”
“How about this? The owners send the thugs to burn the place down so they can collect insurance money. The rent was no longer enough. They had already started the fire when Javier showed up. She answered the door and he took care of Javier.”
“Wow. That makes sense. But getting at the owners and thugs will be one tricky business. Your ID of the woman will be the only real evidence we will have. The ownership of these slum dwellings is very hard to get a handle on. They are usually owned by some front company that is registered in the Cayman Islands.”
Judith jumped in, “ But we can find which company owned the property and whether or not there was an insurance payout. That should be in limbo since it was deemed arson, so the insurance company will be very slow to pay.”
Pedro said, “We will have to get financial crimes or tax fraud involved to do that. And what are we going to do about the Gonzales parents?”
Judith spoke, “Well, we will charge the husband with domestic abuse. We don’t know if the wife will support the charge and it will be at least a week till we can interrogate her. I think we should just release him with a warning and direction to not contact her at all for the next week. My guess is he will head back to his job site.”
Javier added. “I will take care of interviewing Mrs. Gonzales when she is ready. Judith can join me.”
“OK.”, said Pedro, “ And my job will be to get back with the inhabitants who are all released and see if I can get any information on the enforcers.”
“Let’s do it. Thanks guys.”
****************************************************
The next week, Javier and Judith visited Teresa at the hospital.
“Hi, Teresa. The docs have told us you are OK to talk now.”, said Javier.
“Do you remember us?” asked Judith.
“Yes, I remember that you are those damn busy bodies from the Protective Services Division that want to screw me.”
Judith jumped in, “We don’t want to screw you. We want to understand. It is a tragedy that Billy died in that fire. We are working very hard to find the culprits. But we need to understand how he ended up there.”
“Just after I graduated from high school, I got pregnant with Billy. It was a one night stand with the guy who is my husband now. He was 25 then. We had a paternity test done because he was not my only one night stand. We got married just after Billy was born.”
“And then what?”, asked Javier.
“The son-of-bitch worked all the time. He was never home. He works for this construction firm that does jobs all over the Southwest. Do you know what it is like to raise a kid all by yourself in this shitass neighborhood. And he never sent home quite enough money to meet the bills. So I had to take a goddamn job.”
“What did you do?” , asked Judith.
“Well, I did nails up at a nail salon up in the shopping center.”
“Did that job work out for you.”
“It was OK. I still do it.”
“What about Billy?”
“Raised without a Dad. Rough neighborhood. It was OK until he turned about 10. Then he got in with the roughnecks, getting into trouble all the time. I couldn’t control him. Then he started smoking pot. Don’t know where he got the money.”
“But why did he stop sleeping at home?”
“When he got to be 13 he was bringing his older roughneck friends here. They started grabbing my ass. I couldn’t take it. He said, “If they go, I go.”, so I kicked them all out.”
“It is really strange for boys to try grab ass with a mother. What is that all about?”
“I think Billy told them that I am a whore.”
“Are you?”
“No.”
“Why would he think that and tell his friends?”
“Well, I do have men come to the house. But they are dates. I meet them on dating sites like Tinder.”
“Is that OK with your husband?”
“What would he know. He is never here. And I know he has a girl in every town he works in.”
“The neighbors think you are a working girl too, because they see so many men come to your house.”
“I am not. I just need some gentle loving. My husband is awful. He is rough and quick, never slow and gentle.”
“So you kicked your son out. That is pretty extreme.”
“Let me alone. I have a shitty life. A rotten abusive husband and a kid that is always in trouble. My life has been shit ever since my dad died and then I got knocked up.”
“When did your dad die?”
“Just after my 17th birthday. He left me with this shitty house but not much else. My mother died when I was about 10. She was no good anyway. Good riddance.”
“So you lived here by yourself after you dad passed.”
“Yes. He left me enough money for me to get through my senior year. And then I got pregnant. And then I got married to that bastard. All I wanted was nice slow and gentle loving.”
“How did you and your dad get along.”
“I absolutely adored my dad. He did everything for me. He loved me and treated me like a princess.”
“Sorry to ask this, but was there anything inappropriate in his love for you?”
“What do you bastards call inappropriate?”
“Was there anything sexual.”
“That’s none of your damn business. Leave me alone. I loved my dad. I have never really loved anybody else.”
“I am sorry, but we need to understand you and your relationship with Billy. Your relationship with your dad seems relevant to us.”
“I am not saying anything else. Go away. Charge me if you have to, but leave me alone,”
******************************************************
Dr. Holt stepped into Detective Gutierrez's office and said, “Come on down to the interrogation room. I think we have something.”
They walked down together and entered the room.
“Mrs. Lefevre, this is Detective Gutierrez. He is in charge of the crack house case. Pedro, this is Mrs. Lefevre. She is the woman who put in the call to Protective Services Division. She also let us know about the two enforcers I told you about. She has been here looking at mug shots. I think she has something.”
Mrs. Lefevre said, “Yes, I am sure this is the guy. Hard to miss. Bald head with tattoos on it, ring in his right ear, stud in his lip, steely fuck you gaze. Yes, I am sure this is the guy.”
“What about the woman?” asked Pedro.
“Sorry, not sure there. She was not very distinctive. She was skinny as a rail, very pale white with a black afro, and short. But I never got a good look at her face.”
Pedro said, “Thank you. You have been an enormous help. You are the epitome of what all citizens should be. Thank you so much for your service to Albuquerque.”
She blushed and said, “Thank you for kind words. I hope this helps finding that poor boy's killer.”
They walked her to the door and thanked her again.
*********************************************************************************************************
Pedro to Judith, “We need to get the drug squad involved. That guy has a long rap sheet that includes a lot of drug dealing.”
“What is his name?”
“Clarence Roche, known on the street as the Rock.”
“Is it OK if I let Javier know what is going on. If we find the woman, we will need to see if that was the woman who answered the door.”
“Of course. Let’s treat him as part of the team. He has brought us essentially everything that matters.”
“Do you have some time that we can go to Santa Fe to the Tax Fraud unit to see if they have anything.”
“Let’s go.”
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