Richards laughed. "Be nice."
"I am," Kirk said.
It wasn’t that they were bad cops; they were just more than willing to take the shortest, easiest route to closing a case. And if that meant dumping a tough case on some other detective, they wouldn’t hesitate.
First thing Kirk noticed as they approached the door was that it appeared to be kicked in. In each of the cases there were no signs of forced entry, which suggested that the shooters were allowed to enter. Either because they knew them, or they were expecting to do business.
Kirk pointed the door out to Richards. Harris started trying to push the case off on them as soon as they were close enough to hear. "I know you guys been workin’ these drug-related robbery murders. I think this might be another one."
"Tech’s been here yet?" Kirk asked.
"Not yet; busy day. Reyes and his team are on their way," Goodson said.
"Pat."
Richards went in the apartment while Kirk stayed in the hallway with Goodson and Harris. Not that he thought they would leave, but there was no point running the risk. Besides, since the CSI team hadn’t been there, he didn’t want to take the chance of inadvertently disturbing what might be evidence. The fewer people entering the crime scene, the better.
Five minutes later, Richards came out. "What you got, Pat?"
"Two black males; both shot in the head."
"Just like your other cases, right?" Harris said.
"Wrong." Richards turned to Kirk. "Other than the fact that they were shot in the head, the similarity ends there."
"What makes you say that?" Goodson asked.
"The victims were shot while sitting on the couch. Not on their knees like the others. Their hands weren’t tied behind their backs. Oh yeah, there’s at least an eighth of coke on the floor, probably from the coffee table that was turned over next to it. Near as I can tell, those guys were playing video games and getting zooted when somebody kicked in the door, turned over the table and shot them in the head."
"Sounds like there is no connection to our case at all," Kirk said and started walking down the hall.
"Sorry. Guess you’ll have to put in some work on this one," Richards said and followed Kirk down the hall.
"Got anything on the Lucas case yet?" Kirk asked as he walked.
"Nothing but dead ends," Harris shouted back.
"Yeah, but we’re on top of it," Goodson said and laughed as he entered the apartment.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Black received a call on Bobby’s phone from Eddie Domingas, letting him know that Cruz Villanueva was having dinner at La Caridad Restaurant on West Kingsbridge Road. When the call came Black, along with Bobby and Wanda were at a meeting with their financial advisor, Meka Brazil. She was discussing offshore investment possibilities for the group to consider.
"There’s a company that makes multimedia switching gear for cable companies that recently received certification for its Safari C3 product line in Russia, through the Ministry of Communications."
"That sounds promising," Wanda said.
"It has the potential to be. Especially when you consider Eastern Europe has a ways to go in terms of communications infrastructure to catch up with the rest of the world, any long-term investment represents a significant opportunity," Meka said. "Then there’s wind."
"Wind?" Bobby asked.
"The United States, Russia and Canada have the greatest capacity for wind power. In the Kola Peninsula in the Murmansk region. The problem is that a lot of the area available for wind power in Russia is far from major cities. As the business capability in the region improves and construction of new transmission lines moves forward, those companies can begin servicing some of the major cities. "
"It’s something for us to think about," Black said. That’s when Eddie called and Black and Bobby left.
When they got to La Caridad they spotted Cruz seated at a table with another man and two women, having dinner.
"That’s him. Come on," Black said, and he and Bobby started for Cruz. As they got closer a man stepped out to block their path. "Where you think you’re going?"