Public Enemy Zero

33

When Detective Rios got home, he had trouble sleeping. His wife and two kids were already sound asleep when he got there. He crawled in to bed and stared at the ceiling for an hour. He couldn’t get the idea out of his head that Mitchell Roberts really was a victim. Certainly someone who left a wake of destruction in his path but someone just as scared as everyone else.

When he saw the paper the next morning, he texted Simmons that he was going to check on something before coming into the office.

The headline read “Mad Mitch Rampage” and described the events of the previous day using lots of convenient ‘allegedlys’ in a way that made Roberts out to be some kind of domestic terrorist. To be fair to the paper, this was how law enforcement was proceeding at this point. Any time you have bodies and someone running from the scene, it’s hard not to conceive of that person as being guilty of something heinous.

Rios drove over to the neighborhood where the first incident took place. He parked his car and walked to the spot where Mitchell had allegedly attacked the parking enforcement officer. The car had been towed away to evidence. Yellow spray-paint marked out on the street where the car had been.

If it hadn’t been for the incident at the mall, Rios and Simmons would have canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses. That had been put on the back burner while they dealt with the larger crisis. The problem with waiting was that people forgot things or moved away.

He looked around the street to see what houses or apartments had a view of the where he was standing. There were at least half a dozen. He walked up the steps of the nearest house and knocked on the door. The house faced the street and had a large living room window with open curtains.

Nobody answered. Rios was about to walk away and then decided to be a little more thorough. He pulled out a business card and wrote a quick note on the back to call him. He moved on to the next house.

There was no answer there, either. He tried an apartment after that and found a young woman getting ready for work. She told him she’d already left for work the day earlier. Rios thanked her and left.

Back in the street, he looked around for other places to look. Across the street to the right, he saw a second-floor apartment he’d missed before. Rios walked over and climbed up the flight of stairs the led to the second level.

He knocked on the door that faced the street. From inside he could hear someone coming to the door.

The door opened and a short old woman in a platinum blond wig answered.

“Hello?” she said from behind the door.

Rios showed her his badge and introduced himself.

“Is this about that boy?”

“The boy?” asked Rios.

“Yes, the young man those people were trying to hurt. Is he all right?”

“Did you see what happened out here?” Rios pointed through the apartment to the street below.

“I always knew that meter maid woman was a bitch. Gave me three tickets this year. When she attacked the young man, I felt so sorry for him.”

“Did you tell anybody?” asked Rios.

“I called 911.”

Interesting, thought Rios. Nobody had told him about the 911 call. He’d have to look into it.

“So when you say she attacked him, attacked how? How did the window get broken?”

“When that cow climbed on the hood and started bashing her head into it. I’ve never seen someone so angry.”

Rios got a few more details and then told the woman he would be in touch. She insisted he let her know as soon as he could if Mitchell was OK. Good to know that the kid has at least one friend in the world, Rios thought as he walked back to his car.