Page 50 of Nothing Left

"We're heading north of the city center," he said. "Into the Da Gama apartments. How soon can you get the police there?"

Delgado's voice crackled over the radio. "There's a car just a few minutes behind you. We'll be there soon."

"We need all available resources!" Wyatt insisted. At this moment, Juliette was seeing her partner at his most forceful, and she appreciated how hardcore he could be. "This guy is sneaky, and the area’s like a maze! We're helping you by finding the right killer. Now, you help us, too. We need more cars here, like, now. And we need a helicopter! We'll have to track him somehow if he gets away via a route that cars can't follow."

“What?” Delgado sounded incredulous.

“Yes!” Wyatt insisted.

Juliette had to slow down again as a delivery truck stopped in front of her. She drummed her fingers against the steering wheel. Every second felt like an eternity.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Delgado relented.

"Copy that. But do it fast. We're almost there," Wyatt said, his gaze flicking between the GPS and the narrow streets ahead.

Almost wasn't enough. Finally, the delivery truck eased its bulk forward, and she saw the crossroad they needed was in sight.

"These seem like a series of apartment buildings," Wyatt said as he analyzed the layout. "This block we're looking for is number three in a series of five. He's on the fifth floor."

Juliette glanced down at the sheet that Wyatt was working from. The record contained a photocopy of the apartment details that Lopez had occupied after his parole from prison and where he was still living now.

"508," she said. "Can you check that?"

"Yup. 508," Wyatt said. "Let's go get him."

Now, they had reached the series of apartment buildings, looking tall and solid, ranks of accommodation that she guessed had been purpose-built to provide cheap housing because it didn't have any of the beautiful, intricate architectural characters that so much else of the city possessed.

Juliette braked fast outside the third building, and she and Wyatt scrambled out. As a non-combat-trained member of the team, Sierra was going to remain inside the car.

"Keep in contact if you see or hear anything, okay?" she asked.

"I will," Sierra said.

Then, Wyatt grabbed the radio from the car and turned it on, bringing it inside. It crackled with updates as they headed through the lobby at a run.

"The police car is a block away," Wyatt said.

"Tell them to come into the building and upstairs as soon as they get here," Juliette said. Then, she revised that strategy. "Actually, tell them to position an officer in the lobby and someone else outside the building. We don't want our suspect making a run for it. Not now."

If he got away, their case would fall to pieces. This takedown needed to succeed.

Opting for the stairs rather than the elevator, Juliette ran up the five flights. Wyatt took the elevator and was waiting for her as she burst out of the stairwell. At least this way, they'd had a chance to double check both points of access. Lopez hadn't been on the stairs, and he hadn't been in the elevator. So, with any luck, he was in his apartment and oblivious that they were on his trail.

Smells of cooking, snippets of music, and bursts of sound from the television flashed past Juliette as she hustled down the corridor. Everyone else in this apartment building was inside, going about their evening. But where was the killer? Was he at home?

Juliette rushed up to the door of 508. Stopped. Assessed. Listened. Drew a deep breath.

And then, she knocked hard on the door, knowing that she might just have set the chain of events in progress that would conclude this case.

There was silence.

Then, the shuffling of feet could be heard. Juliette felt her pulse quicken. Someone was coming to the door.

The latch rattled loudly, and then, the door was pulled open.

She and Wyatt stared in surprise at the man facing them.

He was an older man, in his late sixties at least, with a thatch of graying hair and a stocky build, wearing frameless eyeglasses that were perched on his nose.

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