As the Wicked Watch(116)

“Detective, what just happened here?”

“Think you can turn that camera back on,” he said, pointing to Scott. “You’re going to want to get this on tape,” he said.

*

Brent showed up at Louise’s house on foot and took off in her car, after she no doubt gave him her car keys. He collided with a truck accessing the on-ramp to the Dan Ryan. Then he jumped out of the vehicle and fled on foot.

“Damn it, we almost had him!” Joey said. “He won’t get far.”

“Any idea where he’s been hiding?”

“We’re trying to get Louise to talk. But she’s totally shut down. She’s ruined.”

And so was Brent Carter. Abandoned by his father and mother, traumatized, he took his anger out on anyone around him he felt dominion over, only to become lackey to an older man who surely would have abandoned him, too, eventually. Who had abandoned him, in essence, locked away, probably for good. And the mother figure who tried to make up for what he’d lost, defending him to a fault but doing him no favors.

Where would he go? The place in time where life had been good to him.

My mind went back to Denton County, Texas, and Jerry Branahan. He’d kept his soon-to-be victims hidden away at an abandoned house he used to live in with one of his foster families.

“Joey, check Brent’s DCFS file. Where was he living when Louise was his foster mother?”

*

The Simeon Towers high-rise apartments were a relic of the Hyde Park community, but prime real estate, nonetheless, just a short walk to the lakefront and the famous Promontory Point. The north tower was still occupied, but the south tower had been severely damaged in a fire three years ago that left dozens of families homeless. Now it harbored a fugitive. In many ways, the south tower was like the Ida B. Wells-Barnett playground, which had been left to fester until it became a good place to dump a body. That the same eyesore was used by the fugitive’s mother figure to make a name for herself was a stunning turn of events.

Oh, the ties that bind.

HE’S IN THERE. LOUISE IS ON PHONE WITH HIM RIGHT NOW, Joey texted.

Police surrounded the building, certain they had zeroed in on Brent’s location with a now-cooperative Louise Robinson. I texted Justin, GET OVER TO THE SIMEON APTS, SOUTH TOWER RIGHT NOW! FUGITIVE CORNERED, returning the favor for all of the dozens of times he’d given me the heads-up.

Scott and I were the only news crew present, recording what we hoped would be the final scene of the manhunt like a feature film, for once without being shooed away by the police. They needed the public to see it all at some point if there was any chance of regaining a sliver of trust back. They had already charged the wrong suspects. People might be open to believing they’d done it again if the proof was not there for all to see.

“Tracy, I’ve got confirmation Carter is in the building. We need to go live! Now!”

“Okay. Hold on!”

Come on!

“Scott, get ready.”

“I’m on it!”

A team of a dozen or more black-clad officers arrived and poured out the back of two SWAT vehicles.

“Okay, here we go,” said Tracy. “Cue.”

Diana Sorano: We interrupt to take you to the scene unfolding in Hyde Park where police believe they have murder suspect Alexander Brent Carter surrounded. Our Jordan Manning is live on the scene.

Jordan: Diana, a SWAT team just arrived here outside the Simeon Apartments, and as you can see, they are now hacking their way through boarded-up doors and windows to enter the abandoned building where police have confirmed murder suspect Alexander Brent Carter is holding up.

Diana Sorano: Jordan, I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now as you’re watching this all unfold. This is the man who allegedly attacked you now so close to being captured.

Jordan: What’s more shocking is the bizarre turn this case took overnight. Police ended up at the home of community activist Louise Robinson, who was foster mom to Carter from around age nine to sixteen. Part of that time, they resided here, in the south tower of the Simeon Apartments. Now Robinson is accused of trying to help him elude the police. Carter came to Robinson’s home early this morning and tried to escape in her car, which police believe she willingly gave him, before crashing at the Ryan and 71st Street and fleeing on foot.

Diana: This is just unbelievable!

Co-anchor Cal McKinney: To think, Diana, it was Robinson who led the public outcry in recent weeks over the arrest of the three boys from Bronzeville who were charged in the James murder.

Jordan: Cal, remember she also organized the vigil for Masey James weeks ago and stood alongside Masey’s family. Now, it is not known whether Robinson was aware of Carter’s crimes, but her affection toward him has certainly impacted her judgment.



Pop-pop-pop.

Jordan: I do believe those were gunshots we just heard coming from the south tower.



A police officer ran over toward me and Scott. “Go! Get back! Get back!”

Scott walked backward, but not for a second did he take the lens off the south tower.

“Jordan, look up!” he said.

I saw what looked like a man walking back and forth near the edge of the roof, talking on a cell phone. Then he stopped, raised his arm, pointing a gun.

Jordan: Can you see this? The suspect is on the roof of the building, and he’s pointing a gun . . .