Personal Justice by Rayven T. Hill Page B

arrest warrant. All he needed to do was find Norton.
    He leaned back, trying to decide what his next move was. He was waiting to see if King uncovered anything, hoping Norton or his car would be found, and praying for a solid lead.
    His ringing cell phone brought him out of his thoughts. It was Jake.
    “Afternoon, Hank,” Jake said when the detective answered the phone.
    Hank tilted his chair back and rested his foot on an open desk drawer. “Congratulations to both of you for the sting you set up. I hear they brought in a lot of guys. Wish I could’ve been there.”
    Jake chuckled. “Maybe next time, Hank. You can’t be everywhere at once.”
    “Diego is pretty happy. I understand Cranston’s is over the moon about it. King is the only one who didn’t have anything good to say. No surprise there.”
    “What about the low-level guys? The boosters?” Jake asked.
    Hank laughed. “I’m pretty sure we’ll find somebody who’ll talk and we’ll nab some of them. The rest’ll be out of business anyway, with no place to sell the stuff.”
    “Another bunch will spring up,” Jake said. “I don’t think there’ll ever be an end to organized shoplifting.”
    “Afraid you’re right.”
    Jake cleared his throat. “Hank, do you know somebody by the name of Maria Shaft?”
    Hank sat forward. “I sure do. Where’d you get that name?”
    “She called us. I assumed this would be your case. She wants us to find her husband’s killer.”
    “She’s in a mighty hurry, isn’t she? I only told her about her husband’s murder this morning.”
    “She heard the suspect, Michael Norton, ran,” Jake said. “She wants us to track him down before he disappears.”
    “She’s already called me twice since this morning,” Hank said. “She doesn’t understand these things can take some time. I filled her in on what we know so far, but there’s not much to go on. Right now we’re trying to find Norton. Been talking to most everyone he knows. So far, no luck.”
    “We don’t want to step on your toes, Hank. We didn’t tell Maria Shaft we’d take the case for sure. We said we’d look into it.”
    “It doesn’t matter to me. You guys are welcome to everything I have. You know how I feel about that.”
    “Appreciate it, Hank.”
    “I’ll get together a package and get it to you. Right now, I’m running out of leads, so I might have time to drop by there later today.”
    “Look forward to it,” Jake said, and they hung up.
    Hank still needed to make a visit to Michael Norton’s workplace. According to the information they obtained, Norton was employed as a production line worker at Sterling Auto Parts. It was doubtful he would have talked to his coworkers about his plans, but in an effort to leave no stone unturned, Hank decided to drop by there now.
    He picked up his briefcase, dropped the reports inside, and pushed back his chair.
    According to his latest call with Mrs. Shaft, her brother-in-law was there with her today. He would pay Rocky Shaft a visit on the way back, wrapping up his entire list of leads and possible suspects.

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 13
     
     
     
    Tuesday, 12:43 p.m.
     
    LISA KRUNK was a legend in her own mind. With eyes and ears everywhere, there wasn’t much in this dumpy little town that passed her by. Her many years as a television journalist, and her dogged determination, ensured that.
    The evening before, when she got wind of the murder of Werner Shaft, she leaped into action. If she hadn’t been chasing some dead-end story on the other side of the city, she would’ve made it to the crime scene before the body was taken away.
    As it was, her trusty cameraman, Don, got a few shots of cops hanging around, the flashy yellow tape everywhere, and the ambulance pulling away with its load. She was able to corner a couple of cops who knew next to nothing about what happened. The whole thing was a big disappointment.
    Via her sources, she pieced together most of the facts of what had