Chapter Thirty-Six

The new information that Shannon Hatcher had obtained on Shaun Daniels wasn't what she would call ‘case breaking', but it did give Hunter and Garcia a brand-new lead.

They'd been right – Shaun Daniels hadn't always been a loner. Records indicated that nine years ago, and for a period of two years, Shaun had shared the same address with a Mexican American woman named Mariela Duron Esqueda. The information wasn't exactly cast-iron because there was a discrepancy with the records. It had been that discrepancy that had thrown Research off the right trail when they had gathered Shaun Daniels's basic information the first time around.

During the years of 2015 and 2016, the name Mariela Duron Esqueda appeared together with Shaun Daniels on a utility bill for a small property in Boyle Heights – a mainly Latinx neighborhood in Central LA, located just east of the Los Angeles River. What was interesting about that was that Mariela's name did not appear on any other official bill, including the city, local and district taxes.

That was a risky but fairly common tactic used by many Angelinos to obtain a 25 percent reduction on their local tax, due to single occupancy. The reason why that trick tended to work was because private utility providers and local government didn't exactly share information, but what really made Shannon believe that she was on the right track was the fact that Mariela had a son – Emiliano Esqueda – who in 2015 was thirteen years old.

Armed with that new information, Shannon was able to locate the school that Emiliano had attended during the years of 2015 and 2016 for his seventh and eighth grades – Hollenbeck Middle School on East 6th Street. After checking their records, she found out that Mariela Duron Esqueda wasn't the only name listed as a point of contact, should the school have ever needed to get in touch with Emiliano's parents. Mariela's partner's name was also listed as a guardian. That name was Shaun Daniels.

Bingo.

After 2016, it looked like Mariela and Shaun had parted ways. In 2021, Mariela relocated to San Jose, north California, but her son, Emiliano, who had just turned nineteen that year, had stayed in Los Angeles. And here came the biggest surprise of them all – in 2021, Emiliano Esqueda had joined the LAPD. He was still a first-grade police officer, assigned to the LAPD Southeast Community Police Station in Vermont Vista.

One final phone call and Shannon found out that that afternoon, Officer Emiliano Esqueda was policing the streets in Watts, South LA.

‘What are the odds?' Garcia said, as he veered right to join South Alameda Street.

‘Of the kid having joined the LAPD?' Hunter asked, rolling down the passenger window.

Garcia nodded.

Hunter sat back on his seat and observed the buildings flashing past until their car came to a halt at the traffic light on the junction of S. Alameda and 4th Street. Hunter's eyes then settled on the seven-story, boarded-up, white building to his right – the old 4th Street cold-storage facility building. Despite being boarded up, Hunter knew that it was far from unoccupied.

Just past the old cold-storage building was the beginning of the infamous Skid Row – a neighborhood of only 6.9 square miles, but with the largest, stable, homeless population in the whole USA. It was estimated that between ten and fifteen thousand homeless people lived in that single neighborhood at any one time.

Due to its size, the old cold-storage building had become a home, a leisure center, a drugs market… and a killing ground to many of the residents of one of the seediest and most dangerous neighborhoods in America.

Hunter couldn't even begin to imagine how many of those residents ended up on Skid Row as a consequence of having run away from home due to parental violence. Lives destroyed even before they had a proper chance to start.

‘Joining the LAPD might've been Emiliano's way of staying off the streets, Carlos,' Hunter finally replied. ‘And it could play to our advantage.'

Garcia chewed his bottom lip. ‘Being with the LAPD might make him more inclined to help us out.'

‘Let's hope it does,' Hunter agreed.

Minutes later, they finally entered the neighborhood of Watts.

The information they had was that Officer Esqueda was doing the regular street beat, together with a fresh-out-of-the-academy cadet, around Freedom Plaza – a medium-sized shopping mall just off the southern end of S. Alameda Street.

Garcia got to it and pulled into the mall's parking lot.

‘I guess we're here.'

The mall was certainly larger than they had expected.

Hunter and Garcia exited the car and had begun making their way toward the main entrance when they spotted an LAPD officer leaning against a wall just outside Wingstop, smoking a cigarette.

Garcia checked his phone for the photo they had of Emiliano Esqueda. Since the photo had come directly from the LAPD Headquarters, it was pretty up to date.

‘That doesn't look like him,' Garcia said, tilting his phone Hunter's way so that he could have a look at the photo.

Emiliano Esqueda was an average-looking man – black hair, round nose, dark-brown eyes and full lips under chubby cheeks. He seemed to have one of those non-memorable faces – a face that in a crowd would quickly blend in and fade into a nondescript blur.

‘No, that's not him,' Hunter agreed. ‘But he could be inside Wingstop getting some food.' He checked the time on the top left-hand corner of Garcia's cellphone – 12:47 p.m.

‘Excuse me,' Garcia said, approaching the officer and quickly flashing his badge. ‘Could you tell us where we could find Officer Esqueda? He's supposed to be working the beat around here.'

The officer, who looked young enough to still be in high school, dropped his cigarette and practically stood to attention.

‘Umm… yes, sir.' His eyes pinged from Garcia to Hunter. ‘He should be at the other end of the mall, sir.' He indicated as he spoke. ‘Just by Smart Final, over there. I was just taking a quick cigarette break, but I'm all done.'

‘Relax, kid,' Garcia chuckled. ‘We're not the cigarette police. Enjoy your smoke, and thanks for your help.'

The two detectives made their way to where the officer had indicated. A minute later, they spotted Officer Esqueda just outside Smart Final, helping a senior citizen load his car with groceries.

‘To protect and to serve, I guess,' Garcia whispered before grabbing the officer's attention. ‘Officer Esqueda?' he called. ‘Officer Emiliano Esqueda?'

Emiliano placed the last of the grocery bags into the car's trunk before closing it and waving goodbye to the elderly gentleman. Only when the car had pulled away did he turn to face the two detectives.

‘Who's asking?'

Hunter had been wrong. Emiliano Esqueda didn't actually have a non-memorable face. Up close, he had features that clearly stood out. His nose had a slight right bend to it… his jaw was strong and squared… and if you looked closely enough, you could see the shadow of a cleft chin, but the feature that really caught Hunter's attention was Emiliano's left profile. It did take some noticing, but it seemed that the outer edge of his left eye dipped in ever so slightly.

Hunter and Garcia showed him their credentials.

Emiliano frowned at their badges. ‘Robbery Homicide UVC Unit? Are you sure you got the correct Officer Esqueda here?' His voice sounded like it was still making that transition from teenager to adult.

Garcia nodded. ‘Is your mother's name Mariela Duron Esqueda?'

Emiliano's eyes widened at both detectives. ‘Did something happen to my mom?'

‘No,' Hunter was quick to try to calm him down. ‘Nothing like that at all.'

‘So why are homicide detectives asking me about my mother?'

‘Just confirming that we're talking to the correct Officer Esqueda, like you asked,' Garcia said. ‘That's all. We're not here about your mother.'

Emiliano let go of a breath so deep it was almost palpable. ‘All right, so how can I he—'

They were interrupted by a piercing beeping sound coming from the front door to Smart Final – someone had triggered their tag-alarm. As all three of them turned to see what the commotion was all about, they saw a tall man shoot out of the main door like a bullet train. The man wore white, high-top sneakers, blue jeans and a black hoodie jacket with the hoodie fully pulled over his head, hiding his face. He also had a dark-blue backpack strapped to his back.

A couple of seconds behind the man came two of Smart Final's security officers.

‘Stop!' the one in front called out. He already seemed to be out of breath. ‘Stop!'

The second security officer was fitter than the first one, but not by much. It didn't take an expert to see that the cat-and-mouse chase was already lost. For every step the officers took, it seemed like the hooded man in front of them had taken three.

‘Damn!' Emiliano said, with a subtle headshake. ‘Not again.' A split second later, he turned on the balls of his feet and set off after the man in a mad sprint.

‘Stop… LAPD.'

Hunter and Garcia glanced at each other.

‘Seriously?' Garcia asked, as he watched Emiliano put some distance between them. ‘A foot chase? In Watts?'

‘To protect and to serve… I guess.' Hunter nodded at Garcia, looking down at his boots. They definitely weren't made for running.

‘Fuck!' Garcia breathed out the word before both detectives took off in pursuit.