He had always known that Anton’s smarts would help him take what he wanted from this world, he just never thought that it just might be his undoing one day.
With that thought, Jeff placed a call to Krista.
13
Assumptions
Krista was about to leave her room when she heard her cell phone ring, picking it up, she said “Hello.”
“Krista, it’s Jeff. Have you heard any more about your brother? I haven’t been in touch with Doltz today. Figured I’d check in with you, and see if there was anything new going on.”
“I can’t see Evan until Monday at the arraignment. No one can get me in, doesn’t seem to matter who I work for. They must figure I’ll try and bust him out. I did go down to the York St. building, found a .38 wedged into the staircase.”
“They’re letting you work the case? That doesn’t sound like the Feds.”
“Officially no, I went down there with Wilks, from the DEA. I have to tread lightly.”
“What the hell does drug enforcement have to do with a murder case?”
“I can’t give you details, I don’t even have them all, but you can assume safely, it has to do with drugs.”
Jeff could feel his heart start to slam against his ribcage, holding the phone between his shoulder and ear he wiped his sweaty hands on his pants. This is exactly what he was afraid of. The minute Krista introduced them down on York Street and said he was from the DEA he knew something was up. “Evan’s an addict, not a dealer.”
“I know that, I never said he was, or that it had anything to do with him, at least I hope not. He’s in enough trouble as it is. I can only tell you that the DEA was about two blocks away when they heard the gunshots. That’s what brought them there.”
Jeff exhaled, he was holding his breath. Maybe he was off base, but then, why were they only two blocks away to begin with?
“Where are you?” Krista asked.
“I’m still out in LA, on my way to the airport, heading home. I couldn’t get a flight until tonight, figured I go standby and maybe get out of here earlier.”
“You’re done already? The meeting must have gone well.”
“Well? I have other words for it but don’t worry. It’s not your concern.”
“Fine, I have too much to deal with anyway. Have a safe flight.”
When Krista disconnected the call, she had a feeling that something wasn’t right. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It was like a dull thumping in her brain. A sensation that sends the hairs on the back of your neck to stand on end. She didn’t have time to think about it at the moment. She had to concentrate on her brother. She would deal with it later.
Grabbing her coat, she closed the hotel room door behind her and headed down to the lobby on the elevator. As she made her way to the front exit, she spotted the wall mounted flat screen that hung in the refreshment area, which had her stopping abruptly in mid-step. The guy that was walking behind her almost smashed right into her. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
She couldn’t believe what she was looking at. It was a split screen with a picture of her father on one side and her brother on the other. The news commentator was reporting on how this was an exclusive for WRCT 22 Philly, as he stood outside the Philadelphia Federal building. ‘Looks like the Levell family is back in the news yet again. If you recall, Anton Levell, and his wife Isabella, were killed in a hit and run a few years back. Who through the investigation of the accident, found him guilty of money laundering and drug trafficking, with connection to the Russian mob. Looks like he taught his son his trade of greed before his demise. They left behind three adult children, one being a son, Evan R. Levell. Evan was arrested on drug and murder charges, this past Friday night, he is to be arranged on Monday. Seems to this reporter, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. We will keep you updated on what looks to be turning out to be; one bad apple may not be able to spoil the whole bunch but did a good job. To add an interesting twist, one of Levell’s daughters is an FBI agent, who was seen in the Philadelphia area late last night. Let's see if that does him any good. Mac back to you.’
Stunned into stillness, she willed herself to move. As she looked at the reception desk, she noticed the girl who checked her in the night before staring directly at her. Krista walked up to her and said, “Don’t make me go to your boss and get you fired if you tell anyone that I am here, I will have your job. Got it?”
The girl crossed her arms over her chest, and with her jaw tightening, through gritted teeth, she rolled her eyes and said, “Yes ma’am.”
“I am not fucking with you, don’t test me, you understand?”
Releasing her arms and putting them down by her side, the receptionist gave her a glaring, sideways look, as she walked away saying, “Yes, I understand.” Then in a whisper that made Krista smile, said, “Bitch.”
It somehow calmed her down, laughing to herself she walked through the lobby doors and out into the freezing January day.
She knew she needed to get back to Camden. There had to be something she was missing. She would look until she found it. The same as she would do for her parents.
14
Long Island 1998
Their mother and father were great parents. She could picture them the summer before the accident when they spent the day at West Hampton beach.
Her father Anton, barbecuing, there was music filling the air as the waves crashed on the shoreline, life was perfect.
Anton laughed, “Evan, bring me a beer and come help me barbecue. We need to get the ladies fed before they start getting cranky.”
Evan tried to swat Krista with a towel. “Be right there, we definitely don’t want to deal with a cranky Krista." Jumping out of the way before it made contact, with one eye open a little more than the other, she said, “I always was and always will be faster than you Ev, when will you learn little brother?” With a smirk on her face, she swatted at him and got him good.
“Little brother! Excuse me; we share the same birthday. It’s just because you are so little; you can move fast. I, on the other hand, have so much muscle, it weighs me down," Evan said as he straightened his back and shook his head to and fro looking like a bobblehead.
The two of them looked at each other and laughed until their sides hurt.
“Hey muscleman, where’s my beer?” his father asked, “and while you are at it get you mother one too.”
Isabella stood there watching her husband and her grown children, enjoying each others company.
Krista could still remember the look on her mother’s face. She could even see the way her eyes were full of light and the softness of her smile.
15
Camden, NJ
Her Honda’s tires seemed to cry out as she pulled over to the curb on York Street. It had rained the night before, and the piles of snow and trash had compacted to shards of ice resembling dirty coral. As she stepped out of the car, her boot slipped on the iced-over surface, causing her to grab the door before she fell on her face. “This is going to be a great day," she thought.
Scanning the street, she didn’t see anyone new that was out and about. She decided to go back into the building and go over it inch by inch. Turning the corner to go into the building, she almost plowed down the same woman, wearing the tattered green coat she had seen the day before. Reaching out to catch the woman as she fell backward, she noticed her eyes, big and brown and full of sadness.
“I am so sorry; I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”
Pulling her arm away from Krista, saying, “I fine, I not look either.”
“Can I ask you a couple of questions? It will only take a minute.”
Violently shaking her head no, she took off down the sidewalk.
Not knowing what to think, Krista turned and headed for the building.
After two hours of searching, she found four tiny items scattered throughout the bottom floor. She made a point to photograph each item where it lay and to pick th
em up with a gloved hand, then place them in a separate evidence bag and sealed it.
Back out on the street, she decided to canvas in the opposite direction she went the day before. Making her way around the corner and down North 9th Street a black and white pulled up next to her.
“You shouldn’t be walking around here by yourself ma’am, what’s your business.”
Krista took out her badge and showed the cop, “Special Agent Levell, FBI.”
“Officer Stevenson, you working the murder on York?”
“That’d be it.”
“Fed or not, you shouldn’t be down here by yourself, jump in, I’ll take you around.”
“I’m good. I got this.”
“Seriously, you shouldn’t be walking around by yourself. What are you hoping to find?”
“I’m not too sure, wanted to talk to the locals and see if I could pull any info out of them.”
Stevenson snorted, he laughed so hard. “Good luck with that. The people down here aren’t gonna talk to the law, let alone an FBI agent. Like I said, jump in. I have to patrol the surrounding blocks, if anything jumps out at you, we can stop.”
Reluctantly, she got into the car. “How long have you been on patrol in this district?”
“It will be five years on the third of next month.”
“Then you know what goes on down here.”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“Were you patrolling Friday night?”
“Two blocks away, when the call came in.”
“You see anything strange?”
“You really don’t know this area at all, do you? Strange isn’t a word we use, what goes on here is the norm for here. It still amazes me what one human being can and does do to another. To answer your question, no, nothing out of the norm. I personally answered 11 overdose calls that night, a drive-by, a domestic and a rented stolen car dump.”
She patrolled with Stevenson for over an hour. As they were making their way back to her car, Stevenson stopped the vehicle on the corner of 9th and State, when he spotted a group of people. When they got out of the car three of them took off running. A tall lanky, scruffy looking white male, puffed up as they approached.
“Yo, whachu want, we ain’t doin’ nuttin’.”
“Didn’t say you were Tweak, we’re looking for some info.”
“Than you lookin’ in the wrong place, I ain’t know nuttin’, who’s that sweet piece?”
Krista moved her coat back just far enough so Tweak could see her side piece and her badge. “You mean this piece?”
“You a cop, seriously?”
“FBI, want to ask you a couple of questions.”
“Like what, lady FBI cop, you hard of hearin’ or sometin’?”
“Just want to know if you heard or saw anything Friday night, over on York.”
“Like I told you, I ain’t heard nuttin’, none of us did, did we?” The other four standing around, made a noise as if agreeing.
Stevenson looked over at Krista than back to Tweak, “If you hear anything, you know where to find me.”
“I keep my ears and mouf to myself.”
Warmth washed over Krista as she got back in the patrol car, her hands felt as cold as granite in a snowstorm. As they pulled up to her car, she said, “Thanks, Stevenson, I want to get this evidence to the lab.”
“I told you no one was going to talk to the law. There’s a code of silence around here, can’t break thru it. If by chance I hear anything, which is a long shot, I’ll be in touch.”
She pulled out one of her cards and scribbled her cell number on the back. “Call my cell. I won’t be in the office for a while.”
“Okay, good luck, and stay off these streets by yourself.”
Krista just laughed as she shut her car door.
16
Back at the Lab
Krista wanted to hand over the what she collected. She made her way down 295 in rush hour traffic, hitting slick spots along the way to the lab. She was glad to see that route 76 was just a grey haze of melted salt, the black ice that was on 295 didn’t seem to be present. Route 76 the Schuylkill (School-cull) Expressway. Dutch settlers named the river, the name meant “Hidden River,” and the road was named for the river. She found both to be hysterical. First off, the river wasn’t hidden, polluted yes, but not hidden? Second, because it was anything but an expressway, a snail trail would have been more like it. The traffic was always horrific, crawling along at a snail's pace on the so-called expressway was to be expected, unless you hit the road in small pockets of time.
She was lost in her thoughts when her phone rang.
“Levell.” Nothing, “hello?”
She could hear a voice saying hello, coming from her phone. “Give me a second; my Bluetooth didn’t pick up.” Trying to pay attention to traffic and switch over to Bluetooth, she almost hit the car in front of her when it came to a sudden stop. She pulled the car to the right and eased up on the brake. The shoulder of the road was slick with ice. Coming to a full stop, she put her flashers on and threw the car in park.
Picking up her phone she all but shouted into it. “Levell.”
“Woo, blow my ear out.”
“Sorry Travis, I almost caused an accident.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I pulled over.”
“Where are you headed?”
“To the lab, I was going to call you when I got closer and gave you the heads up. I went back to Camden today, canvassed some and searched the building again….”
Before she could finish her sentence, he almost blew her eardrum out saying, “You what, are you crazy? I should have been with you. You’re not working this case why didn’t you call?”
“I don’t need you to hold my hand. Besides, it wasn’t planned, and we were there before, so I figured it wouldn’t matter.”
“It does, you should have called.”
“As I said, I was going to when I got closer.”
“No, I mean before you went.”
“You got a point; I just couldn’t sit on my hands and do nothing. Did you catch the news? Not good. It was a spur of the moment decision. I wasn’t going to enter the building. When I couldn’t find anyone to talk to on the streets, I figured I’d run through the building again. I picked up a couple of small items and want to bring them to the lab. I’m about a 15 minutes away.”
“Wait for me; I’ll be there asap.”
“Just don’t take forever, I still need to get clothes to Evan, for court in the morning. As well as update my sister and brother-in-law. They want to drive out tomorrow morning for the arraignment. With this weather, I don’t think it’s a good idea. There’s nothing they can do until we know what’s going on.”
Travis knew exactly what was going on, but he wasn’t about to tell her, there would be no bail set, Evan wouldn’t be getting out. So he just said, “Okay, I’m on my way.”
By the time Krista fought her way through traffic, found a parking spot and made through security and to the lab, Travis was already talking to the tech, Roger. As she walked in, they both turned to look at her.
“It took you long enough. I’ve been here for ten minutes already, and it took me another twenty to get here.”
She glared at him, “Then you know the stupid ass traffic around here.”
“So what did you find?”
Krista reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out an evidence bag. “Just these, just not sure what the three of these are, but this one looks like an aglet. You know the tip of a shoe or sneaker lace”.
“How did you spot something so small? There's no electric in there”.
“With this.” Krista pulled out her keys and attached to them was a flashlight maybe two inches long, when she pushed the top of it, even in the bright lights of the lab it shown like a beacon.
“Damn, that’s bright. I guess that can definitely do the job.”
Roger cleared his throat, and Travis said, “Oh, Krista Roger, Roger, K
rista. Roger is one of the Crime Lab Analysts.”
“Hello, Good to meet you.”
“You too.”
As Roger reached out his hand, he said, “Let me see what you got there?”
“As I said, I’m not sure, but it can’t hurt to take a look.”
As they were talking, Gerry from firearms walked in. “What’s up, Travis? I didn’t get to the other bullet yet, been dealing with the mess that went down on Lincoln Street.”
“Seriously Gerry, my brother goes to court tomorrow.”
“Nice to see you too, Levell.”
“I need to know what’s going on with the bullet I found, the one I found, not your incompetent CSI’s.”
“Hold on, right there, who are you to call them incompetent? Let me guess; your brother is innocent. He could never kill anybody. It has to be a conspiracy.”
Fire flew from Krista’s eyes. Travis reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, she whipped around and glared at him, took a deep breath and then turned back to Gerry.
“I just need to know if it is possible that there was another shooter, that’s all. As far as your personal feelings for me, please leave them out of the equation, my brother’s life depends on it.”
“Travis will know when I know.”
With that, Gerry walked away.
Travis looked over to Krista and jerked his head towards the door. Krista followed him out.
“What the hell is wrong with you? You aren’t even supposed to be working this case. I let you in the building as a favor. You trying to get me slapped down?”
Krista took her fingers and pressed them against her eyes, trying to rub the burning away. “I feel like a time bomb is ticking and it’s my job to disarm it. It’s frustrating, and on top of it, that freaking weirdo, Gerry, has to bring up my parent's case, seriously, who the hell is he?” Blowing out a long breath, she said, “Sorry, touchy subject.”
Vindication- Ties That Bind Page 8