CHAPTER TWO
Frank loved this time of year in northern Florida. The days still warmed up enough to remind him of the subtropical climate, but the evenings and mornings were cool enough that he could take his morning run without needing a shower before he even started. This morning, the humidity was low and the sky was crystal clear as he and his faithful canine companion, Lucy, ran on the hard packed sand on Atlantic beach.
These moments of solitude were becoming rare. Frank’s high - profile kidnapping case earlier in the summer meant that his modest private detective business had now grown to the point where he was selective about the cases that he took. Frank had reason to be selective and discrete. He could not again risk the kind of public attention his first case brought. There were elements of his past that might be at risk if he were to gain too much notoriety. Thankfully, Frank had a conduit of associates that only brought him cases that allowed him to help the victims and their loved ones without drawing a great deal of attention to himself.
Frank also had Jonesy. Clifford Jones, III was the Watson to Frank’s Holmes. The Spock to his Kirk. The Sundance to his Butch Cassidy. Jonesy was an enigma. By all appearances he was a scruffy surfer dude. Beneath the Jeff Spicoli appearance was a legal and analytical genius with mad computer skills. He was a decent drummer as well, joining a piano playing Frank and a bass playing Armand Bigtree two nights a week at the Sun Dog, a local bar and jazz club.
Frank and his unofficial team had no shortage of casework. The problem was that Jonesy and Anita had day jobs. Jonesy owned a combination surf shop and law office in Jacksonville Beach. Anita had recently been promoted to Lieutenant in the Jacksonville Police Department which was a double-edged sword. She could discreetly provide Frank the access that he needed, but had to be cognizant of her position in the JPD.
As all of these thoughts ran through Frank’s head on this crisp fall morning, he and Lucy had finished their run and had arrived back at the trailer they shared. Frank would normally have been concerned with the sight of a JPD cruiser parked behind his old Lexus IS-300, but he saw the inscription over the left front tire that said Lieutenant A. Velasquez and he relaxed. Anita had been promoted to Lieutenant in the JPD after helping Frank and Jonesy solve the kidnapping case earlier in the year. Lucy left Frank’s side and ran up to the car to greet Anita as she exited her cruiser.
“Hey Piano Boy,” Anita said to Frank as he walked up.
“Hey Anita. What brings you around here? I haven’t seen you around the Sun Dog. Did you miss my smiling face?”
Anita wasn’t her usual jovial self. Frank knew she was here on business.
“I’m actually here for your help. We’ve got a dead body and the facts aren’t lining up.”
“You’re coming to me? Shouldn’t that be a police investigation?”
“Usually it would be, but this one is different. The initial investigation points to this being a homeless girl in the wrong place at the wrong time, but there is something about this one that requires your special attention.”
“What makes this one different?”
“This homeless girl is someone that Fat Sam knows. He took her in when she came to Jacksonville and set her up with a job and a place to stay.”
Fat Sam was the owner of the Sun Dog and a mysterious transplant from New Orleans with a colorful past. Frank was good friends with Sam as well as a tenant in his trailer and sometime piano player at his establishment.
“What was her name?”
“Danielle Indigeaux.”
“Not Dani. Oh man. I remember when Sam put her to work as a waitress. She was working the closing shift two nights ago while we were playing.”
“It looks like a professional hit.”
“When did this happen?”
“A mountain biker found her body yesterday morning near a trail in Hanna Park. After he was done puking all over the crime scene, he called us. The crime lab determined that she died of a single small caliber gunshot to the back of the head.”
“I didn’t think Hanna Park was getting that dangerous.”
“The crime scene techs are pretty sure she was killed somewhere else and dumped at the park.”
“So how can I help with this? Dani seemed like a nice kid that maybe had some issues in the past. Do you think one of those issues came back to haunt her?”
“That’s why I’m bringing you in. The brass at JPD is treating it as a homeless killing. That puts this case in the pecking order somewhere between a stolen bike and a cat stuck in a tree. There are those that view a murdered homeless person as one less vagrant they have to deal with.”
“Sam might not view it that way. That’s probably where I should start with this. He might have some insight that will help.”
“That’s why I came to you.”.”
“I’m not sure I like the sound of that?”
“The brass is treating this as a random homeless killing. Because of her relationship with Sam, I thought you and Jonesy might want to step in on this one and take it further. ”
“You’re right. Sam’s got to be taking this pretty hard. Do you have a copy of the case file so I can get up to speed? I’d like to look it over before I go talk to him.”
“I do,” Anita said as she handed Frank a thin folder.
“Thanks. I’ll get with Jonesy and then Sam and keep you posted.”
“Sounds good,” Anita said then turning to Lucy, “You take care of this guy Lucy. Don’t let him get into trouble.”
Lucy cocked her head and looked at Anita as if she understood.
Anita got into her cruiser and backed out onto the road as Frank and Lucy went into the trailer. Lucy lapped up some water from her bowl and then flopped on the bed. This was their morning routine on most days. Frank would start coffee brewing and jump in the shower while Lucy readied herself for breakfast. Frank was convinced that Lucy viewed herself as human. She refused to eat dog food and liked to have three meals a day. Frank finished showering, made some scrambled eggs for both of them, and then noticed the flashing light on his antiquated answering machine. Frank liked to make use of modern technology on his cases, but he still liked the idea of having a telephone land-line. The number was only given out to a select few so it acted more like a hotline than a true business line. For cases, he carried a cell phone but used cheap burner phones that he could change frequently so that his number generally changed with each case.
Frank pushed the play button on the machine and listened to the familiar voice from the past.
“Rozzani, this is Ashburn. I got your message and my advice to you is that you stop pursuing this for a while. Your adversaries have eyes and ears everywhere and, if you want to stay anonymous and preserve the safety of those in question, you should let this go for now.”
Four months earlier, Frank had received a brief message from his son that came from a Scranton, Pennsylvania telephone number. The number was disconnected by the time Frank called it back and all of his efforts to track down the origin of the call through official and unofficial channels had been fruitless. Frank had been trying to reach Ashburn for quite some time. He had discovered that, due to the same case that had ripped Frank’s family apart, Ashburn had to keep a low profile for his own safety.
Lucy, seeming to sense his emotional state, padded over from the bed and put her head on Frank’s lap as he sat at his desk.
“Well Lucy, another dead end. I guess I need to let it go for a while.”
Lucy looked up at him with her expressive brown eyes as if in agreement with him.
“At least we have a new case to keep us busy for a while,” Frank said as he began thumbing through the police file on Dani Indigeaux.
Frank had seen other JPD police files and the quality of the content and the procedure followed had definitely improved since Anita took charge. Dani’s murder had been classified as a homicide with the context/motive unknown, a common classification for homeless victims. The method of attack was a small caliber firearm.
From his time as a detective on the Syracuse police force, Frank knew that the actions of the initial responders to the scene of a homicide could often make or break a case. There needs to be an investigatory atmosphere from the very beginning. The first priority, even if it’s unlikely, is to treat the victim as if they may still be alive. Being certain that there is no life to be saved should be the first priority. It looked like this was never a possibility with Dani. The bullet hole in the back of her head indicated that she likely died instantly. The crime scene photos confirmed this and revealed the stark contrast between her young, pixie-like face and the damage the bullet had done inside of her skull.
Frank noted that the crime scene had been thoroughly photographed and preserved. After he talked to Jonesy and Sam, he would take a trip to Hanna Park to check it out. The file also noted that relevant evidence had been cataloged and collected and the other people present in the park had been canvassed with no relevant information resulting. It was time to call Jonesy and get the ball rolling on this case.
If you enjoyed these first two chapters, preorder your copy of Let Me Be Frank – A Frank Rozzani Detective Novel today at Amazon.com
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Text copyright (c) 2014 Donald S. Massenzio
All Rights Reserved
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, or places, events, or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously.
*****
This book is dedicated to my wife Caryn who didn’t tell me I was nuts when I said I wanted to write a book and to my children whom I love dearly.
Also, many thanks to my dear friend Catherine Violando who relentlessly read the manuscript many times and gave me numerous suggestions to make this book better while encouraging me that it was worth completing.
About the Author
Thank you for taking the time to read my book. Please take a moment to leave a review or comment at the site from which you purchased it. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and is what keeps me going and striving to improve in future writing.
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