Brooklyn Blue: A Madison Knox Mystery (Book 1)

by M. Z. Kelly

“We need to ping his cell phone,” I said.

  “How do we do that?”

  “I’m not sure, but I know a guy who works with TARU.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The department’s Technical Assistance Response Unit. Have Edgar give you Spike’s number and call me right back.”

  After getting the phone number, I made a couple calls before finally getting Harold Tremble on the line. We’d worked together on a couple cases in the past, and I knew he had a thing for me, even though he was the world’s biggest nerd.

  After explaining the situation and the urgency, he said, “I’m willing to do this off the record, providing you make it worth my while.”

  I was irritated as hell. “Damn it. This is important, Harold.”

  “I want you to have dinner with me.”

  I sighed. “Okay. Just ping the damn phone.”

  A couple minutes later I had the location. Edgar Lemon’s CI was in a neighborhood in north Queens, about a half hour away. I got Amy on the line again. “I have the address. Can you pick me up at the station on Union Street?”

  “On my way.”

  Ten minutes later, I met Amy in the parking lot at the train station and gave her the address.

  “What are we going to do when we get there?” she asked.

  I pulled out my phone. “I’m calling the local precinct and explaining what’s happening. They can have a couple patrol cars meet us there.”

  Amy put her car in gear and stomped on the gas pedal. “I hope we make it in time.”

  After calling the 105th Precinct and speaking to a Sergeant Baxter, the on-call watch commander, he agreed to have a couple units meet us at the scene.

  Baxter then said, “What precinct did you say you’re with?”

  “The 43rd,” I lied, giving him my previous precinct and knowing that if I told him I was with Precinct Blue, he would never take me seriously.

  “You must be working with Lieutenant Corker. We’re good buds.”

  Yeah, if you like walking assholes.

  “He’s a great guy,” I lied, before ending the call.

  I told Amy what Baxter had said, adding, “He and my former lieutenant will probably talk, and word will eventually get back to Lieutenant Dennert. When that happens, I’ll be lucky if I’m not reassigned, and my discipline is imposed.”

  Amy blew through a red light. “Unless we save the girls. If that happens, you’ll be a hero.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that, given my past issues with the brass, but I held onto that thought as we turned the corner on the street where Spike’s cell phone had pinged. I saw there was a marked patrol car already at the curb, a block up from our target house. As Amy slowed down, we saw a white van leaving a driveway up the street. It was accelerating rapidly and fishtailing down the road.

  “That’s got to be them,” Amy said. “Somebody must have tipped them off.”

  She pulled up to the patrol unit. Windows came down, and I flashed my badge, yelling, “We have reason to believe the guys who took the girls are in the white van! We need to follow it!”

  “I’m waiting for backup,” the burly cop barked. “Who did you…?”

  The rest of what he said was cut off by Amy’s hitting the gas and her yelling, “Ass brain!” She glanced at me. “He’s just gonna sit at the fucking curb and let them get away.”

  “Welcome to my world. Stay on their tail.” I got Sergeant Baxter on the line again, explained what was happening, and told him that we were in pursuit.

  “I just talked to your former lieutenant,” Baxter said. “Corker told me you’ve been reassigned to Precinct Blue because of your insubordination and being responsible for the death of a fellow officer.”

  “Listen to me. I can explain everything later. Right now, we’re on 64th Avenue, doing about seventy in a thirty-five zone, in pursuit of probable sex traders, with multiple victims in their car. Either you send us help or, I swear to God, I’ll tell anyone who will listen, including the press, that you refused to help.”

  “Are you threatening me?”

  “I’m making a promise, God damn it. Now send us some help.”

  After a profanity laced rant, Baxter reluctantly agreed to notify the nearby patrol units of our circumstances. Five minutes later, a marked unit joined our pursuit. The van we were following began to speed up, skidding around the corners as it headed toward the waterfront.

  “I got a feeling this is gonna get real ugly,” Amy said. “I know this area, and there’s lots of dead end streets.”

  A couple minutes later, I realized just how ugly things could get. The van skidded wildly around a turn, then hit an icy patch of asphalt and careened into a parked car. It overturned and came to a stop a few feet from an embankment that led into the bay.

  Amy and I sprang from our car and met up with a uniformed cop as sirens wailed in the distance. We saw a man and a woman running down the street as we went over to the van. The driver had been thrown from the vehicle and had a serious head wound. The officer checked for a pulse, finding nothing.

  Amy came over to me and said, “Let’s try and get the doors open.”

  It took us a good five minutes to pry the doors open, using a crowbar from the police unit. By then the smoke had turned to fire. We managed to drag the girls from the van as the flames grew up around us.

  “It’s gonna blow!” Amy yelled. “We gotta move back. Now!”

  We stumbled back, moving away from the van. An instant later we heard a loud explosion. I looked back and saw the van was engulfed in flames.

  I went over to the rescued girls with Amy, offering some comfort and giving them first aid. A couple of the girls were unconscious, and I wasn’t sure about how bad their injuries were. As an ambulance arrived, I asked a girl, who told me her name was Christina, if Maria Ramirez was with them.

  “A man took her,” Christina said, tears streaming down her face.

  “Who was he? Do you know anything about him?”

  “Just that Diego, he’s the one who took us, called him the Professor, and what Tanya told me about him.”

  After explaining who Tanya was, I asked her, “What did Tanya say about him?”

  Christina’s tears came harder. “She said he’s a monster.”

  FORTY

  Amy and I spent several hours debriefing what happened with the local precinct detectives, explaining in general terms how we became aware of the sex trafficking ring. We left out any mention of Spike being Edgar Lemon’s CI and infiltrating the ring, only telling the investigators that we became aware of them through my contact with Maria Ramirez’s mother while on patrol in the park. Max had also been called to the scene and confirmed what we’d said.

  The two suspects in the sex ring, known only by the names Diego and Tanya, had escaped, but we were hopeful fingerprint evidence in the van, and at the house where the girls had been held, would eventually identify them. The man who had burned to death in the van had been identified as Ryan Welch, who had a prior record for battery and drug use.

  Despite what Edgar had heard about Bobby Angelo being tied to the sex traders, we had nothing definitive about his involvement. We did tell the assigned detectives about rumors we’d heard about Angelo working with Howard Landon. They said they would follow up, but I doubted anything would come of it.

  A total of five girls had been in the van. Most of their injuries were minor, except for one of the girls who had suffered a concussion and was still in the hospital. The victims’ parents had all been notified they’d been found and were overjoyed.

  Amy’s prediction that if we saved the girls I’d be considered a hero didn’t exactly pan out. The next morning, I was called into Lieutenant Dennert’s office, where he questioned my actions of the previous night.

  “When you called for assistance, why did you tell Sergeant Baxter that you were still assigned to the 43rd?” the lieutenant asked.

  I decided my best bet was to stretch the truth. “My friend and I were
in pursuit of the van at a high rate of speed. I’d been with the 43rd Precinct for three years before coming to Blue and guess I just misspoke in the heat of the moment.”

  He rubbed his weak chin, but gave nothing up. “And how did you come to learn there was a sex ring operating out of a house in Queens?”

  More truth stretching was in order. “I put some feelers out and got a tip from a CI.”

  “Who was the CI?”

  “Just a guy who goes by the name Spike. I don’t know his real name.”

  After a few more questions, Dennert passed judgment. “You’re receiving a written reprimand.”

  My voice pitched higher. “I don’t understand. My actions stopped a sex ring and may have saved the lives of a half dozen girls.”

  “Your actions indicate you were involved in an unauthorized investigation. You’re well aware that department policy requires any investigation of criminal conduct be cleared through your precinct commander.” He slipped the reprimand across the desk for me to sign. “Don’t let it happen again.”

  After reading the reprimand and signing it, I asked about Maria Ramirez. “Any word on where the girl might have been taken?”

  Dennert slipped the reprimand into my personnel file. “From what I know, the girls who were freed all said that a man who goes by the name ‘the Professor’ bought the girl. He used a stun gun on her and took off before the other girls were removed from the house. The detectives working the case said they’ve heard the moniker before. He’s a sexual sadist.” Dennert’s dead eyes fixed on me. “I wouldn’t hold out much hope that the girl is still alive.”

  ***

  Max and I spent the remainder of our day listening to the lieutenant’s lecture on professional conduct, and, on our breaks, fielding questions about our involvement in stopping the sex trafficking ring.

  Carmine O’Brien gave us his thoughts during the afternoon break. “You guys sound like you caught a lucky break.” He fixed his watery brown eyes on me. “I heard you got a reprimand for being involved in an unauthorized investigation.”

  If a scowl could be a deadly weapon, Max’s would’ve killed Carmine. “What Madison did or didn’t get is none of your damn business. She saved a bunch of girls from being sold into sex slavery. What the hell have you done lately that’s worth anything?”

  Laverne Piper was at the table, applying what looked like the day’s third coat of eyeliner. She looked at me and said, “My guess is the only break you’re gonna get is an extension of your Blue time. You fucked up. Again.”

  Penny Kurtz agreed, smacking her gum. “You might even spend the rest of your lousy career right here.” She looked at her buddy. “You ask me, Knox is gonna be a Blue lifer.”

  That brought laughter from the others, until Frank Woodson came over to our table. He and Carmine did a stare down before Woody said to him, “The lieutenant wants you in the restroom.”

  “What for?” Carmine asked.

  “Somebody plugged up the crapper. He’s blaming you because you’re always full of shit.” Woody walked away to howls of laughter, as Carmine cussed him out.

  “What’s that guy’s beef?” Carmine said to Max and me when Woody was gone.

  I shrugged. “The guy seems okay to me. Maybe you’ve just got a sensitive side to you.”

  “He’s an asshole.”

  “Maybe you’re right,” Max conceded, looking at him. “From what I just heard, you’re an expert on that part of the human anatomy.”

  ***

  When Max and I got home that night, I told Amy about my reprimand. She was furious. “You saved all those kids from a fate worse than death, and that’s the thanks you get. It’s so wrong.”

  “The department specializes turning what’s right into wrong,” Max said. “Madison and me have come to expect it.”

  “Have you heard anything more about that guy they call the Professor and Maria Ramirez?” I asked Amy.

  “The street talk is that he’s an insane freak who buys girls, and they’re never heard from again. We gotta find her, before we find her in pieces.”

  “Maybe we should go have a chat with her mama again,” Max said, unfolding a piece of paper from her pocket. “I got an artist’s drawing of the guy from a prior investigation. Maybe Maria’s mother saw him hanging around her.”

  “First things first,” Amy said. “I talked to the doorman at that building where we saw Suzanne Angelo and Dr. Cornelius the other night. He told me they got a regular thing going every Tuesday and Thursday night.” She checked the time on her phone. “That means they should be getting together there in about an hour from now.”

  “You want to go over there and confront them?” Max asked.

  “I think it’s the only chance we have to find out what’s really going on with Angelo and Billy, and maybe see what Suzanne knows about her husband’s involvement in the sex trade.”

  “Did Spike get anything about Billy when he was on the inside?” I asked.

  Amy shook her head. “Edgar said he asked a couple of Angelo’s people about him, but didn’t get anything worthwhile back.”

  “Maybe we can go by and talk to Maria’s mama after you have your chat with the doctor and Suzanne,” Max said.

  “You ask me, we’re running out of time for both Billy and Maria,” Amy said. “Let’s roll.”

  FORTY-ONE

  Thanks to a train delay, we were late getting to the building where Dr. Cornelius and Bobby Angelo’s wife held their secret trysts. When we arrived, Max went over and slipped the doorman a couple bills. He confirmed that Dr. Cornelius had just headed upstairs, then added, “I’m afraid Mrs. Angelo’s husband is already up there with her. There could be a problem.”

  “Does the doctor know that Mr. Angelo’s up there?” Amy asked.

  He shook his head. “I was busy and he got on the elevator before I could warn him.”

  “Shit,” Max said, turning to us. “We gotta head him off, or he’ll be a dead man.”

  We scrambled over to the elevators and headed for the seventh floor. When the doors opened, Amy dashed ahead of us and caught Cornelius just before he knocked on the door to the apartment.

  “Stop!” Amy said, in a voice that was just short of a shout.

  Cornelius turned and saw us all. He walked over. “What’s going on?”

  Amy physically pulled him down the hallway and pushed him into the elevator.

  When the doors closed, she said, “We need to have a long talk about Bobby Angelo, his wife, and your brother.”

  The doctor’s gaze found each of us, then lowered. “Okay.”

  We decided it would be safer to talk in another neighborhood. Our reluctant host paid for a cab to Williamsburg, where we stopped at a neighborhood watering hole. We settled in at a table away from the other patrons and ordered drinks on the doctor’s tab.

  While we waited for our drinks, Amy told Cornelius, “We know about the affair, and apparently Suzanne’s husband does too.” She then took a page out of an old I Love Lucy rerun and added, “You’ve got a lot of splainin’ to do.”

  The doctor was a handsome man, but looked like he could have a stroke at any moment. “It’s not what you think.”

  “We’re listening,” Max said. She and the doctor had become acquainted on the cab ride to the bar. “And we all got a lot of different thoughts on our minds.”

  “I know you’re going to find this hard to believe, but Suzanne and I are just friends. She went to school with my wife and we’ve known one another for years.”

  “Then why the secret meetings?” Amy asked. “And, by the way, you two looked pretty chummy the last time we followed you.” His brows went up. “We saw you together last week.”

  Cornelius took a breath and wiped the sheen of perspiration off his brow. “Whatever you saw…I can assure you it was platonic. Suzanne and I have been meeting to discuss her husband.”

  “You mean his numbers running? And him being involved in the sex trade?” I said.

 
“That and him dealing drugs. Suzanne says there’s been a change in Bobby in recent years. She’s afraid of him and some of the people he’s been hanging around.”

  “So how does your brother fit into all this?” Amy asked. “We know that he and Asia were skimming from the numbers racket.”

  “They did something stupid, and Asia paid the price. Suzanne’s been working with me trying to find Billy. She thinks he could be dead.”

  Our drinks were served, and we were all quiet for a minute. Amy and I were probably thinking the same thing, that our payday had just gone away.

  When the server left, Amy tried to refocus the discussion. “What exactly did Suzanne tell you about Billy?”

  “Just that Bobby is aware my brother was working with Asia, stealing from him. He put a price on his head.”

  “Where does that leave you and Suzanne?” I asked. “Apparently, Bobby also knows about your secret meetings with his wife.”

  “Bobby knows Suzanne has the place where we meet, but he doesn’t know about me. Suzanne has paid the doorman well to keep her affairs a secret.”

  “Affairs?”

  “A woman Suzanne’s age has certain needs, and she’s disgusted by her husband’s actions. From what I understand, she’s seeing other people.”

  “Who?”

  “There are certain things we don’t talk about, and that’s one of them.”

  I sipped my drink, a deliciously cold Manhattan. I looked around the table. “Where does all this leave us?”

  “Back at square one,” Dr. Cornelius said. “We need to find my brother before Bobby does.”

  Amy regarded him for a long moment. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us any of this before?”

  “We all know Bobby Angelo’s reputation. I just thought the fewer people who knew about him, the better. And, no matter how things look, I just want to find my brother.”

  ***

  After parting ways with Cornelius, we went by Maria Sanchez’s flat, but no one was home. We got home a little after ten and gathered in the living room for a nightcap.

  Amy brought over drinks and said, “Does anyone here believe what Dr. Cornelius told us?”