“I’m well aware of that.”
“Just saying.”
“You have an address for Parker?”
“Here,” he said handing over an envelope, “Everything you need should be in there. As soon as this is finished I’ll transfer the last of the money into your account. Don’t worry, it will be there.”
“Oh, I never worry about getting my money,” the man said putting the envelope inside his jacket pocket.
They parted, neither one looking back.
***
Ames Parker had retired nine months ago and was loving every moment of it. He spent most of his time either working on his boat or fishing. The truth was he enjoyed tinkering with the motor almost as much as he enjoyed the fishing.
His wife was still teaching and had one more year to go before she would join him in retirement. Once she retired, they planned to travel around the United States to see what this country was all about.
He was down in the engine compartment when he thought he heard a car pull into the driveway. He pulled his head up and saw a late model SUV sitting there with the engine running.
He put his tool down and stood up on the deck. A man in jeans, polo shirt, and Dockers got out and walked up to the boat.
“Hi. I’m looking for a Mr. Ames Parker.”
“Well look no further young man, that would be me.”
“That’s great. I think I was given the wrong address. Anyway, no matter, I am here and that solves the problem.’
“What can I do for you?’
“I’m from the retired policeman’s association and we are updating all of our files. You won’t believe how many have the wrong address or wrong telephone number. We’re trying to sort it all out.”
“They should have mine right. I’ve only been retired a short time.”
“You would think, but that isn’t always the case. By the way, that’s a real beauty you have there.”
“I’ve been restoring it as I go along. Keeps me out of trouble.”
“Sure is a fine craft. Is the inside as nice as the outside?”
“Parts are. Want to see the engines?”
“Sure, if you don’t mind.”
“Heck, no use doing all of this if no one appreciates it. Come on up. Be careful when you step from the ladder to the transom. It can be kind of tricky.”
“I’ll watch my step.”
He climbed the ladder and gracefully leaped over onto the transom like a cat.
“Come on, I’ll show you the engines first,” Ames said, leading him to the engine hatch.
Ames stepped back so he could show him the engines that he had been cleaning and painting.
“Hey, this is really nice. Boy, they almost look like new.”
“They are practically new. I’ve overhauled everything except the bottom end. I haven’t done much with the outdrives except clean them up and paint them. That takes a real expert. I’m too old for that sort of stuff.”
“I would say that you have done yourself proud. What is that back there. That pump thing?”
“Pump?”
“Yeah. That little gizmo tucked in the back corner.”
“Probably the trim pump.”
“I don’t think so. It doesn’t look like one. I had a boat once with power trim and it didn’t look anything like that.”
“Let me see,” Ames said, bending down to look in the far corner.
“Enjoy your retirement,” the man said and hit him in the back of the head with a big wrench that was lying there.
This was much better than his original plan. He didn’t even have to waste a bullet. Just to be sure, he hit Ames in the head four more hard blows until he saw blood running out of his ears. He bent down and checked his pulse to make sure. He didn’t need another Wilkerson on his hands.
He closed the engine compartment hatch before going back up on deck. Satisfied, he climbed down the ladder, casually walked over to the SUV and drove off.
The guy had seemed pretty decent but that didn’t really matter. All he was concerned with was finishing the job and collecting the rest of his money. He would more than happy to get this last person out of the way. This was taking far longer than he was comfortable with. He decided once Krishner was out of the way he was going to take a very long vacation, maybe even go to Europe until all of this blew over.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Cain still looked pale but he was a lot better than the last time we had gone to see him.
“Officer Cain, do you remember us?”
“Bartoni and…”
“Roberts.”
“Yeah, Roberts.”
“I hear they are cutting you lose tomorrow.”
“None too soon. I hate these damn places. The nurses are nice enough but being cooped up all day is making me crazy.”
“I hear you. I can’t say that I like them much myself. Listen, we just came by to see if there is any reason you can think of why someone would shoot at you.”
“That’s all I have done and the answer is no. We were just doing our routine patrol. Neither of us had a collar in the last couple of weeks so I can’t think of anyone who would have a beef with either of us.”
“What about prior arrests?”
“Just little shit. Traffic stops. Domestic stuff. The usual things that any cop goes through.”
“Has anyone ever threatened you or Tomlinson?”
He looked out the window for a few seconds before answering. I could see the tears in his eyes.
“Nah. He was a pretty gentle guy. He was big and all but he had a soft heart. It about killed him when we screwed up that raid when we were on the SWAT team.”
“SWAT team?”
“Yeah.”
“You were both on the SWAT team at the same time?”
“Sure. We screwed up big time. They needed a scapegoat and rather than nail Captain Jones with it, they blamed everyone else involved.”
“What happened?”
“Man, it was a long time ago.”
“Well, that could be the key to his whole shooting thing. I need to know what happened.”
“We busted the wrong house.”
“So?”
“It didn’t go well.”
“Did you guys kill someone or injury them?”
“There was a baby boy in a crib. He got burned pretty badly.”
“What? How in the hell did that happen?” I asked.
“Look, it was just an accident.”
“Come on Cain, I need to know the whole story.”
“Okay. We raided what we thought was a drug house. It was the wrong place. Flash bangs were thrown in through the windows. One landed in the baby’s crib. No one knew it and it caught the mattress and blanket on fire. The baby was pretty badly burned. The investigation committee blamed everyone but the real person who screwed up. Maynard Jones. He was supposed to be the team leader. Instead of accepting any responsibility, he pointed the blame at everyone else. All of us involved, with the exception of Jane Wilkerson, his main squeeze on the side, were reprimanded and sent down.”
“Who threw the grenade that hurt the little boy?” I asked.
“Wilkerson.”
“And he protected her?”
“Maynard? Damn right. He was married and she could have wrecked that as well.”
“Who was involved in the raid?” I asked.
“Harry Reed, Margo Keller, Calvin Krishner, Parker, Riley, Wilkerson, Maynard and myself.”
“But not Anderson?”
“I don’t even know who that is. He wasn’t involved.”
“Dan?” I said.
“It makes sense. But it’s been what, two years? Why now?”
“Are you saying that this all has something to do with that raid?” Cain asked.
“We’re not positive but that could be the common link. Keller managed to escape serious injury and we don’t know what the condition of Jones is yet but the rest are dead. Sorry, excluding you as well,” I said correc
ting myself.
“So this is all about payback for what happened to that child?” Cain asked.
“I don’t know for sure but we need to check it out,” I told him.
“It really was just an accident. No one intended for the kid to get hurt. We didn’t even know there was a child in the house.”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t even have the right place,” Dan said over his shoulder as we were leaving.
“Tad harsh,” I quipped.
“Really?”
“No, not really. I wonder how badly the child was burned.”
“You know,” Dan said, “I read those files a dozen times and there is no mention of any incident like that. No letter of reprimand or anything else.”
“Cover-up?”
“Bought them off and dropped the whole thing,” he replied.
“Would the police force do such a thing?”
“Do chickens have wings?” Dan shot back.
***
“They are all accounted for except Calvin Krishner. We need to find him and get him under protection,” I said when we got back to the car.
“I’ll call it in,” Dan replied.
While he was explaining what we had found out, I was heading back to the station as fast as I could. I wanted to read the whole file and see for myself just what had gone down. I still felt like something was missing. I just couldn’t lay my finger on it.
“What are we overlooking?” I asked Dan when he finished talking on the phone.
“The source of the information.”
“Exactly. Someone is feeding the assassin the location of these people. We need to find that leak and then we can find this guy.”
My cell phone went off and I handed it to Dan. I don’t do driving and taking on a cell phone like half the bozos out there. Most can’t drive for squat and then you put a cell phone in their hands and they become total morons. I wish they would make it illegal everywhere.
“Bartoni?”
“Dan.”
“Where is Bartoni? Never mind, where are you guys now?”
“Coming up on 16th Street.”
“Well turn around and head to Carmel. They just found the body of retired police officer, Ames Parker.”
“Crap. Was he ever on the SWAT team?”
“I don’t know. Just get over there,” the captain said and rang off.
“How rude,” Dan said.
“Well, another one is accounted for. They had better get someone on Krishner right away or he will be the next victim,” I told Dan.
“Who the hell is this guy? He is like the invisible man. He is everywhere and nowhere at the same time.”
“Don’t lose the faith. We will get him. He has irritated me to no end and we will catch him,” I assured him.
***
It was the usual chaotic scene at the Parker place. Cop cars blocking most of the street, gawkers and the usual talking heads were setting up for a broadcast.
Once again I found myself slipping under the all too familiar yellow and black tape. I saw a large trailered boat parked in the drive and cops standing around. Most were drinking coffee and just jacking their jaws. A few were actually trying to do something constructive.
A ladder was propped along the side of the boat and I saw my favorite curmudgeon in the whole world climbing up to get into the boat. I walked over to the ladder and saw that he was just a little shaky. I grabbed him on the leg to steady him.
“Geez, Bartoni, you twit. You scared the crap out of me.”
“Sorry. Just trying to help.”
“Help? More like cop a feel. That’s sexual harassment you know?”
“With you? You don’t even remember what sex is,” I shot back.
“Like you would know with all the men beating a path to your door. Hey, what the hell did you do to your hair? You almost look decent for a change,” he said looking down at me.
“I guess that’s about as much of a compliment as I can expect from an old fart like you.”
“Come on up here and say that,” he said as he finally managed to get onto the boat transom.
“Thank you for the invitation,” I replied and scrambled up the ladder.
Actually, I gently made my way up the ladder. I’m not much for heights either.
“Well that’s ugly,” he said bending down to look at the back of Ames Parker’s head.
“A couple of good licks. Bashed the poor guy’s skull in,” I said.
“You noticed that right off, did you? Boy, you really are getting to be a detective. And what’s with all this stuff on your face and your hair. What’s going on with you Bartoni? Someone actually interested in you at long last?” Sorenson said.
Now I love this old guy with all my heart and he is without a doubt the best ME ever but man does he have a sharp tongue. If I was the sensitive type, he would be able to make me cry every time I ran into him. Instead, I just try to match snide remarks. Of course he is the master and I will never actually be in his league.
“That looks like the murder weapon,” I said, pointing to the wrench and ignoring his last comments.
“Sharp as a tack, that Bartoni,” he replied.
“He somehow comes up onto the boat, picks up a wrench and bashes Ames’ head in.”
“That’s about the way I see it,” Sorenson agreed.
“So why did Ames let him come on board?”
“Just a minute and I’ll ask him,” he said and bent down and said, “Hey, why did you let him come on board and bash your head in?”
He waited for a second, straightened up and said, “Hump, he isn’t saying.”
“You are such a poop, you know?”
“Why thank you for noticing. I really do try hard,” Sorenson said and laughed.
I was glad to see CSI arrive so I could turn it over to them. I thought I would let Sorenson stew for an hour before I let him take the body away. It would serve him right, the old grumpbutt.
***
It was dark and I was getting grumpy myself by the time we got back to the station. I still had reports to catch up on and was dreading it. I was surprised to see Garrett sitting at my desk when we came up the stairs.
He jumped up like he had been shot when he realized I was behind him.
“Sorry. I was just getting ready to leave you a note,” he stammered.
“No problem. What’s up?”
“I did some digging and found out something that I think will interest you.”
“Guys,” Dan interrupted, “I’m beat and starved. I’m heading out. See you kids tomorrow,” he said and took off down the stairs at a speed that didn’t suggest he was all that tired.
“Okay, what did you find out?”
“I’ll tell you over dinner.”
I stopped and looked at him. Over dinner? What the heck is going on here? If my stomach hadn’t been eating my backbone I might have argued with him, instead I just shrugged.
“Okay.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
We went to a pretty fancy steak place that he knew about. I drove the Healey. I brought him up to speed on what had happened at the Parker house. He listened and asked a few questions. It was just chit-chat.
After we were seated in a booth, he started telling me about his day.
“I have a few friends that I asked to dig into the people at the precinct,” he told me.
“That will come back to McGregor,” I said.
“No, it won’t. I still know people and a lot of them owe me favors. Big favors. It won’t get back.”
“Not much gets by him.”
“Believe me, he will never know.”
“So, what did you find?”
“Linda Sparks.”
“The secretary?”
“Executive Assistant,” he replied.
“Oh yeah, we certainly want to be PC. She is still a secretary no matter what you call her.”
“Anyway, the point is, she is the sister of Jonny Taylor.”
“Jonny
Taylor? That means what exactly?”
“You remember the SWAT raid that went south? It was at their house. It was Jonny and Jill Taylor’s baby that was burned so badly.”
“What? No way.”
“Absolutely. The city is still paying the medical bills for the kid. He was burned really badly and lost one of his ears and part of his nose. They didn’t expect him to live. Somehow he managed to hang on but he is still getting medical treatment.”
“So she is the leak? She is helping the shooter?”
“I don’t know that for a fact but she has access to the patrol schedules and just about everything else,” Garrett said.
“But why now? It’s been what, over a year or more?”
“Two, but from what I have been able to find out, they don’t expect the boy to live but another month or so. His lungs are giving out and there is nothing they can do about it. He has been living in agony for two years. I think that is what triggered all of this. This is payback for what they did to the Taylor baby.”
“And his wife?”
“She committed suicide last year. She couldn’t stand to watch her child suffer any longer.”
“So he loses his wife and now he is going to lose his child. He is mad at the world and especially the SWAT team that was responsible. Is that how you see it?”
“Pretty much,” Garret answered.
“Man. That is tough. I don’t know how I would react if I were in the same situation. It must be hell watching your child suffer, knowing he will never have a chance to live a normal life.”
“It can’t be Jonny Taylor doing the shooting. He has never even been in the military and from what I can discover, doesn’t even own a gun.”
“Not one that is registered anyway.”
“The guy doing the shooting is a pro; we already know that. I doubt Jonny could hide something like that. My best guess is that he has hired someone to get even for him,” Garrett replied.
“That’s easier said than done. Where do you find such a guy? He isn’t in the underworld and wouldn’t have contacts like that. Hell, I don’t even know where you would find such a person,” I said.
“I guess that is one of the things we need to find out.”
Payback (Angie Bartoni Case Files Book 13) Page 11