Hollow Point

by Mike Ryan

  “Hope this isn’t a bad time,” Recker said.

  “Uhh, no, no. I was just at home. Had the phone in a different room.”

  “Day off?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I get ‘em occasionally.”

  “Must be nice.”

  “So, what can I do for you?” Andrews asked.

  “I’m getting closer to figuring out what this is all about. I need your help to connect some missing pieces though.”

  “OK. What do you need?”

  “First of all, you’re probably not gonna like some of what I’ve learned. I need to know whether I should push on with this or just cut bait now.”

  “Why? What’s the difference?”

  “Well, if you’re on board with what I tell you, then I can proceed,” Recker said. “But if you’re one of those cops who doesn’t want to bring any dirt on fellow cops, then I’m wasting my time and I’m not gonna want to go any further.”

  Andrews already knew what that meant without having to be told. “They’re dirty, aren’t they?”

  “Yeah. Yeah they are.”

  “What difference does my opinion make to you? Wouldn’t you do the same thing regardless?”

  “No. I’m not waging a war against cops, dirty or not,” Recker answered. “I know some in the department have a high opinion of me. Maybe that gets me extra leeway in terms of people looking for me, maybe not, I don’t know. But I do know I’m not jeopardizing that reputation over something that may get swept under the rug anyway. Only time I would go after a cop is if an innocent person’s life was at stake. Cops engaged in criminal activities with other criminals isn’t something that really bothers me to be honest.”

  “OK. I hear what you’re saying. And I’m on board. I’m not a saint. You know I’ve done things for Vincent. But cops are being killed out there. And if other cops did it, then that’s something that we need to do something about. Everyone in the department will be on board for that. So, whatever you got, just lay it out there.”

  “OK. I’ve got two names for you. Do you know a Detective Jay Sivelski?”

  Andrews thought for a second, but that was all he needed. “Uhh, yeah, Sivelski? Yeah, I know Siv.”

  “Well he’s involved. There’s another name, but it’s only a nickname, that’s all I’ve got.”

  “What is it?”

  “Guy’s name is Butch.

  “Butch. Butch,” Andrews said, taking a minute to think about it.

  “Anything?”

  “Uhh, yeah, maybe. There’s a guy in patrol, Barry Orwell, he’s a sergeant, his nickname is Butch.”

  “You know him?” Recker asked.

  “I mean, I’ve bumped into him a few times, but I don’t know him that well or anything.”

  “But you know Sivelski?”

  “Yeah, I’ve worked with him a few times. How are these guys involved?”

  “That I don’t know,” Recker said. “I don’t know if they’re gonna wind up like the others, or whether they’re at the top of the food chain, but I know one thing, somebody’s gotta be running this thing.”

  “Well if you’re looking for leaders, Siv would be at the top of my list.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “He’s a go-getter,” Andrews said. “He’s a take charge kind of guy. Orwell too. Big, muscular type of guy. Doesn’t mind giving orders. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were the ones giving directions.”

  “Well, we need to find out who else is in their little group, exactly what they got going on, and why some of them are getting knocked off.”

  Before finishing their conversation, Recker agreed to send Andrews via email some of the things they’d uncovered. After putting his phone away, Recker sat on the desk with his back to Jones and looked out the window. Something still didn’t seem right to him.

  “What is it now?” Jones asked.

  “What?”

  “What else are you concerned about?”

  “Something doesn’t feel right,” Recker answered.

  “How so?”

  “We’re now going by the assumption that for some reason these cops are knocking each other off, right?”

  “Yes, I suppose so.”

  “That’s what’s bothering me,” Recker said.

  “What? You don’t think they would turn on each other? They’re as much criminals as they are police officers. That’s what criminals do.”

  “Yeah, but I dunno, it’s just . . . it’s not making sense to me. If you’re gonna knock off fellow cops that have been in your little group that’s been doing not so nice things, then that means you either don’t trust them, or they’re making a lot of mistakes.”

  “Or perhaps they changed their mind and don’t want to continue those pursuits,” Jones said.

  “Maybe. But that still baffles me. If I’m a cop and I wanna do something like this, don’t you think I would make damn sure that whoever I pick to join me, is in it for life? That in six months or a year they’re not gonna change their mind and put everything I was working for in jeopardy? I’m having a tough time wrapping my head around that.”

  Jones nodded. “I see what you mean. Perhaps you’re right about that. Maybe they are not picking themselves off.”

  “If that’s the case, then we’re back to where we started. If it’s not them, then cops are getting killed and we don’t still don’t know by who.”

  Jones put his index finger in the air to counter the point. “Not necessarily. Whichever way it leans, we’re still closer than we were in the beginning. We now have a pretty good idea why this is happening. We just need to narrow it down a bit further.”

  Recker got off the desk and started walking around the room, still deep in thought. If they went with the theory that the police officers weren’t killing their own, which was viable conjecture, then they had to figure out who would have wanted them dead. And he kept coming back to the same conclusion, even if he didn’t want it to be so. He went back to the desk and sat next to Jones as he sought confirmation of his opinion.

  “So, if it seems unlikely that the cops are killing each other, and I’m not saying that it is yet, who would stand to benefit by that?”

  Jones’ eyes danced around the room as he thought about it, though he was unable to come up with an answer. “I don’t know.”

  “Think about it. There’s one major criminal organization in town and we both know who runs it.”

  “Vincent.”

  “He told me himself he doesn’t worry about small players,” Recker said. “That he doesn’t worry about anyone until they start trying to grow bigger.”

  “And you think he may have viewed this upstart crew as a threat?”

  “He said he didn’t know anything about this crew. We know they’ve been in operation for at least six months, and probably up to a year. You think Vincent would be in the dark about a bunch of rogue cops going into business for themselves? In territory that he supposedly owns?”

  “It does seem somewhat peculiar that he would not know,” Jones answered.

  “And, considering he’s got cops on his payroll, don’t you think one or two of them may have gotten wind about something like that and let him know what was going on? Even if they didn’t know exact specifics. Even if they only had suspicions of something or heard whispers that someone was looking to take a percentage of his operation. Don’t you think they would’ve told him about it?”

  “It does seem likely. But then again, he came to you to help investigate this matter. Why would he do that if he was involved? Surely, he knew you would eventually get to the bottom of it and figure out the details. He knows you well enough by now to know you would. But even if he only knew you by reputation, it would seem like a gamble that doesn’t need to be taken. He’s smarter than that.”

  “Unless he figured that I’d somehow get swept up in it anyway and tried to manipulate how things went from the beginning of it.”

  “I’m not sure I can picture Vincent killing cops, regardless o
f whether they were involved in illegal activities or branching out and taking a piece of his profits.”

  “Well, I don’t think it’s something he’d prefer to do if there were other options available,” Recker said. “But maybe he didn’t think there were other options.”

  15

  Three days after the investigation into Detective Sivelski and Sergeant Orwell began, another police officer was killed. Unlike the others, it didn’t take long for Recker and Jones to link this one together. This time, they connected the officer to Orwell and Wheaton immediately, and also found a five-thousand-dollar bank deposit in the officer’s name. Recker was beginning to get impatient as he sought to conclude the case. When he started this endeavor with Jones, he swore he’d never get between criminals who were looking to knock each other off. And now, it seemed as if that’s what he was doing.

  Though the victims were cops, they were obviously into some bad stuff, and whoever was knocking them off, Recker wasn’t sure if he should be getting involved in it. That’s why he came up with the idea to get right to the heart of the matter. Jones thought it was very risky and something they didn’t need to chance right then. But as usual, Recker won out.

  Recker and Haley were waiting inside the home of Detective Sivelski. It was a little after eleven and his wife and kids were upstairs sleeping. They’d only been waiting for about twenty minutes. They had Tyrell watching the district Sivelski was working out of and let them know when he left to go home. Detective Andrews had told Recker what shifts Sivelski was working so they could coordinate the best time to talk with him.

  Recker was waiting in the living room, off to the side of the house. Haley was stationed near the back door. When the headlights from the driveway flashed through the windows, they knew the detective was home. With the living room pitch black, Sivelski wouldn’t see Recker until it was too late. Within a few minutes, the door started wiggling with the sound of clanging keys just outside it. Recker was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, waiting for a light to turn on. Once the door closed, Sivelski walked over to a lamp and turned it on. He immediately jumped back when he saw the strange man sitting in his living room. He reached for his gun inside his jacket.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Recker said.

  Sivelski, noticing how calm the man was and that he didn’t have a gun in his hands, stopped his movements. “What do you want?”

  “Just to chat.”

  “Who are you?” Sivelski asked. He then looked at the stairs, thinking of his wife and children.

  “They’re fine. Sleeping. I’m not here to hurt anybody.”

  “Then what do you want?”

  “Answers.”

  “To what?”

  “Sit down,” Recker said. “And before you get any sparkling ideas of doing anything other than exactly what I say, know there’s another man in the next room over.”

  “You’re bluffing.”

  Recker smiled. “I don’t bluff. Ever.”

  By the serious look on the man’s face, Sivelski took him at his word and sat. “So, what’s this about?”

  “I know the things you’ve been doing outside your police duties.”

  Sivelski put a strange look on his face and shrugged, pretending to have no idea what was being referred to. Recker knew that pulling the truth out of the detective’s mouth wasn’t going to be easy, so he looked to speed the process up. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bunch of folded up pieces of paper. He then just tossed the papers onto the floor, one by one.

  “Bank statements for you and your buddies,” Recker said. “Including the five-thousand-dollar deposits. The fake security company you set up to try to disguise it. Statements from people who say you’re trying to move into Vincent’s territory. How long do you wanna try to keep up this charade?”

  “What’s it to you?”

  “People have asked me to look into it.”

  Sivelski scrunched his eyebrows together as he looked at the man more closely. After scrutinizing him further, he recognized the face, and a wry smile developed across his lips. “Ah, I know you who are now. You’re the city savior, the crusader that’s helping little old ladies cross the street and saving cats stuck up in trees.”

  Recker took no offense to his obvious insult. Instead of getting angry, he replied with his usual sense of humor. “I don’t know where you get your information, but I haven’t saved any cats in trees.”

  “My mistake.”

  “I take it you’re not one of my biggest fans.”

  “I can take you or leave you, man. Are you expecting me to confess to something? Kill me? What’s your play here?”

  Recker shook his head. “There’s no play. And if I wanted you dead, you would be already. I just want to have an honest conversation with you and then I’ll be on my way.”

  “Then I’m on my way to jail, is that it?” Sivelski asked.

  “Listen, I’m not really interested in seeing you go anywhere.”

  “Then what are you doing here?”

  “I’ll be honest with you if you agree to do the same.”

  Sivelski shrugged, waiting to see what he had to say first. “We’ll see.”

  “A member of your department reached out to a mutual contact of ours to see if I’d look in on the case.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  “Apparently, they had no leads,” Recker said. “I guess when cops start going down and there are no suspects, you tend to get desperate and look for help in unorthodox places.”

  “And you think that leads to me?”

  “Unless you’re telling me you’re not responsible for it.”

  “I don’t really need to tell you anything.”

  Recker was starting to get aggravated at the lack of cooperation. “Listen, I don’t really wanna play this game with you all night. I’ve got other things to do and I wanna move on from this case. If you are involved in killing other cops, then it doesn’t really concern me. If it’s someone else, then I’d like to find out who it is.”

  Sivelski moved his head around as he thought of what to do. “You really think I would have killed other cops?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “And if I admit to anything here? What then?”

  Recker could sense the man’s wall was starting to break down. “Whatever’s said here stays between you and me.”

  Sivelski rubbed his mouth and nose before replying. “All right. Honestly, I had nothing to do with those guys being killed. I have no reason to do that.”

  “So you guys were starting your own little operation on the side?”

  Sivelski hesitated before answering. “Yes. There’s a lot of money to be made out there. We sure ain’t gonna get rich being on the job. Why not? There’s not a lot of competition out there.”

  “Except for Vincent.”

  “We figured we could handle him. Besides, he’d have to be crazy to think he could take us on.”

  “Have you butted heads with him yet?” Recker asked.

  “Yeah, we’ve had some words.”

  “He definitely knows about you guys?”

  “Oh, yeah. I talked to him myself.”

  “I talked to him a few days ago. He said he didn’t know anything about you guys.”

  Sivelski made a displeased face. “He’s lying out his ass.”

  “Do you have any idea who’s been killing these guys?”

  Sivelski shook his head and shrugged. “If I did, don’t you think I’d have taken care of it already?”

  “Not necessarily. It’d be hard for you to do that and explain how you know that. I would think you’d have to explain how your relationship with those other officers works.”

  “Really not as difficult as you make it sound.”

  “You think it’s Vincent taking you guys out?” Recker asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe. I don’t know if he’s dumb enough to do that though. He’d know how much heat that’d bring down on him.”
/>   “Who’s in charge of this operation? You? Or Butch?”

  Sivelski looked surprised that he knew the sergeant’s name.

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “It’s my deal. They all take orders from me.”

  “So how many more you got on this gig?” Recker asked. He could see that Sivelski was hesitant on answering the question by how he was shifting in his seat and stalling. “Might as well tell me. I’m gonna find out on my own anyway.”

  “Three more.”

  “Any of you worried about being the next one with a hollow-point bullet buried inside you?”

  “We’re working on it.”

  “Hope you make it fast or else this case will be over for me before we know it.”

  “I’m touched by your caring philosophy about our well-being,” Sivelski said.

  “Well, before any more of you wind up in the cemetery, maybe you should try to put out the word to save yourselves.”

  “The word? What word?”

  “That you’re leaving the business. You obviously stepped on the wrong toes of somebody,” Recker answered. “And they’re letting you know it. One dead body at a time. If you don’t let them know quickly, that wife of yours upstairs is gonna be planning your funeral.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Recker was satisfied with the question and answer session and believed he was getting the truth out of the detective. He didn’t have anything else that needed to be said. He got up and walked across the room to the front door. Just as he opened it, he turned back to look at the detective, who was still sitting in the same spot. “Maybe you should stick with what you’re supposed to do best. Protecting the people out there.”

  Recker didn’t wait for a response before leaving and just walked out the door. But there wasn’t one coming anyway. Sivelski had nothing else to say. All he could do from that point was think about their discussion and figure out what he wanted to do from there. After leaving the house, Recker let Haley know he was gone so he could slip out the back. They both walked around the block to get back to their car, getting there at the same time.

  “Get what you wanted?” Haley asked.