Carat Capers

by Dan Kelly

  “Hi, Mickey.”

  “Hi, Vicki. What’s up?”

  “My advertising friend wants to record a video interview with you on your gem investigation and the two men you’re seeking. She’ll make copies of it and send them to the broadcast media. She thinks they will eat it up and want to use it as an integral part of their BOLO participation because it will have a greater impact on their viewers and help spread the word much faster. She thinks this coupled with pressure from their advertisers should get them to go along with us.”

  “When does she want to do this?”

  “Tomorrow morning at nine o’clock in her office.”

  “Vicki, I don’t know how I’ll come off on TV. I’ve never done anything like this before.”

  “She assures me that you have nothing to worry about in that regard. She’ll go over all of the questions she’s going to ask you beforehand and rehearse with you your answers.”

  “How about you tagging along to help me break the ice with her? The interview will go a lot better if we’re comfortable with each other.”

  “I don’t have a problem with that.”

  “Good. What’s the lady’s name and office address?”

  “Terri Townsend. Terri with an i not a y.”

  “Is there anything I should know about this woman before we meet, like any no nos to avoid?

  “Not that I’m aware of. She’s a real down to earth person with a great sense of humor and knows what she’s talking about. Just follow her lead and everything will work out fine.”

  “Okay, I’ll meet you there at nine.”

  Vicki gives him the address and says, “Don’t let the address fool you. It’s not uptown, but it’s a first class operation that has better things to do with its capital than pay for glitz.”

  “I’m not a fan of glitz either, even if I could afford it. Good night, Vicki, and thanks for accompanying me tomorrow.”

  “You’re welcome, Mickey. Have a nice night.”

  “Boy, I wish I could offer a large reward for the capture and recovery of the stolen gems during the interview, something like a million green backs. That would be one hell of a bomb to drop on these suckers.”

  Mickey has placed calls to the insurance companies involved in the gem robberies that took place in the United States, but no one has gotten back to him yet with an answer one way or the other. He decided to hold off on approaching the victims until he gets responses from the insurance companies. These people have already lost a bundle and it’s not setting right with him to ask them to shell out more money. He’s hoping he won’t have to make those calls.

  During his drive home, he starts mumbling to himself again. “All in all, the day wasn’t a total disaster. I cleared the Clancy and fellow detective hurdles, Vicki’s advertising friend is coming through big time and none of the insurance companies have told me to take a walk yet. Even though the assets Chuck found have been sold, I’ve got to look for someone who can help me locate where all their money is being hoarded. It’s got to be a bundle. Maybe Chuck can help me out with that. If I can get a choke hold on those funds, that would really push their panic buttons.”

  His mumbling is interrupted by his cell phone ringing. It’s Ferguson. “Hey, Chuck, your timing couldn’t be any better.”

  “What’s on your mind, Mickey?”

  “Do you know anyone at the Federal Reserve Bank here in New York?”

  “No I don’t, but the CFO at my bank might. I helped him out with a personal matter a while back and I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t hesitate to reciprocate. What do you want from them?”

  “Every one of those assets of Feldman and Kadden you found has been sold. The proceeds of those sales plus the funds generated by the sale of all the stolen gems have to be on deposit somewhere. From what I’ve learned about these men, they are very clever and very cagey. I don’t think they’re going to keep much money in a U. S. bank where someone like me can tie it up indefinitely or perhaps wrest it from them permanently. I’m thinking they have accounts in another country, a country that has strict privacy laws and doesn’t share account holder information except in rare and very unusual circumstances. The places that immediately pop into my mind are Nassau in The Bahamas, the Grand Cayman Islands, Switzerland and Lichtenstein. There are probably others, but I’m a novice when it comes to this kind of thing.

  “I’m thinking that I might be able to circumvent those privacy laws if I can get our central bank to approach the central banks in the most likely countries our pilferers might be hiding their money to request that they query the banks in their systems for large sums of money being deposited into accounts held by non-residents over the past six months. I would give the Fed pictures of Feldman and Kadden and of course their real names to give the other central banks so they will have something to work with, but again knowing the people we’re after there’s a good chance they’ll have used forged documents with aliases and/or disguises to open the accounts. However, maybe we’ll get lucky and find they didn’t take precautionary measures and either used their real names or didn’t don disguises or both. They might be thinking that no one will ever be able to track the location of their funds.

  “Whichever way the wind blows, I’m hoping the queries made by the central banks will lead to a match with our bad boys. Of course, my ultimate goal is to locate these funds and freeze them. If I can do that, I will have these guys by the family jewels and they will no longer have the financial resources to elude capture in the style they are used to. Coupled with the mass media blitz on them, it should have them frantically looking for a way out of their predicament and finding none they’ll either turn themselves in or their panic will drive them into doing stupid things that will lead us right to them.”

  “I’ll call the CFO first thing Monday morning. How’s it going with the media blitz?”

  “It’s going. Vicki’s advertising friend, Terri Townsend, is making some headway with her approaches to her clients and she’s going to use a video interview with me to improve her chances of getting the mass media’s cooperation. I’m meeting with her tomorrow morning at nine to do the interview. Vicki will be there to run interference for me if I say something that evokes umbrage. When I want something real bad like I want these guys behind bars, I can be too direct when tact would be the better way to go. I’m hoping Vicki can keep me from ticking the lady off.

  “I’m waiting to hear back from the insurance companies that insured the stolen gems. If I can get them to chip in on a sizable reward leading to the capture and recovery of the stolen items and the media includes it in their coverage, we’ll have these guys jumping out of their skins.”

  “Well, let’s hope the third time’s the charm. We blew it in Switzerland and Canada. It would really make my day to hit one out of the park this time around.”

  “Mine and a lot of other people’s too.”

  During the rest of his drive home he starts thinking about what he should wear for the interview tomorrow. He remembers hearing or reading somewhere that blue shirts look better on TV and red ties are symbols of men who possess power. Should he wear his blue suit or the black one? Maybe he should get a haircut before the interview. Pulling into his parking space in the underground parking area, he suddenly realizes what he’s been doing. “Get a grip on yourself, Morretti. No one’s going to give a hoot what you look like. You’re a cop, not some celebrity or TV star. Dress like you always do, although it wouldn’t hurt to polish your shoes. If nothing else, you want to look professional.”

  Laughing at himself he heads for the elevator, some gourmet TV victuals and a large glass of his favorite Chianti. “Maybe I should wear that onyx and diamond ring in the 18k gold setting that Cheryl gave me for my birthday a couple of years ago. That would add a touch of class to the image.”

  Chuckling again at his vanity, he opens the door to his apartment, flicks on the lights and that’s the last thing he remembers until he regains consciousness ten minutes later with a hell
of a headache. If it hadn’t been for his neighbor coming home from work when he did, his lights might have been put out forever.

  Apparently, a man was waiting for him in his apartment and when he turned on the lights he received a welcome home present in the form of a bullet fired from a silencer equipped weapon. Fortunately, the shooter needed some lessons and the bullet only grazed his temple on its way to the wall in the hallway, but it hurts like it had embedded itself in his brain.

  His neighbor is also lucky the guy took off without shooting him even though his neighbor got a decent look at his profile as he fled down the corridor to the stairs that led down to the lobby.

  His neighbor has called 911 and his apartment is now filling up with cops. When word gets out that there’s an officer down the floodgates open and every cop in the area that can will converge on the scene with the hope to be the one that catches the bastard that shot one of their own.

  Clancy is one of the first to arrive. Mickey’s sitting on his couch in his living room holding an ice pack on his head thanks to his neighbor thinking, “What do you get a guy for Christmas who has probably just saved your life. Somehow a six pack or a subscription to Sports Illustrated doesn’t seem to cover it.”

  Taking a close look at Mickey’s head Clancy says, “For once, I’m glad you’re hardheaded. The paramedics are on the way to take you to the hospital to be checked out for a concussion. I’m thinking your quarry has turned the tables on you and you have now become theirs.”

  “I’m thinking the same thing. I’m kicking myself in the ass for not anticipating something like this happening.”

  “So am I. I thought they wouldn’t be stupid enough to kill a cop. They just threw more fuel on the fire and the heat you’re planning to pour on them has just gotten a lot hotter.”

  The paramedics then showed up to haul him off to the hospital, followed closely by the forensic techs to process the scene. Mickey asked his neighbor to lock up after everyone has left. “I keep a spare key in the kitchen in the top drawer below the phone.”

  “Don’t worry about that. Just concentrate on doing what the docs tell you to do.”

  “Thanks, Brad, and thanks for sticking your neck out to save mine.”

  “I didn’t do anything special. When I saw a hole appear in the wall in the hallway and a man appear in your doorway, all I did was yell hey you and the guy took off like he was running the hundred meters in the Olympics.”

  “Just the same, that took guts and I’m thankful.”

  “Forget it. Just catch that numb nut before he gets it in his head to come back for a second try.”

  Chapter 58

  Except for having a knot on his head where the bullet glanced off his temple, the doctor in the emergency room finds no other signs of damage. They give him some pain killer pills and send him on his way. Figuring he’s going to have to take a cab to get home, he is surprised to see Chuck, Vicki and his sister Cheryl waiting for him in the Emergency waiting room.

  “Don’t you people have anything better to do than hang out in emergency rooms?”

  With a smile of relief spread from ear to ear his sister says, “I don’t know about these folks, but I’m into experiencing new things. It’s not every day that my brother gets shot in the head yet avoids winding up on a slab in the morgue. That’s definitely a new one for me.”

  Throwing her arms around his neck and giving him a big hug she says, “What’s happened is already all over the news. That’s how all of us heard about what happened. I tried to reach Mom and Dad, but had no luck. I didn’t want to leave this kind of news on their voice mail and haven’t heard from them, so they probably haven’t watched or listened to the news yet.”

  Looking at him askance Chuck says, “You don’t look any the worse for your encounter with the bad guys. It must be the Roman gladiator blood in you. From what I’ve read on the subject those guys could really take a punch.”

  “Well, that trait must have skipped a few centuries in my family because I was out like a light for over ten minutes and if I had been standing a fraction more to my left, whatever kind of blood I have would have leaked all over my living room carpet.”

  Vicki says, “Well, you survived the attack and that’s all that matters. Let’s get out of here and go back to your place. None of us has eaten dinner, so I’ll order something for delivery and we can discuss how this incident might affect our game plan.”

  When they get back to Mickey’s apartment, every surface in the place is covered with fingerprint powder and not very conducive to trying to relax, enjoy some food and engage in some serious analytical discussion. “My cleaning lady is definitely going to want a bonus for cleaning this mess up.”

  Cheryl says, “Let’s go over to my place. It’s not far from here and there’s a Jewish deli around the corner that has kosher food to die for and they’re open all night on Fridays and Saturdays.”

  She doesn’t have to say it twice and a half hour later they are seated around Cheryl’s dining room table, consuming the tastiest sandwiches and salads available anywhere in the city. Cheryl also brings out her best wine to celebrate Mickey’s narrow escape from the reprobates who persist in killing anyone who gets in their way.

  Chuck gets the serious discussion going with, “We now know one thing for sure, Mickey. You definitely have become a big thorn in their side. You’re getting to them and that’s a big plus for us. If the media and insurance companies get on the band wagon, you’re going to have them soiling their underwear.”

  Vicki joins in with, “When they find out that their attempt to kill you has failed, they’re far from stupid and are going to soon realize that all they accomplished was to make you more determined, if that’s possible, to put their butts in a cage and are going to have more cops than ever backing you up. That certainly isn’t going to do their nerves any good.”

  Mickey responds with, “Trying to take out a cop is a sure sign of desperation and it’s just the kind of mistake that will lead to their downfall. Just think about it for a minute. They took a stab at me before the mass media did anything. What are they going to do if the mass media gets onboard?”

  Chuck answers with, “Run for the hills, out of the country most likely. If we can locate their bank accounts and freeze them, the countries the easiest and cheapest to reach from the States are Canada and Mexico. They probably have some cash on hand and can always steal more since they’re very good at stealing, but with their real names and descriptions being made public on a grand scale and the possibility of a large reward dangling over their heads how easy will that be and how safe those havens will be is anyone’s guess.”

  Mickey says, “Assuming the media and insurance companies sign on with us, this will be my last salvo, folks. If these people manage to dodge these bullets, I’m out of ammunition and there’s not an armory in sight.”

  Seeing the deep concern etched in every feature of his face his sister tries to lighten his load with a little humor. “Mickey, I’m not buying that for a minute. You’re the most resourceful person I know. Remember the time when the Deangelo brothers were picking on me and you came along and told them to leave me alone or else they’d be sorry.” Looking at Vicki and Chuck she says, “The Deangelo brothers were the bullies of our neighborhood and were a couple of years older and a lot bigger than us.” Looking back at her brother she continues with, “They laughed at you and headed toward you in a menacing way. Do you remember what you did?”

  “Cheryl, that was a lot of years ago. I don’t remember what I did last week and, besides, what does this have to do with what we’re faced with now?”

  “Everything. You spotted some poison ivy in the lot we were standing in front of and before they knew what hit them you grabbed some of it and smacked them in the face with it several times. They knew what it was and were terrified of what was lying ahead for them and took off like their pants were on fire. Their faces were a mess for almost two weeks. When they found out you didn’t get a rash,
they thought you had some kind of special power and never messed with you or me again. Of course, you knew you are one of the 15% of the people who aren’t allergic to poison ivy because Doctor Booth told you when he was doing allergy tests on you the summer you had that rash all over your chest, back and fanny.”