by Dan Kelly
“But when Deputy Styversant spotted you it was well after eight, your starting time at the laundry.”
“I called in and told my boss what had happened with my truck and that I had to have it towed to the gas station and try to talk the owner into giving me some credit for the repairs. I only had three hundred bucks in my checking account. The total cost for parts and labor came to a little over $500 and since I have been a customer for quite a while he agreed to let me pay him over a three month period.”
“Is that the first day you cut through the vineyard to get to the main road?”
Looking at Rosa who nodded to him to answer the question he said, “It was my first day, but my second attempt.”
“How come?”
“When I first tried to cut through the vineyard it was about six in the morning and I figured no one would be around to hassle me about using the field as a short cut. Man was I wrong. When my truck wouldn’t start, I was going to leave it until I got back from work in the evening to have it towed to the gas station. I only get paid for the hours I work and I need the money.
“When I got close to the back of the tool shed, I heard some noise coming from the front, so I quickly dropped to the ground and stayed still hoping I wouldn’t be seen. I had a couple of thoughts run through my mind while I was lying there. The first was the noise could be coming from the shed as field workers were getting ready for the day’s work even if it was a little early for that. The other thought was the noise was being made by the people who have been messing with the winery operations of a lot of the growers and if they saw me I could be in some serious trouble. I must have laid there for a good fifteen minutes without moving a muscle and I was beginning to get muscle cramps so I slowly got up and worked my way close to the back wall of the shed where I heard two men arguing inside. One of them was really mad at the other. I heard him say, ‘You stupid bastard, you’ve killed the guy. You could have just knocked him out.’ The other guy said, ‘This guy was no wuss. If I didn’t go whole hog, that could be me lying there.’
“Then the other guy said, ‘Damn it, Moose, Mario is going to be spitting mad when he hears about this. All he wanted was for us to mess with the irrigation system.’
“Then the other guy said, ‘Hey, shit happens. I never thought we’d run into anybody this early in the morning. I saw a pile of tarps alongside the shed outside. Grab one and we’ll wrap the body in it and haul it off someplace out in the boonies and dump it.’
“When I heard that I set a new record for the mile and lit out of there like my butt was on fire. I ran all the way home and when I could catch my breath I decided to call in to work to tell them I would be late and why, but I didn’t say anything about what I heard at the winery. I didn’t want to get involved and maybe killed too for shooting off my mouth, but that idea didn’t work out too good did it?”
Derrick says, “Hector, you have nothing to fear from the police if you haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I was trespassing on the winery’s property. I could get into trouble for that.”
“You did break the law by cutting across the vineyard, but the kind of trespassing you did would be considered at the worst a misdemeanor and you would have to pay a small fine. There aren’t any No Trespassing signs posted on the field you crossed which would mitigate any fine imposed and probably eliminate it. Besides, I don’t think the owners would have wanted to hassle with bringing charges against you and would probably have let you off the hook if you promised not to do it again. Then again, once the owners heard why you were trespassing they might have given you permission to continue to do it until your truck was fixed.”
“Maybe things would have worked out the way you say, but I usually don’t luck out that way.”
“Let’s get back to what you heard in the shed. Did you recognize either one of the voices you heard?”
“No. I never heard them before.”
“Did you get a look at either one of them?”
“Not really.”
“What do you mean by not really?”
“When I had run about twenty yards I tripped and fell and made some noise which brought these guys out of the shed to see what caused the noise. They saw me as I was getting up and started to chase me as I took off again. I saw them for only a second as I was hell bent on getting out of there.”
“Describe for me what you saw. Were they white, black, Latino? Were they tall, short, fat skinny? What color hair did they have? Was there anything about them that made them stand out?”
“Man, I told you I only saw them for a second. I was scared and didn’t give a damn what they looked like. I just wanted out of there.”
“I understand, but you did see them even if it was only for a second. Try to go back in your memory. Concentrate. Your subconscious mind retains a lot of information your conscious mind forgets. Sometimes if you think real hard about something, you remember things. Give it a shot, Hector. We really need your help.”
Hector squeezed his eyes shut and tried to recall any of the details of his encounter with the two men. He was quiet for a minute or so and Derrick and Julie were beginning to think they were going to strike out with Hector, but then he started to talk.
“They were white, one guy was really big and muscular, well over six feet tall, and he had black hair combed straight back into a long ponytail. The ponytail kept whipping around as he ran. The other guy was a lot smaller, but not as small as me. He looked like he was in good shape and he had long shaggy brown hair that hung down to his shoulders. He ran faster than the other guy, but, lucky for me, I was faster.”
“Did you get a clear look at their faces?”
Closing his eyes again, Hector tried to call up an image, but nothing popped into his mind.
“I’m getting nothing. It was dark and I only quickly glanced at them before I took off again. I didn’t really get a good look at their faces.”
“What about the clothes they were wearing? Do you remember anything about that?”
After thinking about it for a few seconds he says, “They were both wearing jackets, the big guy some kind of dark brown or black leather car coat and the other one was wearing a black waist jacket, one of those athletic ones with the name of the team on the front along with the team logo. Wait a sec. I’m trying to remember what was on the jacket”
After pausing for a minute to think about the jacket he smiles and says, “I’ll be damned. This concentrating stuff really works. It was a San Francisco Giants jacket.” I can see it as clear as if it was right in front of me now and their pants were a dark color, black, dark brown or maybe even a dark blue, like a navy blue.”
“You’re doing great Hector. This is the kind of information we’re looking for. When you heard these guys speak, did they have any kind of accent?”
“Now that you mention it, they sounded like those guys in the movies or that you see on TV that live in New York City, Brooklyn, the Bronx, like that.”
“Okay, Hector, one last question. How old do you think these men were?”
“They weren’t teenagers. There was a maturity about them that has me thinking that they were in their thirties, maybe early forties.”
“Thanks for talking with us, Hector. I have no more questions. If you think of anything else, call me at the number on this card.”
Taking the card Hector asks, “I hope these guys don’t find out what I saw and heard and that I told you. If they do, they might come after me.”
Derrick responds with, “No one’s going to hear about this conversation from us, Hector. Thanks to you, we now have some idea about who the people are that are responsible for Juan Peralta’s death. You’ve given us a starting point upon which we can try to build using the resources we have at our disposal.
Rosa says, “You did the right thing, Hector. It took guts for you to talk with them even though you were scared about the consequences. I’m very proud of you.”
“I only did it because you asked me
to. I hope I don’t live to regret it.”
“It still took guts and these folks will be there for you if you need them.”
Glancing at Derrick and Julie he says, “Okay, all I can do now anyway is wait to see how things play out. I better get my butt moving or I’ll be late for class. I’ll call you when I get home.”
“Okay.” Rosa gives him a kiss on the cheek and then he splits.
Julie says, “Hector would make one heck of a soccer player. He’s quick, coordinated and can change direction in the blink of an eye.”
Rosa says, “He started to play in high school, but he had to quit to work as a bag boy and then as a checker in a supermarket to help his parents pay the bills. They’re on their feet now, so he can pursue his own dreams of getting a good job in the leather industry and maybe one day go into business for himself.”
Julie says, “Well if determination and hard work still mean anything in today’s economic mess, my money is on him succeeding.”
“Thanks for that. I think so too.”
They drive Rosa back to Paganelli Wineries and since it is now after five in the evening the parking lot is almost empty and there is no sign of either of the Paganelli twins. Dropping her off at her car Derrick says, “Rosa, your boss is sure to ask you why we showed up and hauled you away from work. Keep your answer simple, but don’t lie. Just say something like we needed you to pave the way for us to talk with someone you have influence with and we’ve instructed you to keep quiet about it until we give you the all clear. That way we can protect Hector and not alert anyone that we might be on the right trail to track down the people who are causing all the trouble at the wineries. If anyone else gets nosy, including the Paganelli brothers, give them the same line.”
“I can do that.”
They exchanged good nights and Derrick and Julie waited for Rosa to get into her car and drive off before they headed back to the station.
Julie is driving and Derrick is writing in a pad he keeps in his jacket pocket. For ten minutes the only sound in the car is the sound of the traffic around them. Finally Julie breaks the silence with a question. “So, how are you going to use the information Hector gave us? When you were talking with Hector you sounded like he was giving you something that was really helpful. I’m not seeing things that way. I don’t see anything you can run with.”
“We came away with more than you might think. First off, we now know that there were two men at the winery and one of them who goes by the nickname Moose killed Juan Peralta. From the nickname we can assume it describes the big one since only a big guy like him could have taken Juan down by breaking his neck. Secondly, these men work for a guy by the name of Mario. Third, these men aren’t originally from around here. Their home turf, judging from the way they talked, is the New York City area or maybe even Philadelphia. It’s a decent bet that they were brought in temporarily just to scare the winery owners into selling. Fourth, we now have a general physical description of the two men, including their age, even if Hector didn’t get a look at their faces.
“These men have no idea what Hector saw or heard. They have no reason to believe he saw or heard anything that could cause them trouble. It’s more than likely they’ll think he was just sneaking across the vineyard hoping he wouldn’t get caught and took off when they spotted him because he was afraid he would get into trouble with the owners. I’m going to notify all of the owners of the wineries who have been experiencing disruptions in their operations to be on the lookout for anyone answering the descriptions we now have and to make sure their employees are in the loop. We just might get lucky and have someone zero in on them.”
Julie asks, “Do you think these are the men that have been sabotaging the other wineries?”
“Probably some of them, but the amount and the timing of the disruptions, some of them almost simultaneously, at all of the wineries indicates to me that there are more people involved.”
“Moose is a somewhat common nickname for big guys, but when you put it together with the New York/Philadelphia accent that narrows things down a little.”
“It does and I’m going to request the help of the NCIC as well as tap Maury Hoagland’s resources at the NSA to see if we can get any leads as to who this guy is and where we might find him.”
“What’s NCIC?”
“National Crime Information Center. They’ve got a huge database on a lot of people who have been arrested for all sorts of crimes. Maybe our guy will be in it somewhere.”
“And if not and Maury Hoagland comes up with nothing what then?”
“We wait to see if anything else comes down the pike we can hitch a ride on to see where it will take us. We still have the tails on the Paganelli brothers, so they might turn up something for us to scope out.”
“Well, the way I see things, you’ve made some progress with your investigation even if the brass may not think so.”
“Have you picked up something in the grapevine I’ve missed? Bemis hasn’t expressed any dissatisfaction with my results or lack thereof.”
“No, it’s just supposition on my part. The winery business is a vital industry to the County and State governments and if it hasn’t begun already, it’s only a matter of time before the politicians get into the act and they can be nasty folks if they feel threatened by anything.”
“I can’t argue with that, but it goes with the territory. It’s something you’ve got to learn to live with.”
“At least you’re not standing still. You’ve made some progress. You’ve have a lot of eyes and ears working for you now, you also have some idea what a couple of the people involved look like and you have a couple of names you didn’t have before. You’ve also got a couple of good suspects in the Paganelli twins and with good reason to boot.”
“If this becomes a political football, Julie, what you just summarized won’t impress anyone. The only thing that counts to them is something that will make the problem go away and the quicker the better. One thing you should consider very carefully before you decide to shoot for the detective shield is something Harry Truman is credited with saying. ‘If you can’t stand the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen.’”
Julie didn’t respond. She just got a very determined look on her face which convinced Derrick there was nothing that was going to discourage the lady from pursuing her goal to follow in her dad’s footsteps. For some reason that made him feel glad.
Chapter 25
The next morning, after submitting his request to NCIC and leaving a voice mail message for Maury Hoagland, Derrick knocks on Bill Bemis’s door to bring him up to date on the investigation. Bill’s on the phone, but waives him in and points to one of the chairs in front of his desk.
A couple of minutes later he finishes with the phone call, shakes his head and says to Derrick, “The jackals are circling. That was State Senator Robert Bickell with Governor Whitman cuing him making inquiries about the status of our investigation into the recent events occurring at the wineries in Napa Valley. An approximate quote: ‘We are becoming concerned over the apparent lack of progress towards capturing the culprits responsible for the incidents that have disrupted the winey operations and the potential impact they might have on the revenue generated by their operations and hence tax revenues for the State along with the negative impact they might have on prospective companies thinking of moving their businesses to California.’”
“Boy, he must have taken a deep breath before he spit that out.”
“He’s a politician. What did you expect? Terse is not in their vocabulary. I have no doubt that before the day is over I’ll be hearing from other elected officials and probably the media as well. People like Bickell and Whitman can be real rabble rousers when they want to be. They have the power, influence and connections to really get public opinion boiling.”