Cabernet Capers

by Dan Kelly

  “Where he works. He’s a tool and die maker and machinist for Bailey & Sons out on Ridgewood Avenue.”

  “I know the place. There was a break-in there a while back and I was one of the units that responded to the call. Some dopers were trying to load some heavy equipment into the back of a pickup when we showed up and spoiled their party. The yoyos completely ignored the sound of the alarm going off, figuring they could do the deed and split before the police showed up. I guess time stands still when you’re all drugged up on happy pills or the like.”

  “Well, if you know how to get there you drive and I’ll call Maury Hoagland and give him the names Maria Conti gave me and ask him to run them through his system and network.”

  Derrick’s call goes to voice mail so he leaves the names, their source and his request in a brief message, hoping he isn’t wearing out his welcome. Twenty minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of Bailey & Sons which is almost filled.

  Noticing the number of cars and trucks in the lot Julie says, “Business must be good.”

  Walking into a small reception area he sees a middle aged woman talking on the phone and when she spots him she raises her hand to acknowledge him and then issues an ultimatum to whomever she’s talking to on the phone. “I will tolerate no more excuses. If that material isn’t in our shop by five p.m. tomorrow evening, you can kiss our business goodbye.”

  To emphasize how serious she is she slams down the phone, not giving the other party a chance to say anything else.

  Looking at Derrick and Julie she sighs and says, “And what misery are you two going to lay on me?”

  Derrick show her his ID card and says, “We need a moment of you time.”

  “I shouldn’t be surprised to see the law show up on our doorstep this morning. I’m having that kind of day. Nothing is going right and I’m working on a headache for the record books. What bad news do you have for me today?” Did my boy Jimmy punch out someone at Harry’s Hangout again? He should have been here two hours ago.”

  “I’m sorry you’re having a bad day ma’am, but we’re not here to make it any worse. We’re not bearers of any bad news and I know nothing about your son and any altercation at Harry’s Hangout.”

  “Well, I’m sure glad to hear that. What can I do for you?”

  “We’d like to speak with one of your employees, Brian Collins.”

  “Has Brian done something wrong?”

  “No, we just want to talk with him about a conversation he overheard that could help us with an investigation we’re conducting.”

  “Just a sec.”

  She picks up her phone and dials an extension and asks the person who answers to send Collins to the reception area. She gets some static about how doing that will push them further off schedule on some order and she lowers the boom once again. “Damn it, Tony, just do it! You’re wasting time with your whining.” The phone takes another beating as she slams it down again.

  Remembering she still has an audience she looks up sheepishly at them and says, “I’m usually not this grumpy. I even smile occasionally. This is one of those days that I should have stayed in bed. If I didn’t own the place, that’s where I’d be headed.”

  “I know what you’re going through. I’ve had more than a few days like that myself.”

  A minute later a tall, slender, red headed fellow loaded with freckles and possessing very intelligent looking eyes the color dark molasses comes through one of the doors on the side of the reception area. He’s got one of those ageless faces. He could be anywhere from twenty to forty years old.

  “What’s up, Barb?”

  “These deputies want to talk with you.”

  Derrick introduces himself and Julie and then asks Barb if there’s someplace more private they can talk with Brian.

  “Sure, you can use my office if you won’t be more than a half hour. I’ve got some prospective customers coming in about then.”

  Pointing to the door adjacent to the door leading to the shop, she turns her back on them to answer the phone which, surprisingly, still works.

  Once the office door is closed Brian asks, “What’s this all about? As far as I know, I haven’t done anything wrong.”

  Derrick responds with, “As far as we know, you haven’t. We want to talk with you about a conversation you overheard at Bernie’s Bistro.”

  Those intelligent eyes of his narrow into slits as he says, “That’s nothing extraordinary at Bernie’s. There are always lots of loud conversations going on, especially during happy hour. However, they tend to merge into one another and the result is often a confusing bunch of gibberish, making you unsure of what you’ve heard.”

  Watching him closely Julie’s thinking, “As Yogi would say, this guy is definitely smarter than the average bear.” but says, “Our source has exceptionally good hearing.”

  Derrick follows up with, “You were overheard talking with one of the bartenders there about a conversation you overheard between Riccardo and Duilio Paganelli and a man by the name of Bob Sheldon. Do you remember that incident?”

  Pausing for the briefest of moments to consider his reply and then showing that he really is smart by choosing the right response he says, “Does anybody have to know we had this little chat? From what I’ve learned from watching the news on TV about what’s been happening at some of the wineries, people are getting killed and I don’t want to be one of them.”

  Derrick says, “No one will hear about it from us. We’re hoping you can tell us something else you might remember that you didn’t mention to the bartender, something that might help us with our investigation.”

  “Okay, what do you want me to do, repeat what I told the bartender?”

  “That would be a good place to start. We’ll stop you along the way if we have any questions.”

  Collins recollection of what he told the bartender pretty much matches what Richie Delaney said he overheard. Julie asks, “Are you sure nothing was mentioned about where this Bob Sheldon worked or lived?”

  “I don’t remember anything being said about that and I’ve never seen the guy before, in Bernie’s or anyplace else for that matter. Wait a minute. I just remembered something else. The shirt this Sheldon guy was wearing had some kind of a hexagon logo on the shirt pocket which included a name of something. It could have been his name, his company’s name or maybe even a company slogan. The shirt was canary yellow and the logo was black and white. I really didn’t take a good look at it, just a glance as he was leaving Bernie’s. Damn, I can almost see it.”

  Derrick says, “Close your eyes and try to imagine you’re back in Bernie’s that night and concentrate real hard on that shirt.”

  After much urging by both Derrick and Julie, Collins has a sudden revelation. “In the middle of the logo was a picture of a microscope and along the sides of the picture were some words, one on each side. I can’t make out the word on the left, but I think the word on the right was Labs. I’m sorry, but nothing else is popping up.”

  Derrick says, “That’s alright. You did good. At least we know more now than we did before we had this little confab. We now know that this guy probably works for some laboratory located in the Napa Valley area. We’ll take it from here and thanks Mr. Collins. We appreciate you working with us and no one will ever know we had this conversation.”

  “You’re welcome. All I have to worry about now is how I’m going to explain your dropping by to Barb.”

  “Just tell her we’ve asked you to zip your lip and not discuss what we discussed here today with anyone. I think her curiosity has at least been banked for the rest of the day since, according to her, she’s having a day from hell.”

  “That sounds like a plan. If you don’t need me for anything else, I better get back to work before she makes my day a living hell.” Laughing softly, he opens the door and seeing no trace of Barb makes a hasty retreat back to work.

  Back in their car Julie says, “I’ve never seen a shirt like Collins described. Wha
t are we going to do with that bit of information?”

  “Let our fingers do the walking, through the phone book or on the computer keyboard. There are a lot of medical and environmental laboratories in and around the Napa Valley, so it may take a while to find the one we’re looking for.”

  “The guy apparently is collecting a paycheck and therefore must be paying taxes. The Federal and/or the State tax agencies would have employment and residential info on him. Why don’t we knock on their doors?”

  “First off, there are probably thousands of Sheldons working in the U. S. and, secondly, without a court order no one at these agencies is going to raise a finger to help us.”

  “What about your friend at NSA?”

  “He’s already stuck his neck out enough already and I’ve been abusing his hospitality. After he gets back to me with what he manages to learn about the people Maria Conti told me about, I’m going to do my best to fly solo from here on out.”

  “Do you think Bemis will authorize a trip to Chicago to see what we can dig up there on this Nick Petrillo?”

  “If we run out of places to look around here he might, but right now he’d show me the door.”

  “So, our focus now is going to be on locating this Bob Sheldon and rattling his cage, right?”

  “That’s going to be your focus. I’m going to be focusing on learning more about the owners of Industrial Ventures International and their investors.”

  Chapter 34

  Since Derrick has decided to go solo sans Maury Hoagland with his investigation, he elects to do some research on the Italian law enforcement arena so he’ll have some idea about who to contact for assistance. The internet once again proves to be a valuable tool.

  He quickly learns of The Direzione Investigativa Antimafia (DIA which translates to Anti-Mafia Investigation Department. This is a joint organization of three separate units consisting of the Polizia di Stato Carabinieri, the Corpo Forestale dello Stato and the Guardia di Finanza that was organized in 1991 for the fight against organized crime.

  This seems to be the ideal place to start so he’s off and running. Calling a number he also found on the internet, he soon finds himself talking with a man that speaks better English than he does, Inspector Antonio Bianchi.

  Derrick explains the purpose of his call, provides the names of the people he’s trying to learn more about and why? His last words are barely out of his mouth when the inspector says, “I know quite a bit about most of these people and none of it is good. They are a very powerful and dangerous lot and they have a worldwide influence in just about every walk of life. This Nofri Nuzzoli is one of the worst of them.”

  “I have two suspects in an investigation involving our winery industry here in Napa Valley, CA and I have reason to believe they are partnered up with members of organized crime to acquire some of the smaller wineries here by legal or any other means that might get the job done.

  “Winery operations are being sabotaged and there have been two killings to date and I fear things are going to seriously escalate if I don’t quickly apprehend the culprits behind these takeover attempts. I’m hoping you can help me determine who the owners of Industrial Ventures International are and perhaps help me get the goods on them for the part they’re most likely playing in what’s happening here. The investors may or may not know what the owners may be doing, but, frankly, I’ll be surprised if they don’t. I’m kind of clutching at straws here, I know, but since these folks are playing in your backyard you’re more apt to know of ways we might be able to put them into forced retirement in a cell. Whether that’s in Italy or here I really don’t care. I just want them out of circulation.”

  “If you will forward to me copies of your activities and progress to date regarding this investigation, I will sit down with my people to explore ways we might be able to lend a helping hand.”

  “I’d be most happy to do that and thank you for your offer to help. There’s quite a bit of information. Will it be safe for me to email it to you?”

  “Quite safe. It would be easier to break into your Fort Knox than to hack into our computer systems.”

  “That’s comforting to hear. The information will be on your computer when you come in tomorrow morning. What’s your email address?”

  Writing it down and giving the inspector his contact info he ends the call with, “Thanks again. If you’re ever in California, the pizza, pasta or whatever and wine is on me.”

  “I’m a steak and baked potato man myself and you’re on if I ever get to la-la land.”

  “Are you sure you’re not American? You sure talk like one.”

  “My mother’s American, born and raised in Santa Monica. She met my father during a vacation to Florence, fell in love with the place and him, moved here and the rest is history.”

  “Have you ever been to California?”

  “Nope. I’ve been to Chicago and New York quite often on police business, but have never made it to the West Coast. If I ever do, we’ll have a real Italian meal, at least seven courses.”

  With both of them laughing, they ended the call.

  “Well, that puts another iron in the fire. Let’s hope it gets red hot.”

  Figuring it’s time to give Bill an update on the investigation, Derrick heads over to his office, but before he can get there Julie intercepts him with a big smile on her face. “I found the lab.”

  “So soon?”

  “I have very nimble fingers.”

  Looking at her suspiciously he asks, “What’s the name of the lab?”

  “Particle Laboratories”

  “What do they do?”

  “Subatomic research and don’t ask me what that is because I have no idea.”

  “Do you have an address?”

  “Yes and a phone number.”

  “Good work and quick too. That’s worth at least a Starbucks special. We can grab some go-go juice on our way to this mysterious lab after I give Bill an update on what we’ve been doing and are going to be doing. On the ride over to the lab, I’ll fill you in on my conversation with an interesting branch of the Italian national police.”

  “Okay, but I can’t take a reward for a job well done when it was pure luck that I found the lab so quickly. I ran into Tess in the break room and we got to talking about what I was doing as your back up and when I told her what I was doing to identify the lab she gave me the name. Her kid brother is working there on one of their research projects associated with a grant some foundation awarded the company and he has a shirt just like the one Collins described to us.”

  “I’m a firm believer in the axiom I’d rather be lucky than smart and you’re still getting the reward because you fessed up.”

  “I’ll cherish this moment forever just like George Washington did with the cherry tree.”

  “That supposedly never happened.”

  “That’s just a minor technicality.”

  Laughing, Julie heads for her desk to prepare to leave the station and Derrick turns to head for Bill’s office and finds Bemis standing in the doorway eavesdropping on their conversation.

  “I see you and your backup are bonding very well. Why do I have this feeling that if I don’t keep an eye on you this winery investigation is going to set a world record for time in progress?”

  “Hey! You’re the one that’s always harping about how good police work relies on good teamwork. I’m just following orders.”

  Laughing, he motions Derrick into his office where Derrick gives him the short version of what has gone down and what the game plan is for going forward.