by Dan Kelly
He shakes his head and again remains silent.
“Remo, where do you live?”
For a moment he appears to be struggling with the question, but then he mumbles with considerable effort, “Monza.”
“Where is Monza?”
“Italia.” This response came much more quickly and easily.
“Why did you come to America?
This gets nothing but a blank stare.
“Remo, who do you work for? Who’s your employer?”
At first there’s no response, but there’s no blank stare either. He appears to be trying real hard to remember who he works for. Julie is about to ask another question when Remo utters, “Arrigoni. Signore Antonio Arrigoni.”
“What do you do for Signore Arrigoni?”
This first gets a look of confusion but that suddenly changes to one of recollection and then to one of caginess and fear. Remo looks over at Derrick watching him and then back at Julie, but says nothing.
Julie repeats the question, but gets the same response.
“Remo, why were you setting fires at the Arlinghaus Winery?”
This gets no response but a shake of the head.
“Remo, do you remember getting shot?”
This gets a terse “Big man.” response.
“Remo, please try to remember your last name. If we have that, we can try to locate some of your family to notify them about what has happened to you.”
This gets a slight shrug, but nothing else.
Derrick steps closer to Remo’s bed and says, “Since you can’t remember your last name, I’m going to have one of our technicians stop by and fingerprint you. We’ll send your prints to the Italian authorities and if they have your prints on record we’ll get your last name that way.”
This gets a glare instead of a blank stare or a shrug of the shoulders.
Julie asks several more questions which he answers, but then Remo falls asleep or pretends to fall asleep, so, remembering the charge nurse’s warning, she and Derrick leave him to his nap and recuperation.
Walking back towards the nurses’ station Derrick says, “That guy remembers a lot more than he’s letting on. If he doesn’t know his last name, I’m Wolf Blitzer in disguise.”
“If he’s that aware, the names he’s given us could be bogus to throw us off the track for a while and give him time to try to come up with a plan to get out of his predicament. For that matter, everything he’s told us could be a bunch of horse manure.”
“I don’t think so. He knows that we can check out what he’s told us fairly quickly, but I do think he’s giving us some truthful answers and holding back on other questions because he believes that lends credence to the act he’s putting on of not being able to remember some things. However, I agree with you that he’s trying to buy time to come up with a plan to extricate himself from the mess he’s in. When we get back to the station, I’ll pass on what the man told us to Inspector Bianchi and ask him to check out the veracity of what Remo told us, if that’s even his real name.”
“Are you going to have Remo fingerprinted or was that just a ruse to get him to give us his last name?”
“I was hoping he would think it futile to keep pretending he didn’t remember his last name if he remembers his fingerprints are on file with the Italian authorities, but the ploy didn’t work. So, yeah, I’m going to have his prints taken and I’ll pass them on to Inspector Bianchi as well.”
When they get to the nurses’ station, he asks the charge nurse if she’s aware of anyone trying to see Remo or calling to inquire about his condition and he gets the same response he got from the man guarding Remo’s room. “Please check with the charge nurses on the other shifts and let me know their answer ASAP.”
“I’ll get on it right away.”
“Thanks.”
During the drive back to the station Julie says, “I’m surprised Remo gave up his boss’s name. If this Antonio Arrigoni is one of the top bad guys in Italy, shooting his mouth off could get him killed.”
“Julie, I think we’re forgetting something. Remo was shot in the head and had his brains scrambled a bit, so he’s probably not firing on all cylinders yet. His normal ability to assess the pros and cons of doing or saying something could very well be in a state of confusion. That’s bad for him, but good for us.”
“With Nuzzoli and Petrillo out of the picture, I wonder if we’re out of the picture as targets for the bad guys.”
“Unfortunately, we’ve been getting way too much press lately. We’ve been getting too much credit for snapping at the heels of the bad guys and getting in their way thanks to the Board of Supervisors opening the door for the media so they can take credit by implying they have had something to do with our investigation and looking good to the electorate. That was one of the things that finally drove Bemis out the door. If someone steps in to take Nuzzoli’s place, they might even be more aggressive than Nuzzoli was. We can’t let our guard down until we know for sure what we’ll be dealing with going forward.”
Chapter 45
Once back at the station, Derrick arranges for someone to go out to Queen of the Valley Hospital to fingerprint Remo and then he calls Inspector Bianchi to pass on the names he’s come across. He’s expecting his call to go to voice mail because this time he remembers the nine hour time difference, but the phone is answered by the man himself.
“Bianchi.”
“Inspector, this is Sergeant Chandler calling. I’ve got a couple of names I’d like you to check out for me, an Antonio Arrigoni and a Remo something. This Remo says he works for Arrigoni.”
Derrick explained the circumstances under which he got them and told him he wasn’t sure if he was being played for a fool or not.
“Sergeant, I’ve never come across anyone by the name of Remo, but I certainly know an Antonio Arrigoni. He’s worse than Nofri Nuzzoli and he has a lot more soldiers working for him. This Remo might be one of them. Although they’re dons of different families, they often joined forces when it suited them. Sergeant, a word of caution is in order. If Arrigoni is in the picture, prepare yourself for an increase in the violence there. The man has no patience and is an animal when he doesn’t get his way.”
“I’m going to have Remo fingerprinted so I can send copies to you to compare with those you have in your data bases. Once we know more about him that knowledge might give us something to pry open other doors with. Where should I email them?”
Bianchi says, “Email them to me. I’ll see that they get to the right people and get processed immediately. I’ll call you with the results.”
“What’s the fallout so far from the Nuzzoli garroting?”
“Nothing overt so far, but our sources are telling us that there have been a lot of hush-hush meetings with some of the dons of families over here. When the don of a family gets taken out, it makes the other dons very nervous.”
“And if I were in your shoes, my nerves would be working overtime too facing the possibility of an all-out mafia gang war.”
“My nerves are jangling too, Sergeant. Anticipation and preparation make good bedfellows, but despite all the planning, in the end you often wind up, to use one of your American expressions, ‘flying by the seat of your pants’ and hoping for the best. Ciao.”
Seeing that Derrick has ended his call to the Inspector, Julie walks over to his desk and says, “The way I’m seeing things we’re now dead in the water until something new develops with the Paganellis or Cordell or someone or something new pops up from Milan. Do you have any other open cases Bemis told you to put on the back burner that I could help you with? If not, I should report back to patrol duty. I’m not earning my paycheck sitting on my hands here.”
“No way, Julie. A target has been put on your back as a result of you working with me on this investigation. Until we know that’s no longer the case, we stay together watching each other’s back with the dogs looking out for us when we’re flying solo. If anybody gives you any flak, tell them to come see me. You got
that?”
With the hint of a smile on her face she says, “I got it.”
“Now, back to your question. I’ve got some open cases you can help me with, but before we get to that I want us to put our heads together to try to come up with something that will anger the Paganellis so much they’ll make a move on us themselves. A possible scenario is forming in my head which might provide the kick in the ass needed to get make them desperate enough to do something reckless, something we can nail them for. So far, they’ve managed to avoid anyone making a solid connection between them and the people engaged in doing the dirty work at the wineries. I’d like to come up with something that will splash so much legal mud on them they’ll drown in it.”
“They’re proving to be very nimble at keeping clear of any fallout from what has been happening at the wineries to say nothing about the attacks on us.”
“Hear me out. They might continue to do that, but as the old saying goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Assuming my assumption is correct, that the Paganellis started the ball rolling with the acquisition attempts on the wineries in Napa Valley by forming alliances with some very unsavory people who have the required funds and other expertise to make their business growth plan a reality, they have to be very dissatisfied with the progress to date. I’m thinking the brothers put a lot of the blame on their partners for this lack success. I think this created a deep chasm in the partnership and the brothers decided to do something about it, hence the appearance of Benjamin Cordell on the scene and the disappearance of Petrillo and Nuzzoli.
“Are you with me so far?”
“Perplexed as to where you’re going with this but keeping up.”
“Good. Now, the brothers aren’t stupid and have to be concerned about the possibility of Nuzzoli being replaced by someone else and the impact that would have on them. In short, did they step from the frying pan into the fire? If Cordell is indeed their hit man, what would they do if he decides not to risk winding up taking on the entire mafia by killing another don and tells them to take a walk? Would they acquiesce to the demands of the new player on the field, would they look for someone else to replace Cordell to remove the new player from the field or would they elect to do the deed themselves?”
“You just said the twins aren’t stupid. Risking taking on the entire Italian mafia by themselves would be extremely stupid. I don’t think that’s in the cards.”
“Julie, both these guys have enormous egos and miniscule mores. They’re used to having things go their way and will do anything to make their wishes a reality and couldn’t care less about any collateral damage.”
“Okay, assuming everything you’ve said is true and you’ve got them pegged, how are you going to use this knowledge to give them a legal mud bath?”
“That’s why I want us to put our heads together to try to come up with something that will push them over the edge and attempt to remove us from the playing field. From what’s been reported in the media coupled with our personal interactions with them, they know we’ve been a major stumbling block to their acquiring the wineries they’ve zeroed in on. We’ve already got to be a major pain in their rears. There’s got to be something we can do to ignite their tempers and get them boiling enough to make a move on us.”
“If we manage to do that, the targets on our backs are going to be much larger. Each of us watching the other’s six reinforced by a couple of dogs watching over us at night doesn’t seem sufficient to me to keep us in the world of the living.”
“We can greatly improve our odds of survival by increasing the number of eyes on the twins. We don’t want to make things more difficult for a shooter or shooters. That would defeat the purpose of our trying to entice them into making a move on us.”
“So the bottom line is your still trying to draw somebody out to try to kill us. With the Paganelli twins you can take extra precautions, with anyone else coming at us we continue doing what we’re doing.”
“You’ve got the picture. Of the two possibilities, I think we can provoke the Paganellis to act first. So, how can we really tic these wannabe tycoons off?”
“I think we’ve got to come up with something that seriously threatens their freedom. We’ve got to convince them that we’re closing in on them and that the retrieval of one more critical piece of information is imminent and then their gooses will be cooked. We would have to physically confront them with this threat, without any witnesses present of course, but something like that should get them significantly worked up.”
“I like it. To be convincing, we’d have to reveal what we’ve learned to date and come up with a little creative prevarication to embellish what we’ve put together, but I think it would work.
“There is one thing that could change the outcome though. Revealing what we know could bring Cordell down on us if the Paganellis tell him what’s going on. However, Cordell might draw the line on killing a couple of cops and pull a disappearing act. Either way, there’s a good chance one or more of the three is going to wind up in the clink or worse. The key to this working is going to depend on the circumstances surrounding our confrontation with the brothers. There’s a better chance of the twins buying our performance if the encounter appears to be by happenstance.”
“I guess that’s something we’ll have to play by ear.” Pausing and taking a deep breath Julie continues with, “Isn’t this a little off the wall for a couple of deputies to be planning? With Bemis gone, we’re doing this on our own. Shouldn’t you at least tell George Baldwin what we’re up to?”
“As far as I’m concerned, the longer I can keep him out of the loop the better. He’s long on hot air and short on action. He’ll just try to talk me out of it for fear the county will be sued if something should go wrong and then with the next breath complain about the lack of progress.”
“Well, he’ll know something’s up when you ask for more eyes on the Paganellis.”
“I’ll think of something to keep him in the dark for a while.”
“Okay, when are we going to put this brilliant idea of ours into motion?”
“As soon as I get the extra eyes on the twins. I’m thinking of doubling up on the surveillance to keep a closer watch on them.”
“Okay, I’ll be ready.”
Julie walks back to her desk and Derrick picks up the phone and pokes in the Chief Administrator’s number. His gatekeeper answers and proceeds to give him a hard time about putting him through to her boss. “If this is what Bemis had to put up with, no wonder he pulled up stakes.”
He finally gets her to put the call through by resorting to a little bullying. “Lady, I’m calling about a murder investigation I’m conducting and he’s going to be very upset if you don’t put this call through to him not to mention how upset the citizens of this county will be if a couple of deputy sheriffs die because of your incompetence. Now, damn it, put the call through.”
His conversation with the Chief Administrator goes a lot more smoothly and Derrick doesn’t even have to lie about why he is requesting additional surveillance. “Sergeant, I know very little about law enforcement. I’m an administrator. I’m just a body occupying the spot vacated by Bill Bemis until his replacement is elected because no one else would volunteer to try to temporarily fill in. I’ll trust that you know what you’re doing.”
“What a bunch of baloney. He volunteered because it would look good on his resume or he’d reap some other benefit for doing so.”
“Okay, then you’ll authorize the additional manpower and overtime?”
“I’ll authorize it.”
“Great and thanks for trusting in me. Please send me an email stating same for my report.”
Before Baldwin can balk at putting his authorization in writing, Derrick hangs up.