by Dan Kelly
Calling out to Julie he says, “I got the authorizations for a couple of more bodies for surveillance and no questions were asked. It’s up to me who we pick. Do you have any preferences?”
“What a way to run a cop shop. He’s no dummy though. He’s absolved himself of all responsibility and put the entire burden on you. If things go as we’ve planned, he’ll figure some way to take part or all of the credit. If things go south, he’ll put the blame on you.”
“Hey, I got what I asked for and knew the stakes when I approached him. The only other option is to back off and do nothing until something happens which could be someone else getting killed who’s some innocent bystander. I’d have a problem dealing with that. So, do you have any preferences?”
“Not really. All of the people in the patrol division I’ve worked with are top drawer as far as I’m concerned.”
“From a goodwill standpoint it would probably be a good idea to ask the new Captain of the division to make the pick. What’s his name?”
“Sean Murphy.”
“Boy, you can’t get more Irish than that. Does he walk around with a shillelagh?”
“He’s tough enough without one. If anyone messes with him, they’re in for a heap of trouble. There’s a rumor going around that when he was a rookie four street punks had a go at him and they all wound up in the hospital with a lot of broken bones and faces that looked like they’d been hit with a sledge hammer. One of them supposedly died.”
“What’s he like as a boss?”
“He cares about his people. He’s strict when it comes to department mandates, but is fair in his criticism and assessment of performance and, as you would expect with an Irishman, he has a good sense of humor. I get along with him and he seems to like me.”
“Since I’ve never met the man, I’ll go knock on his door and make my request in person. Once he knows that I’ve been given authorization to pick two men to participate in the surveillance on the twins, he should accept my coming to him and asking him to make the selection as the goodwill gesture it’s intended to be. This should have more import than a phone call and mitigate any friction my request might cause due to the temporary reduction in the division’s manpower.”
“Wow! Spoken like a true politician.”
“Watch your mouth, deputy. There could be children listening.”
Laughing Julie says, “Do you want me to come with you to lend a helping hand if the Captain gives you any grief?”
Thinking about his answer for a moment he says, “Sure, why not. It’ll also put you in a different light in his eyes to see you so deeply involved in the investigation that you’re participating in conversations like this. When you make your move to become a detective, it won’t hurt to have a Captain on your side.”
“That’s not why I made the offer.”
“I know and that’s the main reason I said yes. Now, let’s go talk with your Captain.”
Chapter 46
When Derrick and Julie are shown into Captain Murphy’s office, Derrick is amazed at the stature of the man. He’s only about six feet tall, but he’s built like a tank. The guy has the widest pair of shoulders he’s ever laid his eyes on. It’s easy to see now how this guy was able to put four guys in the hospital all by himself.
When the man speaks, the voice reinforces the image his build projects. It’s a deep baritone and every syllable embodies no nonsense authority. He doesn’t speak loudly to draw your attention. He speaks softly, but the way he stares at you unblinkingly has you paying attention to every word.
“So, Julie, how do you like bodyguard work?”
“It’s a nice change from tooling around in a squad car all day looking for trouble makers or folks who think the freeways are their personal dragstrips or raceways and I’m learning a lot of new things.”
“That’s good to hear. We miss you and will be glad to get you back when the Sergeant here has put an end to the assaults on the wineries. Sergeant, are you getting any closer to these guys?”
“Thanks for giving me that segue. That’s why we’re here, to hasten the end of those assaults or at least reduce the number of people behind them.”
Derrick gives him a complete overview of the investigation and what they are planning to do. “We need to double the surveillance to give Julie and me a better chance of successfully dealing with the increased risk we’ll be taking. Geez, I sound like an insurance salesman.”
“So you need a couple more warm bodies to provide the extra insurance.”
“That we do and we’d like you to pick the people you feel would be best to fill those slots.”
Looking at Derrick with an appraising kind of stare for a few seconds he finally says, “You apparently have the authority to pick the men you require yourself. I appreciate your giving me a say in the matter.”
“You’re right, I could make the selection myself, but that would require me spending some time on reading your personnel’s jackets and that’s time we don’t want to waste. Besides, you know more about your people than personnel jackets would reveal. I prefer to rely on your judgment instead of me making half-assed guesses based on what I’ve read in someone’s personnel file. Besides, this gives me an opportunity to kiss your ass and maybe a decent working relationship will come out of it.”
Derrick can hear Julie softly gasp at what he’s just had the audacity to say, but he keeps his eyes on Murphy waiting for his reaction. It wasn’t long in coming. Murphy bursts out laughing and says, “You know my bullshit meter was starting to wiggle for a minute there, but your honesty and directness has put that to rest. I’ll make my selection and have them report to you first thing in the morning.”
Rising Derrick says, “Thank you, Captain. I hope it won’t be too much longer before you have your people back in the fold. Having five people out of your lineup will definitely wreak havoc with assignments. Come on, Julie, we’ve got some finishing touches to put on our little charade.”
Walking back to their office Julie says, “I can’t believe you said what you said to him. Nobody in the division would dare to talk to him like you did. I thought he was going to blow a gasket.”
“Julie, one thing I’ve learned in this job is to cut to the chase and forget about all the trimmings when you’re dealing with folks like Murphy. They’ll respect you more and will be more willing to work with you.”
“Well, you sure won him over.”
Looking at his watch and seeing it’s almost five o’clock he says, “There’s one more thing I’d like to do before we call it a day. Let’s think more about what we’ll say to the Paganellis when we confront them. We can play around with some dialogue and then tweak it until we’re comfortable with it. I’ll order in some Chinese to get our digestive and creative juices flowing. Are you okay with that?”
“I have no problem with it, as long as I’m out of here by seven. I have a practice session scheduled with my Sensie at seven-thirty. His dojo is a good twenty minutes from here on my way home if I don’t run into any traffic.”
“Fair enough.”
Derrick orders in the food, Julie sits down at her computer and starts making a list of things she thinks they should consider and Derrick calls Maury Hoagland to keep him in the loop.
Maury says, “You know, Derrick, you might want to think about using some legal harassment to help prod these twins into losing it and coming after you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Everybody commits minor infractions of the law almost on a daily basis. For instance, speeding, unsafe lane changes and tailgating are common occurrences on the freeways and other byways in all communities. Jaywalking and littering are examples of some other infractions.
“You could have those deputies keeping tabs on the twins look for any opportunity to give them tickets for such violations. They could do that without the twins getting an inkling of their surveillance activities because there are always police cars patrolling these communities. They come and go all the time. Maybe you could br
ing the Highway Patrol into the scheme also.”
“I like that idea. I could use these tickets as my reason for confronting them with my anger over their careless disregard for the law and couple that with my really losing my temper and carelessly pummeling them with my contention that they’re behind the wineries’ woes and their arrest is imminent once one more piece of evidence is obtained. The ideal finishing touch on my tirade could be me saying something like ‘I’m fed up with you scumbags.’ Yeah, that should do the trick. They’ll buy it. Thanks for the suggestion, Maury. I’m running quite a tab with you and I have no idea how I’m going to settle up.”
“Don’t lose any sleep over it. Something will come up down the road where you can return the favors. Take care and don’t forget to duck. Bye.”
“Julie, forget it and go home. Maury Hoagland did our work for us, again.”
“How?”
Derrick gave her a synopsis of Maury’s suggestion and his reaction. Julie asks, “Are you going to try to bring in the Highway Patrol to help us out?”
“Getting them involved would certainly add credence to the plot.”
“I know a CHPS Lieutenant. He and his wife take Judo lessons from my Sensei and should be at the dojo tonight. Would you like me to ask him how we should go about requesting their assistance?”
“Since I know no one over there, the lieutenant might be able to facilitate things for us and save us some time getting them involved, especially if you can sell him on the idea. When you get home from your practice, call me with his reaction, okay?”
“Okay. Good night.”
Soon after Julie leaves the Chinese food is delivered.
“Ah man, I forgot all about ordering this. I can’t eat all of it by myself and it tastes the best when it’s fresh. Reheating it destroys some of the flavor.”
Spotting Deputy Henry Chen over by the coffee set up he figures Henry will appreciate the opportunity of eating the cuisine of his heritage and getting it free to boot, so he walks over and offers half of it to him.
“Don’t let my looks fool you, Derrick. I’m a dyed in the wool mashed potatoes and hamburgers kind of guy. I can’t stand that stuff, but thanks for the offer.”
Seeing the surprised look on Derrick’s face he laughs and says, “Derrick, I’m Chinese-American with the emphasis on American.”
“Oh boy, I just pulled a major social faux paus huh?” I didn’t mean to offend.”
“Nah, your heart was in the right place, but I sure wish I had a picture of the look on your face when I declined your offer. There’s usually not too much to laugh about around here. We’re cool.”
Laughing, he grabs one of the leftover blueberry bagels that were delivered early in the morning and walks away.
“Well, that was not the most auspicious way for me to end my day. Hmm, I wonder if my neighbor’s Pekingese would turn her nose up at Cáo’s best. The way this day is ending the pooch probably only dines on steak tartar or perhaps some other raw meat in a pinch.”
Instead of sitting down and eating some of the food at his desk, Derrick decides he wants a change in scenery and heads for home nibbling on some of the egg rolls along the way. He doesn’t live that far from the station and figures the containers will keep the food warm enough until he gets there. What he can’t finish there he’ll toss. Chuckling to himself he mumbles, “No sense risking getting bitten by an affronted canine.”
A little after nine, having eaten way more of the tasty Chinese takeout than he should have because it made him sleepy and he dozed off watching an old movie on TV that he was really enjoying, he’s awakened by his phone ringing. It’s Julie calling to tell him the lieutenant has no problem with paving the way for the Highway Patrol to participate in their scheme to push the Paganellis’ hot buttons and will call her tomorrow when the deed is done. That news somewhat assuages his annoyance with himself for being a pig, but he turns the TV off and goes to bed so there won’t be a repeat performance of his falling asleep watching something else that’s sucked him in and waking up ticked off at himself for doing it again.
Chapter 47
For the next couple of weeks things stay relatively quiet. There are now four deputies monitoring the twins every move when they are out and about and the Highway Patrol folks have weighed in to add fuel to the fire. The Paganellis have been bombarded with tickets for all kinds of minor infractions and the last time Duilio was ticketed it was for disturbing the peace by using foul language during an encounter with a street person who had approached him for money and he came within an eyelash of assaulting the officer. If he’s found guilty on that offense alone, he could be both fined and thrown in the clink.
The twins are really getting pissed off and their attorney, Bruce Whitman, is working overtime to mitigate the consequences of these infractions. The attorney has threatened to bring civil and criminal charges against the county for harassment of his clients, but they’re only threats to get the deputies to back off. What the deputies are doing is perfectly legal because the twins are breaking the law even though the majority of the laws they’ve broken to date are seldom enforced and the attorney knows this. So far, the Board of Supervisors has remained in their corner and not cowered in the face of the attorney’s threats and Derrick is hoping they will continue to refrain from doing so.
So far nobody has contacted Giuseppe Pelegrinno to resume making offers to the targeted wineries and Derrick is wondering if that’s because the dons have other issues they’re dealing with, like staying alive.
On a drizzly Tuesday evening this relatively tranquil atmosphere is shattered by a phone call to Derrick at his home around eight, the male caller demanding that he toss his winery investigation into the cold case file for lack of leads and drag his feet if new leads present themselves or suffer the consequences. The man sounds young and speaks English without a trace of an accent. He utters only the one sentence and then hangs up before Derrick can say anything. Instead of being shaken up Derrick’s smiling and thinking, “Finally! Someone has decided to come to my party. I’ve got a surprise for you misfits, free room and board for a long, long time. The furnishings are kind of Spartan, but hell what can you expect for the price.”
After waiting for weeks with nothing happening Derrick was in somewhat of a funk, but that phone call has made his day and he’s now chomping at the bit to go head to head with these creeps. An hour later Champ starts to bark at the front door and when Derrick carefully opens it to see what has gotten the dog’s attention no one is there, but someone has placed a small box wrapped in brown paper in the center of his welcome mat. It has his name and address printed on it in large black capital letters and under his name is a warning label that reads ‘Handle With Care’ and another label beneath that which reads ‘This Side Up’.
Derrick lets Champ out to check the grounds surrounding his house, but the dog finds nothing to arouse his suspicion. Whoever delivered the package is nowhere around and after receiving that phone call, Derrick’s not about to pick the package up. It could blow up in his face, so he calls the county’s bomb disposal unit and requests someone to do their thing at his house.
It didn’t take long for the bomb disposal unit to pull into his driveway. After ordering Derrick to haul his butt across the street and to take Champ with him, they get down to business.
Fifteen minutes later Derrick is called back over and is handed a wad of something with two metal rods stuck in it. The rods have wires coming out of one end which are connected to some kind of switch and a couple of 9 volt batteries. A folded piece of paper that was wedged alongside the wad is also handed to him. Before he opens the piece of paper Derrick asks one of the bomb disposal guys, “What is this thing?”
“It’s a perfect replica of a remotely activated bomb sans C4 or some other explosive material. The explosive material was replaced with silly putty. Those rods are blasting caps but they’re empty so the thing is harmless.”
Derrick unfolds the piece of paper and it�
�s a computer printout of a threat.