Cabernet Capers

by Dan Kelly

  If you don’t do as we say without delay, the next time you open something it could be the last thing you’ll ever do. This is not a bluff. We’ll be watching.

  While Derrick is reading the message, the bomb disposal guy who handed him the stuff is looking over his shoulder and reading it too. “Man, you’ve definitely moved up on somebody’s To Do List.”

  “That’s what I’ve been trying and hoping to do for weeks now. Somebody finally got the message.”

  “You mean you’ve been deliberately trying to provoke someone into making a move on you.”

  “As that guy in the TV commercial says, ‘A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.’”

  “Man, you’re crazier than I am. I like what I’m doing too, but if I lose my nerve or just get fed up with the job, I can walk away and live to try something else another day. With this guy, I don’t think you have that kind of latitude. You’ve got to toe the line or BOOM!”

  “That’s what this guy would like me to think, but I have other ideas. I appreciate your quick response and risking your butts to save mine. It’ been one hell of a day and I’m ready to hit the sack. Are we through here or is there some paperwork I have to sign?”

  “No, you’re good. Good night.”

  Chapter 48

  The next morning when Derrick arrives at the station, Julie is sitting at his desk, hanging up the phone and holding a piece of paper in her hand. As Derrick approaches she says, “That was Giuseppe Pelegrinno. Somebody from Industrial Ventures International just called to hire him as their representative in making new offers to the wineries. It looks like we’re back to business as usual, but this time Investors Anonymous isn’t in the picture.”

  “What did the guy say?”

  “It wasn’t a guy. It was a woman. She told him that Maria Conti was no longer with the company and she was Maria’s replacement. She said Investors Anonymous was no longer in the loop and all future offers would be coming directly from the parent company through her. She gave him new offers and instructed him to approach the same wineries with those offers as soon as possible.”

  Looking at the paper in her hand she continues with, “Her name is Felisa Rizzo and she’s given Giuseppe two phone numbers she can be reached at. He said the offers are the best yet. Someone is certainly determined to own these wineries.”

  “I wonder if the Paganellis know about this. If our assumptions are correct, they might be getting cut out of the picture. If that’s the case, I don’t think they’ll take it sitting down. They’ll be out for blood. This case is definitely becoming more and more bizarre.”

  He tells her about what transpired last night and she responds with, “I had a visitor last night or early this morning too.”

  She walks over to her desk and returns with a 3 x 5 index card in a clear plastic baggie. “I found this under my windshield wiper when I got to my car this morning.”

  Removing the card from the baggie, he sees a bold type written message on it. It reads,

  Go back to riding around in a patrol car.

  It’s a lot safer!!!

  Derrick says, “Well things are definitely heating up.”

  Frowning Julie says, “Let’s hope we have enough water to put out any fires.”

  Derrick says, “Right now I’m not thinking of fire prevention. I’m thinking about igniting a firestorm.

  “How would you do that?”

  “Go to the media with these warnings, announce our refusal to comply with them and issue some threats of our own.”

  “Derrick, no matter what you do I think we’re at a stage where we’re going to need more firefighters with more experience than we have here.”

  “I agree. I think it’s time for me to place another call to Maury Hoagland. He warned me about taking on the mafia all by myself and I’m now paying attention.”

  Getting Maury on the phone, he unloads the recent happenings on him and then says, “I’m going to need more troops to keep things from getting out of control and to finally put these bastards where they belong, in the ground or in prison. Since state and international lines have been crossed to perpetuate what I’ve been dealing with, could a federal task force be assembled to lend us a helping hand?”

  “I’ve been waiting for you to come to your senses. I’ve already made arrangements just in case I got this call. When do you want ‘em?

  “ASAP as I want to do my dog and pony show for the media later today.”

  “You’ll be receiving a phone call from an Agent Forrester within the hour. You can work out the logistics with him and fill him in on anything you think pertinent to coming out on top when the dust settles.”

  “Thanks, Maury.”

  The line goes dead and Derrick looks over at Julie and gives her a thumb’s up.

  This gets him a waived fist in the air and a big smile.

  Forty-five minutes later Agent Forrester is on the line.

  “Sergeant Chandler, Agent Jim Forrester here. You should be expecting this call.”

  “I am.”

  “Maury Hoagland filled me in on your situation as much as he could. I’d like for you to do the same so there’s less chance of something important being left out. I don’t want any surprises. I want to feel confident about knowing what I’m walking into out there.”

  “That’s fine with me.”

  When Derrick is finished with his recount Forrester says, “Man, like moths to a light bulb, the flares you’re lighting are bound to draw shooters to the targets on your backs pretty damn quick. They’re so bright the shooters won’t have any trouble seeing them.”

  “I want them to see them. I just don’t want them to hit them and I’m hoping you and your men can prevent that.”

  “What possessed you to stick your neck out like this?”

  “The investigation was going nowhere in a hurry and I had to do something or heads were going to roll. In fact, one already has. The sheriff resigned. The investigation wound up in the media’s head lights and the politicians ran for cover, passing the buck down to him. He threw it back in their faces and took a walk.”

  “Well, the die is cast. Let’s see if we can use it to stamp these people out of existence.”

  “That’s what this is all about.”

  “We’ll be flying into San Francisco around three tomorrow afternoon. We’ll be staying at a single family residence rental in Napa that is fully furnished and currently vacant. This will give us some anonymity and save Uncle Sam some bucks at the same time. I’ll call you when we’re settled in and we can then arrange a time for all of us to meet and discuss how we’re going to work together. We can meet at the house or the station. I have no preference.”

  “How many of you are there?”

  “Counting me, twelve. Four will replace the deputies you have keeping watch on the Paganellis, freeing them up for whatever other mayhem may come down the pike whether it’s related to this investigation or something else. The remaining eight of us will be assigned to you and Deputy Styversant. You and I can co-ordinate with any other police departments that might get involved as well as with the Italian authorities if and when the need arises. My people have received extensive training and have a good deal of experience in how to function in situations like this, so you’ll have a more competent team supporting you.

  “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not knocking your fellow deputies. I’m sure they’ve got the courage and the innate intelligence to keep a close eye on these twins, but they don’t have the experience my people have under fire nor has their ability to sense when something is out of whack in unusual situations been tested.”

  “I understand where you’re coming from. Am I out of line asking what agency you work for?”

  “No, that’s normal curiosity. I and a few others work for the FBI, the others work for one or more of the other agencies in the alphabet soup and I can’t go there.”

  “Okay, I’m looking forward to meeting you and your men. Bye.”

  Looking
over at Julie he says, “Our new firefighters will be here tomorrow afternoon. Their leader, an Agent Jim Forrester, will be calling us for a get together when they arrive at their temporary digs, a residential rental in Napa.”

  “I’m glad you called out for help, Derrick. I feel a lot better about our chances of getting the job done and getting through the ordeal unscathed.”

  “Me too. What was the name of that TV reporter who was always calling Bemis for updates on the winery investigation?”

  “Holly something. Holly, Holly Cornwall, no, Coldwell, no, Cornell, no, CALDWELL!

  That’s it Holly Caldwell. Hey, the memory is still pumping out the goodies. Jeopardy! Look out! Here I come!”

  Laughing Derrick says, “Julie, you gotta lay off the pasta. It’s messing with your noodle.”

  “I can’t. It’s either pasta or TV dinners because I don’t know how to cook anything else and I’m not wild about TV dinners.”

  The bantering is interrupted by George Baldwin walking into the station. “Uh oh, something’s up. He never comes here.”

  Walking up to Derrick’s desk he says, “Sergeant, we need to talk. Please follow me.”

  As Baldwin turns and heads toward Bemis’s old office, Derrick motions to Julie to tag along. At first she shakes her head, refusing to go, but when he more strongly gestures for her to follow him she does.

  When they get to the office doorway, Baldwin is already sitting in Bemis’s old chair behind the desk. When Derrick and Julie enter the office Baldwin asks, “What’s she doing here?”

  “She is Deputy Julie Styversant. The deputy has been assisting me with the winery investigation and has become a vital part of the process. I’m assuming that’s what you want to talk about and I thought she should be present.” “And I want a witness to be able to testify that I was sufficiently provoked if I wind up kicking you in the keister.”

  By the look on his face, Baldwin clearly wasn’t expecting such a brash response and for a moment doesn’t say a word or move a muscle. Reaching over to realign a stapler on the desk, using those few seconds to regain his composure, he says, “The Board of Supervisors has been struggling over whom to pick as Bill Bemis’s temporary replacement until a special election can be held. I’m certainly not qualified to fill the slot, no matter how temporary that might be. I’m being bombarded with queries from state officials, the media, citizens of the county and other parts of the state about the status of your investigation and our expectation of developments in the days and weeks ahead and I’m looking like a fool because I have no idea about what I should say. I’m too busy fulfilling my obligations as Chief Administrator to keep abreast of what is going on here.”

  “I understand that what you’re going through can be daunting, but I still don’t know why you’re here.”

  “The Board of Supervisors thinks it would be in the best interests of the county to have someone like you temporarily fill the spot vacated by Bemis until a special election can be held and we’d like to offer the position to you. Of course there would be a temporary increase in your salary and you would have this office to work from.”

  Derrick doesn’t say a word. He doesn’t flinch, break out laughing or scratch his head. He gives no indication of what he’s thinking which is, “This guy is even more pathetic and obvious than I gave him credit for. He’s looking to pass the buck and escape any of the fallout if the investigation goes in the crapper while at the same time appearing to have the county’s and state’s best interests at heart by temporarily passing the baton to someone who appears to be more qualified which may be or may not be the case. He got the good publicity for stepping up to the plate initially, but now that things are getting even more serious he’s looking to get out of the way before he gets run over by the steamroller of public’s opinion. What a dirt bag.”

  Getting no response from Derrick Baldwin asks, “How about it? Are you willing to temporarily take over the reins and run the department?

  Looking Baldwin square in the eye Derrick answers with an acerbic, “The last time I held reins in my hands I fell off the horse. I’ll pass. Besides, a horse’s ass is more suited to holding a set of reins than a humble deputy. If that’ll be all, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

  The man was stunned into muteness, so they got up and walked out of the office.

  Derrick and Julie walked back to their desks and less than a minute later Baldwin storms out of the Sheriff’s office and leaves the building in a huff.

  “You might have bought yourself a passel of trouble with that move.”

  “Maybe, but I owed Bemis that one and Baldwin had it coming. Someone should have told him off a long time ago. He was thinking of no one but himself when he made that offer. He wants to shove someone else under the bus filled with blame and shame if things blow up in our faces.”

  Pausing for a minute he then changes the subject with, “Let’s get back to work. If I call Holly Caldwell now, there’s a decent chance we’ll connect soon enough for her to take my statement, ask me some questions about the statement, prepare some comments on what I’ve said and make our conversation an item of breaking news on her TV show which airs at six p.m.

  “While I’m manipulating the press, call Giuseppe Pelegrinno and find out what the new offers are and who is to receive them. Have him hold off on presenting the offers until we can alert the intended targets to what’s coming their way. This will let them know we’re on top of things and haven’t turned our backs on them. Hopefully this will also strengthen their resolve to continue to reject the offers. I also want to urge them to increase their premises security. The feedback I’ve received tells me that all of them have upgraded the security on their computer systems. With the new players in the game and how they’ve introduced themselves to us and remembering Inspector Bianchi’s warning about Antonio Arrigoni, I’m convinced things are going to get a lot worse before they get any better.”

  “Okay, I’ll get right on it.”

  Before he calls Holly Caldwell, he jots down some notes to ensure that he stays on topic, is candid, is succinct and doesn’t reveal anything that would hurt the investigation or alert the people they’re after about their scheme to snare them. He also doesn’t want to get lured into going down other avenues that aren’t germane to the subject. This lady knows how to dig for tidbits and then magnify what she’s uncovered into major news stories.

  When he thinks he’s ready, he gets the phone number of the TV station off the internet and then bites the bullet and punches in the number. Approaching this woman is making him more nervous than contemplating a shootout with a mafia capo or soldier.

  Surprisingly, her gatekeeper doesn’t give him any static and his call is immediately put through.

  “Good morning Sergeant Chandler. I hope I haven’t broken any laws like the Paganelli brothers have been inclined to do lately.”

  “Damn the lady’s good. She’s already subtlely digging for tidbits.”

  “I’m calling to see if we can help each other out. I have an exclusive for you if you will air it on your program, tonight hopefully. I have a message I want to deliver to some very unsavory characters and I don’t want it edited and want you to do everything you can to make the Napa County Sheriff Department look good for a change when you air it. We’ve been taking a pummeling in the media lately and some good coverage just might lighten the blows a little.”

  “I’m open to a quid pro quo if I you can spark my interest.”

  “Napa Valley wineries, Italian mafia, unethical businessmen, assassinations and greed, all of these things are involved in the tale I’d like to share.”

  “Consider my interest sparked.”