by Dan Kelly
“If you want to record this, I have no objections.”
“It sounds like you’re on a mission.”
“You could say that.”
Twenty minutes later his statement given, the questions asked and answered, Holly Caldwell says, “Wow. I thought this stuff only happened in the movies. The Italian mafia wants to wedge their way into our wine industry and they have formed an alliance with a local winery owner and are playing rough and dirty to pull it off. I sure would like to have some more names to spice up the story.”
“You’ve already got enough spice to burn the mouths, throats and guts of everyone watching your show with the couple of names I have given you. I don’t have all of the names yet and if I disclose all of the names I do have evasive action would be taken and possibly bring my investigation to a screeching halt. I want these people to react to your story and hopefully they’ll reveal themselves to deal with me and I’ll be able to capture them when they do. At the very least, these creeps should back off on trying to buy these wineries because I’ll be letting the cat out of the bag with this statement.”
“Well you’ve thrown in a few zingers in your statement that should do the trick. Calling them
wannabe Al Capones and Lucky Lucianos, poor excuses for mobsters who the lowest thug in America or anywhere else wouldn’t let shine his shoes, lowlifes who have to resort to intimidation and killing to get what they want because they have brains the size of a gnat’s and tying all that up with it won’t be long before you put them where they belong, in the ground or in a cell, should get them riled up enough to come out swinging. Are you sure you want to come on this strong? Standing up to these guys could be the quickest route to lying down on a slab in the morgue.”
“People are getting killed, Holly. These winery owners have been dealing with a nightmare and somebody has to put a stop to it and that somebody might as well be me.”
“Okay, tune in at six tonight and watch me set off the fireworks. I’ll lead off with your statement and my interview with you and finish the segment with some comments that should help pacify your critics.”
“Thanks, Holly. Whatever happens going forward, you’ll be the first to know. Bye.”
Seeing Derrick hang up Julie says, “The way you ended that phone call it sounded like things went well with Ms. Caldwell.”
“They did and she’s going to lead off with my prepared statement followed by our ensuing conversation and finish with some nice comments about the attitude and effort of the Napa County Sheriff Department on her show this evening. Were you able to reach Pelegrinno?”
“Yes and he’s put everything on hold, but he’s very nervous about delaying presenting the offers. To quote, ‘I have no desire to be paid a visit by some gorilla sent to punish me for not following instructions.”
“Okay let’s split the wineries, you take five and I’ll take five. Tell everyone you talk with there are new players in the game and to expect a resumption of the offers. Strongly urge them to continue to reject them because we’re all ready for them this time around and encourage them to tune in to Channel 2 at six tonight to see how determined we are to put an end to what has been going on and to get a feel for how close we are to doing that. Also encourage them to have more security personnel patrolling their perimeters and the buildings and equipment on the grounds just in case things get a little dicey before we can shut their tormentors down. Knowing that we’re still on the job and haven’t given up on eliminating the threats to their businesses and livelihood should also give a good boost to their morale.”
When quitting time rolls around, they’ve managed to contact all the wineries on their lists and the response has been restrained, leaning more to the positive than the negative, but all expressed concern over the determination of the prospective buyers and the potential for an increase in the violence before things can return to normal.
Looking at Julie Derrick says, “I’ve had it. Let’s call it a day and get a good night’s rest. Holly’s newscast tonight is going to have the phones ringing off the hooks tomorrow. The politicians, the media, the winery owners who so far have managed to dodge the acquisition bullet, maybe even some of the bad guys just to name a few, will be calling to express an opinion or to get more information. It’s going to be a real zoo in here tomorrow, everyone clambering for attention and answers. Take off and say hello to Duke for me.”
Laughing, Julie heads for the kennel and Derrick to the gas station. His personal car is running on fumes.
Chapter 49
The sun has just slipped below the horizon and the moon with its garland of glittering stars has taken center stage in a cloudless sky. It’s a beautiful night for romantics, but it doesn’t make a dent in the psyches of the self-centered who are so preoccupied with self-aggrandizement that the beauty of the evening escapes them.
Two such people are the Paganelli brothers. They are in Riccardo’s office commiserating with each other over their plight with the local and state police. Duilio is saying, “Damn it, Riccardo, that Deputy Chandler and his playmate Styversant are behind all of these tickets. I’ll bet my share of the winery on it. We’ve got to do something about them before we wind up with extended stays at the local hoosegow for being repeat repeat offenders.”
“For now, the only thing we can do is stay off the streets as much as we can. If we do that, things will eventually die down enough that we can then consider some retribution for the trouble they’ve caused us. If we do anything now, the law will be on us like bears on honey.”
“Yeah I suppose you’re right.” Looking at his watch and seeing it’s almost six he says to his brother, “Turn the local news on. I haven’t had a chance to check out the airwaves all day. Maybe the world’s coming to an end and our troubles will be over.”
Fifteen minutes later they realize that their troubles are just beginning. Duilio blows his stack and says, “Those back stabbing bastards! Someone at Industrial Ventures International has stepped up to replace Nuzzoli and is sweeping us aside. Hell, these new guys on the block may even target us as a takeover prospect. We’ve got to find out who the new people are and have Cordell pay them a visit PDQ.”
“Hold on there a minute, Duilio. Don’t be so hasty. Maybe they just haven’t gotten around to contacting us yet and keep in mind our recent conversation about this possibility. If we’re being cut out of the picture and Cordell turns us down, we’re going to have to find someone else or do it ourselves. That’s going to take time and planning if we want to continue walking around on the planet.”
“Then let’s give Cordell a call and see where we stand with him. Bringing these wineries into the fold is still our number one priority as far as I’m concerned. We mustn’t let these muscle heads push us aside and as long as we’re willing to spill some blood we might as well add to the puddle that of the major local thorns in our sides, Deputy Chandler and Deputy Styversant. Hell, they can only put us on death row once and from what I’ve read that might be for a very long time because of court battles over legal issues surrounding California’s State Constitution.”
“Okay, where’s that phone he sent us?”
“It’s in the top drawer of the credenza.”
Riccardo calls Cordell and when he answers he follows the prearranged instructions by saying, “Good evening, Tom. This is Dick calling. Is it convenient for you to talk with me?”
“It is. What’s on your mind?”
“I have a few more projects for you. One involves a family in Milan and the others involve two of Napa County’s sentinels. Time is of the essence and attractive compensation shouldn’t be a problem. Are you interested and can you comply with our time requirements?”
There’s a long silence at the other end of the line. “Tom, are you still there?”
“I’m here. I’ve been checking to see what I’ve got on my plate and I’m afraid I’ll have to decline the offer. I’m way behind on the work I already have in the pipeline. Also, I’ve been thinking th
at perhaps it would be a good idea for you to look around for someone else to handle these projects for you. I’m going to be very busy for quite a while. Besides, these projects of yours seem to be having an increasing element of risk and I’m not happy with that.”
“Okay, Tom, if that’s the way you want it. I wish you well.”
Riccardo hangs up and says, “Cordell has lost his nerve and doesn’t want to hear from us anymore. I think the continued involvement of the mafia and adding local law enforcement to the mix has scared him off. So, we’re left with finding someone else or tending to matters ourselves.
Duilio responds with, “I think we should take care of the deputies ourselves. We know what they look like, we’re familiar with the territory they operate in as well as with some of their habits and we’re well known in the community. Folks are used to seeing us out and about town and the valley so unless we‘re doing something blatantly illegal, no one is going to be suspicious of our movements.
“An outsider will be at a disadvantage in that he will have to acquaint himself with the appearance of the deputies especially when they are in uniform because in uniform a lot of them look alike. Granted, whenever we’ve talked with them the deputies have been in street clothes, but that doesn’t rule out their donning uniforms for some reason. He won’t be familiar with the area which will make it difficult to locate the best places to make his move and as he’s tracking his prey he might have to go to places he might not fit in and have to delay making his move. All this could be frustrating and cause him to get careless and get caught in the process. His capture would put us in danger if he is convinced to shoot his mouth off. In short, being an outsider makes him much less qualified to do the job than we are.”
“Okay, you made your point. What about the new player in the game, this Antonio Arrigoni? I could use your argument for hiring someone local in Milan or near surroundings to do the wet work as is said in some circles.”
“I don’t have a problem with that. We’d have to take a trip to Milan to do some reconnoitering and make some very discreet inquiries.”
“Okay, so back to the deputies. Do you have any ideas about how we should neutralize them?”
“Since we’re not trained killers and don’t have sundry martial arts skills and devices at our disposal, I believe our best bet is to ambush them somewhere. We both have rifles and pistols and know how to use them. The rifles would be best for sniping, the pistols if we have to get up close and personal. Whatever weapons we wind up using, we must be wearing gloves when we fire them and clean the weapons thoroughly afterwards. The gloves we’ll toss in a dumpster somewhere. From here on out until they’ve been dealt with, we should have the weapons with us wherever we go just in case an ideal opportunity presents itself.”
“The best time for doing this would be after it got dark, the best locations would be where there aren’t a lot of witnesses around, like their homes, underground parking garages, parks, etc. and we should try to come up with some ways to lure them to these places at the times we prefer.”
“I agree, so let’s clear our calendars, cancel all appointments, inform out admins that we’ll be out of circulation for a few days working on something personal and instruct them to only call us on our cells if it’s an emergency. This will free us up to concentrate on the task at hand.”
“Duilio, when we first put our heads together to come up with a business plan to grow our business at a faster rate and on a grander scale, I never thought it would involve murder, especially a couple of cops. Are we biting off more than we can chew here?”
“Riccardo, it’s too late for that kind of thinking. We’re already tied in to two murders, so we’ve got nothing to lose by adding a few more to the tally.”
“Yeah I know, but just the same when you kill a cop an army of them starts beating the bushes for the killer and they don’t give up easily.”
“Riccardo, these deputies have us in their crosshairs and if we don’t take them out they’ll be taking us out. It’s that simple.”
Letting out a string of Italian cuss words that Duilio has never heard him say before, Riccardo finally calms down and says, “I know you’re right, but we’d better have rock solid alibis because when the bodies are discovered we’re going to be holding the number one slot on the suspect list.”
Chapter 50
After filling up his tank with gas and paying an obscene amount for the privilege, Derrick picks up Champ and then heads for the local supermarket a few blocks from his home to replenish his pantry and fridge with some of the bachelor essentials; pot pies and TV dinners and some pistachio ice cream for the upcoming evening meals, chips, peanuts, pretzels and some beer to wash them down with for snacks, milk, juice, cereal, coffee, bread, fruit, peanut butter and grape jam along with some bread to smear it on and bread and butter pickles to add a little zest to the P & J sandwiches to take care of breakfasts and lunches for a while when he’s home.
Derrick is skillful in a lot of things, but nutrition and cooking aren’t among them and he readily admits it. He’s one of those people who can burn water while he’s watching it. When folks start kidding him about his cooking prowess he’ll usually find a way to make reference to what he subscribes to when it comes to the culinary arena which are the tenets supposedly uttered by such folks as Barbara Johnson – “A balanced diet is a glass of wine in each hand.” and Jim Davis – “Vegetables are a must on a diet. Carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie are ideal ways to avail yourself of some of them.” and they usually get the sought after laughs.
Now that Champ is pulling guard duty at his house in the evenings he also has to make sure there’s enough food for the big guy, so he’ll also saunter down the pet food aisle looking for some goodies for him.
It doesn’t take Derrick long to do his grocery shopping and he’s pulling into his driveway at five minutes to six, so he’ll be able to catch Holly Caldwell’s newscast. After filling Champs water bowl with fresh water and dishing out some dog food for him to wolf down, he turns on the TV to watch the fireworks begin.
Holly devotes the first fifteen minutes of the newscast to his statement and Derrick’s thinking, “This lady sure knows how to get the viewers’ attention. I hope this will get someone like CNN’s attention. That’s got to happen if we’re to have a chance of reaching the players in Milan. The Paganellis boat has to be really rocking if they’re seeing this. Julie and I probably won’t have to personally confront them to goad them into making a move on us. This should do the trick all by itself.”
The newscast is barely over when Derrick’s phone starts ringing. It’s Julie. “Did you see Holly’s newscast?”
“I did and I think we just turned the key that will open the door to bringing these scumbags out into the open where we can get our hands on them and shut the doors on their exploits and cells for good.”
“As grandma used to say, ‘From your lips to God’s ears.’ Uh oh, I‘ve got to go or my supper will wind up in the trash. Bye.”
Chuckling to himself he’s thinking, “I wonder if bachelorettes stock up on pot pies and TV dinners too. Every woman I know can cook, but there’s got to be some females out there that have to deal with ineptness in the kitchen. It’s got to be a cross gender malady or guys’ couldn’t live with themselves. They’d start tuning to Giada, Ina Garten and Martha Stewart en masse to learn how to cook under cover. Their egos wouldn’t let them publically admit there was something they as a gender couldn’t do.
“Man, the stress of this winery mess must be messing with my brain. It’s probably got me thinking of nonsense like this just to keep my sanity.”
Laughing at himself, he gets with the program and lets his mind wander to see what else it will come up with, but his musings are interrupted by Champ letting out a warning growl and then cautiously approaching the front door.
When he goes to the door to see who’s there, he’s relieved to see it’s the kid across the street holding a kitten. He signals to Ch
amp to return to the den and when he opens the door little freckled face Sally says, “Hi Mr. Chandler. Our tabby Abby had kittens and I’m trying to find homes for her litter. This is the cutest one and I’ve named him Snowflake because of the splotches of white on his fur. I was hoping my dad would let me keep him, but he nixed the idea. He said we already had a menagerie with two dogs, a cat, two hamsters, a parakeet, a turtle and an ant farm and we’re running out of room for ourselves so he’s got to go. I’m giving you first dibs on him.”