New York Chief of Detectives (5 page)

“Those two guys were white as a sheet, Chief. They didn’t think you were bluffing.”

“That’s good, because if they thought it was a bluff, they would’ve been rudely awakened. Did you find anything promising?” 

“Nothing really stood out, chief, but we took everything with us to be safe.”

“Good, we need to make sure we don’t miss anything.”

“We’ll go over it with a fine tooth comb, Chief.”

“Mike, what do you and Mary have for us?”

“Mary and I’ve been trying to find Tony’s car. Also, his service pistol is missing. The baby Glock was his back-up and his full-sized pistol is still unaccounted for. It’s a Glock 19, 9 mm. It was not in his desk, so it may be in his car. His wife says it’s not at home, and she insists that he almost always carried both.  We’ve had a few leads come in on the tip line. Several in particular say that they saw the suspect shoot Tony. Of course we know that’s BS, since Tony wasn’t shot. I’m hoping that when they crack the phone records, we’ll catch a break.”

Captain Flannery offered more.  “I talked to Karla earlier, Chief, and we should have info by Monday afternoon. They’ve gotten some basic information, but the phone toll information won’t happen until we get a court order signed in the morning by a judge. Also, they did get an emergency check on Tony’s phone, and it’s been turned off since about 2200 hours Friday night.”

“Bryan, do we know his last calls?”

“No, not until tomorrow afternoon.”

Pat stood up and walked to the podium beside Bryan.

“I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate the hard work and sacrifices each of you have made. We’ve accomplished a lot but we really have no idea why Detective Rodriguez died. That is a bad thing, for a day and a half into the investigation. We must press harder, reach out to your snitches and get some answers. I hope we get a break. We have a lot of hard work going on in forensics and Polly from the RTCC is doing some research on Tony’s cases to see who is in prison or jail and if anyone has been recently released. I want the entire task force to meet at 1500 hours on Monday afternoon. We should have some results. Bryan, please make sure we have everyone here.”

“Yes sir, Chief.”  

“Guys, the Transit Bureau cops are going to flood the subways with flyers. A flyer will be printed in the Times and the Post tomorrow. Please get some rest. We have a long day tomorrow.”

Dickie Davis and Pat pulled out from One Police Plaza at 1800 hours.

“You seem really worried about this one, Chief.”

“This case is just not coming together. His car is missing, his gun is missing, and we have a dead cop without a clue how it happened.”

“We’ve had tough cases before, and we always seem to pull it together. I’m sure we will in this case too, but I admit I’m not encouraged.”

“I’ve seen you turn up the heat quite a few times and get results when we’ve had even less than this.” 

“Thanks, Dckie, but my ego doesn’t need stroking. Tomorrow we’ll know more.”

Dickie pulled to the curb in front of Pat’s building.

“Get some rest, Dickie. Hopefully I won’t see you before 0700 hours.”

“Goodnight, Chief.”

CHAPTER 9

Monday, April 5-Day 4

Chief of Detectives’ Residence

Borough of Manhattan, New York

0330 Hours

Pat
settled in for the night and made himself dinner. He used his bachelor cooking skills to prepare some chicken and pasta, fresh from the frozen package into the microwave.

After eating, he sat down in his favorite recliner. He grabbed the Sunday New York Times, but never made it past page one.

Pat woke up, took a groggy look at the clock and saw that it was 3:30 in the morning. He must have been exhausted. His mouth felt as dry as sandpaper. He hit the brew button on the coffee pot, which he’d already gotten ready for morning and headed for the shower. He could probably catch a couple more hours sleep, but knew he would only toss and turn with everything going through his mind.

After showering and dressing, Pat sat down in his study with a strong cup of coffee. He noticed a message light blinking on his phone and played the message. “Hello Pat, this is Caroline Rodriguez. I was wondering if you could make some remarks at Tony’s service. I know he would have wanted that. The funeral will be on Tuesday at the St. Joseph Cathedral in Brooklyn at 1:00 pm. The wake is tomorrow night. You can call and confirm, if you get a chance, or I’m sure I’ll see you at the wake.” He grabbed a legal pad and jotted down the information. He then started to write down questions on the same pad.

“Why was Tony killed?

Where was Tony killed?

When was Tony killed?

Where is Tony’s car?

Where is Tony’s gun?

Where is Tony’s cell phone?

Who would have wanted Tony dead?

Who would have the motive, means and opportunity to have killed him?

Where did he eat those blue tortilla chips?

Who and what was Tony investigating?

What will forensics tell us?

Do we need to do more with the media?

Do we need to raise the reward?

What are we missing?”

Pat looked at the clock, and it was 0645 hours. Dickie Davis would be there in 15 minutes. He stuck the notes in his briefcase. Pat finished dressing and walked out downstairs as Dickie pulled up in the Chrysler.

“Good morning, Chief.”

“You too, is there anything going on?”

“Nothing major. I have the crime summaries for you to read on the way in to the office.”

“Thanks, that’ll save me a little precious time. Over 35,000 cops in this city, and we can’t get a decent break in this case.”

“Think positive, boss. We should get something to work on today.”

“I appreciate it, Dickie. We have Tony Rodriguez’s wake tonight. I’m certain it’ll be packed.”

“I’m sure it will be, Chief, as it should be, for one of New York’s Finest.”

CHAPTER 10

Monday, April 5-Day 4

Police Commissioner’s Office-One Police Plaza

Borough of Manhattan, New York

0730 Hours

Pat
O’Connor had just settled behind his big desk, checking emails and voice messages, when his private line rang.

“Patrick O’Connor.”

“Pat, this is Longstreet. I need you in my office as soon as possible.”

“Yes sir, I’ll be right there.”

Pat slipped his jacket on and headed upstairs to the commissioner’s office. Walking into the commissioner’s suite of offices, his secretary immediately spoke. “Go on in, Chief O’Connor, he’s expecting you.”

“Thanks.”

Pat walked into the cavernous office, and was glad to see that he and the commissioner were alone.

“Thanks for coming, Patty. I’m worried about this Rodriguez case. The newspapers are wearing this office out. They have all but accused us of covering up something. We’re just not putting out enough information to quell their uneasiness. I know you like to play it safe, but I’ve gotten calls from the mayor, and he wants us to put out more information.”

“There are a lot of things that we don’t know right now, but by the end of the day we may have more. We should have phone tolls, and hopefully, we can find his car. I just don’t want to screw this case up to appease some jack ass politician. If we told them everything, they still wouldn’t know much, but our killer would know that we are clueless. That would be a bad thing.”

“I can give you till Wednesday morning at the latest. Tony’s wake is tonight, and his funeral is tomorrow.  That’ll give them something to report on for the next couple of days. Understand, Patty, that by Wednesday morning, we’ll have to give the lions a little meat.”

“Thanks, Commissioner. We won’t let you down.”

Pat walked toward the door and looked back at the commissioner.

“Do you think that when old Teddy Roosevelt was commissioner, he had days like this?”

“He didn’t have to worry so much about reporters.”

“No, I guess you’re right. While I’m at it, I had a little run in with ‘Harry the Hatchet.’”

“I know. Harry has already filled me in with much exaggeration, I’m sure.”

“Great, I can always depend on Harry to look after me.”

“I told him to back off, or you might arrest him. Old Harry looked a little shook up, but I don’t think he’ll interfere. If you find something that smells wrong, you must promise me you’ll bring IAB in the loop.”

“You have my word, and thanks for watching my back.”

“Good Chiefs of Detectives are hard to find.” The commissioner assured him.

Pat walked back through the hall and met Bryan Flannery.

“Good morning, Bryan, we need to talk.”

“I somehow suspect that we’re not going to talk about how great things are going.”

“Wow, you must be a trained detective.”

Bryan sat down in front of Pat’s desk. Pat closed the door, walked over and sat down. He started to unload on Bryan about the investigation.

“You and I know we’re doing everything possible to solve this case, but the commissioner is getting a lot of media heat from the Mayor’s Office.  I’ve been able to buy us some time. We have until Wednesday morning to try to get something going or we’ll have to answer press questions and release more information.”

“We don’t really have anything else to release.”

“That’s exactly what I told Longstreet.”

“Let’s pull everyone in at 1500 and see if we can pull a rabbit out of a hat.”

“Okay, Chief, I’ll reach out to the task force and get them in here.”

“Thanks, Bryan.”

CHAPTER 11

Monday, April 5-Day 4

Major Crimes Conference Room-One Police Plaza

Borough of Manhattan, New York

1445 Hours

Pat
went over the investigative reports again and again, trying to determine if something had been missed. He wrote a few more questions on his legal pad. Like the others, they were very general and far too obvious. He hoped that the 1500 briefing would change all of that.

Pat walked into the conference room almost ten minutes before it was scheduled to start.

“Good afternoon, sports fans. If everyone is here, we can go ahead and get started a little early.”

There was a chuckle in the room at the chief’s greeting.

Captain Bryan Flannery took the podium.

“Does anyone have anything that resembles a lead?”

Karla Adams raised her hand.  Karla was about forty years old with rugged looks. She was not unattractive, but had a tomboy demeanor, and was fond of wearing denim jackets and cowboy boots. She always wore her brown hair in a short pony-tail.

“Wilbur and I have served our court orders and have the phone information. The last call to Tony Rodriguez was made last Friday night at 2037 hours. The call was from a gang banger by the name of Curtis Gee. He has a long rap sheet, but the OCCB guys believe him to be one of Tony’s snitches. Chief Capese will call you, Chief, and confirm the information, once they can verify it through the informant contact files. Gee lives in a rooming house in Queens near Corona, which puts him in the area.”  

Pat’s eyes looked up, and he smiled and complimented her on the results.

“That’s great, Karla. Finally we’re getting something.”

“There are a few other calls, but mostly routine and predictable. That was the only time that Gee called Tony. GPS indicates Tony was probably in his office when he received the call, and it was the last call.”

“Okay, Karla, is Gee wanted?”

“No sir, I haven’t been able to find anything”

“From the GPS information, could you tell where Gee was when he made the call?”

“Yes, Chief. He was very close to his apartment and was hitting several nearby towers.”

“Good work.”

Bryan Flannery resumed reviewing the progress.

“Mary, what do you and Mike have for us?”

“We’re going through the files and trying to find the most recent stuff, in case it’s related. Nothing really stands out. It’s not that Tony was coasting, but he was tied up with the feds a lot in those pending cases, and he’d really not been assigned anything new. I’ll say this to everybody. Without exception, everyone has told us Tony was a fantastic cop.  Also, probably the most
important thing we have is that a few minutes before I came in here, I received a call from Tech Services. They told me that after reviewing several video surveillance cameras near the body dump site, they found one camera that the suspects would have surely passed when the dump was made. The camera shoots right across the front of the lot, but not far enough to see where the body was located. At 0430 hours, an old jacked-up, early nineties Chevrolet Caprice pulled into the lot and left 45 seconds later. That would’ve been enough time to dump the body and run.”