Broken force, p.21
Broken Force, page 21
When Dante came before the judge the following morning, the Legal Aid lawyer asked for a side bar conference to disclose what he knew to the Assistant District Attorney and the court pursuant to his bail request and out of the hearing of everyone else in the room. The judge agreed to set reasonable bail but refused to consider outright release in view of the criminal record that accompanied the court papers. A bail bondsman hired to file the surety bond prepared the necessary paper work; the clerk’s office processed the release documents and Dante left the court building with Reno and Clara.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Reno offered to drive Dante home to shower and change clothes. Even though his exposure in court had compromised much of the secrecy surrounding Dante’s identity, they continued to use the rear access to the brownstone building. Reno waited for him in the kitchen sipping a cup of instant coffee. When Dante finished, he drove him back downtown. Tired but refreshed and after a quick lunch in the office, Dante received a briefing from the Rebound team. Reno brought him current concerning what had taken place while he languished in the stationhouse cell and the court holding pens awaiting his appearance before the judge.
“First, the happy news,” Reno said, ”we learned that in exchange for lenient treatment in court for his crimes, Frank Aguirre, the Jamaica Avenue drug dealer, identified the Safe and Loft detectives who had extorted money from him. Next, Alejandro Sardo, the manager of the Café Madrid made bail and remains at liberty still weighing the proposal put to him by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to disclose his illegal narcotics transactions with members of the Police Department.”
“At least something good is coming out of those drug buys,” Dante observed.
Reno continued, “Internal Affairs has notified us that Vito Penza, acting in his role as their informant, had turned in the money he received from Dante. The informant said he had suspected a set-up when in contact with the man he knew as Ricardo, but decided to play along with the apparent payoff under the belief that someone would later arrest you for bribery. When Penza handed in the $500 you gave him in Patsy’s Restaurant, his handlers lost an opportunity to apply pressure on him during an interrogation about his complicity in criminal conduct. Penza insisted that he knew nothing of the theft of the 100 kilos or any other malfeasance on the part of other members of the SIU.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Dante commented, “but go ahead.”
Under the impression that Dante, known to him as Ricardo Mendez, actually engaged in illicit activities, Penza wanted credit for providing evidence for Ricardo’s arrest for bribery. However, the IAD investigators, who ran Penza as what they euphemistically termed a “field associate”, told him he neared the end of his usefulness if he didn’t provide more information about wrongdoing within the Narcotics Division. The detective-turned-informant promised to make a better effort at getting closer to his colleagues whom he suspected of dealings with members of Organized Crime. For the Operation Rebound team the attempt to ensnare Vito Penza in conduct that they hoped would sustain probable cause for a wiretap order on his telephone, had not accomplished the desired result.
“We may be chasing the wrong dog,” Reno said. “Maybe Penza shouldn’t be our principal target.”
“Perhaps not our principal one,” Dante answered, “but I’m still convinced he’s got something to do with how this case is panning out.”
“The next question,” Clara asked, “is how are these two detectives able to spend time following Dante and still perform their other duties? Besides, no one questioned how they sustained the injuries that Dante inflicted on them.”
“True,” Reno joined in, “I’m beginning to agree with Dante, something smells about all this, even worse than we first thought. The Federal prosecutor tells me that Alejandro Sardo the café manager is under no pressure to give up anyone while he’s out on bail. That may change when faced with a lengthy jail sentence. It’s not as if he has to risk squealing on the mob. His ass would be seriously on the line in that case. They’d get him no matter where he was. With cops, it’s different, less risk. Cops usually don’t have the reach to influence what happens inside prison.”
“Speaking of whacking people,” Dante added, “it would be interesting to know who pulled the trigger on Detective Beamon and who dumped Jimmy Bats in the river with a hole in his head.”
“The snitch gave us a rumor that it was at the behest of the same two birds that just arrested you. Could be, I wouldn’t doubt it for a minute,” Clara said.
Dante added with a note of cynicism, “Nothing would surprise me.”
“I guess not, after all you’ve seen,” Reno noted.
After the DEA technician had transcribed the tape, Reno and Clara met to review the statement given by Mikey La Rosa at the Federal Detention Facility. They invited Dante to sit in and offer any input into the planning of the next stage of the investigation. With Dante’s background, expertise and the level of experience he brought to undercover work he had earned the trust of the two detectives assigned to handle him as a confidential informant.
“It’s become apparent that the same two detectives that arrested you may be the main participants in the crimes we’re trying to solve,” Reno said. “We just need to make sure that when we do nail them, we have them right.”
Dante spoke up: “It just seems odd to me with this going on right now in a sensitive unit like the SIU that no one else has knowledge of any wrongdoing. You should press Penza harder for information. My gut tells me that he’s more cunning than we expect of him. One other thing nags at me: somebody is protecting those two detectives. Now we know their names, Baylor and Tenety. It just seems they run loose without anyone calling their conduct into question.”
“You think a boss is involved?” Clara asked.
“All I’m saying is, there’s something more than two rogue detectives at work here,” Dante replied. “You have a solid lead after talking to that guy in Federal custody.”
“We have to be careful about trying to base a prosecution on information we get from a jailhouse snitch like La Rosa,” Clara said.
Reno agreed, “It’s a place to start, but I wouldn’t want to use his testimony in a trial, and neither would a competent prosecutor.”
Dante added: “Let’s try to figure out a way to use what he told us and develop our own evidence.”
“Great idea,” Clara said, “how would we do that?”
“With guys like that, we’d have to provoke them into making a mistake that we can catch them at, in other words, set a trap for them,” Reno added.
Dante smiled ruefully. “I know you two are looking at me. I’d be the bait, I guess.”
“Absolutely not,” Clara insisted with emphasis. “You’ve been placed in enough jeopardy already.”
Her words and emphasis startled both Dante and Reno. “Easy girl, nobody said anything about sacrificing Dante,” Reno said, gesturing with his hands in a defensive manner.
Dante’s throat tightened and his heart pounded. Could he hope to believe that Clara cared enough about him to utter those words in such an emphatic manner? Clara almost blushed, surprised at her own sudden outburst and what it seemed to imply. Dante chose to remain silent rather than risk drawing unnecessary attention to an awkward moment.
“What I meant was,” Clara explained, “we now believe those two detectives may be our killers by proxy. If they get desperate enough they could arrange to kill again.”
“We understand what you meant. Nothing is worth placing someone’s life in peril for the sake of solving a crime,” Reno reassured her.
Reno had begun to suspect that more than a professional relationship had blossomed between his partner and the undercover. Unsure of exactly what had transpired between the woman and the former agent, he decided, unless he misread the signs, to leave the two to their budding romance. Rather than make an issue of it, he chose to remain silent unless their affair began to interfere with the investigation. Except for their law enforcement duties, they both led almost solitary existences. A mutual attraction between them seemed inevitable. Reno cared most especially that Dante came to no more harm
When the meeting concluded, Dante indicated he wanted to go home, which for him had now become a dangerous trip to venture alone. With insufficient proof to take action against Baylor and Tenety, Reno voiced aloud his concern about Dante’s safety, lest they decide finally to kill him and end the threat he posed completely.
Clara spoke up, “I’m armed and well-trained. Why don’t I drive Dante home?”
Struggling to keep a smile from creasing his face, Reno said, “Dante does need a bodyguard, might as well be you.”
Reno contacted Deputy Inspector Zakowsky and arranged to have him listen to the tape of the jail interview of the accused hijacker and brief him on the charge of assault on a police officer brought against Dante. The evidence had begun to accumulate against the two detectives now suspected of complicity in the murder of Willis Beamon and the theft of the one hundred kilos. The Deputy Inspector had suspicions of his own and asked for a meeting with the Chief of Internal Affairs and the Chief of the Narcotics Division.
Assistant Chief Inspector Thomas Hanratty, commanding officer of the Narcotics Division, held a personal animus toward Deputy Inspector Zakowsky motivated by having someone of inferior rank given the task of investigating members of his unit. If the shadow of guilt fell on someone in the Narcotics Division, it would by extension, make him ultimately responsible. The Chief found numerous excuses to avoid a meeting with the Deputy and the Chief of Internal Affairs whom he also disliked, harboring long festering grievances. As an old friend of the Police Commissioner, Chief Hanratty ruled his fiefdom at Narcotics with a lofty disdain for anyone but his immediate superiors, the Chief of Detectives and the Commissioner himself.
The theft of the contraband from the Property Clerk’s Office, when he spoke about it publicly, had caused him severe embarrassment since suspicion soon pointed to detectives within Narcotics who yet remained unidentified. His resentment at having the investigation removed from his division manifested itself in attempts to obstruct the efforts of the team from the Police Commissioner’s Squad assigned to solve the crime. His anger had apparently reached the boiling point at the murder of Detective Beamon. Now the Queens Homicide Squad, Internal Affairs and the Operation Rebound team all had become involved in poking around in his domain, causing a significant drop-off in arrests and closed cases. Mistrust and hostility fostered by suspicions among his investigators had led to lowered morale that further enhanced his resentment.
When the Chief discovered that the Federal Drug Enforcement people had sent a civilian informant as part of the team looking into the disappearance of the missing heroin, with barely controlled fury, he complained to the Commissioner. The Commissioner placated him by saying that he wanted to avoid the slightest hint of conflict of interest due to the sensitivity of the investigation and the intense scrutiny by Federal authorities whose evidence had gone missing. This explanation did nothing to appease Chief Hanratty who only curbed his outward displeasure to deter the Commissioner from replacing him and forcing his retirement.
When the office closed for the evening, Clara announced she would drive Dante home. Taking the department auto from where she had parked it, with Dante as a passenger, Clara began to take a route different from that which would take him to his apartment. Dante glanced at her quizzically but said nothing.
A sly smile curled Clara’s lips. “Why don’t we get take-out and eat at my place?” she suggested.
Dante turned in his seat to face her. He grinned widely, “That’s the best idea I’ve heard all week. What shall we order?”
Stopping for a traffic light, Clara met his eyes with a frank look of her own. Dante saw the desire in her glance. “Does it matter?” she asked.
With his most engaging warm smile in return, he answered, “No, I don’t suppose it does.” He hesitated a moment and asked: “By the way, do you think Reno is aware of us — how shall I phrase it — becoming friendly?”
Clara continued to weave her way through the late afternoon traffic. After a pause of her own she said, “He’s a big boy. He knows what goes on. As long as the job gets done and we don’t let it screw us up, he won’t care.” Concentrating on her driving, Clara let a look of faint amusement drift across her features.
In keeping with the light-hearted mood Dante said, “I’m up for Chinese, what do you think?”
The woman detective glanced sideways at him, “Chinese — seriously? That’s all you can think of?”
Dante laughed, “Just pulling your chain, lady. I’ve got other things on my mind and it isn’t egg foo yung.”
“Shall we think about food later, then?” Clara asked.
Dante’s heart pounded wildly in his chest. “Yes,” murmured, “let’s think about food later.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The following morning, while Clara drove him back to his apartment, Dante began to reflect on the consequences of having a woman detective as an escort wherever he went. Believing the involvement with her would cause him to lose his edge as a lone wolf undercover operative, a conflict began to manifest itself within him. A serious romance with a woman police officer would affect his entire future. Despite his deep feelings about Clara, Dante caught himself studying her looking for flaws. Her face just then, seemed to him pinched and ashen. Did he search for a reason to distance himself from her when Operation Rebound wound to a close? Would having her with him when he performed his undercover duties place her in jeopardy? Sick at heart about his quandary, Dante allowed his emotions to cloud his face.
Clara glanced over at him. “Is there something biting you?”
Dante’s anguish bubbled to the surface. “I don’t know if this is a good idea for either of us.”
Braking for a stop light, Clara bristled. “You’ve got some nerve. We get this far and you get cold feet?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way,” he croaked through a clenched throat, immediately regretting his unwonted candor.
“How did you mean it? You’re having second thoughts? What’s the matter, I don’t measure up to some of your old flames?”
“Stop barking at me,” he growled. “I said I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant.”
Her temper rising, Clara snarled in return: “Why don’t you just get out and walk the rest of the way. It’s not far, I’m sure you can manage on your own from here.”
Pulling the car to the curb, she reiterated her dismissal in a harsh tone, “Hit the trail, pal. I’ll see you at the office.”
Without a word, Dante slammed the car door as he left and stalked away toward home, seething at her snappishness. His chagrin focused partly on his own lack of tact given his awareness of her sharp-edged personality. “I could have handled that better,” he thought with a rueful hake of his head.
When the team next assembled at the office, the tension in the air imparted a glacial atmosphere. Reno resisted the impulse to chide his partner and their operative. Instead, he turned to the immediate problem of Dante’s pending court case and the impact it would have on the investigation.
“For the time being, Dante, stay in the office and catch up on your reports. “I’m going to make an appointment with the Bureau Chief of the unit in the DA’s office that will be handling your prosecution. I’ll ask Deputy Inspector Zakowsky to go with me. We’ll try to blunt the effect of your getting arrested and how it might taint your testimony in the drug sale cases you made.”
Dante tried to justify once again what prompted the fracas in the Battery Park men’s room.
“A plausible explanation,” Reno replied, “but it’s hard to explain why you injured two detectives who could claim they targeted you as a suspect. Officially, you have a criminal record. The background to all this has to be explained to an Assistant DA.”
Through this colloquy, Clara sat grim-faced working at her typewriter and made no comment.
Reno continued: “We can’t let you roam around now unprotected and unarmed, Dante. I’m going to be busy for the next few days with trying to pull this mess together. Clara will have to escort you to and from wherever you go.”
Dante glanced over at Clara who remained impassive, as if she hadn’t heard the conversation the two men carried on within earshot. A wave of regret passed through him at not employing more tact in his last conversation with her. If circumstances of work would throw them together, perhaps he could find a way to mend fences. More than his own personal sense of loss, he punished himself for offending the woman who had accepted him into her heart.
“I’ll be okay,” he said to Reno. “I’ll just make sure to take extra precautions.”
“Dante,” Reno replied, “we don’t need any more disasters. I don’t want to have to answer for anything else happening to you.”
Clara looked up from her typewriter. “Stop being a jerk for once, Dante. You heard what the man said. I’m your temporary bodyguard, get over the macho crap,” she snarled.
“Same old Clara, this is why office romances are a bad idea,” Dante thought, choosing not to say anything that would add to the awkward climate in the office at that moment. Reno flicked his eyes from one to the other but made no further comment. Clara returned to her report writing and said without looking up: “Don’t leave the office without checking with one of us first.”
Dante shrugged. “I’m in no position to object. I created this mess myself,” he brooded, not articulating his words openly in his forlorn state of mind.
