New York Chief of Detectives (31 page)

“I’m proud of you, Pat. I know in my heart you’ll come out on top of this thing.”

“Thanks, Maggie.”

They enjoyed the sandwiches Maggie had brought and then took a short walk in the park. As they were getting in their vehicles, Maggie walked back over to Pat’s car. “Pat, we have incredible careers that give us very little time together to enjoy each other’s company. I’ve accepted that because you’re worth it! You do a great service everyday for the citizens of New York City. I wish I
had half of your drive and stamina. I do the best I can do, but I know that I could never fill your shoes. You’re a great cop, but more importantly you’re my cop! Hold your head high. Look at the beautiful shield you carry in your pocket, and bring honor to it by solving this case. If they get in your way, I suspect they’ll be sorry!  Now, do what you do best, Chief of Detectives!”

Pat felt a tear welling up in his eye and saw that Maggie’s eyes were moist as well. He hugged her again and whispered that he loved her. He had needed that pep talk, which was something he’d never experienced before. He knew that Maggie Parker was right. He also knew that she was an incredible cheerleader for him.

Pat pulled the Chrysler back into his parking space at One PP. As he was getting out of the car, he saw the box that Caroline Rodriguez had given him and made a mental note to get someone to look into it. He stuck the box in his briefcase and went to his office. He called Dennis Phillips from the Cyber Crimes Unit and asked him to stop by his office. Dennis was there in about half an hour. Pat brought him up to date.

“How’s my favorite geek?”

“I’m fine, Chief. How’s the case going?”

“We’re making a lot of progress. I hope we’re getting close. Last night I went out to see Caroline Rodriguez.”

“How’s she coping with all this?” Phillips asked.

“I think she’s doing the best she can, Dennis. However, she found something we need to take a look at.”

Pat removed the box from his briefcase and handed it to Dennis.

“Caroline says that Tony bought this little pen camera a few weeks before he died. She didn’t realize that he had apparently taken it to work until she saw it was missing from the box. I want you to go through Tony’s things that were recovered at the crime scene and see if the pen is in there, and of course, see if he used it. If it’s not with his things found on the body, go over to OCCB and re-check his desk. Caroline says the pen is black and gold, and looks exactly like an expensive fountain pen.”

“I’ve seen some of those pens, Chief. They’re pretty amazing. Most of them have color video and sound and impressive memory. Looking at the manual here, it looks like this one has all of that plus low light capability. I’ll check it out, Chief, and let you know.”

“Thanks, Dennis. There may not be anything valuable on it if we find it, but we have to look anyway.”

“Of course we do, Chief. I’ll let you know what I find.”

“Thanks, Dennis, for your hard work.”

CHAPTER 67

Friday, April 16-Day 15

Chief of Detectives’ Office- One Police Plaza

Borough of Manhattan, New York

1415 Hours

Pat
was sitting at his desk when Chief of Department Charles Abernathy walked in. Pat and Abernathy had never been close and Pat had always felt there was tension between them. Most of the time Pat talked directly with the commissioner and Abernathy seemed to accept it. He was a career uniformed guy and had never really taken much interest in investigations. He sat down in front of Pat’s desk.

“I just left the commissioner’s office, Pat. He told me what the mayor has planned for you. I know that we sometimes don’t see eye to eye, but I think you’re getting a raw deal. I had a hard time believing that Donald Harrison could be involved in a murder or anything else criminal, but I know that the evidence says otherwise and his actions speak volumes. All this crap with the Queens DA has let me know that your guys are on the right trail.”

“Thanks, Chief, it means a lot that I have your support.”

“I’ve been on the job for over 40 years, Pat. I’ve seen a lot of people come and go. Some people I’ve been glad to see leave and say good riddance. Others got on the wrong side of Gracie Mansion politics and got booted out for that. Often times, I’ve been so glad that it wasn’t me that I’ve just kept my mouth shut and tried to fly under the radar. I can’t do that this time. I’m close to pulling the pin on this job and putting my papers in to retire. It’s important to me that I can look in the rear view mirror and be able to live with myself.”

“I’m glad that we had this conversation, Chief. We have a task force briefing at 1600 if you want to sit in for the update.”

“Sure, Patrick, I’ll go with you.”

Pat didn’t know what to think about the conversation and even felt a little guilty about some things he had said about Chief Abernathy. His gut told him Abernathy was sincere. They walked into the conference room and almost everyone was present. There was always someone in court, but that’s where detectives spend a lot of time. At least that’s where the one’s that actually make cases spend a lot of time. Pat opened the briefing.

“I hope that most of you’ve had some sleep, I congratulate you on the handling of the shooting this morning in Queens. I encourage you to support Rosa Sanchez as she navigates through this. She did a great job keeping that home invasion from going south quickly. We have Chief Abernathy attending the briefing this morning. Chief, do you have any words of wisdom for us?”

“I don’t know about the words of wisdom, but I want to tell you guys that you’re doing a great job. This has been a tough nut to crack, but you’re being led by one hell of a Chief of D’s and I just want you to know that you all have my support. Let’s get this case finished the right way. The right way is with the perps in jail. Carry on Patrick.”

“Thanks, Chief.  Alverez, please bring us up to snuff on this morning’s festivities.”

“It was a few minutes after three and these three gang bangers literally ran up on Maria’s front porch. They were screaming in Spanish; ‘Old lady you better leave! We’ll burn you out! This is the last offer!’ We contacted Rosa by radio and she said she was ready and waiting. We all agreed that it would not be safe for Maria to answer the door. They beat on the windows and then suddenly kicked in the front door. We were scrambling to get out of the truck and we heard the shotgun blast where Rosa splattered the perp’s leg. I do mean splattered! She only left a few tendons to be clipped by the surgeon. His left thigh took the full load of buckshot. We caught the other two perps running away and collared them in the street.”

“Who are we dealing with, Ricardo?”

“They are all two and three time losers. The one Rosa nailed is Jorge Menendez. He’s a habitual felon. The gun collar alone should send him away for life, if the feds will adopt the case. Jose Ramirez is in the same boat with a strong felony rap sheet and a forty-five in his waistband. The third guy, Johnny Perez must be a ‘wannabe.’ He’s had only one drug collar and was carrying a little twenty-two in his pocket. His biggest issues will be the gun collar and the home invasion, but he’s probably not facing life.”

“Thanks, how are we doing on guarding Menendez?”

“Right now we’re using some discretionary officers on assignment from the Queens Borough Command.” 

“Thanks for the update. Karla Adams, anything on Marcus Johnson?”

“No news is good news. The phones are quite and he hasn’t turned up dead yet.”

“At least not where anyone can find him.” Pat responded.

There was a knock at the conference room door and Pat answered it. It was Angie Wilson. She motioned for Pat in the hall.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Chief, but he said that it was very important. Dennis Phillips needs you to call him on a secure land line as soon as possible.”

“Thanks Angie.”

Pat stuck his head back in the briefing and asked Bryan to take over the briefing. He walked to his office, closed the door, and dialed the number Angie had given him.

“Cyber Crimes, this is Detective Phillips.”

“Yea, Dennis, Pat O’Connor. Whatcha got for me?”

“I hope you’re sitting down. The goose laid a golden egg.”

“Tell me about it Dennis.”

“I found the pen camera in Tony’s things in evidence, Chief.  It’s incredible. He recorded the whole thing including one very involved Donald Harrison.”

“Oh my God, it is a golden egg! When can we see it?”

“We are burning it to a DVD now and being very careful to make sure we preserve the original as evidence. I should be done by 1800. We’ll need a big screen to watch it.”

“I will see if I can get the COMPSTAT room. Thank you Dennis, I’ll see you at 1800 hours.”

It was now 1645. He needed to make a few calls. He called the commissioner and asked if he could meet in the Command and Control Center at 1800.  He had a meeting, but Pat assured him he would not want to miss it.  Pat then called Richard Chambers and asked him to be at One PP at 1800. Pat could feel his heart racing as he anticipated looking at the video. He returned to the meeting and told everyone they could grab a quick bite to eat and meet in the Command and Control Center at 1800.

CHAPTER 68

Friday, April 16-Day 15

Command and Control Center- One Police Plaza

Borough of Manhattan, New York

1800 Hours

The
NYPD Command and Control Center is located in One PP. It is commonly used for COMPSTAT meetings where precinct commanders are grilled by the Police Commissioner and senior command staff about crime in their respective commands. NYPD legend is that careers are made and ended in that room. It is probably more fact than legend.

The room is quite large and is equipped with high-tech support with huge flat-screen monitors and a large horseshoe seating arrangement with a podium center stage. The task force members were laughing and joking as they sat in seats normally reserved for senior commanders. Pat walked up to the podium. Chief of Department Abernathy, Commissioner Longstreet and Richard Chambers were all present. Pat resumed the briefing.

“Let’s make sure the doors are closed. The night before last I was contacted by Caroline Rodriguez. She had remembered that Tony had purchased a little pen camera a few weeks before he was killed. I had Dennis Phillips go through the things we recovered with Tony’s body and he located the pen. I’ve not seen this, but Dennis has warned me that it is quite compelling. I’ll turn this over to him.”

Dennis Phillips stood up from the back and spoke from where he had been seated. “We have preserved this for evidence. What we’ll be watching is a DVD copy. In places the video is a little shaky, but the overall quality is pretty amazing.”

The video started showing a shot of the Blue Goose Cantina from across the street. Pat was at little emotional  hearing the sound of Tony’s voice. There was not another sound in the big room.

“Today is Friday April 2. This is Detective Anthony P. Rodriguez, shield number 2911 of the New York City Police Department, Organized Crime Control Bureau. I have received information from a confidential informant that there is criminal activity going down in the back room of The Blue Goose Cantina located at number 3 Queensland Court. I am going inside to investigate. I will periodically cut the camera on and off to save memory.”

The video shows Tony’s view walking across the street and then entering the bar. The bar is really crowded and Tony makes his way to a booth. Shortly after his sitting down, the video stops. When the video starts back Tony is standing outside the door to the back room.  A chubby Hispanic waitress knocks on the door and enters the back room with a tray of Coronas. She quickly comes back out. Tony moves closer to the door and a heavily Spanish-accented voice can be heard.

“Don’t move or it will be your last!”

Tony walks slowly into the room and you can clearly see Donald Harrison, Joey DeCarlo and Salvatore Cortez.  Shortly after entering the room, the images go to the floor and the image goes dark. The clearly recognizable voice of Donald Harrison can be heard.

“Hector! What are you doing?”

The man with the Spanish-accented voice replied. “I think this guy is a cop. He was watching us.”

The image returns and you get a close-up of Joey DeCarlo. Apparently they had turned the body over. At times his hands are almost on the pen. Donald Harrison is standing beside him. Joey backs away from the body and you can see him holding Tony’s Glock. Joey then speaks.

“He’s dead. You must have broken his neck.”

For the first time you see the face of the man with the Spanish accent, who is without a doubt the one that actually killed Tony. Dennis pauses the video, and then asks a question. “Does anyone recognize this guy?”

There is no response. He resumes the video. Harrison speaks.   “We have to get rid of the body. Any ideas?”

Joey DeCarlo speaks quickly. “We need to get it out of here and dump it somewhere. We can’t let it be traced to this place. Bring your car close to the back of the bar, Hector. There’s a blue tarp in the back we can use.”