Two Graves (A Kesle City Homicide Novel) (35 page)

“Put the gun down.”

Mann kept the gun level, aimed just below the UPS cap. “I think that should be my line. Just let the lady go and we can talk.”

UPS shook his head. He had one arm, the hand with the gun, wrapped around Dani. The silenced barrel of the gun rested firmly against her jaw bone. The other hand was on the connecting door behind him.

Mann sighted on the killer’s head and knew he could take the shot but was afraid of what the gunman might do. Even dying, he could pull the trigger and blow Dani’s face off. This was not the little .22 that had killed Thorman.

Mann saw it in the killer’s eyes – he knew Mann wouldn’t take the shot.

The door opened and the hit man started to back out, pulling Dani by the hair. As they were about to clear the door, he lowered the gun. Mann saw the motion and dove behind a pile of furniture. He landed hard on a low table. The bullet blew a fist-sized hole in the wall behind him. Mann waited a beat and peeked over the couch. The connecting door was closed.

Mann considered following, calculating how many men he would need to cover the three remaining apartments. Before he could make a decision, he heard a thud; something hard landed against the connecting door. He brought up his gun and moved closer, fearing the worst.

“Mann, I’m coming out.”

The door opened and Dani stepped into the basement. The front of her vest was drenched in blood. Mann rushed to her but his eyes were drawn behind her.

The hit man was crumpled on the ground, blood leaking out of the wound in his throat. Driven in deep, only the hilt of Dani’s knife showed.

“Bastard pulled my hair.”

Blame slides down The Hill but success sticks like glue to the top.

In front of the bank of television cameras and radio microphones, the Mayor took most of the credit for the end of the Southside Slasher’s reign. In the glare of the hot lights, the Mayor’s smile was blinding. He carefully spread the praise, allowing the Commissioner, Deputy Inspector Livermore, and even Mann, to be photographed with his arm around them. Naturally, Inspector Flem was present, promising to trace the hit man back to his Mafia source. Still, the Mayor kept the true accolades for himself and his administration’s tough stance on all crime, highlighting both the Slasher’s demise and especially SOCU’s successes.

Mann slipped from the stage as quickly as possible, nauseated with the entire proceeding. In his mind, he still saw all the victims’ photographs pinned up on the board at the warehouse.

All for revenge on people who had supposedly done Peterson wrong in the past – bullies who had terrorized him during his youth. What a waste of innocent lives.

Confucius was right. When you set out on revenge, dig two graves. This time, there were even more graves. But at least two of them were filled with the right bodies.

Regardless of the Mayor’s posturing, the Commissioner had given Mann his due. James had given Mann an open invitation.

Meanwhile, the press was running full tilt with the death of the Slasher. The Slasher had made twenty-three pictures and Haynes had made a lucrative deal with the
Daily
. Rumor had it that the rag had paid three hundred thousand dollars for the exclusive rights to the pictures. Haynes, Mann discovered, had donated all the money to the fund for the Lucas child.

The paper’s advertising campaign had already started. Every day, they were going to run a picture with a screaming headline:

COULD YOU HAVE BEEN NEXT?

Shoving the paper off the table in his living room, Mann popped the caps on three more beers and another Pepsi. He passed the beers to Davis, Degget and Dani. “You know I’m right,” Degget said.

“It has to be Flem,” Davis agreed. “Who else had access in both occasions?”

“With the man power on the Task Force? Any number of people,” Mann replied. “There is no guarantee it’s the same person.”

“My snitch seems to think so. Angelino got everything about the Slasher from his
Tom Dick
.”

“All he had to do was make a phone call,” Degget said.

They were silent for a time, sipping their drinks. Finally, Dani spoke up. “What about…”

“Son of a bitch!” Mann yelled as he jumped up.

“What the hell?” Degget swore. “You made me spill my beer.”

“Son of a bitch!” Mann repeated. “I knew something was gnawing at my brain. When you brought in the address for the flute, Flem made a call almost right away. I figured he was calling the Mayor.”

“But you figure he was calling Angelino?”

“Maybe, I don’t know,” Mann said. “That isn’t it. It was the phone. He has a BlackBerry. Nice shiny red one. He’s always on the damn thing.”

“You just hate cell phones,” Dani said. “And anything you can get email on is just plain beyond your Neanderthal mind.”

“Ya, ya. No, you don’t get it. He wasn’t on his BlackBerry. I knew something was bothering me. He was on some little silver thing.”

“He has a throw away?” Degget said.

“I’m betting. He’s using it so there is nothing to trace.”

“Then,” Dani said, “we have to get that phone or at least the SIM card.”

“What do we want with the SIM card?” asked Mann.

“You thinking cloning?” Degget asked, ignoring Mann’s question.

“It doesn’t take much. I have a cloner. I picked it up a couple years back from your beloved eBay. I’ve used it a couple times. Comes in handy.”

“I’ll bet,” Davis said.

“What are you talking about?” Mann asked.

“You will have to excuse Mann. He isn’t exactly up on the latest technology. He tries but, you know.”

“Ya, screw you too.”

“What Dani is proposing is copying the SIM card from Flem’s phone,” Davis said. “Then, we can possibly get the numbers he has called.”

“No possibly about it,” Dani said.

“Let me guess,” Degget said. “You got a guy?”

“Oh ya, do I have a guy.”

“No. No way,” Mann said, shaking his head. “Not that paranoid freak. I still think he put a bug in our bedroom last time he was around. I don’t want him around here.”

“Now who’s paranoid? You know he won’t let anyone near his place. It has to be here.”

Mann was still shaking his head but continued. “So, let me get this straight. All we have to do is get Flem’s phone, clone the card, get the phone back so he isn’t suspicious, get the clone to the Freak, and maybe trace what calls he has made?”

“Basically.”

“Why do I think I know how you are going to get the phone?” Mann asked.

“Because you are brilliant when it comes to strategy. A regular Hannibal.”

“The General or the Colonel from the A Team?” asked Davis.

“You can screw off too,” Mann said to Davis, without taking his eyes off Dani. He didn’t like the way her eyes were dancing. “You want to use the Dickerson boys, don’t you? It’s going to take two or he’ll be suspicious. How long are you going to need for the cloning?”

“Five minutes tops. I could do it right in front of Flem and he wouldn’t know what I was doing. Jason can get the card out before he even hands it to me. He should have been a surgeon, with those wonderful hands,” Dani added, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

“Oh please,” Mann said, rolling his eyes.

Mann turned to Degget, trying to gauge him. Mann knew where he stood with Dani. Degget was obviously all in. From Degget, Mann turned to Davis. For Davis, it was simple. Degget was family and family always came first.

Making his decision, Mann said, “OK, now we are in the dark place. We aren’t talking about getting a search warrant and putting this guy on trial. I don’t know where we are going to go if we have proof.”

“I have an idea about that,” Dani said. “First things first. Let me call the boys and get the SIM. We just need the opportunity.”

Davis was smiling. “When is that big reception at the warehouse?”

“Oh God,” Mann moaned.

“You know, being dressed like this could get me tossed out of the bad guy union,” Jason Dickerson said to Mann, flicking an imaginary fleck of lint off the blue arm of his uniform jacket.

“Oh, God,” Mann moaned, looking at the younger of the Dickerson boys, dressed in full dress blues. “Dani is going to be the death of me.”

“Relax or you’re going to give us away. Is Degget ready?”

Mann looked around the warehouse at the rest of the reception guests. Everyone that had been connected with the Task Force had been invited. The Mayor was looking for votes and support among the department while delivering an important message. He was holding court at the front with Flem at his side. The Commissioner, Livermore and Keough were relegated to a secondary position. The message was clear to the rank and file – time to get on board the new train.

The Mayor needed someone capable of covering his back politically. James, regardless of the success in catching the Southside Slasher, was on his way out.

Unless, they could derail that train.

“Degget is at a table in the back. Just get this done and get the hell out of here before someone recognizes you.”

Dickerson looked like he was about to snap a salute and then just turned and walked away. As he went across the room, he slapped a few shoulders and even shook some hands. Mann remembered to breathe when Dickerson finally made it to Flem. Dickerson had a short conversation with the Inspector, shook his hand and also shook the Mayor’s hand. Throughout it all, Mann watched carefully. He wasn’t sure whether to be disappointed or relieved when he realized that Dickerson didn’t get it.

Dickerson again made his way across the room and leaned down to talk to Degget. He straightened and shrugged. Without another word, he walked to the back of the warehouse and left.

Before he could go over to Degget, Mann jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry Lieutenant, I just wanted to thank you again for what you did with this investigation, Lieutenant.”

Mann turned to Commissioner James. “Thank you, sir, but as I already told you, it was good police work on the part of my detectives that solved this case.”

“True but I know a good leader when I see one. I don’t need to tell you that my decision to put you on this case was questioned, repeatedly,” James said. Both of them couldn’t help but look at the Mayor. “You proved me right and have given me some juice. Don’t know how much good it will do me but it all helps.”

“I, uh…”

“Don’t worry, Lieutenant, you don’t have to respond to that. I just want you to know that I am grateful. If there’s anything I can do for you, don’t hesitate to contact me.”

Just then, the Mayor moved up to the microphone and asked for everyone’s attention. He began to thank everyone connected with the investigation. Regardless of his total lack of any contribution, Flem was the first one to be thanked – which wasn’t lost on the Commissioner. “Anything I can do for you,” James repeated, shaking Mann’s hand. “Just don’t wait too long.”

The Commissioner moved off to the front of the room. Mann caught a glimpse of someone brushing lint off Flem’s immaculate uniform. As the toady officer stepped away from the Inspector, he looked directly at Mann. He smirked and brushed his finger across his nose. Mann recognized the second brother. Damn, those boys were good.

Mann listened to the Mayor and then Flem drone on, both working from small cards they held in their hands. The Commissioner stepped up and was the first to actually name key detectives, including Degget, without the benefit of notes.

As though on cue, Degget grabbed Mann’s elbow and guided him toward the back door. “OK, I’ve had my fifteen minutes of fame. Unless you want to listen to more of the speeches, we have work to do.”

*

“There’s only one number that he calls?” Mann asked

“That’s it,” Dani said. “From what we can tell, he never calls anything but a little grocer on 59th.”

“Which I know for a fact is owned by Angelino,” Degget said. “It’s an information drop. He calls the number and they pass on the information.”

“It is pretty thin,” Mann said.

“So was the flute. But put the shit all together and it is pretty damning,” Degget said. “Early in his career, he makes his mark by busting syndicate guys. Lots of good busts but if you really track them, and I have, most are all beneficial to Angelino in one way or another. And if they didn’t help build Angelino’s network, they are throw away thugs that don’t hurt Angelino’s operation. They take the fall, they do the time and come out richer than when they went in. Flem comes on the scene during my investigation and I am burned a couple days later. Finally, he comes into the Slasher thing and all of a sudden we got suspects dropping almost as fast as the victims.

“Look at Flem’s first big bust, his career starter – a mid-level wiseguy that rolled over on his bosses. Those bosses were Angelino’s main competition at the time. They went away. Saved Angelino some bullets and propelled Flem on his way toward Inspector. Angelino was with him the whole way. And this time next year, he’ll be Commissioner.”

“OK, OK, I said it was pretty thin but I’m still thinking about skating on it,” Mann said. He looked over at Davis who nodded.

“Really?” Dani asked. “This is putting your ass out there.”

Mann looked at Dani for a few seconds. She was right. A misstep with this and Mann would fall so far, he would never get back. Even if he didn’t end up in jail, he would never work for the Kesle PD again. He’d be lucky to trade his badge for a cheap uniform and a cloth patch that said Gregg – Mall Security.

Mann turned from Dani’s concerned look to Degget’s determined face. He knew that look from his own face. He still saw it most days in the mirror and now wasn’t the time to retire it – especially when he was this close to a shot at Angelino.

“Screw it…William Harrison Flem is going down.”

“William Harrison Flem?” Dani asked. “Of course! WH stands for William
Harrison
!”

“Sure, William Harrison Flem. Why?”

“Remember what Angelino calls his snitch?” Dani asked.

“My Tom Dick,” Mann said slowly. He started to smile, which looked more like a grimace. “Tom, Dick, and Harry.”

“Tell me this isn’t our man,” Degget said.