Credo's Fire, page 21
Taking the flat box from Kate, Ruthanne quickly folded the cardboard into shape, then walked over to where Gabe held the limo door open for Gia. I went with her in case there were any issues. When Gabe shut the door, Ruthanne took some rubber gloves out of her pocket, pulled them onto her hands and then motioned toward the hood of the car. “Please step over there. I’m going to reach inside your jacket to take your weapon.” Gabe looked at me. I simply raised my eyebrows and nodded. He held his arms out to the side and Ruthanne reached in and secured his weapon. She then held his jacket open. “No extra clips?”
He shrugged. “I guess not.”
It was obvious no one was going to tell us anything. What was also obvious was that they didn’t expect, nor did they want the police to do much more than catalogue the evidence and move on. I’m sure if the neighbors hadn’t called us, we never would have heard about the shooting in the first place.
We all turned when the side door opened, and Nate ushered in Gia’s attorney. Kate motioned to the far side of the limo. “Mr. Silverton, I’m Sergeant Kate Brannigan. We’ve spoken a few times on the phone. We’d like to proceed with the interviews in the limo. Gia’s already seated inside and the three of us can join her now.” Kate motioned to Ruthanne. “This is Detective Stahl. She and I will be conducting the interview.” She turned to Nate. “Did you already pat him down?”
Nate nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Do you need me in here? Sgt. Logan asked me to come back when I was done.”
“No, go ahead.” She opened the limo door and waved for Silverton to get in. “After you.”
Ruthanne climbed in after him and Kate pulled the door shut once she’d gotten in as well.
As expected, the interviews were short and to the point. Both Gia and Gabe officially declined to give a statement, and when Kate and Ruthanne had climbed out of the car, Gabe got in the front seat and inclined his head as though listening to instructions from Gia. I watched him nod, then reach into the center console and pull out yet another handgun, which he slipped into his shoulder holster without even a glance toward us. He touched something on the steering wheel and the garage doors slowly opened upward.
Outside, two black SUV’s were parked and running to either side of the garage. One pulled in front of the limo and when Gabe drove out of the garage the second pulled in behind. An officer lowered the crime scene tape that had been stretched across the driveway, and the three vehicles drove through the throng of reporters like Moses parting the Red Sea.
As the media rushed back to crowd into the tape the officer was once more securing across the drive, I thought I saw a brief glimpse of Craig standing slightly behind one of the cameramen who had his shoulder camera up and in place ready to film what was sure to become the story of the decade. “Kate, is that Craig out there?”
She turned toward the direction I was looking. When she didn’t say anything, I glanced over at her, wondering what was going through her mind. I thought I’d try to fish for a little information. “Do you want me to go get him and bring him over? He is working as a consultant after all.”
Chuckling, Kate turned and put her arm around my shoulder. “Yes, he is, but I think he can stay out there for a while.”
“How long have you guys been friends?”
“Quite a while. Why?” She paused long enough to push the button that closed the garage door. We stood and watched it few moments before walking back to the stairwell.
“Just curious, I guess. Did I tell you Gia mentioned that her dad knew his dad?”
Kate stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes bored into mine while she tried to decipher exactly what I was getting at.
I stared back, trying to gauge her reaction to my question. “No, I don’t think you mentioned that little fact. Why do you think she mentioned it, and why did you tell her we were using Craig as a consultant?”
Best to put a good face on it before I gave away the little bit of side research I’d been doing on her. “I didn’t. She already knew he was helping you. I’m not exactly sure how, but that doesn’t surprise you, does it?”
She continued to stare at me, and I began to get nervous. As hard as I tried to stop it, I could feel a blush moving up my neck toward my face and I turned and started up the stairs hoping she hadn’t noticed. Fat chance of that.
“Alex.”
“Yeah, boss?” I kept climbing until I felt her hand grab my shoulder.
“What are you fishing for?”
“Fishing? I’m not fishing for anything.” I swiveled around on the step and tried for my most innocent expression. “I’m just making small talk, that’s all. Why would I be fishing? I mean, what would I be fishing for? What’s to fish for?” I knew I was babbling, and I shut my mouth to keep from digging myself any deeper.
Her eyes narrowed and I knew she knew that I knew more than I was saying. “Anything else you might have forgotten to tell me?”
“Nope.” I thought about Craig’s dad going to prison but I was sure Kate already knew about that. I decided to change the subject as I started to climb the stairs again. “Have we gotten any identification on the body in the barn? Oh, did Casey tell you the guy without the ear is one of the dead shooters here?”
“What?” Kate’s voice reverberated up and down the stairwell. She pushed her way past me to stand on the step above looking down at my surprised expression. “I haven’t seen Casey since we got here.” She thought for a second. “And neither have you for that matter so how in the hell do you know the identification of any of the bodies here and why the hell didn’t you see fit to give me that little tidbit of information?”
“I…well, I guess I just assumed you already knew.”
Kate growled as she climbed the stairs two at a time and disappeared into the bedroom and then out the door into the hallway.
As I stared at the doorway, I realized my problem wasn’t the body in the barn or the fire or even the murder of Tancredo Angelino. My problem was figuring out how each of the players figured into the picture as a whole. Who were the good guys and who were the bad? I slowly walked into the hallway and began cataloguing everybody into two columns. Who was I absolutely sure was a good guy? Casey. No question there. Megan wasn’t really involved in any of this, so I guess she didn’t count. Ruthanne was in the same category as Megan since she was just at this scene on loan from Jason’s case, but I put her on the good guy side anyway. I tried to come up with some more people but came up short.
Gia and Gabe I was never sure about even though I considered Gia one of my closest friends. Kate I usually trusted one hundred percent but for some reason this case had her rattled and I needed to find out why. I stepped over Tancredo’s body and headed down the stairs. I ran into Nate on the landing. He was taping number cards on the wall next to each bullet hole. I mentally put him into the good guy column. Not a lot of experience, but a good guy just the same.
The bad guy column filled up pretty fast. All the Lithuanians, maybe Craig but I really wasn’t even close to being sure which column he should go into. Leslie obviously went into this column, and so did the guy with one ear. I suddenly thought about Mr. Myung, and mentally pushed him onto the good guy side.
Casey found me just as I entered the family room. “Kate wants you to look at the other dead guy outside to see if you recognize him from the alley.”
I followed her through the kitchen and out the back door. I heard what sounded like hundreds of flash cameras going off as the media snapped my picture. “What the hell?”
“Hey Detective Wolfe! How about an interview for tonight’s news?”
“Detective Wolfe, are the Angelinos dead?”
“What can you tell us about your relationship to Gia Angelino? Is she dead or alive?”
Andy Duval from Channel 9 tried to make himself heard over all the rest. “Hey Alex! Why did Gia come visit you the other night? What can you tell us about that?”
My head shot up as I tried to find Andy in the crowd. Kate was kneeling next to one of the bodies and without looking up she whispered. “Don’t react, Alex. Whatever they say, don’t even flinch.”
I stepped over to the body and picked up the tarp covering the face. Casey stood behind me to block the body from the prying cameras with extra zoom capabilities. I spoke quietly to Kate. “How did he know Gia was at my house? Are they following me?”
She didn’t answer. “Do you recognize this one?”
I knew him immediately. “Yeah. I only got a glimpse of him, but he’s the second man who jumped into the alley. He didn’t come into the restaurant with the family. He’s one of the ones who tried to block my escape at the other end of the alley.” Lowering the tarp, I stared at the back of the house. “Kate. Are…they…following me?” Anger was slowly creeping its way up my spine. I turned to look at her. She was watching me with piercing brown eyes, trying just as hard as me to put the pieces together. Without knowing who the players were, I was sure she was having just as difficult a time as I was. She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the kitchen.
Her silence was a little unnerving and I forgot all about the media’s questions. When she finally spoke, I could hear the uncertainty and distrust in her voice. “When was Gia at your house?”
I thought maybe it was about time to fill her in on a few things. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, not really looking forward to her reaction. “The same night Mr. Myung came to visit?”
Kate slammed her hand down onto the countertop. “Jesus, Alex!” She spun in place, paced to the stove and back to me again. When she shoved her finger into my chest my anxiety level shot up another notch. “There’s a lot of shit going on right now. I’m juggling disjointed pieces of information, missing pieces of vital intelligence, and stumbling around in the dark a lot of the time and it’s scaring the hell out of me. When the Lithuanians tried to grab you, I couldn’t figure out what was happening. I still don’t know what’s happening, but I’ll tell you this. You damn well better let me know when someone like Gia or Mr. Myung comes to see you. You aren’t completely in the information loop on this one, Alex, but let me tell you the shit is hitting the fan and I need every scrap of information I can gather.”
A rattled Kate really scared me. I tried to remember everything Gia had said that night. “I didn’t tell you about Gia because she didn’t say very much. Well wait, that’s not true, I did tell you that she’d said I should listen to you. Remember? She said you knew when to go for the jugular.”
“And Mr. Myung?”
“He didn’t tell me anything except that he thought I might be in danger and he started teaching me some martial arts. He said anything I could learn might help me if I ever got into a fight.”
“What kind of danger?”
“I don’t know, something about shadows and darkness. It didn’t make much sense.”
The sound of someone brushing up against the door between the kitchen and the dining room distracted her. As she walked over to it, she put her finger to her lips and then motioned for me to move across the floor to the area in front of the stove. When she pulled the door open, Nate, who was leaning against it with his back to us, practically fell into the room. She took one look at him, then stepped into the dining area and looked around. She waved to the lieutenant who was standing at the other end of the room talking with Sgt. Logan. “I’ll be right there to brief you, Jon. Give me a few more minutes.”
She dragged Nate with her as she came back in and shut the door. Nate stepped back when she turned angry eyes on him. Her hands went to her hips and rested there while she waited for him to explain himself.
He swallowed hard and sent a pleading look my way.
I’m sure my quizzical expression didn’t help him gather his flagging courage. I was starting to wonder if maybe I’d put him into the good guy column a little prematurely. He swallowed again and then tried to explain. “I wasn’t eavesdropping. I came down the stairs and the L.T. was standing close to the door. It seemed like he was trying to listen to what was being said in here. When he saw me watching him, he moved over to talk to Sgt. Logan. I heard the two of you talking in the kitchen and decided to stand in front of the door to make sure you had some privacy.”
Okay, he was back solidly in the good guys column, but now I wasn’t so sure about Lieutenant Lake. Kate reached up and rubbed her eyes, using her fingers to massage them while she rocked her head side-to-side trying to loosen overly tight shoulders. She let out a big sigh and turned toward the dining room door. “Both of you go on back to the office or do whatever it is you have going on. I need to brief the lieutenant on what I know about this fiasco.”
When she left the kitchen, I realized I needed to catch Casey to get a ride. I turned to hurry out to the backyard and was surprised to see her standing with her back to that door as if she was guarding this entrance in the same way Nate had been protecting us from unwelcome ears inside the house.
As soon as I opened the door and stepped onto the porch, the media, who’d finally settled down after Kate and I had gone inside, started buzzing with activity again.
Casey turned to look at me and shook her head. “Weirder and weirder, Alex.”
“Can I catch a ride with you? I think Kate’s gonna be here a while.”
“Yeah, my car’s out front.”
Nate fell into step with us as we walked around the side of the house. The media in front was just as obnoxious as the ones out back.
“Hey Alex. How about a statement?”
“Can you tell us anything about who was killed? Were Tancredo and Gia Angelino in that limo that left a little while ago?”
“Why all the secrecy?”
I looked back to the house hoping to see the Captain coming to rescue me. I was relieved to see the next best thing. The lieutenant and Kate came out the front door and walked over to the yellow crime scene tape where the lieutenant held up his hands asking for quiet. Once the media’s attention had been drawn away from the three of us, we ducked under the tape and hurried to our cars. Nate jumped in his and drove off. As Casey and I opened our doors, I just happened look up in time to see Craig following the path that led around to the back of the house.
“Now that’s interesting.” I closed car door and started jogging towards the house. I heard Casey’s door slam and knew she was right behind.
“What’s interesting?” Her voice jiggled a little as she ran.
I didn’t have time to explain so I held up a finger to let her know I’d tell her when I could. We rounded the corner into the back yard in time to see the kitchen door close. I hurried over and pulled it open, catching Craig as he was about to go through the other door into the dining area. When he heard me come into the kitchen he turned and adopted an innocent, sheepish expression.
I decided two could play at that game. I plastered a smile on my face as I walked toward him and held out my hand to shake. “Craig. Good to see you again. I guess Kate called you in because of the gang connection on the case.”
He nodded. “She did. Do you know where I can find her?”
“Right here.” Kate strolled through the door and pinned him with an icy glare. My guess was she’d seen Casey and I jogging back to the house and had followed to see what was up. I stepped behind Craig and placed myself between him and the dining room door.
Craig, the consummate undercover professional, didn’t even break a sweat. “There you are, Kate. I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Kate held her hands out to her side. “Here I am.”
“I thought maybe if you gave me a walkthrough of the scene, I could probably fill in some of the blanks for you.” The guy was good, I’d give him that much.
Kate surprised me by smiling and taking his arm. “Come on outside and I’ll tell you what I can. This is still an active crime scene…” She paused for effect, “…and the Angelino’s private residence. The fewer people who go traipsing through their home, the better.”
He allowed her to guide him out the back door. “Of course, whatever you say. Hopefully I can identify some of the players for you.”
We followed them outside and as Kate led him around front, I motioned to two cops who were shooting the breeze next to the bodies. One of them, a rookie judging by his demeanor, hurried over to see what I wanted. I reined in my temper before I spoke. “Why did you just let that guy waltz right through the door like that?”
A blush spread up his neck, painting his face a bright crimson. “He badged us as he walked through the yard. He’s a detective, right?”
“Wrong. Did you check the badge to make sure it was legit?”
He guiltily crossed his arms. “No, ma’am.”
I pointed to the tarps. “Did he look at the bodies?”
He seemed a little relieved with that question. “No, ma’am, he didn’t.”
I nodded. “Okay, listen. Nobody goes through that door without you checking their identification. Got it?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Casey and I glared at the other officer before making our way back to her car. She’d been a training officer when she’d worked uniform patrol and I knew she had a soft spot for rookies. She grinned. “I’m glad you didn’t take that kid’s head off. It was a rookie mistake, one I’ll bet never happens again on his watch.”
“I was really more pissed at the other guy, Jenks, who was standing there with his thumb up his ass while Craig walked right through the crime scene. He’s been on the department for more than twenty years, you’d think by now he’d know better.”
She shook her head in disgust. “Time on doesn’t necessarily mean competent. He’s been a sluggard ever since I first came on the department.” We walked back to her car and had to push our way through the onslaught of microphones the media was shoving into my face. Kate had warned me months ago that having a friendship with the head of the ruling mafia crime family was going to cause all kinds of problems and now her words were beginning to bear out. We managed to make it into our car without me punching anyone in the face and I considered that quite an accomplishment. Casey did a three-point turn without intentionally running down any reporters and we drove back towards the downtown area.
