Ambush

Chapter 51

Back at the office, I wasted no time running the names the regulator had given me, not seeking assistance from analysts and other detectives. This was a lead I wanted to follow up quickly, without input from anyone else.

All three of the men whose names the regulator gave me had a past with narcotics violations. All three had done time at Rikers Island or upstate. Their photos looked familiar, but booking photos are notoriously difficult to match with faces you see on the street. In the photographs, all the men had facial hair. No one who tried to shoot me in front of Holy Name had any facial hair. But that meant little.

What I found most interesting was that one man, named Julio Laza, had a car registered to him. A one-year-old Chevy Cruze. My guess was that the car was green.

Usually someone trying to commit a crime like murder or even armed robbery goes to the trouble of stealing a car or using a rental. In this case, it seemed like the suspects were overconfident — thought they could pull off the hit with no issues and save the money they would have spent on a car.

I considered grabbing someone to come with me as a partner. Then I thought about Antrole and decided that one dead partner was enough. This was something I was going to do on my own.

When I had a couple of addresses and some information I could use, I scooped everything up and turned from my desk, then almost ran into Harry Grissom.

My lieutenant said, “What have you got, Mike?”

“Still trying to put some leads together.”

“Just don’t do anything stupid by yourself.”

“I haven’t since I was a teenager and discovered girls.”

“Very funny. But I’m serious. I don’t want you to get all vigilante on me. You’ve got a job to do. That job should include finding out who killed Antrole. But I don’t want to have this talk with someone else working on your homicide. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.”

Thirty seconds later, I was out the door. As the regulator had said, I do what I have to.