Rizzo's Fire

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

RIZZO AND JACKSON GAZED THROUGH the windshield at the choppy, white-capped waters of Jamaica Bay. The Impala sat parked in the sprawling, nearly deserted parking area of the Canarsie Pier. Rizzo had sat silently as Priscilla Jackson gave the play a fast, careful reread.

Having given the reluctantly cooperative Mrs. Carbone a written receipt, they had removed the suitcase from the garage, and it was now secured in the Impala’s trunk.

The car’s heater blew warm air against their legs, chilling winds howled softly outside the tightly closed windows. Light snow flurries danced across the gray hood.

“Now I’m sure of it,” Priscilla said quietly, coming to the last page and resting the manuscript on the steering wheel. “With a few changes this is the play I saw on Broadway. What are the possibilities here, Joe?”

“Top of my head? Mallard somehow plagiarizes the play from Lauria. Lauria calls him on it, and Mallard goes to Lauria’s place, strangles him, searches the apartment, and takes every copy of the play he finds.”

“So you honestly figure this Pulitzer Prize winner was capable of strangling somebody to death?” Priscilla asked.

Rizzo laughed. “Yeah, well, think about this. Yasser Arafat won a fuckin’ Nobel Peace Prize.” He paused. “You think maybe he had any blood on his hands, Partner?”

“Okay, so then who kills Mallard?”

Rizzo shrugged. “Somebody who knew the situation, somebody who knew about the play and figured Mallard whacked Lauria. Somebody close to Lauria.”

She shook her head. “There was nobody close to Lauria, ’cept Carbone. You can’t figure her for a murderer. She just wasn’t the type.”

“Yeah, well, Carbone’s husband looked clean, too. Maybe this brother she claims is in Kuwait.” He shook his head. “That’s unlikely, though. It would have to be somebody else, somebody we don’t know exists yet. Everybody’s got somebody. Maybe even this guy Lauria.”

“I don’t know, Joe,” she said. “Sounds pretty freakin’ weak to me.”

“Don’t it, though?” said Rizzo, reaching for a Nicorette. “But you never know. We gotta dig deeper into the vic’s life. Turn up an old buddy, maybe a butt-buddy, or some screwy writer Lauria hung around with. Somebody.”

Priscilla wrinkled her brow. “How ’bout this?” she speculated. “Lauria was frustrated and bitter from years of failure. He sees Mallard’s play, writes almost a carbon copy, changing it just enough to make it look legit. He types it on some old paper, dates it three years ago. Then he tries to run a swindle on Mallard, says Mallard plagiarized his play. Tries to get Mallard to use his connections and get Lauria published somehow.”

Rizzo followed through. “Yeah, they have an argument and Mallard kills the guy. Okay. But then who kills Mallard?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Your phantom butt-buddy, I guess.”

Rizzo placed the gum in his mouth, chewing it slowly before responding.

“Or maybe it is just some coincidence-not the murders, the plays. Maybe each guy wrote his play in de pen dent of the other, but Lauria figured Mallard stole his idea, and it all led to the murders.”

“No way,” Priscilla said. “The two plays are absolutely the same. I’m tellin’ you, not in a million years could two strangers write two such similar works. No freakin’ way.”

Rizzo nodded. “Okay, so maybe they weren’t strangers to each other. We gotta look at Avery Mallard’s life. See where it intersects with Lauria’s. Look for someone they both knew.”

“If their lives intersect,” she said. “Do you remember any of the details of Mallard’s murder, Joe?”

“Not really. I only read one news article about it. I’m pretty sure it happened in his apartment. And, now that I think about it, it mighta been a stranglin’.”

Priscilla sat back, facing Rizzo, her shoulders against the driver’s window.

“Jesus Christ, Joe, if that’s true, and the murders are connected, we got us some doozy here-and just one killer.”

Rizzo smiled. “Yeah,” he said. “A real doozy.”

“We can check online for the articles. Get more info on the Mallard case.”

“Fuck online. You forget we got us a pal over at the Plaza? Pretty Boy McQueen? Mike could run inside access computer checks and pull up the whole Mallard investigation. We can look over Manhattan South’s shoulder, see what the college boys and girls been doin’ with the case. Get all the contact info we need.”

Priscilla’s lips compressed tightly before she spoke again.

“Yeah. I forgot about Manhattan South.” She paused. “What’s the protocol here? Are we supposed to tell them about this Lauria angle?”

Rizzo shrugged. “Probably. If we develop it any further, definitely.”

“Shit,” she said dejectedly. “They’ll grab the two cases and send us both out for coffee.”

Rizzo raised his brow. “Not if I don’t let ’em, they won’t.”

“What you got in mind, Partner?” Priscilla questioned.

He reached out and gently patted her arm. “Makin’ you a star, kiddo-and me, too. If this Lauria case is related to Avery Mallard’s murder, we can run with this ball pretty far before we gotta worry about any ‘protocol.’ Pretty damn far.”

“How smart is that?” she asked.

“Well, you know it could backfire, bite us real bad if we fucked it up. But we’re too sharp to fuck it up.”

“It can do more than bite us, Joe,” she said. “We sit on this link and get found out, we could be looking at an obstruction charge. That’s no joke.”

“Obstruction? Who are we obstructin’? We are the fuckin’ cops, Cil. We can’t obstruct ourselves.”

She shook her head. “Please, don’t fuck with me. You know what I’m sayin’ here. We deliberately conceal this link between the two homicides, they can nail us for obstruction and official misconduct.”

“Relax, okay? Nobody’s nailin’ us for nothing. Hell, if you hadn’t seen that play with Karen, we never would’ve made the connection. And besides, it’s nothing but speculation so far. Let’s take a look, nose around a little, that’s all I’m saying. A couple of unlikely misdemeanor charges shouldn’t right away put our tails between our legs. Let’s just look into it.”

She considered it. “How about this, Joe? How about while we’re ‘considering’ it, the killer strikes again? Suppose it is the same guy who whacked Lauria and Mallard? We don’t know why, other than maybe something connected to the play. There could be a third party somewhere, some other big shot like Mallard or another schmo like Lauria, and the killer decides to get rid of them, too. That makes us accessories. Accessories to fuckin’ murder. Think about that.”

Rizzo shrugged. “Million-to-one shot. Besides, if the killer had a third target, it’s already too late. He took out Lauria and Mallard within a day or two of each other. I don’t think he’s been sitting on his hands for two fuckin’ weeks to take out a third guy. If there was another party, he’s dead already. Done deal.”

She sat silently fingering the pages she held.

“It’d be blood on our hands if it did happen, Joe,” she said after a moment. “Even if we never got jammed up for it, it would still be blood on our hands.”

Rizzo turned in his seat and faced his young partner. A tired smile came to him. “Cil, listen to me. I’ve been doing this a lot of years. Now I’m near the end. I been laboring in obscurity for a long time, just the way I wanted it. No flashy squad, no silk stocking precinct, just me and Brooklyn, for better or worse. And I managed to build a solid rep anyway. Cops all over the city have heard of me and all the bosses know how good I am at this, but you know what, Cil? It’s gettin’ a little old for me. Sometimes, lately, I kinda feel like I’m the greatest chef in… in Ireland. At the end of the day, nobody really gives a damn who boiled the fuckin’ potatoes.

“But… if we develop this, if we tie into Mallard, break that case, I go out on the A-list.”

Rizzo leaned close to her. “And you. What about you? Your stock goes way up. You’d have the friggin’ politicians tripping over their mistresses rushin’ to get you promoted. You could call your own tune. Think about it.”

Priscilla held his dark brown eyes. A moment elapsed.

“And if somebody else does get killed, Joe. That’d be okay with you?”

He shrugged. “I explained that already. Nobody else is getting killed. And besides, what do you think, we hand this over to Manhattan South and they solve it in twenty minutes? With the resources Mike can provide us, you and me got the same chance as Manhattan does. Hell, we got a better chance.” He paused and turned back in his seat, once again gazing out at the snowflakes dancing across the car’s hood.

Priscilla spoke to his profile. “Because you’re smarter than they are. Right?”

He nodded without turning to her. “Your call, Cil. I’ll leave it up to you. I want to poke around some, see where it goes. I told you why. I’ll leave it up to you.”

After a long moment, she spoke, her tone pensive. “Okay, Joe. We’ll take a look. But if it’s starts getting heavy, we gotta reconsider.”

Rizzo reached for his shoulder harness, pulling it forward, securing it.

“Okay then, let’s go. I’ll tell you how I think we should handle it.”

“Where to?” she asked, as she turned and secured her own shoulder harness.

“Well, first, back to Lauria’s place. We need to get that suitcase and the box full of rejection slips. And anything else related to his writing, even that old IBM. It could all be evidence. I want the suitcase dusted for prints, even though we were pawin’ at it without gloves on. Maybe the killer got careless when he searched it for Lauria’s copy of the play and left some prints on it. We have to inventory the contents of both suitcases, the one from the apartment and the one from the garage. Then we’ll secure them in the precinct evidence locker. The chain of possession is fucked up enough already, we gotta start stabilizin’ it, recording everything. So, we’ll go to Lauria’s place, then the precinct.”

“Okay,” she said.

“But first,” he added, “head back up Rockaway Parkway. Find me a candy store.”

He smiled into her questioning eyes.

“I gotta pick up one absolutely last pack of cigarettes.”

AFTER THEY had secured all the gathered evidence in the precinct’s property locker and were seated at Priscilla’s desk in the squad room, Rizzo asked her for one of the two copies of Lauria’s play she had run off.

“I guess I’ll have to read this crap,” he said absently. Then he pulled the note pad from his jacket and dropped it onto her desk. “Do me a favor. Contact the Air Force and get confirmation that Carbone’s brother’s been overseas at least the last couple a months. Check if he had any leave in October or early this month. All the names and numbers are in my notes.”

Priscilla nodded, glancing at the note pad. “Okay, and I’ll call the cousins on Long Island and over in Jersey, size them up a little. Like we did with Carbone and her husband.”

Rizzo nodded. “All right, thanks. See if they can point us at any other relatives or family friends who mighta had any kinda relationship with Robbie. Anything at all they can add to this.”

“I’m on it, boss,” she said. Rizzo moved back to his desk, checked his address book, then punched Mike McQueen’s work number into the phone.

“Comstat, Detective McQueen,” he heard through the line.

“Hello, Mike, it’s Joe.”

“Joe, hi, how are you?”

“Couldn’t be better, kiddo, couldn’t be better. You got a minute?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Well, me and Cil got us a situation here. I’d like to discuss it with you. Face-to-face.”

There was a pause. “Everything okay?” McQueen asked, the caution in his tone not fully disguised by the superimposed casualness.

“Right as rain, buddy, right as rain. You workin’ tomorrow?”

“Yeah, Joe, I’m steady eight-to-fours, weekends off.”

“Well, good for you, banker’s hours. Good for you. Listen, how ’bout lunch? Down at Pete’s maybe, like last time, or I can come into the city. I’m off tomorrow.”

“Sure, Pete’s is fine, just five minutes across the bridge from the Plaza. How about one o’clock?”

“Great. Looking forward to it. See you then.”

“Okay,” McQueen said. “Is Cil comin’?”

Rizzo hesitated. “Not this time, Mike. Next time, maybe.”

Now it was McQueen who hesitated. “Okay,” he said. “But everything is all right?”

“Yep, everything is just fine,” Rizzo said. “But we don’t need Cil along this time.”

Another hesitation. “Well, okay, Joe. See you tomorrow.” The line went dead.

Everything was just fine, Rizzo thought. Just fine.

FRIDAY AT one o’clock, Rizzo smiled across the table in Pete’s Downtown Restaurant. “Well, you sure look fancy today, Mike. Another new suit?”

“Yeah,” McQueen said. “To celebrate my bump up to second grade.” He waved for a waiter, then turned to Rizzo.

“Double Dewar’s, rocks?” Mike asked Rizzo.

“Sure.”

With drinks before them and their lunch orders placed, Rizzo raised his glass.

“To us, Partner. And to the future.”

After sipping his drink, McQueen rotated the Manhattan glass slowly between his fingers, then asked, “So, what’s up?”

Rizzo filled him in on the Lauria case, stressing its possible connection to the murder of internationally acclaimed playwright Avery Mallard.

“Think about it, Mike,” he said softly. “What other explanation could there be for Lauria having that play stashed at his sister’s, and not one copy of it in his apartment? What possible explanation could there be for the existence of that manuscript? No matter how you slice and dice, it comes back to one simple fact: Lauria and Mallard were somehow connected. Connected by that play. And whoever killed Lauria most likely searched the apartment, specifically lookin’ for the play, found it and took it. Lauria was a real low-tech guy, there ain’t any cyberspace copies of that play floatin’ around. The killer felt confident he had the situation under control.”

Rizzo smiled at McQueen. “We just fell into it, kid.”

“Well,” Mike replied, “it may be quite a lucky stumble for you.”

“You bet,” Rizzo said. “Like Yogi Berra once said, I’d rather be lucky than good.”

McQueen laughed. “Or better yet, good and lucky.”

Rizzo took a sip of his Scotch, then continued.

“If this is Mallard whackin’ Lauria, and then somebody evening the score by killing Mallard, or even if it’s just an interested third party killed them both, there’s gotta be a link between the two victims.”

McQueen nodded. “Yeah, well, good luck with that. Some Brooklyn loser and a celebrated Pulitzer Prize-winning New York playwright. Shit, I studied Mallard in English lit class at NYU. The guy is-was-a friggin’ living legend.”

“Yeah, so I hear.” Rizzo drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “So what’s the word at the Plaza, Mike? About the Mallard case.”

“Not much. Manhattan South is on it, with some Major Case support. The brass is all over it. Lots of pressure to nab somebody, and time is passing. The case is getting cold.”

Rizzo nodded. “What angle are they playin’?”

“Far as I know,” McQueen replied, “they make it as a break-in. Perp came in a window at Mallard’s brownstone on a Sunday night, there was a struggle, Mallard got strangled. Manhattan South is rousting junkies and b and e guys all over the city. They’re squeezing stoolies and getting the word out to the jails. Any skell lookin’ for a deal comes forward with a name on this case, the guy can write his own friggin’ ticket. According to my A.D.A. friend, Darrel Jordan, the Manhattan D.A. would sell his only child to make this case. He’s got his eye on the governor’s chair, and he thinks prosecuting this case will help put him there.”

“Yeah, figures,” said Rizzo. “Better government through better bullshit. Same ole, same ole.” He took a sip of his drink as the waiter reappeared, placing their appetizers before them. When he left, Rizzo continued.

“Let’s get to the point, Mike. I need the Mallard file. I want the contacts-the guy’s wife, mother, girlfriend, boyfriend, all of it. I wanna try to cross his path with Lauria’s. I do that, I got a lead to the killer. Or killers. The M.O.s are the same. There’s a connection between these cases, I’d bet two years of Marie’s Cornell tuition there is. And I wanna be the one makin’ that connection.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.” McQueen reached for a fork, looking casually down at his stuffed shrimp. “Now I’ve got a question, Joe.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Rizzo said. “What’s in it for you? Let me answer that. You get me the file, raid that computer you’re drivin’ all day. Me and Cil do the leg work. If it breaks right, we tie you into it. Success would force the brass to overlook the-let’s call it, unofficial-help you gave us. Mike, we crack this, Cil writes her own ticket-Homicide, Task Force, what ever she wants. I finish up my career a fuckin’ superstar, the guy who cracked the Pulitzer Prize murder case. They get Joe Hollywood to play me in the movie of the week.”

He leaned across the table. “Just thinka how proud my mother’ll be, Mike.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” His face turning serious, McQueen added, “But I gotta tell you, I see myself maybe out in the cold here. Officially, I’ll have had nothing to do with it. Plus I might have a pissedoff supervisor to deal with, maybe some other brass, too.”

Rizzo waved a hand.

“Bullshit. It’s me and Cil taking all the risk. If this goes well, anybody remotely near you will be wrappin’ his arms around your shoulder and lookin’ for the nearest photographer. There’ll be plenty of glory to go around, Mike, real and invented. Believe me.”

McQueen frowned. “You really think so?”

Rizzo took a sip of water, then put the glass down and folded his hands, leaning in on the table, closer to his former partner. He lowered his voice.

“Let me tell you a story, Mike. A story about this lazy, not-too-bright patrolman from the Six-Two. It was way back when, before my time even. Son of Sam was runnin’ around the city, shooting kids parked in cars on lovers’ lanes. The last shooting was in the Six-Two, down by the highway. This patrol cop, he tags a car parked by a hydrant around midnight, just before the shooting went down. So he writes his ticket, rides back to the house, and goes home. Forgets all about it. Next day, the detectives are canvassing the neighborhood and they see a woman walkin’ her dog. They approach her. Yeah, she says, she was out with the dog last night. ’Round midnight. No, didn’t see nothin’ suspicious. Is she sure? Yeah, she said. All she saw was some fat ol’ cop writin’ a ticket for some car parked near the johnny pump about a block from the scene. So the detectives go back to the precinct and pull the house copy of the summons. They run the plate through, and guess what? The car ain’t local. It belongs to some guy David Berkowitz, lives in Westchester County, north of the city.”

Rizzo paused, draining his Dewar’s.

“And that’s how the case got cleared. The patrol cop was too dumb to make the connection, but the brass bumped him up to detective third grade anyway. For writin’ a parking ticket he never even realized the significance of.”

He looked at McQueen. “What do you figure they’ll do for you when I crack this case and tell ’em how I’da never been able to do it without your help?”

A slow smile had formed across Mike’s face. “I don’t know, but I’m beginning to think I’d like to find out.”

Rizzo laughed. “Yeah, I bet. And you know, it was a detective named Zito made that Son of Sam case. Half the cops working today, including you, weren’t even born yet when Zito made that case, but plenty of them know the name. You never know, Mike,” Rizzo added affably. “Maybe forty years from now some cops’ll be schemin’ out a scheme somewhere and one of them’ll bring up Joe Rizzo.” He waved for a second round of drinks.

“Now I see why you didn’t want Cil along today, Joe.”

“Oh?” Rizzo said, arching his brows, “and why’s that?”

Lowering his voice, McQueen said, “Daily. Councilman William fuckin’ Daily. We pull this off, we’re untouchable. We couldn’t discuss that aspect of all this in front of Cil. But you and I know, we pull this off, we could nail that prick Daily and not give a goddamn if anybody realizes it was us who did it. That’s your motivation here. We’d be fuckin’ untouchable.”

“Okay, kid,” Rizzo said with satisfaction. “You’re a good learner. We find Mallard’s killer, we’re the fair-haired boys of the news media. There ain’t a boss or a politician in the whole fuckin’ city who’d tangle with that. Not just to avenge that scumbag Daily.”

He gazed across the table and into the intent, steely blue eyes of McQueen.

“Get me that file, Mike,” he said. “Without it, I’m blind.”

McQueen pursed his lips. “Okay, I’ll do it. But it’ll take me a few days to figure out how to do it clean, so no one notices and starts asking questions.”

The waiter appeared once again and placed fresh drinks on the table, then moved away. Rizzo raised his second Dewar’s in another toast to McQueen.

“Just get the file, Mike, and leave the rest to me.

“Me and Cil, that is.”