Naked Greed

3

Dino called shortly after Perado left. “I got something for you,” he said.

“Shoot.”

“The guy named Ryan is one Eugene Ryan, who got busted off the force two years ago, because he was doing strong-arm work, freelance.”

“So, he’s no longer a cop?”

“That is his condition. The other guy is probably one Al Parisi, who was a buddy of Ryan’s. He graduated from the Academy but didn’t last through the probationary period. Ryan had been his training officer, and after Ryan went, so did Parisi. His record says it was for failure to carry out his duties.”

“A catchall phrase?”

“Right. A chat with his captain revealed that Parisi has some family mob connections, too.”

“I remember a Gino Parisi from a long time ago.”

“That was his grandfather.”

“So the kid was mobbed up?”

“Reading between the lines, I think he probably was not. He doesn’t sound like the type to qualify. The old man, Gino, would probably have thought he was a wimp.”

“So he couldn’t qualify for the mob, but he could qualify for the Academy?”

“He had a clean sheet, good grades in high school, and finished a couple of years of community college. And his family connection didn’t emerge in his background check. Parisi is a common enough Italian name. How do you suppose Ryan and Parisi chose this Perado guy to beat up on?”

“It looked to me like they were looking to roll him,” Stone said. “Maybe they’re riding around town, pretending to still be cops, looking for likely victims on the street.”

“I guess that makes some kind of sense,” Dino said. “Was there anything else that connected them to Perado?”

“No, not according to him.”

“This is very weird,” Dino said.

“You just said it makes some kind of sense.”

“I take that back — it doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“Okay, I’ll grant you that.”

“What are you doing for lunch?”

“Eating your chateaubriand from last night.”

“Then I won’t come between you and your beef. Let me know if some other connection comes up between Ryan/Parisi and Perado.”

“Okay.” They hung up.