Shakedown

Chapter Fifteen

“Tell Agent Davis when it was you last saw your sister.”

Rodney Jensen pulled at both of his chins. “Day before yesterday. We was all standin’ outside where Marcellus and them stay at. Oleta, she went to see Marcellus on account of her boy, Tony, gettin’ hisself killed. Boy worked for Marcellus, and Marcellus, he done the right thing. Give Oleta three thousand dollars-funeral benefits, he called it.”

“Tell Agent Davis what kind of bills Marcellus gave your sister,” Grisnik said.

“All twenties. I seen ‘em.”

“You seen the money since?”

“No, sir. I ain’t seen the money and I ain’t seen my sister.”

“What makes you think she’s missing instead of just off on her own?” Grisnik asked.

“She don’t got no off on her own. She stays with me. She ain’t been home in two nights.”

“Do you have a picture of your sister?”

“Might have one in the house.”

“See if you can find it and then you go with the officers. They’ll take you downtown so one of our detectives can get the rest of your information,” Grisnik told him. “Let’s go for a ride,” he said to me. “I’ll drive.”

The Crown Vic was clean, but lived in, the upholstery faded and coffee-stained, the faint smell of cigarettes hanging in the air. The two-way radio hummed with calls to be answered. Grisnik ignored them, easing the car from the curb, letting it glide down the street barely above idle.

“Troy Clark came from here,” he said when he turned east at the first cross street.

“That’s right. You, too?”

He gave me a sideways grin. “No. I grew up in Strawberry Hill. Not too many Croatians lived in Quindaro. They had their neighborhood and we had ours, us and the Poles and the Lithuanians, even a few Dutch. It was real nice until they cut it in half with I-70. Some called it the Canyon after that but we still call it Strawberry Hill. It’s finally coming back, like a lot of the rest of the city.”

“Except for Quindaro.”

“Doesn’t help when people like Troy Clark turn their backs.”

“If you mean he shouldn’t freeze you out of the investigation because you both grew up here, you can forget it. That’s not the way Troy thinks.”

“How does he think?”

“He thinks about the case, how to pull it together. All he wants is to do it right and get it right.”

“Even if he shits all over you?”

I thought about Grisnik’s question, though I knew the answer. “Yeah, even if he shits all over me.”

Grisnik turned north. We were skirting around Marcellus’s block. The streets were quiet.

“I know why you pulled that scam with the fugitive warrant,” Grisnik said.

I didn’t answer. If he knew, he’d tell me. I’d learn more by letting him.

“You figure someone in my department was taking money from Marcellus. Could have been me. Could have been those two officers. Could have been the whole goddamn department. But you didn’t care who it was so long as word got back to Marcellus. That way he’d be ready for you when you showed up with that phony warrant. That’s why you wanted our cops to back you up. The more cops knew about the warrant, the more likely someone would tell Marcellus.”

We were doing the dance, giving a little to get a little, hoping to get a lot more. There was no reason not to play.

“I put a camera in the ceiling fan in the front room.”

“So you got the killer on tape?”

“Lights went out just before the shooting started.”

“That’s real handy. Makes you wonder if the killer knew about the camera.”

“That it does.”

“Anyone outside of your squad know about the camera?” Grisnik asked.

“Hard to say.”

“Looks like you and me might have the same problem.”

“And I didn’t think we had anything in common.”

He parked the car at the next corner.

“There it is,” he said. “That’s the corner where Oleta Phillips’s son got shot last week. Marcellus and Javy Ordonez have been fighting over that corner a long time.”

“We’re pretty certain Javy is responsible; he had one of his guys, Luis Alvarez, do it.”

“How certain?” Grisnik asked.

“Certain enough that I can’t tell you how certain without compromising my people. Marcellus sent the Winston brothers to balance the books. Alvarez is in the ICU at Providence. If he makes it, you can fight with the Justice Department over who gets him first.”

“Why are you telling me this when Troy Clark won’t give me the time of day?”

“I’m not Troy. The cash I found under the tree in Marcellus’s backyard-you think that’s the money Marcellus gave Oleta?”

“Seems likely,” Grisnik said. “Especially now that Oleta has disappeared.”

“Where does that leave you?”

“Leaves me with a missing mother and her murdered son. I think both of those cases are related to Marcellus and his people getting killed. If Javy ordered the hit, the murders could be the next round in a gang war. Maybe Oleta saw something she shouldn’t have seen. She could have run off or maybe we’ll find her body dumped out in the woods. Make my job a lot easier if the FBI would share some information with me, but they won’t because they don’t trust us.”

Grisnik put the car in drive, continuing his lazy tour. I thought about what he’d said, weighing my options.

“What do you want from me?”

“Help. If you suspect somebody in my department of being on Marcellus’s payroll, I want their names.”

I shook my head. “We weren’t investigating your department. We didn’t have any names.”

“You’ve got surveillance tapes. Let me see them. I may recognize someone.”

“Even if I wanted to, you forget that I’m on the disabled list.”

“You must have at least one friend left at the Bureau.”

“Like you said, they’ve forgotten my name.”

Grisnik squared around. “You’ve been there too long not to have someone who will talk to you.”

I thought of Ammara Iverson. She had said no the first time. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t change her mind.

“There may be one person.”

“Give it a try. And, remember, I may be able to help you.”

“How could you help me?”

“I don’t know why you’re touring our many fine attractions this morning, but I don’t think you’re looking to buy a new house. So I’d say you’re working the case on your own. As a general rule, that’s a bad idea. One of my detectives did that, I’d fire his ass.”

“But I’m not one of your detectives.”

“Which is a good thing for me. This gate can swing both ways, Jack. If I’m right about the death of Tony Phillips and the disappearance of his mother, I’m likely to learn things that will be helpful to you. Find out what you can, share it with me, and I’ll give you what I come up with.”

I looked away. I had defended Troy out of loyalty to him and the Bureau. That was more than the by-product of my training. It was the way I saw the world. I had never cheated on Joy even when our marriage existed in name only. I had taken a vow. She had released me from it when she left and filed for divorce. Troy was my colleague, the Bureau was my life. I wasn’t ready to turn my back on them, even if they could only see me over their shoulders. I turned toward Grisnik.

“I told you about Luis Alvarez. That’s the best I can do.”

Grisnik pulled to the curb again, this time in the middle of the block down the street from Marcellus’s house.

“Why? Because those people are your friends? Because the FBI is your mother, father, wife, and mistress who’d never treat you wrong so you can’t treat them wrong? I’m not asking you to do anything you’re not already doing.”

“What do you mean?”

“They cut you loose. Maybe because you’ve got the shakes. Maybe because you’re unstable. Or maybe because they blame you for those people getting killed. Hell, I don’t know. But I know this. You’re already acting like a free agent, working the case on your own, telling me about Luis Alvarez. What do you think the FBI is going to do if they find out what you’re doing? Give you a fucking medal and your job back? Give me a break.”

“I’ve got my reasons for being here.”

Grisnik let out a sigh. “I’m sure you do. Why don’t you tell them?” he said, pointing to a dark sedan that rounded the corner in the next block. A man and woman got out and walked up to the first house on the corner. Even at this distance, I recognized two members of my squad, Jim Day and Lani Heywood.

“Go on,” Grisnik said. “Get out of my car. Tell your friends that you’re snooping around on your day off and that you’ll let them know if you find out anything important.”

Kate’s words reverberated in my head: work the people. I had to work myself first. I had told myself that I wanted to avoid seeing the people on my squad because I didn’t want to put them in a difficult situation. That was only partly true. The rest of the truth gave me reason to shake. I didn’t want them to know what I was doing because I didn’t trust them.

“Maybe later. Let’s get out of here.”