Chapter 6 #2
“Fine with me.” She finished her coffee and headed toward the bathrooms. When finished, they left the restaurant. Outside, the summer sun was already warm on her face. She caught herself gazing up at the clear blue sky, wondering if God was real.
Then she gave herself a mental shake. She was better off staying focused on the case. There would be time for philosophical conversations later.
Maybe.
They picked up the rental car, a dark-gray SUV, then headed to the address Rex had provided.
The house was smaller than Jarek’s but had two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small kitchen.
Perfect for their needs. Especially since she planned on spending as much time as possible on the streets investigating the case.
“How long can we stay here?” Jarek asked, as he dropped his duffel on the living room sofa.
“Rex secured it for three days, but we can probably extend that time frame if needed.” She glanced at him. “I’m hoping we’ll have Pablo and whoever else is involved in this in custody by then.”
“Yeah, that would be nice.” He checked his watch. “Let’s hit some of those stores first. Then reach out to your narcotics buddies. I don’t think they’re out and about this early. Most of their drug busts are done at night.”
“That’s true.” She dropped her duffel beside his. “I’m ready.”
Jarek waved at the door. “After you.” She led the way outside, hoping they’d find something useful.
As Jarek drove to the southeast side of the city, she caught a glimpse of the Hudson River. During her time with the K2 Bloods gang, she’d heard about drugs coming in from boats. She hadn’t personally witnessed that happening, but as she eyed the river now, she reached out to grasp Jarek’s arm.
“Drive along the river for a bit,” she said. “I want to check something.”
He arched a brow but did as she asked. There was one road that meandered along the river, and it was easy to see how the environment changed as they headed south toward gang turf.
There was more graffiti painted on some of the park benches, along with more litter.
Almost as if the city workers stopped caring once they crossed first street.
It was too early for tourists to be skimming along the waves, but she noted a few die-hard fishermen were out with lines cast in the rolling water.
She didn’t see anything remotely suspicious but reminded herself that the bad guys would hardly paint their boat with graffiti, basically announcing drugs were on board.
The image made her smile.
“What?” Jarek asked. “Do you see something interesting?”
“No. I was just thinking how nice it would be if the gangs marked up their boats the way they did their turf.”
“That would be nice,” he agreed. “Not smart, but nice.”
“I know you mentioned reaching out to Bond and Schnor. If we don’t find anything useful on the cell phone angle, we should start at the beginning.” At his puzzled look, she added, “The drug trafficking itself. The drugs are coming into and going out of the city somehow.”
“That’s a good idea,” Jarek said. “Your narcotics buddies should know a little more about that process.”
She nodded as Jarek turned to head back toward the stores that were most likely used for the cell phones. But as they started out on foot, she kept thinking about those boats.
No matter what Bond and Schnor thought, she believed it would be smart to return to the riverfront later that night. Catching a drug drop in the act and under the cover of darkness would be a good way to get answers.
The sooner her reluctant partnership with Jarek was over, the better.
Jarek led the way into the first store located on the edge of known gang territory. He didn’t go to talk to the clerk at the checkout counter but walked around until he located the rack of disposable phones.
The numbers were vastly different from Stewey’s and Levine’s. At Di’s questioning look, he shook his head. Were they on the right track? Or was this nothing more than an exercise in futility?
Reminding himself that police work was often slow and tedious, he moved on to the next store. This one was well within the heart of gang territory, and the windows were covered in bars to deter theft. Heading inside, he found the rack of cell phones. And found what he was looking for.
He lifted the package and showed it to Di. Her eyes gleamed with anticipation. The phone number was the next one in line after Stewey’s. After replacing the phone package, he turned and approached the counter. A clerk sat behind a pane of bulletproof glass, eyeing him warily.
He didn’t pull his badge, mostly because he was on administrative leave. He should have turned it over with his gun but hadn’t. His boss would not be happy about that. “Can you tell me if anyone purchased disposable cell phones in the past few days?”
“I don’t know.” The clerk looked away. “I don’t keep track of that stuff.”
Either the guy was protecting those with gang affiliations, or he truly didn’t bother to keep track of inventory. He nodded to what appeared to be a camera mounted over the clerk’s left shoulder. “Is that video camera working?”
The clerk didn’t bother to glance up at it. “Nope. It’s for show, that’s all. Hasn’t worked in months.”
Truth or lie? Jarek wasn’t sure. “I can come back with a warrant if needed.”
“Go ahead.” The clerk didn’t look concerned. “You can ask for video all you want, but that won’t make it suddenly appear. The camera doesn’t work.” The guy’s eyes narrowed. “If you don’t plan on buying anything, please leave.”
He battled back a wave of frustration. He could ask Andrews to get a warrant, but he had a feeling the clerk wasn’t lying about the camera not working. Any store that catered to gang members would be smart to avoid being dragged into court to testify against them.
“Come on, Jarek,” Di said, nudging him with her elbow. “Let’s go.”
He turned away and followed her outside. “I’m sure that’s where Stewey and Gil bought their phones.”
She nodded. “Yep, but did you notice there were three phones left on the rack? If they come in packs of five, that means they’re all accounted for. If they’re in packs of ten, then catching faces on video may not help narrow the suspect pool. Unless we get a glimpse of Pablo Hernandez buying one.”
He was impressed. For someone who preferred working alone, Di had excellent cop instincts. “You should go to the police academy.”
“No way.” She looked truly horrified by that idea.
Oddly, her response hurt. “What’s so bad about being a cop?”
“Nothing.” Her expression turned neutral. “It suits you, Jarek. But it’s not for me.”
He told himself to move on. What did it matter if Di wanted to continue working for Grayson’s Guardians? They had bigger issues to worry about. Like who was gunning for her and why.
“Okay, let’s get in touch with Officer Bond.” He pulled out his phone but then paused. “Actually, that’s a call better coming from you. He might blow me off if he doesn’t recognize my number.”
“Right.” She pulled her phone from her pocket. “I’ll text him.”
They walked back toward the rental car while waiting for Bond to respond. It didn’t take long. Five minutes later, Di had arranged a meeting with Bond and Schnor on Front Street overlooking the Hudson.
He and Di arrived first. As the hour was now almost ten in the morning, the city was waking up. People were out and about, running, walking, rollerblading, and generally enjoying the warm summer day. A dichotomy from the graffiti-tagged neighborhood they’d left just twenty minutes ago.
The pair of narcotics officers approached from the south. They were dressed casually, the only signs of their police officer status were the guns they wore on their hips and the chains around their neck holdings their badges. Di saw them first and rose to her feet. Jarek stood beside her.
“Hey, Dina.” The taller of the two grinned at her. “Nice to see you again.”
“I wish I could say the same, Ray,” Di said wryly. Then she nodded at the other officer who appeared a few years older than Ray Bond. “Jeff, I’d like you to meet Officer Jarek Brooks. Jarek, Ray Bond and Jeff Schnor.”
The narcotics officers nodded at him. “I’ve seen you around,” Ray said, “but our paths haven’t crossed much.”
“Yeah, well, things have changed.” Jarek was aware of how Ray Bond moved closer to Di.
Did the guy have a thing for her? “I don’t know if you’re clued in to what’s been going on, but there have been four separate attempts to shoot and kill Di in the past twenty-four hours.
The most recent being an attack inside my house while we were sleeping.
” He hadn’t meant to insinuate they were together, but the quick look Ray sent Di indicated that’s how the cop had taken his statement.
That wasn’t fair to Di, so he quickly added.
“I heard him coming up the stairs and fired at him mere seconds before Di came out of the guest room. We recognized him as Brian Stewert.”
“A.k.a. Stewey,” Di clarified with a nod. “You should know Jarek is officially on administrative leave for shooting and killing Stewey, so we’re working a little outside the lines here. We believe Pablo Hernandez has it out for me.”
“I don’t know anyone named Stewey.” Ray glanced at his partner. “You?”
“Nope.” Jeff shook his head. “I hate to say it, but we don’t really know for sure Hernandez has resurrected the K2 Bloods gang either. I mean, that’s a theory we’ve been looking into, but there’s no hard evidence yet that he’s taken over as the leader.”
“What about a guy by the name of Gilbert Levine?” Jarek asked. “Di noticed he was following her from her apartment. When she confronted him, shots were fired, and he was the one struck down instead of her.”
“That’s not good.” Ray’s expression filled with concern as he turned to Di. “You should have called me. I’d have come to pick you up.”
A flash of jealousy hit hard. Jarek reminded himself that Di had the right to see anyone she chose. Ray Bond or someone else.
“I was fine. What about drugs being transported via the river?” Di asked, seemingly oblivious to Bond’s interest in her. “Have you found concrete evidence of that?”
The two narcotics officers exchanged a glance. Then Ray slowly nodded. “That’s an angle we’ve been looking into. No proof yet, but we’ve been working with a couple of low-level gangbangers to get information on when the next shipment might be coming in.”
Di turned to Jarek. “I think our next plan should be to watch the riverfront.”
“Wait a minute,” Jeff protested. “You just told us Brooks is on admin leave. He can’t work the streets, especially not in a narcotics case.”
“You’re right. I know that’s not our job.” Di backpedaled, but Jarek sensed she was only doing that to convince the narcotics officers they wouldn’t infringe on their turf. “Sorry, I was falling back on my previous role.”
“That’s understandable,” Ray Bond said with a grin. “You can work with us if you’d like. I’m sure Brooks will understand.”
Jarek narrowed his gaze, understanding Bond was basically warning him away from Di and investigating the case.
And the problem was that Bond had every right to insist Jarek sit this one out.
His being there would only compromise the situation.
Especially if they found drugs being moved on the water.
In Jarek’s humble opinion, that held true for Di’s presence too. She was a civilian, which was even worse. The upper brass didn’t like using innocent civilians as bait to draw the bad guys out of hiding.
“Oh, it’s okay. You guys should do your thing.
Jarek and I will look at the case from another angle.
” She made it sound as if they had plenty of other avenues to investigate when he knew for a fact they did not.
“But it would be nice if you guys would keep in touch, especially if you learn anything useful about Hernandez.”
Ray Bond looked disappointed but nodded. “Yeah, sure. But the same goes for you. We didn’t know about the two guys you mentioned being involved in the drug business. Do you have any other names we should look into?”
“Not yet,” Jarek said, feeling ridiculously relieved that Di hadn’t dumped him to tag along with the narcotics officers. “But I’m a little surprised you didn’t know about Stewey. He was arrested two years ago on a possession with intent to sell.”
Jeff Schnor shrugged. “We don’t get involved in every drug bust. We tend to focus on those higher in the food chain.”
“Understandable,” Di agreed. “Gilbert Levine only had a weapons charge. Nothing related to drugs. But we were able to confirm they shared an apartment. Stands to reason if one was involved in selling, the other was too.”
“Makes sense to me.” Ray glanced at his partner. “Okay, we’ll agree to keep in touch.”
“Thanks for meeting with us.” Di waited for the two officers to head off, before turning to him. “I think we need to come back to the riverfront tonight. Okay with you?”
“Sure. We’ll walk the area, see what jumps out as a good place to hold a stakeout later tonight.” He had to resist the urge to sweep her into his arms for a tight embrace. There was no reason for him to be so happy that she’d chosen to stay with him.
Quite the opposite.
Spending time with Di could very well end in heartbreak, if he was foolish enough to give it to her.