I stopped at Di Angelo for my brunch as the morning was taken up by the Captain hollering his monthly update to us at Homicide. We were having a crisis at the Precinct with two officers down and some down with some illness caused by the coffee machine. I did once said, Di Angelo was safer to patronize than the Coffee Machine. The later was never seen under being refilled or checked for maintenance since the Ark sailed. There I met Frank who had arrived earlier among others who had also strolled in with me. Marcy was still recovering from her shot. I ordered my meal and then we cracked jokes.
"Hey, Jim. How's Marcy?" It was Brian; he can be a loud mouthed SOB. And he was that day. "She liked her new hole?"
They all laughed at his joke except me and Frank. It was the later who raised up his voice.
"Slammed it, Brian. You got five more minutes to your patrol. So wolfed it down and get going." Nobody on the Precinct answered back to the Sargeant. Or you would end doing the graveyard shift or worse the street walks. Brian on getting his order, glumly finished his meal before leaving. I thought of cheering out the group when the portables rang. It was a 207A ( Kidnapping attempt. ) That falls under us as the former would be a FBI case. As I gulped down my coffee, the portables rang again. It was a 217 ( assault with intent to murder. ) More of us got up and moved to the door. The portable rang one more time. It was a 415 ( Disturbances ).
"What did the Captain do? Lecture those guys too?" Dusty who was on my shift for now due to the crisis.
"Maybe he riled up the Commissioner and he is sending the calls over." We all laughed before we board our cars. I can see Di Angelo rushing out and writing his tab book. He may be an ex-Cop but he still need to get paid for his servings.
I took the 207A with my rookie; fresh from the Academy, local boy with a good academic listing joining us to be fight crimes. He must had watched too much TV or I am getting old at this. My High School Certificate still hanged at my house but I doubt its worth anything. The rookie was named Sammy something, who cares; I just called him Sam.
"Play it again, Sam." I told him in the car as I slapped on the brake from knocking down the school bus turning without a light. He is the uniformed boys issue as right now, I am onto a possible major case. Sam got my cue instead of his earlier 'huh' responses.
"The call came in at 1150hrs, a Mrs Smith said someone tried to kidnapped her grandson. She reported that the son was in the yard and the ....would be kidnappers came in a blue van, drove up and tried to grabbed him. But the house dog chased them away. The van drove off with the dog instead."
Sounded cranky to me, but we are investigating. When I reached there, I found the patrol car beat us to the place. It was Brian and he was grumpy.
"Its a crank. There was no Mrs Smith and no kiddo too." Brian was still upset at being chased off on his meal. "We been had on the call. I had just radioed the Precinct."
"Brian, sorry about the call off from Frank. He did...." I tried to pacify him but he intervened.
"Jim, I am a loud mouth, and I feel bad for her. So no apologies required." Brian walked off and so did I to the car. I told Sam to called in that it was a crank. We had five of these yesterday but no one could trace it. Guess whoever it was, must be good or younger than me. The Tech said he must be a communication geezer who relayed his calls off multiple towers before reaching us. It was bad as sometimes, we might just ignore the calls and then its the real thing. Then my portable rang. It was Dan.
"Who the f*** send me on a goose chase to the Easy Side without support.? I could had been killed." So Dan also got duped. I told him on the cranker and we are hunting. Dan was not amused, as he had a steak burning in his Morgue. I would laughed it off, but I knew he does use the equipment there for other purposes.
It was Sam who spoke to me that he may know how to trace this caller. He told me he majored in Electronics and some other gizmo. I told him to see the Captain as I was ready to retire soon. He laughed at my statement thinking it was a joke. That cost him a coffee fetched to my desk.
But soon I was to fetched my own as Sam was given the task. I was given the call to followed up on the earlier call. I told the Captain that it was a crank.
"Not anymore, Jim. The lady of the house was named Mrs Smith and she stayed four doors from the house you visited. Her grandson was almost taken away. So get there and do you detective works."
I drove over and met the real Mrs Smith. Over the cup of tea and some cookies, I got the whole story. Her grandson who was on the lawn playing when this van drove up. A couple came out and tried to grabbed him. He struggled and the dog went for the couple. It was a big labrador. The dog bit the man's hand and he pulled away with the dog holding on. It was then the lady pushed the dog from behind and got into the van. They then sped off . That mean there was a third person involved.
"Was your dog any prized winner?" I knew it was a silly question, but anyone who takes a dog must be silly too. No, Rintin was no prized winner but a good pal of the kid.
"Perhaps you would like to meet my grandson?" Mrs Smith was kind to show me her grandson now; the alleged victim. He was supposed to be in the back yard but we cannot find him there. We searched and found no trace of him.
"Oh, my. They took him." Mrs Smith was in a shock. I also saw the back door of the yard was open. I checked outside and there were tire marks. I called in for backup and took Mrs Smith in.
"Kevin's a good boy. He never made any issue when he is here with me. His parents are separated and fighting for his custody." Mrs Smith was telling me. She was Kevin's father' mother. "Ben is in Afghanistan now; doing his duty as a war photographer. His mother Susan was across the continent with her new husband."
"That one is bad one. I think he is linked to the mobs." I nodded as the new husband was a Sicilian and in her books, they are all mobster. By then the boys are here and the Feds are on their way, so my role would be sidelined. But my curiosity got over me as I looked into the boy's room. It was a typical boy's room but there was an exception. He had neither photo of his parents there. More to it, all I could see was the grandmother and possible grandfather. Later I was to find out that grandfather died last month and Kevin been staying with his grandparents since birth.
Soon I was kicked out when the Feds took over, but I disliked misplaced families member. I seen my cases and sometimes the ending are sad. So I drove on to see my informants; the ex-con for news. Sometimes the kidnappers used the local boys to assist like driving or steal a van. I got one; a possibility.
Charlie was asked to grab a dark van which he delivered. So I looked up Charlie but there was one issue. Charlie drives a fast car; Italian made model for his personal case. Right now we are doing a race during the late evening rush. He was weaving in and out on the busy road with ease while I had dented some cars. As I always said, unlike on the screen, not all police officers are good drivers. I was one of the worst ones but I had backup. The blues got him cornered when I arrived. I turned the corner with the front bumper hanging on by a single bolt. As I righted the car, I must had forgotten that I have brakes. My sedan rammed into the Italian model at the rear where the engine was located.
"WTF! How can you rammed into my car?" Charlie was screaming. "Brake, old man."
Old man? I disliked that term. I have not past twenty five since years ago and hardly think I needed to be told. I grabbed the younger man and slammed him on the bonnet. Five minutes later, the information I need was given. Later, I called Sam to trace me a signal. Something he might know more than me. I am man with the folded maps.
"Mrs Smith, where does you brother stay?" She did not answered straight away but soon she told me.
"I arranged for Steven to take care of him. They came for him but Rintin recognized them. He jumped into the van with Steven as he usually does on their own truck. When the dog jumped in the van, Steven must had panicked. He got back in and told them to drive. That was when I grabbed Kevin back. The neighbour were out and I had to create a tale."
"Why steal a van?" I asked. I had to get the full statement.
"Once Kevin was gone, I can tell the police he was kidnapped. Give the number plate. The van would be found outside of the city, abandoned while Steven took Kevin in his own truck."
So the van was a decoy and nobody would checked a truck. But of the lady.
"That's Kevin half sister. His father had a earlier marriage which was never registered. The mother died during birth and since then the sister have been staying with the Steven. The father took on risky job to support both of them. With his new wife out, he wants to them to be together. Steven was to send them across the border and then to the father."
"Mrs Smith, I could charged you with false report but if you have Kevin returned by tomorrow, we can close the case. No charges and no questions."
She agreed. And at noon tomorrow, I picked up Kevin at the bus station to delivered him to the Grandmother. I was quizzed by the Feds but I told them that it was an anonymous tip. I was doing my job as an officer. I met Sam later at the Station.
"Sam, where were you? I was closing the kidnapping case with the Feds." Sam looked like he ran the marathon without his trainers.
"I was doing the trace. Seal the b**** and the boys are going there now." Sam pulled at his shirt and smiled I guess he won't be playing it again. They threw the coffee machine away and we all ended up in Di Angelo.
"Jim, this was your last tab." Di Angelo passed me the paper. I looked at it and frowned. The price there could kill you considering the quality we got. I am beginning to miss the coffee machine.
No comments:
Post a Comment