04: Don’t Lose Your Head pt. 4

Victoria found a folder waiting on her desk when she arrived. She turned the manila file around her hand a moment before letting it fall open on her desk. “Marie dropped that off for you,” Detective Franklin replied as he walked past her desk toward the break room.

“Thanks.” She took a seat and went over the information from the record. Ballistics noted nothing unusual about the bullets used on either victim but the same caliber as well as markings were found on bullets found at a crime scene some six years earlier. Forensics found a blue chalky substance on one of the doors leading into the back of the warehouse with no trace of where the matter originated. It was believed to have been left by the suspect or suspects. Teflon was noted as the material.

“Hey, Sherly, the Techies are on line 2 for you!”

“Thanks, Donny!” She placed the earbud in her ear and pushed the talk button. “Carson here,” she answered and listened as they went over the information of the case with her. She continued reading the report from the coroner’s office at the same time but stopped the second she heard Travis mention the video. “We had eyes on that warehouse?”

“Not exactly. We had eyes on the area itself. There’s a black Suburban seen circling the block a few times before disappearing down the street the warehouse is located. We’re waiting on you to so we can go over it.”

“I’ll be right up!” She turned off push-to-talk and stood from her desk. Placing the folder face down near the top of her computer, she grabbed a notepad from her drawer and turned for the stairs.

“What do we have?”

Victoria turned at the sound of his voice and watched as her resilient partner threw his case and car keys onto his desk and started over toward her. “Mike? What are you doing here? Where’s Tina?”

“She’s fine. I sent her to my sister’s place up in Spring Glen. What’s going on with the case?” he asked again ignoring her concerned look.

“Uh, we got video tape from the stock yard across the street from the warehouse the murder took place. We haven’t watched it yet, the techs are prepping it in the server room.”

“Good anything else I should know?”

“Yeah, Mike. You can’t work this case; you’re too close to it.”

“Vik, there isn’t anyone with enough power in the world to pull me off this thing. Now I will either work with you and get this solved or I’ll do it on my own. These people are after my family and I won’t sit around and wait for them to take us all out! So, the server room, wasn’t it?” She nodded her head and he pointed her up the stairs. “After you.”

“What do you have for us, Travis?” Victoria asked and took a seat beside him. He glanced up briefly at Mike, shrugged once and turned on the video from earlier.

“This was taken from Key Largo Drive, the intersection just off from Crescent where the warehouse is located. This Suburban went through the red light and triggered the traffic cam. Now the camera unfortunately for us is one that has yet to be replaced from the last storm so the footage might be a little fuzzy but, here we go.” 

“4:23,” Victoria read the timestamp in the bottom right corner. “M.E. puts the time of death around 4:35 this morning so that makes the driver of this truck a very good suspect.”

“Wait a minute, go back a frame,” Mike ordered noticing something on the screen as the truck made another pass in the area. “What is that?”

“It looks like…a license plate?” Victoria asked as she narrowed her vision to peer closer to the screen.

“Here, I’ll enlarge the frame for you.” Typing in a series of commands, Travis blew the image up and smiled as he made it clearer for the detectives. “New York plates. Not bad.”

“U938ZS. No, that’s not bad at all Trav, nice work.”

“I’ll get that printed out for you.”

Mike immediately called in the plates and waited to hear back on the owner of the vehicle. It wasn’t long before the operator on the other end had his answer. “Are you sure? No, no if you’re sure then. Thank you, Beth.”

“What is it?” Victoria stood and circled around toward her partner.

“The vehicle is registered to Thomas Calabrese.”

“Wait a second, Thomas Calabrese as in ‘The Breeze?’ These guys are up our asses lately! Hold on, if he is the shooter then that means your brother’s death was either sending a message or…what business did your brother have with him?” Mike glared angrily at his partner and shook his head negatively as he paced the area near the servers. “Mike?”

“How the hell would I know, Vik? If you would have asked me three months ago, I would have said nothing, my brother was an upstanding guy. But just here lately I had no idea about what he was into, none at all. If he made some back room deal with these guys that got himself killed then…I don’t know, ok? That wasn’t the man I knew! That wasn’t who my brother was!”

He stomped from the room with Victoria quickly behind him. She stopped him before he could get down the stairs and pulled him into the conference room. “I’m sorry, Mike, alright? I’m not trying to be accusatory I’m just trying to do my job and figure this whole thing out. But if you keep seeing me as your enemy, we’re never going to get anywhere on this. We have to work together, that’s 100%. So, if you know something that you’re not telling me…”

Mike turned toward one of the windows in the room and sighed heavily as he thought over her demands. “Earlier when you asked me what he did for a living, I didn’t tell you everything. Before I graduated the academy, my brother and I had sort of a falling out. He and I didn’t see eye-to-eye with the way he was living and he basically told me he didn’t want me to be a part of his life anymore. He was heavy into gambling and it was ruining him.”

“I begged him to give it up. I told him that the kind of people he was dealing with weren’t the type to be forgiving when he came up short on his money. But he didn’t care, he wouldn’t listen to me. Well fast forward to me becoming a detective and I get word that his wife is pregnant. One night I get a call from Benny begging me for help. He doesn’t want his little girl to see him for the kind of man he is and he wants to change.”

“Well, we started repairing our relationship and he went to Gamblers Anonymous and was really turning his life around. I was so proud of him; I couldn’t believe it. He’d gotten a job running deliveries for some local company up in Jersey and was making great money. He’d just bought himself a nice little house and was taking care of his family the way he should. But it turns out the company that employed him was owned by none other than Tommy ‘The Breeze.’”

He looked back toward Victoria and noticed the soured expression on her face. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too. I told him he needed to get out from under that and fast. Well he wasn’t able to do that once Tommy learned about his old gambling habit. And old habits die hard. It seems he was into this Bookie for a large sum of money but that Bookie was a member of Tommy’s family. Apparently, it’s where Benny got the money for the house and car. I don’t know much about what happened next but what I do know is once Benny made that connection, he packed up his family and they ran. They came here to live; a place they thought was far enough away from Tommy’s reach.”

“Well, he found him. And to prove a point he murdered his wife first. It’s just too bad we can’t prove any of this.”

“What the hell are you talking about? We have his vehicle in town near the warehouse where we found my brother! If that’s not proof enough, I don’t know what is!”

“That doesn’t prove he murdered either of them, Mike, you know that. It only proves they were in the area, nothing more than that! Hell, we don’t even know if he was even in the vehicle. The only clear shot we have is of the back of the truck pulling out of a rolling stop and that’s so low grade quality it was only good to grab the plates off of.”

“Bullshit, Vik! You’re a better detective than that! What the hell do you think they were here for? Tea and crumpets? Come on! They did this thing and we have proof right here on video!”

“No, we have them visiting the vicinity around the time of the murder. It doesn’t show them driving up to the building, walking inside or muzzle flares. This is not a smoking gun! Now if we take this to the D.A. you know what he’ll do? Laugh us out of his office and try to have us committed for insanity.”

“Mike, come on, you know just as much as I do we need more than a possibility of their involvement before an arrest can be made. I’m sorry but it’s not enough to convict and you know it.”

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation and Victoria turned to greet the officer from the scene. “Detective? Your witness is ready in one.”

“Thank you, Petey.” Once the door closed, she turned to Mike who had appeared to take interest in the idea of a witness. “He doesn’t know anything,” she quickly announced so that he didn’t get his hopes up. “He was just first on the scene.”

“He might have seen something useful just the same! Come on, let’s see what he knows.” He led the way toward interrogation and started the interview himself. After close to an hour Mike had come to the same conclusion as Victoria and thanked the man for his time. Though he knew the victim well enough to have a daily conversation about random life events, he had no idea about Benny’s involvement with organized crime so could not have informed on him to the family.

“Another dead-end,” Mike growled as he sank into the chair behind his desk. “At this rate we’ll never solve my brother’s homicide. And what’s so frustrating about it is that we know who did this. We have the murderer on film just a block away from the scene! It’s just…FUCK!” he slammed his fist three times into his desk before dropping his head in disappointment.

“I’m sorry, Mike. It may take some time but just know that I will not stop until we are able to put Calabrese behind bars for what he did to Benny. I promise you that.”

Victoria pulled up to the restaurant off of the waterfront and parked her car beside Cole’s Jaguar. She got out of her jeep and slowly ran her finger over the paint starting from the passenger door and ending at the front bumper. She let forth a low whistle and smiled to herself. If he’d have caught her doing that, he would have had a fit. Then again, he didn’t seem to mind when she played with his toys. It was just other people that bothered him.

Entering into the restaurant, she looked around for him and noticed his arm frantically waving in the air. Moving cautiously around a waiter balancing five large drinks in his hands she approached his table and took a seat beside him. “Sorry I’m late. I was wrapping up an interview with a witness.”

“Nonsense, I’m glad you made it. I was thinking I was going to hear from you at any minute telling me something had come up.”

“Yeah, not this time. We weren’t able to get anywhere on the case although there was an interesting development.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. It appears I now know the reason Frankie “The Fixer” was in town. Unfortunately for Tommy Calabrese, he was locked up and unable to fulfill his contract.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, given the evidence we’ve uncovered we have reason to believe Calabrese is behind the murder of Benny Rizzitello and his wife Mary.”

“Are you sure? That’s a pretty big accusation.”

“And you know me. My mouth wouldn’t speak about something my ass couldn’t handle. I also believe he was behind the shooting at Mike’s place.”

“What shooting at Mike’s?”

Victoria swallowed hard as she realized what she had just said. She was so comfortable with the fact that she and Cole were in the same line of work that often times she assumed he knew everything that went on with her during the course of a day. But of course Cole hadn’t heard about it. She had just filed the report when she got in this morning. “Um there was a small shootout this morning. An unmarked car pulled up to the corner and opened fire with an automatic.”

“WHAT?! Victoria, were you there? Was anyone hurt?”

“Yes, I was there and no, no one was hurt, fortunately.”

“Thank God! Geez! It sounds like they are trying to tie up loose ends. You know this means that Tommy and his men might be moving in on some territory here then.”

“Yep, I’ve already checked on that. He is in the process of purchasing an old manor near Fort Lance.”

“Well, I will get the Feds on this so we can keep an eye out for you. I’ll let you know if we get anything off of the few wires we have in his home also.” She nodded her thanks and Cole leaned forward on the table watching as Victoria looked around for her menu. “Oh, I took the liberty of ordering for you. I figured if you didn’t make it then I’d just surprise you with food again.”

“Cole, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you had an ulterior motive. They say a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and although I’m not a man, this makes our fourth meal in three days together,” she smiled at his anxious behavior and her eyes fell on his belongings. “What’s in the bag?”

“Oh, um it’s something I uh wanted to give you.” He smiled nervously and took a deep breath as he brought the bag up onto the table and removed a black, velvet box from the bottom. “It’s just a small token of my appreciation. When I saw it in the little shop on Calvin, I knew it was made for you.”

“Cole…”

“It’s a necklace. It has your birthstone there, see. And it’s just a tiny four-leaf clover. Maybe it’ll bring you good luck.”

“It’s beautiful, Cole, but I can’t accept…”

“Wait, before you say anything, I need to get something off my chest. You and I aren’t that much different from each other and I think that’s why we fit. Sure, we have messed up schedules at times and it might conflict with ‘date night’ or ‘cuddle time’ but, I think we’re great together, I always have.” 

“I hated losing you because of my job, Vik, it sucked. But, I think we can work it out. If we really try at it this time, I know we can do it and I would really like to have another crack at it with you and see where it goes.”

“Wow, Cole, I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to answer right now. But at least you know where I stand.” She nodded and leaned back as the waitress came with their meals. Sitting them down quietly she inquired if either needed anything else before excusing herself to the back. 

Cole and Victoria ate their meals in silence and Victoria contemplated the reason behind the meeting. Cole was everything she wanted in a husband but they’d already proven that their conflicting lives were too much for either of them to handle, not to mention his jealous streak. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to try it again.

They parted ways and after another four hours at work, Victoria called it early and started for home. The address she’d pulled from the Department of Motor Vehicles was burning a hole in her pocket and she decided to make the trip up to Fort Lance and have a look around. 

Pulling up to a large manor offset from the nearby mountains, she parked far enough away to not be spotted by anyone inside and walked up the hill a little to take a peek. “You know I hear spying is against the law.” The familiar voice caused her to jerk and she turned quickly with her hand on her weapon. Peering into the murkiness of the woods behind her, Victoria waited for him to move closer and sighed seeing that familiar smirk again. “Being a Detective, you’d think you would know that.”

“Is it now? So, what exactly would you call what you’re doing?” She flashed an annoyed scowl at him and moved behind her car so she couldn’t be seen from the house. “And you know as a cop it would be my job to arrest you.”

“After I saved your life? Wow, that’s some gratitude you got there. And although handcuffs can be fun, I don’t think I’ll let you do that to me today.”

“Too bad for you then considering you’re breaking the law.”

“Am I now? Do tell.” That devilish grin appeared again on his face and he stepped closer toward her allowing himself a better view of her face.

“What is this like the third time today I’ve run into you? You know some people would consider this stalking?”

 “Me? A stalker? Well, I suppose if the pay is good. But no, I was actually only…

“Let me guess, you were out for a midnight stroll and just so happened upon me and this scene by sheer coincidence.”

“Well actually I was out for a carton of milk.” Victoria glanced at his hands and noticed the absence of shopping bags and groaned. “I just haven’t quite made it to the store yet.”

“Right. This is the third time I’ve run into you in three different places. If you’re not stalking then you have certainly honed your knack for being everywhere all at once.”

“Yet, you don’t seem that broken up about it.”

“I’ve been at this job long enough to know when I’m in danger and when I’m not.”

“So, then I’m not a threat to you is what you mean? Interesting. Most people would say the exact opposite of me. Then again, they know better. Well then, Detective, since you have me all figured out, what’s my next move?” The man leaned against her jeep as he spoke and this time it was her who stepped closer with her arms folded into her chest.

“To back off and let me do my job!” she accused with her finger in his chest.

“Whoa, I’m not trying to start anything here. I was only asking.” She turned at the movement on the house and waited to see what was happening. One of Tommy’s men had come out for a smoke and she dropped her head in frustration. “You know they did it don’t you?”

“To what exactly are you referring?” She received another smile in response and it only served to anger her more. “Is that a bullet hole?” she asked in surprise noticing a rounded tear in the top of his coat. “I thought you said you weren’t hit!” She moved forward placing her hand on his chest.

The stranger quickly gripped her hand before she could get too close and smiled down at her. “I wasn’t,” he replied poking his finger through the hole that had a direct line through his heart. “Had I been don’t you think there would have been more blood and more screaming that ended with my death?”

“But that’s…”

“Moths. Such devils this time of year.”

He allowed his fingers to caress the delicate skin of her hand and Victoria jerked away quickly. “You’re ice cold! Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“Who I am is irrelevant but what I have to offer is perhaps much more important to you. See, I know they murdered those two from the warehouse but…I just don’t know if you’re ready to know how I know.” He stepped back toward the woods with his hands in his pockets.

“No wait, don’t disappear again. If you know something about these murders then please, talk to me. The victim was my partner’s brother and he…I’d just like to see justice done.”

“Well, I might be able to help you on that. But I have to know if you’re capable of doing it. Learning, Detective, will involve you forgetting everything you know and everything you think you know about life and the human populace at large.”

“What? What the hell does that even mean? What are you talking about?”

“There are things out there, Detective, that you wouldn’t believe are real. Creatures that are only read about in bedtime stories or seen in horror movies that truly exist. I’m talking about the things that go bump in the night.”

“Ok. See I figured you for some sort of loon when you first popped up but I don’t think I would have pegged you for a tinfoil hat wearing nutcase. Whatever. I’m tired and I’m going home to my bed. It was nice meeting you…I think. Stay away from this case and those people or the next time I see you, I WILL arrest you.”

“I’m looking forward to that, Detective,” the stranger smiled and watched as Victoria slid behind the wheel of her jeep and pulled away from the curb. “I’m looking forward to that indeed.”

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