I TURNED TO look at Ned. His mouth sagged open and gradually turned into a huge smile. “Man, the FBI’s got nothin’ on you when it comes to arrogance. You’re drippin’ with it. But I love it, my friend. I do.”
“I’m joking. No way are we going to catch this guy. Maybe in a couple of months if we work it full-time. But that’s not gonna happen.”
“Thanks. You really had me going there. What a letdown.”
I said, “You gonna get out and get in your own car? You got that thing, right?”
“Not a chance in hell. I’m sticking to you like glue. I’m not going to miss it, if you happen to get lucky. Do you have any idea at all where to look for this guy? Where to start?”
“Not a clue.”
“Jesus, Bruno, what are you gonna do?”
“Nothing I can do but drop back and punt. You might as well take off, do your thing, whatever that is.”
“No, no, come on. Let’s go. Let’s at least give this a try. We got nothing to lose. It’s still going to be a kick in the ass to try.”
“All right then, let’s go inside. I gotta make a phone call.” I opened the truck door.
“You think … I mean, you really don’t have any idea where to look for this guy?”
“Nope. I told you, not a clue.”
“Ah, man, Bruno, you’re not just yankin’ on my dick, are you? You went and got me all jacked up for nothin’?” He punched the dash.
“Hey, take it easy on the truck.”
I got out and headed for the door to our office, the converted grocery store at the strip center. Ned followed along. The door was locked, and that meant no one was inside. I unlocked it, reached in to flip on the lights, entered, and made a beeline for my desk, my mind now locked onto the problem at hand. I sat on the edge of my desk, picked up the phone, and dialed. Ned sat in my chair, put both feet up on my blotter calendar. “So, come on, give. You’re obviously thinking of something, now, right?”
The phone beeped. I typed in the phone number to my desk phone along with a “911” and hung up. I said, “Yeah, but it’s a real long shot. We’re not going to chase this guy Deforest. Not in a direct line, anyway.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You said the FBI has covered all the bases chasing this guy, right? Going at him head-on.”
“I did. They didn’t leave so much as a bread crumb to pick up.”
“Okay then, we won’t go that route. We can’t afford to. We can’t match their resources. We’ll go in a totally different direction. You still have your buy money the FBI gave you?”
“Bruno, this guy isn’t some localized heroin hype. That trick from yesterday isn’t gonna work. I’d like to think that caper yesterday was good police work, but I gotta tell ya, we threw the dice and came up with a seven on that one.”
I snapped my fingers several times in front of him. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his money, and slapped it in my hand. I counted the twenties. “Hey, you’re a couple short.”
“Not with fed money. Are you crazy?”
“Take a breath. I’ll hit the ATM.”
The phone rang. I picked it up. Ned jumped out of the chair and moved to his desk. He picked up his phone and punched in on the same line to listen.
“Hey,” I said. “It’s me.”
“Well, if it ain’t the infamous Bruno the Bad Boy Johnson. It’s good to hear your voice, baby. Why haven’t you called me?”
“Been busy.”
“It hurts me, to my heart, that you only call if you want somethin’. You never call just ta talk ta me. That last time when we did in that ol’ boy Jefferson Sampson over ta the Fox Hills Mall, you promised me a little somethin’, and you never showed up ta pay me off.”
“I never promised nothing like that, Ollie, come on now. That’s what you said, but I never agreed.”
I looked over at Ned, who raised his eyebrows at the woman on the phone talking smack. He put the phone to his shoulder and made a circle with his index finger and his thumb. He stuck his other index finger in the circle and moved it in and out in a vulgar gesture. I scowled at him and shook my head.
“Ollie, you know I never said that. Right now, I really need your help. I need to find somebody real fast and I’m willing to pay for it.”
“Oh, you’re gonna pay for it, my little jellyroll.” She cackled into the phone. “How can ol’ Ollie hep?”
“I need to find a girl, and I’m in a big hurry.”
Ned looked at me confused and raised his hands in a questioning gesture. I waved him off.
“You’re always in a hurry. What’s her name?” Ollie asked.
“That’s part of the problem. I don’t know her name.”
“What? How’m I gonna find a girl if I don’t know her name? I mean, I’m good, darlin’, but you gotta give me somethin’ ta work with.”
“She’s got a boyfriend who’s Grape Street.”
“Now dat’s somethin’ I kin work with. I know all dem gangstas up in there.”
Ned smiled.
“His name’s Teener. You know a guy named Teener?”
“No, no, can’t say dat I do.”
“That’s okay, I want to know where his girl is laying her head. This Teener’s name is Raymond Desmond Deforest.”
“What’s Teener done?”
“Banks. Lots of them.”
Silence on the phone. “This one’s gonna cost, Bruno. I’m serious.”
“I can give you three hundred cash.”
“No, it’s not gonna be money this time.”
Ned raised his eyebrows and did the vulgar thing with his fingers again.
“What do you need, Ollie?”
“It’s my nephew.”
“He get pinched? What kind of case? I’m sure we can work something out if you help me get Teener.”
“It’s not like dat. He’s a good kid. He jus’ fell in with the wrong … Bruno, I need you to put a boot up his ass.”
“I can do that, no problem, and I’ll still give you the three hundred.”
“Let me page up my homegirl on a Hunert and First. She know all dem ganstas up in there. I’ll call you back.”
“Thanks, Ollie.”
“Bye, lover.” She hung up.
Ned hung up. “Who’s this Ollie?”
“Few years back, I took her down comin’ out of a rock house with a big bag of money. I took her right back in to get the dope. We walked into a birdcage.”
“No shit. I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never seen one.”
“Yeah, we were trapped like a couple of rats and she kept her cool. Well, sort of anyway. Ever since then, she’s been doin’ things for me, here and there. I keep her in my back pocket, for special capers.”
“She signed up?”
He wanted to know if I followed department policy and procedure, and had her signed up as a regular informant, with a snitch number.
I shook my head.
He nodded. He’d worked narco and knew that sometimes you had to keep your snitches off the books or they could be stolen and abused by a major’s narco crew. Headquarters narcotics got all the status reports on signed snitches, and if one was doing an outstanding job, they’d grab up the snitch, work them hard, burn them out without compassion or empathy, and then discard them like yesterday’s underwear. Then the major’s crew just moves on to the next one. I wouldn’t let that happen to Ollie.
“Will she come through?”
“She hasn’t let me down yet, but this isn’t like any of the other cases we worked together. This one’s a tough nut to crack.”
“What does she look like?”
“She’s got a heart of gold.”
“Oh, that means she’s two tons of—”
“Sometimes, Ned, I just don’t know about you.”
He shrugged. “Goin’ for the girlfriend of Teener. That’s a good idea, but I didn’t’ see one listed in the case file. He might not have a regular girlfriend. He might just be a player.”
“With all the banks he’s taken down, this guy has to favor himself as a Bonnie and Clyde kind of gangster. No, he’s gonna have a regular girl, maybe a couple a three—one in each area where he operates.”
The door to the office opened. We turned to look. In walked Lieutenant Wicks.