Chapter 46

 

 

When Derrick and Julie are shown into Captain Murphy’s office, Derrick is amazed at the stature of the man. He’s only about six feet tall, but he’s built like a tank. The guy has the widest pair of shoulders he’s ever laid his eyes on. It’s easy to see now how this guy was able to put four guys in the hospital all by himself.

 

When the man speaks, the voice reinforces the image his build projects. It’s a deep baritone and every syllable embodies no nonsense authority. He doesn’t speak loudly to draw your attention. He speaks softly, but the way he stares at you unblinkingly has you paying attention to every word.

 

“So, Julie, how do you like bodyguard work?”

 

“It’s a nice change from tooling around in a squad car all day looking for trouble makers or folks who think the freeways are their personal dragstrips or raceways and I’m learning a lot of new things.”

 

“That’s good to hear. We miss you and will be glad to get you back when the Sergeant here has put an end to the assaults on the wineries. Sergeant, are you getting any closer to these guys?”

 

“Thanks for giving me that segue. That’s why we’re here, to hasten the end of those assaults or at least reduce the number of people behind them.”

 

Derrick gives him a complete overview of the investigation and what they are planning to do. “We need to double the surveillance to give Julie and me a better chance of successfully dealing with the increased risk we’ll be taking. Geez, I sound like an insurance salesman.”

 

“So you need a couple more warm bodies to provide the extra insurance.”

 

“That we do and we’d like you to pick the people you feel would be best to fill those slots.”

 

Looking at Derrick with an appraising kind of stare for a few seconds he finally says, “You apparently have the authority to pick the men you require yourself. I appreciate your giving me a say in the matter.”

 

“You’re right, I could make the selection myself, but that would require me spending some time on reading your personnel’s jackets and that’s time we don’t want to waste. Besides, you know more about your people than personnel jackets would reveal. I prefer to rely on your judgment instead of me making half-assed guesses based on what I’ve read in someone’s personnel file. Besides, this gives me an opportunity to kiss your ass and maybe a decent working relationship will come out of it.”

 

Derrick can hear Julie softly gasp at what he’s just had the audacity to say, but he keeps his eyes on Murphy waiting for his reaction. It wasn’t long in coming. Murphy bursts out laughing and says, “You know my bullshit meter was starting to wiggle for a minute there, but your honesty and directness has put that to rest. I’ll make my selection and have them report to you first thing in the morning.”

 

Rising Derrick says, “Thank you, Captain. I hope it won’t be too much longer before you have your people back in the fold. Having five people out of your lineup will definitely wreak havoc with assignments. Come on, Julie, we’ve got some finishing touches to put on our little charade.”

 

Walking back to their office Julie says, “I can’t believe you said what you said to him. Nobody in the division would dare to talk to him like you did. I thought he was going to blow a gasket.”

 

“Julie, one thing I’ve learned in this job is to cut to the chase and forget about all the trimmings when you’re dealing with folks like Murphy. They’ll respect you more and will be more willing to work with you.”

 

“Well, you sure won him over.”

 

Looking at his watch and seeing it’s almost five o’clock he says, “There’s one more thing I’d like to do before we call it a day. Let’s think more about what we’ll say to the Paganellis when we confront them. We can play around with some dialogue and then tweak it until we’re comfortable with it. I’ll order in some Chinese to get our digestive and creative juices flowing. Are you okay with that?”

 

“I have no problem with it, as long as I’m out of here by seven. I have a practice session scheduled with my Sensie at seven-thirty. His dojo is a good twenty minutes from here on my way home if I don’t run into any traffic.”

 

“Fair enough.”

 

Derrick orders in the food, Julie sits down at her computer and starts making a list of things she thinks they should consider and Derrick calls Maury Hoagland to keep him in the loop.

 

Maury says, “You know, Derrick, you might want to think about using some legal harassment to help prod these twins into losing it and coming after you.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Everybody commits minor infractions of the law almost on a daily basis. For instance, speeding, unsafe lane changes and tailgating are common occurrences on the freeways and other byways in all communities. Jaywalking and littering are examples of some other infractions.

 

“You could have those deputies keeping tabs on the twins look for any opportunity to give them tickets for such violations. They could do that without the twins getting an inkling of their surveillance activities because there are always police cars patrolling these communities. They come and go all the time. Maybe you could bring the Highway Patrol into the scheme also.”

 

“I like that idea. I could use these tickets as my reason for confronting them with my anger over their careless disregard for the law and couple that with my really losing my temper and carelessly pummeling them with my contention that they’re behind the wineries’ woes and their arrest is imminent once one more piece of evidence is obtained. The ideal finishing touch on my tirade could be me saying something like ‘I’m fed up with you scumbags.’ Yeah, that should do the trick. They’ll buy it. Thanks for the suggestion, Maury. I’m running quite a tab with you and I have no idea how I’m going to settle up.”

 

“Don’t lose any sleep over it. Something will come up down the road where you can return the favors. Take care and don’t forget to duck. Bye.”

 

“Julie, forget it and go home. Maury Hoagland did our work for us, again.”

 

“How?”

 

Derrick gave her a synopsis of Maury’s suggestion and his reaction. Julie asks, “Are you going to try to bring in the Highway Patrol to help us out?”

 

“Getting them involved would certainly add credence to the plot.”

 

“I know a CHPS Lieutenant. He and his wife take Judo lessons from my Sensei and should be at the dojo tonight. Would you like me to ask him how we should go about requesting their assistance?”

 

“Since I know no one over there, the lieutenant might be able to facilitate things for us and save us some time getting them involved, especially if you can sell him on the idea. When you get home from your practice, call me with his reaction, okay?”

 

“Okay. Good night.”

 

Soon after Julie leaves the Chinese food is delivered.

 

“Ah man, I forgot all about ordering this. I can’t eat all of it by myself and it tastes the best when it’s fresh. Reheating it destroys some of the flavor.”

 

Spotting Deputy Henry Chen over by the coffee set up he figures Henry will appreciate the opportunity of eating the cuisine of his heritage and getting it free to boot, so he walks over and offers half of it to him.

 

“Don’t let my looks fool you, Derrick. I’m a dyed in the wool mashed potatoes and hamburgers kind of guy. I can’t stand that stuff, but thanks for the offer.”

 

Seeing the surprised look on Derrick’s face he laughs and says, “Derrick, I’m Chinese-American with the emphasis on American.”

 

“Oh boy, I just pulled a major social faux paus huh?” I didn’t mean to offend.”

“Nah, your heart was in the right place, but I sure wish I had a picture of the look on your face when I declined your offer. There’s usually not too much to laugh about around here. We’re cool.”

 

Laughing, he grabs one of the leftover blueberry bagels that were delivered early in the morning and walks away.

 

“Well, that was not the most auspicious way for me to end my day. Hmm, I wonder if my neighbor’s Pekingese would turn her nose up at Cáo’s best. The way this day is ending the pooch probably only dines on steak tartar or perhaps some other raw meat in a pinch.”

 

Instead of sitting down and eating some of the food at his desk, Derrick decides he wants a change in scenery and heads for home nibbling on some of the egg rolls along the way. He doesn’t live that far from the station and figures the containers will keep the food warm enough until he gets there. What he can’t finish there he’ll toss. Chuckling to himself he mumbles, “No sense risking getting bitten by an affronted canine.”

 

A little after nine, having eaten way more of the tasty Chinese takeout than he should have because it made him sleepy and he dozed off watching an old movie on TV that he was really enjoying, he’s awakened by his phone ringing. It’s Julie calling to tell him the lieutenant has no problem with paving the way for the Highway Patrol to participate in their scheme to push the Paganellis’ hot buttons and will call her tomorrow when the deed is done. That news somewhat assuages his annoyance with himself for being a pig, but he turns the TV off and goes to bed so there won’t be a repeat performance of his falling asleep watching something else that’s sucked him in and waking up ticked off at himself for doing it again.