Chapter 52

 

 

When Derrick and Julie get to the rental, there are three SUVs parked in the driveway and three on the street in front of the house. The only vacant spot on the street is by a fire hydrant. If they were in uniform and in a patrol car, Derrick wouldn’t think twice about parking next to the hydrant since they are on police business. However, since they’re in civvies and have driven here in Derrick’s car, they’re fair game for a ticket. It would just be their luck to get one and have the car towed away by the city police.

 

As Derrick momentarily wrestles with the park/no park dilemma, good fortune shines down on them when a parking spot is vacated on the other side of the street. Derrick does a quick U turn, cutting off a lady heading for the same spot, and pulls in with aplomb. When the lady opens her window, she quickly demonstrates that she’s no lady as she laces into him with some four letter words he hasn’t heard since his military days.

 

“Smiling at her Derrick says, “It’s a beautiful day for cussing isn’t it?”

 

This gets him the middle finger salute and she peels rubber as she takes off down the street.

 

Smiling at how Derrick handled the situation Julie says, “You made her day. Now she has something unusual to share with the women at her bridge club and she’ll have them hanging on every word.”

 

Smiling he says, “I aim to please.”

 

When Derrick knocks on the front door, it’s opened by a well-built guy about six feet tall, bald as a billiard ball, with a full, deep red, neatly trimmed red beard and bushy mustache which distracts the eye from the vacant dome.

 

Realizing that no one on the small task force knows what they look like, Derrick has his badge in his hand and shows it to the man.

 

“Sergeant Chandler, you made good time. The pizza hasn’t arrived yet. I’m Jim Forrester.”

 

Introductions are made, hands are shaken, and then they all settle down in the living room and get down to business.

 

Derrick starts out by saying, “Agent Forrester has been briefed on what I’m about to tell you and since I don’t know what’s been passed along to the rest of you I’m going to assume he hasn’t had the time to tell you much and give you the same briefing I gave him.

 

Derrick fills everybody in on the newscast, why he did what he did and the reaction of the viewing public. “I’m banking on the people we’re after to have been part of that viewing public and it made them angry enough to let me know personally they didn’t like what I had to say.

 

“Two of the people who want me to be pushing up daises are home grown egomaniacs, the Paganelli brothers. They are identical twins and identical in their willingness to do whatever it takes to get what they want, anything. We believe they’re the root cause of the winery troubles we’ve been dealing with these past months.”

 

Julie reaches into an envelope she’s been holding, takes out copies of the Paganellis driver license photos and distributes them saying, “They still look like these photos. They haven’t changed their hair style, grown facial hair or started wearing glasses."

 

Derrick adds, “Deputy Styversant also has copies of their automobile registrations, pictures of their cars, addresses for their residences and business and a list of some of the places they like to hang out when they’ve got nothing better to do. This information should help you get a decent lay of the land and give you some idea of what you might be dealing with.

 

"There is also one other Californian that might show up on the scene, a Benjamin Cordell. We have reason to believe the Paganellis hired him to take out two earlier players in the game, a Nicolas Petrillo and a Mafia don, Nofri Nuzzoli. We don’t know if he’s still in the picture or not. He might have balked and backed away when he realized he might be asking for more trouble than he bargained for by taking on the mafia and the County Sheriff department. We have pictures and particulars on him as well.

 

“Now here is where things get kind of dicey. We know there is at least one new player in the game based in Milan who has a long reach here in the States. I’m pretty confident that the newscast got him boiling mad as well. He’s also a don and his name is Antonio Arrigoni. I can get a picture of him from my contact in Italy, but I doubt very much that he’ll do the dirty work himself. It’s more likely that he’ll send one of his people in Italy or hire local talent to do the job. Zeroing in on whomever or whoever he sends is strictly going to be a seat of the pants exercise. It wouldn’t surprise me if he sends more than one since, as far as he knows, there are two of us to be dealt with.”

 

Julie asks, “That reminds me, did you ever hear back from Inspector Bianchi about Remo’s fingerprints.”

 

Forrester asks, “Who’s Remo?”

 

Derrick answers, “An arsonist who got caught in the act at one of the wineries involved in this mess. He was shot in the head and got his brain scrambled. He claims he can only remember his first name, but he coughed up Antonio Arrigoni’s name. We had him printed and sent the prints to the Italian authorities to see if they had anything on him in their files. With everything else that has been going on I forgot all about them. Inspector Bianchi was supposed to call me with what he found. He’s been dealing with a potential gang war, so I’m sure this wasn’t number one on his priority list.”

 

“Julie says, “I was just thinking that if the Inspector could find out who he is and what relationship he has with organized crime over there, that info might help us with what we’re dealing with here.”

 

Derrick nods his head in agreement and says, “I’ll call him first thing in the morning and see what he has to say.

 

“Okay Agent Forrester, that’s what we brought to the party. What have you got for us?”

 

“First off, let’s stop using titles. We don’t want to risk tipping someone off that something is going down and that word getting back to the people we’re looking for.

 

“The SUVs out front are not rentals. They were waiting for us when we landed. They were supplied by the local FBI office and have bullet proof glass in all of the windows and are armor plated all around. They contain all the firepower we’ll need if things get ugly and all the horse power we’ll need if our quarry tries to hightail it to safer pastures. There will be two of us in each vehicle. The six vehicles should afford us sufficient flexibility to adapt to just about any scenario that might crop up, including monitoring the two of you, the Paganellis and anyone else that shows up.

 

“Early tomorrow morning we’ll check out the locations you’ve given us and familiarize ourselves with the highways and byways surrounding them so we’re not at a disadvantage should we find ourselves in pursuit mode. Since the Paganellis have dropped off the grid, our first priority is to find out where they went. There are various subterfuges we can use to make inquiries of their neighbors and the people at their winery office. Once we locate them, they won’t be able to pass gas without us knowing about it.

 

“Derrick, if you’ve lit anyone’s fire, things should start heating up pretty soon. Even with the likes of us here, the two of you are still at risk, so continue watching each other’s six and don’t stop using the dogs when you go home. It won’t hurt to have the extra protection.

 

“I also brought along some quite sophisticated wireless satellite communication gear to enable all of us to communicate with each other when the need arises. The channel is secure so we can talk freely. The equipment consists of a pin mike and a very small earbud.”

 

Before he can continue, the doorbell rings. It’s the pizza delivery guy. He’s holding a pile of pizza boxes in his arms and after Forrester relieves him of the load, the kid runs back to his car for the rest of the order which turns out to be boxes of chicken pieces and soda pop. By the time Forrester has signed the credit card slip, closed the door and returned to the living room all the boxes are open and everyone is digging in like they haven’t eaten in days.

 

Laughing Forrester says, “Gee, you guys are devouring this stuff like it was surf and turf and there isn’t enough to go around. If we run out of food before everyone is sated, we can order some more, so slow down and enjoy. You’re acting like a bunch of teenagers at a football rally.”

 

Everyone laughs along with him, but no one stops cramming food into their mouth, including Derrick and Julie.

 

Unbelievably, 45 minutes later there’s not a crumb left of anything. After the residue of containers has been tossed in the trash, their meeting resumes with the accompaniment of a variety of belches and burps.

 

An hour later, Derrick and Julie are headed back to the station’s parking lot so Julie can drive home.

 

Julie says, “I like those guys. They all seem laid back, but you can sense their alertness to everything that’s going on around them. They’re ready and probably impatient for something to happen.”

 

“I agree, but I don’t think they’re more impatient than I am for the show to start.”

 

“You know, I’m thinking that maybe I should be a little more scared about confronting these people, but I’m not scared much at all. I’m excited and eager to go head-to head with them. Is that normal?

 

“It is if you’re a natural fighter. And, kiddo, you’re a warrior. Just don‘t take unnecessary risks to get the job done. We’re a fourteen man team now and we work together, not alone, you got that?”

 

“I got it.”

 

“Good.”