“We’ve got it, Joe.”
“Yes!” Connelly wanted to kiss his contact at the phone company right through the phone line. “Is it that Richards number I gave you last week?”
“No, but it is a phone in New Jersey. You know I can’t tell you who. Have your NYPD detective call me.”
Northern New Jersey was so close to New York City that it was acceptable practice for NYPD detectives to drive out to local Bergen County police departments when necessary. Detectives Ed Kane and Kenneth Sheehan entered the Upper Saddle River police station and showed their badges to the sergeant at the desk.
“What can we do for you?”
“We need some help. We have a phone subscriber out here who’s making threatening calls. We want to go the house and talk to the guy,” Kane said.
“What’s the guy’s name?” asked the sergeant.
Sheehan looked at his pad. “Walinski. Jerry Walinski. Know him?”
“Sure. I know the poor son-of-a-bitch. We all do.”
The unmarked sedan with New York plates pulled into the driveway behind the Upper Saddle River Police squad car. The detectives and two patrolmen walked up to the front door and rang the bell. A dog barked warningly from inside.
Jerry Walinski answered the door in his wheelchair.
Joe wanted to deliver this news face-to-face.
Jerry Walinski was not going to be doing Eliza or her little girl any harm.
“It’s pitiful, really. The guy is a paraplegic. He was in a car accident a few years ago and he’ll never walk again. But he did get a huge insurance settlement for his suffering and a lifetime loss-of-wages.”
“What about his seeing me without my makeup?” Eliza asked.
“He made it up. Imagined it. The cops said he had pictures of you all over the place. Videotapes, too. He has a lot of time to sit around and think.”
Eliza digested the information. “What do we do now?”
“Well, we can prosecute.”
Eliza’s face crinkled with distaste. “I don’t know, Joe. The thought of dragging a paraplegic into court doesn’t turn me on.”
“My guess is, we could reach some sort of plea bargain, with the stipulation that Walinski get psychiatric counseling. He wouldn’t have to do any time.”
“Fine. That sounds like the way to go.” Eliza nodded, satisfied. “So we’re all clear now? I mean, with Bacon dead and Walinski taken care of?”
“It sure looks that way,” Joe smiled. “I think we can take the security off your house now.”