After he leaves Vincent, Paulie finds a pay phone and calls Agent Caldwell at home. Tania answers and is taken aback by the call.
“Why are you calling me at home, Andrews?”
“Do you have a minute to talk shop?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“My friend is here from Chicago. Long story short: We think we know how Mendoza is laundering the money.”
“You brought an outsider into a Bureau investigation? Are you crazy? We have to report this.”
“No, I’m not crazy. And it’s just a theory for now. I suggest that me and you follow the same steps my friend and I did today. Okay?”
“I need to meet this person first.”
“Sure. It will be memorable, believe me,” Paulie says, stifling a laugh.
At seven the following morning, Monday, they meet at a coffee shop in Westwood. Agent Caldwell is already at a table nursing a coffee when Paulie and Vincent walk in. When Paulie points in Caldwell’s direction, Vincent is dumbfounded.
“This is my best friend, Vincent. He’s like my brother,” Paulie says to Caldwell. They take their seats at the table.
“Paulie said you were pretty,” Vincent jumps in. “But that’s an understatement, sweetheart. You’re beautiful.”
Tania looks at Vincent, then at Paulie.
“Is this a fucking joke?”
Vincent holds up his hands, as if to ward off the shrew. Then he looks at Paulie, gesturing that he should explain.
“Vincent is a private investigator from Chicago,” Paulie almost chokes on his words. “And he has a lot of experience with the grocery business. He’s out here on an assignment, and I asked his opinion.”
Vincent folds his hands in front of him and looks Tania in the eyes.
“Look, I am not going to cause any problems. Paulie and I are as close as two buddies can get. We trust each other, and I truly want to help. As soon as you guys are up to speed, I will step aside. In reality, all the hard work is ahead of you two.”
“Andrews,” says Caldwell, turning away from Vincent, “Are you serious?”
“Tania, if not for Vincent we’d still be in the dark and floundering,” Paulie reasons. “Give him a break.”
Caldwell takes a long sip of her coffee as she considers Paul’s plea. “If I hadn’t seen for myself how well you handled our first few cases, I would shut this down in an instant.” She emphasizes this with a snap of her fingers. Then she holds the same two fingers in front of Vincent’s face, not quite squeezing them together.
“As for you, Vincent, or whatever your name really is, I’m this close to charging you with unlawful interference of an ongoing investigation,” she says. “But, for Andrews’ sake, I’ll let you go on.”
Paulie is red in the face. At first Vincent winces slightly at the sound of Paulie’s new name, but then he smiles warmly at Caldwell and begins to lay out the scenario.
They talk for over an hour. Vincent articulates what he suspects, as well as suggests the next steps the three of them should take. Tania listens with increasing interest. She slowly gains a measure of respect for Vincent and his rough street sense. He must be some sort of criminal, she thinks. If not, he certainly has a criminal mind. In the end, she agrees to try his proposal. The plan is to tail Mendoza as before.
“Why don’t we take two cars?” Vincent suggests. “Paulie and I in one and you in the other. I suspect that you have a means to communicate with each other—you know G-men walkie talkies or whatever—so we can further plot,” Vincent says.
“Plot?” asks Caldwell.
He and Paulie ignore her comment. Vincent continues outlining his plan. When they get to the first stop, he and Paulie will look for a truck similar to the one they saw the day before. If one appears, Paulie will drop Vincent off to scout the area. Then he and Paulie will follow the truck after it has been loaded with goods. Meanwhile, Tania will stay on Mendoza. She’ll wait to hear from Paulie to determine if the truck is headed toward her location. If so, they’ll regroup there.
They pick up Mendoza as he leaves the main office on Sunset Boulevard, as he does every morning. They follow him, careful not to get made. When he arrives at his Bakersfield location, he enters the store. Tania finds a suitable lookout space, and Paulie lets Vincent out.
Vincent walks around the store to the loading area. He’s about to approach the workers when he spots the Mexican man in the straw hat. He hides himself from view, while the guy chats with the workers. Then Mendoza appears. This is enough for Vincent. He runs back to the car.
“That Mexican guy, the same guy from yesterday, is here. I just saw him talk to Mendoza. We need to identify this guy. Let’s tail him to the next stop.”
Paulie radios Tania, and she acknowledges the plan. About fifteen minutes later, Mendoza leaves with Tania in pursuit. About an hour later, she calls and gives Mendoza’s new location to Paulie.
Meanwhile, the Mexican in the straw hat hangs around for over two hours. When he finally leaves, Paulie and Vincent are on him.
“That’s the same truck, Paulie. Same license plate and all. He must have made another pickup after he left the store yesterday.”
Paulie thinks for a moment then radios Tania, who tells him that Mendoza has gone to a third store but left after twenty minutes. Maybe he was just making an appearance for his employees, she suggests. Paulie asks her to go to the Bureau office and run the Mexican’s plate.
Vincent leans over into the mike and says, “I’m going back home tomorrow morning. Take good care of my brother. Hope to see you again someday, pretty girl.”
“Jesus. Alright, Vincent. Safe flight,” she replies.
Vincent and Paulie drive south for hours toward the border. They watch the truck approach the border guards who let it through.
Paulie pulls the car over at the station. He gets out, flashes his badge, and speaks with the Border Patrol agents.
“I gave them the license number of the truck, and they told me that they’d watch out for it,” he reports to Vincent. “They asked me if this was drug related. I told them no, but didn’t give them any more information than they needed.”
On their way back from the border, they stop at a seafood restaurant in San Diego and then drive to Vincent’s hotel. At the curb, Paulie gets out of the car and the two warmly embrace. They promise to call each other often, before Vincent sternly reminds Paulie to contact his Nonno.
“No fucking excuses, Paulie. You understand?”
“I heard you, I got it!”