Drug Affair

by Rick Polad

  “I’ve already been in a Chicago jail once over this case. Another isn’t going to—”

  “You won’t like a federal jail, Manning. We don’t have all the amenities these city jails have. And the clientele isn’t quite as nice.”

  I resisted the urge to call him Peggy. Somehow I realized that wouldn’t help any. “Well, to tell you the truth, I wasn’t all that thrilled about the Chicago jail either.”

  He dismissed half of his troops. “You’ve got one minute to explain with something besides Raymond Chandler quotes.”

  Ralph was looking at me with his usual blank stare. Any other person might be a bit worried. But if he couldn’t do anything, he just became a disinterested bystander. There was nothing he could do… the rest was up to me. He knew he’d either be in jail waiting to be bailed out or playing pool an hour from now, and it didn’t really matter to him which one it ended up being. There was a jail clause in his deal with me. It was worth a good chunk of money. He also knew I hadn’t let him down yet. Of course we had never been sitting on the floor of a bare room with a trio of FBI agents.

  I pulled my knees up to my chest. “What I have to say is for your ears only.”

  “And why would that be?”

  “Nothing personal, but the people I trust in all this are on a very short list.”

  “And you trust me?” he asked.

  “That’s part of my story.”

  He thought for ten seconds and then told his two men to wait in the hall.

  “And down the hall… not by the door,” I said.

  They stopped short of the door.

  “Not by the door?” one of them said.

  “And Ralph goes with them to make sure.”

  Thward threw his hands up. “What is this… Watergate?”

  “Up to you what you do with the information after I tell you, but it starts with just you or I go to jail.”

  “Jesus, Manning. This better be good.” He waved his men out and pointed to Ralph. “You go with them. Keep each other company.” When they had left he said, “One minute.”

  “First of all, there isn’t any evidence, so you can forget about that. I—”

  “What!” He shook his head. “Okay, I’ll forget about that, but that adds a few more charges.”

  “Does you talking count in my minute?”

  He just stared at me with controlled anger.

  “As I already told you, I’m looking into the drug case and murder of Margot. I’m betting those two and the murder of Michael Nadem are related. I have a list of possibles that I’m not getting anywhere with. So how do I get somewhere? My usual method is to stir the pot. The only plan I could come up with was to plant the seed that Rafael had evidence and see what jumped out of the pot.”

  “Why the hell would you do that?”

  “Because I’m not good at standing on the sidelines waiting for something to happen. It’s not in my DNA.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “I must have missed something. You thought I was a suspect?”

  I shrugged. “Cops on the take, politicians being indicted. Who do you trust? I know nothing about you except that you’re addicted to cigarettes. Who do you trust, Thward?”

  “Maybe my mother, but I’m not always sure about her.”

  “See? There are several people possibly tied to this case, and I only trust two of them.”

  “Which two would those be?” he asked.

  “Sister Katherine is one.”

  “Hard not to trust a nun.”

  “You said you didn’t trust anybody. Do you trust her?”

  “Nope.”

  “You’ve proven my point. I had to see who would bite. If you showed up here by yourself this would have been a different conversation. Now I can cross you off my list.”

  “Who else do you trust?”

  I shook my head. “You wouldn’t believe it, so let’s skip it.”

  “Okay… for the moment. Who else is on your list?”

  “Nadem and Bast and Mrs. Margot and Benita Landez, another cop who works with Bast.”

  He looked out the window before he looked back at me. “The senators’s son was murdered, and you think he is involved?”

  “Could have been. But then things turned south.”

  “And your own client?”

  “Until I find out otherwise…”

  “Who else have you sent this note to?”

  “No one, yet. But all are possibilities.”

  He shook his head. “This is the craziest damned thing I’ve ever seen. And I’ve got several charges I could make stick with no effort at all.”

  “Are you open to a deal?”

  “From the guy sitting on the floor with a list of charges hanging over his head?”

  Putting it that way didn’t sound so good.

  “I’m doing something you can’t… at least legally. Give me a week to see what happens. I’ll keep you informed. If I have nothing by the end of the week, we can have another chat.”

  He shook his head again. “The only thing you have going for you is I don’t need the paperwork. And there’s a good chance you’ll end up in somebody else’s jail… or dead.”

  I stretched out my legs. “Thanks for the cheery thought.”

  He stared at me some more. “I read in the paper that Melendez is missing. Is that bogus too?”

  “Beats me. Bast is looking into it.”

  “Right. Good luck with that.”

  No love lost there.

  “Mind if I stand up?”

  He motioned me up.

  “We have a deal?”

  “You have a week, and you keep me informed. And if you find something, I get the credit. You don’t get crap.”

  “Never have needed credit, Thward. But I do have a question.”

  He just stared at me with a blank look that didn’t say okay or not, so I asked.

  “What was the deal you offered to Reynolds?”

  “I don’t see where that’s either relevant anymore or any of your business.”

  “I’m trying to find out what was going on and why he ended up in that alley. It may have a bearing.”

  He thought for a few seconds and then decided it didn’t matter if he shared it.

  “Nothing you probably haven’t already guessed. I wanted to know where he was getting the drugs. I wanted someone higher up the ladder. Pretty simple.”

  “In exchange for…?”

  “No jail time. Two years probation.”

  “And he didn’t take the deal.”

  “We were talking. But no, he didn’t jump at it.”

  “Doesn’t that seem strange? Should have been a no-brainer.”

  “Very.”

  I filed that away. I’d think about it later.

  “Send my man back in,” I said.

  He held out his hand.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I’ll take the tape.”

  “What tape?”

  “I don’t walk out of here without it, Manning.”

  I tried to intimidate him with my stare, but he wasn’t fazed.

  “You could be in a holding cell in twenty minutes.”

  I gave in and let out a sigh. I went into the bedroom, rewound the tape, and handed it to him.

  He took it and turned and left without saying goodbye. I retrieved our guns and handed Ralph’s to him when he came in the room. The only question he asked was if I needed him again. I did. I asked him to meet me here at ten tomorrow. He gave me a two-finger salute and headed for the pool hall. The radio crackled that the cars in the alley had left as I watched Thward get into his car and pull away. I wasn’t a fan of Thward, but I was glad to cross him off my list. Stosh had often told me not to let emotions or personal opinions into a c
ase… just let the facts run their course. I often had trouble with that advice. The guy I really wanted was Nadem. He wasn’t worth the price of a bullet, and I would love to see him behind bars. There was still hope.

  Chapter 36

  Wednesday morning I sent the same message to Bast. The only difference was it was raining… a light spring drizzle that smelled clean and refreshing. When I got to the apartment, I discovered I had forgotten to close the window. The sill was a little wet, but the rain was out of the northwest and the window faced south, so the rain wasn’t coming directly in the window. I pushed it shut.

  Same routine. Paul was watching the alley, and Ralph and I took turns at the window. The routine changed when I saw a tan Buick drive by a little before eleven. It drove by a little slower a few minutes later and then a third time. From my angle I couldn’t see the driver, but it looked like the same tan Buick Bast had. Odds were pretty good it wasn’t a different tan Buick. I let Paul know and had Ralph join me at the window after the first pass so he’d know what the car looked like.

  Ralph spotted the car again at 2:10. It kept going down the block, and he lost sight of it three buildings to the west. I let Paul know. If it was Bast, the fact that he got there near the start of the time window showed he was anxious. Guilty people are anxious. Paul radioed that there was no activity in the alley.

  I took up a position at the window and saw Bast walking back up the street. I took up my position in the bedroom and started the tape.

  Ralph answered the knock with, “It’s open… come on in.”

  After thirty seconds of silence, Bast asked, “So what the hell is this all about?”

  “Pretty simple. Reynolds Margot’s body was dumped in an alley. Fellow across the street saw it. After the car left, this fellow went down to the street and found something. I have what he found.”

  “And what would that be?”

  So far Bast was asking what a cop would ask.

  “Not ‘til we get this worked out.”

  More silence that was broken by Bast with, “Take off your jacket.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Simple request. Take off your jacket.”

  That exposed Ralph’s gun, but it wasn’t the gun Bast was interested in.

  “Now unbutton your shirt.”

  I heard Ralph sigh and realized what was going on. I was sure Ralph did also.

  After ten seconds, Bast’s next request was, “Now pull up your undershirt.”

  After a few more seconds he told Ralph to get dressed.

  “So?” Bast asked.

  “So, I’ve got something you want. When you give me something I want… I give it to you.”

  “And what is it you want?”

  “Money.”

  “How much?”

  “Twenty-five thousand.”

  Bast laughed. “And where am I going to get twenty-five thousand on a cop’s salary?”

  “Really? You wouldn’t be here if you were just living on a cop’s salary.”

  Silence for ten seconds.

  “When would I get this evidence?”

  “When will you have the money?”

  “I need a few days.”

  “Okay. Friday.”

  “Here?” Bast asked.

  “Nope. I’ll let you know Friday morning.”

  “What if your evidence isn’t?”

  “Isn’t what?”

  “Isn’t meaningful evidence… isn’t worth twenty-five thousand.”

  “Then don’t buy it.”

  Another ten seconds of silence.

  “I want your tape,” Bast said.

  I rolled my eyes up to the ceiling. Dealing with cops was getting to be a pain in the ass.

  There was a sound of Ralph starting to say something, but he was interrupted by Bast.

  “Don’t even think of denying it.”

  Ralph didn’t argue. He came into the bedroom, shrugged at me, turned the recorder off, picked it up, and walked out.

  More silence for about a half minute. The next thing I heard was the door opening and closing.

  Ralph came back in a few seconds after that.

  “He’s gone.”

  I went over to the windows and watched Bast walk down the block. I turned to Ralph.

  “So much for taping,” I said. “It goes so well on TV.”

  He laughed. “At least you have a shiny new tape recorder. Now you just need something to play on it.”

  “Nice.”

  Ralph was smiling. “We doing this again?”

  I shook my head. “Nope, we’re done.”

  He gave me a questioning look, and I knew why.

  “Technically,” Ralph said, “he hasn’t done anything illegal. From one point of view he’s a cop waiting for enough evidence to make an arrest. And even if you had the tape, he didn’t say anything incriminating.”

  “I know. But he came here alone.” And if it was Bast, that explained the drugs in my car. And there was the fraternity connection. But I hadn’t shared those with Ralph.

  “And if he is involved, what if there’s others on your list who are in on it?”

  “Then, being the great detective that I am, I’ll find out.”

  He was smiling again. “I hope you’re a better detective than taper.”

  “Used to be the hired help had more respect for the boss.”

  He gave me his two-finger salute and headed for the door.

  “Check’s in the mail,” I said.

  I let Paul go and headed for Stosh’s for dinner. I’d be early, but I needed some time to sit and think. Now I knew who it was, but I didn’t know how or why, or maybe even what. It appeared to be about drugs, but appearances could be deceiving. I was missing something and needed the string that tied the pieces together.

  Chapter 37

  Stosh usually got home around six. Tonight he was late. It was a little after six thirty when he pulled into the drive and parked next to me.

  “Tough day at the office?” I asked.

  He dropped his jacket on the couch. “Like yesterday and the one before that. I’m hungry. We’re going to Carson’s for ribs.”

  “Good by me.”

  “I’m going to wash up, and then I’m going to ask you a question.”

  I closed my eyes and waited for him. I didn’t hear him come back in until he spoke.

  “Article in the Trib about Melendez and his sister being missing along with evidence. What did you have to do with that?”

  I knew I couldn’t say nothing. He knew I had something to do with it, and we weren’t going to leave until he had an answer. And I was hungry too.

  “I’ll tell you on the way.”

  We took his Ford and headed north. Before he made the turn at the end of the block, he said, “Let’s hear it.”

  I told him about my plan to use evidence that Rafael had found to shake things up.

  After he was done yelling, I said, “I made up the part about the evidence.”

  “What! This just keeps getting better. We’ll ignore the illegality of that for the moment. Why would you do that?”

  “Because I was getting nowhere. I needed to start a fire and see who ran out of the burning house.”

  “And you didn’t think that you’d be putting an innocent person at risk?”

  “I did.”

  “And you did it anyway?”

  “Well, yes. But—”

  “Jesus, Spencer! What the hell is wrong with you? You—”

  “Hang on, Stosh. You don’t have the whole story.”

  He turned onto the Edens Expresssway and headed north.

  “So? Who were you going to tell about this evidence?”

  “I figured I’d tell the people on my list… Thward, Nadem, Bast… maybe B
enny and Mrs. Margot.”

  “Your client? The mother of the kid who was murdered?”

  “It doesn’t sound so good when you say it, but yes.”

  “And a detective and an FBI agent.”

  “Yes.”

  “I must be dreaming this. Your willingness to forget about the law seems to be growing.”

  “Helps to catch the bad guys.”

  “…the laws that are there to protect citizens.”

  “And the bad guys.”

  “Bad guys are citizens too,” he said.

  “Not a perfect system. I can do things that are illegal for you.”

  “Last time I checked they are illegal for you too.”

  “Technicality.”

  He was shaking his head. “And what did you expect to happen when you told them?”

  “I expected different things to happen depending on who I told.”

  “How are you telling them? Have you told them all?”

  “So far I’ve only told two. I had an anonymous note sent.”

  “This keeps getting better. We may skip dinner. I’m losing my appetite. Which two?”

  “Thward and Bast.”

  “And what did you expect to happen?”

  “See if you follow my reasoning.”

  He laughed. “You gotta be kidding! Any reasoning is long gone.”

  I took a deep breath. “I’m looking for whoever is behind all this.”

  “And you think that could be a police officer.”

  “Falls under your rule about not trusting anybody. Wouldn’t be the first bad cop.”

  “Odds are against it.”

  He turned off the expressway onto Touhy and in a few blocks pulled into Carson’s lot. He turned off the engine and looked at me. It wasn’t a friendly look.

  I continued my explanation. “If either of those two showed up with backup I’d know they weren’t the one I was looking for. But if someone showed up alone and bit on the blackmail…” I spread my hands, palms up. “I started with Thward. That was Tuesday. He showed up with four agents and a drawn gun and threatened to arrest me.”

  “I wish he had. But since you’re sitting here, my wish didn’t come true. What happened?”