THE CLUB - ANGIE BARTONI CASE FILE

by Marshall Huffman

  About twenty minutes later Dan walked up the stairs and went directly to the break area and made his cup of coffee. He came back a few minutes later with three donuts on a napkin.

  “What?” he said.

  “Nothing. I didn’t say a thing,”

  “Don’t give me that. What’s up?”

  “McGregor bought the donuts.”

  He almost spit out his coffee. “Why. He never does that. What’s going on?” he asked looking at the donuts suspiciously.

  “Big snow storm due in around 5:00 p.m. We may get put on traffic duty.”

  “I should have known,” Dan said looking at the donuts with disgust. Not enough, however, to stop him from digging in and scarfing them down.

  “Can I ask you a question Angie?” Dan said, brushing sugar from the donut off his tie.

  “I guess.”

  “Do you think there is a grand plan for each of us or is everything just random luck?”

  “Geez Dan. That’s a little heavy for this early in the morning,” I replied.

  “Maybe but I was thinking about the car wreck we were in. What that part of a plan? I mean what possible good came out of that? It had to be random. If everything is just random what is religion all about.”

  “Dan religion is a personal choice people make. Some choose to believe and some don’t. Some scoff at it and others devote their entire lives to it. To me religion is what you make of it. You either believe there is a GOD that looks over the universe or you don’t and think everything is pure chance,” I replied.

  “Yeah but what about you? Do you buy into the whole religion thing?”

  “Dan both of us should be dead a couple of times over. What you have to ask yourself is are you just damn lucky or was it not in God’s plan for you to die.”

  “Any you still haven’t answered what you believe,” he pressed.

  “I believe that something more than luck has gotten me through the scrapes I have been in,” I answered, leaving it like that.

  “Humm,” he said taking another bite of a donut.

  I still wasn’t sure why he started the conversation or what he was really after. It was one of the more unusual conversations that we have had and we have had some pretty strange ones.

  I was just getting ready to head out to the safe house where Rotelli was being held when six of the agents came up the stairs and headed to the conference room.

  I walked over and stuck my head in the door, “Hey guys, where is Falls?”

  “Still at the safe house,” one of them told me.

  “Is he bringing Rotelli here?”

  “Don’t know.”

  “You don’t know what he intends to do?” I asked.

  “He just told us to get ready to move. Go back to the station, pack our gear and be at the airport. The company was sending a plane to pick us up.”

  “I don’t understand. Who is there with him guarding Rotelli?”

  “Agent Palmer.”

  “He is the only one?”

  “And Falls,”

  “Yeah I get that but just the one other agent?” I asked trying to make some sense out of what they were telling me.

  “Just the one.”

  “Does that make any sense to you?”

  “Look, we were told to go back and pack and get ready to catch the plane. Those were our orders. That is exactly what we are doing,” the agent said.

  This was just crazy. If a killer was being sent to get rid of Rotelli why would he send the others away? A diversion to make it look like everyone had pulled out? Whatever it was, it didn’t sound like a very good plan to me.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-S IX

  I was relieved when Brad and his team came up the stairs.

  “Brad, just the man I need to see.”

  “Okay but we don’t have much time,” he said stopping at my desk.

  “Why? Don’t tell me you are leaving too?”

  “Those are my orders.”

  “Marsha as well?”

  “Marsha, Cindy, Eric and I have all been ordered back. We need to be at the airport by 1300 hours.”

  “I don’t understand. Why is everyone leaving?”

  “Falls is having a chopper come in and pick him, one other agent, and Rotelli up and fly them to a secure facility,” he said.

  “Wait. Why would he do that? I mean they want to protect Rotelli, I get that, but why helicopter him out of there and off to some other facility?”

  “He wasn’t too keen that you knew where they were taking Rotelli. In fact, he was pretty upset. He thinks the place is compromised and that another location is necessary to keep Rotelli safe.”

  “I still don’t get why he would pull all of the protection from the place before the helicopter got there.”

  “Angie, I don’t know. I just know what I was told. Get back here, pack up and get to the airport,” he replied.

  “Does that seem strange to you?”

  “Not particularly. I mean, we get pulled off jobs to go to other places all the time. It’s not a first if that’s what you are asking,” Brad replied.

  “It still seems strange to me.”

  “Well the FBI operates differently than you guys. We get shifted around to wherever we are needed most.”

  “Okay, I guess I was just surprised to find almost everyone suddenly pulled off the case leaving on two people to guard Rotelli. The other thing bothering me is that I understand he knows more than he is letting on but why is no one trying to leverage it out of him? Hell, give me thirty minutes and I’ll give you the name he supposedly is withholding. Why all the coddling?”

  “I guess it’s just Falls’ style,” Brad said.

  “How often have you worked with Falls in the past?” I asked.

  “This is the first time.”

  “You never met him before?”

  “Angie, we have close to twenty-four thousand employees and of those, ten thousand are agents. It is not unusual to never have worked with someone before.”

  “But Falls is a big shot from DC.”

  “So?”

  “Have you ever heard of him?”

  “The FBI has a Director, Deputy Director, Associate Deputy Director at the top of the food chain. After that there are all sorts of individual departments from financial crimes to violent crimes. That’s where I’m assigned but above me is a whole echelon of people including regional directors. It is simply impossible to know everyone in an organization like this. You add that onto the fact that as agents we have no one specific assigned area that we operate in, it makes knowing everyone impossible. It is just not feasible in an organization of our size.”

  “How do you get your orders?”

  “Usually the regional director makes the assignments from the agents available.”

  “You were in charge when you arrived. How did you know that Falls had taken over?” I pressed.

  “Simple. He said Bonnard had sent him to assess and take over.”

  “Bonnard?”

  “Ted Bonnard, the Executive Assistant Director of Violent Crime.”

  “Executive Assistant Director? Boy are you guys bureaucratic. So Bonnard tells you that Falls is in charge now?”

  “No, Falls tells me that Bonnard sent him to take over. I don’t like it but that isn’t all that unusual when potential political situations are involved. This Rotelli guy knows something on a major player that could prove embarrassing and it needs to be handled by someone with more seniority.”

  “Did you ever check with Bonnard to see if any of what Falls told you was true?” I asked him.

  “Check? With Bonnard? Angie, you don’t just pick up the phone and call Bonnard and say ‘Say, Falls said you had placed him in charge, is that true’? It doesn’t work like that.”

  “So you are essentially just going on his word?”

  “Yes Angie, I’m going on his word. Why would he lie?”

  “To get to Rotelli.”

  “Angie, you are barking up the wrong tree thi
s time. You have been reading too many conspiracy stories. That can’t happen in the real world, at least not in the FBI.”

  “I suppose you’re right but I don’t like the feel of the whole thing.”

  “It’s fine. They will get Rotelli to a different safe house and get the information they need.”

  “Okay, I hope you are right,” I replied.

  Brad headed off to pack up and I headed to the captain’s office grabbing Dan along the way.

  “Why are we going to see the captain?” Dan asked.

  “I just want to bring him up to speed and kick around what is going on in my head. I could be nuts but something is wrong.”

  “I could support the nuts part,” he mumbled.

  “Ha-ha. You’re a real comedian,” I shot back.

  I knocked on the captain’s door. He held up a finger until he finished his phone call.

  “Ah Bartoni and Roberts. I’m happy to see you have it all wrapped up.”

  “We do?” I said mildly surprised.

  “I should think so and you are here to give me the report. Right?”

  “Well not exactly.”

  He just looked at me with that look fathers give kids when they have done something really stupid. Geez he is good at that. He must practice.

  “Why are you here?” he finally asked.

  “Something doesn’t smell right about all of this. Why would Falls send all of the agents home? Who is Falls exactly? Who does he report to? How come...”

  “Whoa. I didn’t want a Kennedy conspiracy theory scenario. Cut to the chase Bartoni.”

  “Alright. This started as a simple murder case with Mimi Rotelli. Then suddenly the attorney, Asher, is murdered but it was made to look like a suicide. It was intended to make it look like he was distraught over killing Mimi. Then the FBI are called in but that wasn’t good enough. They brought in a big shot from DC to take over.”

  “Wait. Keep in mind the Mayor invited the FBI in. They didn’t just show up on their own.”

  “Okay but nevertheless Brad Pendergrass is in charge when suddenly this Falls guy pops up and takes over.”

  “So?”

  “So, when I asked Brad who Falls was or who he reported to, he didn’t know. He said that wasn’t unusual, that they had like a billion employees and it was impossible to know everyone.”

  “Bartoni you are just spinning your wheels. Falls is the boss on this case. It would be like me assigning you a case that another detective had started. I’ve done it before. The Mayor asked for you to take over one not that long ago and that caused a little rift. It happens. We don’t always know why or who ordered it but you just go with the flow,” he said.

  I listened to the clock ticking, counting along to let my brain catch up with my mouth. No one was really listening to what I was saying. All I wanted to know was who Falls was, who he reported to and if everything was legitimate. Was that asking too much?

  “Dan,” McGregor said, “Do you have the same suspicions?”

  “Sir, I know Angie doesn’t look for ghosts where there are none. She has the best instincts I have ever seen. If she thinks something is out of whack, then I have to go along with her. I do think it is strange that all of the agents were pulled before he was safely in another location. That part really puzzles me.”

  More clock ticking. More counting. More watching the captain cogitate on what I had told him.

  Finally he said, “Let me make a few phone calls. Maybe I can find out something. I still have a few connections at the FBI. I’ll let you know what I find out.”

  “Thanks captain. That’s all I’m asking for.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY- SEVEN

  “Doctor Rotelli, this is my associate, Hans. No need for his last name. I need to have you answer a few questions for me,” Falls said.

  He was walking around the chair in the middle of the room that had Rotelli captive. Duct tape was wrapped around his wrists and ankles as he sat naked in the straight backed chair. Only one light was on in the room and it was shining directly at Rotelli.

  “I don’t know anything. I’m telling you that was my wife’s business. I had nothing to do with it.”

  “Doctor we both know that isn’t true. We know for example that your income exceeded what your royalty and regular income combined came to. Not by just a little but by a considerable amount. How is that possible?”

  “I do lectures and other things.”

  “What you really do is blackmail your so called friends and others to get certain information for you that you then peddle for money.”

  “That is not true. I am not involved in anything that goes on in the basement. I don’t know what my wife did. She may have been involved but I never was,” Rotelli replied.

  “Doctor Rotelli, I have been at this for a long time. I know instinctively when someone is lying. Like now for instance. You say the words but your body gives you away. I’m a very nice man usually but when someone lies to me I get angry and that is never a good thing. You do not want to see me get angry Doctor Rotelli.”

  “Please. I know nothing about any of this. If my wife was alive she could tell you. We lived separate lives. We were hardly ever together,” Rotelli said starting to whine.

  “Unfortunately she isn’t here is she? That means I have to be assured from another source. Poor Asher isn’t alive either so I am running out of people who can clear this all up for me. Listen to me doctor. It is really simple. What I want to know is who you have been blackmailing. I want the names. Now that isn’t so hard is it?”

  “I would tell you if I knew. Honestly, I just don’t know,” he insisted.

  Before he could say another word, Falls stomped his heel down on Rotelli’s toes, twisting and grinding them into the floor. Rotelli screamed and tried to pull out of the chair but it was no use.

  Finally Falls let his foot go and stood back looking at the doctor. Rotelli was rocking his head back and forth in pain.

  Toes are some of the most sensitive places on the body. Lots of nerve endings. All you have to do is stub your toe once to know how much it can hurt. Having a two hundred pound man stomp on his toes was excruciating.

  “Now doctor, let’s start again. I want to know who you were blackmailing. What did you get from them? Where did they work? Who paid you for the information?” Falls said starting to circle around the chair again.

  “No one. Please! You have to believe me! I wasn’t part of any of that.”

  “Not good,” Falls said and stomped his heel onto the other foot.

  Rotelli screamed and tried everything he could to make it stop but nothing worked.

  “You know,” Falls said once Rotelli had stopped screaming and was just whimpering, “Everyone talks. Everyone. I am just getting started and you may hold out for a while but in the end you will give me exactly what I want to know. Do yourself a big favor and just get it over with,” Falls offered.

  “I have nothing to say on this subject,” Rotelli answered in a pained voice.

  “Suit yourself,” was all Falls said.

  **

  “What do you want to do next?” Dan asked on our way back to our desk.

  “I want to see if Brad is willing to come with us out to the safe house.”

  “What! We can’t just go out there. Falls has sent every one away. Obviously he doesn’t want anyone there,” Dan replied taking my arm.

  “Look Dan you don’t have to go but I’m going. I have some questions for Special Agent Falls.”

  “We can’t just drop in on them. They may shoot us unless they know we are coming.”

  “We’ll take a marked unit. They are pretty hard to mistake,” I told him.

  “Angie. Wait a second. I know you think something is up and I’m willing to back you up but honestly what do you think you can really accomplish? He doesn’t have to tell you a damn thing. He doesn’t answer to you and he doesn’t have to tell you who he does answer to. Frankly I see this as a total waste of time.”

 
; “Then stay here.”

  “You are so damned stubborn sometimes.”

  “Yeah and that’s just one of my good traits.”

  “This is stupid but let’s go,” he finally said.

  CHAPTER TWENTY- EIGHT

  Dan drove the cruiser we had checked out. There was no way anyone could mistake this thing for a normal car. It was the first nice day that we had had in some time. We lucked out with the big snow storm. It missed us and all we got was a light dusting. It was already starting to melt.

  My knee was getting better as well. Last night I took the Healy for a quick spin around the block. It still hurt and I had to use my hand on my knee to hold the clutch in if I was stopped for very long. Still, all and all, it was definitely getting better.

  “I don’t suppose I could talk you into calling Falls and letting him know we are coming,” Dan said.

  “What would be the fun in that? I just want to drive up and go in and talk to him. I want to see Rotelli as well.”

  “If they aren’t already gone.”

  “Yeah, there is that,” I conceded.

  “What did Brad say about Falls?”

  “Nothing much. He had never worked with him but since they had like a trillion employees that wasn’t all that unusual.”

  “He thinks everything is on the up and up?”

  “I think that’s an accurate assessment,” I replied.

  “But you still aren’t convinced are you?”

  “Let’s just say I am both curious and skeptical. You know me, I have to do things my way.”

  “Good name for a song,” Dan replied.

  “What?”

  “I did it my way.”

  “You’re weird sometimes, did you know that?”

  “Me. Me weird? Now if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black,” Dan replied.

  He was right. It was pretty gutsy of me to call Dan weird when you consider all the things I have done.

  We finally turned onto the two lane black top road that would take us to the safe house. I took out my Sig, checked to make sure a bullet was in the chamber and put it back in my holster.

  “Uh, are we expecting trouble?” Dan asked.