Part 23 (1/2)
”I just don't see where any of the people who work for me would be any good at that sort of investigation. I could ask-”
”That won't be necessary, thank you just the same, Mr. Giacomo. And thank you for returning my call. I'm grateful to you.”
”I'm glad things seem to be working out for your granddaughter,” Giacomo said.
”Thank you. I very much appreciate your interest,” Vincenzo Savarese said, and hung up.
He looked at Pietro Ca.s.sandro.
”Mr. Giacomo does not seem to feel that any of the investigators with whom he has experience would be useful,” he said.
Ca.s.sandro did not know how to interpret the remark. He responded as he usually did in similar circ.u.mstances. He held up both hands, palms upward, and shrugged.
When Vincenzo Savarese's daughter had told him how kind Dr. Payne was, even calling to tell her to bring Cynthia's makeup and decent nightclothes to her in the hospital, she also said that Cynthia had told her that Dr. Payne had told her she was not to tell her mother, or her father, for that matter, anything that made her uncomfortable to relate.
Savarese hadn't said anything to his daughter, but he'd thought that while that might be-and probably was-good medical practice, it also suggested that there was something that Cynthia would be uncomfortable telling her mother about. He was naturally curious about what that might be.
There was something else Savarese thought odd. The young man Cynthia had been seeing a lot of-his name was Ronald Ketcham, and all Savarese knew about him was that he was neither Italian nor Catholic, and Cynthia's mother hoped their relations.h.i.+p wasn't getting too serious-had not been around since Cynthia had started having her emotional trouble.
”Tell Paulo to put the retired cop to work,” Mr. Savarese ordered.
Paulo Ca.s.sandro, Pietro's older and even larger brother, was president of Cla.s.sic Livery, Inc., in which Mr. Savarese had the controlling-if off the books-interest.
”Right, Mr. S.,” Pietro Ca.s.sandro said. ”What do you want me to do with the cognac?”
”Send it back to the restaurant,” Mr. Savarese said, making reference to Ristorante Alfredo, one of Philadelphia's most elegant establishments, and in which he also had the controlling-if off the books-interest.
”Right, Mr. S. I'll do that on my way home.”
Mr. Savarese changed his mind.
”Keep out two bottles,” he said. ”No. Three bottles. Drop them off at Giacomo's office.”
”Got it, Mr. S.”
Mr. Savarese looked as if he was searching his mind for something else that had to be done, and then, that he had found nothing.
He walked to the Steinway grand piano, took the handkerchief from the top of the violin case, and tucked it into his collar. Then he opened the violin case, took out the bow, tested the horsehair for proper tension, took out the Strenelli, and, holding it by the neck, walked to the reel-to-reel tape recorder and turned it back on.
Then he tucked the Strenelli under his chin, raised the bow to its strings, and began to play along with the Philharmonica Slavonica's rendition of Max Bruch's Violin Concerto in G Minor, Opus 26.
During the briefings given to Detective Matt Payne by the Philadelphia Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to prepare him for his role in the apprehension of the fugitives Bryan C. Chenowith, Jennifer Ollwood, Edgar L. Cole, and Eloise Anne Fitzgerald (known to the FBI as ”The Chenowith Group”), Matt had a number of thoughts he was aware would annoy or confound (probably both) both the FBI and his fellow officers of the Philadelphia Police Department.
The first of these was his realization that Sir Walter Scott had been right on the money when he proclaimed, ”Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive!”
Chief Inspector Coughlin, Inspector Wohl, Staff Inspector Weisbach, and Sergeant Jason Was.h.i.+ngton were responsible for bringing this conclusion to Payne's mind.
They had spent the better part of an hour, starting at 8: 15 A.M. in Denny Coughlin's Roundhouse office, conducting a discussion of the cover story Matt would use in Harrisburg. Detective Payne had been present, but it had been made immediately clear to him that his partic.i.p.ation had not been solicited and was not desired.
The three senior police supervisors decided that so far as the members of the Special Operations Division Investigation Section were concerned, they would be told that Matt would be in Harrisburg attempting to uncover suspicious financial activity on the part of any member of the Narcotics Unit Five Squad, with special attention being paid to Officer Timothy J. Calhoun, who had relatives in Harrisburg and Camp Hill.
Only those with the need to know were to be made privy to the fact that Matt would also be ”cooperating” with the FBI in their investigation of the Chenowith Group while he was in Harrisburg. Weisbach decided those with a need to know were those present, plus Sergeant Sandow.
The Intelligence Division of the Philadelphia Police Department was to be made privy to Matt's role vis-a-vis the FBI, but not not to the fact that he would be in Harrisburg investigating the Narcotics Five Squad. The Intelligence Division, to prevent any possible leaks that might come to the attention of the Five Squad, was to be told a second cover story. This one had Matt looking into possible connections between vice operations in Philadelphia and Harrisburg. to the fact that he would be in Harrisburg investigating the Narcotics Five Squad. The Intelligence Division, to prevent any possible leaks that might come to the attention of the Five Squad, was to be told a second cover story. This one had Matt looking into possible connections between vice operations in Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
Chief Coughlin felt this second cover story would have a certain credibility, inasmuch as Lieutenant Seymour Meyer, who had commanded the Central District's Vice Squad, had been relieved of his command and his badge and was presently awaiting trial on charges that he had sold his protection to the madam of a call girl ring.
His replacement-and the new commanding officer of the Central District (Inspector Gregory F. Sawyer, Jr., the former commander, had been relieved of his command at the time of Meyer's arrest)-would be told that the Special Operations investigation of Center City prost.i.tution had not been completed, and that Detective Payne, specifically, was in Harrisburg working on it.
Chief Coughlin also felt, and Inspectors Wohl and Weisbach agreed, that because of the close working relations.h.i.+p between the Central District generally, and the Central District's Vice Squad and the Narcotics Unit, the word would quickly reach the Five Squad that Special Operations had sent Detective Payne to Harrisburg hoping that he would there find the final nails to drive in Lieutenant Meyer's coffin.
This second cover story was the one Mr. Walter Davis would be asked to have the chief of police in Harrisburg-who he said was both an old friend and owed him several favors-spread around the Harrisburg Police Department. The chief of police would be told in confidence that Detective Payne's investigations involved the Chenowith Group, but not not that he was looking into the financial affairs of certain members of the Five Squad. that he was looking into the financial affairs of certain members of the Five Squad.
This meant, Matt understood, that Chief Coughlin would prefer that neither the FBI nor the Harrisburg Police Department be aware what specific rotten apples Matt was looking for in the Philadelphia Police Department's barrel.
The FBI Briefing on the Chenowith Group began at 9:45 in the Conference Room of the FBI's Philadelphia office. Present were Chief Coughlin, Inspector Wohl, and Detectives Payne and Wilfred G. ”Wee w.i.l.l.y” Malone, a six-foot-four-inch giant of a man who was a.s.signed to the Philadelphia Police Department's Intelligence Unit. The FBI was represented by SAC Walter Davis; ASAC (Administration) Glenn Williamson; ASAC (Criminal Affairs) Frank F. Young; and FBI Special Agents Raymond Leibowitz and Howard C. Jernigan of the Anti-Terrorist Group, and Special Agent John D. Matthews of the FBI's Philadelphia office.
Everyone was seated in comfortable upholstered chairs around a long, glistening conference table. Before each partic.i.p.ant had been laid out a lined pad, four sharpened pencils, a coffee mug, a water gla.s.s, and an ashtray. Two water thermos bottles, two coffee thermos bottles, and cream and sugar accessories were in the center of the table. On a shelf mounted on the wall were both a slide projector and a 16-millimeter motion picture projector. At the opposite end of the room was a lectern, complete to microphone, and, Matt supposed, controls to operate the lights and the slide and motion picture projectors. A roll-down beaded projection screen was mounted on the wall behind the lectern.
This caused Matt to think, first, This is a h.e.l.l of a lot fancier than Czernich's conference room in the Roundhouse, This is a h.e.l.l of a lot fancier than Czernich's conference room in the Roundhouse, and next, and next, Well, what the h.e.l.l, they're spending federal tax dollars, which no bureaucrat considers real money, so why not? Well, what the h.e.l.l, they're spending federal tax dollars, which no bureaucrat considers real money, so why not?
SAC Walter Davis stepped to the lectern, thanked everyone for coming, and turned the meeting over to ASAC Frank Young, a redheaded, pale-faced man in his forties on the edge between muscular and plump.
Young went to the lectern, thanked everyone for coming, and asked if everybody knew everybody else. Everyone did, except for Wee w.i.l.l.y Malone and Jack Matthews, and Detective Payne and ASAC Williamson, who leaned across the table to shake hands.
”SAC Davis has a.s.signed Special Agent Matthews to liaise with Detective Payne while we're doing this,” Young announced. ”Presuming that meets with your approval, Chief Coughlin?”
”Certainly,” Coughlin said.
What the h.e.l.l does ”liaise with” mean? Detective Payne wondered. Detective Payne wondered.
”I thought that the best way to get this show on the road,” Young said, ”was to run a film we put together showing why we're all looking for the Chenowith Group.”
The room lights dimmed and the film projector started.
The seal of the United States Department of Justice appeared on the screen, then the seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, then a notice announcing the film was cla.s.sified ”Official Use Only” and was not to be shown to unauthorized persons.
”The Biological Sciences building of the Medical School of the University of Pittsburgh,” a voice announced.
The screen now showed still photographs, obviously taken during different seasons of the year, of a three-story brick building of vaguely Colonial design.
”At 5:25 P.M., 1 April,” the voice intoned without emotion, ”an explosion occurred, causing extensive damage to the building and the deaths of eleven individuals. More than fifty other individuals were injured, some of them seriously. The death count of eleven reflects both immediate deaths and deaths which occurred later.”
The screen now showed the building immediately after the explosion.
Looks like they got this from TV news film, Matt thought. Matt thought.
Fire hoses were still playing their streams on the shattered and smoking building, and firemen and police were shown entering and leaving the building. Ambulance crews were treating and transporting injured people, some of them badly injured.