The Mike Black Saga; Payback (22 page)

"That’s a logical conclusion,"
Glynnis
said.

"You have to be pretty powerful to make evidence disappear. Marshall
have
that kind of power?" Nick asked.

"Marshall has that kind of power. He has a very strong and committed organization. Ruthless, when you get right down to it."

"How does a guy like that continue to get elected?" Wanda asked.

"The thing he’s best at is playing the race card. The man is
hassling
me again while I’m out here doing your business, making sure your tax dollars are spent wisely, kinda crap. People buy into it."

"Have you ever heard of a reporter named
Tavia
Hawkins,
Glynnis
?"

"Sure I have, she’s a reporter for the Post.
Tavia
Hawkins has practically made a career out of writing articles about Marshall."

"So I noticed," Nick said. "I read at least a dozen of them and there were plenty more. What’s up with that? She got it in for this guy?"

"The gossip is that he had an affair with her, this was years ago. She got serious, wanted him to leave his wife, he dumped her, you know how you men are,"
Glynnis
mused.

"Sounds like she would be a great person to talk to," Nick said.

"If you wanna know about Marshall she’s the one you need to talk to,"
Glynnis
said

"I wanna go," Wanda said meekly.
　

Chapter Twenty-nine

Martin Marshall sat alone at Ben & Jack’s Steak-house on East 44
^th
street in one of the six private rooms behind etched glass windows off the main dining room. He tapped his fingers on the table and waited impatiently for DeFrancisco to arrive. He hated waited for him because he was never on time.

There were times when Marshall wished that he’d never gotten involved with DeFrancisco,
If
I had to be honest about it, I don’t like him.
Aside from being always late, DeFrancisco was arrogant and rude, had the worst table manners of anyone he’d ever known, and to top it off, his breath stank. But he had to admit that with all of his shortcomings, he had come in very handy over the years. However, lately, DeFrancisco was getting shaky. Always worried about things that didn’t concern him. He was even reluctant about setting up the sting on Mike Black. Wanted to know why, but who could blame him? Marshall had asked DeFrancisco to commit a considerable amount of resources solely on his assurance that it was important. But he wasn’t about to tell him that it was necessary to cover for somebody’s fuck up.

Finally DeFrancisco arrived at the restaurant without any sign of an apology for being late.

"Have you ordered yet?" DeFrancisco asked.

"No, I hadn’t planned on eating. I asked you here because I needed to talk to you," Marshall replied.

"Well, you don’t mind if I do? I haven’t had a thing all day and I’m starved." DeFrancisco motioned for the waiter and told him to bring the biggest steak they had, medium well. "And a gin and tonic."

"Anything for you, sir?" the waiter asked Marshall.

"Dewar’s on the rocks," Marshall said, knowing that he was going to say what he had to say and be gone before the steak arrived.

Once the waiter was gone DeFrancisco asked. "So what do you wanna talk about?"

"I need an update on the Black operation."

"What do you wanna know? The operation is just getting started. The cop, Kirk reported to them, he seems to be cooperating. By the end of the week they should be up and running with wire taps on all of his operations, they’re working on picking up cell phone frequencies now and around the clock surveillance on the major players. All that based on the briefing they got from Kirk."

"Make sure they pay close attention to Wanda Moore."

"Who is she?" DeFrancisco asked as the drinks arrived.

"She’s their lawyer. Wanda has her hands in everything, both their legal and illegal businesses."

"All that is fine, Martin, but you still haven’t told me what this is all about."

"I’ve told you all I can tell you and that is as much for your protection as it is for ours. But I will tell you
this,
the success of that operation may weigh heavily on your future."

"What’s that supposed to mean?" DeFrancisco asked, pressing for information.

"Look, I’ve told you all I’m going to tell you. You know damn well what I’m saying to
you,
both your bank account and your freedom are at stake here. If you can’t handle it, I’ll get somebody who can."

"Right. You know there ain’t nobody gonna do the things I do for you, so let’s cut the crap. You need me."

"You’re right. We need you to do this and do it right," Marshall said as
DeFrancisco’s
steak arrived. Marshall finished his drink and started to get up.

"There is one more thing I been meaning to tell you," DeFrancisco said as he prepared to dig into his steak.

"What’s that?"

"That pain in the ass reporter called me again last week."

"What did she want?"

"If DEA had any knowledge of drug money being involved in your latest investigation."

"What did you tell her?"

"Same thing I always tell her, I told her to go fuck
herself
," DeFrancisco said with his mouth full of steak.

"That’s one pain in the ass that neither one of us will have to be bothered with." Marshall stood up, straightened his tie and left the room.

Chapter Thirty

It didn’t matter what the captain said, Kirk just couldn’t sit on his hands and do nothing. He had to do something, so he decided that the best use of his time was to look into Martin Marshall and his involvement with DeFrancisco.

Kirk had heard that the city’s Department of Investigation was looking into a case that involved Marshall, so earlier that day he paid them a visit.

When he arrived at the Department of Investigation, he flashed his badge and was taken to speak with Diane Smith the head of the department. "DOI is one of the oldest law-enforcement agencies in the country and an international leader in the effort to combat corruption in public institutions," Diane Smith explained. "It serves the Mayor and the people of New York City by acting as an independent and nonpartisan watchdog for New York City government." She was an attractive woman in her early forties and just a bit of a flirt.

"What type of cases do you investigate?" Kirk asked.

"DOI’s major functions include investigating and referring for prosecution cases of fraud, corruption, and unethical conduct by City employees, contractors and others who receive City money. We also study agency procedures to identify corruption and recommend improvements in order to reduce the City’s vulnerability. We investigate backgrounds of persons selected to work in decision-making or sensitive City jobs, and those who do business with the City, to determine if they are suited to serve the public trust.

"Sounds pretty interesting," Kirk said.

"Oh, please Detective," Diane flirted. "Probably pretty boring compared to the type of cases you get to work on."

"Maybe, but interesting all the same," Kirk flirted back. "All that work must keep you very busy."

"DOI handles at any one time hundreds of complaints." Diane continued. "But in a time of diminishing resources, we continue to find new ways to address the problems challenging the City. But enough about
that,
tell me how I can help you, detective?"

"I understand that your department is investigating Martin Marshall. Can you tell me anything about that?"

"Our case doesn’t involve the Senator directly. It’s a complaint against a City Councilman who is accused of extortion."

"What was the case about?" Kirk asked.

"Allegedly the councilman and a still un-named co-conspirator had demanded $1.5 million dollars worth of property and $50,000 cash from a real estate developer who wanted the councilman’s vote in favor of a development slated for Brooklyn. We believe that Marshall is his co-conspirator," Diane told him. When Kirk pressed her for more details, Diane told him that she couldn’t give him any more information because the case was still pending. She did
however,
refer Kirk to a reporter named
Tavia
Hawkins who had written a number of articles on the subject.

Kirk had spent the evening in his new DEA office reading all of the articles that
Tavia
Hawkins had written on Marshall and was on his way home when a call came over the radio about a suicide victim. The woman had taken an over dose of sleeping pills. When they said that the victim’s name was
Tavia
Hawkins, Kirk just had to drop by and stick his hand in.

When Kirk arrived at her apartment building, most of the other officers and emergency personnel were gone. He was met by an officer who told Kirk that
Tavia
Hawkins was reported missing by her editor. It was ruled a suicide when the body was found on the floor in the bedroom, with an empty bottle of sleeping pills by the bed. "Mind if I have a look around?"

The officer allowed Kirk in the apartment, but stayed with him to make sure no evidence was removed. Kirk searched the apartment, but spent most of his time going through her files and looking at her computer. There was nothing that he could find that led him to believe that it was anything other than what it appeared to be, the suicidal death of a woman. Tragic, of course it was, but there was nothing that led Kirk to believe that
Tavia
Hawkins was murdered.

Tavia
Hawkins was very organized, all of her files, both computer and hard copy, were filed along with her notes in chronological order according to the story she was working on. She even kept a journal which she made entries in everyday. Kirk found volumes of them dating back ten years. What Kirk did find a little strange was that for the last month there was nothing. No files, no notes on what she was working on currently on and the journal was gone.

Maybe she ran out of journals, or just stopped making entries, or maybe she took it to her office? Kirk doubted it, but that by itself wasn’t enough to prove that she was murdered.

Kirk left the apartment and had started for his car when he saw Nick and Wanda coming toward him.

"What are you doin’ here Simmons?" Kirk asked.

"I was just about to ask you the same question, Kirk." But Nick knew that if Kirk was here that somebody was dead.

"And in such beautiful company," Kirk added.

"Hello Kirk," Wanda smiled. She knew Kirk had a thing for her. She had fenced with Kirk many times during his attempts to make a case against Mike Black.

"How are you, Wanda?"

"I’m fine, Kirk and to answer your question, we’re here doing the same thing you are. We came to talk to
Tavia
Hawkins." Wanda said and Nick gave her a look.

"
That’s
not gonna happen."

"Why not?" Wanda asked.

"Cause she’s dead."

"Murdered?" Wanda asked.

"Suicide."

Nick and Wanda looked at one another. Wanda started to say something but Nick cut her off. "That’s too bad, Kirk," he said and grabbed Wanda by the hand. "Good night, Kirk." Nick and Wanda started walking back to his car, with Kirk following behind them.