Authors: Gary Hastings
“Do you know their names?”
“I don’t know the judge or detective’s name, but the lawyer was named Moses. I’m not sure if it was his last name or his first name.”
“How did Harry handle them?”
“He said he took care of them.”
“Did he kill them?”
“He didn’t exactly say that, but I assumed so. I know you think I’m terrible for staying with him, but he could be so sweet and thoughtful. I know I’m in trouble,
ain’t I?”
“I’m not worried about you right now. Do you know where Pellegrino is?”
“No, but Harry always said he thought he was out of the country.”
“Harry was going to do one more job for him, and then we were going to move to Florida. He wouldn’t tell me what it was, but I took him to rent a car.”
“What kind of car was it?”
“A black Dodge Charger.”
“Had you and Harry been living together?”
“Yes, for about six weeks.”
“Were you there when the FBI searched his place?”
“When did that happen?”
“Last Tuesday.”
“The FBI has not searched our apartment!”
“Where do you live?”
“The Mockingbird Apartments, here in Brooklyn.”
“How long has it been since Harry lived in his house?”
“About six weeks. It was a rental. The lease is paid up until the end of the month.”
“Is his stuff still there?”
“Yep, I can’t bring myself to touch it because we moved in together with this hope of going to Florida.”
Phyllis Duran started to cry again. Pat knew her information would be difficult to get into court, but it was invaluable to the investigation. He also realized they may have uncovered another murder in the death of a lawyer named Moses. He handed her a box of tissues and asked her if she would like to use the restroom or wanted some food. She agreed that she was hungry. Pat showed her the restroom and asked Mary and Bryan to get her a burger from the all-night restaurant nearby.
Pat took a break in questioning and asked Bryan Flannery to have the task force get started at 0700 tomorrow. They were going to try to search Phyllis Duran’s apartment. He was very interested in what leads they might uncover which could help lead them to Daniel Pellegrino.
Phyllis enjoyed the burger and repeatedly thanked Pat for his kindness. They chatted in a friendly manner, and then Pat resumed his questioning. “Okay, Phyllis, we’d like to search your apartment to see if we can find anything that will help us find Daniel Pellegrino. Is that okay with you?”
“I just want you to nail that guy, big man. I’m scared to death he’ll kill me. He has gotten Harry killed. How do I know he’s not coming after me?”
“There’s no way to tell for sure. Would you like for us to put you up somewhere safe for the night?”
“Would it be a nice place?”
“Sure, if that’s what you want. We’d like to search your apartment in the morning.”
Pat hoped that by going out of his way to be nice to her, they might get more evidence leading to Daniel Pellegrino. He thought the chances that charges would be filed against her were slim, especially with her cooperation.
Pat explained to Phyllis that he needed to get a detailed written statement from her. Phyllis agreed and he handed her a legal pad. She started to write and Pat was impressed with her beautiful penmanship.
“You sure have beautiful handwriting.”
“My mother was insistent that we write like girls and I’ve always written very carefully. I guess I’m still trying to please her, in my mind. She’s been dead for years.”
Pat thanked her again for her help and asked Mary McDonald and Bryan Flannery to check Phyllis into a five-star hotel in Manhattan. As a precautionary measure, he also assigned units to set up on Phyllis’s apartment to make sure nothing changed until they got in there with a team.
Pat broke the good news to Phyllis. “We’re going to put you up in a nice place, Ms. Duran. In fact, it’s a five-star hotel. We will pick you up in the morning to go look through your apartment. This will probably be about nine o’clock.”
Pat looked at his watch. It was 0245 hours. He would be spending the night on the couch in his office. He thanked Phyllis for her help and wished her a good night’s sleep. The heat had just been turned up in the search for Daniel Pellegrino.
Chapter 41
Tuesday, February 8 - Day 21
Chief of Detectives’ Office - One Police Plaza
Borough of Manhattan, New York
0630 Hours
P
at’s alarm went off at 0630. He had slept three hours on the couch in his office. He grabbed one of the dark suits he kept in his office closet and headed for the shower. He kept extra clothes and toiletries in the office for just an occasion like this. The warm water felt good, but his body was craving sleep.
He made a fresh pot of strong coffee and headed into the Major Crimes Conference room for the 0700 briefing. Everyone was there even though Pat knew not one of them was an early riser. He walked straight to the podium.
“Good morning, everyone. I’m sorry to bring you in so early, but we’ve had major developments in the case overnight. Would you like to get everyone up to speed, Mary?”
“I’d be happy to, Chief, but you probably have more than we do, since you conducted the interview.”
There was a slight chuckle in the room, but Pat accepted the offer. “Alright, Mary, you have me on that one. I’ll give it a shot, but feel free to fill in anything I miss.”
“I’ve got your back.” Mary said with a smile.
“The uniforms in the Brooklyn 83
rd
Precinct were approached by a lady named Phyllis Duran. She was Harry Pittsford’s girlfriend. I had a nice long chat with her last night into the morning. She was one of those,
I have to talk to the person in charge,
types of people. Of course, everything she says is basically hearsay, but she confirms a lot of our suspicions.”
Karla Adams asked a question. “Was she arrested for something?”
“No, apparently she’s just scared since Harry was killed. She thinks Daniel Pellegrino is behind all of it. I just let her believe it. We all know Harry was killed because he shot at the New Jersey State Troopers.”
“Does she know where Pellegrino is?” Karla asked.
“No, not really, but I’ll get to more information and we can discuss other possibilities a little later.”
“Sorry, Chief, I’m a little anxious to nail this perp.”
“We’re all anxious. Anyway, according to this woman, Pellegrino caught old Harry switching some one-dollar bills for hundreds during a narcotics trial and threatened to rat him out. He told Harry, the only person who knew about it was a judge. She also said Harry had to take care of a private detective and an attorney for Pellegrino. She assumes he killed them, but he never said so. She was in love with him, so things are probably a little colored in Harry’s favor. He was going to do one last thing for
Danny Boy
, and then he and his princess were going to relocate south to Florida. I suspect that I was the last thing.”
“Where is she now?”
“We have her put up in some nice expensive digs here in Manhattan. She’s consented to a search of her apartment this morning. It also gets better. The house the FBI searched was Harry’s old rental house. He was living with Phyllis in Brooklyn. She says all of Harry’s stuff is still there, so we’ll need a team to process it this morning. I think we should also add a computer forensics team. We might find something that’ll help us find Pellegrino.”
George
McBain offered a suggestion. “Why don’t I take care of that, Chief, and I’ll hand-pick a team from the lab as well. I’ll probably do most of it myself.”
“That sounds great, George. In her ramblings, she mentioned an attorney named Moses. Check with the RTCC, Angie, and see if we can find any details about the death of an attorney named Moses. I’m not sure if Moses was his last name or his first name.”
“Sure. I’ll check it out.” Angie replied.
“I think this is significant, guys. It puts our theories on more concrete footing. We’re moving forward and this thing could take off pretty fast. I want to keep Miss Phyllis in good graces, so we might let her enjoy some luxury for a few days. So far, she’s confident, and has also been helpful. It could be the piece which breaks this case wide open.”
Bryan Flannery huddled everyone together. They all planned to meet at the Mockingbird Apartments in Brooklyn at 1030 hours. Pat thought it was exhilarating to think about what this stage of the investigation might produce.
Chapter 42
Tuesday, February 8 - Day 21
Mockingbird Apartments - 8476 Covington Place
Borough of Brooklyn, New York
1030 Hours
M
ary McDonald had been sent by Pat to pick up Phyllis Duran at her luxury hotel. Mary reported to Pat that Phyllis was delighted she was not checking out and even bragged about how great the filet mignon and eggs were for breakfast. Mary assured Pat that she was glad he had authorized it.
The Mockingbird Apartments were older. They consisted of a three-story, brick building with a large parking lot in the back. Phyllis’ apartment was on the second floor. It was a roomy corner apartment with two sets of windows. Inside the apartment there was a large living room with a high ceiling and two bedrooms. One of the bedrooms had been used as an office for Harry Pittsford.
The team got into the apartment and began making sketches and taking photographs. Phyllis Duran was immediately upset and let her temper fly. “Now wait a damn minute! What in the hell are you doing? You said you wanted to look around. Why are you taking pictures?”
Pat explained. “This is the way we have to do things, Phyllis. This protects us both. It shows how things looked when we got here and will make sure we leave things the same way, as best we can. If we’re going to find Pellegrino, we need to do it this way.”
“What if I say stop? What would you do?”
“Of course, we’d stop. You agreed to this, so we’d have no choice. The best thing that could happen would be for you and me to go get some coffee and let these guys do their job.”
“Are you trying to get me out of here?”
“Absolutely!”
“At least you’re honest. I want one of those fancy latte things.”
“Okay, it’ll be my treat.”
“Of course it will be.”
Pat took Phyllis to a nearby coffee chain store and bought her the biggest latte they had. They sat in the corner and talked after Phyllis loaded her drink with sugar.
“What’s going to happen to me, Chief? Am I going to jail? I didn’t know what Harry did with the money and the stuff he did for Pellegrino until years later.”
“I suspect your cooperation will go a long way toward keeping you out of jail. But it’ll be ultimately up to the DA. Are you still working, Phyllis?”
“On and off. I took two weeks off from the diner when I lost my Harry.”
“It’ll be good for you to get back to work.”
“I have to work, Chief. I don’t have any money saved up.”
“I understand. I’m sure it’s tough.”
“Harry had helped me pay off some of my bills. We were going to be able to move to Florida just about debt free. I guess that dream is now gone.”
“Not if you want it bad enough. You’re a smart, hard-working woman. I know you can make it happen if you want it bad enough. It’ll be much cheaper to live in Florida than New York.”
“I suppose you’re right, but it’ll still be expensive, and I don’t know if I want to go without Harry.”
“I wish you good luck, Phyllis. I’d like to see you happy.”
“You may be a cop, but you can be downright sweet, if you don’t mind me saying so. You’re a smooth talker.”
“I know you’re a good person, regardless of what Harry was involved in away from you.”
“I try to be good. I’m not perfect, but I’m not a slut or a criminal. I think that says a lot.”
“So do
I. Are you sure there’s nothing else you can remember about Daniel Pellegrino?”
“Not really. I didn’t even know who he was until a few weeks ago.”
“Did Harry have any guns?” Pat asked.
“He had a big black one with a muffler on it.”
“You mean a silencer?”
“Yea, that’s what it’s called. He also has a .38, but I’ve never seen it.”
“Do you think it’s in the apartment?”
“Yep, it’s probably in the bathroom. He told me if anything ever happened, go in the bathroom, he kept it in there. We hadn’t been together very long, so I never bothered to look, and he never showed me. I didn’t think he would go and get himself killed.”