FORGOTTEN (26 page)

Saturday, April 2 - Day 74

Atlantic City Boardwalk

Atlantic City, New Jersey

1200 Hours

P
at could see the hotels and casinos of the Atlantic City waterfront ahead. The tall buildings looked like missiles pointed toward the sky. It was actually one of the few times he had been to Atlantic City during daylight hours. He had seen the neon extravaganza of lights many times at night.

Maggie parked the Lexus in a public parking lot, and they walked out to the boardwalk. The crash of the ocean waves was a soothing and relaxing sound. It was warm, and they spotted a restaurant near the famous Steel Pier with outdoor seating for lunch. They both ordered burgers and fries.

“I love the sound of the ocean, Pat. With all of the water around New York, I never seem to notice it. You just don’t think of New York as a beach town.”

“You’re exactly right. Except for the occasional incident involving the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island, New York seems detached from the whole ocean thing. We pull a few jumpers out of the Hudson River but that’s just different. Did you go to the shore often as a kid?”

“Almost never, because we lived near Dallas and my folks were always so busy on the ranch. I probably spent the most time at the beach at Kennebunkport, working the details. You can’t really relax when you’re standing post, even though it’s a controlled environment.”

“It was much the same for me in New Orleans. Our water was the muddy Mississippi River. I never swam in it, but my dad would take me on riverboat trips pretty often. The Gulf coast was not far, but we rarely went.”

Pat and Maggie finished their burgers and just sat and continued talking for a while. It was one of those rare days. Neither one of them had received a cell phone call since leaving New York. They left the restaurant and walked over by the Steel Pier Amusement Park. The workers were painting and cleaning the carnival rides, getting ready for the park’s opening in a few weeks.

They stopped by a casino to try to catch some music by Pat’s old banjo buddy, but she wasn’t playing until later. Instead, they listened to a hot, ragtime piano player for almost an hour and then took a leisurely walk down the boardwalk.

The vendors were already out in full force, selling hot dogs, cotton candy and balloons. Pat and Maggie were walking hand in hand when their ambience was interrupted by a loud
POW! 
Maggie instinctively pushed Pat back against a wall and jumped in front of him. She was starting to clear leather with her Sig, when she realized it was a balloon popping.

Pat reassured her he was okay. “I’m okay. It was just a kid’s balloon, but the speed of your reactions was impressive.”

Pat just laughed it off, but Maggie was embarrassed by it.

“Let’s get out of here before someone recognizes me.”

“Don’t worry about it, Maggie. I don’t think anyone noticed.”

“They must be blind. I could’ve shot the guy with the balloon.”

“But you didn’t. You reacted to what you thought might be a threat; you assessed it, found it not to be a threat, and took no further action. It was a textbook U. S. Secret Service conditioned response. Although, I never knew I was a protectee.”

“I think I’m just a little on edge, with Daniel Pellegrino still out there somewhere. I’m worried about your safety, Pat. You’re the very best part of my life and I don’t want to lose you.”

“Don’t worry, Gorgeous. Daniel Pellegrino will be caught and like every other thug I’ve dealt with, he’ll get his just reward. I’ve put away too many bad men over the years to let this lawyer scare me. He’s a common criminal and he’ll make a mistake. I just have to make sure we’re there when he slips up.”

Maggie dropped Pat off at his apartment on Saturday night around 2100 hours. He got a call about 2230 reporting a cop had been shot on a car stop in Harlem. He had
Dickie pick him up and they went to the scene. Precinct officers quickly located and arrested the suspect. It was a known crack-head. The officer was in good shape, having been shot in the leg. He was expected to fully recover. There wasn’t much for the Chief of D’s to do, so Pat and Dickie stopped by the hospital, and he was back at home by 0100 hours.

On Sunday, Pat and Maggie went to church together, and then to a jazz brunch at the Newport Hotel. Pat enjoyed the music, but it was a little too modern for his nostalgic taste.  Sometimes Pat felt younger jazz musicians thought they got paid by the note instead of trying to create meaningful music. Some of the older jazz players could make a whole note swing. However, the company was nice, and Maggie seemed to enjoy it.

Pat got home, settled down at his computer and cleaned out some old emails. He practiced his trumpet for a couple of hours and then tried to catch up on some work-related reading. The Butelli case had kept him busy. He was preoccupied and had fallen behind. He turned into bed at 2230 after giving Maggie a goodnight call.

Chapter 75

Monday, April 4 - Day 76

Chief of Detectives’ Residence

Borough of Manhattan, New York

0430 Hours

A
t 0430 hours Pat was awakened by his cell phone vibrating across the nightstand.

“Pat O’Connor.”

“Good morning, Chief. It’s Bryan Flannery.”

“What’s shaking Bryan?”

“We’ve found the white Ford Explorer rented by our boy Pellegrino, AKA Daniel Klein.”

“I assume it’s empty.”

“Actually, it’s parked in a tiny apartment complex over in Queens near JFK.”

“Are we setting up on it?”

“That would be very hard to do without getting burnt. This complex has like eight parking spaces. However, we got the tech guys to put a GPS tracker on the car. If it moves, we’ll know it. We have a surveillance team about two blocks away.”

“This sounds good. How about ESU?”

“They’re responding and should be in position soon.”

“Great! If the Explorer moves, we need to do a felony high-risk take down. He will be very dangerous.”

“They’ve been made aware of that.”

“Okay, Bryan, please do me a favor. Call
Dickie Davis and have him pick me up as soon as possible, while I get ready. Let me know if there are any developments.”

“Yes sir, Chief, and we’re on the Detective Bureau Surveillance Channel Bravo.”

“I’ll see you shortly, Bryan. Thanks for the call.”

Pat jumped out of the bed. He grabbed his portable radio and put it on the surveillance channel. He started the coffee pot, then quickly shaved, brushed his teeth, and jumped in the shower. He dried off and grabbed a blue blazer and some charcoal grey slacks. He pulled out a fresh white shirt and grabbed a tie. He put his revolvers on, grabbed his briefcase, and set it on the counter. He poured himself a big cup of coffee in one of Maggie’s Secret Service mugs and his phone buzzed.

“Pat O’Connor.”

“Good morning, Chief. It’s
Dickie. I’ll be out front in about three minutes.”

Pat grabbed the briefcase, his coffee, and his portable and headed for the elevator. When he reached the street,
Dickie rounded the corner in the big black Chrysler. Pat jumped in, and they headed for Queens. Maybe this would be the end of the Daniel Pellegrino fugitive manhunt. 

Chapter 76

Monday, April 4 - Day 76

Carriage Apartments - 29 Colony Drive

Borough of Queens, New York

0515 Hours

T
raffic was light this time of morning. Pat and Dickie did not have to use the emergency lights and siren to maneuver through traffic. They were about two miles out from the staging area when the radio crackled.

“Okay guys, heads up. We have movement.”

“Does anyone have an eyeball?”

Karla Adams responded. “The target is leaving the parking lot, heading south on Colony Drive. We’re on him.”

Bryan Flannery came on the air next. “Let’s stay with him until we find a safe place to take him down. We have the tracker, so let’s get everyone in place before we get close.”

The surveillance moved through the neighborhoods and finally ended up on I-678 West headed toward John F. Kennedy International Airport.

“We’re south on I-678. Traffic is medium, and we’re in position.”

Bryan Flannery called Pat for confirmation. “Car 3, did you copy, Chief?”

“Car 3, 10-4, I copy. If you’re in position, let’s take him down.” Pat commanded.

“10-4, Chief. ESU, move up into position.”

Pat and Dickie were just getting on to I-678 South. Dickie had the black Chrysler lit up and in the wind. As they zipped by the other traffic, Pat couldn’t help but get excited about the arrest of Daniel Pellegrino. Pat could see the red and white lights flashing up ahead. Dickie hit the red lights and went down the shoulder with the siren screaming.

As they pulled up behind the caravan of marked and unmarked NYPD vehicles, Pat could see that the ESU team was doing what they do best, by handling the arrest tactically. He
knew it was best to stay back and let the professionals make the arrest. An Aviation Unit helicopter was hovering overhead with the big searchlight turning darkness into daylight. The radio announced success.

“ESU Lieutenant, we have the suspect in custody.”

Pat and Dickie walked up past the vehicles and saw the handcuffed suspect being escorted by ESU to the waiting detectives. As Pat got closer, he could see the suspect arrested was NOT Daniel Pellegrino! He felt his heart sink.

“Who is this guy?”

Karla Adams was furious. “It seems we’ve been conned, Chief. Boy Wonder here says  a dude gave him 300 bucks to drive the rental Explorer back to JFK.”

“Was it our boy, Pellegrino?”

“Probably so. The description he gave seems pretty close.”

“Let’s take the probably out of it. Does anyone have a mug-shot?”

Mary McDonald started toward her car.

“I have a line-up photo array in my car.”

Mary retrieved the photo array from her files and brought it to the suspect. The array consisted of six pictures including one of Daniel Pellegrino. The suspect looked at the photos and identified photo number two. It was a photograph of Daniel Pellegrino.

Pat turned to Bryan Flannery. “We’ve been outsmarted by this piece of work. Make sure we fully process this vehicle. CSU might find something that’ll help us. I’m tired of this damn lawyer winning.”

Pat was steaming, but there was nothing he could do. They had handled this surveillance by the books, but they were simply outsmarted. Even more than that, Daniel Pellegrino was still posing a tremendous threat to the citizens of New York City.

Chapter 77

Monday, April 4 - Day 76

Major Crimes Conference Room - One Police Plaza

Borough of Manhattan, New York

0900 Hours

T
he driver’s story had checked out. He had three one hundred dollar bills in his pocket and had a clean record. With about a dozen sub-machine guns and a helicopter hovering overhead, it would be a while before he forgot this or had the nerve to get behind the wheel of someone else’s car again.

Pat convened a task force meeting at 0900 to develop a better strategy for apprehending Daniel Pellegrino. Bryan Flannery started the meeting. “We played this thing by the book and he still beat us. We may never be able to catch this guy. He’s just too slick.”

Pat O’Connor’s face started to turn red. Bryan reviewed the night’s events. Everyone seemed frustrated. Not catching this guy was having an effect on everyone’s self-confidence except for Pat O’Connor’s. Wilbur Stone kind of summed up everyone’s feelings. “You know, we can exceptionally clear our cases now. We can prove the killer in each of these cases. Harry Pittsford, killed Forrest Butelli and Nathanial Moses in New York City and also killed old Judge Fitzpatrick. He’s dead and cannot be brought to trial. I know that numb-nuts Pellegrino was behind this, but he’s making fools of us and half the time we spend chasing our own tails. This guy is always ahead of us. He’s probably on some beach somewhere eating grapes with a half-naked dame.”

Pat stood up and motioned for Bryan Flannery to have a seat. He walked slowly to the podium and remained silent for a painful 30 seconds. He then walked away from the podium and walked to the center of the conference room. Every eye was on him. Wilbur Stone was visibly shaking in his boots. Pat finally spoke quietly in a calm demeanor. It had a chilling effect on the mood in the room. “Everyone in this room put their hand on the Bible and
made a vow before Almighty God to uphold the duties of our office as police officers of the City of New York. You’ve each taken on the additional responsibilities of wearing the gold shield of a New York City Detective. I don’t remember a caveat in our oath that said unless we’re outsmarted by a criminal. I know you’re all tired and frustrated and Wilbur, it probably made you feel better to vent.”