New York Chief of Detectives by Gary Hastings Read Free Book Online Page A

him a few times when he played in New York and found him to be a really approachable guy. Pat still loved jazz, but spent all too little time pursuing it the way he had once dreamed he would. For now, the music took him to another place and time.
    Pat put his tie on and was combing his hair when the phone rang. It was Bryan Flannery.                          
    “Evening, Chief. We have a hot one. Mary and Mike and a few others went over to Curtis Gee’s room. He didn’t answer the door and they couldn’t find anyone who’d seen him since last week. Mike Logan thought he smelled something foul and was convinced it was human decomp. He argued with the uniformed sergeant who didn’t think they had enough probable cause. Anyway, Logan called me and said he was certain it was decomposition. I told him to kick in the door, and he did. We’ve found a person I presume is Curtis Gee DOA on the floor with a couple of slugs in the head.”
    “Okay, Brian, who knows about this?”
    “Just you and the guys here, but I’m sure that the precinct sergeant has sent it up his chain. As soon as we found the ‘stiff’ we backed out and are getting a search warrant.”
    “I’ll be rolling shortly. Dickie is picking me up in five minutes.”
    “See you when you get here Chief, we’ve got it locked down.”
    Pat picked up his cell phone and dialed Commissioner Longstreet’s cell phone number.      
    “Longstreet here.”
    “Evening, Commissioner, Pat O’Connor.”
    “What is it, Patty? I’m at the wake.”
    “Well sir, I think you better listen. We have traced Tony Rodriguez’s last call to a former gangbanger and likely snitch named Curtis Gee who lived in a rooming house over in Queens. My guys went over there hunting for this guy and found him dead, with gunshots to the head. It looks like he’s been there a few days.”
    “Do you think he’s our killer, Patty?”
    “Too early to tell, but I want to keep the relationship between these two cases between us, until we know more.”
    “Why does everything have to be a secret with you, Patty?” 
    “Because the rest of the brass couldn’t keep a secret if their lives depended on it. I just need some breathing room because we’re making progress.”
    “Patty, I appreciate the heads up, but please continue to keep me in the loop.”
    “Will do, Commissioner.”
    When Pat walked out of his building, Dickie was waiting at the curb. Pat hopped in the car.    
    “Change of plans, Dickie. They’ve found our person of interest, Curtis Gee, dead at his rooming house in Queens. Here’s the address.”
    Pat handed Dickie a slip of paper. He looked at the address, and then hit the red lights and siren as he sped away from the curb.
    As they neared the scene, he cut the lights and siren.
    “It looks like they’ve kept the lid on this one, Dickie. I really hope we can find out what all of this means before we get invaded by the media vultures.”
    “Wishful thinking, boss.  There’s a news truck behind us.”
    “Too bad. They’re not getting anything anytime soon.”
    Pat could see Bryan Flannery walking toward the Chrysler. Pat motioned for him to get in the car. 
    “Got a search warrant yet?”
    “No, Chief. They’re hunting a judge.”
    “What can you tell me?”
    “It looks like he’s been there a few days. He’s pretty ripe, but you can see two bullet holes in his forehead. He is right inside the door on his back. Looks like the door was opened, and he was executed. Hard to tell if there was a forced entry after Mike Logan nearly knocked the frame off the door with his size thirteen.”
    “What does your gut tell you?”
    “The same thing I’m sure yours tells you, Chief.  This is somehow related to the murder of Rodriguez.”
    “I agree, and we’re going to try to keep that fact between us until we can figure this out.”
    “That’ll be hard, but I’ll read the riot act to the task force, and make sure they know