No Mercy (20 page)

The young woman held on tight while Rachelle said,

“Bud, what are you doing here at 2:00 in the morning?”

He stopped massaging Deborah's hair as he turned around to look at Rachelle and said, “I can't get ahold of Paul. I've been trying since 11:00 pm. I thought he may have been with you, but your phone is off.” Rachelle had a puzzled look on her face as she grabbed her phone. The battery was dead.

Bud continued to speak. “I called Lynagh, Healey, O'Malley, and no one is answering their phone.”

Rachelle's facial expression changed as she asked Bud to go with her to the apartment above the restaurant to check on him. Bud turned to Deborah, who was disappointed he was leaving so soon, but he reached out his hand for her to come with them and she took it. They put the dogs in the lit front area so they could take care of business till they got back. Bud waved to the officer outside the gate and stopped for a second to wave at the officer parked thirty yards away from the Wilkerson house. They turned right on East Broadway down to Main Street in front of the ferry, turned left on Main Street, then another left on Arden Place, before making a quick right into Trader's Cove parking lot behind Z Pita. Bud saw Paul's car in his spot when he stopped the car behind the apartment door at the back of the restaurant.

Rachelle jumped out and headed for the door with keys in her hand when Bud yelled,

“Wait! You're not going in there just yet.” He got out of the car and told Rachelle to wait until he took a look. He motioned to her to stay put as he started walking to the door, and he pulled out his gun.

Rachelle started walking again toward Bud when he gave her the
stop
sign and said,

“Wait, Rachelle. Wait till I let you know it's safe.”

She looked back at Deborah still sitting in the car. “Now I'm getting scared.”

Deborah got out of the car to be with her. They both watched while Bud opened the door with his key, his gun drawn as he went up the stairs. Rachelle saw a light go on upstairs and started moving closer toward the backdoor when Bud waved them to come up from the window. Rachelle raced up the stairs, for all she could think about was Paul. There was no one there. Bud looked around to be sure there wasn't anything that looked out of the ordinary, when he heard the answering machine go on.

Rachelle had pushed the button to listen, and they heard Paul's father: “Son, give me a call. I need to speak to you.”

The next voice was Bud's: “Hey, my partner, been trying to reach you. Give me a call back or I'll start singing to you in this thing.”

The answering machine clicked again and it was Rachelle: “Hi, it's me. I just wanted to let you know I will be working the early shift at Z Pita in the morning. Please stop down. I would love to see you.”

The next message that came on was from ADA Ashley and was in total contrast to Rachelle's voice and tone: “Paul Powers! I've been trying to reach you and Johnson!” Bud looked at the phone with a puzzled look as the message continued. “Where the hell are you? Ed Larson and Joseph Brenner from the City club are dead. You were there a few minutes earlier. They're talking about a masked killer. Shit, Paul, I know you were upset about Bud telling Branca to move the bounty all to him, but don't do anything dumb. We have a case to solve. Give me a call right away. I can't get ahold of O'Malley either.” The call disconnected as Bud moved to the stairway.

Rachelle grabbed him and asked,

“What's going on, Bud? Where is Paul? He's not responsible for these people getting killed, is he?”

Deborah stood there looking at Bud and he noticed it as he answered Rachelle.

“I'm not sure, Rachelle.”

He regretted he said it the way he did. Rachelle's face became flush with worry as she reached out to Bud and said,

“Please, please find him.”

The detective looked at Deborah when she asked,

“What are they talking about, Bud?”

He shook his head. “I don't know, but I'm going to find out what's going on. I'm going to take the two of you back to Deborah's. Get some sleep, and when you wake up this will be over.” His thoughts added the words
I hope
. He took the girls back to the mansion in Belle Terre, got in his car, and called ADA Ashley. As soon as John Ashley picked up the call, he was yelling. “Where the hell are you guys!”

Bud replied, “John, I've been here. I've been trying to contact Paul as well.”

The ADA calmed down but still spoke in a hurried voice. “Bud, listen carefully. Ed Larson was shot and killed in the garage next to the club. Joseph Brenner was killed in the control room of the parking garage. Branca claims it was a masked killer and it was a cop. Talison, one of his cronies, said it was a police stance when he fired and that Powers and his team threatened him.”

Bud replied, “What was the build of the killer? What mask was he wearing? What does the video show?”

The ADA answered quickly, “The digital feed was destroyed, and for the build, they claim they were too scared and too worried about saving their lives to notice, and as for the mask, well . . .” There was dead silence on the phone for a few seconds.

Finally Bud said, “Hello?”

He finally heard the words he was afraid to hear: “The Ghost Face mask.”

Bud let out a heavy breath before saying, “Shit.”

Ashley continued, “And Bud, it had the red blood splatter on the face.”

Bud's heart started beating faster as he spoke. “And why do we think Paul is connected to this, other than we can't find him for now? For all we know they could have been injured, kidnapped, or killed.”

Ashley replied, “Bud, listen to me. We saw the video where you told Branca to take the bounty off of everyone and put it on you. Paul was upset; he paid Branca and his boys a visit five to ten minutes before they all started getting shot at.”

Bud started driving faster and said, “John, I need to wake fat-ass Sysco up and we need to speak to Linda Tangretti now.”

“Bud,” Ashley answered, “it's after 2:00 in the morning. These prisoners have privileges and rights.”

Bud answered quickly, “John, I don't give a rat's ass about their rights at this moment. I need to talk to them now. If Paul, Lynagh, Healey, and O'Malley are hunting down Simpson and Wiley and whoever is involved in this, we are going to have more bodies on our hands. I don't give a flying fish right now about Sysco; he is probably snoring up a storm, keeping everyone else awake.”

Ashley told Bud he would make phone calls to get Tangretti and Sysco available in the rooms. He also told him he would call Wyatt and Caulfield to meet him at the precinct. They disconnected and Bud tried calling Paul. It went straight to his voice mail.

Bud spoke into the phone when he heard the sound to leave a recording: “Paul, this is Bud. Don't do anything crazy. Don't throw your career away. Rachelle is sick with worry. She was in your apartment and played the messages, including one from Ashley about Larson and one of the other assholes being killed. I'm worried, Paul. You call me. I want to hear from you. We have always been partners. Call me. I'm on my way to the precinct to talk to Sysco and Tangretti. Call Rachelle. Don't do this to her. Don't do this to me.”

He pushed the
disconnect
button and then he called the dispatch room at the precinct. He took a chance and asked the technician if one of the vehicles assigned to O'Malley, Lynagh, or Healey were in use. The answer came back yes on O'Malley's vehicle. Bud asked for the GPS location of the car. The answer came back the vehicle was on the Long Island Expressway, exit 64 heading east.

Bud started yelling,

“Have Caulfield and Wyatt go to the precinct and have them put Sysco on speaker to me. Call ADA Ashley now. I need a police helicopter ready for me in fifteen minutes.”

“Sir?” the dispatcher replied.

“Just do it!” Bud yelled.

The message was relayed to Ashley, who immediately made a phone call to clear it through channels for the chopper. Caulfield and Wyatt arrived half asleep at the precinct and brought Sysco in.

“Christ!” Wyatt said. “You smell terrible. Take a shower twice a day instead of once, will ya?” Sysco ignored the comment as they made the call to Bud Johnson.

Wyatt spoke first. “Bud, this is Wyatt. We have your man here. Go ahead.” Caulfield looked into the monitor room and gave a signal to the tech man to accidently have trouble starting the recording.

Bud's voice was heard on the speaker: “Kevin Sysco, Sweetness, listen to me very, very carefully. If you are not straight with me, I will have the two detectives there with you let you go and I will get the word out you were let go because of your total support in this case. You will live in fear the rest of your sorry life. Do you understand me?”

Sysco looked at the two detectives, then at the camera in the room. He noticed there was no red light flashing, so he replied that he did understand. Bud got out of the car to walk to the chopper, which was still getting prepared for the flight.

“Why would Detective Powers be heading out east after 2:00 in the morning with three fellow officers?” Wyatt and Caulfield looked at each other with surprised looks on their faces but moved their attention back to Sysco, waiting for the answer. Sysco hesitated as Wyatt put his hand on Sysco's large shoulder.

Finally, the big man answered.

“My guess is they are going after the two guys who were with Sean Martin. They wanted in on the bounties on you guys and informed the club your pretty little detective was on the way to the club that night.”

Bud asked, “Who did they tell?” He couldn't wait any longer for an answer and started yelling, “Who?” Sysco was getting more pressure on his shoulder from Wyatt.

“I told your friends earlier; they told Branca and the boss.”

Jackson in the tech room had beads of sweat coming down his face as he tried to look frustrated getting the linguistics of the taping to work.

“They told Branca, and he told me.”

“The two East Hampton officers?” Bud yelled.

Sysco leaned back on the chair and spoke in a surrendered tone. “Yes, the two officers who were with Lynagh and Healey when they killed Martin and the girl. They got paid $50,000 for each in cash for the info.”

“That's a lot of cash for information like that,” Bud replied. Sysco answered quickly, “East Hampton officers are well paid. That's what it took to make them talk.”

Bud jumped in the copter by this time, and it was so loud he could not hear. He yelled for them to be dispatched to the radio in the chopper as it took off. It was another five minutes before Tillman connected the call back in the room. He asked Sysco how Tangretti was connected to all this, and the big man told him she was the cousin of Patty Saunders who was killed by Madison Robinson. It was her with Simpson and O'Connor and the boss man who put up the bounties on the Priority 1 Task Force.

“So,” Bud said, “three innocent girls and two cops were killed to get revenge. Who is the boss? Branca?” Sysco shook his head even though Bud couldn't see him from the copter.

“No, only O'Connor, Branca, and now Simpson know who he is.”

Bud asked Wyatt to take him off speaker and pick up the phone. The detective picked up the phone and listened to Bud's voice: “Call O'Malley and see if he picks up the phone. If he does, tell him to have Powers call me. Go back to Branca and his men and bring them all back in. Their attorney is dead, and Sysco just implicated Branca with the two officers that were with Lynagh, Healey, and Baker.”

Wyatt replied,

“What about Tangretti? She is sitting in the next room.”

Bud replied,

“Put her in a holding cell. It's more important to pick up the boys from Setauket. Call Ashley to get a warrant for their arrest.” Caulfield could tell by listening in on the conversation what was going on, so he said,

“It's almost 3:00 in the morning; we are not getting a judge up at this time.”

Bud heard him in the background and yelled, “Wake up Judge Green and have Ashley tell him it's connected to the Face of Fear case!” Wyatt acknowledged Bud and disconnected. He looked at Sysco and Bud kept shaking his head as the helicopter traveled through the air. His thoughts went to Linda Tangretti; this missing link from Face of Fear caused all this. Anyone could have guessed Simpson would have lost it, but no one thought Linda Tangretti was capable of being connected to this kind of revenge. Bud's thoughts consumed him as the helicopter flew to East Hampton.

“Let's go,” Caulfield said as he brought the big man back to the jail across from the precinct.

Wyatt called Ashley, who was still awake sitting in his kitchen. Ashley listened as Wyatt spoke for a few minutes and told the detective to pick up the men as Bud instructed, but to wait to hear from him on the warrants. John Ashley got up and walked over to his counter. He turned on his coffee machine, figuring he would be up from here on in. He placed his hands on the cool marble of his counter and shook his head with his thoughts at what was happening. He heard the click of a gun behind him and figured he had nothing to lose at this point if he spoke.

“It won't bother you to shoot a man in the back?” he asked. The voice behind him replied, “Not really, but if you would like to turn around it is OK with me. You're a dead man anyway.”

Ashley turned around slowly, wondering who he would see, and at the same time upset his mortality had caught up with him before the age of forty. He turned around, and there was Jake Wiley aka Jerry Wakefern.

Ashley spoke. “Before you shoot me, I have some questions.”

Wiley, with a puzzled look on his face, started waving his gun around but was curious. “You think this is some kind of negotiation? You are worth $100,000, and I plan to collect.”

Ashley replied, “Why am I so high on the list?”

Wiley laughed as he said, “It is obvious, isn't it? You treaded lightly on the Madison Robinson case, yet you came out like a bulldog against O'Connor and put him away for life. You have two questions left.”

“Why kill three innocent girls? Why not just come after us?”

Wiley answered, “The boss man wanted the publicity to hurt you guys and take care of the physical part later. The best way to find you was to have the case assigned to Priority 1. The girls were collateral damage.”