Undercover Loss

“Good morning, everyone. Ugh. Another 6:00 a.m. start for me. Wow! Moose beat me today,” Detective Jaya Reese said.

“Why is my desk phone ringing so early? Detective Reese. We have a murder. Where is the body? On Water Street in the industrial district? My partner and I will be over in 15 minutes.”

“Yes. I got here ten minutes before you. Thanks for using my nickname. For anyone who isn't aware, she calls me Moose because I stand six feet and six inches tall. We’re headed to the industrial district?”

“Yes. A jogger found a body this morning. Officer Nolan called me. Nolan and Shi were in the area this morning, and the jogger flagged them down.”

“Do we have additional information?”

“Nolan said a motorcycle was near the body, and the body had a jacket on it from the Gritty Motorcycle gang.”

“I am surprised they didn’t report it themselves.”

“Me too. This might be an interesting investigation.”

“I’ll drive.”

I tossed the car keys over to Detective Gino Verga, AKA Moose.

“You remembered I don’t like to drive early in the morning before my coffee sets in.”

♦♦♦

“We got here fast. It is only 6:30 a.m.” Reese said.

“We have something to show you. Let me take you to the body.” Officer Shi said.

As they approached the body, Reese said, “Oh no. It is one of ours.”

“Who is he?” Verga asked.

“That is Bill Smith, one of our undercover officers. He has been in the Gritty gang for almost two years. I have lunch with his wife twice per week. They have a six-year-old daughter.”

“It makes sense,” Officer Nolan said as he unzipped Smith's jacket. Look what they wrote on his chest.”

“PIG is a sure sign they figured out he was a cop,” Reese said.

“Now I understand why the gang didn’t report it. Someone figured out he was a cop. It is likely the gang murdered him,” Verga said.

“I think so too. Our first stop is at the Gritty gang bar, their headquarters.”

“Do you think anyone will be in this early?”

“The gang leader’s wife arrives early. She does the books for the night before early the next day. She likes to work in quiet.”

“You can drive all morning,” Reese said.

♦♦♦

“His wife is at the corner table.”

“Hi, Linda. Working the books early again?”

“Hi, Jaya. Yes. I like to complete the books before the gang shows up.”

“I have some bad news for you.”

“You arrested a gang member yesterday.”

“We found Bill Smith’s body on Water Street this morning.”

“You look like you saw a ghost,” Verga said.

“A month ago, a young woman came to talk with my husband. Afterward, he told me she said Smith was a cop. Smith arrested her two years ago. The night before, she was in the bar and saw Smith with the gang. She assumed he had quit the police department and joined the gang. He told my husband he was a construction worker when he joined the gang.”

“What’s next? We need to interview your husband and everyone else affiliated with the gang. This murder seems like a house cleaning. Out of respect for your husband, I would appreciate it if he came to the police department alone. That way, we can talk to him without the gang members around. We will send officers to the bar later this afternoon to interview the rest of the gang.”

“Thanks, Jaya. When I finish the books, I will pick him up and bring him to the station.”

“Moose, let’s go. We need to start on the paperwork.”

♦♦♦

“You two. Come into my office,” Owen said.

The detectives entered her office.

“Take seats, detectives,” Owen said.

“Can I deliver the information to Smith’s wife?” Reese asked.

“I know you have lunch with her often. However, the captain believes I should deliver the information out of respect for what he did for this department,” Owen said.

“Makes sense to me,” Verga said.

“What if I come along to take their daughter away from the conversation?”

“Perfect. Can you be ready to leave in 20 minutes?”

“Don’t worry, Reese. I will start on the paperwork while you are gone,” Verga said.

♦♦♦

Owen knocked on the door at 11:30 a.m. Mrs. Smith answered the door.

“Mary and Jaya. Why are you here on a Saturday?”

“Susan, I have something important to tell you. Can you let Jaya take your daughter to another area of the house?” Owen asked.

“Yes, but you are scaring me. Let’s talk in the kitchen. Jaya can take Kelly to her bedroom.”

Owen and Susan walked to the kitchen.

“Kelly, please take Detective Reese to your bedroom.”

“I will, Mommy. Come on, Aunt Jaya,” Kelly said.

“Do you want some coffee, Mary?”

“Yes, please. I like it black.”

“Here you go. What are you visiting me today?”

“Someone murdered Bill early this morning. We found his body in the industrial district. His motorcycle was nearby. We suspect someone outed him as a police officer, and the gang killed him.”

“Oh, my God. What are we going to do without him?”

“He was a hero. The department will take care of you and your daughter.”

“I am not worried about finances. I am worried about Kelly being at an age where she will be devastated. She adored Bill.”

“Oklahoma police departments help each other during these times. We have all lost men and women. We have families with similar experiences who can help you through this. Our department also has a child psychiatrist who can help Kelly deal with the grieving.”

“Do you have a psychiatrist to help me with my grieving?”

“Yes. We can provide one for you.”

“Bill’s dedication to his family made him a good man. I always told him I wanted him out of the undercover business. It was a dangerous job.”

“We all admired him. He was working on getting out of the undercover business. He felt he had enough evidence to prosecute the gang. If the gang murdered him, they are going away for life.”

“Jaya isn’t telling Kelly about this?”

“No. We figured you would tell her when you were ready.”

“Thank you, Mary. I am grateful you and Jaya showed up to deliver the news. I consider you both friends.”

“We consider you a friend, too. With Bill gone, nothing changes. We will still have lunches and dinners with you and do anything we can for Kelly.”

“I plan to tell her tonight. We have attended church every Sunday since Bill took this assignment. I think it will help her if she can talk to God about this. She always says she likes church because she can talk to God there.”

“We will be on our way, then. Thank you for the coffee. Let us know if there is anything we can do. Jaya, it is time for us to go.”

Detective Reese and Kelly ran down the stairs.

“Thank you, Aunt Jaya. I had fun.”

“You are welcome, Kelly.”

♦♦♦

“When is Susan going to tell her daughter about her Dad?” Reese asked.

“She plans to do it tonight. Kelly likes to attend church on Sunday, so Susan thinks it will be important for her to go tomorrow with this knowledge.”

“With an undercover, they have been away from home so long that the kids wonder when they will return.”

“I think she wants Kelly ready for the funeral, too. I expect police from all over the state to show up for his funeral. He was a modern-day hero.”

“I should get upstairs to help Verga with the paperwork.”

“How are you doing with him as a partner?”

“Wonderful. He is a gentle giant. He is nothing like the men I dealt with in the foster homes.”

“Wow. You are maturing into this job.”

“Ha LT. You finally gave me a modern guy for a partner. He is my first partner who doesn’t mind women being police officers.”

♦♦♦

“Hey, Reese, Frank, and Linda are here. I put them into the interview 1 room,” Verga said.

“I will be there in a few minutes.”

Verga started the interviews.

“We want to talk to Frank about the murder of Bill Smith. He was a member of your gang for almost two years. Why did you kill him?”

“I didn’t kill anyone. None of my boys killed him, either.”

“The fact he had PIG written on his chest means someone outed him as a cop,” Reese said.

“There are many people these days who hate cops. Maybe they did it.”

“We were informed they alerted you to him being a cop a month ago. That gave you time to plan a murder.”

“True. A young lady showed up at our bar and told me he had arrested her two years ago. I was told he was a construction worker. She confused me.”

“You didn’t investigate further?”

“The gang did our investigation.”

“What did you find?”

“We followed him for weeks. One night, he pulled up to a lovely house, and a woman and child ran out to meet him. We found this strange. He told us he was single. My guys brought me a picture of them hugging in the driveway. The picture told me he was a liar.”

“Why not kick him out of the gang, then?” Verga asked.

“We kept investigating, hoping we could find a worse skeleton.”

“What did you find?” Reese asked.

“We discovered he had another vehicle besides his motorcycle. He was keeping it in a parking lot way out of our territory. One of my guys followed him to it. He took a picture of the back window of the truck.”

“Was there anything interesting in the window?” Reese said.

“Yep. There was a sticker with a police badge on it, and inside it was the number 3. When my guys investigated, they were told it was a parking sticker. The three meant Precinct Three. Better yet, the sticker's expiration was two years from now. A simple check found the tickets were valid for two years. He must have bought it for his truck. It confirmed he was a cop.”

“We need to keep going. We are aiming for a confession.”

“No, we aren’t. I wanted to let you know how easy it is to determine if someone is a cop or lawyer.”

“LT, Frank explained how the gang figured out he was a cop. Then he asked for a lawyer. It is time to interview the other gang members,” Reese said.

“I already sent six uniformed officers to the bar to interview the gang. You two don’t need to go there. Be ready to interrogate anyone they bring back.”

“Moose. I am headed over to the coffee shop. Need anything?” Reese asked.

“I will join you. I can use the walk.”

♦♦♦

Because of his long strides, I have trouble keeping up with Moose. Every time we go together, I get a workout. This should be a 15-minute walk, but we always arrive in under 10 minutes when we go together.

“I’ll have an iced coffee with cream and sugar,” Verga said.

“I’ll have a hot coffee with cream and sugar,” Reese said.

“Let’s stop here and enjoy our coffee,” Verga said, pointing out an empty table.

“You drink iced coffee year-round?”

“Yes, it's the only way I like my coffee. I wonder if Frank will make this easy for us.”

“How do you mean?”

“If you are the leader of a motorcycle gang, do you want to be known as a cop killer gang?”

“Probably not. What do you think he will do?”

“Hand over whoever did this and claimed they were evil seeds, and the gang doesn’t support what they did.”

“Outstanding. It would save us a lot of legwork.”

“Let’s go back and check what is going on.”

“Lead on speedy.”

“You have another nickname for me?”

“Yes. Your strides are so long, I must jog to keep up with you.”

“I believe moose are fast, too. So, your Moose nickname covers both conditions.”

♦♦♦

“Where are my detectives? They went for coffee over 30 minutes ago.”

“Officer Shi. If Reese and Verga show up, can you tell them to come to my office?”

“Yes, mam.”

“Shi, I put one in interview room 1 and the other in interview room 2,” Nolan said.

“Thanks. If you see them before me, LT wants Reese and Verga to go to her office.”

“Here they come now. You can tell them.”

“Detectives, LT wants you both in her office,” Shi said.

“Thanks, Shi,” Reese said.

“LT, you wanted to see us?” Reese asked.

“Yes, sit down. I have an amazing announcement.”

“You’re getting promoted to captain?” Reese said.

“No, silly. It involves the case. Our officers were only on site for 45 minutes when I got an email from Linda. She asked us to stop the interviews. If we agreed to that, she would expose the killers.”

“Moose, this sounds like the idea you mentioned at the coffee shop. Frank is cleaning out his evil seeds.”

“We agreed to stop the interviews. A few minutes later, she emailed me their names, motorcycle license plates, and a video of them killing Officer Smith. She pointed them out at the bar, and Officers Nolan and Shi returned them.”

“Sounds like Frank buried them. Even the best lawyers can’t get them off with a video of the killing,” Verga said.

“In addition, they captured the audio. Those two called him all the names criminals have for police officers. There is no doubt they knew he was a cop.”

“I don’t want to see the video, but how did Smith react?” Reese asked.

“Like a genuine hero. They asked him to kneel, and he did. Both asked him to admit he was a cop, and he told them he was a proud cop. They shot him twice in the chest and once in the head to finish him.”

“What a waste of a noble life. Bill Smith is one hero I will tell my future children about,” Verga said.

“What happens next?” Reese said.

“Their lawyers arrived and are visiting them in the interview rooms. I sent everything I got from Linda to the DA’s office. ADA Ahn called me to tell me to let them meet with their lawyers and put them in a holding cell for the night. She will file a motion in the morning to transfer them to the maximum-security prison to await trial. They can plead guilty or innocent during their morning appearance.”

“How did Linda grab the video from their phones?” Verga asked.

“Frank purchases the phones for each gang member and backs up the data to a cloud account he owns. Frank told Linda to search for pictures or videos on the date they murdered Smith.”

“That’s an insurance policy,” Reese said.

“Indeed. Frank is smarter than he acts and sounds. It comes from experience.”

“What’s next for us, LT?” Reese said.

“Wait for the phone to ring. I am sure it won’t be long before another murder happens. I don’t think this case will ever reach the courts, so you two finished it. File your paperwork and call it a day.”

“We learned something today. Even criminals have limits to what behavior they accept,” Reese said.

“I wish they were all this easy. I will visit Mrs. Smith tonight to tell her we have the killers,” Owens said.

(This story is a work of fiction. Some of these characters will appear in my next novel – The Chameleon Killer.)