The Vigilantes Part 8

Matt looked at the blue T-s.h.i.+rt Mickey wore. In white, it bore a representation of a pair of dangling handcuffs and lettering that read MAKE HIS DAY: KISS A COP AT CRIMEFREEPHILLY.COM.

"Okay, congrats. But what the h.e.l.l is a triple-dipper? And what the h.e.l.l's up with that s.h.i.+rt?"

Mickey's animated face lit up and he said: "Two weeks ago, The Bull told the Bulletin Bulletin's management that his client-me-was unhappy with the tepid apology, et cetera, of their city editor, and that at the expiration of the thirty-day cooling-off period, I planned immediately to execute the exit clause of my employment contract. That happened the following day, and triggered a lump payment equal to a month's pay for every year that I'd been employed by the newspaper, dating back to when I threw the rag from my bike in West Philly. So that's one deep dip into the moneymaking machine. And I just got the check, less The Bull's five percent commission, for the publisher's acceptance of my book on Fort Festung. That check makes for a double-dip."

"And the third?"

He pointed to his s.h.i.+rt and said, "I'm now running CrimeFreePhilly! I have a five-year contract, renewable annually, which means every year I know if I have another five to go. If I ever get canned, I walk with the equivalent of four years' pay. And I have stock options that vest if certain goals are accomplished, which gives me both incentive and a nice nest egg on top of what I walked away with from the Bulletin Bulletin. Thus making me a triple-dipper."

"Impressive. But aren't you going to miss newspapers?"

Mickey shook his head. "h.e.l.l no, Matty. Forget that. Haven't you been paying attention? Newspapers are deader than a double-crossing g.a.n.g.b.a.n.ger in South Philly. Just like the TV nightly news killed afternoon papers, there's this thing now called the World Wide Web that's killing all newspapers. You really should try to keep up."

Payne flashed him the middle finger of his right hand, then changed to his index finger and pointed at the T-s.h.i.+rt.

"I've heard about that but never looked it up."

"You should. Here's the deal. It's basically brand new. It was originally quietly funded by a philanthropist, a good citizen who's simply fed up with Philly sinking in a cesspool of crime. The idea is pretty d.a.m.ned simple: support the good guys and get rid of the bad guys."

"Maybe too simple, Mick. There's already a lot of money being thrown at crime. And speaking of a lot of money, I didn't think newsy websites made money."

"Most don't. Most are losing money. But profit isn't the point. Cleaning up the city is. People are f.u.c.king fed up-"

"Amen to that," Payne interrupted. "Count me among the disenchanted."

Mick went on: "-and when The Bull heard about it, he put money in. A number of his clients did, too, some of them guys who broke out of the ghetto and want to help those still stuck there. Even though CrimeFreePhilly-dot-com doesn't have to make money, I think it will. There's also the sweetheart deal it has with KeyCom."

"The cable-TV-slash-Internet-slash-phone conglomerate based here? That's Five-Eff's! Which means Francis Fulton is your secret moneyman?"

O'Hara shrugged. "Some questions don't need to be asked. All I know is I have both the funding and the moral backing of some heavy hitters to help this city. No pun intended concerning The Bull's clients."

He paused, then his infectious energy kicked in: "Get this, Matty, I can run live, breaking news on CrimeFreePhilly, and then KeyCom's ma.s.sive computer servers send it-for free-out to any TV, computer, and even better, to any cell phone. Worldwide! I could never do anything like that at the Bulletin, Bulletin, where I fought for inches of copy. Anyway, with criminals infesting every city, we plan eventually to roll out a CrimeFree-dot-com everywhere-CrimeFreeNYC, CrimeFreeLA, et cetera, et cetera. All overseen by yours truly. Why would I ever work at a newspaper again?" where I fought for inches of copy. Anyway, with criminals infesting every city, we plan eventually to roll out a CrimeFree-dot-com everywhere-CrimeFreeNYC, CrimeFreeLA, et cetera, et cetera. All overseen by yours truly. Why would I ever work at a newspaper again?"

Payne nodded, then said, "You think it'll make a difference? I'm beginning to think it might be time to get off this sinking s.h.i.+p of a city."

O'Hara grinned widely. "Oh, yeah, Matty. It's already working. People love those cops-and-robbers TV shows. You know, like Most Wanted in America, Homicide 9-1-1. Most Wanted in America, Homicide 9-1-1. We're taking that a step- We're taking that a step-steps-further. We're a one-stop shop for fans of those kinds of shows, plus have news articles on crime and crime prevention and profiles of the bad guys. We list who's offering rewards for which criminals and for how much, and show how to search databases for criminals and submit tips on where they might be-new ones, old ones, fugitives like violators of Megan's Law-and on and on."

Megan's Law was the catchall name for any number of federal and state statutes concerning s.e.xual predators. It was named after a seven-year-old New Jersey girl who had been abducted by a neighbor right after the pervert had gotten out of the slam where he'd been serving time for s.e.x crimes. He raped and killed the little girl.

Outraged citizens demanded that they had the right to know when dangerous people moved into their neighborhoods, leading to the pa.s.sage of s.e.x offender registry laws, first in Jersey, then across the nation.

Payne said, "Aren't you worried that that's essentially encouraging people to take the law into their own hands, like Fuller's Lex Talionis is doing? Not that I'm surprised, considering your secret benefactor."

"Uh-uh," Mickey quickly said, shaking his head vigorously, making the red curls bounce like tiny coiled springs. "In that area, we're simply a clearinghouse of sorts for a lot of things that are already available all over on the Internet. The key to any good source of information, Matt, is making it easy on the person looking for that information, whether it's where to get the cheapest ground sirloin or how to finger a bad guy. You ever hear of a company called Google?"

"Yeah, the eight-hundred-pound gorilla of Internet search engines," Payne said. "I take your point. I'm just not convinced."

"h.e.l.l, Matt, the FBI has a page devoted to a Wanted poster for that raghead, Whats.h.i.+sname the Terrorist, with a twenty-five-million-dollar price tag for his head. And all sorts of bounties for lesser criminal s.h.i.+ts. How the h.e.l.l is that any different if we add it to our website?"

After a moment, Matt nodded. "Okay, you're convincing me."

Mickey went on: "And we're also a place to give 'attaboy' accolades to cops who otherwise don't get noticed, like a patrolman walking the beat in your neighborhood who unlocks your car after you've left your keys in it." He pointed to his s.h.i.+rt. "Kiss a Cop."

"Now, that sounds like a stretch."

"Aw, c'mon, Matty. You ever read a positive piece on a cop? Everyone likes a pat on the back now and then."

"Well, you're absolutely right about that. Rare is the day you ever hear anything good about cops doing their job. Just mention the name Wyatt Earp of the Main Line." He smiled. "Sounds like we're on the same side of this fight, Mick, just different teams."

"Exactly."

IV.

[ONE].

Standing at the bar at Liberties, Harris looked from Mickey to Matt, took a sip of beer, then said, "You remember Danny Gartner, Matt?"

Payne, his gla.s.s to his lips, raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Really? 'The s.h.i.+ttiest lawyer in all the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, ' as they call him in the DA's office? Never could forget a p.r.i.c.k like that. Can't count the times in court during questioning that he tried to make me look stupid or crooked. So he's the one who got dumped at Francis Fuller's door?"

Harris nodded and said, "Gartner and one of his loser clients, a c.o.c.ky little s.h.i.+t by the name of John Nguyen, aka 'Jay-Cee,' 'Johnny Cannabis,' age twenty-five. And mean as h.e.l.l."

Then he mimed that his right hand was a pistol. He put the tip of the index finger in the base of his skull and, moving his thumb forward, dropped the "hammer" and mouthed Bang! Bang!

He said: "Apparently, a fairly big-bore weapon. Really made a mess of their skulls."

"I think I'm about to cry," Payne said, more than a little sarcastically, then sipped at his single-malt. He feigned wiping at a tear under his eye and went on: "Nope, guess I was wrong."

O'Hara chuckled.

Payne smiled. He said to Harris, "Should I know the punk client, too?"

"Only if you were in on any of his dozen drug busts for possession with intent to distribute. Just two of which ever went to trial-both for running roofies and other date-rape drugs-because Gartner kept playing the three-strikes game. There was also a s.e.xual a.s.sault charge that got tossed because of a broken chain of evidence."

"Three strikes, eh?" O'Hara said. "That has to be one of the worst rules ever. Whatever happened to the notion of a speedy trial, as opposed to a speedy dismissal?"

Clearing out cases so there could be speedy trials was precisely why, at least in theory, the Munic.i.p.al Court had invoked Rule 555 in the criminal court procedures.

Despite the shared name, Philly's three-strikes law had nothing to do with laws across the land which declared that if someone racked up three felony convictions, he or she was clearly a habitual criminal who hadn't learned a d.a.m.n thing the first two times in the court system-and, accordingly, deserved a long sentence that essentially locked them up and threw away the key.

Philly's three strikes, in fact, could be argued to have the polar opposite effect of those laws: Rule 555 actually put criminals back on the streets.

When someone was arrested, they came before the court for a preliminary hearing. But, due to any number of reasons-busy work or school schedules, miscommunications, even having second thoughts about testifying against a known thug-not all the victims or witnesses would show up for a hearing. And if they were not there in court at the scheduled time, then the prosecutors had to inform the judge that they were not prepared and that they had to request a rescheduling of the preliminary hearing.

An occasional request for rescheduling might be manageable for the court system. But with the understaffed DA's office overwhelmed with cases, the constant juggling of hearing dates made court scheduling chaotic, if not impossible.

In response, the judges came up with Rule 555. It allowed prosecutors only three attempts at a preliminary hearing. If on the third hearing date the victims or witnesses still had not made it before the court, the judge slammed his gavel and announced, "On grounds of no evidence, case dismissed!"

And the accused walked.

Criminal defense lawyers were not held to such a standard. And the manner in which Danny Gartner and others of his ilk abused the system was equal parts clever and slimy.

One type of abuse was for the defense attorney to ask his client on the day of a hearing if he or she saw anyone waiting in the courtroom who could be called as a witness against them. If they did, the defense attorney told the accused to scram. When the judge called the case, the defense attorney came up with an excuse-"Your Honor, my client could not get free from his job" and "didn't have bus fare" were popular-and promised the court that the client would absolutely make a later court appearance-"even if I have to fry those McBurgers myself, Your Honor, then chauffeur him here." The lawyer would request a delay.

That wasn't strike one, two, or three for the prosecutor.

But it d.a.m.n sure was an inconvenience for the prosecution. And especially for the victims and witnesses, who, unlike the judges and lawyers and cops, were not paid for their time in the judicial system. Accordingly, they genuinely might not be able to get another day free from their job or school duties, and would end up a no-show. And then their absence did did trigger a strike against the prosecution. trigger a strike against the prosecution.

Another type of abuse was for the accused, or an a.s.sociate of the accused, to intimidate the victims or witnesses back in the 'hood so that they simply gave up on pressing the case altogether. The message-Snitches are not tolerated-was not lost on anyone in the ghetto. It didn't matter that such an act was illegal. It still effectively caused a case to go nowhere-and the accused to go free.

And thus Rule 555 made the DA's job of bringing cases to trial more difficult-if not d.a.m.n near impossible.

"Now," Mickey said, "where were we on the pop-and-drops?"

"Tony was describing how they found Gartner and his punk pal."

Harris nodded, then said, "Well, both of the victims were bound. They had their wrists and ankles taped with packing tape. You know, it's clear and maybe three inches wide, designed for those handheld dispensers?"

"Yeah," O'Hara said, "I've got one. I just use the rolls by themselves, because every time I tried with the dispenser, that jagged row of teeth always wound up slicing my hand or arm."

Payne snorted. "I've had that happen."

"Anyway," Harris went on, "it appears that the doer also used the tape without the dispenser. Through the clear tape you actually could see dirty fingerprints that were picked up on the adhesive side."

"The doer didn't wear gloves?" Payne said.

Harris shrugged. "Unless the doer made either Gartner and Jay-Cee bind the other, or made someone else. Whatever the sequence, whoever did it left prints. We will just have to see if they match those of the deceased, or whatever prints they can lift at Gartner's office." He stopped and gestured upward with his left index finger. "Speaking of which . . ."

He paused and finished off his Hops Haus lager, then signaled the bartender for another round of drinks for all three of them.

"Speaking of which," Harris went on, "when we ID'd Gartner at the scene-his wallet, including driver's license and sixty-four bucks cash, was still in his hip pocket-we sent Crime Scene Units over to Gartner's apartment and to his office. The apartment manager didn't seem particularly upset with his demise, except for the fact he owed three months' back rent. Anyway, the manager let us in. There was no apparent sign of anything having happened in the apartment."

"And the office?" Payne asked. "Where is it?"

"Over on Callowhill, not far from the ICE office."

"Really?" Payne said, mentally picturing the building that housed the local office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency that was under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. "Was Gartner into immigration law, too?"

"I doubt it. I don't think he was that smart."

"You know, those guys can be real lowlifes," O'Hara put in. "Some poor immigrant, wanting to do the right thing and become a legal citizen of the United States, willingly goes through all the hoops, including hiring an immigration attorney to help him understand all the legalese. The immigrant gives the lawyer his five-grand cash retainer, then the lawyer doesn't do s.h.i.+t and the poor immigrant, who probably drove a cab to h.e.l.l and back to earn that five large, and now is even poorer, winds up deported. And the lawyer keeps the retainer, never again to see the client for whom he's done nothing."

Payne shook his head. "Nice."

Mickey looked furious. "If I ever find a way to put stuff like that on CrimeFreePhilly, those guys are toast, too."

John Sullivan delivered their drinks, and after they'd all had a sip, Harris continued.

"Gartner's office was a mess. But it appeared to be just a normal office mess. There was no sign of a struggle there. And no forced entry. Curiously, both the front and back main exterior doors of the building had been left unlocked, as had the interior door to Gartner's office. We found drugs on one of the desks, what looked like c.o.ke or crank in one zip-top bag, and another bag with roofies. There was even a line of powder on the desktop that hadn't been snorted."

"That's strange," Payne said. "Like someone had to leave fast. But no signs that either he or his punk client was popped there?"

Harris shrugged. "The CSU boys were still working it when I stopped by on the way here. But, for now, it appears the answer is no. And Jay-Cee's motorcycle was parked on the sidewalk." He paused, sipped his beer, then said, "Something did happen there, though-something really weird."

He looked between Matt and Mickey, whose curiosity clearly was piqued.

After a moment, they said in unison: "What?"

"p.i.s.s."

"p.i.s.s?" they repeated in unison. they repeated in unison.

Harris nodded.

"There was p.i.s.s everywhere," he said. "And I mean everywhere. You'd think gallons."

"Animal urine? Like some dog got loose in there?" Payne asked. "You said the doors were unlocked. Maybe they'd been open, too."

"I don't know. Maybe. Judging by the amount, though, something bigger. I mean, who has that large of a bladder?"

Mickey glanced over at a couple at the bar in a two-part cow costume.

"Cows?" he offered. Then he looked back at Harris and said, "Or maybe the doer is a deer hunter. Once, when I was up in Bucks County, I found a place where they were selling bottles of animal p.i.s.s-I think it was doe urine-that hunters poured on themselves to mask their human scent in the woods. Or maybe it was meant as an attractant to draw out h.o.r.n.y males. Or something."

Payne looked at O'Hara, raised his eyebrows, and said, "So you're thinking that f.u.c.king Bambi is the doer?"

O'Hara and Harris laughed.

Payne then looked at Harris and said, "I'm a.s.suming there's enough p.i.s.s to run a DNA a.n.a.lysis?"

Harris snorted.

"Enough to float a boat. There was a pool of p.i.s.s in the plastic bag alone. The dope that hadn't dissolved just floated in it!"

"Was there p.i.s.s at the scene at Francis Fuller's office in Old City?"

Harris nodded. "Yeah. On Jay-Cee's pants crotch. But that was more like he'd just p.i.s.sed himself. Nothing like the pools of it in the office."