Adrian Del Valle - Diego's Brooklyn Read online

“Yes!”

  “And that’s when they threatened you not to say anything?”

  “Yes!”

  “A few minutes after that they kicked the door in, at which point you saw only three men.”

  “Yes.”

  “So, to the best of your knowledge, what time did they leave?”

  “I think 9:20 or 9:30. I was pretty upset.”

  “Yes, I’m sure you were.”

  The detective kept a mental note of the times and details.

  “As you can see,” said Mary, “they turned the place upside down. This will take months to straighten out.”

  “Obviously, they must have believed you. About the money, that is. There’s a code within the mob circle not to hurt women and children. Unless, of course it’s absolutely necessary. That and the fact that they finally realized you had nothing to do with Barnes or the money must have satisfied them.

  “All right Mary, I’m going downstairs. I don’t want to bother you anymore with this. At least for now. Here’s my number. What’s yours, in case I have to call you?”

  “Ulster 5-3189.”

  If you think of anything, would you call me?”

  “Yes, I sure will, Detective. Thanks for the help with the doors.”

  “Don’t mention it, and don’t worry about them coming back. There’s nothing for them to come back to, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Hey, besides, with all the names we have, and the recent murders, the rest of Barnes’s associates are going to remain low for quite a while.”

  “Murders? Three?”

  “Put the news on. I’m sure they caught up by now. We have a cop downstairs by the front stoop. I’ll make sure he stays until the doors get fixed.”

  “Um…Detective Williams?”

  “Yes?”

  “I feel so much better…thank you.”

  “Before I go, you said the cigar is in the waste basket?”

  “Yes, by the door.”

  The detective took a handkerchief out of his jacket pocket, reached in and moved a few papers out of the way. Eyeing the cigar, he grabbed it carefully and rolled it up inside the cloth.”

  The door to 1B was open when he got downstairs. “How’s everything going?”

  “We just finished winding it up in here,” said O’Brien. “You ready to interview 1A?”

  “I’m right behind you.”

  Knock! Knock!

  “By the way, the lady upstairs mentioned a Tommy as being one of the guys that broke into her apartment.”

  “The floater under the bridge!”

  “Probably! At any rate, we’ll know tomorrow when the prints come back. She also mentioned Fast Eddie.”

  “Another one of Spillane’s boys.”

  “Right…and you ever hear of a guy named The Geek, Jimmy the Geek, or Big Jimmy?”

  “That’s news to me. No, not really.”

  A Pause, and then Ted asked, “What did you find in there?”

  “Nah, nothing! She was too scared to open the door last night.”

  Ted nodded. “Like the one upstairs. Then, she must have heard the noise?”

  “Oh, for sure, before nine. I wrote down 8:45. She remembers because she was afraid the kids would wake up with all the banging, knowing they had to go to school this morning. She heard a bunch of heavy footsteps when the men left around a half an hour later.

  Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!

  “It doesn’t look like any…”

  The door to 1A opened.

  “Hello? I’m sorry, but I have a problem wees my heep. Ju are dee police?”

  “Yes, ma‘am. May we come in?” Said Detective Williams.

  “Surely. Come inside. Please…seet down.”

  “This is Detective O’Brien and I’m Detective Williams. We’re here to gather a little info about the guy upstairs.”

  As Ted spoke, Don flipped his notebook to a blank page.

  “Yes…Joe. I know heem,” said Ana.

  “How well did you know him?”

  “Not so good. I stay inside most of thee day. I don’t go outside too much. I have a bad heep. That ees why I’m takeeng so long to answer dee door.”

  “I understand.”

  “I saw Joe yesterday, Detecteeve.”

  “Oh…when? I mean what time?”

  “Eet was abou’ 1:30 in dee after noon time.”

  “What made you remember?”

  “My son, Diego. He left to go to dee museum weeth Meester Reechards. He had to meet heem before twelve. Eet was aftor that. I done remember exactly. I’m theenking abou’ 1:20 or 1:30.”

  “Who is Mr. Richards?”

  “Dee assemblymong. I went outside to tell dee girls to go to dee store for me. Joe was seating on dee stoop dreenking coffee. Excuse me. May I go to dee bothroom? Ees that okay?”

  “Sure, not a problem.” Ted waited for the door to close. “Hey, do you think she had something going on with Barnes?”

  “That’s kind of a stretch, don’t you think?”

  “In this business nothing’s a stretch. You’ll learn that after you get as much time in as I have. I’m not surprised by anything anymore.”

  Don nibbled his lower lip and thought for a moment. “She says she saw him around 1:20.”

  “So!”

  “Okay….so we know Barnes showed up at work around two from his time card. Besides that, the last person to see him at the theatre was the lady behind the concession counter.”

  Ted nodded with half interest. “And?”

  “No….nothing. I’m looking for a time line, that’s all. We know he was on Grand Street a little after seven, when Sally Boy got hit, right?”

  “So? And Barnes got hit sometime late Saturday or very early this morning. So what?”

  “Not much, I guess, except, why would he even show up at work if he knew he was going to be making a hit in the city at seven?”

  “That’s easy. He needed an alibi.”

  “But no one saw him in the theatre after 2:30. That leaves four and half hours unaccounted for. That’s quite a lot of time. Even if he took a subway, it takes, what, maybe a half hour to get to the Village from downtown Brooklyn, and we know he was in a car, the red Chevy.”

  Detective Williams shrugged that off. “If the witnesses are correct, then yes, you’re right, which only means he screwed up his alibi. That only makes him stupid. So maybe they went bowling. Who cares? Does it matter what he was doing in between? Unless there was another hit somewhere else, it doesn’t concern me. Anyway, there wasn’t. The rest of the city was quiet.”

  “I’m not sure if it has anything to do with anything. I wrote it all down just in case.”

  “Make me a copy, will you?”

  “Sure, Ted. By the way, what did you find upstairs …anything?”

  The bathroom door opened. “Are ju sure ju don’t want some coffee?”

  “No, ma‘am, said Don. We’ll need your name, though. Who else lives here with you?”

  “Jus’ my son, Diego. He coming now soon from school.”

  “Ted reached out to check Don’s watch. It’s after three right now. I guess we might as well wait. Can I change my mind about that coffee, Lady?”

  “Please, ju can call me Ana. Si! I make eet for ju. And what about ju, Meester, O’Bry…”

  “O’Brien, Ana. Sure, I’ll have some, thanks.”

  She had had the coffee boiling before the cops got there and the cups were already on the table.

  Click! “Hi Mom, there’s a mess of police out… Oh! I didn’t know you had company?”

  Ted stood and extended his hand. “Hi, I’m Detective Williams and this is my partner Detective O’Brien. We need to ask you a few questions, that’s all.”

  “Sure, sir. What do you need to know?”

  “Let’s start with your name?”

  “Diego Rivera.”

  “We need to know if you heard anything upstairs last night, like a door being broken into and if you were a friend of Joe
Barnes?”

  “No, not really. We never talked much. He never says hello, so…uh, I really can’t say I know anything about him.”

  “Okay…and what about a noise last night. Hear anything?”

  “Yes…but I was beat. I fell asleep on the couch watching Law Man. I thought it might be Joe fixing something.”

  “Is this where you usually sleep,” Detective Williams asked, motioning toward the couch.

  “Yes, but I always put a sheet down first. Last night, I was so tired, I didn’t even do that.”

  “I would think you could hear everything that goes on in that hall, you being this close to the door and all. What time was that about?”

  “When I went to bed? Around eight thirty.”

  “So, you did hear banging upstairs?”

  “Just that one time. Like I told you, I figured it was Joe. Before I knew it, I fell asleep like a rock.”

  “What about you ma‘am, hear anything?”

  “Yes! Maybe eet was nine? I don’t look, no-theeng. I was too tired.”

  “Not even a peek out that window right there?” O’Brien asked.

  “I was een dee back room een bed. Eet takes too long to get up and walk all dee way to dee front. No, I stay een bed.”

  “I guess that wraps it up for now. Thanks for the coffee,” said Ted.

  “Same here,” said Don. “It’s a little strong, but it’s exactly what I needed. Oh, and Let me have your full names before we go…you know…for the record.”

  “Ana and Diego Rivera.”

  “No middle name for either of you?”

  “Ana Lucia Robles Rosario Rivera.”

  “Whew! Give me a second while I write that all down. What was after Lucia?”

  “Ro- bl-es Ro-sa-rio.”

  “Mine is Miguel, sir.”

  “Got it! Okay folks, have a good day. We‘ll keep in touch in case we need anything else.”

  “So long, officers,” said Diego.

  On the way out, Detective Williams stopped next to the patrolman guarding the front of the house from onlookers. “How long did they say you had to stay here?”

  “Until you and forensics left.”

  “When you see the sergeant, let him know I’m coming right back to talk to the landlord. Is he home, by the way?”

  “The guy in the basement? I ain’t seen nobody come or go, except that kid that went in a couple of minutes ago.”

  “Okay, fine. Hey, it’s cold out here. Why don’t you go on up and wait in the hallway.”

  “Sarge told me to stay outside. He’s probably gonna check up on me any minute.”

  “Williams read the name plate on his coat.”

  “Go on up, Nicholas.”

  “Nick, sir.”

  “It’s okay, Nick. I’ll cover for you. Tell him Detective Williams said it was okay.”

  “All right, Mr. Williams.”

  “I’ll be right back. Ready, Don?”

  The two detectives turned the corner to Herzog’s Deli.

  “There’s a phone right there,” said Don. I’ll make the call to the captain. Ya got any dimes on ya?”

  “I’ll get you some change. As far as going back to 240, I think it’s a waste o’ time. None of these people had anything to do with those guys, and except for the lady upstairs, they all stayed nice and safe in their little rooms and not a peep out of any of them.”

  “We still gotta talk to the owner.”

  “You go ahead and check in, Don, I’ll talk to the owner. Why don’t you finish up on that assault case on Atlantic Avenue when you get back to headquarters and I‘ll catch up with you there. I noticed you like doing paper work.”

  “Very funny. Sure, that’s fine with me. Hey, what about upstairs…the lady?”

  “You’ll hear it all when I get back. Don’t worry, I’ll give you some of the credit. Go ahead…start the call. I’ll go in and get change.”

  Bob Scanlon finished his break inside D’avino’s grocery and crossed the street to 240. “Hey Nick, you up there?”

  “Right here,” said Nick, emerging with a cup of coffee.”

  Joining him on the landing, Scanlon asked, “Hey…heard anything?”

  “Yeah, and thanks for the coffee, Bob.”

  “I would o’ got you some. Why didn’t you say something when I passed by before, ya rookie?”

  “Forget it Bob, it’s okay. I got this from the lady inside. What’s up?”

  “Did you hear anything…about upstairs I mean?”

  “Upstairs? Yeah, I did. The forensic guys were talking to the sarge earlier.”

  “Okay, so…what happened?”

  “You heard about that guy they found dead in Central Park, right, the one that was murdered?”

  Scanlon nodded. He was all ears.

  “Well…his room is right up there.”

  “Hey, no shit!”

  “Yeah, and they were saying that a bunch o’ guys broke in last night and trashed the place looking for something.”

  “What do you suppose they were looking for?”

  “The way the forensic guys were talking it had to be really important, like a heck of a lot of money. That’s all I know.”

  “Hey, here comes Williams. I gotta go. Hello, Ted, what’s up?”

  “Hey, Bob, is this your beat these days?”

  “Yeah, why? Where the hell’ve you been? I had this beat for the last two years.”

  “Okay, okay, so don’t get all huffy about it. Listen, do me a favor. Keep an eye on the building whenever you get on the block, all right? Ladies inside are all scared. Let them see you out front from time to time. You know, hang around a little bit if you can.”

  “Yeah, sure. Say, what gives with upstairs? There some kind o’ hidden treasure up there?”

  “Whatever it was, nobody found anything and they tore the place apart looking for it.”

  “So, what do you think they were looking for… money?” Scanlon asked.

  “I don’t know and I wouldn’t tell you if I did. That answer your question?”

  “Why? You know me!”

  “And you know me and the system and how it works, right?”

  “Sure, sure! Who gives a crap, anyway? See ya ‘round the station.”

  Monday 6:21 P.M. 84thPrecinct

  Patrolmen’s Locker Room

  “Hey Scanlon, I heard the mob was lookin’ for a bunch o’ dough on your beat Saturday night?”

  “That ain’t none of your business, turd ball,” Scanlon retorted.

  “Yeah, well, some o’ da guys heard the captain and Williams talking.”

  “Oh? What‘d they say?”

  “Now I ain’t tellin’ you nuthin.”

  “Hey, fuck you, Frankie. I already know about it, anyway.”

  “Maybe about dem being there, but not the rest of the story…and it’s a real loo loo.”

  “Okay, so ya got me, so what’d ya hear?”

  “This came down from my bother in-law in Manhattan, so keep it to yourself. He’s a cop in the 18th, so I know it‘s the real deal.”

  “So, go ahead!”

  “He was over my house last night, right? What he said was, Spillane’s boys were looking for 10 G’s from that Barnes guy. He never paid any payments on a loan and the interest went through the roof.”

  “Okay, then they got the money?”

  “Wait! Let me finish, will ya? They figured Barnes hid it in his room, that’s why they came to Brooklyn Saturday.”

  “Did they find it?”

  “Who the hell knows? Either they found the money and killed him anyway, or they got nothing and killed him because they were pissed off at him. Supposedly, Barnes gambles on the horses because that’s what the guy does.”

  “Bets on horses?”

  “The Trotters. The only thing is, nobody knows for sure if that’s where the money went.”

  “Holy shit! You mean the dough could still be up there?”

  Frankie shrugged. “Forensics searched the r
oom and found nuthin’. Only thing is, there wasn’t any stubs or anything to show he was anywhere around a race track recently.”

  Scanlon frowned. “Nah! There ain’t nothin’ up there.”

  “You gonna look?”

  “Hell no! Number one, I don’t breathe so good underwater. Number two, according to you, the mob already searched the place. And finally, number three, it’s a bunch of malarkey, your brother in law’s jerkin’ your pecker.”

  “Yeah, sure, you’ll be up there soon enough, pulling every brick off that building.”

  “Not likely, turd ball. See ya later.”

  “Screw you, too, Scanlon.”

  Tuesday 9:05 A.M.

  Ana unlocked the front door. “Yes? Hello Offeecer.”

  Bob Scanlon made the greeting as short as possible. “Yeah! I gotta go up…close some loose ends up there.”

  “That ees okay. Can I make ju some coffee?”

  “Nah!”

  “The man for dee doors ees upstairs.”

  “I know, I saw his truck outside. I gotta go!”

  He climbed the steps to the noise of someone banging on the top floor.

  “You almost done up here?”

  Val, from Val’s Hardware, looked over his shoulder. “I’ll be outa here in a sec. I gotta fix this door jamb and make a few adjustments.” Bang! Bang!

  Inside Mary’s room, a milk box lay next to the wall alongside the door. She quietly slid it under her butt and stared through the key hole.

  “Leave the door open when you’re done,” Scanlon added. “I have to finish my report and I don’t want to forget anything. I…uh, I have to write a description of the rooms.”

  Val, a balding, bespectacled man of average height, squinted at the name plate. “Sure, officer…uh…Robert Scanlon. That 2B’s unlocked if you want to go in? It’s empty except for a few pieces of furniture. Cops took everything else out last night when I was here fixing that other door across the hall.”

  “The front door? Who was in there, the cops?”

  “I dunno! Somebody broke it in over the weekend. What a job that was. Broke the whole damn catch mechanism. I had to move the lock farther up to get enough wood to work with. Some lady lives in there.”

  “A lady?”

  “Yeah, she’s in there now.”

  “Oh!”

  “I’m almost finished in here.”

  “I’ll be in the other room. Don’t forget to leave this one open.”

  Scanlon entered room 2B, closed the door and looked around. He pulled the string to a bare 60 watt bulb hanging from a loose fixture in the ceiling. The drawers in the bureau were neatly tucked in place. He removed each one of them completely. He knew some people liked to hide money in an envelope scotch taped to the undersides or to the back of the shelves. The bureau itself, he laid on its side to check the bottom.