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Homicide detective who has been chasing elusive
serial killer has more bad news, his niece has been
abducted by the killer. On top of it all, a dead body
shows up at a local church.
"Fast moving, very entertaining." DLF Reviews
"Likeable characters, hateful bad guys. Enjoyable reading."
Reviews by Edgar
serial killer has more bad news, his niece has been
abducted by the killer. On top of it all, a dead body
shows up at a local church.
"Fast moving, very entertaining." DLF Reviews
"Likeable characters, hateful bad guys. Enjoyable reading."
Reviews by Edgar
Chapter 1 (excerpt)
"We are here today to honor our fallen comrade Officer Lenard. He was a fine police officer, father and husband. We all mourn his passing. The world has lost yet another brave policeman who gave his life in service to others."
"What the fuck are we doing here? It's such a waste of time," said Jimmy Leaf.
"Well Lt., he was one of us, it's what we do when one of us dies," grinned Sgt. Jacobs.
"Bullshit, we didn’t know this joker, he's not from our town."
"Yeah but it's the same county."
"Who cares. I always hated this shit. I mean I feel for the family but it’s his own fault, he didn't follow procedure," said Leaf.
"A bad guy doing an armed robbery shoots a fellow officer of ours down in the process and it's the cop's fault? Besides you never follow procedure," said Jacobs.
"When it comes to guns, I always follow the rule book. First off, he was off duty, if he'd followed protocol he would have called it in and waited for backup to arrive. No, he goes storming into the place like John Fucking Wayne and gets his ass shot. Then staggers outside the convenience store and checks out on the asphalt. He had no business going inside on his own. Secondly, I don’t know this joker from Moses, he ain't my fellow officer, just some guy who also was a cop. I'm really sick of this sophomoric brotherhood nonsense. Any real trouble and see how fast your so-called brother cop sells your ass down the river. It's like college boys and their insipid fraternities. But we are bros man, bullshit!"
"Maybe so but it does get us out of the office for a while," smirked Sgt. Jacobs.
"Yeah," said Leaf into his phone. "Ok, see ya soon."
"What’s up?"
"We got a dead body in some warehouse across town, let's get out of here," said Leaf turning in the direction of his unmarked police car.
"Who got killed?"
"Some security guard, he your bro also?" They drove without much conversation and finally arrived at the scene of the shooting. "What have you got Jonesy?" asked Leaf as he got out of the car.
"Well Lieutenant, this rent-a-cop crashed an apparent burglary and it went sideways."
"Video?"
"Yep, on it’s way to headquarters. I wouldn't hold out much hope. Half of the cameras don’t work and those that do have very poor quality."
"How did the guard die?" asked Leaf.
"One shot to the chest," said Sgt. Jones.
"The business owner been notified?"
"Yes, he is on his way."
"No idea what was taken?"
"Not a clue."
"Thanks Jonesy," said Leaf after entering the main door.
After viewing the dead guard, "Want to wait outside for the owner," said Jacobs.
"Might as well, we can’t do anything in here. Maybe we will get lucky and the science techs can find something."
"We ain't that lucky," said Jacobs holding the door for Leaf.
They leaned on their car and each lit a cigarette. "Sorry to hear about your niece."
"Still can't fucking believe it. All those years I chased The Ghost Killer, we almost get him but instead we got his victim. Now the son-of-a-bitch kidnaps my niece and is brainwashing her to be his new assistant."
"I heard the last one, Ashley Grason, is getting out soon," said Jacobs.
"Yes, she is supposed to be cured. Can't believe she didn’t get jail time."
"She was a victim, he turned her to the dark side remember."
"Oh, I agree, just that knowing how fucked up the justice system is, I'm surprised she got put in a mental facility," said Leaf. "Some poor snook gets caught with a couple of joints and ends up doing five years hard time. This country has gotten so out of step with justice it's pathetic. Half the country doesn't vote and those that do usually don't even know the real issues."
"I can't believe you are staying away from the investigation."
"Hey they told me the FBI is handling it, so I know my place."
"Bullshit Lt, if it were my niece... Wow, how stupid am I, you are investigating it from the sidelines aren’t you?" asked Jacobs. Leaf just smirked. "No wait, don’t tell me. I would of course want to help and I need my pension. You could call Timothy if you need to do so."
"Thanks Fred, already have."
"Any help?"
"A bit, unfortunately your cousin is not too high placed in the FBI, but he gives me some crumbs when he can," grinned Leaf.
"Here we go, this must be the owner getting out of the SUV."
"What was the give away, the tricked-out Escalade or the gold Rolex on his wrist," chuckled Leaf.
"For me it was the two-thousand-dollar suit," smirked Jacobs.
"Mr. Orisinni? I'm Lt. Leaf, this is Sgt. Jacobs."
"Gentleman. I really am sorry to hear about old Tom. Why the hell did they have to shoot him?"
"What do you have in this warehouse?" asked Jacobs.
"Fulfillment kits for various pharmaceutical companies."
"So drugs?" asked Leaf.
"Not really. I mean not like street type drugs. Say your doctor tells you that you have diabetes. An order comes into our office to send you a starter kit. An introduction to a particular brand of meds, they of course are trying to get you onboard with their company right from the beginning. You get this nice booklet that tells you all about your disease and what you need to do to change your life style along with a starter prescription."
"No street value?"
"Not hardly," said Orisinni.
"Well let us know what’s missing," said Leaf walking towards Sgt. Jones.
"Lt. this is the day shift guard Armad, he found the body."
"How you holding up?"
"I'm cool. Poor Tommy."
"Any idea why someone broke into the warehouse?"
"Drugs man, what else?"
"We were told there is nothing of value in there."
"If you walk to the back wall there is a line of six commercial grade refrigerators. They are alarmed so that if any of them drop more than two degrees, it sends a message to a repair place to come right out here. What does that tell you?" said Armad.
"That Mr. Orisinni ain't telling us the truth," said Leaf.
"He wouldn't tell his mother the truth," smirked Armad.
"How come the joint is so empty?"
"They only need a second shift crew, that's when all the orders are picked and packed up. Then about 9 AM a delivery service truck comes for the pickup and I open the bay door so he can roll the bins to his truck. The rest of the time I play games on my smart phone. I get relieved at 4:30PM by the second shift guard. The only time I see Tommy is when I take over for him at 7 AM," explained Armad.
"What do you think?" asked Jacobs after they got back into their car.
"I think that when Mr. Orisinni tells us nothing is missing we need to get a search warrant and see exactly what he has in those refrigerators."
"Time to do the notification?"
"Yes, always hate this part," said Leaf as he drove to the residence of the dead guard Tommy.
Leaf parked in front of the weathered yellow bungalow. "Can I help you?" asked the teenage girl who answered the front door.
"Is your mother here?"
"I'm seventeen, what's up?"
"Does Tommy live here?"
"Yes, I'm his niece. What's wrong?"
"Sorry to inform you but he was killed last night."
"Damn, hey Ma!" shouted the girl.
"What?" came a voice from the second floor.
"Guess what happened?"
"What the fuck?"
"Uncle Tommy."
"What about him?"
"He's dead!"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"There are two cops here that want to talk to you."
"All right, all right, hold your water," said the disheveled middle-aged woman as she descended the rickety wooden stairs from the second floor.
"What are you guys talking about?"
"Sorry, but Tommy was shot at work last night," said Leaf.
"Shit, old Tommy dead. How do you like that shit? Hmm."
"Are you his family?" asked Jacobs.
"Closest thing. I'm his sister Beth Rohr. That snot nose bitch is my daughter Denise."
"So Tommy lived here?" asked Leaf.
"Yep, he rented a room from me. His wife threw his drunken ass out years ago. His daughter won't have anything to do with him."
"Can we look at his room?"
"I guess, he ain't got no dope otherwise Denise would have smoked it all by now. He didn’t have much in the way of belongings, mostly clothing," remarked the woman.
Jacobs and Leaf poked around the small unkempt room, finding nothing to point to anything of importance. "Well we will let you know about the progress of the case," said Leaf as he rapidly tried to exit the stale smelling house.
"Can you say dysfunctional," laughed Jacobs as they got back into their car.
"No, we must come up with a better word. They are way beyond that, like a different planet. Is it me or did they seem sort of not bothered by him being dead?" chuckled Leaf as he drove off.
"A certain sense of relief I'd say," remarked Jacobs.
"What do you have?" asked Capt. Lowery as Leaf and Jacobs returned to their office. Leaf filled the Captain in on what they knew about the warehouse murder. "It will be tough but I'll manage to get you a search warrant for the warehouse based on the murder."
The following Monday morning found Lt. Leaf busy at his desk. "Look at you, piles of papers, two windows open on your computer, you are smoking!" laughed Jacobs as he sipped his first cup of coffee.
"The results of the search found traces of cocaine in one of the refrigerators but only a trace. Apparently, this guy was storing more than prescription drugs in his warehouse. Orisinni has been put on warning not to take any sudden vacations. I did find some interesting shit. Some of those drug sample kits are very valuable. Take a three-month supply of one drug will cost the poor patient like a thousand dollars a pop once the samples run out."
"Yeah but how would your typical B&E guy know where to find the shit. That day shift guard Armad didn’t even know, just that there was some high-end pharmaceutical grade stuff inside the refrigerators," said Jacobs.
"Exactly, it had to be an inside job. Maybe old Tommy argued about his cut?"
"Orisinni robbing his own joint?"
"Some break and enter pro ain't going to know where or what to do with any of it. Those guys want cash, street drugs and jewelry it's not like they would have a place to unload prescription grade drugs," said Leaf.
"Right, not like the bad guy is going to stand on a street corner and ask a passerby if they have any diseases and if they want to buy that particular drug from them," laughed Jacobs.
"During my research I found there are some prescription brokers, ranging from barely legal to total scumbags. If you pay a grand a month for some script and someone tells you they can get it for you for $500 or even $750, you are going for it right?"
"Totally, you need your prescription," responded Jacobs.
"So, who would know about such a broker but Orisinni."
"We paying him a visit?"
"No, first we tear his life apart, I want to know what size shoes he wears and when he fucks his wife, then we drop the hammer on him. My guess is Orisinni is up to his neck in this caper and it went very wrong," said Leaf.
"I guess poor old Tommy should have taken his time doing rounds that night, he might have missed the bad guy altogether," winced Jacobs.
"Either way they didn’t have to shoot the poor old sod, no reason except for greed."
"Or rank amateur," remarked Jacobs.
"Gentleman, this is our newest detective, William Budd," said Captain Lowery walking up to Leaf's cubicle.
"Hey welcome aboard, Billy Budd," smirked Leaf getting to his feet to shake hands with the young man.
"I told him to shadow you guys and absorb your wisdom," chuckled the Captain walking away.
"Have I got a job for you," grinned Leaf.
"Field work?" asked Billy.
"No son, walk before learning to fly. You get to investigate using the computer. I need anything you can get on a sleazeball named Orisinni, the basic details are here in this folder," said Leaf. "Don't forget to look through all the security video around the warehouse."
"Where we going?" asked Jacobs as he saw Leaf reaching for his car keys that were sitting on his desk top.
"To see a guy who can get you drugs," chortled Leaf putting on his suit jacket.
"Who is this douche?" asked Jacobs as Leaf parked the car.
"Eddie Blaker, former art thief and all-around conman, now doing biz as a drug broker."
"How'd you find him?"
"Called around to Arnold over in the Drug Squad. They can’t bust him because they are all prescription drugs. It is not illegal especially as he has a pharmacist license, which he probably got on the Internet," groaned Leaf pushing open the front door to the office building.
Reading the lettering on the wooden door. "Last Chance Pharmaceutical Broker, at least he has a sense of humor," said Jacobs as they entered the tiny office.
"Sorry guys we don’t take walk-ins," said the man on the phone waving his hand in the air.
Leaf showed his badge and ID. "Need some of your precious time."
"Damn drug guys, can you give me a fucking break with this harassment. My lawyer is getting rich because of you pains in the ass."
"We are from Homicide not Narcotics."
"Who'd I kill?" chuckled the middle-aged man.
"A security guard."
"What are you guys crazy?"
"There was a break in at a drug fulfillment warehouse and the guard was gunned down," said Leaf.
"What the hell does that got to do with me. I sell legitimate drugs, I don’t do burglaries."
"What else is a thief going to do with prescription starter kits but sell them to a broker."
"I'm certainly not the only one who brokers expiring drugs."
"Wait, what do you mean, they are bad drugs?"
"No not bad, just losing their potency because of age. Everything has a shelf life, when they fall below six months the pharma warehouses need to purge the stock. Their choice is either dump them overseas, like Cambodia, Thailand or Africa someplace. Say the drug sells in the U.S. at $1000 for a one month prescription, they will ship it to a broker overseas and get maybe $300 or $400 for the aging script plus shipping costs or they can sell it to me for $500, which they usually do, unless it's under ninety days, in which case I'll pass on. Not enough time to get them all sold."
"What do you do with them?" asked Jacobs.
"I spend hours on the phone hustling. I only make money if I sell the stuff and eat the loss if I don't. I sell them to the lower end of mainstream drugs stores, walk-in clinics, sketchy doctors or other brokers. The thing is you must put it in the hands of people who can use them up before the expiration date. There is a lot of pressure and my profit margins are razor thin."
"You make a living at this scam?" asked Leaf.
"Not a scam, it’s legit. People save big bucks from it. Better than getting ripped off by some mega-rich scumbag pharmaceutical company," said Blaker.
"Guess if Congress passes a true national health care system with prescriptions included, they'd put you out of business," said Leaf.
"Ain't no chance of that happening. Those lazy fuckers are too worried about feathering their nests and getting re-elected to actually do their fucking jobs. Bunch of greedy little cry babies," laughed Blakely.
"Anyone put out a feeler lately for a big score?"
"No, not a peep. What did they get?"
"Nothing according to the owner. It looks like they panicked or something and left behind a dead security guard. I get the feeling something might have been taken."
"Who's the owner?"
"Shouldn't say," said Leaf.
"You want my help?"
"Orisinni."
"Victor Orisinni, number one scumbag," said Blakely.
"I take it you know him. Did he ever sell to you?"
"A few times but he always hedged the dates, even caught him re-stamping some, after that I dumped him as a source. I only sell valid scripts, not expired shit."
"What else can you tell us about him" asked Jacobs.
"He is a big show off. Likes to flash to friends and strangers, I think it gives his tiny dick a hard-on. I heard a rumor that he's going under."
"How's that?" asked Leaf.
"Mortgaged to the hilt, behind in bills, the usual shit."
"He spend it on women?"
"Naw, he is really tight with his old lady, they are two of a kind pricks. She was a hooker that he fell for and she just loves to show off with top of the line clothing and accessories."
"What's his weakness?"
"Horses."
"He owns them?"
"No he loses money betting on them. Most people today lose it in the casino, not Victor, he's old fashioned. He still goes to horse racing tracks with his cronies but I hear he couldn't pick a winner if his life depended on it," smirked Blakely.
"So he is ripe for some handy panky business dealings?"
"I did hear something about drugs, the illegal kind. Like coke and H."
"Well thank you for talking to us and if he or anyone else should contact you about a hot deal, you will let us know about it," said Leaf handing the man his business card.
"Count on it, his type makes it harder for all of us legit guys."
"What an oil slick," muttered Jacobs as they walked towards their car.
"Yeah but at least he is on the legal side of the street, even if just barely."
"What now?"
"Let's get some food then go see if our rookie dug anything up on Orisinni," said Leaf exiting the parking spot.
Ninety minutes later Jacobs and Leaf strolled into the Homicide offices. "Billy you have an ear to ear grin, something tells me you had some success," chuckled Leaf flopping into his desk chair as the rookie rushed over towards him with a handful of computer printouts.
"Victor Orisinni is up to his eyeballs in debt."
"We just heard something about that," said Leaf looking at the papers Billy Budd handed him.
"Six months ago he some how managed to get a third mortgage on his estate. First mortgage balance is around $750,000, the second is $100,000 and the third $75,000 for a total of $925,000. I found out he has not been paying his bills. Which puts him two months in arears on all of them. All three banks are threatening foreclosure. The kicker is he bought the joint for 1.1 mil and its current market value is around 800 K. He is totally upside down and underwater."
"What about the business?" asked Jacobs listening into the conversation.
"He's losing money badly, almost didn’t make his payroll and overhead expenses last month. He tried for a business loan to bridge his troubles but got turned down. He is drowning for sure," said Billy.
"Nice work rookie," said Jacobs shaking hands.
"Therefore, even if he sold his overpriced SUV, his watch and all his thousand-dollar suits, he'd still be in trouble. Sounds like a perfect time to rob his own business," said Leaf.
"What the fuck are we doing here? It's such a waste of time," said Jimmy Leaf.
"Well Lt., he was one of us, it's what we do when one of us dies," grinned Sgt. Jacobs.
"Bullshit, we didn’t know this joker, he's not from our town."
"Yeah but it's the same county."
"Who cares. I always hated this shit. I mean I feel for the family but it’s his own fault, he didn't follow procedure," said Leaf.
"A bad guy doing an armed robbery shoots a fellow officer of ours down in the process and it's the cop's fault? Besides you never follow procedure," said Jacobs.
"When it comes to guns, I always follow the rule book. First off, he was off duty, if he'd followed protocol he would have called it in and waited for backup to arrive. No, he goes storming into the place like John Fucking Wayne and gets his ass shot. Then staggers outside the convenience store and checks out on the asphalt. He had no business going inside on his own. Secondly, I don’t know this joker from Moses, he ain't my fellow officer, just some guy who also was a cop. I'm really sick of this sophomoric brotherhood nonsense. Any real trouble and see how fast your so-called brother cop sells your ass down the river. It's like college boys and their insipid fraternities. But we are bros man, bullshit!"
"Maybe so but it does get us out of the office for a while," smirked Sgt. Jacobs.
"Yeah," said Leaf into his phone. "Ok, see ya soon."
"What’s up?"
"We got a dead body in some warehouse across town, let's get out of here," said Leaf turning in the direction of his unmarked police car.
"Who got killed?"
"Some security guard, he your bro also?" They drove without much conversation and finally arrived at the scene of the shooting. "What have you got Jonesy?" asked Leaf as he got out of the car.
"Well Lieutenant, this rent-a-cop crashed an apparent burglary and it went sideways."
"Video?"
"Yep, on it’s way to headquarters. I wouldn't hold out much hope. Half of the cameras don’t work and those that do have very poor quality."
"How did the guard die?" asked Leaf.
"One shot to the chest," said Sgt. Jones.
"The business owner been notified?"
"Yes, he is on his way."
"No idea what was taken?"
"Not a clue."
"Thanks Jonesy," said Leaf after entering the main door.
After viewing the dead guard, "Want to wait outside for the owner," said Jacobs.
"Might as well, we can’t do anything in here. Maybe we will get lucky and the science techs can find something."
"We ain't that lucky," said Jacobs holding the door for Leaf.
They leaned on their car and each lit a cigarette. "Sorry to hear about your niece."
"Still can't fucking believe it. All those years I chased The Ghost Killer, we almost get him but instead we got his victim. Now the son-of-a-bitch kidnaps my niece and is brainwashing her to be his new assistant."
"I heard the last one, Ashley Grason, is getting out soon," said Jacobs.
"Yes, she is supposed to be cured. Can't believe she didn’t get jail time."
"She was a victim, he turned her to the dark side remember."
"Oh, I agree, just that knowing how fucked up the justice system is, I'm surprised she got put in a mental facility," said Leaf. "Some poor snook gets caught with a couple of joints and ends up doing five years hard time. This country has gotten so out of step with justice it's pathetic. Half the country doesn't vote and those that do usually don't even know the real issues."
"I can't believe you are staying away from the investigation."
"Hey they told me the FBI is handling it, so I know my place."
"Bullshit Lt, if it were my niece... Wow, how stupid am I, you are investigating it from the sidelines aren’t you?" asked Jacobs. Leaf just smirked. "No wait, don’t tell me. I would of course want to help and I need my pension. You could call Timothy if you need to do so."
"Thanks Fred, already have."
"Any help?"
"A bit, unfortunately your cousin is not too high placed in the FBI, but he gives me some crumbs when he can," grinned Leaf.
"Here we go, this must be the owner getting out of the SUV."
"What was the give away, the tricked-out Escalade or the gold Rolex on his wrist," chuckled Leaf.
"For me it was the two-thousand-dollar suit," smirked Jacobs.
"Mr. Orisinni? I'm Lt. Leaf, this is Sgt. Jacobs."
"Gentleman. I really am sorry to hear about old Tom. Why the hell did they have to shoot him?"
"What do you have in this warehouse?" asked Jacobs.
"Fulfillment kits for various pharmaceutical companies."
"So drugs?" asked Leaf.
"Not really. I mean not like street type drugs. Say your doctor tells you that you have diabetes. An order comes into our office to send you a starter kit. An introduction to a particular brand of meds, they of course are trying to get you onboard with their company right from the beginning. You get this nice booklet that tells you all about your disease and what you need to do to change your life style along with a starter prescription."
"No street value?"
"Not hardly," said Orisinni.
"Well let us know what’s missing," said Leaf walking towards Sgt. Jones.
"Lt. this is the day shift guard Armad, he found the body."
"How you holding up?"
"I'm cool. Poor Tommy."
"Any idea why someone broke into the warehouse?"
"Drugs man, what else?"
"We were told there is nothing of value in there."
"If you walk to the back wall there is a line of six commercial grade refrigerators. They are alarmed so that if any of them drop more than two degrees, it sends a message to a repair place to come right out here. What does that tell you?" said Armad.
"That Mr. Orisinni ain't telling us the truth," said Leaf.
"He wouldn't tell his mother the truth," smirked Armad.
"How come the joint is so empty?"
"They only need a second shift crew, that's when all the orders are picked and packed up. Then about 9 AM a delivery service truck comes for the pickup and I open the bay door so he can roll the bins to his truck. The rest of the time I play games on my smart phone. I get relieved at 4:30PM by the second shift guard. The only time I see Tommy is when I take over for him at 7 AM," explained Armad.
"What do you think?" asked Jacobs after they got back into their car.
"I think that when Mr. Orisinni tells us nothing is missing we need to get a search warrant and see exactly what he has in those refrigerators."
"Time to do the notification?"
"Yes, always hate this part," said Leaf as he drove to the residence of the dead guard Tommy.
Leaf parked in front of the weathered yellow bungalow. "Can I help you?" asked the teenage girl who answered the front door.
"Is your mother here?"
"I'm seventeen, what's up?"
"Does Tommy live here?"
"Yes, I'm his niece. What's wrong?"
"Sorry to inform you but he was killed last night."
"Damn, hey Ma!" shouted the girl.
"What?" came a voice from the second floor.
"Guess what happened?"
"What the fuck?"
"Uncle Tommy."
"What about him?"
"He's dead!"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"There are two cops here that want to talk to you."
"All right, all right, hold your water," said the disheveled middle-aged woman as she descended the rickety wooden stairs from the second floor.
"What are you guys talking about?"
"Sorry, but Tommy was shot at work last night," said Leaf.
"Shit, old Tommy dead. How do you like that shit? Hmm."
"Are you his family?" asked Jacobs.
"Closest thing. I'm his sister Beth Rohr. That snot nose bitch is my daughter Denise."
"So Tommy lived here?" asked Leaf.
"Yep, he rented a room from me. His wife threw his drunken ass out years ago. His daughter won't have anything to do with him."
"Can we look at his room?"
"I guess, he ain't got no dope otherwise Denise would have smoked it all by now. He didn’t have much in the way of belongings, mostly clothing," remarked the woman.
Jacobs and Leaf poked around the small unkempt room, finding nothing to point to anything of importance. "Well we will let you know about the progress of the case," said Leaf as he rapidly tried to exit the stale smelling house.
"Can you say dysfunctional," laughed Jacobs as they got back into their car.
"No, we must come up with a better word. They are way beyond that, like a different planet. Is it me or did they seem sort of not bothered by him being dead?" chuckled Leaf as he drove off.
"A certain sense of relief I'd say," remarked Jacobs.
"What do you have?" asked Capt. Lowery as Leaf and Jacobs returned to their office. Leaf filled the Captain in on what they knew about the warehouse murder. "It will be tough but I'll manage to get you a search warrant for the warehouse based on the murder."
The following Monday morning found Lt. Leaf busy at his desk. "Look at you, piles of papers, two windows open on your computer, you are smoking!" laughed Jacobs as he sipped his first cup of coffee.
"The results of the search found traces of cocaine in one of the refrigerators but only a trace. Apparently, this guy was storing more than prescription drugs in his warehouse. Orisinni has been put on warning not to take any sudden vacations. I did find some interesting shit. Some of those drug sample kits are very valuable. Take a three-month supply of one drug will cost the poor patient like a thousand dollars a pop once the samples run out."
"Yeah but how would your typical B&E guy know where to find the shit. That day shift guard Armad didn’t even know, just that there was some high-end pharmaceutical grade stuff inside the refrigerators," said Jacobs.
"Exactly, it had to be an inside job. Maybe old Tommy argued about his cut?"
"Orisinni robbing his own joint?"
"Some break and enter pro ain't going to know where or what to do with any of it. Those guys want cash, street drugs and jewelry it's not like they would have a place to unload prescription grade drugs," said Leaf.
"Right, not like the bad guy is going to stand on a street corner and ask a passerby if they have any diseases and if they want to buy that particular drug from them," laughed Jacobs.
"During my research I found there are some prescription brokers, ranging from barely legal to total scumbags. If you pay a grand a month for some script and someone tells you they can get it for you for $500 or even $750, you are going for it right?"
"Totally, you need your prescription," responded Jacobs.
"So, who would know about such a broker but Orisinni."
"We paying him a visit?"
"No, first we tear his life apart, I want to know what size shoes he wears and when he fucks his wife, then we drop the hammer on him. My guess is Orisinni is up to his neck in this caper and it went very wrong," said Leaf.
"I guess poor old Tommy should have taken his time doing rounds that night, he might have missed the bad guy altogether," winced Jacobs.
"Either way they didn’t have to shoot the poor old sod, no reason except for greed."
"Or rank amateur," remarked Jacobs.
"Gentleman, this is our newest detective, William Budd," said Captain Lowery walking up to Leaf's cubicle.
"Hey welcome aboard, Billy Budd," smirked Leaf getting to his feet to shake hands with the young man.
"I told him to shadow you guys and absorb your wisdom," chuckled the Captain walking away.
"Have I got a job for you," grinned Leaf.
"Field work?" asked Billy.
"No son, walk before learning to fly. You get to investigate using the computer. I need anything you can get on a sleazeball named Orisinni, the basic details are here in this folder," said Leaf. "Don't forget to look through all the security video around the warehouse."
"Where we going?" asked Jacobs as he saw Leaf reaching for his car keys that were sitting on his desk top.
"To see a guy who can get you drugs," chortled Leaf putting on his suit jacket.
"Who is this douche?" asked Jacobs as Leaf parked the car.
"Eddie Blaker, former art thief and all-around conman, now doing biz as a drug broker."
"How'd you find him?"
"Called around to Arnold over in the Drug Squad. They can’t bust him because they are all prescription drugs. It is not illegal especially as he has a pharmacist license, which he probably got on the Internet," groaned Leaf pushing open the front door to the office building.
Reading the lettering on the wooden door. "Last Chance Pharmaceutical Broker, at least he has a sense of humor," said Jacobs as they entered the tiny office.
"Sorry guys we don’t take walk-ins," said the man on the phone waving his hand in the air.
Leaf showed his badge and ID. "Need some of your precious time."
"Damn drug guys, can you give me a fucking break with this harassment. My lawyer is getting rich because of you pains in the ass."
"We are from Homicide not Narcotics."
"Who'd I kill?" chuckled the middle-aged man.
"A security guard."
"What are you guys crazy?"
"There was a break in at a drug fulfillment warehouse and the guard was gunned down," said Leaf.
"What the hell does that got to do with me. I sell legitimate drugs, I don’t do burglaries."
"What else is a thief going to do with prescription starter kits but sell them to a broker."
"I'm certainly not the only one who brokers expiring drugs."
"Wait, what do you mean, they are bad drugs?"
"No not bad, just losing their potency because of age. Everything has a shelf life, when they fall below six months the pharma warehouses need to purge the stock. Their choice is either dump them overseas, like Cambodia, Thailand or Africa someplace. Say the drug sells in the U.S. at $1000 for a one month prescription, they will ship it to a broker overseas and get maybe $300 or $400 for the aging script plus shipping costs or they can sell it to me for $500, which they usually do, unless it's under ninety days, in which case I'll pass on. Not enough time to get them all sold."
"What do you do with them?" asked Jacobs.
"I spend hours on the phone hustling. I only make money if I sell the stuff and eat the loss if I don't. I sell them to the lower end of mainstream drugs stores, walk-in clinics, sketchy doctors or other brokers. The thing is you must put it in the hands of people who can use them up before the expiration date. There is a lot of pressure and my profit margins are razor thin."
"You make a living at this scam?" asked Leaf.
"Not a scam, it’s legit. People save big bucks from it. Better than getting ripped off by some mega-rich scumbag pharmaceutical company," said Blaker.
"Guess if Congress passes a true national health care system with prescriptions included, they'd put you out of business," said Leaf.
"Ain't no chance of that happening. Those lazy fuckers are too worried about feathering their nests and getting re-elected to actually do their fucking jobs. Bunch of greedy little cry babies," laughed Blakely.
"Anyone put out a feeler lately for a big score?"
"No, not a peep. What did they get?"
"Nothing according to the owner. It looks like they panicked or something and left behind a dead security guard. I get the feeling something might have been taken."
"Who's the owner?"
"Shouldn't say," said Leaf.
"You want my help?"
"Orisinni."
"Victor Orisinni, number one scumbag," said Blakely.
"I take it you know him. Did he ever sell to you?"
"A few times but he always hedged the dates, even caught him re-stamping some, after that I dumped him as a source. I only sell valid scripts, not expired shit."
"What else can you tell us about him" asked Jacobs.
"He is a big show off. Likes to flash to friends and strangers, I think it gives his tiny dick a hard-on. I heard a rumor that he's going under."
"How's that?" asked Leaf.
"Mortgaged to the hilt, behind in bills, the usual shit."
"He spend it on women?"
"Naw, he is really tight with his old lady, they are two of a kind pricks. She was a hooker that he fell for and she just loves to show off with top of the line clothing and accessories."
"What's his weakness?"
"Horses."
"He owns them?"
"No he loses money betting on them. Most people today lose it in the casino, not Victor, he's old fashioned. He still goes to horse racing tracks with his cronies but I hear he couldn't pick a winner if his life depended on it," smirked Blakely.
"So he is ripe for some handy panky business dealings?"
"I did hear something about drugs, the illegal kind. Like coke and H."
"Well thank you for talking to us and if he or anyone else should contact you about a hot deal, you will let us know about it," said Leaf handing the man his business card.
"Count on it, his type makes it harder for all of us legit guys."
"What an oil slick," muttered Jacobs as they walked towards their car.
"Yeah but at least he is on the legal side of the street, even if just barely."
"What now?"
"Let's get some food then go see if our rookie dug anything up on Orisinni," said Leaf exiting the parking spot.
Ninety minutes later Jacobs and Leaf strolled into the Homicide offices. "Billy you have an ear to ear grin, something tells me you had some success," chuckled Leaf flopping into his desk chair as the rookie rushed over towards him with a handful of computer printouts.
"Victor Orisinni is up to his eyeballs in debt."
"We just heard something about that," said Leaf looking at the papers Billy Budd handed him.
"Six months ago he some how managed to get a third mortgage on his estate. First mortgage balance is around $750,000, the second is $100,000 and the third $75,000 for a total of $925,000. I found out he has not been paying his bills. Which puts him two months in arears on all of them. All three banks are threatening foreclosure. The kicker is he bought the joint for 1.1 mil and its current market value is around 800 K. He is totally upside down and underwater."
"What about the business?" asked Jacobs listening into the conversation.
"He's losing money badly, almost didn’t make his payroll and overhead expenses last month. He tried for a business loan to bridge his troubles but got turned down. He is drowning for sure," said Billy.
"Nice work rookie," said Jacobs shaking hands.
"Therefore, even if he sold his overpriced SUV, his watch and all his thousand-dollar suits, he'd still be in trouble. Sounds like a perfect time to rob his own business," said Leaf.