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Steven P. Marini
Category:
Mystery/Suspense
Publisher: Gypsy Shadow Publishing
ISBN-10: 1619501686
Type: Fiction
Pages: 188
Copyright: July 5, 2013
ISBN-13: 9781619501683
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
Murder had followed Det. Jack Contino when he moves to the Dennis, MA, police on Cape Cod. A black man is murdered and the trail points to a white supremacist group. The Boston Mob is linked to the group and their leader, Tommy Shea, has it in for Contino. A twenty-something, DeeDee O'Hare worked with the victim and her boyfriend is linked to the racists. What kind of summer action is he really looking for?
Jack Contino moves to Cape Cod, takes a job on the Dennis Department planning to live life in the slow lane, but things speed up when a black man is murdered. It’s similar to a killing in Needham, but the trail leads to a South Shore white supremacist group.
DeeDee O’Hare and Judy Black are twenty-somethings sharing a summer rental in Dennis. DeeDee worked in a restaurant with the victim and has a boyfriend, Jared Wilkes, a local bartender with a roving eye…for Judy. Jack checks them out and learns that Jared has a checkered past calling for close scrutiny. He finds that Jared and the hate group have a link.
Mob figure Tommy Shea, Jack’s old nemesis, is in the mix, but how is he involved? Jack has to find out. It’s hard to solve a local murder when the Boston Mob has it in for you.
Excerpt
Chapter One
I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, running my finger over the scar across my chin. It had faded somewhat, but I saw it every day, a reminder of Tommy Shea, who put it there with a shard of glass a long time ago. That was a score that I needed to settle. Then the phone rang, disturbing my Friday night.
I was hoping for a peaceful summer weekend. I should have known better. Cape Cod is the top beach vacation area in Massachusetts and the population explodes every summer, way beyond its year round number, thanks to all the summer residents and weekend warriors. Dennis is a small town right in the middle of the Cape and my current place of employment, Chief of Detectives, Dennis Police Department. A murder had taken place at a Dennis restaurant.
Natalie and I had bought a three bedroom Cape style house in West Yarmouth, just west of Dennis, so it would take me about twenty minutes to get to the scene. I dressed, told Nat about the call and headed out.
I arrived at the Beachgoer just before midnight. The Dennis officers and two State Police had set up a perimeter and were routing traffic. I was directed by the officers to the rear parking lot. A young man sat slumped in the driver’s seat of an old black sedan. His arms hung by his sides and his head was tilted forward, his chin into his chest like someone grabbing a nap in a chair. I hadn’t seen so much blood in a long time, since my days with the METs. Some gangland killings were done with knives or broken bottles applied to the throat. This wound looked clean and straight across.
I talked to the uniformed officers who were examining the scene. “What do you think, a drug deal gone bad?”
“Could be. There’s a letter sized envelope on the front passenger seat. It could have been money or drugs in it.”
I checked the contents of the envelope on the front passenger seat and saw the money, one hundred dollars. That ruled out robbery as a motive. I jotted down some notes into a small pad and then went into the building to find Pearson. He stood up when he saw me enter the room. Sergeant Jim Pearson was a veteran officer, about six foot-one and built like a linebacker. He was a good cop and I liked him right from the time I started in Dennis.
The restaurant had the usual nautical décor, typical of a Cape Cod establishment. The bar caught my eye, though. It was short and L-shaped, made of shiny mahogany with a deep finish. The bar stools were wood with red vinyl over padding. I could enjoy a good drink at a bar like this one.
“Hello, Jack,” he said. “This is Ed Conley and his wife, Betsy, and son, Billy.” Billy was about sixteen, short and thin, wearing jeans and a yellow T-shirt. Betsy was tall and thin, with light brown hair. She wore a black skirt, white blouse and white earrings.
“They’re the owners of the restaurant and the ones who found the victim.” He then turned to Ed Conley. “This is Detective Contino. He’ll be conducting the investigation.”
“Jim, when the Assistant D.A. arrives, tell him I’ll talk to him as soon as I’ve interviewed the Conleys.”
I reached out my hand toward Ed and we exchanged a polite handshake as Sergeant Pearson walked away. I sat down and flipped my notepad open on the table.
“I know this must be very difficult for you so I’ll only take a few minutes tonight, but I need to get as much fresh information as you can give me.”
The Conley family nodded simultaneously.
“Mr. Conley, there’s an envelope with one hundred dollars in it on the front passenger seat. Do you know anything about that?”
“Yes,” said Ed. “I pay Manny a cash bonus now and then. That’s what’s in the envelope. I paid him a bonus tonight.”
I nodded and made a note. “What’s his full name, please?”
“It’s Manny Duarte.”
“What time did he and the other help leave?”
“I dismissed the waitresses first, just after eleven. I asked Manny to wait a few minutes so I could pay him his bonus. I don’t want to do it in front of the girls because I don’t want them to think he’s getting special treatment. They get their tips and do pretty well with that. This isn’t much of a drinking joint, so the bartender doesn’t get much in the way of tips. Manny never complains and he doesn’t rob the till, so I take care of him.”
I made more notes and continued questioning. “So the waitresses left first and Manny hung around awhile, is that right?”
Ed nodded. “Yes. He went into the restroom first. When he came out, I gave him his bonus.”
“How many waitresses are there?”
Betsy spoke up. “Just two. DeeDee O’Hare and Millie Wallenski.”
“How did they get along with Manny?”
Betsy shrugged. “They all seemed to get along fine.”
“Okay, that’s good. I’ll need to be able to get in touch with them. Do you have their home addresses and phones?”
“Manny lived with his parents in Dennisport. I feel so bad for them. I’ll get their information for you and the girls’ addresses, too,” said Betsy. She rose slowly from the table and went into the small office off the side of the kitchen.
“Ed, please try to tell me what happened tonight.”
“Okay, Detective. I do the cooking and Billy runs the dishwasher during the summer. I had just finished cleaning up the kitchen and came out to the bar. I was having a glass of water and last call had passed, so I dimmed the lights to send a message to the remaining patrons to drink up and move on. As the last customers went out the door, I dismissed Manny and the waitresses. They made no offer to stay late for cleanup. Betsy, Billy and I would take care of that as well as cash out the register. Betsy is the receptionist and restaurant cashier and Manny took care of the bar. Manny was a rare find. Tonight was his bonus night, so I asked him to wait a minute after the women left. Manny smiled whenever I said that to him.
“Manny took the envelope with five twenty dollar bills in it from Betsy, thanked us and walked out through the kitchen to the back door leading to the dirt parking lot. I asked the employees to always park out back. Billy powered up the vacuum cleaner and we started cleaning up the place. A little after midnight we were done.
“I told Billy to go start up the car. You know how Cape Cod air can be cool at night. I like to have Billy warm up the engine for a few minutes.”
I looked at Billy. “What happened next, Billy?”
The boy was calm in answering. “I was surprised to see Manny’s car still there, with Manny sitting behind the wheel, so I jogged up to it to see what he was up to. The window was opened so I called to him. I wondered what he was doing here. He didn’t answer. He just sat there. When I got up close I could tell something was wrong. Manny was sitting with his head down. There was blood everywhere.”
“What happened next?”
Ed answered, “Billy called out to me for help. He said Manny was in his car and maybe dead. It was awful. I told Betsy to call the police right away and told Billy to stay with his mom.”
“And you checked out Manny?”
“Yes. I approached the car and called to him. I stopped when I saw the heavy amount of blood on Manny’s shirt just below the collar. There’s a flood light on the roof but there wasn’t enough light shining on Manny inside his car for me to get a clear look, so I got a flashlight in the restaurant and went back to look again. I flashed the light on Manny and got a better look. I wish I hadn’t. Manny’s throat had been cut halfway around his neck. The police cars got here within a few minutes. Sergeant Pearson told us to wait inside while they checked things out.”
I looked back toward Ed and asked if the waitresses were gone by the time Manny left the building. Ed assured me that they were, emphasizing that these were young women whose nights began when they went off duty. They were always in a hurry to get going after work. If the waitresses left in a rush, they probably didn’t see anything happen in the parking lot, but I’d have to talk to them just the same.
“Okay, just a little bit more.” I took a short breath while looking at my notes. “What can you tell me about Manny? How well did you know him?”
“He’s a nice young man, well, was,” said Ed. “He started working with us in June after graduating from the community college. He went into the army after high school, did a tour in Nam and went to Four Cs full time after that. He majored in Hospitality Management and wanted to learn the restaurant business from the bottom up. He was proud to have gone to community college, the first in his family, he said, to get an education. They’re Cape Verdean. He was born and raised here on Cape Cod. What a shame! He was a great kid. I was hoping he would be working with us for a long time.”
Betsy returned with the addresses and phone numbers for DeeDee, Millie and Manny’s parents. I took the slip of paper, folded it and put it in my shirt pocket.
“Thanks. That’ll be all for now. You can close up and go home. Get some rest. The officers will finish up outside at the car. They won’t have to come into the building again. Goodnight.”
Ed nodded to me as he got up to leave. I heard Betsy speak to him.
“Ed, what are we going to do?” Her voice was cracking.
“We’ll shut down tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t see what else we can do. I’ll check with a temp agency for a bartender. We’ll reopen as soon as we can. Let’s go home.”
I walked back to Manny’s car and told Sergeant Pearson to wait for the medical examiner to arrive for the body. Pearson had already called the contract towing company so the car could be towed to the police station once Manny’s body was removed from it.
“Jim, I need you to inform the parents. I’ll check on the two waitresses tonight. Tell his parents that I’ll be calling on them tomorrow.”
I gave Jim the contact information for the Duarte family. We both had experience notifying next of kin with news of a death. It never gets easy. Neither does the follow-up in a homicide. That would be my job.
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