Shattered Ice

Chapter Five

Lieutenant Stoneward was sleeping in his bedroom of his apartment. The room was full of pictures of his family and of members of the police force. He was sound asleep when suddenly, the phone rang.

“Stoneward here.”

It was Crane on the other side of the phone. “Sir, you better meet us at the HIGH CLASS ESCORTS location. Toadamont's dead.”

“On my way” Stoneward would put his shirt on as well as his pants and shoes, and then he left the apartment.

When he arrived at the scene, there were police cars all over as well as an ambulance. Two of the women we saw when we question Toadamont were there. The body of Toadamont was lying in his office.

“All right. What happened?” he asked one of the police officers.

An Officer Smith would answer. “We got a call about loud noises, like gunfire, in this area. One of the two women saw one masked man run out the door. The two of them discovered the body.”

Toadamont's body was face down on the floor. He was shot in the back of his neck.

“I guess he didn't see it coming.” Stoneward would say.

“We questioned the women who discovered the body.” Officer Smith would say to Stoneward. “One of them said she heard shots fired as they both came in, and she bumped into a masked man running out of Toadamont's office. After they saw him dead, one of them called us.”

“Okay. Where's Crane?”

That's when Crane showed up. “Lieutenant---”

“Did you speak with the women?”

“Yes, sir. They discovered the body after some masked dude ran out of his office.”

Stoneward was puzzled. “Sammy, do me a favor and call Lucas Tannehill.”

“Yes, sir.” Crane would use the office phone.

Fifteen minutes later, Tannehill arrived. “So much for escort services.”, he said as he saw Toadamont's body on the floor.

“Look. We need to go find this Spinnetti's Pawn Shop.”

Crane was on his Smartphone, and then he showed it to Stoneward. “Lieutenant, here it is.”

“Okay, then. First thing in the morning we'll go to this Spinetti's Pawn Shop.”

“Right.”

They would leave the scene.

The next day, they rode in Tannehill's car, on their way to Spinetti's Pawn Shop. When they went in, a female associate of the place was behind the counter, on the phone with someone. After she finished on the phone, she turned to the detectives.

“Hello, gentlemen. I'm Rebekah. How can I help you?”

Stoneward answered as they flashed their badges. “We're police officers. We're investigating the death of Damon Carducci.”

The expression of Rebekah's face changed. “I see. One moment.” She walked toward the back of the store, and when she returned, she gave Stoneward a Raggedy Ann doll.

Just as Stoneward was about to ask more questions, Crane noticed in a circular mirror a strange figure about to pull a gun.

“EVERYBODY GET DOWN NOW!!” he shouted, just as the gunman opened fire. Suddenly two other masked men rained the store with bullets. Naturally the detectives returned fire. They hit one of them while the other two got away.

Stoneward would get on his transmitter. “This is Stoneward. Shots fired at Spinetti's Pawn Shop.”

“Copy that, Lieutenant”.

As they searched the body of the gunmen, they unmasked him and then found an unusual tattoo on his right arm. Tannehill recognized it immediately.

“This guy was a member of a radical gang. They call themselves The Mean Machines.”

“Really?” exclaimed Crane. “Why would a group of radicals like the Mean Machines want anything to do with either D'Amico or Toad?”

Stoneward replied, “That's the million-dollar question” He proceeded to open up the Raggedy Ann doll and saw that the diamond was a large, sparkling rock.

“Wow”, said Tannehill. “No wonder the Toad wanted it back so badly. And it explains why D'Amico wants it.”

Rebekah, who fortunately was not hurt in the gunfire, got up and looked at the diamond. “Look, Lieutenant. I had no idea that Damon was hiding that. He told me to just hold it for him. He also said if anything happened to him, to turn it over to the police.”

“Well, we got it. Thanks for your co-operation.”

Just then, the police cars came and so did Ryker. “So what happened here, Stoneward?”

Stoneward was not in the mood for dealing with Ryker. So he pointed at the deceased and replied, “This guy took customer complaining way too far.”

Ryker, naturally was not amused. “Do you think I'm that stupid?”

That's when Crane intervened, saying, “Captain, are you asking a rhetorical question or do you really want your feelings hurt?”

Stoneward and Tannehill were surprised but also amused. They both snickered under their breaths.

Meanwhile Ryker, visibly upset, didn't say a word.

Tannehill would say to Crane, “There you go, Sammy. You're learning. Let's go” As the three detectives walked out, Ryker could only angrily stare at them, yet he was speechless.

Before leaving the scene, the three detectives started to laugh hysterically. One of the police officers, puzzled by their behavior, asked, “Excuse me, Lieutenant. What's so amusing?”

Stoneward replied, “Oh, Ryker can't take a joke. Talk about having no sense of humor, my goodness.”

As they went to their car, Crane asked “So do you think we ought to talk to D'Amico?”

Stoneward answered, “Not a bad idea,”

So they would park outside of the Big City Associates of Finances, hoping they would get some answers from D'Amico.

A couple of men wearing dark glasses, stood in front of the door, arms folded.

“Uh-oh”, Crane said nervously. “Looks as if these goons want to tell us we're not invited to go in.”

“I can handle this”, Stoneward confidently responded. He and Tannehill approached them, and Stoneward asked, “What's the matter, boys? Is D'Amico running around naked?”

Obviously neither of them said a word or moved a muscle.

Tannehill smiled and said, “Oh, that must be embarrassing to see a naked D'Amico, isn't it?”

Suddenly they were going for their guns, but the detectives beat them to it. That's when Stoneward told them. “Listen, you two midgets. You lay a hand on either of us, you'll be busted for assaulting police officers. You got that, bozo??”

The two guys put their hand up and Crane got their guns, saying, “Don't worry, boys. You'll get your squirt guns back when we're finished.

With that done, the detectives went in to see D'Amico. He was standing, looking at a book when he was caught by surprise. “What's the meaning of this?”

Stoneward had a smirk on his face when he said, “Hey, Joseph. We've got some things to ask you some more questions.”

“What questions?”

Crane would ask first. “Did you know that the Toad is dead?”

D'Amico put his book down and answered, “I just heard about it. I assure you that my associates had nothing to do with killing Mr. Toad.”

“Really?” asked Tannehill. “Where were you the night that he was murdered?”

“Well”, D'Amico replied, “I was in this office.”

Just then, the female associate that they saw when they first saw D'Amico. “Sir, is something wrong?”

D'Amico asked her, “Could you tell these detectives where I was when Mr. Toadamont was murdered?”

She turned to the detectives and answered, “Mr. D'Amico was in this office. He and I were discussing business regarding our clients.”

“Who were some of your clients, Joey?”asked Stoneward.

“None of your business”, D'Amico angrily answered.

Stoneward shook his head and said, “Listen, Joe. When it comes to investigating a murder, it is our business.”

By this time, D'Amico calmed himself down. “All right” he answered. “Jennifer, get that list of recent clients.”

“Yes, sir”. She would go in the back to get that list.

“See, Joey. It pays to co-operate.” Stoneward was smiling a little bit.

A few minutes later, the associate Jennifer came back with that list. Tannehill would look at the list, and his eyes opened wide as he saw a familiar name. “Whoa. Dean Ryker.”

Stoneward couldn't believe what he heard so he looked at the list. “What's Captain Ryker's name doing on the list?”

Suddenly shots were fired outside, so the detectives drew their weapons. They ran outside and then they had to duck as some masked men started shooting at them. Naturally they returned fire. One of them was hit. The others got away in that mysterious white car.

The detectives checked the deceased. In his arm was the same tattoo they saw on the dead man at Spinetti's.

A few minutes later, they heard a scream inside D'Amico's office. They ran back inside, and found a dead Joseph D'Amico, shot in the head.

The associate Jennifer was crying so much that Crane had to console her. Meanwhile, Stoneward would get in his transmitter. “This is Lieutenant Stoneward. Shots fired, two men dead”

“Copy that.”

Stoneward and Tannehill looked at each other. “Well, Lucas, it looks as if our lists of suspects are narrowed down to Ryder and the Mean Machines.”

“Yeah, it sure does. We still have the diamond. Right?”

“Of course”, Stoneward answered as he pulled out the diamond in his pocket.

A few minutes later, the other police officers came to look over the crime scene. Crane would still be holding on to Jennifer, until a police woman approached them. “Take care of her, okay?” The police woman would do so.

The one thing the detectives noticed is that Ryker was not around. It's their guess that he'd have to answer some embarrassing questions, like why is he on D'Amico's list.

Once they finished speaking with the other officers, filling them in on what happened, they would leave the scene.

They were driving around the city when Tannehill noticed that a dark-blue Ford was following them. “Don't look now, guys, but I think we have a reception committee behind us.”

Fortunately, Tannehill remained calm as the other car came a little close to them. They started to drive around the area to see if that car would follow them. Crane looked behind and said, “Somehow I got a bad feeling about this.”

A few minutes later, Tannehill looked at his rear view mirror, and he noticed the passenger was pulling out a firearm. “Guys, are your seat belts on?”

Both Stoneward and Crane said “Yes.”

“Good, because here we go!!” Tannehill shouted as he made a sharp left turn and sped off.

The other car was still following them at a high rate of speed. Naturally, Tannehill would drive fast all over the streets. This high speed chase would last for nearly 20 minutes, going to the highway, dodging other cars going in the opposite direction.

Things got hairy as the other car started getting close to them. There was this battle of running each other off the road.

Suddenly the passenger with the rifle started shooting. Finally, Tannehill did a pit maneuver that completely knocked the other car into some oil drums, causing it to explode on impact. Tannehill skid to the other side of the road, without crashing into anything.

Once the detectives got out of the car, Stoneward would use the police transmitter to request fire trucks to the scene.

Once the fire was 100% contained, the detectives and other police officers searched the wreckage. What was left that was not burned was a license plate and a third man in the car. He was unconscious.

Upon closer look at the man, he had the same Mean Machines tattoo as the other dead victims.

“How did they know how to find us?” asked Crane as he took off his jacket.

As he took his jacket off, something fell on the ground. It was a listening device.

By this time Stoneward was really upset. He crushed it with his shoe and asked Crane, “Do you have any explanation for that?”

Crane was puzzled. “Hey, Lieutenant. I know nothing about that. I swear.”

Tannehill didn't look too happy as he asked Crane, “Who put you up to this?”

Crane was sweating, and he was also confused. “Look, guys. My pockets were empty when we visited Captain Ryker's office. I swear, I'm telling you the truth. I don't know how that got there.”

One of the officers shouted, “Lieutenant---”

Stoneward walked to the officers. It was Maloney. He asked, “Yeah, what's up Maloney?”

“This license plate has the same markings that were tattooed on the unconscious man's right arm.”

“Now that's interesting.”he said. “Okay, Maloney. What about the firearm that was in the car?”

Maloney had it in his left hand. “Here it is, Lieutenant. We'll take it to ballistics to see how it compares to the bullets that killed D'Amico and Toadamont.”

“Good idea, Maloney. Let me know what you find.”

“Right, Lieutenant.”

Stoneward walked over back to Tannehill and Crane and said, “Sammy, you damn well better be telling the truth because if you're not----”

“Lieutenant, I am telling you the truth. Look, I know I'm a novice at being a homicide investigator, but Ryker said he has confidence in my abilities----”

Tannehill interrupted him, saying, “I don't get it. Why you??”

“Inspector Tannehill, I thought Ryker was giving a young guy like me a break. It's been my dream to be a homicide investigator after being stuck in robbery for so long.:

“Oh, yeah, Sammy. What I heard you were really good at your job. Nine arrests, I believe.”

“Yeah, that's right. I was doing well there, and then Ryker decides to put me in homicide.”

Stoneward shook his head in disbelief. “I wonder why.”

Just then Maloney walked over to them. “Lieutenant, the plates have been traced. The owner of that car was a Mister Hal Brooks.”

Stoneward would write the name down. “Okay, Maloney. What do we know about this Hal Brooks?”

“He was arrested for assault and possession.”

“Really?” Stoneward said in amazement. “What did he get? Time off for good behavior?”

“Worse, Lieutenant. He got off on a technicality.”

Again, Stoneward shook his head. “That surprises me like Not At All.” After a pause, he continued, “Okay, where do we find this Hal Brooks?”

“My guess, Lieutenant, is that you'll have to ask that man we found unconscious. He's been taken to Scranton Hospital. “

“Thanks, Maloney.”

“No problem, Lieutenant.”

The three detectives would leave, deciding they need to visit the unconscious man.”