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Jack: This is Jack. Hi Diane! Good to hear from you. But why are you calling me? (megawatt smile)

 

Diane: I got a case I think you might be interested in. Do you have time to grab a bite to eat? I’m at Café Milano right now. (smile)

 

Jack: Sure. I know the place. I should be there in 20 minutes. See you then. (smile)

 

Dinner At Café Milano

 

Diane: Thanks for meeting me, Jack. You look good. (smile)

 

Jack: Thanks. So do you. So what did you want to tell me? (smile)

 

Diane: You know about the candy store owner who got shot, Mr. Ryan Brinkman. He was a gentleman, sweet as can be, 66 years old who loved kids and always smiled at them when they came into his store. He and his wife have been running the candy store for generations. I remember when I was a little girl and I went inside to the store to buy my very first jelly bean and other goodies. (smile)

 

Jack: Yeah. I know. It’s sad what happened to him. I didn’t know you like jelly beans. So did you catch the guy? (smile)

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Diane: Yes and no. We did arrest a 17 year old black kid, Freddy Miller is his name; he claims that he was in the “wrong place, wrong time” and he didn’t shoot Mr. Brinkman. He said he saw someone dropped the gun in a plastic bag with money inside in the trash can. After the man walked off, he saw a stack of bills sticking out of the bag so he picked it up. That’s when the cops arrested him. He was standing in the alley three blocks from the crime scene with a gun that matched the bullet that killed Mr. Brinkman.

 

Jack: So you believe his story? You want to bounce ideas off of me until you feel better? (curious smile)

 

Diane: Something like that. The thing is; I’m not all that convince that he is the killer. I’m starting to believe that he was set-up somehow. So I interview him again. He tells me, he heard from a friend; that a punk kid, Tommy Cortez has been boasting about shooting an old man a few weeks ago. I thought you might be interested in helping me out with my case.

 

Jack: Sounds interesting. No offense, but why do I want this case? (smile)

 

Diane: I know too small-time for you big shots at the bureau. What if I told you that Tommy Cortez is a friend of your good buddy, Vincent Chambers? (smile)

 

Jack: Now we’re talking. Tell me more about your case. Dinner is on me tonight. (megawatt smile)

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Diane: See, I knew you would come around to my way of thinking. Word on the street is that Vince is into underage prostitution and child pornography. We have a task-force ready to catch Vince, Tommy, and whoever else gets busted with them. My gut tells me this goes higher up than Vince on the food chain ladder. We think they used the basement of a nightclub to videotape the girls and take pictures of them before putting those girls on the internet for their clientele. We are planning a sting to catch them. After that, I turn the case over to you. And you can do what you wish to Vincent Chambers.

 

Jack: Thanks. But somehow I don’t think Vincent Chambers is going to talk much. I could talk until I’m blue in the face and he won’t rat out his superiors. (laughs)

 

Diane: I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to be caught in a cross-fire with you. Maybe you should show Vincent Chambers your mean side. (smile)

 

Jack: I’ll be sure to do that if I don’t ring his neck first. Let’s enjoy the meal. (smile)

 

Diane: We should do this more often. I have to head back to the station now. I will call you after the sting operation is done. We can hammer out the rest of the details later. Thanks for dinner, Jack. (smile)

 

Jack: Sure. I’m glad we had dinner together. And I would say having Vincent Chambers and his superiors on a silver platter would be the icing on the cake. Bye, Diane. (smile)

The next morning, bullpen meeting

 

Jack: Listen up. Metro PD may have nabbed us another fish we have been waiting to reel in for some time now. Vincent Chambers has been involved in some shady dealings. We are going to put him out of commission for good. (smile)

 

Sue: Who is Vincent Chambers?

 

Bobby: He is wanted for murder and armed robbery. We also believed he got one of our best informants killed five years ago. But we never could get the charges to stick. Maybe this is our chance to nail him to the wall so to speak.

 

Jack: Yeah. Except now he’s moved up to bigger things. It seems Vince is involved in underage prostitution and child pornography. I’m waiting to hear from Diane after they bust down the door to see what else Metro PD find as evidence to put these scumbags away for life. Any person who preys on innocent children has got to be sick and demented.

 

Myles: Parents think as long as it is not my kid in trouble, not my kid on the street, so what?

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Four hours later, Diane calls Jack and gives him an update. We caught Tommy Cortez running from King Cobra Nightclub in the back alley. We have several boxes of videotapes we need to view before I can turn over the case to you. I can tell you this much, it is much bigger than we first thought. I have an APB out on Vincent Chambers but so far no luck. I also wanted to tell you that Detective Jeffrey Prescott is going to help screen the videotapes with me. Sometimes I really hate my job. But I will watch these tapes; hopefully it will give us more evidence to put those bastards away for good.

 

Jack: That was Diane. Vincent Chambers managed to slip away, the weasel. But they do have Tommy Cortez in custody. So what do we have on MJR Consulting?

 

D: Emma kept good records. We are going through them with a fine-tooth comb. It will take a few days to check everything out.

 

Jack: Good. Stay on top of things. We need to make sure that we covered all the bases. We don’t want Alfonso Del Marco to get off on a technicality, when we do arrest him. I’m sure his lawyers will try to use any feasible excuse to get the judge to dismiss the case. I’ll keep Marty Parvone in the loop.

 

Myles: What do you want to do with Greg Morgan?

 

Jack: Have SOG keep him under surveillance. See if he makes contact with Alfonso Del Marco. We have to wait for the right moment to spring our trap. (smile)

 

Bobby: Alfonso Del Marco won’t know what will hit him until it’s too late.

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