Free New York Chief of Detectives by Gary Hastings

car near a favorite coffee shop.
    “Hey, we’re still a little early, so let’s stop for some caffeine. That looks like Maggie’s ‘G-Ride’ out front.”
    Dickie pulled the Chrysler behind the black Suburban.
    “I’ll wait in the car, Chief. You may need to do some damage control.”
    Pat walked in and saw Maggie standing in line with a very conservative blue suit on. He had no trouble seeing the outline of her Sig Saur P229 in a holster on her right side. He slipped up behind her.
    “The girls sure are pretty in this place.”
    Maggie turned and smiled.
    “Good morning, Pat. Are you following me?”
    “Why would you say that?”
    “Because, I’ve never seen you in here this early in the morning.” 
    “To be perfectly honest, I saw the G-Ride and hoped it was you.”
    “I appreciate the attention, even if it’s brief.”
    “My pleasure, I have a big day ahead, and I can use the juice from some coffee. I’m sorry about last night. I really hated to leave.”
    “Pat, I do understand, and I’m sorry if I showed my frustration a little.”
    “You deserved the right to vent.”
    Pat ordered two large coffees, and they walked over to the counter to add cream and sweetener. Of course, Maggie had skim milk in hers, while Pat went for the half and half.
    “Maggie, I wish I could stay longer, but Dickie is waiting.”
    “I need to go too. I’m flying to DC for a meeting this afternoon, but I’ll be back around 8:00 tonight. We could meet for a late dinner, if you want.”
    “Sounds great, Maggie!  Have a safe trip.”
    Pat smiled and walked away. He knew better than to kiss her when she was in her Secret Service mode.
    “I’ll call you when I get in from the flight.”
    “Thanks, I look forward to it.”
    Pat was pleased and was smiling as he walked out to the car. Dickie quickly headed toward One PP.      
    When they walked in the office, Queens County District Attorney, Richard Chambers, was waiting.
    “Thanks for being here, Richard.”
    “It’s my pleasure, Patrick. I would do anything to accommodate the NYPD Chief of Detectives.”
    “Cut the BS. How’ve you been?”
    “I’ve been great, but very busy. The caseload is overwhelming and the young ADA’s run me pretty ragged. I have to do a lot of damage control and handle too few cases and too many complaints.”
    “I’m sorry that I haven’t reached out to you sooner, Richard. We had some great days when I was catching cases in Queens.”
    “You were my best detective.”
    “Thanks, but your memory must be failing you.”
    “I remember the famous rabbits you pulled out of the hat in more than one case.”
    “It was fun. We need to go in my office.”
    Pat walked into the office and closed the door. He and Richard sat down at his table by the window.
    “I have a task force investigating two murders that will likely be within your jurisdiction in Queens County.” Pat explained.
    “I’ve been following the Rodriguez case.”
    “That’s one of them, but we also have a second murder case that may be related. On Monday a snitch by the name of Curtis Gee was found dead in Queens with two 9 mm slugs in his head. He’d been dead several days. Ballistics has matched the slugs to Tony Rodriguez’s Glock 19, which is still missing.”
    “Do you really think Rodriguez killed this snitch?”
    “Absolutely not, but I suspect that the perp that killed Tony took the Glock and then killed Curtis Gee.”
    “That seems likely.”
    “The problem is that the bureaucrats in One PP will be all over this, and Tony’s reputation will be destroyed forever. I want to prevent that and I think you can help.”
    “What do you want me to do?”
    “I’m not asking you to do anything illegal or unethical. It’s actually just the opposite. Since you have prosecutorial jurisdiction, I want you to issue an order to my task force and everyone in the brass loop at One PP, not to release this information, because it may damage your ability to