Free Murder in Greenwich Village by Lee Harris Page A

Borough Detective Task Force. Let them get started canvassing. I’ll get back to Centre Street as soon as I can. I’ll leave a message for Inspector Graves. I don’t like the look of this. We’ve got a murder in Rikers Island, a weapon missing from an armory for over ten years found in Riverside Park, and now a detective missing along with one of the original suspects in the Anthony case.”
    â€œRight on all three.”
    â€œGet yourself back to Centre Street as soon as the borough detectives arrive. Don’t hesitate to call.”
    â€œYes, sir.” She hung up and called the task force, going through the identification process once again and explaining the situation. She spoke to a lieutenant who promised two detectives ASAP and as many as might be needed later. Off the phone, she called back the Six and asked to be connected to the sector car that covered Minetta Street.
    The car was only a block away, and they drove over rather than talk on a staticky line. Officers Piedmont and Glover pounded up the stairs, something exciting finally happening on their watch.
    â€œA blue van?” Piedmont said. He looked at Glover for confirmation. “Yeah, we saw it.”
    â€œYeah,” Glover agreed. “It was pulling out when we came up Minetta.”
    â€œYou remember anything about it?” Jane asked.
    â€œA Ford maybe. Double doors in the back.”
    â€œCan you give me a time?” Jane asked.
    â€œRight near the beginning of our tour. Could’ve been four thirty.”
    â€œShit, we just missed them. You didn’t see anyone get into it?”
    â€œThey were moving when I saw it,” Piedmont said.
    â€œOK. Thanks, guys.”
    â€œAnything we can do?” Glover asked.
    Jane shook her head. All she could do now was wait for the borough detectives to show up, then go back to Centre Street and put in a hellish weekend.
    When the sector cops had gone, she made the call she had left for last. They needed MacHovec on this. MacHovec was the best researcher she had ever known, even if he rarely got off his ass or put in a second of overtime.
    He answered on a cell phone she knew he carried but that never rang in the office, not that hers or Defino’s did during the workday.
    â€œSean, it’s Jane. We’ve got a problem.”
    She had anticipated trouble from him, excuses for not working at night or over the weekend. The brief pause between her explanation and his answer was the only hesitation.
    â€œI’m almost home. I’ll take a shower and come back. It sounds like a long night.”
    â€œA long weekend.”
    â€œYeah. See you later.”
    After the detectives came, she did the same thing.

10
    MCELROY WAS ALREADY back at 137 when she arrived. One team of detectives had been requisitioned and another might be called. Inspector Graves had been informed and would show up if needed.
    The two detectives arrived first and sat with Jane and McElroy to be briefed. They would try to track down every known business and personal associate of Sal Manelli, talk to as many as they could reach, and attempt to find the missing suspect. The detectives set up an office in the conference room and carried in computers not in use and telephones. By the time they got started, MacHovec arrived.
    â€œAnything?” he said.
    â€œNothing.” She told him what was going on in the conference room.
    â€œWhy don’t we try Randolph? They’ve got Manelli covered.”
    â€œOK.”
    MacHovec flicked on the computer and began to work. “Tell me what happened,” he said. “I probably have enough of a brain left to key and hear at the same time.”
    She ran through the visit to Franklin’s apartment, the interview in the coffee shop, the return to the empty apartment.
    â€œJust one lamp?”
    â€œJust one. I think Gordon kicked it over to send me a message.”
    â€œCould be.”
    â€œThe rest of the apartment