Author's Notes: Although I think this story stands on its own, you may enjoy it more to realize that it is a bit of a crossover with one of Jerry Orbach's best movies Prince of the City. Some of the names of characters therefore are borrowed not only from Dick Wolf's Law & order World, but from Sidney Lumet's world. I've chosen to use the names used in Jay Presson Allen's screenplay rather than Robert Daly's book.
Joe and Ed had caught the latest homicide, a former NYPD detective turned instructor at the police academy, one Daniel Ciello. It was a strange crime scene; the victim had been shot with a .38, up close and personal, but not quite close enough for it to be a suicide. There was no evidence of a break in, and beside the body there was a set of police blues, neatly folded with cap and gloves. Ed and Joe requisitioned Ciello's records and began trying to build a case.
"Man, this guy's life story would make some movie," Fontana commented.
"Yeah, how's that?" Ed asked.
"Well he rocketed through the ranks of the NYPD, and then he became the lead detective in the Special Investigation Unit, it was sort of the front runner of the OCCB. The guys in this unit were the real Princes of the City, they had virtually unlimited power for a while, taking on organized crime, drug lords that sort of thing, but there was this feeling that that sort of power corrupts, so this guy Ciello helped the Feds dismantle the Unit. He turned his own guys in, even his own partner, although from what I'm reading some of his guys got off OK. But some of his unit went to prison and others committed suicide," Fontana concluded.
"So, maybe one of his ex-buddies got out of prison and decided to blow him away," Ed speculated.
"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking," Joe agreed.
"Well, let's see who we've got left of his old squad," Ed said, as he reached for the records Joe had been going over.
They began a list, jotting down names, addresses and any other available information, including age. Most of the men on the list were, like the victim, in their early to mid sixties, except the most recent addition, the one that had Ed hesitating.
"Lennie Briscoe was a part of Ciello's squad?" Ed asked in disbelief.
"That's what the records say," Joe answered.
"That can't be right," Anita said as she was passing by.
"Why not?" Fontana asked.
"Ciello's SIU squad was broken up back in the early 70's, but Lennie was still walking a beat back then," Anita answered.
"But the records clearly show a Leonard W. Briscoe, detective grade three. Sounds like there's some sort of discrepancy there, maybe we need to do some interviewing," Joe suggested.
"Well you can talk to him, but there's no way he's involved in any of this," Anita said in a tone of voice that said she had no doubts.
Outside an impressive looking office in a high rise in Manhattan
Joe and Ed stood before the door that said Levy and associates. "You suppose this guy's going to talk to us about Ciello's death?" Joe asked.
"He was Ciello's partner in the SIU before the unit was dispersed," Ed replied shrugging his shoulders.
"Well, we aren't going to get any answers out here," Joe said as he opened the door.
A pretty blonde secretary greeted the two detectives, and then after checking their IDs led them into her boss' office. Gus Levy was a tall, lean man in his early sixties. He had salt and pepper hair, deep-set sleepy looking blue grey eyes under bushy eyebrows and a large nose with a bit of waywardness to it. His skin was well tanned, as though he enjoyed outdoor sports, and he had a sensuous mouth that looked as though it were equally ready to devour a good meal, or quirk with a charming smile, or ravish an unsuspecting innocent with a languid kiss.
"Well, detectives what can I do for you?" Gus Levy asked, in a rich baritone obviously native to the New York area, as he stood and shook hands with the two men, offering them seats.
"Well Mr. Levy, my partner and I are investigating the homicide of Daniel Ciello. I understand he was once your partner," Fontana said getting right into the interrogation, as Ed stood, mesmerized by the man who looked and sounded so much like his former partner Lennie Briscoe.
"Danny's dead?" Gus asked, and sat down obviously shocked.
"Yes, he was found dead of a gunshot wound at his home early this morning," Joe added, shooting a look up at his partner, wondering when or if Ed was ever going to come out of his trance, sit down and start taking part in the investigation.
"Guess I always knew somebody would pop Danny one day. Hell, there was a time I was so mad at him I thought about it myself," Gus admitted.
"And how do we know you didn't go from thinking to doing?" Fontana asked, trying to ignore the fact that Ed was beginning to creep him out.
"I've been working a big case for the last three days. If you want to see my notebooks that show where I've been and what I've been up to you're welcome to them," Levy said, and then stood up and walked to the window of his office. "But the bottom line is, I gave up being mad at Danny years ago. Yeah, he ratted out his own. Some really good cops ate their guns or spent time in the slammer because of him, but I finally came to realize that as misguided as Danny was, he thought he was doing the right thing," Gus answered, as he turned to again face Fontana and Green.
"What about you, didn't he rat you out too?" Fontana asked, pressing Levy, and wishing fervently his own partner would come out of his trance.
"Yeah, but although they indicted me, they couldn't convict me of anything, so the only thing happened was I was thrown off the force. Turned out to be the best thing ever happened to me. I opened up this agency and I've been making a really good living ever since, never would have made as much as a cop, not even in the SIU. Hell, the only thing I really stayed mad at Danny for, was that he let them go after Lennie too," Gus admitted.
"Lennie?" Ed asked, finally coming out of his funk.
"Hey, he talks," Gus said to Joe with a laugh, which Joe couldn't help sharing at his partner's expense. "Yeah, Lennie Briscoe, he's part of my family. You know Lennie?" Levy asked, his brow furrowing, as if he should know the answer to his own question.
"Yeah, he was my partner for 5 years before he retired," Ed explained, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Ah, Ed Green, you're the one that calls him Old Spice. I should have made the connection. No wonder you been standing there like you've seen a ghost or something. You noticed the family resemblance, huh?" Levy asked Ed, finally realizing why the younger cop had been so transfixed.
"Yeah, you two could be twins except for the hair," Ed nodded as he answered.
"Yeah, the hair," Gus shook his head. "Well, there's a good reason Lennie screws that beautician Cele on a regular basis, and it's called being vain," Gus said with a laugh.
"So how are you and Lennie related?" Ed asked.
"Uh, we're cousins, actually double cousins, our mothers are sisters and our fathers are half-brothers," Levy answered a bit nervously.
Fontana shot Levy a look, and Green wondered what it meant.
"Guess that explains why the two of you look so much alike," Ed remarked.
"Yeah, the kid's always been a dead ringer for me. It's caused him some grief over the years and vice versa." Levy said with a good-natured laugh.
Just then Fontana's cell phone rang, and he took the call while Ed and Gus continued their conversation.
"Uh, that was the tech in forensics, he thinks maybe he's got something we should look at," Joe said.
"OK, hey, we might stop back and talk to you some more, if you think of something that might be useful, give us a call," Ed said as he handed Levy one of his cards.
"Sure thing," Levy said, as the two detectives left the office.
"You trust him don't you?" Joe asked Ed as the two men walked to their car.
"Yeah, don't you," Ed asked.
"About some things, sure. But look just because he looks like your old partner, doesn't mean he is your old partner," Joe replied.
"Of course, I know that, you think I'm stupid or something?" Ed asked sounding annoyed.
"No, of course not. But I know how much you think of this Lennie Briscoe. He's not just A former partner of yours. He's THE former partner. And I know the Lieutenant thinks Briscoe practically walks on water. But both of you have to get over that, because both Briscoe and this cousin of his just might turn out to be murder suspects. So I'm just trying to warn you not to be so trusting of this guy," Joe finished.
"You think he was lying about something?" Ed asked somewhat defensively.
"Yeah, but it doesn't make any sense to me," Joe replied, pondering.
"Why?" Ed asked.
"I believe him about Ciello and his whereabouts, but I think he's lying about something about Briscoe, and I really don't get that," Fontana admitted.
"What makes you think he's lying about something to do with Lennie?"
"When you asked Levy how he and Briscoe were related, he sounded like a guy making up a story or something. I was watching him. He was nervous, and that was the first time he'd been nervous the whole time we'd been there," Joe said laying out his reasons for doubting Levy.
"I don't know that sounds pretty weird to me." Ed countered.
"I know, but I'm just telling you what I saw. I think we need to talk to him some more, and I bet he's more likely to tell you something than me," Joe speculated.
"I suppose so," Ed reluctantly agreed.
"Come on let's see what Beck's got for us," Joe said, trying to break his partners mood.
The ride over to the crime lab was tenser than most.
"So Beck what have you got for us," Ed asked.
"Well, the dress blues were definitely not Ciello's," the technician said in his typical eager way.
"How can you be so sure of that?" Fontana asked.
"Well for one thing, the uniform belonged to a man who was probably a good 4 inches taller than Ciello, judging from the inseam of the pants. Also the guy wasn't as heavily built as your victim," Beck replied.
"What about the vintage of the uniform?" Green asked.
"Well it's pretty old, probably late sixties. Although this type of uniform was used a little earlier and a little later than that, I'd say it was issued somewhere between 1967 to 1969. But the really exciting thing is the cap. While the uniform had been dry cleaned, so there was no real forensic value, well other than telling us we're probably looking for a guy who became a cop in the late sixties, who is about 6' 2" and at the time he wore that uniform was on the lean side," Green and Fontana gave Beck a look that told him to quit rambling.
"Right, the cap, there were a few strains of short dark brown, almost black hair, but no follicles; however there were sweat stains, and we will be able to run DNA analysis off the stains, though it's going to take a couple of weeks for the RFLP, but the PCR results will probably be back tomorrow or the day after at the latest. In the mean time, I can tell you, we did do a quick ABO and Rh typing from the sweat stain. The cap belonged to an AB negative individual, if that's any help," Beck told the detectives.
"Yeah, I'm sure that will help," Fontana said, noticing his partner's reaction when Beck mentioned the blood type.
"What was with that look when Beck said the cap belonged to someone with AB negative blood?" Fontana asked.
"Lennie's six foot two and he's AB negative, and from what I've been told before he went as grey as his cousin Gus, and his girlfriend Cele started dying his hair this that and whatever, his hair was almost coal black. Maybe it's time to go see my old partner," Ed said dejectedly.