Longmire
Righting an Old Wrong
Chapter 2

Author's note: This just might be one of those stories that won't let me alone until I finish it. I don't own any of the Longmire characters. Oh yes, and when I write dialog for Officer Victoria Moratti, just mentally include all the f-bombs that's she's so prone to use.)

This case was starting to get interesting, so I took Molly into my office. "I need you to tell me how you know the suspect and what you know about the death of his father."

She sat down and took a deep breath. "When I was little, one of my father's best friends was a police detective for our local force. I used to play with both his sons. One day the wife came home from work and discovered that her husband had been shot and killed. My dad and the rest of that circle of friends were all questioned and told not to leave town."

"Eventually the decision was made that Detective Rogers had committed suicide after discovering that his wife was having an affair. My dad thought that was odd, but the police closed the case and moved on. The wive moved outside of town and I forgot all about them."

"Fast forward to when I was in my late teens. My best friend Jacque was dating a guy named Brian. Brian and Brent, and some other friends got involved in dealing drugs. There was some other serious stuff going on, so I vanished from that scene. Jacque broke up with Brian and that was sort of the end of that. Until today."

"So you don't know what Rogers is talking about regarding his father's death?"

Molly shrugged. "When Brent and I remet in the 70's we mostly pretended we didn't know who each other was. I think we only talked about his family once and that was briefly. I just don't remember much more about the original case. Sorry."

Brent Rogers told a more detailed story. He said that his mother had found the body and that it was thought to be a murder investigation at first. Then suddenly the story about the supposed affair came out. "My mother swore on her dying day that she had never had an affair while married to my father. That was created when the corrupt local police were either unable or unwilling to find the real murderer."

"Before she died, my mother gave my brother a file and asked me and my brother to continue her search for truth. To clear my father's name. The file was the original police report on his death, along with some pages of evidence that was not in the report that was filed."

"I had left Southern California and was working up in Alaska, so after mom was taken care of, I went back up there and left the evidence with my brother, Will. Some of my dad's old police buddies were still alive and were willing to talk about my father's police work. They had their own suspicions about his death."

"What Will came up with was that dad had been investigating a gangster named Joey Falconi. He was trying to extort protection money from local merchants. But Falconi had connections, so dad was being very careful in his investigation."

I interrupted, "So you think this Falconi was involved in your father's death? If so, what does that a have to do with the murder you're charged with?"

Rogers nodded. "Falconi was the only real lead we have in my father's death. He's still alive. He lives in Southern California where he purports to be an honest businessman. I think we were getting too close, because last month my brother received a very pointed threat to drop our investigation. Will said that the man was big, bigger than me even, and he took the threat seriously. Will sent the information on the case to me and I put it safely away while I figured out what to do next."

Brent Rogers is not a small man. Probably 6'2" and around 275 pounds, most of it muscle. Falcons had sent some serious muscle to intimidate Will Rogers. "And the death of Victor Young Dog is tied to this how?"

"I think Falconi knows I have the information and this is his way to put me away. I don't know why the boy was involved. Maybe it's a warning. I don't know."

This would take some thinking. Long shot probably. "Vic!" I yelled.

She had been down the hall. "Yes, Walt?"

"I want you to look up, carefully, a probable gangster named Joey Falconi that was active in Southern California starting in the 1960's. Was he tied to organized crime, and what is his status now?" And with all that moving, I sat down to eat my lunch.

Now I trust Molly Baker. She might be from Southern California, that land of fruits and nuts, but she's good people. Neither my people nor Mathias' had been able to find out why Young Dog had been out at there that day. Perhaps Molly with her connections to Victor's friends might be able to find out something.