Back in the City
Ed and Joe had assigned Ana Cordova and a technician to gather DNA samples from the SIU detectives on the list. They decided they'd get samples from Lennie and Gus Levy themselves. So they stood in front of Lennie's apartment door early in the morning knocking, but got no answer. An elderly woman in the next apartment opened her door, but didn't remove the chain.
"You looking for Leonard?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?" Ed Green asked.
"Well, since he's retired from the force, he goes golfing most mornings," she answered.
"You wouldn't happen to know which golf course he favors would you?" Joe asked, pouring on the charming and hoping.
"Well, he mentioned something about going over to see his old partner Mike, when he went golfing today," she answered.
"Thank you, Mrs. Landers," Ed said.
"How did you know my name?" Mrs. Landers asked a bit shocked.
"Lennie was my partner before he retired. He used to talk about his nice neighbor lady Mrs. Landers," Ed explained with a grin.
"I should have known. Well, I hope you find him," she said, and then closed her door.
"Great, a ferry ride," Ed grumbled.
"A ferry ride?" Fontana asked.
"Yeah, the Mike she mentioned is Mike Logan. He was Lennie's first partner at the 2-7. He got himself sent to Staten Island a long time ago for punching out a politician," Green explained.
"Well, if you've got to screw up, at least punching a politician's a good cause," Joe laughed as they headed to the car.
Back on Staten Island
By the time Lennie and Mike had finished breakfast and talked for a while, Lennie felt a bit better about the situation. He was still a tad uneasy about Mike bringing his partner Frankie into things to help, but he was going to go with his gut, which told him to trust Mikey. Which was why he was playing a round of golf, as though he weren't at all upset about things.
By the time Ed Green and Joe Fontana drove to the ferry and road it across to Staten Island, and then found their way to the golf course Lennie was playing at, he was already on the back nine.
"Hey hold up, Lennie," Ed shouted at his partner as the older man pulled his golf clubs down the fairway after his tee shot.
"Hey Ed, what are you doing out here, and who's this guy?" Lennie asked with a smile, shielding his eyes as he looked back at Ed and his new partner.
"Lennie Briscoe, this is Joe Fontana, my new partner," Ed said by way of introduction.
"Well, he dresses a bit sharper than I ever did, but uh, One Police Plaza figure you still need a more uh, what's the word I'm looking for, Fontana?" Lennie asked the other man good-naturedly.
"Good-looking?" Fontana offered.
"That's it, that's it exactly," Lennie agreed with a laugh.
"I guess they figure if I could put up with having you watch my back for five years, I could handle having this guy as a partner," Ed said with his trademark grin, as he resisted the impulse to hug Lennie.
"So as much as I'm glad to see you Ed, I figure there's got to be a reason you came all the way out here to find me, so what's up?" Lennie asked, giving his old partner an opening.
"You hear about Danny Ciello's murder?" Ed asked.
"Yeah, my cousin Gus called me about it," Lennie answered.
"Did he tell you to expect us?" Fontana asked with just a hint of suspicion.
"Not exactly. He just said you stopped by his office and asked some questions. He figured you might ask me some too, since I worked in Danny's squad, even if I was just the squad's gopher," Lennie answered.
"So you were the new kid in the squad?" Fontana asked, talking to Lennie more like to another cop than to a suspect.
"Yeah, I'd just gotten my shield and Gus asked Danny to take me into the squad. Some of the other detectives didn't like that much, and so Danny kind of kept me at arm's length from everything. I just did a lot of background checking and ran a lot of errands," Lennie answered.
"Didn't really get to do any of the stuff SIU was known for?" Ed asked.
"What are you asking Ed?" Lennie asked his old partner with an edge.
"Well, a lot of the SIU got thrown off the police force for a variety of indiscretions, some of them went to jail and a few of them ate their guns. Seems like you and your cousin Gus and Danny Ciello are about the only guys who came out Scot free," Fontana said with a challenging note in his voice.
"You think I came out of it Scot free do you? Well think again, " Lennie said heatedly. "They tried to indict me like they did the rest of the squad, but they couldn't make anything stick on me, just like they couldn't on Gus. They threw me off the force, but I waited them out, came back and reapplied. At first they were gonna make me go back through the academy, but they finally relented, I had to go back to walking a beat and I had to work my way up the ladder all over again. The powers that be made it very clear to me too, that no matter what I scored on a written exam, I'd never make sergeant, let alone lieutenant," Lennie stopped talking, breathing hard. It was obvious that this was something he didn't often talk about and it upset him a lot.
"Sounds like maybe you had a good reason to be ticked off at Danny Ciello. So can you account for your whereabouts Monday night, say between 11pm and 1am?" Fontana asked.
"I was at home in my apartment all night," Lennie answered.
"Alone?" Fontana asked.
"No, but I'd rather keep my companion's name out of this," Lennie answered.
"Lennie, you know your alibi is worthless unless you give us her name," Ed said.
"Hey Ed, maybe your being presumptuous there, maybe the reason your old partner doesn't want to say who he was with, is that he was with a guy. Is that it Briscoe? Afraid we'll find out you're gay?" Fontana asked with a bit of a sneer.
"No, that's not it. If that were my persuasion I'd just come out with it." Lennie said with a defensive edge to his voice.
"Well, if it's not that, and you really do have an alibi, then you must have been with a married lady. Look, it's not really that big a deal any more," Fontana said trying to get Lennie to open up.
"Shit," Green said, as a likely scenario popped into his head.
"Ed?" his partners asked in unison.
"Joe, don't you remember what the Lieutenant told us yesterday?" Ed asked a slightly confused Fontana. "She said we could talk to Lennie, but there was no way he was involved in this," Ed said, and then he stared at Lennie until Lennie had to look away.
"Oh," was all Fontana could manage, as he tried to imagine his lady boss and Briscoe in flagrante delicto.
"Uh Joe, would you mind giving me a minute with Lennie?" Ed asked.
"Yeah sure, I'll see if I can't find what happened to Lennie's tee shot," Fontana said, as he gestured to Lennie to let him take his golf cart and head down the fairway.
When Fontana got out of earshot Ed turned to Lennie, but before he could ask anything Lennie spoke up.
"Don't ask me Ed, because I'm not talking about it," Lennie said firmly.
"Lennie, it's just that,"- Ed began.
"No! For pity sake, can't you leave it be. If not for me, for her?" Lennie asked hotly and the look in Lennie's eyes was as close as Ed Green had ever seen to pleading from the older man.
"Yeah, I can leave it be, and I can even get Fontana to leave it be, but what if the evidence won't leave it be, then what do we do, bro?" Ed asked.
"You mean the dress uniform?" Lennie asked.
"How did you know about that?" Ed asked puzzled.
"Gus told me," Lennie answered in a matter of fact way and then started walking down the golf course to where Fontana had found his tee shot.
"And how did he know about it, Joe and me sure didn't mention it to him?" Ed asked, the tone of his voice somewhere between curious and irritated.
"Gus wouldn't be such a successful PI if he didn't have connections downtown," Lennie answered.
"Looks like you'll need a 3 or a 4 iron," Joe suggested to Lennie as he looked at Ed to see how things were going. Ed shrugged.
"Yeah, so give me a 7 wood," Lennie said.
"So what about that uniform Lennie?" Ed asked after Lennie hit his fairway shot.
As the three men made there way up to the putting green, Lennie explained about his leaving his uniform when he cleaned out his locker.
"Do you remember who was there when you cleaned out your locker?" Joe asked, hoping for another lead.
"Man, that was over 30 years ago," Lennie answered. He rubbed his chin as he tried to remember.
"The only guy I can clearly remember being there was Dan Giletti," Lennie finally answered.
"Giletti, Chief of Detectives Giletti?" Ed asked, clearly wanting to be sure he wasn't mishearing Lennie.
"Yeah, Dan was a year ahead of me at the academy. It really burned him up when I got my gold shield before he did, and that Gus got me on with the SIU. Of course that wasn't the first thing I'd done that rubbed him the wrong way," Lennie said with a smile that said he was definitely remembering something he enjoyed.
"I'll go for it, what else did you do?" Fontana asked.
"I married the hot chick he wanted, but couldn't get past first base with," Lennie said with a laugh.
"Oh great, and he ended up Chief of D. When you piss somebody off, you really go for it!" Ed said with a laugh.
"Yeah, well I ended up paying alimony to her too," Lennie said shaking his head ruefully.
"So how come you remember Giletti being there?" Fontana asked.
"I made some smart assed comment to him about my uniform. See, Dan would have been about the only guy in the precinct who could have worn it," at Ed's slightly puzzled look, Lennie continued explaining, "Thirty years ago, 6'2" was not as common a height for a guy as it is now, plus I was pretty skinny back then and so was Giletti," Lennie finished his explanation.
"Lennie, how did you manage to get back on the force?" Joe asked a bit suspiciously.
"I don't know exactly. For a little while after I was canned, I worked for my Uncle Harry, Gus' dad. Gus said just sit tight and things would be OK. After his trial was over, he said I should reapply to the department. I thought he was crazy, but I did it. They let me stew for a bit, but finally said I could come back. And like I said, at first they were going to make me do the academy again. I think just to embarrass me. Then they said no, just some refresher courses on some new stuff, but then I had to start all over again walking a beat. After a while they made it very clear to me, I was no longer wonder boy. Didn't matter how often I got written up for commendations, I didn't get them, and promotions were few and far between. When I had the highest score on the sergeant's exam and got passed over for promotion, I finally got it. I was going to be a detective forever. It took me a long time to accept that, and I spent a good deal of time in the bottle feeling sorry for myself over it too. Actually, if it hadn't been for Donnie Cragen, I 'd never have made grade," as he told the story, Lennie's face had gone through a kaleidoscope of emotions - confusion, trust, annoyance, anger, resignation, and gratitude.
"You think your cousin had something to do with your being allowed back on the force?" Ed asked.
"I don't know, and I don't talk to Gus about that stuff. It just doesn't seem fair. He was a good cop too. They shouldn't have treated him the way they did," Lennie answered, sounding for all the world like a kid defending his best friend or an older brother.
Joe and Ed exchanged looks. They knew when not to push a subject. They were going to go talk to Levy again after they were done with Lennie anyway, so they'd ask him about it.
"OK, I think we've got everything we need from you, except a DNA sample," Joe said.
"A DNA sample?" Lennie asked rather startled.
"Yeah, I know we think the uniform is probably yours, but …" Ed trailed off as he held the DNA sample kit out to Lennie. Lennie simply nodded his head in understanding as he took it.
"Man, never thought I'd have to do one of these," he said, as he took the swab and scraped the inside of his cheek and then placed the swab back in the container.
"Beck will be ever so grateful," Fontana added and then crossed his arms waiting.
"Say hi to the kid for me. What else you need?" Lennie asked when Fontana didn't turn to leave.
"Nothing, I just want to see if you can sink this putt." Joe said with a smile.
"How much you want to bet me?" Lennie asked with a feral grin.
"Uh Joe, I don't know about Lennie's golf game, but he's a hell of a pool player, and I've heard that good pool players are usually pretty good putters," Ed said warning his current partner.
"Hey, whose side are you on, Ed?" Lennie asked his former partner, wondering if Ed knew he was helping him set Joe up even better by telling him not to bet.
Joe looked at the putt; it was a long one, maybe 20 feet. "A c-note says you can't sink it," he said confidently.
"Geez, he throw around that kind of money all the time?" Lennie asked Ed, and Ed just nodded as Lennie pulled out his putter and sauntered over to his ball. He spent some time judging the break of the green. Fontana went over to the hole to pull the pin if the putt was a good one. Lennie took a few small practice swings then tapped the ball toward the cup. The ball moved at a good pace and bent just slightly when it need to. Joe pulled the pin at the last second and swore softly, "Damn, you make it look easy, Lennie."
"Had to, didn't have a hundred bucks on me," Lennie confessed with a laugh as he retrieved his ball from the cup.
Joe peeled a c-note off his ever-present wad of cash and handed it to Lennie. "Well, now you do," he said with a grin.
Ed shook his head, he wasn't sure which was worse that his current partner was betting with a suspect or that his former partner, the suspect, hadn't had the money to cover the bet in the first place.
"If you play pool as well as you golf, I'd be interested in a game sometime," Joe propositioned.
"Well, as long as I don't end up in the slammer over Ciello's death, I'd be glad to oblige you sometime," Lennie replied.
As Ed and Joe got ready to leave, Ed lingered for a moment. He wished he could have a few moments alone with Lennie. He really missed him.
"Take care partner," Ed said and gave Lennie's hand a shake and his arm a squeeze. Then he pulled his face up close to Lennie's and added softly, "We'll find a way to keep her out of this, I promise." Lennie held Ed's hand and arm firmly, but it was his grey blue eyes that pinned Ed. "I'm going to hold you to that," he said in a voice that told Ed he meant it. Ed walked away, back towards Joe's car and fought the urge to look back at the man he'd called partner for so many years. He couldn't explain exactly how he felt about Lennie. Maybe it was what Joe had said; Lennie was THE partner.
