Chapter 5
The girls cased the Moretti home all Thursday afternoon in a borrowed ice cream van. Sabrina, dressed to the hilt in a red and white pinstriped ice cream vendor suit, happily drove around the neighborhood selling frozen treats to the neighborhood kids on their way home from school. It was by all appearances, a completely legitimate business.
Far from legitimate however, was what was inside the ice cream truck. Besides a large freezer full of treats, there was state of the art recording equipment. Kelly and Jill sat inside watching the Moretti home and periodically sampling Sabrina's products.
It was far too tempting to resist.
"We should somehow work this into every case." Kelly said solemnly, a half eaten popsicle in her hand.
Jill giggled and licked her own cherry popsicle. What treats her friend had missed out on during her deprived childhood, her sweet tooth more than made up for now. She didn't envy the person who stood between Kelly and an orange creamsicle.
"Hey, let's not get carried away. I'm the one who took the fall for this." she said, still giggling.
Jill had flirted her way into the heart of a thirty something year old ice cream vendor. In exchange for the use of his truck, she had offered him all of the money they made selling his ice cream plus fifty dollars.
And a date next Saturday night.
"The things I do for my job." Jill sighed.
"Look on the bright side. If it works out, we'll have all the ice cream we can eat." Kelly remarked.
She swirled her popsicle in her mouth thoughtfully.
"It pays to have friends in high places." she mused.
Jill laughed and peeked out of the girl's makeshift peephole at Moretti's house. No visitors so far. Sabrina had been careful to stay within sight of the house while she peddled her future date's ice cream.
Jill and Kelly turned as the back door of the truck was pulled open. They burst into laughter as they caught sight of Sabrina in her striped uniform. It had been at least half an hour since they had seen her and both girls had forgotten how ridiculous she looked.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, Hekyll and Jekyll." Sabrina said, a smirk on her face.
"Sorry Bri, you just look so cute." Jill giggled.
"Oh, I'll bet." Sabrina started. She noticed the popsicles in Jill and Kelly's hands and gave them a pained look. "How much ice cream have you two had? Am I going to have to disappoint the rest of the kids I see this afternoon?" she chided them.
Jill discreetly slid some stray popsicle wrappers out of sight with her foot.
"This is only my second one!" she wailed.
Sabrina looked doubtful. She turned to Kelly.
"This behavior I expect out of Jill. But you? You were supposed to be in charge of everything edible back here."
Kelly shrugged, completely unfazed, and licked the last of her popsicle off of the stick before reaching for another one.
"You knew what I was when you put me back here."
Sabrina laughed and stuck out her hand.
"Toss me a grape creamsicle. If there's any left. Next time we use this thing, I get to ride in the back with the goods."
A few hours later, Sabrina parked the ice cream truck inconspicuously across the street. She waited until no one was looking and climbed into the back with Jill and Kelly. A car had pulled up into the Moretti house and two men went inside. The final obstacle before listening in on any telling conversations was to plant the bug, which would record everything inside the home for the next few hours. Sabrina was ready.
She had donned a dark brown curly wig and a set of fake crooked teeth. A drab, loose fitting dress made her appear to be a frumpy librarian type. A pair of thick bifocal glasses completed her ensemble. She looked ten year older and twenty pounds heavier. Her own father wouldn't have recognized her.
Sabrina adopted a matronly waddle and hurried up the walkway. She knocked on the door and waited. A few moments later, the door was opened to reveal a tall Italian looking man in a black turtleneck. He eyed her warily.
"Can I help you?" he asked in a thick Italian accent.
"Yes, I'm sorry to bother you, sir." Sabrina started in a nasally voice. She paused to push her glasses farther up the bridge of her nose. "My son hit a baseball into your yard, would you mind terribly if I went back there and retrieved it?" she asked sweetly. She adjusted her glasses again.
The man looked nervous. "I'll get it for you." he offered.
Sabrina quickly grabbed his arm.
"Oh no, I don't want to trouble you." she said as she stepped inside the house. "I'll be just a few seconds."
At a loss by her pushiness, the man stepped aside and let her in. Sabrina strolled casually across the living room into the backyard. The man followed her and stopped at the door. She went to some thick grass, stooped over and pretended to pick up the baseball that she had already put in her pocket. She held it up triumphantly for the man to see and smiled. The man nodded and waved uncertainly to her.
Sabrina waddled back into the house.
"Thank you so much. And again, sorry for bothering you." she said apologetically as she passed him at the backdoor. He nodded at her again, obviously eager for her to leave. She crossed the living room again and as she neared the front door, suddenly stumbled over her own feet. She flailed her arms for balance and the baseball went rolling into the kitchen, stopping to rest under the table. Sabrina looked up, mortified.
"Oh, clumsy me, I'm so sorry!" she said, waddling after the ball. She bent over and crouched in front of it, effectively blocking the man's view of her as she discreetly stuck the small electronic microphone underneath the kitchen table. Her task complete, she scooped up the ball and hurried out the door with a final awkward smile to the Italian man, who by now was giving her a strange look.
"Have a nice evening!" she said over her shoulder as she walked down the driveway and down the street. She waited until the front door had closed again before grinning broadly, her waddling gait returning to normal.
Sucker.
With the microphone planted, all the angels had left to do was listen and wait. The three girls took turns listening in on the spotty conversations going on inside the Moretti home. The two men who Sabrina had seen inside didn't talk much and when they did, their conversations were trivial.
At 9:15, another car pulled up to the Moretti home. The girls watched as another man went inside. As he approached the front door, yet another car pulled up and Moretti himself got out. The first arrival waited for him by the door and the two men walked inside together.
"I recognize him." Kelly whispered, pointing to the man opposite Moretti. "He was the guy that nearly tripped over me when he came out for a smoke."
"There were four guys last time?" Sabrina asked as she adjusted the volume of the headphones she was wearing.
Kelly nodded. "Yeah, there was four. Hopefully they'll get started soon."
The girls waited in tense silence for the four men to begin their meeting. Sabrina slid the headphones to her neck. The four men were talking, but not together. The television was on and they were moving around, possibly eating. Conversation was scattered and random and held no interest for her. A few minutes later, one of the men cleared his throat and made an announcement. The chatter immediately ceased and the television went off.
Sabrina lifted the headphones back to her ears and signaled Jill to turn on the recorder. She listened carefully.
Moretti's voice crackled through to her, the sound quality fair. The men had gathered in the living room and not the kitchen as she had hoped. She turned the volume up, but it only increased the static. Frowning, she turned the knob back to its previous position and listened harder, her look one of intense concentration.
Kelly and Jill remained silent as they watched Sabrina.
She slid the headphones down after a few seconds and gave them an exasperated look.
"Italian again." she informed them. She put the headphones back on and listened again.
The four men talked for a few minutes. Sabrina was able to pick up much more than Kelly had, but it still wasn't enough to fully understand the situation they were discussing. From she could gather, they were discussing something involve the bags of cocaine they had discovered in his house. But what they were planning to do with it, she had no clue. She was getting more frustrated by the second. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that the whole point of their bugging the Moretti home was to take the recording to be translated.
Still. She hated that she had to wait.
Sabrina turned to give a hopeless shrug to Kelly and Jill.
Jill grinned at her. Her friend's frustration was obvious. She didn't blame her. All three girls were more than ready to blow this case open.
"Want me to knock on the window and ask them to speak in English?" Kelly offered, putting a hand to the door handle in jest.
Sabrina smiled at her.
"Yeah, and while you're at it, ask them if they could kindly move their meeting to the kitchen table so the bug can pick it up better.
"They seem like gentlemen of the highest caliber." Jill started. "I'm sure they wou-"
She stopped mid sentence when Sabrina's eyes went wide and she held up her hand.
Someone had begun speaking in English. Sabrina narrowed her eyes and tilted her head, trying to pick up every word.
"That's bullshit!" she heard one of the men exclaim. She was glad for his choice of words. It caught her attention.
"It will work, trust me." another man said calmly.
"Trust you? I'm lucky to not be dead. They knew you would be here!" the first man continued angrily.
His accusation was met with a few harsh Italian words. Sabrina gathered they were curse words from the man's angry tone.
The conversation continued in Italian. Sabrina listened hopefully for another switch to English, but arguing in anger seemed to feel more comfortable in their native tongue. The arguing gradually subsided and the men calmed down. After chatting for a few minutes longer, the voices suddenly became clearer. The men must have been moving towards the kitchen.
Sabrina waited in anticipation.
"Hey, they're leaving." Kelly whispered. She had been watching from the peephole in the van.
Sabrina took off the headphones and moved to peer through the hole at the men. Two of them carried suitcases with them that they hadn't had upon their arrival. They were no doubt filled with cocaine to sell.
All of the men, save Moretti, drove off.
Sabrina took the headphones off and Jill stopped the recording.
Jill popped the tape out of the recorder and grinned widely at her two friends.
"You two ready to get some answers?" she asked brightly.
The following afternoon found the angels in the office, anxiously awaiting a call back from Charlie. They had sent him the tape early that morning and through his limitless resources, he was having it translated for them.
Bosley looked up from his paperwork at the three angels. They were all restless, though each girl showed it differently. Sabrina was tirelessly pacing up and down the office. Bosley had watched her make at least thirty circuits of the office, her course varying slightly each time. Jill was busying herself with organizing his desk, though he hadn't asked for her to. She had already cleaned the bar area twice and adjusted the picture frames in the room. She was disturbing his organizational system, but Bosley let her rummage through his things without complaint. Whatever helped. Kelly sat quietly brooding to herself on the sofa, the only outward clue to her restlessness being her knee bouncing up and down periodically.
Bosley looked at his watch. Charlie probably wouldn't call back for at least another hour and he was about to go insane watching Sabrina pace.
They needed to get out of the office for awhile.
"Girls, it's almost two. Why don't you three go out and grab some lunch?" Bosley suggested.
Sabrina stopped pacing and looked at her watch in confusion. It was almost two. Had they really been waiting for over five hours? She looked at Bosley.
"I'm ok, Boz." she said. Jill and Kelly agreed. Sabrina resumed her pacing.
Bosley cleared his throat and tried again.
"Are you sure? You haven't eaten since breakfast and there's this new sandwich place that opened up a few streets down. You girls should try it."
"I'm not hungry, Boz. Maybe later." Kelly said absently. She shifted her position on the couch and drummed her fingers on her lap.
Bosley sighed in frustration. "Maybe you three should take a walk. It's a beautiful day." he said hopefully.
Sabrina stopped pacing and looked at him.
"Aw, Bosley are you trying to get rid of us?" she said with a mock hurt look on her face.
Bosley started to deny her accusation and then changed his mind.
"Yes, I am. You three need to get out of here for a few minutes before you lose your minds. Go get lunch. Bring me back a cup a coffee."
"Are you buying?" Jill asked sweetly, wrapping her arms around his neck from behind.
Bosley scowled but it quickly melted away. Those girls, he thought to himself shaking his head.
"Yeah, anything to get you out of here and away from my desk." he answered with a faint smile.
"Thanks, Dad!" Jill giggled. She kissed his cheek and bounded over to the front of his desk and extended her open palm.
Bosley laughed and pulled out his wallet. He peeled off a few bills and placed them in Jill's hand.
"Thank you!" she said, flashing him a gleaming white smile.
Sabrina and Kelly had been watching the exchange with amusement.
"Thanks, Boz. We'll bring you back something good." Kelly said, holding back laughter.
"I'm counting on it." he retorted. He smiled and waved them away.
The three girls thanked him again, picked up their purses and headed to the door.
"Jill, you're going to have to teach me how you do that." Kelly asked with a giggle.
Jill just smiled at her.
"Oh, Kelly. The essence of Jill cannot be taught. It simply is." she said philosophically.
Sabrina burst into laughter and shoved her into the door frame. Their giggles could be heard as they exited the building. Bosley watched through the window as the three girls piled into Kelly's car.
He leaned back in his chair, enjoying the peace and quiet of the female-less office.
His moment of peace was abruptly interrupted by the phone. He sighed and picked it up.
"Townsend Investigations." he answered pleasantly.
"Bosley. I got the recording translated. I'm sure the angels are dying to know about it." Charlie's voice came back to him.
Bosley turned and looked out the window as Kelly's car pulled out into the street and drove out of sight.
"Yes. I know they are." he said wearily.
They were going to kill him.
The girls returned forty five minutes later with a bagged lunch and coffee for Bosley. As he feared, they wailed their protest when learning that Charlie had called seconds after they left for lunch. Bosley would probably never hear the end of it. After finally settling the girls down, Bosley picked up the phone and called Charlie, while the girls eagerly awaited his news. To his relief, Charlie answered immediately and the angels wasted no time in bombarding him with questions.
"What's going on in there Charlie?" Sabrina asked anxiously, leaning over Bosley's desk to make eye contact with the squawk box.
"Well, Sabrina, it appears that our client is at the center of a huge drug deal. I've notified the police and three men have already been apprehended."
"Did they get the drugs as well, Charlie?" Kelly asked.
"Yes, angel, all accounted for." Charlie confirmed.
"What about Moretti?" Jill asked. "Was he one of the men caught?"
Charlie was silent for a moment.
"No Jill, he seems to have disappeared." Charlie said. His tone suggested that there was more.
Jill sensed it instantly.
"Disappeared? What else, Charlie?"
"Well, Angels, I've discovered why my background check didn't pick up on anything shady in his past." Charlie started slowly.
The girls narrowed their eyes and waited for him to explain.
"The man we met in this office is not Anthony Moretti. His name is Robert Moretti. He is the older brother of Anthony Moretti."
The angels and Bosley's features simultaneously twisted into an expression of dumbstrucked shock.
Kelly recovered first.
"What?" she asked calmly.
"He fooled us all, Angel." Charlie said somberly.
Kelly clenched her jaw tightly and sat back in her seat. Her expression was tranquil. To a casual observer, she seemed calm. To her close friends, however, this was a tell tale sign that she was about to explode.
Jill's outrage came in a much more familiar form. Bosley gaped at her as she let loose a colorful stream of curse words.
"I saw the real Anthony's picture when we searched the house. I should have known." she said, shaking her head in disgust.
"I hate feeling stupid. I really hate it." Sabrina spat angrily. "What now, Charlie? Are we still on a case?" she asked.
The others looked up. That was a very good question.
"Well, Angels." Charlie started. "I'll leave that to you."
"I want to find him." Sabrina said firmly. "He was using us to find someone. I want to make sure he never does."
The other two girls voiced their agreement.
"I hoped that would be your decision. I'm just as upset as you are about being conned, Angels." Charlie agreed.
"And there's still a murderer on the loose, let's not forget that." Jill added.
Charlie considered this.
"Alright, angels. We stay on. This one will be for the sake of our wounded pride."
Arturo Peralta leaned forward on his desk, took off his glasses , and tiredly rubbed his eyes.
This was not going as he had planned it. Four of his men had been executed by some unknown force that threatened his hold on the underground drug trade. The shipment of drugs he had so carefully smuggled into the country had been stolen, and now three more of his men had been arrested. How had Tony Moretti managed to escape each and every time when so many better men had failed? The man seemed to be at the center of everything that had gone wrong.
Peralta considered this fact. Could it be possible he was a traitor? Reporting illegal activities to the police in order to avenge his brother's death?
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. If Anthony Moretti was trying to run him out of business then he was a threat.
And threats had to be dealt with before they became problems.
He had also heard that Moretti had hired some private detective to help the police search for his brother's killer.
Peralta wiped his glasses on the tail of his shirt and put them back on. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. If the police hadn't been able to find the killer, he doubted that one more detective would.
Still, though. Just to be safe, he could find a way that the detective threat wouldn't find the time to develop into another problem for him.
He thought for a moment before picking up the phone and dialing a number.