CHAPTER 6

"That's great, hon. I'm glad y'all got through it okay...Love you, too. 'Bye." CJ hung up the phone, breathing a sigh of relief.

"So everything is okay?" Chris took a sip of tea as she sat down on the loveseat in CJ's office.

"Yes and no: Matt, Wally, and Alex are fine, but a ranger was killed after he found Pilkins' and Gonzales' bodies in the tent. One of the shooters was dead on the scene and the other was taken into custody. Right now he's in surgery at Loma Linda for a gunshot wound to the arm. They're still trying to identify both of the shooters." Picking up her phone again she called Michael like Matt had asked her to and brought him up to speed.

The lieutenant slid behind the wheel of his car. "Glad they didn't get hurt. I just had an update from Giovanni a few minutes ago. Plessy has been at home all day since leaving here. And I'm on my way to Memorial to try to talk to Angioli and Colombo – if he's able. They said he made it through the surgery okay."

"I'll pass that along to the others, Michael. Talk to you later." Hanging up she went back to the computer on her desk. Like Matt, she was convinced that Sharon Plessy was a major player in the whole situation. Since he had left earlier she had been concentrating on the woman; her early days were unremarkable. It wasn't until her sister had started being noticed by the scandal sheets and gossip TV shows that Sharon began to show up on the scene. First it was as a tag along at some of the clubs with her sister, then a couple of appearances in music videos of flash-in-the-pan artists whose careers seemed to hardly last a year. But somehow her name kept being brought up and as it did, her position and wealth seemed to be on the rise, unlike her sister who began the decline rather quickly, startng with a series or torrid relationships with other would-be celebrity types who were now referred to by most in a mocking sense.

So while Sharon's finances began to climb and Ashlyn's life began going down in flames the two had become separated from each other with only one thing in common: Mafia don Johnny De Fiore. Both had dated him off and on for several years. Comparing the two sisters, CJ noticed that Sharon seemed to be his "classy" date – the one that appeared at social functions that would tend to lend him an air of legitimacy. Ashlyn, on the other hand, was more the "cheap" date.

Leaning back in her desk chair the lawyer-turned-PI compared pictures of the two side by side. While Sharon's appearance actually improved over time, her sister's quickly degraded. "Why?"

"Why what?" Chris looked up from the stack of invoices that she had been organizing.

"Sorry. I was thinking outloud." She pulled up the records relating to Ashlyn's crash on Tujunga Canyon Road. The woman's tox screen had shown the low level of alcohol in her system and absolutely nothing else. Examining the photos from the autopsy she enlarged the image on the screen, and came to a complete stop: there in front of her was a picture of the inner part of the woman's left arm – and a line of needle marks that looked fairly fresh. She read back through the transcripts of the autopsy and no mention had been made about the marks at all. "Chalk one up to our lousy former ME."

"Uh oh – not another one."

"Yep. Look at this..." CJ waited as Chris made her way around the desk and looked at the photo.

"So she was using."

"But not a single mention of it in the autopsy results."

"You're kidding."

"Nope." Working the keyboard a little more she shook her head. "And Ashlyn was cremated."

"So there's no way of going back and doing another autopsy." The secreatary shook her head.

"What worries me..." CJ stood and stretched. "...if we know about this it makes me wonder how many defense attorneys out there might know."

"You're thinking that they might throw out some convictions because of sloppy work on the part of the ME?"

"Uh huh." The lawyer tapped on the computer monitor. "If I had any clients that had been convicted in part because of an autopsy done by him I would be raising ten kinds of hell. And that could be bad for us."

"As in you and Houston?" Chris watched her friend as she nodded, thoughtfully chewing her bottom lip. "So somebody that you worked to put away could get out...wow, not good."

"Not good at all. As a matter of fact it could be downright dangerous." She sat back down at the desk and thought for a moment.

"Guess I better get back to work." The secretary went back out to the reception area, leaving CJ alone to ponder over what she had learned.

Back in Lone Pine Matt was sitting in Wally Simmons' office looking at the information that the fingerprints of both shooters had revealed. "This one here – Damian Nicostratto – popped up in some of my research. Hang on..." He flipped open the laptop and retrieved the information. "He's worked for Bassinelli for about six years now. The dead guy isn't in here, though."

"Maybe we can get something out of this Nicostratto dude." Simmons took a sip of coffee and looked to Bateaux. "I told Gabriel to call me as soon as he's out of surgery."

"So it seems that the Miami family thinks that De Fiore or his people are behind the whole thing. If that was the case old Johnny wouldn't be stretched out on a slab at the Coroner's Office." Houston looked to Bateaux. "I wonder what gives?"

"Don't know. None of it makes any sense. I mean look at it: all five dons were killed at the same time by the same weapon. None of them are coming out winners. Even De Fiore's second in command got killed in the shootout."

"The second in command..." Matt closed the laptop and stood up, taking a sip of the coffee as he began pacing around the small office. "But what about the next guy down on the totem pole? You said yourself they're always jockeying for position."

"Well then, that would be Carmine Nunzio."

"Do we know where he is right now?" He watched as the agent pulled out his phone and began dialing, then went back to pacing. After a couple of minutes Bateaux hung up.

"Apparently he's at one of De Fiore's businesses. It's a junkyard and body shop over on Rush in El Monte. We've got surveillance on the way over there now."

"I think maybe we better head on back down to LA, Fibby." Houston took a large swallow of the coffee.

"You know Tammy is gonna be mad if you don't come to supper tonight." Simmons looked up at the PI and grinned.

"Tell her I'll have to take a raincheck." Knocking back the last of the coffee, he turned and began putting the laptop back into the case. "For that matter y'all need to come down to the ranch sometime."

"We could do that I reckon." Wally picked up his keys and took the pair back to the airport and the waiting helicopter. "Tell the family hello for me."

"I'll sure do it." A few minutes later the two men were airborne and flying back toward Los Angeles, both quiet as they thought over what they knew so far.

Bateaux quietly looked out at the landscape that they were quickly passing through. "We're getting pressure from the boss to get this wrapped up as quickly as possible."

"I'd be surprised otherwise." Houston glanced over at the agent. "You know...I've been thinking about Pilkins and Gonzales. I wonder if they were knocked off because they knew too much or if it was because they worked for De Fiore and the Miami family just assumed they were part of it."

"Don't know. Our agents in Miami have been monitoring the family down there. Bassinelli's second in command – Luca Bernardi – hasn't missed a beat – he stepped right on up and took control. But New York – that's another story. There isn't any clear evidence as to who is in control right now – at least as far as our people have been able to determine. Albricci was fairly new as the head of the family; he was hand-picked by Calabrezi to take over when the time came – spent years as the second in command."

"What about the Chicago and New Orleans crews?"

"Sarto was in control of Chicago for about ten years or so. Calm, kind of easy-going, not a whole lot of publicity. He took care of business quietly. From what our people there tell me his second is taking command without any interference. The New Orleans bunch has been known to be rowdy at times but since all this went down they've been surprisingly quiet. As far as we know the second there is in charge without any challenges."

"CJ said that Bassinelli thought he had a mole problem; now we have the explosion and the boss is dead. It seems that the Miami family is the only one taking any action. Coincidence?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"So far that's about all we have – guesses."

Matt landed on the patio of the Houston Industries Building and shut down the engine. As he and Alex came in through the double doors they were met by CJ. "So you two decided to come back, huh?"

Bateaux was the first to answer. "My boss is sending someone else up to talk to our surviving shooter in Lone Pine. He wants me to update him in person." The last was said less than enthusiastically.

"Knock 'em dead, Fibby." Houston punched him in the shoulder.

After saying their goodbyes to the agent, the Houstons went back into CJ's office and she shared her findings with him. "So our former ME just keeps giving us problems, huh?" Matt shook his head and listened quietly as she pointed out her worries about convictions possibly being overturned. "Guess we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it – and hope like hell that it doesn't actually happen." He looked at his watch. "Think my beautiful wife will give me a ride back home or will I need to hitch hike?"

"Didn't your daddy ever tell you that was dangerous?" CJ laughed as she picked up her purse and keys.

"Oh, he warned me about a lot of things. Like rattlesnakes..." They kissed. "And beautiful women..." They shared a longer kiss as they waited for the elevator, leaving Chris to roll her eyes when they left.

Later that night after the kids were put to bed, Matt was sitting in the home office and looking through what they had on the investigation so far when his phone rang. "Hey, Michael. What's up?"

"I just had a little chat with Columbo and he was surprisingly talkative."

"Do tell?"

"Uh huh. It seems there's been quite a bit more drama going on in the Los Angeles family than the FBI knew. Columbo swears that Carmine Nunzio has to be the one behind the attack."

"How does he figure that?"

"About a month ago De Fiore sent him to Pastorelli's Restaurant to pick up Nunzio. While he was driving him back to De Fiore's house, Nunzio almost dropped his cell phone and accidentally hit the speaker button. Columbo heard a woman's voice saying that it was all set up - all they needed was the date of the meeting. Nunzio switched the speaker off real quick and Columbo made like he hadn't heard anything."

"And let me guess: the woman on the other end of the call was none other than Sharon Plessy?"

"You've got it. And he also says that the mole that Bassinelli was concerned about was one of Plessy's former employees: Blaine Richey."

"You don't say. So that makes all four of her former employees dead now. Dead men tell no tales."

"Exactly. He says that he tried to talk to De Fiore about it, but that he just laughed at him; said Sharon wouldn't do something like that to him. "

"Love is blind, huh? Hmph." He propped his feet up on the desk. "So is he willing to testify to all that?"

"He is. I've already been in contact with the US Marshals – they're prepared to set him up in the witness protection program. He's also going to be moved to a safehouse as soon as the doctor releases him."

"Do we know when that will be?"

"Not sure yet. The guard on his room has been doubled. I also doubled the guard on Angioli so that no one would get suspicious."

"Way to go, Gramps. You've still got a move or two left." Snickering as he heard the cop's cursing reply he stood up and stretched. "So what about Plessy? Is Giovanni still watching her?"

"I sent Valdez and Trenton to relieve her. Figured we better double up on that coverage, too, given what I've learned about her tonight."

"So De Fiore's girlfriend and his third in command set him up." He began walking around the office. "But why the mole in Miami?"

"Don't know. Columbo said that he overheard her talking to someone on the phone but all he got out of the conversation was Richey's name and Miami. He couldn't hear the rest of it." Hoyt yawned. "And now I'm going home. I've had enough of the mob for one day."

"Have you told Alex and the others about it?"

"No..." There was a slight pause on the other end of the line. "Since you're the boss of this operation I figured that was your job." He snickered.

"Well, I guess you do need to go on home and get to bed seeing as how you probably missed your nap today, Gramps." The reply from the cop consisted of more curses and the PI chuckled as he hung up on his friend and set about calling the other members of the group.