Chapter 23

"What was this guy's alias?" Jamie Whelan asked his at the moment partner, Bobby Reyes. He'd been driving and had just parked the car outside the apartment building that Phil Bartoli had been calling home.

"A real creative one – Bob Dibney. Most of these guys go with Smith or Jones," Bobby chuckled. Before they got out of the car, the two looked around. It didn't look like they'd been followed or that anyone was at the apartment building.

Exiting the vehicle and heading for the door, Bobby elbowed Jamie and the man gave him a look. Bobby indicated with his eyes for him to look over his shoulder. Subtly, Jamie did so and noticed a black car with a guy in the driver's seat, supposedly reading the newspaper. Jamie poked the buzzer of "Bob Dibney's" apartment and waited for him to answer.

"Hello?" The voice came over the intercom.

"Hey Bob, it's Jamie and Bobby. We're friends of Elliot. Can we come in?" Jamie didn't want to give away their identities in case that guy in the car was watching the apartment.

"Oh hey. Come on in fellas," the door buzzed and the two entered the building, making sure to close the door behind them so that it locked. They quickly headed up to the third floor apartment and Bartoli let them in without asking to see their badges.

"Elliot couldn't come over?" He asked, still not letting on that he knew Elliot worked for the NYPD. The two men figured they were safe and flashed their badges – Phil nodded and they put them away. They were then offered seats on the sofa, which they took as the former hitman took the recliner.

"So, what's up?" Phil wanted to know.

"Well, we're not sure but Elliot seems to think your lawyer might be…" Jamie started.

"Dirty," Bobby finished for him.

"Geez. Well, that's what you get for trusting an old friend from your old life," Phil heaved a sigh.

"Look they don't have anything concrete, but the guy who had Ron's car stolen said that he received a phone call to steal the car. Somehow your lawyer knew about the call, but didn't tell the cops at the time," Jamie said.

"Seriously?" Phil asked.

"Yes, and right now there's a guy outside your building sitting in a black car pretending to read the newspaper," Bobby told him.

"Fancy car?" Phil wanted to know.

"Looks like it just came out of the car wash," Jamie said.

"All right. I'm going to pack a few things into my backpack. You guys are going to take me to Elliot," the former hitman quickly got up and headed into the other room. The two men followed him.

"Who do you think it is?" Bobby asked.

"I don't want to hang around to find out. They never figured out who was sending those letters to my daughter and I have to wonder if my lawyer didn't give me up to someone. If he might have had a hand in getting rid of Ron, then I'm next on the list, especially since I'm not dead anymore," Phil said, stuffing clothing into a backpack before ducking into the bathroom to grab medicines and a toothbrush.

"All right. We'll pretend we're going out on the town or something," Jamie told him. Quickly, the three headed for the front door.

"What about Abigail?" Phil wanted to know.

"Fin and Amanda are heading to her place," Bobby reassured him. The former hitman nodded and they exited the apartment. Heading down the stairs, Jamie went first, with Phil and then Bobby behind him. The lead detective looked out of the glass door and told Phil to stand next to Bobby so that he wasn't in direct view of the person in the car. They could all see that he was still there and both detectives could also see the look on Phil's face. He knew who that was. Once inside the car, Jamie fired up the engine and started heading toward the SVU precinct.

"He following us?" He asked.

"Not yet. You know who that was?" Bobby turned in his seat and gave Phil a look.

"I'm pretty sure that was Taglietti's kid, Mario," was the answer. That's when Bobby saw a black car turn the corner.

"Oh, I think he's on us now," the detective said.

"Call Jett. Have her run the plates and have her call Elliot. We'll get close to the precinct and have to go in the back. I don't want us to let on that we know we're being followed," Jamie told him.

"On it," Bobby whipped out his phone and placed the call.

To Be Continued…