Chapter 28
The next morning, Olivia and Elliot took their shift watching Abigail and Phil. They had questions but neither were sure that Abigail would want to hear them or the insinuations that would come with. Still, they had to ask.
"You guys look like you had a long night," Phil said as he sat down on the edge of the queen-sized bed closest to the bathroom. The hotel room was nothing fancy, two queen-sized beds, a desk with a chair, a TV on top of a separate cabinet, with mini-fridge underneath. There was a chair in the corner next to the air conditioning unit under the window.
"Well, we found Luigi and he had some interesting information," Elliot spoke up from his spot leaning on the desk, while Olivia had taken the chair.
"Oh yeah?" Phil seemed surprised.
"Do we trust him?" Abigail was standing near the window looking out at the city. Ordinarily, that might have been a bad idea, but they were on the tenth floor and the location didn't allow for any good sniper positions. Not that they figured who was after them had that kind of skill – still it was something that had to be thought of.
"He dug into his notes for us. Had no problem cooperating. In fact, he has a long history of cooperating with the NYPD," Olivia told them.
"Luigi? Really?" Phil was really surprised at that.
"He was informing back when Kirkoff and Virgini were busy doing mob business. He helped keep Taglietti in business," Elliot explained.
"Geez. He had more balls than I thought," Phil seemed satisfied, but Abigail had grown quiet.
"So, Luigi said that your lawyer would call your daughter's house and she would pass along the messages," Olivia said.
"Yes. Ron wasn't thrilled with the idea, but he liked that at least the call couldn't be specifically labeled as my work. A lawyer calling the house could be explained away, though admittedly, the volume would have raised some eyebrows. Karen didn't like it, but Ron told her that if anyone asked, Tony was trying to help them with Derek. She didn't want to have that as an option, but she wasn't about to sell me out either. Probably, the only time that anyone could get her to admit there was something wrong with Derek," the former hitman told them.
"We don't want to speak ill of the dead, but since we know your lawyer is dirty and we know that Karen wasn't the one who reported Ron missing…" Elliot let the thought hang there. Normally, he would have shoved the thought in the face of someone like Phil, but with Abigail in the room, he wasn't willing to press them too far.
"Mom never cried that Dad was gone," Abigail didn't look away from the city outside.
"Maybe she didn't want to cry in front of you. I mean she was the only parent you had," Phil left his seat and went to his granddaughter. For the first time, the younger woman turned to face him.
"After Dad disappeared, you were the only parent I had. Mom was always taking Derek's side," she said. Phil pulled her into a hug.
"We think that Karen and Tony made a deal. One that meant something bad for Ron," Olivia put it out there.
"Why? Why would she do that?" Abigail asked. Phil shoulders sagged. He knew and Elliot gave Olivia a look.
"Your Dad wanted to send Derek to a psychiatric center. He wanted him to get diagnosed and I think he thought that maybe there was a fix. This time was different than all the other times. This time, he was digging his heels in. Something happened but he never told me what it was. It was why, after he disappeared, I stepped up in a much bigger way. What I told no one was that, I tried looking for Ron," Phil admitted. Olivia now looked at her former partner.
"What happened?" Elliot asked.
"Well, the police had actually done a decent job talking to the coworkers. The coworkers were more than happy to talk to me because they figured that I was family, why wouldn't I be looking? I never got any bad feelings about any of them, given the guys I kept company with, these people were saints. Ron's only enemy besides Derek, was Karen. I refused to believe it but now that Tony seems to have been in on it… that makes more sense," the former hitman shook his head.
"So how do we get Tony to tell us what he did? Why would someone break into Abigail's place?" Olivia figured they should ask the one person in the room who knew Anthony Taglietti best. The burglary unit had yet to find anything helpful and Abigail's valuables were still at the house. It was possible that whatever the person was looking for wasn't something on anyone's radar.
"I can't answer the last one – other than maybe it was a scare tactic. Not a message to her but more so a message to me," Phil figured. Elliot and Olivia could believe it. Abigail was a true innocent. She had no knowledge of anything but that didn't mean she couldn't be collateral damage.
"As for the first one…"
"Legally, Phil," Elliot gave him a look.
"The only way to get it out of him would be to get me in a room with him," Phil told them. Olivia was not thrilled with the idea, but she had to admit, it was starting to look like the only way.
To Be Continued…