A/N: A little extra "T for teen" in this one. Nothing super descriptive but out of caution I figured I'd mention it.
Chapter 30
"I can't believe that Taglietti bought this," Fin commented as he and Olivia listened to the two men talking inside Abigail's house. They were parked in a van across the street from the address. TARU had wired the home with bugs to record all of the conversation and Olivia was glad that Phil had not worn a wire. There would be no confusion on what was said in the home. Sometimes wires could be unreliable if clothing shifted too much. The technology had come a long way, but this setup was much better.
"I can't either, but that must mean he's desperate. He really thinks that Karen left something incriminating behind and since Taglietti could sell out Phil to someone who might want him dead, it's in both their interests to play nicely," Olivia said, listening to the conversation with one headphone up against her ear.
"Well for now anyway," Fin admitted. He radioed to the cars nearby to make sure everyone was in place. OCCB had to be the ones to take Taglietti down so Elliot was with Jamie in a car and Sergeant Bell was with Bobby in another car. Local precinct had a few plainclothes detectives walking up and down the street as if they lived in the neighborhood. Amanda and Joe had stayed with Abigail to make sure that no one tried to come get her while Phil was distracted.
"Karen had a lot of regrets as the end drew near," Olivia heard Phil over the recording devices.
"Cancer and death will do that," came Taglietti's reply. He was being very cautious still and Olivia again wondered if he'd fall for this.
"That they will. So, imagine my surprise when I went to where she told me all her important papers were and found this," while Olivia couldn't see what was happening, she knew that this was the crucial moment. They had had Abigail write the note so that it was easily assumed to be Karen's writing. The mother and daughter had similar writing styles and it was definitely not the chicken scratch that Phil called handwriting.
"She wrote this down?" More incredulity from the lawyer.
"She was dying and she knew it. Means she didn't care so much about things being on paper. Wasn't like she could be held accountable," Phil was selling this very well.
"What about her kids?" Taglietti wanted to know.
"Well Derek is a psycho who never liked his father anyway. All I had to do was keep it away from Abigail. That was easy since I handled the funeral and all the other arrangements. Now, I've given you the evidence that points in your direction. You promise me to not tell anyone I'm still alive and kicking yeah? Call it even?" This was it.
"How do I know you didn't make a copy of this?" More skepticism from the lawyer.
"Given all the recent family scrutiny, keeping a copy would be stupid on my part, don't you think? I mean whatever goombahs you were going to send after me wouldn't care about some piece of paper. They'd whack me somewhere public and not draw attention to Abigail, who wouldn't even know the piece of paper existed. No women and children, right? Then she'd find it while cleaning out my apartment. Seeing as I promised Karen, I wouldn't let the kids know, keeping a copy would be stupid, like I said. There is one thing I gotta know though," Phil was close to getting the words they needed on tape.
"What's that?" Taglietti asked.
"Why Ron? He was a good guy. Wouldn't harm a fly so I know he wasn't beating my daughter or my grandkids," there was the question. Olivia held her breath.
"Karen said he needed dealing with and you wouldn't do it. I was a little surprised that you'd refused, but then again Karen wasn't going to give you what she gave me in payment. You should have seen the look on Ron's face when I told him what I'd been promised. Hell of a thing to know right before it's over," the lawyer had said it.
"What did she give you?" Phil was confused, but Olivia looked at Fin and they both had a pretty good idea where this was going.
"She promised to do it any way that I wanted. Promised that I could have her whenever I wanted. Many a lunch break was spent using my desk for a good screw. Karen was wild, deep down. I'm guessing Ron wouldn't satisfy her urges. We'd even meet up at motels. My wife was never very adventurous in that department and after a while decided she didn't want to do as a wife is supposed to do. She had to know I was getting it from someone else but I'm willing to bet that she never knew it was Karen," Taglietti's words gave Olivia the impression he was smirking the whole time while Fin muttered that Phil would probably kill him for talking about his daughter that way.
"You took that as payment?" The words ground out between Phil's teeth.
"Why not? We were screwing right up until she got sick. I got years and years of enjoyment out of it. She even helped Mario when he needed it," that did it. Fin yelled through the radio for everyone to move in. Elliot was the first one out of the car and he stormed up the front steps and through the unlocked door. Phil had his former lawyer by the shirt collar and was about to have his fist meet Taglietti's face when Elliot grabbed him. Jamie and Bobby were the next ones in and they grabbed the lawyer, handcuffing him. Phil practically collapsed onto the couch as Taglietti was led away.
"My daughter was not a pedophile," he gagged on the word as he said it.
"Hey for all we know Taglietti made up that last part. He knew that he had you all riled up. He was enjoying seeing you squirm," Elliot told him.
"Why would Karen agree to something like that? You really think he was telling the truth?" Phil asked.
"We'll only ever have his side of the story. He could be inflating it. Maybe she gave him jewelry to fence, or Ron's car was supposed to be his. Unless we find the real piece of paper, that Karen might have left, we won't have anything to refute his statements," Elliot was being honest. The man admitted services rendered for the death of Karen's husband. That with the other circumstantial evidence might be enough to get Taglietti to tell them where Ron was buried.
To Be Continued…