Chapter 22: Flipping the Little Fish
Lieutenant Walker sits alone in an interrogation room in the 3rd Police Precinct of Albany New York.
In the viewing room next to him Captain Avery of the Precinct stands next to Sarah, Alex's boss from the DA's office with Caitlin listening to Alex play Walker's confession for them on his phone.
"Honest to Christ." The Captain seethes in disgust.
"Wow." Sarah notes impressed as she looks at Alex "If we find the murder weapon where he said it is that's murder one right there – two counts. Nicely done you two."
"Wasn't our plan." Caitlin admits.
Captain Avery narrows his eyes at Caitlin "What do you mean?"
Caitlin takes a deep breath "Here is where we are going to need you to trust us."
Avery gets an unamused look on his face "Officer Reagan…" He commands "…start talking."
Caitlin crinkles her face up wondering just how far she can push "Introductions first?" She hopefully counters "Then they can explain."
"Who is they?" Sarah curiously inquires.
"Come with us?" Alex hopefully prompts.
"Go with you." Caitlin corrects her brother before looking toward Walker in the other room "I'm not letting him out of my sight." She explains before looking at her boss "Please Sir." She requests "Just go with Alex it will all make sense soon."
"This better be good." Avery grumbles as he gestures for Alex to lead the way.
Alex leads Avery and Sarah out of the precinct and down the street. He slows his pace as he approaches Caitlin's car and as he does both the driver's and passenger's side doors open and out steps Jamie and Eddie.
"Captain Avery, Sarah…" Alex begins to introduce "…I would like you to meet Sergeant Jameson Reagan and Officer Edit Janko Reagan, both of The New York City Police Department. They are here in Albany undercover in a joint operation with the FBI to take down the Meretti organization."
"Reagan?" Sarah immediately picks up on.
Alex opens his mouth to say 'my first cousin once removed' but at the last second changes his mind and like Caitlin, just goes with "My Uncle."
Jamie gives Alex a confused 'No I'm not.' look.
"Okay." Alex relents "I think he's actually my first cousin once removed but saying Uncle is just easier."
Jamie slightly rolls his eyes.
"You think…" Sarah emphasizes "…he's your cousin?"
"We literally just found out we were related…" Jamie explains "…so we are all still trying to figure everything out." He adds before turning his attention to The Captain "Sir…" He begins but Avery holds up a hand, gets right to the point and cuts him off
"What do you need?"
Jamie looks at the Captain a little surprised at his immediate willingness to help without knowing any details "Sir?"
"I knew the FBI had an OP." Avery explains "And for what I now accept is very valid security reasons…" he huffs out a little disgruntled as he thinks about his Lieutenant sitting handcuffed back in the interrogation room "…this time not even I was told any of the details or who was involved, just that eventually somebody..." he adds as he gestures at Jamie and Eddie "…would show up needing back up so again, what do you need?"
Jamie and Eddie look at one another. Eddie shrugs so Jamie turns his attention back to the Captain "Well since you asked…"
….
Jamie, Eddie, Alex and Sarah stand on the sidelines watching as the earth on top of Thomas Reagan's grave is slowly and very, very carefully being excavated and sure enough, a little more than a foot down contact is made with something hard and a few moments later a gun wrapped in a cloth is pulled out…
….
Caitlin leans against the wall in the viewing room still just watching Walker alone in the interrogation room through the window when the door to the interrogation room opens and Jamie enters in full on cop mode with a file in hand.
Walker immediately looks up with alarm and confusion in his eyes "What the hell are you doing in here? How did you get in here?"
"Walked right through the front door." Jamie replies as he moves to take a seat at the table across from Walker at the same time the door to the viewing room opens and Alex, Eddie and Sarah enter.
"Hi…" Jamie then greets Walker as Alex and Eddie move to stand next to Caitlin to watch "I don't think we've officially been introduced. I'm Sergeant Jamie Reagan of The New York City Police Department Field Intelligence Unit – did you catch that?" he then questions as his face turns deadly serious "Sergeant Reagan."
"What?" Walker asks confused by everything.
"You know like Sergeant Thomas Reagan." Jamie pushes "Turns out he and I are related – who knew right? So imagine my surprise when I find out I'm wanted by the Albany police for killing another Sergeant Reagan – except I didn't kill him." Jamie continues before looking pointed at Walker "You did. Him and his wife Kathleen." Jamie reiterates "We have your confession on tape and..." he adds as he opens the file to reveal a picture of the gun now in evidence, turns it around and slides it across the table to Walker "… we also found the gun exactly where you said it would be so you will be going away for that for a long time – unless – you wanted to help us take down Anthony Meretti – your choice."
And as Walker glares at Jamie, Alex and Caitlin in the viewing room start to get upset with Jamie and what he is saying but he is in the other room and can't talk to him so they turn to unleash their wrath on the next best thing - Eddie.
"What the hell is he doing?" Alex demands.
"So he's just going to let him get away with killing our parents?" Caitlin seethes.
"No." Eddie calmly replies "He's not." She promises "But he's doing his job." She replies "And he is very good at it so please, just have a little patience."
"So he's working an angle?" Alex questions as Sarah remains off to the side just silently observing.
"Yes." Eddie replies.
"Which is?" Caitlin prompts.
"To bring your parent's killer to justice while still completing our original goal – taking down Meretti and his organization."
Caitlin scoffs "Yeah well it doesn't sound like that."
"Trust me." Eddie implores "Trust him." She corrects "Because I promise you, nothing means more to Jamie then family. Nothing." She reiterates "And that now includes you and your parents."
"But he's offering Walker a deal." Caitlin exclaims in frustration.
"Except he can't offer a deal." Alex slowly realizes "Only the DA's office can…" he notes as he turns to looks at his boss to see her tilt her head slightly in agreement "…and Walker would know that too..." he adds as he now curiously turns his attention back to the interrogation room wanting to see how this plays out...
..
Walker scoffs at Jamie "You have absolutely no authority to be making deals here."
Jamie smiles "True." He admits "But you know who does have authority? The DA's office. You may know someone that works there – his name is Alex Reagan - you know, the son of the man and woman you killed. I'm sure they won't take that into account though when they are pushing for the highest sentence possible… or…." Jamie tacks on "Again you could help us take down Meretti and perhaps they will go slightly easier on you."
.
"See he's still making a deal!" Caitlin states in exasperation.
"He said perhaps." Alex thoughtfully notes as Sarah again glances at Alex, a small smile of approval appearing on her face "That's not a guarantee."
.
"Don't try to play me." Walker tosses at Jamie "I know how all this works remember?"
"Then you will also know that a shot at a better sentence is better than no shot at all." Jamie points out.
"If I flip on Meretti, I'm a dead man."
Jamie reaches in to his pocket to pull out his cell phone. He cues up the video from Caitlin's backyard that started this all "And if you don't flip, you're a dead man." Jamie counters as he hits play and turns the phone around to show Walker "Because I'm betting Meretti doesn't know you 'borrowed' some of his drugs – we found those by the way." Jamie then reveals "In your car. So that's also possession – more than enough for felony weight as you know - and with you stuck in here unable to return them after you 'framed' Caitlin…" Jamie notes "…it's not going to be long before Meretti discovers they are missing PLUS…" Jamie adds "…if that's not enough to convince you there is also the attempted murder on myself and my partner Officer Edit Janko – who you actually did hit - did I mention we are working a joint op with the FBI so we are Federal Officers now."
Walker takes in a deep unhappy breath of air knowing Jamie has him but to drive the point home even more Jamie continues…
"And then when the media gets wind of a Police Lieutenant brought up on charges of drug possession - well it's not going to take long for Meretti to connect the dots and I think we both know how that will play out." Jamie concludes "So you help us." Jamie presses "And we'll help protect you. You don't and you're on your own."
"Fine." Walker finally relents.
..
"Damn." Caitlin breathes out impressed "That was good."
Eddie proudly smiles. She knew her husband was good but she'd never really seen him in action since his move to FIO and since then he's clearly only gotten better "Yes it was." She wholeheartedly agrees.
"Well." Sarah suddenly quips as she finally speaks up "My turn." She announces as she steps to the door but then pauses and looks back at Alex as if pondering something. "Normally I wouldn't do this given the conflict of interest…" She finally states "…but if you promise to remain silent…" She seriously warns "…care to tag along?"
"Oh hell yeah." Alex enthusiastically agrees as he moves to follow.
..
"Mr. Walker." Sarah greets as she and Alex enter the room.
"It's Lieutenant." Walker reminds her as Jamie rises from his seat to make way for Sarah.
"We'll see." Sarah counters as she moves to sit in the chair Jamie just vacated, while Jamie moves to stand next to Alex off to the side "I've reviewed all the evidence and have to tell you the DA's office has very solid case against you and I have no doubt a grand jury will indite but before we go any further I must ask, would you like legal council?
Walker scoffs "What's the point. Let's just get this over with."
"Very well then." Sarah accepts "Let the record show that Mr. Walker declined to exercise his right to legal council. Now, let's begin…" She adds as she looks at Jamie.
Taking the cue, Jamie steps forward "The drugs you were going to use to frame Caitlin are Meretti's correct?"
Walker heavily sighs "Yes."
"How did you manage to get them without being detected?"
"I know when and where all his shipments are coming in." Walker explains "It's so I can ensure nothing disrupts them."
"What about the gun you used in the murder of Sergeant Thomas Reagan and his wife Kathleen?" Jamie inquires "Did that come from Meretti?"
"Yes." Walker replies.
"Does he have any shipments coming in soon?" Jamie queries.
Walker laughs a little "Yeah in like two hours."
"What kind?" Jamie presses.
"Drugs and guns – double whammy."
Immediately Sarah places a hand on a pad of paper and pen on the table and pushes it towards Walker "I'm going to need the where and when details of those - now."
So as Walker takes the items and gets down to writing, in the viewing room, Caitlin turns to Eddie.
"So that's it right?" The rookie prompts slightly unsure "We've got them?"
Eddie offers a cautious "If his info pans out, yes." She confirms as she watches her husband move to look over Walker's shoulder as he writes "Then it's just making the arrests." She adds as Jamie, with little time to spare, is already pulling his phone out to start coordinating raids.
…