The Summer Job - 39. Kickoff

After promising Seth and David a big surprise later, Phillip began typing an email. He had notes from his conversation with Jeffry about the Green brothers’ cousin Tyrone and that’s where he started typing.

He included Tyrone’s name, apartment number, make, model and license plate of his car, place of employment Trans-Continental Shipping on the Interstate, his job of loading and unloaded interstate trucks and, his habit of taking home drugs in his car when he got off of work in the wee hours of Saturday morning. He also made sure to include that Tyrone was known to have guns and is a real rocket scientist with an unlock code of ‘123456’ for his iPhone.

Phillip went to a web mail site and set up an address that would be his alter ego: Otter. He entered Sergeant Daniels email address. Before he hit send, Phillip picked up his cell phone and dialed Daniels number. He could tell it was a cell phone by the area code.

The Sergeant answered, “Daniels, Youth Division.”

“Hi Sergeant, this is Phillip Wright. We met yesterday afternoon.”

He chuckled and said, “Oh no. We aren’t taking Kelly and Casey back. They’re yours for the summer.”

“You can’t have them. They’ve been working out great. I’m calling about something else. Are you near your computer?”

Daniels said, “I can be. What’s up?”

Phillip said, “Talking to the boys, someone might occasionally come across information the police might need to know about; information that needs to be anonymously sourced but is very, very good.”

Sounding interested, Daniels asked, “How good?”

Phillip clicked send on his email and said, “Someone, who knows who it might be, named Otter just emailed you. The information comes from five different primary sources. The person it’s about is pretty sure scared kids that know he’s packing a gun are unlikely to talk to anyone but, if he was to run into a sobriety check point at three am while he was smoking a joint on his way home from work, he wouldn’t have anyone to blame but himself.”

Daniels paused as he read the email and said, “Jesus kid, you just handed us this mutt on a silver platter.”

Phillip said, “You’re welcome. You are going to discover he’s into more unpleasant things than just drugs when you unlock his phone. Please make sure he has a pleasant stay. I’m not handing you Tyrone just because he’s a scumbag. Oh sure, that’s enough. What I hope to do is to establish Otter’s credibility as a source because the next one is big, complicated, has a lot of moving parts and explains a lot of your problems over the last couple of years.”

Daniels said, “Now you’ve really got my attention.”

“Good. That was my intention. Like I said, it’s complicated, and it is going to take me some time to write up the background, players, what I’m sure about and, what I suspect. The information comes from a lot of different sources but, they paint an ugly picture. Once exposed it shouldn’t be hard to crack it with a few warrants and some leg work.”

Daniels chuckled and said, “I had a feeling I was going to like you. Brad said you had his little brother looking good today.”

Phillip replied, “I was glad to get those two. Kids that age can go either way depending on who is around them. They’re around a bunch of kids that aren’t wasted 24/7 and, they’re having a blast. I don’t think those two are going to be a problem for you anymore.”

Sergeant Daniels said, “I’m glad to hear that. I’ve got some people I need to talk to. Can I get back to you?”

Phillip replied, “This is my cell phone. Text me, and I’ll call you back when I can talk. I’m going to put your name in my phone as Danny.”

Daniels said, “I’m going to put you in my phone as Otter. Any reason you picked that?”

Phillip said, “I’m a swimmer.”

Phillip began typing the long, complex email that implicated Vice Principle Chuckles and a list of six juveniles in a variety of crimes and had a thought. Chuckles doesn’t live far from my house. We can take a look and see what is going on for ourselves later tonight.

Just as everyone else’s day was coming to a close, Deputy Marvin Gaddis and his Narcs were just getting started. Chasing addicts and dealers wasn’t a nine-to-five gig. They were creatures of the night and, if you wanted them, you had to work when they were active.

A lot of people had odd ideas about what the Narcotics Squad actually does. They were not the jack booted, black clad ninjas most people see on TV kicking in doors and shooting peoples dogs. Gaddis would make that shot if he was attacked by a dealer’s Pitt Bull but, it wouldn’t be his first choice.

Gaddis was a smart cop and preferred the intelligence side of the game. He wanted to know what was inside before they kicked any doors. If a dog was part of the picture, he would come equipped to tranq it. The goal was for everybody to go home and, in twelve years, he had managed that feat every time.

His cell phone rang at ten minutes to four, and he answered, “Deputy Gaddis.”

“Deputy, this is Daniels with the Youth Division over in the city. I’ve developed a very solid informant and, I’ve got a gift for you. Have a look at the email I just forwarded to your address.”

Gaddis said, “Just a minute.” He pulled up the email and began reading and whistled out loud. “This is some gift Gaddis. We’ve been looking at Trans-Continental Shipping for a while now. If we can get to someone on the inside of that company, we might crack something big open. How good is this informant... Otter?”

Daniels chuckled and said, “Character wise, he’s great. This is the first tip he has thrown our way but, he’s smart and Oswald likes him.”

Gaddis said, “Marty Oswald likes somebody? That’s a first. This info looks like solid gold. We’ve got his time, route, and even the unlock code for his phone. We’ll do it like Otter suggests: a DUI enforcement checkpoint at the bottom of a hill. Someone had to be very close to him to get intel this good.”

Daniels said, “Yeah, about that. Otter says we’re going to find interesting stuff in the suspect’s phone. Even if it’s only his associates it’ll be worth it but, I have a hunch it will be something else.”

Gaddis asked, “What are you thinking?”

Daniels said, “Otter didn’t say but, he told us to have a look once we had some charges to hold him on.”

Gaddis said, “I’m game. If we can get a peek inside Trans Continental, everything else is gravy as far as I’m concerned. Thanks, Daniels. If this goes well, I’ll be sending you and Otter Thank You notes and Christmas Cards.”