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“Bullshit!” Dawkins shouted, as Kirk and McGraw laughed at how ridiculous the story was. “That never happened. Tell him, partner.”
“Well …”
“Don’t make me hold a gun to your head,” she said, reaching for her gun.
“Never happened, lieutenant. She was never out of my sight.”
“I didn’t think it did, but we had to let him walk anyway.” McGraw paused. “Especially since Giulio Altera didn’t actually tell you that Jocko was the one that hired him and like his lawyer said, anybody in that office could have made those calls.”
“We gotta cut Rona loose is what he’s trying to say,” Dawkins said with her head hanging low. “That’s it, isn’t it, lieutenant?”
The lieutenant slowly nodded his head. “With the apologies of this department.”
Kirk bounced to his feet. “Not before she answers a few questions,” he said and reached for the doorknob.
“Dawkins, a minute,” McGraw said.
“Go ahead, I’ll catch up,” Dawkins said as Kirk rushed off to question Rona. “What’s up?”
McGraw held up one finger as he picked up the phone. “Send him in,” he said and hung up. He looked at Dawkins. “There’s somebody that wants to talk to you.”
“Who, and about what?”
There was a knock at the door. “Come in.”
In walked Eddie Lewis. Dawkins and McGraw stood up as he extended his hand.
“You must be Detective Rachael Dawkins. I’ve heard great things about you.” He shook her hand. “Eddie Lewis, I’m an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.”
“Very nice to meet you,” Dawkins said and sat down wondering what he could possibly want with her.
“I know that you’re in the middle of something, so I’ll get right to the point. My office is putting together a task force in cooperation with the NYPD to go after the Caldwell organization.”
“Good,” she said with passion. “Our team worked too damn hard for Butch to plead out on a state charge of manslaughter instead of the trafficking or even the RICO case they could have brought against them.”
We got him off the street. It was a win, Rachael.
Those were the words that Lieutenant Gineconna spoke to her when he told her after all the work she’d put in. It never did sit right with her.
“That was our thinking as well. I reviewed the files. Excellent work, detective. How long were you working undercover again?”
“Three years.”
“The information you gathered and your testimony before the grand jury is the reason we’re sure we can make a case that takes the whole thing down, not just one player off the board.” He paused before he got to the point of all of the high praise he had lavished on her. “The reason that I wanted to talk to you, detective, is because of your experience and in-depth knowledge of the Caldwell’s and how they do business. We’d like for you to consider taking point and heading up the NYPD side of the task force.”
“Wow.” She laughed a little. “I gotta say that I definitely wasn’t expecting that when I got up this morning,” Dawkins said, and her mind began racing back to the years that she spent working undercover infiltrating the Caldwell’s.
Once she was in, she easily got close to London and after she rebuffed her many sexual advances, Dawkins became like a sister to her. The detective then used that access to build a case against her father, Vince Caldwell, that fell on Butch when his father got sick, moved to Arizona and got out of the family business.
“The case you helped build is the reason that Butch Caldwell is in jail.”
“I was just a part of the team,” she said modestly.
“The crucial part of the team, detective,” Lewis laughed, but he appreciated her modesty. “I understand that this is sudden. So, take a couple of days and think about it.” Lewis stood up. “Did I mention that since you’ll have command responsibilities that it comes with a promotion to sergeant?”
Dawkins stood up and extended her hand. “No, you didn’t. But it is good to know,” Dawkins said shaking his hand. He handed her his card.
“Like I said, take a couple of days and think about it. Give me a call and let me know what you decide.”
