Deadly Justice by Patti Starr

Author:Patti Starr [Starr, Patti]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-927403-52-5
Publisher: Iguana Books
Published: 2013-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

April 1981.

Cherry blossoms were in full bloom along the Potomac when Inspector Grant Teasdale walked briskly to the meeting that morning. Now he sat back in the leather office chair and tapped his pencil on the white pad in front of him. He, RCMP Deputy Superintendent George Wilson, and three FBI agents were sitting around a table in one of the conference rooms in the Washington Bureau. In front of each man was a pad of paper and a pencil, a glass, a coffee cup, and a spoon. There was a pot of coffee, cream, and sugar in the center of the table, and a pitcher of water.

The rug was dark blue, the walls off-white, the furniture standard issue, and the four paintings were landscapes by lesser-known American painters, provided by the Smithsonian loan program to government buildings. There were no windows, but air-conditioning came through two vents.

Grant Teasdale was in Washington because the FBI’s special task force on the Mafia had targeted Santino DeLuca’s operations in Florida. So far they’d got nowhere and wanted the RCMP to help them by investigating his Canadian companies. To that end, they were suggesting a joint FBI–RCMP task force. Grant Teasdale knew that he had been recommended as the task force head primarily because of his track record of arrests and convictions in the area of fraud and corruption.

“You come highly recommended,” Robert Lantinos, the FBI’s special agent, said. “We’re told you’re the kind of law-enforcement officer who commands a great deal of respect. We’re also told that, as tough as you are, you’ve got good people skills, and that you’d never ask any of your team to do anything you wouldn’t.”

Grant felt embarrassed.

Lantinos laughed. “I’ve also been told that you’re often in the forefront of any raids or undercover operations, leading your men, rather than directing them.”

“My men often work under tremendous pressure,” Grant interjected.

“A leader who is sensitive to those pressures —some call it an inner eye —can see beneath the surface of any situation. Yes, Teasdale, we think you’re the man to head this team.”

“He’s also got an uncanny ability to spot fear and weakness in others, and that makes him very effective against the criminal minds he faces every day,” Teasdale’s boss George Wilson added.

“Well, what do you say?” Lantinos asked.

Wilson responded to the FBI’s suggestion that Teasdale head the joint force before Grant had a chance to speak for himself. “It’s a great idea. There’s nobody better than Inspector Teasdale. But it has to be a shared project. We want access to your files as well.”

“Okay,” Lantinos agreed, “but I’ll expect you guys to use every loophole you have to help us nail this bastard. He’s been making a fortune on his U.S. gambling operations and then laundering the money in Canada in order to avoid paying taxes.

“And that’s where the IRS comes in,” Lantinos continued. “Since Al Capone we’ve brought down a lot of mobsters that way, and maybe DeLuca will get added to that list. We’ll be adding an IRS man to the team for that reason.

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