Undercover Cop

"Thank you, thank you Gary for being such a good friend to Rick." Then she hugged Susan and in between crying managed to say something that I couldn't quite hear.

I did hear Susan's reply though. "Just remember just how much you love each other and everything will work out just fine."

"Well, if I'm going to be staying here with you I need to get some things from my car. Gary, can you help me before you leave?"

Then hugging and kissing me she whispered in my ear. "After I've moved my things in, we'll see about me giving you a sponge bath . . . among other things."

Chapter Four

Seven months later I was back at work, albeit, on restricted duty. We had left the condo after two months and moved back into our home in Coral Springs. My eyesight had returned and the healing of both shoulders and leg was pretty much completed. It would be a couple of more weeks before I was cleared back to full-time duty. I was sitting at my desk in the detective bureau office going over the Mendoza file one more time.

"You know, Gary, there is something here that I can't quite put my finger on. I mean, Mendoza was clever, but he was still just a thug. I don't think he was smart enough to put this whole complex organization together by himself."

"Do you have a copy of that tape from that night when everything went down? I want to listen to it again?" I asked him.

"Yeah, it's here someplace." He replied, rummaging around in the evidence box.

Passing the tape over to me I put it in the player and put my earphones on to listen to it one more time. Just before I got ratted out and the shooting began I heard something. Rewinding the tape, I replayed it again.

"Gary, listen to this." I said, handing the earphones to him, and replaying that segment again. "Isn't that Mendoza asking Angelique where 'RS' was? Who is 'RS'?"

"I don't know, Rick. We must have missed this when all the excitement began."

"That's not the only mystery." Gary, slide that second box of evidence over here. It's got some of the files we found in Mendoza's office." I said.

Shuffling through a half dozen file folders I found what I was looking for, a memo to someone with the initials D.R.S. it contained a list of dates and numbers. Several more documents bearing the initials 'D.R.S. were in the same folder.

"I wonder who is this D.R.S?" I mused. "Think there is a relationship with RS?"

We couldn't asked Angelique Mendoza about any of this. She had been convicted in Federal Court for racketeering and drug dealing. When she was sent to prison she went through an extensive physical examination. It was then it was discovered she was HIV positive. When told the news the following day she became severely depressed. That night she committed suicide in her cell.

"Well, until we tie this loose end up I'm not comfortable closing this case out right now." I told Gary.

On Friday afternoon, after spending all morning searching for more clues who RS and D.R.S. might be, I gave up and went home early. Walking into the kitchen from the garage I could hear Emily on the phone in the living room.

"No!" She exclaimed. "I told you 'No' this morning at work. It's never going to happen. I almost lost the man I love and I'm not going to risk my marriage because of you. Now leave me alone!" She shouted, slamming the phone down.

She saw me as I entered the room and sat heavily down on the sofa with tears in her eyes. "You heard." Was all she managed to get out before breaking down completely.

"Maybe you better start at the beginning, honey." I said, sitting down next to her. "To begin with, who were you talking to on the phone?"

"It was Doctor Scott from work. He was the one who told me about you and that blonde. He tried to convince me you were cheating on me and I started to believe him." She replied.

"Have I ever met him? Has he ever met me?" I asked. "Has he seen any photographs of us?"

"He may have seen you, once or twice, when you picked me up from work. I don't remember"

"Then how did he know it was me with Angelique Mendoza?"

"I don't know Rick, RS just told me he saw you."

"Wait a minute, what did you just call him?"

"RS. He goes by RS instead of Richard. Everybody calls him RS at work." She replied.

Something clicked in my mind and I continued to gently question Emily. "What does he do where you work?"

"He's the head administrator and I think he might own part of the agency." She told me.

"OK, 'hon'. Let's forget all about it. What do you want to do over the weekend?" I asked.

But I didn't forget about it. When I went into work on Monday morning I told Gary what Emily had told me.

"I don't think that's enough to get a warrant on him." Gary told me.

I knew he was right but that wouldn't stop me from taking a very close look into Richard Scott's life.

When I returned home that evening, Emily was nervously waiting for me.

"Hi, sweetheart. What brings you home so early? Is everything all right?"

"No." She responded. "He started again this morning. I knew I couldn't continue working at the agency with him there, so I wrote a letter of resignation and put it on his desk when he went out to lunch."

"I cleaned out my desk and when I left to come home I found this under the windshield wiper of my car." She said, handing me an opened envelope.

We sat together outside on the pool deck as I read the contents out loud.

*******

June 10, 2013

TO:Emily Stevens, RN

FROM:Richard Scott, MD DRS

SUBJECT:Resignation

Your resignation is not acceptable to me. You will stay in your current position for the foreseeable future. I expect you back to work Monday morning.

I know the only reason you are not with me now is but for one obstacle. There has been a previous attempt made to remove this obstacle in your life but it failed. Now I will see to it that the next attempt does not. Afterward, you will realize how much you want to be with me.

*******

"Oh, Rick I'm scared. What does he mean by an 'obstacle'? I haven't done anything to encourage him. You must believe me." She said, starting to cry and shake her head violently from side to side.

"I know you haven't, I know." I said, holding her in my arms.

"I think he has become obsessed with you. Don't worry. I'll take care of it."

But I was worried. People in a mental state like his are dangerous, very dangerous. I just knew that I was the 'obstacle' to which he was referring.

Taking my cell phone, I went out into the back yard and called Gary.

"Gary, come over to my house right now and bring Susan with you please? Also, bring one of our tech guys as well."

Forty-five minutes later Gary, Susan and Thomas Sullivan, our head tech man, arrived. Signaling them to remain silent, I walked them through the house out on to the pool deck.

"Tom, I need you to sweep the house for hidden bugs. Check the phones, too." Handing him Emily's cell phone, "and this one as well." I requested.

"Gary, read this." I said, handing him Scott's memo. "You think we now have enough for a warrant?"

Turning to Susan, I asked. "Would you be able to take Emily up to her parent's home in Gainesville and stay with her for a few weeks, please? I'd feel a whole lot better with her safely out of town for the time being."

Half-an-hour later Tom emerged from the house carrying his equipment and announced that the house and land line phones were clean but Emily's phone had a listening bug and GPS app installed on it. Her car also had a GPS attached to it.

"OK." I said. "Here's what we going to do. Emily, leave your cell phone with me and take mine with you. I'll get a new one later. Pack a suitcase, enough to last for three weeks at least, and go with Susan in Gary's car. Leave yours in the garage."

After the girls left, Gary and I took my car to the station, Tom followed us.

When we arrived, I collected all our files on the Mendoza case and added Doctor Scott's memo to it and we made a quick trip over to the courthouse. We went to the State Attorney's Office and showed him what we had. He asked us to wait with him in the office while he read the entire file and, after a few quick questions, he gave us the green light to go after Richard Scott.

The next week proved to be very fruitful. First thing we did was to check his financials. Until seven months ago, sixty-thousand dollars a week was being deposited into ten separate accounts at different banks and credit unions belonging to him. Each deposit was for less than the ten thousand dollar transaction that would trigger an IRS investigation. The money stopped, coincidentally, at the same time I killed Mendoza. In the past month, money again was flowing into these accounts.

We also discovered that Scott had volunteered at a STD clinic for a short time a couple of years ago. When Gary checked with the clinic why he left they had no answer. He just stopped coming to work.

I had a suspicion that I shared with Gary and we secured a warrant for the records from the clinic of who he treated during the time he worked there. Surprise, surprise, one of the clients was Angelique Mendoza. He treated her for a minor STD infection. Another interesting note was that Scott had also treated several clients of the clinic who were HIV positive.

Then we checked the dates he started receiving the sixty-thousand dollar deposits and they coincided with the time he finished his treatment of Angelique. His connection to the Mendoza cartel was getting stronger.

"Looks like the good doctor has found another source of income." Gary said to me. "I think we better put him under surveillance 24/7."

I agreed and we assigned a team to keep an eye on the 'good' doctor. It paid off five days later. One of the surveillance team guys reported a meeting between Doctor Scott and a member of the Cortez crime family late the night before at an out of the way club on Hollywood Beach. This information gave us another avenue to explore.

I hadn't been home for the past forty-eight hours and I told Gary I needed a change of clothes and a shower. When I arrived at the house, a little after six, the first thing I did was check Emily's cell phone. I had turned it off and left it on the charger in the bedroom.

There were several messages in her voice mail which I listened to. Most were from her friends but two were from a blocked number. The first one I heard was from the Monday after she and Susan left for Gainesville. It was Doctor Scott asking why she wasn't back at work. He told her she could take another week off from work, but she had better be back the following week. He didn't sound too happy.

The next one was left this morning. Now he was furious at her for not returning to work. He told her he would be 'permanently' taking care of the obstacle that stood between them, that very evening.

I tried to call Gary at the office but he had left shortly after I had that afternoon. His cell phone went straight to voicemail so I left him a message with the pertinent details.

By now it was after seven and it started getting dark. When the home phone rang I answered it but waited for someone to speak before I spoke. There was no one on the end of the line and the dial tone returned seconds later. Someone is checking to see if I'm home I thought.

Just then my cell phone rang. It was Gary. "Rick we got a problem. Scott gave our tail the slip over an hour ago. I got your message and I'm on the way over to you with back-up. We'll be there in less than thirty minutes."

I turned off all the lights in the house except the one in the hallway and one in the master bath. Turning on the shower I left the water running and took a seat, out of sight, in the corner of the bedroom. Chambering a round in my Glock, I waited in the dark.

It wasn't ten minutes later when I heard the sound of the sliding glass door from the pool deck into the kitchen being forced open. A man appeared at the door of my bedroom, silhouetted by the dim light from the hallway. He moved toward the bathroom door holding a gun in his left hand and a small overnight bag in his right.

Silently I left my seat and stepped behind him. Placing my gun to his right ear I said. "Don't even think about it. Move suddenly and I blow a hole in your fucking head."

I quickly disarmed him and, forcing his head against the wall, handcuffed him.

After turning on the bedroom lights I whispered in his ear. "Now we wait for my partner and the rest of the troops. Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you."

"Where's Emily? Why isn't she here? She invited me to come see her." He stated.

"Yeah, sure. You came visiting with a gun? Well, she's not here." I responded. "Now shut up and sit down."

When I opened his bag I received the shock of my life. Inside was a collection of sadomasochism and bondage paraphernalia. Then it hit me. I wasn't the obstacle he wanted to eliminate. He was after Emily. He was using the GPS app on her phone to track her and he believed she was in the house by herself.

Five minutes later, Gary and the rest of the troops arrived. Placing Scott under arrest, I read him his Miranda Rights and, jerking him to his feet, I said. "Take this piece of garbage out of my house."

Chapter Five

The next morning Scott was brought from his cell to be interrogated. The State Attorney, one of the Assistant State Attorneys and I sat in the adjacent room behind a one way window. We could see and hear him but he couldn't hear or see us.

Scott was accompanied by his attorney who advised him to say nothing. He asked Gary, who would be doing the interrogating, what was going to be asked. Gary told him that for starters he wanted to know what was the relationship between Scott and the Cortez organization. The attorney whispered briefly into his client's ear and Scott nodded his head.

"All right, but first we want a written guarantee of immunity from prosecution for his information." The attorney told Gary.

Gary picked up the phone and said. "You heard?"

The State Attorney agreed but only if the information was solid enough to bring charges against Cortez. Scott's attorney produced a document from his brief case and told Gary to get it signed by the State Attorney. Gary left the room and returned a few moments later with the signed document with some changes made to it. The attorney looked at it, initialed the changes. Gary made a photo copy of Scott' attorney and kept the original. Handing the photocopy to Scott's attorney who placed it into his briefcase.

Gary Collins was the best damn interrogator I have ever seen. It didn't take him more than a half-an-hour to break Doctor Richard Scott. He soon was providing us with a treasure trove of information regarding the Cortez crime family. Names, dates, places . . . you name it he gave it all up.

Everything was being video and tape recorded. A written transcript would be made later. The State Attorney was loving every minute of it.

Two hours later they took a break for fifteen minutes. Gary left the room and Scott and his attorney talked to each other in whispers that we couldn't hear.

When Gary returned he had Scott's bag with him.

"Now let's talk about last night. Why did you break into Detective Steven's home?"

"I was invited." Scott replied.

"Who invited you?"

"Emily Stevens." He answered.

"Why was it necessary to bring this with you?" Gary asked, laying Scott's unloaded pistol on the table. "And what about all this." He queried, dumping the contents of Scott's overnight bag on to the table. A collection of sex toys, sadomasochism and bondage paraphernalia sat there.

Scott hemmed and hawed and finally started to speak. His attorney put is hand on his arm and told him not to say anything.

Scott shook his arm free and said. "Shut up, Benjamin I want to explain everything."

For the next forty-five minutes Scott described how he intended to use each device on Emily. "When I finished with her I will have had overcome the only obstacle that prevented her from being my sole possession. She'll would never been ever be able to face her husband again."

"What happens when you tire of her? What will you do then with her?" Gary asked.

"The same thing that happened to the others." He responded.

That was my signal to enter the interrogation room. I walked in and placed the case containing a syringe and an unlabeled vial of a pinkish liquid, that we found in his bag of toys, in front of him.

"What is this, Doctor Scott? Is this what you use when you have no more use for your playmates?" I asked.

"No." He responded. "It's nothing more than vitamin B-1 I give myself a shot when I feel run down."

"Then why don't you give yourself an injection right now. You look exhausted." I said to him, as I filled the syringe with the liquid from the vial.

No, no!" He yelled. "You can't make me do it. I won't do it."

"Ah, come on Doc I'll help you." I said as I tried to roll up his sleeve.

"No! That'll kill me." He screamed as he tried to twist away from me.

"How could it kill you? It's just a vitamin shot, right Doc?" I said.

"No, it isn't. It's blood serum containing Human Immunodeficiency Virus. I took it from a patient at the clinic I worked at a while back. The woman was in the last stages of AIDS when I took the sample of her blood."

"How many women have you injected with this stuff?" I asked.

"Three." He answered. "The first two were Barbara Taylor and Penney Underwood. They both died of AIDS over a year ago. The last one was Angelique Mendoza, but I understand that she committed suicide."

His attorney spoke up again, quiet loudly. "Don't say another word!"

"Benjamin, they can't do a damn thing to me. You've got their signed agreement of immunity for my testimony." Scott shouted back.

"Not quite true, Doctor." I said. "That offer of immunity is only good for your information and testimony against the Cortez organization. Not for any other crimes you may have committed."

"I'm now officially charging you with two counts of first degree murder in the deaths of Barbara Simpson and Penney Underwood. Along with one count of grievous bodily harm resulting in the death of Angelique Mendoza. Plus, breaking and entering into an occupied dwelling, with a firearm, with the intent to commit sexual assault."

Scott, turning to his attorney said. "They can't do that. Can they?"

"Yes, they can, you arrogant bastard. I tried to stop you. You wouldn't listen to me. Everything you said can be used in court. You screwed yourself." He said, as he stood and left the room.

I motioned to two uniformed officers standing just outside the open door to come in. "Take him back to his cell." I said.

Turning back to Gary as they left we slapped each other on the back with big grins on our faces.

"Played him like fiddle, didn't we?" He said.

"Yep!" We sure did." I responded. "Now I have to make just one more phone call."

As soon as Scott was out of the room and on his way back to his cell I called Emily at her parent's house.

"It's over 'hon', we got him. He's in custody. You can come home now."

"Are you ok Rick?" Oh! I'm so relieved. Susan and I will leave just as soon as we can get our things together. We should be home sometime before seven, I love you." She replied.

*******

Doctor Richard Scott's trial was held six months later. It went just as we anticipated. The jury deliberated less than three hours and returned a verdict of 'Guilty' on all charges. He was sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole.

Emily and I are still trying to come to grips with what almost happened to us. However, with us about to become parents, in about three months, those memories are fading fast.

Copyright 2013