Heat Gauge

Chapter Five

 She hit the precinct at 5am, wanting to get a jump on the day alone with her thoughts. But when she strode into the bullpen she found Raley and Ochoa already busy on the phones, and Rook in the break room making them all espressos.

“What are you doing?” Nikki demanded.

“Making coffee?” he said, holding up the cups with an innocent expression.

“No, I mean what are you doing here? You're supposed to be at home.”

“Like you're supposed to be in bed? How's your head, anyway?”

Nikki put her hands on her hips and was about to admonish him, but the words died on her tongue and all she did was shake her head. “Have they found anything?” she asked, instead.

Rook took a small sip of his espresso, then handed her a cup. “Ochoa got in touch with Natasha's brother. Dimitri Herskovitz says he hasn't talked to his sister in ten years, and the last time he saw her was at their mother's funeral. So that's a dead end.”

“Well, it was a long shot anyway,” Nikki replied, pursing her lips.

“But he did mention that Natasha had been married before.”

“Married? There was no record of a marriage in her file.”

Rook just shrugged. “He gave Ochoa the name. I can't remember it.”

“You're a tribute to journalists everywhere.”

“So nice to have my talents recognised. The Pulitzer Prize has nothing on you.”

Nikki rolled her eyes and blew gently into her cup. “What did Raley find?”

“Bedford Hills is sending over a copy of Natasha's file.”

“Good. Maybe it will shed some light on this mysterious ex-husband.”

They each took one of the extra cups and went back out into the bullpen. Ochoa was just hanging up. He took the coffee from Nikki gratefully.

“Who was that?” she asked.

“Just chasing up Natasha's old conviction,” he replied, “the arson one. Turns out she didn't serve her whole sentence. She was acquitted after just eighteen months.”

“Why?” Nikki had to ask.

“Someone came forward and confessed to framing her. A Mr. ...” Ochoa consulted his notepad, “Alexei Petrov.”

“And where is Mr. Petrov now?”

“Get this - after he was released from Lincoln where he served his full arson nickel, Petrov disappeared. He resurfaced in '08 when he was arrested in a street brawl at Brighton Beach. But then disappeared once more shortly after being let go for good behaviour.”

“Brighton Beach?” Rook said, eyes lighting up. “Isn't that where --”

“The Russian Mafia operated during the '70s? Yes,” Ochoa said. “Sixty-first has jurisdiction. They said they've been tracing an underground operation and told me that Petrov is more than involved, he's one of the ringleaders.”

“What's the operation?” Nikki asked.

“Fencing.”

“Fencing? Fencing what?”

“Anything and everything. Six-one has recovered paintings, sculptures, all sorts of technological gadgets, missing cargo shipments, even sports cars. It's turned into such a major business now that they're even using storefronts to sell the goods.”