Detective Fog and the Mission Pigeon

Chapter 29. The Mole Test

Detective Fog listened to the police radio waves over her laptop on Tuesday afternoon and had followed the drive-by shooting sitting on Jimmy's couch. Now there had been another shootout next to a known Andreou headquarters.

"This is certainly a response to Athena Rex's murder," Detective Fog told Jimmy. "Either the Andreous killed Athena Rex, and the Sigler mafia is mad at them for making it look like it was the Sigler mafia who killed Athena Rex, or the Sigler mafia killed Athena Rex, and the Andreou family is angry at the Sigler mafia . . . I haven't worked out why, so it's most likely as far as I can see that the Andreous killed Athena Rex. Maybe, to start a mob war or because they didn't like what Athena stood for — making actual progress toward eradicating the gangster criminal element in this city.

"You'd think the Andreous would have left it to the Sigler mafia to make that call, though. Unless the Andreou family is close to having some of its members incriminated. They would want to make the move themselves, slow down that progress, create chaos and confusion. The motives aren't really what matter, of course. What matters is how do we gather from this reaction hints to pin down Athena Rex's murderer?"

She was eating fresh, baked bread from the only bakery she knew of in the financial district that somehow managed not to sell out of bread before sunset. Sitting on the couch, picking apart a loaf of bread and stuffing it into her mouth, sans toppings. That's how much she loved sourdough. Jimmy stole a piece and managed not to have his hand slapped away.

"Should we poke around the crime scene?" asked Jimmy.

"If you want to be handcuffed and spend the night in a holding cell, Jimmy, you go right ahead. I'm not poking around any crime scenes. My move right now is to narrow down someone at the SFPD who I can offer to help find a mole.

"Maybe I can offer this person a trade — my mole catching scheme in exchange for their information on this crime scene. If you'd like, though, Jimmy, you could drive by the drive-by in North Beach and see what you can find. The police will be more effective at processing criminal activity like this, and we can wait to see what scraps from that investigation they're willing to pass to us, but I get the feeling you have nothing better to do. Just help me pick a copper, first."

She had a million tabs open on her screen. Mostly Malyssa had looked at news articles featuring mafia-related arrests and the police officers named as participating in the evidence that sealed the case.

"I need a standup cop who has put away criminals: gangsters from both sides of this mob war. I'm sure some of the coppers in mafia employ put away plenty of the rival mob's people, so I need someone who has arrested both Andreou and Sigler gang members. I'm not coming up with too many results. I know Inspector Prince arrested the Sigler button man who went down for Mayor Banikas's murder — a man by the name of Basil Gravinites — and he's put a couple Andreou cousins and affiliates with different last names in the clinker, but I'm reasonably sure that Prince investigated the crime scene. He asked me a question about my method of getting to Paul's rescue that suggests he would want to see the damage himself. We need to test every officer who visited the scene for whether he or she is a mole so that rules Prince out as the administrator of the test — he's one of our small pool of likely moles.

"There's a much better candidate anyhow, though. Inspector Gregory Roussos has the most mafia arrests under his belt, mobsters on both sides. He's almost too good to be true, right? Maybe my paranoia is reaching new heights. But what if one of the mobs is giving him people to put away, people who've betrayed or disappointed their organization? That way, they set Roussos up as a hero. He's in a good position for anything they need from him."

Jimmy couldn't take any longer without interrupting. "What about Officer Alafogiannis? I think you can be fairly sure your own flesh and blood doesn't work for the mafia."

"Oh really?" asked Detective Fog, keeping her eyes on the screen rather than looking at Jimmy. "Other than the few occasions when she accompanied Inspector Prince on the scene, Dianthea has been involved in the arrest and evidence leading to the indictment of one. single. Andreou. Or rather, an Orologas. Courtney Orologas, she kept her last name when she married Carl Andreou. That's it. That's the full extent of Dianthea's effort to fight against organized crime."

"You think it's fair to discount her contributions to Prince's arrests? What if she took the lead on those?"

"She didn't. Besides which, she wasn't even present for most of his arrests. I wouldn't usually keep score, but it's not like this is the first time it'd be nice to ask my own sister for police leads on cases. I can't count on her as a sure thing. Half the time, when her partner makes an arrest, I text her a congratulations, and she responds that she was home watching wrestling or at a bar somewhere celebrating some jail bird's birthday with Jägerbombs.

"There's one other option, though. A new cop on the force, straight out of the academy, who single-handedly busted Sarah Kasick and two of her cronies her first month on the job, then arrested a pusher connected with the Sigler mafia. Name's Officer Jane Ladas. She's also been responsible for putting away six people associated with the Andreou family in six months."

"And this kid isn't too good to be true?" asked Jimmy. "You don't think she's just as likely as Prince or Roussos to have been handed all the mafia's fall guys so she's set up as a hero? How do you choose between Ladas and Roussos?"

"I've been tracking her movements since before she made the force. I'd rather not put her in this position. But I know she's not bought. She's the only person on the SFPD I can trust.

"Jane Ladas is my roommate," said Fog, brightly.

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