Using the information Roberto provided, we logged into the Swiss bank account on De Luca’s phone so he could verify there were actually two million euros sitting in there.
I gave him the password and login, along with the necessary information to pull money out of the account.
Then we proceeded to the next stage.
I didn’t want to risk another homicide cop interrupting us, so De Luca found a workstation in Robbery and booted up one of the computers. The place was deserted, so we had the room all to ourselves.
Once De Luca logged in, I said, “I’m looking for a woman named Bianca Lettieri.”
He typed in the information, then shook his head. “Nobody by that name in the system.”
SHIT –
For a second, I panicked.
Had they already gotten to her?
Had I been wrong about Moretti, and he’d already turned her over?
That’s when I realized Bianca might have taken me literally when I’d shouted instructions at her:
Don’t say anything. NOTHING.
“Can you find all the women who were brought in over the last two hours?”
“Yeah, sure,” De Luca said as he typed on the keyboard.
A single name came up: Maria Rossi.
The Italian equivalent of ‘Jane Doe.’
“Is that the name she gave?” I asked, amused.
“No, they put that in for anybody who won’t give their name.”
Good girl.
“Where is she?”
“Holding cell in the women’s detention center.”
“Is that far?”
“No, it’s just down the block. A five-minute walk.”
“Can you pull her out? You have that authority?”
“If it’s for a case, sure. I’ll put in a request and tell them I’m coming to pick her up for questioning.”
“Okay, great. Now I got a question for you.”
De Luca looked at me worriedly. “…what?”
“Do you know people who work at the courthouse?”
He frowned. “Huh?”
“Yes or no – do you know anybody who works at the courthouse?”
“Well, I mean, I’ve had to testify in a dozen trials, so… I guess I know a couple of judges’ names, but – ”
“What about the people who actually work in the office?”
“Uh… no…?”
“Do cops ever deal with those people, the ones behind the scenes?”
“Not really, no.”
“Good.”
De Luca looked totally confused.
I didn’t bother to explain. I just said, “I want you to check for another name.”
“Okay – what is it?”
“Fabrizio Lettieri.”
De Luca typed it in.
“…nope.”
I didn’t really expect to find it…
So I played my hunch from earlier.
The one I’d come up with before Moretti had barged in.
“Try Fabio Flambeur,” I said.
“Flam what?”
“Flambeur. It’s French.”
“How do you spell it?”
“Fuck if I know. Can you type in F-L-A-M and see what comes up? He would’ve been booked last night, probably around 9 PM.”
De Luca typed F-L-A-M into the box for the last name and hit ‘Enter’ –
And a record for ‘Fabio Flambeur’ showed up.
“YES!” I crowed.
De Luca looked at me like I was crazy, then turned back to the screen. “It says they brought him in for a drunk and disorderly last night around 8:45. No ID on him. Spat on a police officer, apparently.”
I grinned.
If my hunch was right, Bianca’s dad was just as smart as she was.
“Pull him out, too.”
“Alright,” De Luca said as he typed something in the system.
“Good – now let’s go. But get the girl out first, and don’t tell her about the other guy.”
“Anything you say, boss,” De Luca said as he shut down the computer.
