Scam

weekend toot, right? But that’s not the big problem. The big problem is, the guys making the bust aren’t your average everyday street cops; they’re narcs. And they’re not going to faint just ’cause Al Martinez says boo. They don’t, and Eddie Martinez gets arraigned.”
    “So?”
    “So now the kid’s on the hook for felony possession with intent to sell, and lookin’ at some hard time. Of course Alberto gets the kid an attorney, and the mouthpiece cuts the kid a deal.”
    “What kind of deal?”
    “What kind of deal do you think? He talks. He rolls over. He rats out his friends.”
    “Yeah. So?”
    “So guess who he rats out?”
    “Patty Devlin?”
    “Bingo, right on the button. So the cops drag Patty Devlin in, charge her with trafficking. She freaks. What, are they nuts? She’s a hooker. She don’t move weight. She didn’t sell to Eddie Martinez. Hell, he was selling to her.”
    “The cops believe her?”
    “Thing is, they did. ’Cause it made sense. A lot more sense than a penny ante hooker’s movin’ kilos. If she’s movin’ kilos, why’s she hookin’ and sellin’ hits of crack? So the narcs cut her a deal to testify against him.”
    “Uh-oh.”
    “Yeah. Only now she’s on the horns of a dilemma.” He cocked his head. “You ever have a horny dilemma?”
    “Constantly.”
    “Yeah, well, the minute she’s released, Patty Devlin comes to the realization the deal she’s just made is not exactly conducive to good health. She goes back to her apartment on West 45th Street, and what should she see but an unmarked car hanging out down the block. The girl is streetwise on the one hand, paranoid on the other—and with what’s comin’ down she’s got good reason—so she checks it out on the sly, and who should be waiting for her in the car but officers Belcher and Martinez, just about the last people on earth she would like to see.”
    “So?”
    “So, she is now in fear for her life. She hightails it out of there, and over on Eighth Avenue she spots a regular marked police car in front of a doughnut shop.”
    “You?”
    “No. Just couple of cops on radio patrol. But she don’t care who they are, just as long as they’re not Alberto Martinez. She goes to the cops, says take me downtown.”
    “They do?”
    “Yeah. She’s askin’ for the narcs. She’s askin’ for the ADA. The one who cut the deal. Of course, these people are not readily available, you cannot get to them just like that. So, who’s catchin’ at the time but yours truly.”
    “They dump her with you?”
    “Right. And she tells her story. Most of which I already know, because it’s common gossip. But I listen, and I don’t like what I hear. So I try to contact the ADA. Who is still not available.”
    “Martinez and Belcher show up?”
    “Sure do. Demanding the girl. Insisting I hand her over.”
    “But you don’t.”
    “Of course not. I’m holdin’ her for the ADA.” MacAullif shrugged. “They say, no, no. She’s a suspect, she’s a fugitive from justice, they’re taking her into custody.”
    “You don’t budge.”
    “No. Well, Martinez flips out. He damn near pulls his gun. If there are not other cops here at the time, they probably overpower me and take her away. But as it happens, they don’t. I got backup and I use it. And they wind up outside, and I wind up holding the girl for the ADA.”
    “So the kid went down?”
    MacAullif made a face. “Yeah, sure. Like in a storybook. The good guys win. Justice triumphs.” He snorted. “The minute the girl’s alone with the ADA, she says she’s sorry she lied, but she was scared she’d go to jail, so she made the whole thing up. Of course she wasn’t buyin’ from the kid, it was her kilo all along, she just gave it to him to hold.”
    “Are you shitting me?”
    “No, I’m not. And the end result is the motherfucker walks.”
    “You’re kidding.”
    “Not at all. All I’ve accomplished through my moral stand is to make two enemies for life. And the one thing a cop does not need is enemies on the force.”
    “But, if the kid walked—”
    “Hey,” MacAullif said. “And there’s the irony for you. I’m the one got the broad to the ADA so she could make that happen. But does that matter to them? Not at all. I turn the girl over to them, they beat the shit out of her till she changes her story, with the same result. Either way, the kid walks. All I did was keep them from beating her up. But to them, that’s enough.