There was no stopping the chaos that reigned over the entire Parkside Police Department until Wednesday when in rode federal agent Jonathan Winston. After a brief closed-door session with a distraught Leland Anderson, a press conference was called and held at headquarters.
Jonathan was a prince to behold, suave beyond description, and with silver-tongued oratory, he calmed the fears of an entire city. Parkside was nothing more than an innocent battleground for disreputable elements of our society, at war with one another. Parkside would remain untainted and a favored place to live and raise healthy, God fearing children who would become model citizens like those to whom he spoke. All this was made possible by the untiring work of the Parkside Police Department. Without them, lowly federal agents would still be in the dark in identifying the combatants in this dreadful war. Yes, those city bad boys might continue to kill one another but the innocents of this fair city had little to fear for their own. He made the continued killings "of those thugs" sound like good news, but emphasized it was only a matter of time until the might of right and justice would prevail and calm would return to Parkside.
Linda Segal, The Ice Lady, was speechless. She gawked at Jonathan like a freshman cheerleader at a senior quarterback as he gave her a smile that melted her heart. Whatever they paid this super cop, it wasn't a fraction of his worth when it came to effective PR.
Amid backslapping and handshaking, the station assumed a party atmosphere for much of the afternoon. Jonathan Winston accepted the thanks of the officers with his usual grace and dignity. Before leaving, he pulled Dean aside.
"I owe you one for delivering your buddy Baratto to us," he said. "He's working out to be quite a find."
"I'm just surprised the jerk knew anything important," Dean answered. Nevertheless, he was pleased.
"Let's say he pointed us in the right direction. He might not have opened up doors, but he showed us the keyholes where we could peek. These things have a way of falling in place. If you get close enough, sooner or later someone gets careless. We're picking up information in Maryland and we tagged where the family did in the Wassermann boys. They weren't too careful about the ownership of the property and one thing leads to another. Vinnie started a lot of action."
"No word on Nota?" Dean asked.
"He's probably back in Boston or off someplace else doing a job for hire."
Dean considered relating to Jonathan his suspicions that Nota had contacted Mrs. Glass but he was hesitant to even mention the Byrne matter to the FBI, nor did he wish to volunteer information on Fred's clandestine trip to Scranton.