Deadly Assets (Badge of Honor 12)

He pursed his lips and nodded approvingly as he glanced at Payne, then peeled off the cellophane wrapper.

“Read the back,” Payne said.

Washington flipped over the pack, and saw:

THIS DECK OF CARDS FEATURES FIFTY-TWO HOMICIDE COLD CASES AT THE PHILADELPHIA POLICE DEPARTMENT. THESE CASES REMAIN UNSOLVED. IF YOU RECOGNIZE ANYONE AND CAN PROVIDE INFORMATION ON THEM, PLEASE CONTACT US. YOU CAN REMAIN ANONYMOUS, AND YOU COULD BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CASH REWARD UP TO $20,000.

CALL US AT 215-686-TIPS (8477) OR TEXT PPDTIP (773847) OR OR PHILLYPOLICE.COM/SUBMIT-A-TIP.

“Interesting,” he said, then opened the top flap and pulled out the stack of cards and picked one.

It was the queen of spades and, as was common to standard playing cards, the card’s back was identical to all the other cards in the deck. In this case it was the blue uniform patch with gold stitching in the shape of a badge that read PHILADELPHIA POLICE, HONOR, INTEGRITY, SERVICE.

The face of the card, as also was common to standard playing cards, had a black “Q” and a black spade in the upper-left and bottom-right corners. But instead of an image of a queen in royal garb, the center of the card had text and a color photograph.

Under the headline UNSOLVED HOMICIDE was the picture of an attractive brunette, under which was written “Jennifer Ann Dusevich, White Female, 32 years old, found 11/10/81 deceased in a wooded area of Point Breeze near the Delaware River just north of O’Maddie’s Pub on State Road.” And then it repeated the cash reward and the police department contact information.

“Quite clever, Matthew,” Washington said, tucking the card back in the deck and the deck back in its box.

“Thanks. While modesty of course overwhelms me, I do think it is a brilliant idea. People with a lot of time on their hands—oh, say, bad guys, and people who associate with same—like card games, and while they’re playing, they just might have their memories jarred. I’m having boxes of these shipped to our jails and prisons and to our parole officers, getting them literally into the hands of those who would know. The hard part was which of the hundreds of cold cases from over the years to feature. I’ve got another two sets of fifty-two cases ready to go to print.”

Washington nodded.

“I was about to ask,” he said, “if you paid for this. But here we have the small print: ‘This project funded as a community service by CrimeFreePhilly.com and PhillyNewsNow.com.’”

Payne said: “The families like that Dusevich girl’s deserve knowing. She deserves it.”

Washington nodded solemnly.

“To coin a phrase,” he deeply intoned, “we do speak for the dead, don’t we?”

Payne reached in the box and produced more cards.

He handed a stack to Washington, who saw that they were approximately the size of the playing cards but distinctly different.

“And I got the printer to throw in a bunch of Miranda cards for the unit,” Payne said. “After reading from them—‘You have the right to remain silent,’ et cetera, et cetera—the miscreant then signs and dates it. And on the back, it’s in Spanish. This way the rights can be read word for word off the card, then the suspect acknowledges that by signing off on it. No defense attorney would have a chance accusing one of our officers taking the stand that he hadn’t read the doer his rights.”

Washington nodded, then said,

“Very thorough. Excellent ideas. Your other stream of consciousness notwithstanding.”

—

And now, Washington realized, Payne was again explaining what else he had working that was above and beyond what the job required.

“First, Uncle Denny, I would not call the mentoring program ‘underground,’” Payne said. “Maybe a better description would be ‘below the radar,’ which, for now at least, lessens the chance of retaliation from those who think, with their warped reasoning, that those trying to better themselves are traitors to those in the hood who don’t.”

He paused, then went on: “And it’s not about the money. It’s about reaching the individual. These kids are terrified to go to school—if they even make it there. Fights break out if someone looks crossways at another, on a sidewalk or in a school hallway. And the troublemakers don’t care if there’s an officer there—getting hauled out of class in handcuffs just adds to their street cred. So, we give those who want to break the cycle a second, even third chance. Help them live to see age twenty—and hopefully thirty and beyond.”

“You’re right, Matthew. We’re doing more—have to do more, especially in today’s lawless environment—than simply fighting crime.”

“And last thing I want is to take credit for it,” Payne said. “Lots of others are involved. Everyone just trying to reach out to those who have nothing, give them some hope.”

“Would these others involved include Francis Fuller?” Coughlin said.

Payne grunted.

He said: “Why would Five-Eff—”