Sara Morningsky by Lee Driver Page B

as
she spoke, the movement of her lips, how her tongue touched her
teeth. It was as though he were searching for flaws in a Monet
painting but couldn’t find any. She was refreshingly natural, like
an unspoiled river or pristine beach. Her face was untouched by the
pounds of makeup that masked Sheila’s features.
    “ I’ll do that, but I’m sure you didn’t
come here to make a house call on Einstein. How can I help you,
Miss Morningsky?” He took Einstein from her and placed him back in
the cage. Einstein shook his feathers as if irritated at being
disturbed. “Please have a seat.”
    Sara glanced at the newspaper article about
the detective found in the back of an abandoned building, shot
twice in the back of the head. Twenty-five pounds of uncut heroin
were found in the trunk of his car.
    “ My God,” Sara gasped. “It wasn’t bad
enough they killed him. They planted drugs on him, too.”
    “ You knew Mick Fazio?”
    “ I,” Sara hesitated and then took a
seat next to the oak desk cluttered with stacks of file folders and
two half-empty coffee cups. Dagger pulled out a notepad and pen.
“Mr. Dagger,” she started.
    “ Just Dagger will be fine.”
    Sara smiled weakly. “I’m not sure where to
start.”
    “ Wherever you feel
comfortable.”
    “ I guess I can start with this.” She
placed the badge on his desk. “This belongs to the cop who killed
Detective Fazio.”
    “ Cop?” Slowly Dagger leaned back and
studied his mysterious visitor. “Mick Fazio and I didn’t always see
eye to eye, but I believe we respected each other. I spoke with him
last night. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t elaborate on what he was
into other than to say he was close to solving a major crime. Mick
would never have anything to do with drugs.”
    Sara continued to describe in detail how the
cop had walked up to Fazio and shot him in the back of the head.
Dagger made a quick call to a friend at headquarters to verify the
badge number.
    Hanging up the phone, Dagger said, “This
badge belongs to Sergeant Ed Rollins, the police chief’s son.
You’re saying he’s involved in drugs?”
    “ AWWKK, ROLLINS. CROWN JEWEL,” Einstein
blurted out, but Dagger ignored him.
    “ They weren’t drug dealers. Sergeant
Rollins was on some Gang Task Force, but he actually had the gangs
working for him. I can’t say how I know what I know. In a way, I
was Detective Fazio’s informant.” She handed Dagger a piece of
paper with the license plate number of the limousine.
    “ You could only know all this if you
were there. How did you…?”
    “ Detective Fazio has mentioned your
name several times. That’s how I knew to look you up.”
    “ So you have met him.” She shook her
head no. “Then, how…?” Dagger’s voice trailed off. “Look, Miss
Morningsky…”
    “ Sara, please.”
    “ Sara, I wish I could help, but unless
you are completely honest with me…”
    “ He mentioned an S and R Warehouse.
Something is being stored there. I saw Detective Fazio make a
number of audiotapes documenting his undercover work and
conversations he’s had with Sergeant Rollins.”
    Dagger shook his head in total confusion. She
was skirting his main question. “Saw? But you said you’ve never met
him.”
    “ That’s not the issue. What’s important
is finding out what Sergeant Rollins is keeping at the S and R
Warehouse.” The phone interrupted them.
    “ AWK. HELLO, HELLO,” Einstein mimicked
from behind the bars. He used his powerful beak to climb to the top
of the cage.
    “ Yeah,” Dagger barked into the phone.
It was Sheila, calling to say she bought him an Armani suit to wear
to the rehearsal. “Sheila, I’m fine with blue jeans. You didn’t
have to…” He listened to her ramble, and then said, “I’ll call you
later.” When he turned back to Sara, she was gone. She had left as
silently as she had arrived.
    He opened the door and ran down the rusting
white, wrought iron stairs to the street just in time to see the
belching