She laughed. “Yeah.”
We stayed and talked for another forty-five minutes. Paola was completely candid, although the remainder of our conversation failed to yield anything else as useful as the revelation that the NSSB had their own private dungeon located beneath the boys’ house. Still, the talk was very helpful. Now that she was starting to see just a glimmer of how her life had been stolen by these thugs, Paola seemed almost eager to turn against them. She agreed that she’d be willing to sign a statement about everything she’d said if needed. We were very grateful. We thanked her and Annie and headed for the Jeep.
I said good-bye and then tapped in Nancy Stewart’s number. It was 5:15 p.m., but I knew she’d still be working.
“Vice and High Risk Victims, Lieutenant Stewart,” she said when she answered the phone.
“Nancy,” I said, “it’s Danny and Toni.”
“Hey guys,” she said. “Come up with anything interesting?”
“We did,” I said. “Two things, actually. First, we just came from talking to Annie Hooper and Paola Morales.”
“How’s she doing?” Nancy asked. “Did she have anything new to add?”
“She’s doing really great and yes, she helped us out. A lot. We think we may have discovered where Donnie Martin is holding Isabel.”
“Really?” she said. “Where would that be?”
“Apparently, he has a secure room in the basement of the house on Brooklyn across from Ravenna Park.”
“A secure room? Paola told you that?”
“Yeah. Apparently, she knows it well. She says it’s where the gang has its parties. She says it’s been soundproofed, and from above you can’t hear anything that goes on down there. Basically, unless you know it’s there, you wouldn’t be aware of it.”
“That’s interesting,” Nancy said.
“That’s not all. According to Paola, there are two bedrooms down there, both lockable from the outside. Essentially, they’re jail cells.”
Nancy thought about this for a few seconds. Then she said, “And Paola thinks that that’s where Isabel would be held?”
“That was her immediate response when we asked,” I said.
“Interesting,” Nancy said again. “What about Kelli?” she asked. “What does this have to do with her?”
“Nothing-and everything,” I said. “Let me explain. As you and Tyrone explained to us, we figure that Kelli will have a small amount of time in which Crystal and Martin and maybe the others will try to schmooze her. You know-buy her clothes, treat her nice, win over her loyalty. Then they’ll ramp things up and start in with the drugs and forced sex. But with Kelli, there’s a twist. Never mind the fact that she’s older, smarter, and stronger than any of these other girls. The big thing is she already knows what’s up, and at the same time they’re playing a game with her,
It was quiet for a second, and then Nancy said, “And so your plan is to have us go ahead now and take down the whole operation in hopes that we get both Isabel and Kelli out?”
“Nancy,” I said, “first off, I think Isabel’s there now. I think she’s being held until she either comes around or literally gets sold to another pimp in Las Vegas. And I think Kelli’s next. We know she’s with Crystal. And with regards to Kelli, I don’t have any choice. She’s basically family. I will not stand by and allow Kelli Blair to be subjected to these guys’ torture. She’s young and dumb, and she got herself in a bad position, but I can’t leave her there. I’d prefer for you guys to go in and bust them, but if you won’t move in, I’ll have to go in and get her myself. There won’t be any other choice for me.”
“Hmm,” Nancy said. She thought for a second and then said, “Well, give me something. Give me anything I can use as probable cause-something other than you think Isabel is being held there. I need something solid. Give that to me, and I’ll go downstairs right now and set it up. The problem, as I see it, is that we still don’t have anything solid against these guys.”
“How about the fact that there’s large quantities of marijuana sitting in kilo bricks on a shelf in the kitchen pantry? Or that there’s cocaine and crystal meth somewhere downstairs?”
“Paola told you this?” Nancy said.
“Yes,” I said. This was most of the way truthful. She told me what and where, but I filled in the blanks concerning how much based on personal observation.
“She’ll talk to a judge?”
“She volunteered,” I said.
“Might work,” she said. “I’ll go to the judge and see what happens.”
It’s exactly 1.29 miles from Angel House where Paola was to the intersection of Highway 99 and Forty-Sixth Avenue. It took us thirty minutes to get there. We got on Highway 99 at Forty-Sixth Avenue and headed south. Traffic was heavy but, fortunately for us, it could have been worse. We could have been on 99 headed north. Compared to the cars on that side that were completely stopped, our stop-and-go motion seemed damn speedy. Ten minutes later, we crossed the ship canal, and five minutes after that, I got off on Dexter Avenue-about a half mile from my apartment. We were home two minutes later. In total-forty-seven minutes to cover 3.4 miles. You gotta love life in the big city.
Just as we were walking in the front door, my phone rang. Caller ID: Nancy Stewart.
“What’d you find?” I asked.
“We got it,” she said, sounding as if she barely believed it herself.
“Really?”
“Absolutely. I told the judge about Isabel being a minor and that she’s missing and believed to be held there. I told him about how the NSSB gang is known to be involved in child prostitution. I told him about the dope. I think that pushed him over the edge. He called Annie Hooper, and we had a conference call with him and Annie and Paola. He asked Paola questions, and she gave him straight answers. After he hung up, he told me he was going to issue a no-knock warrant.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Paola also told him they have a lot of weapons there.”
“She did?” I hadn’t seen any except the sidearms the two men wore.
“Yeah. She said the weapons are kept in the basement. After we ended the conference call, the judge said he was afraid that with that much dope around, the NSSB guys might decide not to go quietly. He said they could arm themselves while stalling the cops at the front door. Paola was a very convincing witness.”
I looked at Toni. She was smiling.
“That’s outstanding,” I said. “When do we move?”
“Well,” Nancy said, “that’s the problem. We can’t move until tomorrow around noon.”
“Why?” I asked. I didn’t want Isabel or Kelli to be with these guys even one more minute.
“I don’t know if it’s SWAT or what it is,” she said. “I think it’s probably just too late in the day. I do know we have to bring in our narcotics and gang units. My captain made a couple of calls-but he just called me back and said it’s going to be tomorrow. So that means. .”
“That means it’s going to be tomorrow,” I said. “I spent almost eight years in the military. I know how it works.”
“Good. Why don’t you two come on in to my office at ten tomorrow morning. We’re setting up a planning meeting then. We can use your information.”
“We’ll be there,” I said.
