Chapter 6 - MidState RecoveryMidState Recovery had received 1,146 police-generated impounds from the 42nd Precinct in five years.
Levi asked the city contract office for the district towing rotation.
The numbers should have been evenly distributed among four companies.
They were not.
MidState received forty-six percent.
“Could be proximity,” Lieutenant Mercer said.
Levi looked across the conference table.
“It’s the farthest contracted lot.”
Mercer stopped speaking.
City Auditor Rachel Kim adjusted her glasses.
“We’d need dispatch records to determine who requested specific tow assignments.”
Levi turned to her.
“How far back?”
“Seven years.”
“Get them.”
Mercer leaned back.
“You’re turning a bad arrest into a financial investigation.”
“I’m following records.”
“Records don’t prove kickbacks.”
“I didn’t say they did.”
“You’re implying it.”
Levi closed the folder.
“No, Lieutenant. You’re hearing an implication because you already know where the road may lead.”
Mercer stood.
“I’m done being treated like a suspect.”
“You’re free to leave.”
Mercer hesitated.
Then left.
Rachel watched the door close.
“He’s nervous.”
“He has reason to be.”
Levi showed her Terrence’s old impound receipt.
“Can you trace the company ownership?”
Rachel read it.
“Public business records should be easy.”
“It may not stay easy.”
That afternoon, Naomi arrived at Levi’s office without calling.
She wore a raincoat and carried a recorder.
Levi stared at it.
“No.”
“I’m not recording you.”
“You’re working.”
“I’m always working.”
Naomi wrote investigative features for a Chicago digital newspaper. Levi had spent years pretending her career choice did not make him nervous.
Now it made him furious.
“This is an active internal investigation.”
“And I’m your daughter.”
“Those roles are colliding.”
“They collided eleven years ago.”
Levi looked up sharply.
“Terrence told you?”
“He told me everything.”
“How long have you been talking to him?”
“Since Mom got sick.”
Levi leaned back.
“Your mother knew?”
“Of course she knew.”
That hurt more than he expected.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
Naomi laughed quietly.
“Because she knew how you’d react.”
“How would I react?”
“Like this.”
Levi stood.
“Naomi.”
She stepped closer.
“You want to know why I started reporting on criminal justice?”
He said nothing.
“Uncle Terrence.”
Levi’s face changed.
“You built your career around something you never told me?”
“No. I built it around watching two men I loved refuse to speak because one of them trusted an institution more than his own brother.”
Levi looked away.
“That’s not fair.”
“It’s exactly fair.”
She placed something on his desk.
A photocopy.
“What is this?”
“Mom’s.”
Levi froze.
It was a page from Renee Harrison’s journal.
Her handwriting.
April 17, eleven years earlier.
Terrence is telling the truth. Levi doesn’t want to see it because seeing it would force him to choose between his brother and the badge.
Levi sat slowly.
Naomi’s voice softened.
“She believed him.”
He read the sentence again.
“Where did you get this?”
“Her storage boxes.”
“You went through them?”
“They became mine after she died.”
Levi’s eyes remained on the page.
Below the first sentence was another.
Frank says Levi’s career could be destroyed if he interferes. I think Frank is more frightened of what Levi might discover than what Levi might lose.
Levi’s pulse changed.
“Frank?”
“Dwyer.”
Naomi nodded.
“Mom met him.”
“When?”
“Three days after Terrence was arrested.”
Levi looked up.
“Why?”
“She wanted help.”
“What did he tell her?”
“I don’t know.”
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Naomi picked up her recorder.
“But I think you should ask him.”
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