BLOOD MONEY
by
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Jim Pekarski arrived home at 7:30. It was a chilly evening and he was glad to get the motorcycle in the garage. He knew that it wouldn’t be many more weeks and he’d have to put the bike up for the winter. That thought was depressing enough, but not nearly as troublesome as his missing girlfriend. Where in the hell was Mandy?
While mulling over that question, Pekarski closed the garage door. Engulfed in darkness, he started across the few feet of driveway to his back door. In a split second he was on the blacktop writhing in pain, the result of a vicious kick to his groin. When his eyes were able to focus, he saw a shape looming over him. The figure squatted down next to him. "Where is Mandy?" a male voice said quietly. "I . . . don’t know," Pekarski stammered, still in pain and his breathing not yet back to normal. "You know, my friend, you know," the man said. His words were delivered with a Hispanic accent. "And you’re going to tell me." "I don’t know, I tell you," Pekarski protested, a trace of anger in his voice. "I know she’s in Syracuse; tell me exactly where," he said, ignoring the denial. "Listen you bastard -- I don’t know where she is!" Pekarski said, rolling onto his hands and knees in an effort to stand. With speed and dexterity the attacker was on his feet and delivered a kick to Pekarski’s exposed ribs. The victim’s howl of pain covered the sound of breaking bone. Pekarski ended up in a fetal position, resting on his uninjured side and whimpering softly. He was not a coward; taking death-defying risks didn’t bother him – he found it exhilarating. But this was different. The anger of a few seconds ago was gone, replaced by a fear that he had never known before. He believed the stranger wouldn’t hesitate to seriously injure him, or worse, in an effort to get the information he wanted. There was only one thing to do. Between teeth clenched in pain, Pekarski provided the name and address of the people Mandy was staying with in Syracuse. It was too dark to see the expression on the assailant’s face, but he sensed his information had been accepted. After several seconds of silence the man spoke. "I’m going there now. If she isn’t there because you’ve warned her, or you lied to me, I’ll be back. If that happens, I’ll kill you -- very, very slowly. Do you understand?" His tone was calm but menacing. Pekarski didn’t doubt the sincerity of the man’s words. After nodding his comprehension, the stranger arose and disappeared into the night. As he lay still, taking shallow breaths, he wondered how long he had to live.
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About the Book
Mandy Connors was fresh out of a New York state prison after serving three years on a drug conviction. She had two things on her mind when she hit the streets. The most important to her, was to get revenge against the man she believed was responsible for the death of her mother. Tony Lucchesi, a former medical doctor from Long Island, had been her mother’s business partner in a multi-million dollar Medicaid fraud operation in the Bronx. Things were fine until the law began to close in. That was when Lucchesi decided that those who could implicate him in the scam had to be eliminated. The cops hadn’t been able to tie Lucchesi to her mother’s killing, or even the fraud. He walked away without being charged with any crime, his pockets bulging with Medicaid money. Tony Lucchesi had gotten away with everything, including murder. Her next most pressing matter was how to escape the wrath of the drug dealer she’d turned on in order to get a plea deal. Although the kingpin was in jail, his thugs weren’t. Mandy was committed to getting justice for her mother. She just had to stay alive long enough to do it.
About the Author
Dennis N. Griffin was born in Rome, New York in 1945. He joined the U. S. Navy in 1962. After being honorably discharged in 1966, he returned to central New York. He is married and has four adult children. The Griffin’s currently split their time between upstate New York and Las Vegas, Nevada. Mr. Griffin began his career in investigations and law enforcement in 1975, when Pinkerton, Inc. hired him as a private investigator. His duties included insurance fraud, missing persons, financial and background investigations, as well as undercover operations. In 1979 the Madison County, New York Department of Social Services hired him as a Senior Child Support Investigator. He was responsible for locating and conducting financial investigations of persons failing to provide legally mandated child support. In 1981 he joined the Madison County Sheriff’s Department, and attained the rank of sergeant. He was a shift supervisor and public information officer. During the same time period, he moonlighted as a part time patrolman for the Village of Chittenango Police Department. In 1987 Mr. Griffin was hired by the New York State Department of Health as Director of Investigations, Wadsworth Center. The primary mission of his unit was to investigate violations of the Public Health Law relating to clinical and environmental laboratories, and health care fraud. He was responsible for hiring and training investigators, case assignments and general supervision. In addition, he personally handled the more difficult and complex investigations. Many of these cases received both local and national media attention. He retired in 1995. The author is an active member of the Police Writers Association. He attended Onondaga County Community College, Mohawk Valley Community College and the Central New York Regional Academy for Police Training. He has three other novels published through 1stBooks. The first, The Morgue, was published 1999. Red Gold, followed in 2000. Killer In Pair-A-Dice went into print in 2001. His next work, One-Armed Bandit, is in progress.