Gentle Readers: Here is the latest installment of Just Call Me Dietz--Part III. Remember the warning! A little Dietz goes a long way. Part III deals with Dietz awakening to his greater purpose in life and discovering a part of himself that he never knew was there--well we are talking about Dietz, as he would say, "don't expect no miracles or nothing."
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Location: Chicago Field Office for the FBI, Chicago Illinois (this facility is being used by the CIA as a professional courtesy)
Date and Time: September 10, 1999 at 10 AM
David Grant, CIA operative and part-time Springfield police officer is talking with Dietz. Mr. Dietz�s counsel and another operative are present. They have begun reviewing the high points of the deposition which Dietz provided to the CIA on Labor Day, 1999.
So Dietz, Grant said, what you have given us here is top notch. It implicates all the major organized crime families in the Springfield area and probably half of the groups located here in Chicago. Once the trial is over, we will secure your transition and relocation to Switzerland, providing you stand by your deposition.
I tell you those Springfield Families are one tasty group of Capos. Their indictments will lead to big things for me, ur, ah, for this office. When we bring down them down; the Santos Family, the Madeira Family, the Tapa Family, the Paella Family and the Family Flan, I think we'll see the lights flicker in Vegas and Reno. Dietz, you are truly a credit to your country, your nation and�
Do not give me that cockamamie patriot story line again Grant. Let's just finish up, shall we?
Okay, Dietz calm down, you aren't very good at accepting praise are you?
No.
Now lets go over the country club scenario and finish up with the meeting Danny Santos held at the family compound. You have given us some mighty big names from the Springfield community. Any other people that you can think of who might need to crawl out of the proverbial woodwork? No board members from Cedars Hospital? No district attorneys or mayors?
There was a knock at the door and a government courier entered and gave David Grant an envelope. It was upside down but that presented no problem to Dietz.. Heck he knew how to read Carmen's chicken scrawl didn't he? The letter was from Spaulding Enterprises. Why was Grant getting a courier letter from Spaulding and why was the letter delivered here? Dietz felt ill at ease and noticed his counsel getting a little itchy under the collar. Dietz had little respect for lawyers. In his thinking they were a dime a dozen not to mention being shysters, let him squirm he thought.
Grant seemed to sense the uneasiness pervading the room and offered up that the courier brought the letter over from the Springfield Police Department. The letter was from a friend, Ms. Vicki Spaulding who needs some help with a problem.
With that statement, David Grant proceeded to open the envelope. Dietz inhaled the strong smell of expensive perfume. He noted that it was coming from the envelope and its accompanying letter which David was now reading. Dietz was growing lightheaded and felt sick to his stomach. His last cognizant thought was why would someone send out corporate stationary with the scent of expensive women's perfume? Then there was an explosion of color, a loud noise and he could no longer breathe.
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Dietz woke up two days later and found that he was lying in what looked to be an infirmary. Just like Dorothy telling Toto that they weren't in Kansas anymore, he knew too that he was no longer at the secure FBI facility. This place smelled and well looked different. His reasoning was still fuzzy but he thought he probably had been taken to the CIA compound. That put him about 100 miles northeast of Springfield.
He was the only person in the sick bay. He had every imaginable bell and whistle gadget in the world hooked up to him. Dietz tried to regain his bearings only to drift off again. He awoke later, how long or how much time had elapsed he could only guess. Grant was standing beside his bed speaking to two other individuals wearing lab coats.
Grant was babbling again and seemed to be saying his name. Blah Blah Dietz, Blah Blah Dietz. Oh Dietz, wake up man. You passed out during our deposition review. You have been out for two days and 10 hours. The doctors have been testing your dream patterns and body system responses and they think you suffered some sort of post traumatic stress syndrome that sent a powerful shock to your system. You short-circuited. Can you tell us what might have caused you to pass out two days ago?
Dietz sat up slowly. The last thing I remembered was your opening that letter, David. Grant looked uncomfortable. He explained that Deitz had passed out right after he had opened a letter. The letter was personal and of no importance, Grant added.
Dietz was confused why didn't he tell everyone else that the letter was from that good looking broad, Vicki Spaulding? Tell me something David, what was in that letter? It smelled like perfume or something.
David said, oh it was perfume but not one you would know or recognize, Dietz.. It is a very exotic and expensive perfume made from jasmine and a few select other ingredients. She buys it exclusively from a company in the Caribbean. She has several houses down there. I hope to get down there again with her someday.
Dietz�s mind was working fast. But he also needed to be cautious because he was hooked up to all these machines measuring his brain and bodily stress reactions. So he tried to remain calm. After he knew his emotions were in check again, he tuned out David�s blabbering small talk about the Chicago Cubs and resumed thinking about this strange situation. He allowed himself to start thinking about the cause and effect events of the last few weeks. Something was starting to smell awfully fishy here and it wasn't just that1 haddock smell emanating from what he thought must be the cafeteria two floors below.
No, this had to do with a perfume. All of a sudden his mind clicked. David, he asked, I'm just thinking about that letter, why would your woman have sprayed up the letter like that if the perfume is so expensive?
Dietz, now who is asking the questions here? If you must know she just loves the perfume and its exclusivity. She buys it in large quantities then sprays the stuff on everything, including me sometimes. I think it is a little much but subtlety is not always one of her virtues. Dietz thought back to all the women he'd met while in Springfield. Heck, the only demure woman he knew was Abigail Bauer. How could someone call a Spaulding woman or any Spaulding for that matter, subtle?
Grant, what kind of jasmine did you say the perfume contained?
I didn't say, but if you are playing at being a chemist today, I think she told me it was Spanish Jasmine no, it was Grape Jasmine. Strange huh?
Yeah, Dietz thought, being careful once more to calm himself as he thought about this. Grape Jasmine, now he remembered. No wonder he had passed out. With what that smell represented to him it was a wonder that he was not dead..
David and the technicians left and Dietz noted a strange clicking outside the door. Dietz tried to stay calm so he would not set off any of the equipment. Then all of a sudden, he realized what had happened to him during this whole shebang. With a sudden thud the haze that had filled his mind before now lifted. The wheels started turning and all of a sudden he knew true and total terror. If what he was thinking now was true, Danny was in danger, Michelle was in mortal danger and yes, even Carmen herself was in jeopardy. Of the "new Santos clan," only Pilar would be safe.
Then he realized that the sound he'd heard earlier when the men exited the infirmary was in actuality, a door being locked shut and tight. Dietz thought to himself, I'm up a creek without a paddle, I'm like a peach without a pit. How, he pondered was he gonna get out of this mess? How was he gonna warn the Santos family about this?
Someone had played him like a shill. Dietz, the man who had killed men for less had now become a grade A, top choice patsy. Now he saw it, everything he had presented in the deposition was a hoax, a farce. When he had told David Grant that the primary action was not at the Santos meeting, he had been right. The problem was he hadn't identified where the destructive action had taken place.
Yep, someone had taken his hand and led him right down the wrong primrose path. Heck, he had fallen right into the trap of believing that the things he thought he had seen that night were real, but of course that was not the case now. It was obvious. Yes, indeed, it had all been a setup, a beauty of one, he thought.
Dietz realized his primary concern right now had to be figuring out David Grant�s angle in the big picture. Had Grant, purposefully had the letter sent to him so that it would put Dietz into shock? Had he just been too dumb to know what would happen? Or did he think that Dietz was too stupid to put 2 and 2 and 2 together? Maybe it was a combination of all of the above. David Grant was now a pretty good suspect, that was a surety. No, he was in on the whole thing, had to be! Dietz realized he needed to be extra careful and he realized that David Grant was now one bad dude.
Dietz started thinking about what he had he told Grant about other things seemingly unrelated to the problem now lurking over them all. Things that would now help the other side gain an advantage over all of the families and even over the law abiding citizens of Springfield.
He realized that over the last few weeks, he and Grant had developed an easy going relationship. He also knew that he had let quite a few cats out of the bag, things that were now very dangerous facts once the enemy has them. He started making a mental list of his slip-ups to Grant.
1) For all the talk of Danny Santos being the heir apparent to the family business, this would never happen. Because in actuality Danny was no more a Santos than Dietz was.
2) Pilar was the only true Santos by birth who was still alive and functioning. This one still amused Dietz and brought a smile to his face that moment. Imagine The Springfield Families finding out that they would have to deal with another Carmen all over again. Yes, Pilar was the exact duplicate of Carmen 20 years ago before she assumed the role as head of the Santos family. Well, all right, Pilar had not killed or injured anyone, had not passed off illegitimate children as heirs and had not tried to off her mother-in-law and her husband's first wife. But still there were definite similarities.
3) Danny's cousins Ray, Matt, and Tony were all illegitimate children born to Santos spouses but not of true Santos blood. They had mighty good pedigrees but sure didn't know about them. Very few people did for that matter.
4) Mick was gone for all practical purposes as was the cousins' father, Michael.
5) Michelle had not killed Mick with that rock, heck she only weighed 100 pounds and Drew, yeah everyone knew about her involvement--even the Springfield Police Department, had not killed him either. The blows they made didn't even leave a mark on Mick. These two had been left to believe that they had done this to Mick so that they could serve as substitutes if the need arose for identifying a killer.
Okay he thought, maybe I need to think about this differently, what didn't I tell David Grant? He didn't tell David that he had been the one to cover up Mick�s unfortunate accident. He had not mentioned the details of the Grape Jasmine situation and solution. Thank goodness that had never come up in their conversations.
He had not told what he knew about Alan Spaulding�s ties to The Springfield Families. Hell, he alone had pocketed close to $500,000 just from handling the details surrounding Annie Dutton�s transformation, moving of comatose patients, and covering up her tracks. That dame was one wild chicky poo. On a personal note, he had also kept it quiet that the five hundred grand was now worth about $2 million now due to some creative investments opportunities.
Dietz also noted that he had shared the Santos mantra about not importing/exporting or selling drugs. The family had always been anti-drugs. The one good thing Carmen insisted her people do was to hang around the docks and beat the pulp out of perverts selling drugs to kids.
Yep, he hadn't spilled all of the beans but he had gotten pretty close to the bottom of the can. He had to get out of here and pronto. How? What had Carmen always told Pilar when she was young? When life gives you lemons, make Sangria. Oh yeah, Dietz thought, I know just what to do next.