Betrayed (A Ragetti & Smitty Novel)

By E.A. Delange

BETRAYED is an exciting FBI Adventure story about cases handled exclusively by Special Agents Ragetti and Smitty. This is the first book in a series of interesting cases these two agents have solved. Medicare Scams have happened in many parts of the United States, along with sex crimes, murder and drugs.

In this case there are clues about

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eve A. Delange
• Release date: Aug 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781649992543

Book preview

Chapter 1

F

BI Agent Ragetti looked the role of an agent. He was tall, dark haired, well dressed; but had a scar across his cheek and a mean ‘don’t-mess-with-me’ kind of look in his eye. His partner, Agent Smitty made a good match for him, shorter but with a friendly face. He fell into the role of good cop the same way Ragetti suited his role of bad cop.

Agent Ragetti was recently divorced and still a little sour on women; he couldn’t tell you the last time he had been on a date. However Agent Smitty was happily married and had four children. Out of pity Smitty asked him over for dinner nearly once a week. His wife, Susan, did not mind, she loved to cook and there was always more than enough food. He became like an Uncle ‘Rag’ to all four of the Smitty children. They absolutely adored him.

Some of the other agents wondered why Ragetti spent so much of his time at the station, working on cases that no longer even needed his help. Like tonight, there was this guy in the sweat box, trying to get on Ragetti’s good side, lying through his teeth and Ragetti knew it, but Herrick never quite made the grade as Ragetti sensed he knew way more than he was telling. Ragetti had almost enough evidence to close the case, but he still needed some names, the big ones that really counted. But Herrick was a smart one; he knew he was in trouble, but like half the criminals Ragetti encountered, the criminal thought he was ‘above the law’ and nothing could really be proven. Ragetti could tell Herrick was a little nervous though, as he had this habit of tapping his right index finger to some unknown tune when he got upset.

Ragetti smiled to himself, thinking back. "Mr Herrick, we’re not really interested in the part you played in the entire scheme of things, kind of like catching the big fish, and if a few minnows slip through the net while we’re pulling them in, we really don’t care. At this point if you cooperate, you could do less than a year, maybe even get off with probation. But if you don’t, which I think you’re much too smart to choose the alternative, you’ll be looking at some serious prison time. You’re young, why waste it in prison, when you’ve got a wife, young kids, and a good life?"

Mr. Herrick looked at Agent Ragetti and paused before answering, trying to read him as Ragetti was reading him. You don’t realize what you’re asking when you want the names of the people at the top. They would kill me and not think twice about it, like swatting a fly that was annoying them. I’ve seen them do it, there were others who wanted to get out of the game, and it just doesn’t work like that. And as far as ratting them out, I may as well be dead the minute I walk out the door.

Agent Ragetti sighed, it was a long night. Look Harry – may I call you Harry? I can imagine how skeptical you are, and scared, as you have a right to be. I know how the people you’re playing with work, and it’s not pretty. But we can protect you right up until the court date; after that your problems are over, they will all go away for life. It’s just that my boss is on me to get this thing settled, I can’t keep pussy-footing around with you like this, it’s either make up your mind to help us, or take your chances on how your own arrest will go.

He could see the sweat beading on Harry’s upper lip and the slight tremble of his hand as he reached for his glass of water. He was close to breaking, but when? And Ragetti knew he didn’t want to arrest him tonight, he wanted more from him, much more.

His cellphone rang, and glancing at the ID, he listened, said OK, I’ll be right there. Then speaking to Harry Herrick, he explained, Something has come up, right now you’re free to go, but I’ll be contacting you soon, very soon; so you should be thinking about  my suggestions to you and come to a decision. Oh, and do not try to leave town, as you’ll find it impossible at any rate.

What’s up, he asked, as he walked into the corner office. Max Brown didn’t hold to protocol and when he wanted something, he wanted it now, if not sooner. 

Stop wasting time on Harry Herrick, we’ve got some leads that just came in and they are much more important. Tell Herrick he’s free to go for now, but don’t leave town. Checking records we’ve come up with about eight murders and I think we’re pretty sure who’s behind them. Some are old, some are new. For right now, I want you and your entire crew on this till it’s settled. Murder has priority! Then you can go back to your case with Herrick and get that one closed. We’re talking some big guys here, and we have to make sure there are no leaks and no slip-ups.

Matter of fact, I just sent Mr. Herrick on his way and also told him not to leave town.  Is that the board on this over there? Ragetti moved toward the board with the pictures and arrows on it as he spoke. My God, you actually have leads on this? Where did you get all this information?

We haven’t been sitting around on our asses like you, the boss answered.

Still in half shock over some of the names Ragetti saw on the crime board, he sat down and scanned the papers placed before him. Picking up his cellphone he called Smitty, his partner, and told him to get down to the station – pronto!

Have to say this is going to be interesting if nothing else.  How in the hell do we even approach anything this big? It will take hours just to do background checks on this many people. Ragetti eyed his boss and saw the tiredness around his eyes, and the cold, hard look on his face.

This has been a long time coming – they’ve been living off the fat of the land, but the party is about to end, maybe not tonight, but within the month, and it’s going to shake up a lot of people. Hell, this is bigger than Enron!

Regetti told Smitty they could share the background checks dig into bank accounts, in fact anything they could come up with that would tie these people together. It was definitely a list of names he never expected to see tied together in a crime scene. Let’s see who all we have here. And while we’re at it, let’s see if Jones is available in Forensics or wherever she works. I have a feeling we’re going to need someone with computer skills that are a lot better and a lot faster than either one of us and that gal is sharp as a tack.

Chief of Staff at St. Mary’s Hospital was Dr. Everett. He had been chief of staff for as long as Ragetti could remember. What would entice a man in his position to put his career on the line. And there are a couple of other doctors listed on here too. Jeez, all the doctors I know make a ton of money, why would any of them get involved in something illegal? None of these names make any sense.

And Sherrif Brigham was the head guy in the small town of Colorado City, obviously he would not be earning as much as a doctor or even an FBI Agent , but it was a good job and he had been there for as long as Ragetti could think back, offhand he’s say well over five years.

Other names were not as familiar to Ragetti, some he recognized as doctors at the same hospital as Everett, while some of the names were a complete blank. He hated reading the social pages, but some of the pictures had a familiar look to them.

I’ll start with the head of St. Mary’s Hospital, and why don’t you sink your teeth into Sheriff Brigham. We’re gonna need some luck on this one, I can’t imagine finding anything that will tie in with any crime.

Smitty grinned and poured himself a cup of black coffee, So it looks like we’ll be here half the night just doing the backgrounds on this many people. I had just finished eating dinner when I got your call and Susan put a few things together for you, figuring you forgot to eat. You know, if you weren’t my partner I’d be jealous of you! And after saying that,  Smitty  tossed a bag on his partner’s desk.

Holy Shit, man, if that gal of yours wasn’t already married I’d grab her myself, he taunted Smitty; as he knew Susan would never glance at another man. Smitty and Susan’s was one of the happiest marriages he’d ever seen. What went wrong with his own marriage he had never figured out, but once around the block on that was enough.

Sitting at the computer it was a simple task to track the life of a guy who was a cop, so Smitty didn’t have to dig far. But what Smitty came up with was a surprise and he called Ragetti over to look at what he’d discovered on his bank account. Didn’t look like he was trying to hide a thing; it was right there plain as day in his regular checking account. An extra five big ones every single month, regular as clockwork. What the hell could a Sheriff do that would pull in an extra five thousand bucks a month? And if it was something illegal, why would someone in law enforcement put his entire career on the line for money like that? Sure, he could probably put a kid through college for money like that, but if it was illegal, he could go to prison just like any Joe Blow when caught. And he wasn’t even trying to hide the money. And he knew sooner or later they all got caught.

He turned to Ragetti and asked him, How well do you know this guy? Ever been by his house or seen the kind of car he drives?

I went to his house about three or four years ago, can’t remember why, I think something came up in the middle of the night. Nice, regular type house, and I think his police car was out in front, so I didn’t see his personal car, Ragetti informed Smitty.

We’re going to want to check into this a little further, and maybe question his deputies to see what they think of him as a boss. I can’t imagine he would be stupid enough to put the five thousand in his banking account unless it’s all on the up and up. I’ll check on his wife also, maybe she works and it’s income from her. Smitty scratched his head, amazed at what people would do and thought they could get away with it.

Ragetti told Smitty he hadn’t found much on the head of the hospital, Dr. Everett. "I have a feeling with the names we see on the board this could have something to do with the hospital though, like maybe one of the doctors.  I’m running a list of all personnel at the hospital and something is bound to pop. I’m also going to check with the Medical Board for the past three years. If the money going into the Sheriff’s account has been going on for a long time, I have the gut feeling this has something to do with the hospital or one of the doctors, so we need to go back a few years. Hell, maybe even the FBI has had some information on one of these people and we just haven’t noticed it.

It made his skin crawl to think that the FBI could have already come across something suspicious and just choose to ignore it. Even worse, what if there was a pay-off for an agent to keep the information quiet? Nothing bothered him more than to think of a dirty cop, FBI Agent, or actually anyone who served the public. The fingers and consequences could be far reaching.

What I did find out about Everett is that he’s got a great education and I can’t figure why he’s wasting his talents in a city this size. He should be in Los Angeles or New York, or somewhere he could make a real name for himself. And he’s only forty-five years old he’s got to have something on the ball to become Chief of Staff at that age. Ragetti said it more to himself than anything.  In a way he hated it when a case like this came along, and people who were well-liked and respected had dark secrets that came out.

I plan on working till midnight then I’m going home. I suggest you do the same thing as tomorrow we’ll have a list of names and we can start interviewing.

Smitty tried not to smile, but he was relieved that Ragetti hadn’t suggested they work all night. The guy seemed like he never slept, so this was a big surprise.

Smitty said, "Being there doesn’t seem to be anything off with Dr. Everett’s bank account I’m going to run some of his assets, personal property and stuff like that. If he’s involved, the money will be big and it has to go somewhere.

They both had quite a stack of paperwork by the time midnight rolled around, and for those they were tracking it didn’t look too good. Ragetti was glad he had set a time limit of midnight because he just didn’t like the way things were going, too many people he liked seemed to have their finger in this pie, and it was going to be messy.

How about meeting me at Joe’s Shack at 7:00 a.m. and we’ll have breakfast and kick around a few of the things we’ve come up with. Word came back that Jones is available, so she’ll be reporting in with us about 8:30, and you can get her filled in on stuff we’ll need, Ragetti grinned over at Smitty and added, We may as well start the day off good, because I have a gut feeling it’s going to get worse and worse. I hate it when good people get themselves involved and a lot of happy families get torn apart.

Smitty just shrugged his shoulders, Human nature I guess. No one is ever satisfied with what they’ve got, and at times they’re just plain stupid.

Chapter 2

S

mitty was the first one to arrive at Joe’s Shack and as usual was having fun giving the waitress a bad time. Ragetti didn’t know what it was about his partner, but people always liked him. How did he go about remembering all the crap about people anyway? Like right now he was asking Donna, the waitress, if her boy had learned to ride his bike. He could remember  Jake had gotten a new bike for Christmas; but it was always like that, he remembered all the little details. He thanked his lucky stars that Smitty was his partner because remembering all those odd details was how they solved cases.

He sat down as Donna was already pouring him his coffee. She was another one with a memory. She probably knew every customer’s preference in drink, and at least half of them in the food they were most likely to order.

She smiled at Ragetti and asked if he wanted the usual? Just to bug her a little, he said And what would my usual be?

Donna loved to tease, so she looked serious and said, Well, maybe two eggs scrambled with cheese on the top, bacon crisp and hash browns, cooked really crisp – oh, and wheat toast, don’t forget to bring the jelly.

I won’t admit that’s what I was going to order Ragetti teased back, but it sounds so good I’ll take it. You’re a smart cookie!

As the two men sat sipping on their coffee, they glanced through the pile of papers each one had in their briefcases. Ragetti scratched his head the way he usually did when trying to