Justice
The Mike Amato Detective Series
by
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CHAPTER TEN
BAD DREAMS AND BAD WEEKS
The fears and trepidation that live in the mind are safely kept locked away during the activities of waking hours, but in sleep they are free to roam--and become alive in the silence of dreams. That was the nature of the dream that haunted me.
It was only a dream. I knew it was dream. It was the same dream that had crept into my nights every now and then for the past four or five years. That night, that Friday night, it came again.
It’s late at night, well after midnight as I walk down one of the long, business-district streets on the city’s east side. Perhaps it’s Joseph Avenue, maybe Clinton Avenue, or Hudson Avenue. There’s rain in the air--the sweet wet-street-smell of a summer rain after a long, dry, hot spell. I have no business being in that neighborhood. A glance over my shoulder reveals there are a dozen, maybe even 15 or 20 people in a small, closely clustered group that follows my path and matches my speed with theirs. Fear becomes panic as I feel for my gun and my hand touches an empty holster. Could I be so stupid as to go walking this late at night, in this neighborhood, without my weapon?
I quicken my pace and so do they. My fast walk becomes a jog, and the jog turns into a gallop. I’m breathing hard and fast in short gulps of air as my mind curses the cigarettes I inhale with such frequency. I run into an alley, somewhat confident they have not seen me. However, as I turn to look over my shoulder there they are, moving quickly behind me, not running as hard as I am, but yet gaining on me. Just as I turn to look forward, my body is walloped with a blow that knocks me flat on my ass. I’ve run into a brick wall! The alley is a dead end! There’s nowhere to go!
I slump back with my back and shoulders against the unyielding bricks. Although I make every attempt to cover my face, I can see them advancing on me, moving slowly, deliberately. At a leisurely pace they bend over my cowering body, lowering their faces to mine. Only now do I realize they have no faces! There is hair and heads, bodies and torsos, arms and fingers, but no faces. What should be a face is covered with smooth skin, absent of eyes, nose, cheeks and mouth.
The old one, the one with the gray hair, leans in close to me and reaches for his own throat with his right hand. Slowly, arduously, he pulls up on the smooth skin from below his chin, pulls it upward, up toward his mouth, nose, and eyes. Pulling the skin away to show his features. I know this man. I never met him, but I know him. I know his face, his body. I know of his death. I know his name. Bernie Katz, a storeowner shot and killed six years earlier. His murder has remained unsolved, and he reminds me of this as he asks, “Where’s my killer, Amato? Why haven’t you found my killer?”
A young woman advances on me and pulls the skin up, off of her face, revealing the features of Marie Denwaldt, a young mother raped and stabbed to death with a screwdriver over five years ago. “What about me, Amato?” she asks. “Where’s my killer?”
A short, stooped-over woman pulls off the skin covering her face and I see the wrinkled, kindly face of Josephine Cindelli. “Why have you not found my killers, Amato?” she asks through a busted up mouth and her swollen eyes testify to the wounds she suffered as three purse snatchers kicked her to death in a struggle for her purse containing less than four dollars. “You promised me, Amato. You promised me you would get them.”
One by one, the members of the group approach my fetal-position body. One by one, the unsatisfied victims of unsolved murders, pull the skin from their faces and reveal their identities to me.
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About the Book
"Justice” is a work of fiction that entices the reader to grapple with questions about what justice really means. Does a courtroom decision equal justice? Do two wrongs make a right? Does assassinating a killer make the act just? These are a few the questions raised in “Justice”... questions for the reader to ponder and answer.
Police Lieutenant, Mike Amato and his squad of detectives are faced with the task of identifying and finding the person who has stalked, abducted, abused and murdered three young children in the streets of Rochester, New York. Following each murder, the killer torments the parents of his victims with details of the child's abduction and murder. With each murder, community hysteria increases and Amato and his squad feel the pressure to apprehend the killer.
Although the killer is finally apprehended and he readily admits to the killings and blames his own abuse-riddled childhood as the motive for his reign of terror the killer is let free on a technicality, but he killings don't stop there.
Now the squad has to pressure of making sure the killer is caught again and not set free this time. But how can they make sure the killer doesn't slip through the judicial cracks again?
As with the other Mike Amato novels, this work also contains a prologue and epilogue. In the prologue to ‘Justice” a rookie cop and his training officer discuss the concepts of fairness versus justice. In the epilogue, Lt. Mike Amato finishes the discussion and asks the readers to decide if justice was served.
About the Author
Louis Campanozzi was born and raised in Rochester, New York. After serving in the military he returned home and joined the Rochester Police Department. During his 22 years with the department, Lou worked undercover narcotics, commanded the homicide and robbery squad, and served as District Commander on the city’s West Side. Campanozzi investigated some of the community’s most notorious crimes and later wrote about the sometimes-mean streets of Rochester as an author of mystery novels.
Lou was one of the three founders of BowMac Educational Services, founded in 1980. BowMac is a police training-consulting firm. Lou taught hundreds of cops and now thousands use his techniques to this day. In turn, tens of thousands of criminals are put behind bars because of his teachings.
After retiring as Captain from the Rochester Police Department Lou relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico where he worked for the New Mexico State Police in addition to teaching for BowMac. He later took on the position of Chief of Police of an Indian Reservation in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Lou Campanozzi unexpectedly died at the age of 59 in 2002. His family takes great pride as they continue to distribute and keep Lou's ideas, words and characters alive through his novels.
The first two novels in the Mike Amato Detective Series, “The Killing Cards” and ‘Ground Lions” have been well received by both the police community and devoted murder mystery readers.
“Justice” the third novel in the series was completed by Lou just days prior to his death. With thanks to Author House, "Justice" was released in the summer of 2003 and now the first two novels in the series will be republished by AuthorHouse and will be ready for purchase by Summer of 2007.
Enjoy Lou's gift of story telling!