On Cabrini Green by Charlie Shafer
© Patricia Harrington
Sergeant Paul Kostovic is a member of Chicago PD's special task force assigned to the projects. You know the Task Force cops by the TF patches they wear on their shoulders. Cabrini Green is infamous as a housing project that you don't want to visit on any kind of official business--especially police business. It's a dangerous place; it's gangbanger territory. It's the turf of Dittybop Caldwell and Shoestring Tolliver, dedicated street thieves.
Paul Kostovic wears a TF patch on his shoulder, so he should be tough and sharp, one of Chicago PD's elite. But in the opening chapter, Kostovic loses his gun chasing Ditty and Shoestring after they rip off the driver of a Caddy. That's a no-brainer no-no for a career-stop for a cop. The car's driver, a diamond salesman, loses his diamonds, and in the shootout that takes place, a bystander, a Columbia diplomat, loses his life.
The bungled arrest makes the news and Kostovic comes out looking like a fool. To redeem his reputation, he has to get his service revolver back and clear up the case.
Kostovic is hamstrung at the outset, though. First, he's handicapped by having to figure out ways to work around Kyle Debolt, an inept homicide detective who's in charge of the investigation, and then Kostovic has to babysit a new partner, Tommy Covello, who's young and inexperienced. Covello would rather be back working his old beat on the beach and pitching broads in bikinis.
Kostovic sets out for the projects to pick up Ditty and Shoelace, but it's his tough luck that they escape. It's more bad luck when he accidentally whacks a pretty legal aid volunteer in the head. Katie Bartovic has been working with the gangbangers, and she's idealistic and sharp-tongued. Kostovic is attracted to her and realizes that giving her a black eye is not a good way to start a romance. Love has a few obstacles to overcome before the two can build a mutual admiration society. The first hurdle is Katie's police brutality charge that she files against Kostovic, and the second one is that Kostovic, a/k/a, Pauly, is Croatian and she's Serbian. Oh, yes, there's a third one: Pauly's very shy around pretty women.
The story kicks into high gear when Shoestring is shot, and his lifeless body is thrown out of a BMW that Kostovic is tailing. Right on Kostovic's backside is a paddy wagon ready to take away any captured bad guys. Unfortunately, when Kostovic rounds a corner, he's unable to swerve in time, and runs over Shoeless's body, which then gets a second smooshing by the paddy wagon. Cop gallows humor stretches like a wide smile throughout the story.
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