Joey's Case — K.C. Constantine

Mario Balzic has been dodging Albert Castelucci for months. There are only so many things a cop can say to a man whose only son has been shot to death.

But Castelucci doesn't want Balzic's sympathy. He doesn't care that the death occurred in Westfield Township, a few yards away from the border of Balzic's Rocksburg jurisdiction, or that Balzic had been in Pittsburgh when it happened. What bothers Castelucci is that the investigator appointed to handle the case was a capo tost--a hard head--and made such a mess that no jury would convict the shooter of reckless endangerment, let alone first-degree murder.

The old Italian's been a pain in the neck for five months, and Balzic's about to lose his temper. "Good. Then I'm gettin' someplace," says Castelucci. He knows that when Balzic starts getting mad, things in Rocksburg start getting straightened out.