On the 17th floor of the
Elftown apartment building, an apartment stands silent and dark. The only sound is the click of a lighter,
and the only sight is the glow as she sits inhaling the cigarette smoke deep
into her lungs. She is T’lea, and she’s
been in this spot for the last 6 hours.
Her copper hair is up in a ponytail, though many strands have fallen
around her troubled face. Her normally
striking gray eyes are shadowed, hidden behind dark circles. She hasn’t slept since it happened, and
doesn’t know when the comfort of sleep will come again. Now, as the sun sets, she stares at the
ashtray, overflowing with cigarette butts and chewed-down fingernails. So it has come to this, she thinks with an
ironic laugh, which sounds loud and hollow in the empty apartment. She flinches, overcome for a moment by
paranoia, hoping no one has heard her. The memories are overwhelming, but
there’s nothing else to do; no one who can help her. How did she get in this place?
She was young, full of promise, a fresh-faced college freshman not too
many years ago. Moving to UBC, starting
over, new friends, sorority sisters-
Wait.
Suddenly the fog lifts a little. Why didn’t she think of this before? It’s a long shot, but a distant, dusty
memory of a voice fills her head:
“Anytime, anything, anywhere.
You let me know, and I’ll be there.”
They had laughed at how silly it had sounded at the time, but now she
clings to it as her last hope. She
looks around to make sure, for the seemingly hundredth time, that she’s not being
watched. She crawls slowly, quietly to
the phone, dials information.
“What city, please?”
“Big City.”
“Thank you. Name?”
“Last name Medrano, first name Laura.”
“ALUMNAE”
by Millie Collins
Laura stepped out of the hot shower,
the cool outer air hitting her full force.
It felt great. After so much time in the car, it felt good to be
relaxed, to wash off the road. God, she
hated road assignments. The only thing
that had sustained her those last few hours in the car was the knowledge that
she’d end up here: indeed, as soon as she came in the front door, she dropped
everything in a pile. Without looking at the mail, checking her machine, barely
looking around, she stripped off her hot dusty clothes and made a beeline for
the shower. She now felt better than
she had in days, pulling on her old UBC sweatshirt and her favorite pair of
jeans.
She couldn’t help but think, as she did
every time she slipped into this particular outfit, of a time when it was
practically her uniform. It’s funny how
much a piece of clothing can affect me, she thought. All that studying, just a lowly journalism student, the cafeteria
food, the parties, the pledging. She
let other people say what they will about sorority life, for her, pledging and
becoming a member of the Dhals was the best thing that ever happened to her.
She remembered a time that she and T’lea stayed up all night studying- wow, T’lea!
It’d been years since she thought of her, yet, as the memories flooded
back she was filled with a warmth at the thought of the woman Laura still
considered her best friend. I wonder
what she’s up to? Laura thought. The last time I heard, she was in law school
and her brother was in the police academy.
But, wow, that was 5 years ago.
She chastised herself for letting herself lose touch with such a good
friend. I’ll have to try to get in
touch with her again soon, she thought.
She picked up the bags she had dumped
at the front door and emptied them, putting everything away. She never felt really settled back in after
a long trip like this until she knew she was completely unpacked. The last of her tension melted away as she
replaced her toiletries and walked over to the answering machine; it was
flashing with two messages. Laura hadn’t been expecting many messages; nearly
everyone knew she’d been gone for the last week, and, judging by the number of
calls she had received on her cell phone, they had all known how to get a hold
of her. She hit the button and went over
to the table where Charlie had stacked the mail while she was gone. Charlie.
The thought, as it always did, make her smile, and as she smiled, she
heard his voice on the machine: “Hi honey, I know you’re not home yet, but I
thought I’d like to be the first voice you hear when you get home. I left you something in the fridge, call me
when you get in. I love you.”
She grinned as she rifled through the
mail. Most likely, one of Charlie’s
Famous But-Gusting Subs was awaiting her in the fridge. Her stomach began to growl, and she suddenly
realized how hungry she was. The
machine clicked for the next message.
The only sound was light breathing, followed by a catch, as if the
person on the other line started to say something, then thought better of it
and hung up. Laura stared at the
machine for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders. She got pranks all the time; occupational hazard, she always
figured.
Suddenly, the sub was calling her,
breaking her reverie. Laura nearly ran
to the fridge, threw open the door, and let out a little giggle at the huge,
overstuffed roll and the ice cold bottle of white Elven wine next to it. Grabbing a glass, she settled in front of
the TV with the sandwich and the wine, thinking about how lucky she was. As she made short order of the But-Guster,
though, there was a little nagging in the back of her mind, and not for the
first time. She wished it would just go away.
But there it was, the memory of Charlie’s words: “My life has been shit lately.” In her head, she knew it wasn’t an
insult. It was just his frustration,
wanting that money so bad, and knowing he couldn’t have it. But her heart, her heart is where it lives,
like a tiny bruise that won’t heal, as much as she wants it to. Anyway.
She forced the memory out of her mind and concentrated on the cartoons
on the TV in front of her. She should
probably call Charlie. She looked at
the clock. 10:30. It was getting late, and he might start to
worry.
With this thought in her head, the
ringing of the phone didn’t surprise her, but in the quiet apartment, the
volume startled her. She picked up the
phone with a smile, “I was just about to call you.” The silence on the other end told her she had guessed wrong. “Hello?
I’m sorry, I was expecting someone else. Who is this?” She knew
immediately it was the hang-up on the machine from before, and something told
her this wasn’t a prank. “Hello? Please answer. Who is this?” After a
moment, there was an answer.
“Laura?” The voice was so quiet she could barely hear it, but the owner
was unmistakable.
“T’lea! My God, I was just thinking about you! How are you? I’ve missed
you so much,” She knew the words were rushing out, but she couldn’t help but be
astonished, not to mention a little nervous, at the coincidence.
“Laura? I didn’t know who else to call.
I need you.” The desperation in
her voice was so great, the grief so thick, that something in Laura knew not to
ask many questions. An old rhyme, a
silly but honest saying the two of them
had together, flashed into her mind.
“Where are you?” She wrote down the
address. “Pack a bag; I’ll be there in 15 minutes.” As she was walking out the door, Laura
caught sight of yesterday’s paper. She
hadn’t noticed it earlier, but now it stopped her cold. The picture was familiar, and the headline
read: “Rookie Elven Police Officer
Killed in the Line of Duty”.
Laura ran out the door.
*
Stack
arrived at work a little later than usual, which was still about an hour before
almost anyone else. He hadn’t been
sleeping well last night. For some reason,
Gina had been on his mind. He had felt
better since he had “spoken” to her, almost as if it had been a kind of
closure. Lately he had been able to
keep the overwhelming grief that haunted him still at bay. But there are always times, especially in the
dark and loneliness of the middle of the night, when he least expects it, that
the grief will seize him, keeping him in it’s grip until the morning brings, if
not relief, at least a reprieve. Last
night was one of those nights, and it hadn’t happened in so long that it had
shaken him even more than usual. The
big thing was that, somewhere in his mind, he didn’t really believe that Gina
was dead. Even if he couldn’t admit it
himself, a part of him had held onto the hope, since there were so many unanswered
questions, that she may still be out there somewhere. But after this…it had only served to drive him a little crazy,
send his thoughts around in circles.
Well, for today anyway.
When he walked in, he saw that
Needless, as usual, was there before him.
Though there was no sign of his partner, the steaming Java Jalopy cup on
Stack’s desk told him that Needless was around here somewhere. As he blew on the coffee to cool it, he
noticed a message in the middle of his desk.
Laura Medrano had called him overnight, and would be stopping by this
morning. Huh. What does Laura want? He
seized on the thought, tearing himself away from darker areas of his mind.
“Hey man, how’s it going?”
Stack looked up to a bemused
Needless. He realized he had been sitting
there, thinking about Laura, for over an hour, and the piece he had created on
his desk was pretty impressive: his drained coffee cup, large erasers, and even
a magazine clip for his gun included in it. It was far too large to keep,
though. He looked back at Needless,
“Hey, just thinking,” he said, knocking it down to make way for his
paperwork. “Laura Medrano called, she’s
coming over this morning. Just trying
to figure out what she wants with me.
What are you up to?”
“Not much. Got a meeting this morning, some thing for all the Elves on the
force. The higher-ups seem to be
worried that we won’t feel loved anymore after the thing with the Harlan
kid.” Needless snarled a little
bit. He hated being reminded about his
elf background at work. Not that he was
embarrassed, he just saw himself as a cop first, and a half-elf second. He truly didn’t see what the big deal
was. “Anyway, I’m late already. See you in a bit.” Needless gathered some
paperwork off his desk and paused a minute.
Stack didn’t seem himself today, seemed a little distracted. He’d never bring it up, though. The guy was so private, Needless thought,
he’d probably just get embarrassed. Ah,
well, he thought, he’ll work it out, whatever it is. As Needless walked away, Stack was already working on a new work
of art.
Laura walked into the precinct, and saw
Stack’s creation before she saw the man himself. He’s a weird guy, she thought.
Walking up to the desk, she caught Stack’s eye. He seemed startled, and his piece fell over. She smiled.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Ah, no problem. So I got your message. What can I do for you?” he asked, motioning
her to sit in the chair next to his desk.
He sized her up for a minute.
She looked tired, her usual tailored appearance gone for the
moment. She had a freshly-scrubbed
look, one that Stack found not altogether unappealing. She was a good-looking girl, there was no
doubt about that. But he had always
thought that, hadn’t he?
She sat in the chair, all
business. “First off, I have a question
for you. If I came to you with a
problem, and I told you that you had to keep it completely off the record for
now, nobody at all could know, not even your partner, could you promise me that
it would stay that way?” She looked
intense. This was serious.
Stack was thoughtful. “I don’t know. I don’t think I could promise that.”
Laura stood up. “Okay, no hard feelings. Thanks for being honest.” She turned around and walked out of the
station.
Stack sat for a moment, stunned. Then he was out of his seat and after
her. He caught up to her just outside
the front door. “Hold on a minute! I just meant…” he was flustered. This was not how he had thought this would
go at all. “If a crime has been
committed, I can’t just sit on it. I
just can’t. But I want to help if I
can.”
Laura turned and smiled. “I know that, and I’m not asking you
to. But this is very sensitive. I have a friend who is in some big trouble
and she doesn’t know with whom, but it might be someone on the force, okay? So if you’re going to help me, I need to be
sure that no one will know about this until we are absolutely sure what’s going
on. Can you help me? You’re the only one in that building that I
trust.” Her eyes were wide, and there
was a hardness there. She was clearly
protecting someone very important.
“Okay, I promise, yes. I will help you.” Stack hated dirty cops, almost as much as he hated Manzetti. He felt that police officers should be held
to a higher standard, and cops who broke the law should be punished even
harsher than anyone else. This opinion
hadn’t made him one of the most popular detectives in the city, but that never
bothered him. “Where do we start?”
Laura smiled. She knew he had made the right decision. “She’s at my apartment. We can go there now.”
*
Stack decided to take his own car,
so Laura wouldn’t have to drive him back to the precinct. Such a gentleman, she thought, and rolled
her eyes a little. She was thinking hard
about the events of the past 12 hours.
She and T’lea hadn’t talked a whole lot; all Laura really knew was that T’lea’s brother, the rookie cop
from the paper, had been killed, and
T’lea thought it had been deliberate; perhaps someone at the force. B’niah had been agitated lately, and seemed
to be on the verge of telling her something important, but hadn’t been given
the chance. All she knew was that
something big had happened, and for some reason, she thinks the responsible
parties think she knows something about it.
The poor thing hadn’t eaten or slept in three days. Laura shuddered. If something ever happened to any of her three brothers…she’d
have to give them a call this weekend, just to say hi. At any rate, T’lea had seemed so relieved to
get it off her chest, that she had practically fallen asleep on her feet around
midnight. Laura had tucked her into
bed, and had been up most of the night, trying to find out any information she
could on line or through her contacts.
So far there hadn’t been much.
Her cell phone broke into her
thoughts. She grabbed it off the front
seat, where she always put it when she was driving so she wouldn’t have to fish
for it: one bad car accident was enough
for any lifetime, thank you very much.
“Medrano.”
“Hey,”
It was Charlie. “Where the heck
have you been?” He didn’t sound mad,
more worry tangled with relief. “I’ve
been trying to call you all night. When
did you get in?”
“Charlie! I’m so sorry, honey, I turned off the ringer. I have a friend from college staying with
me, and she’s been through the ringer.
I didn’t want her to be disturbed.
I’m sorry, I completely forgot to call you.”
“Hey, no problem, I’m just glad
everything’s okay.” Laura smiled. She loved how easy-going Charlie could
be. She knew too many women who would
have been read the riot act had they done the same. She thought again how lucky she was. “Everything is okay, right?” Charlie sounded a little
uneasy. “Is your friend in
trouble? Anything I can help
with?”
“Possibly. Right now, I’m not even sure what we’re dealing with. She was so wiped, I didn’t get much
info. Stack’s coming over now; T’lea
seems to think it’s force-related.
Actually, what are you doing right now?
Can you come too? It can’t hurt
to have an extra pair of ears.” Plus, I
miss your sexy body, she thought, and immediately blushed. He’d have fallen off his chair had she
actually said that.
“Sure, it’s kind of a slow day around
here. Smiles finally decided to take a
much needed vacation. He’ll be back
Monday. Emily’s organizing, which sets
my teeth on edge. I feel like she’s
watching me, just waiting for me to put something in the wrong place. Necessary evil, I guess,” he said, and
chuckled. “You’re on your way there
right now?”
“Yeah.
Hey thanks. See you soon.
Bye.” She replaced the phone on the
seat, grinning. What was it about this
guy that made her grin like that? I
guess it’s love, she thought, as she pulled into the garage of her building. Stack was there already.
“Sorry. Charlie called, so I didn’t want to go too fast. I’m not great at multi-tasking.”
“No problem.” He followed her into the lobby, and into the elevator. “Anything I should know about this girl
before I meet her?”
“Her name is T’lea. She went to college with me, and last I
heard was in law school, so I assume she’s in practice now, though she didn’t
say. Her brother,” she paused, “was
B’niah Harlan.”
Stack let out a breath. He had though somehow that it might have to
do with this, but couldn’t put a finger on why. Detective’s instinct, he guessed. “And she thinks he may have been taken out deliberately? And by his own?” He couldn’t help but sound skeptical, even a little incredulous.
Laura looked at him. The hardness was back in her eyes. “All I know is, she’s scared, and this was
never a woman to scare easily. She was
an Elven woman who pledged the Dhals.
She has a spine of steel, okay?”
Stack was taken aback. “I’m sorry, did you say the Dolls?” he said,
a tiny smile on his face.
“No, the Dhals. Kaf Lam Dhal. They’re a sorority at UCB. They were forced to integrate a year or so
before we got there. We pledged
together. Needless to say, they didn’t
give her a very good time of it.” Stack
was starting to realize why Laura was so fiercely protective of this
woman. It was probably a reflex by
now.
“Hold on,” said Stack. “Kaf Lam
Dhal? Isn’t that ancient Elvish?” Laura smiled a wry smile, “I didn’t say it
made any sense.” She got quiet. “I’ve never seen her like this. That’s what’s got me so worried. If T’lea is this scared,” she paused, then
said in a whisper, “it’s scary.”
*
The elevator doors opened at the 20th
floor, and Laura led them to her apartment.
She unlocked the doors and let them in.
Once the front door was closed, she called out, “T’lea? You up?
My friend from the force is here, the one I told you about.”
T’lea came out from the bedroom, her
hair wet as if she’d just taken a shower.
Stack didn’t know what he had been expecting, but this wasn’t it. The woman standing in the hallway didn’t
look like she could weather a strong breeze, let alone the things Laura had
described. She should be beautiful, but
she looked tired and haunted, like the sleep she had gotten hadn’t done much
good. She was obviously wearing Laura’s clothes, which were too short and too
baggy at the same time. Stack
immediately knew he would help this woman; he felt like he wanted to take her
home and take care of her, like a big brother.
He also immediately had no doubt that she was telling the truth. She looked that vulnerable.
He reached his hand out. “Detective
Adam Forray. Everyone calls me
Stack.” He said, in the most reassuring
voice he could muster. She took his
hand tentatively. “I understand if you
don’t have the highest opinion of cops right now, but I can assure you,
whatever the problem is, we’ll take care of it together.” She seemed to relax visibly. “Why don’t we all sit down, and you can tell
me everything?” Stack said, and as they
sat, there was a knock at the door.
Laura got up to answer it.
Charlie’s grinning face filled the peephole, and she had to laugh as she
opened the door.
“Hi sweetie,” he said, and swept her up
in a long kiss. “I’ve missed you.”
“Hi.” she said, a little
embarrassed. “Stack’s here, come on
in.”
Charlie reached out his hand. “How’s it goin, man?”
Stack shook his hand. He liked Charlie. Now there was a good kid.
“Not too bad, you?”
Charlie nodded, and turned his
attention to T’lea. He pulled her into
a huge bear hug, and though she couldn’t have resisted him if she wanted to,
she didn’t want to. Charlie was that
kind of a guy.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you
T’lea. I’ve heard so much about you, I
feel like I know you already. I’m just
sorry it’s under these circumstances.”
He released her, and looked into her eyes. “We’re gonna help you, okay?
You’re safe.” He looked at
Laura. “Did I miss anything?”
Laura paused for a minute, trying to
swallow the lump in her throat. “Uh, no, we just got here. T’lea, why don’t you make yourself
comfortable, and you can talk when you’re ready.” She grabbed the ashtray on the coffee table, emptied it, and put
it back in front of T’lea. She didn’t
generally allow smoking in her apartment since she had quit a few years back,
but she’d made an exception. Hell,
she’d even had a couple herself last night.
T’lea was silent for a long
moment. She lit a cigarette, and smoked
about half of it, before she began to speak.
Her voice was still unsteady, but a little stronger. “My brother was my twin. I don’t know if that’s important, but it was
important to me. He always wanted to be
a cop. Ever since I can remember, it
was his dream to be on the BCPD. He
wanted to be a detective,” she said, looking at Stack. He nodded.
“Even with the problems that came with being born an Elf, it seemed that
drove him even more. It did me
too.” She took a ragged breath.
“He graduated from the police academy,
and was assigned to the 23rd precinct about 3 years ago. It was a great time in our lives. I had just passed the bar a few months
earlier, and was joining a friend’s practice.
It was finally happening for the both of us. It was great for a while, then about a year ago, I sensed a
change in him. He wasn’t really acting
all that different, I could just feel that something wasn’t quite the
same. I asked him about it a few times,
but he just brushed me off, saying that work was tough just now, but it’d be
okay.
“Then about a month ago, he changed
completely. He stopped calling me,
stopped doing things with me, just stayed at home. His friends apparently had the same experience; I had asked them once he shut me out. No one seemed to know what the problem
was. So last week, I went over to his
place. He wasn’t home, but I let myself
in, since I had a spare key. When he
got home, I confronted him, and told him I wouldn’t leave until he told me what
was going on. He wouldn’t speak me for
hours, just continued on like I wasn’t there.
Finally, I don’t know, it was like he snapped. He looked like hell, as if he hadn’t slept or eaten in days.”
She stopped for a moment. Stack could easily picture it. He knew the kid in passing, and had actually
noticed he didn’t look himself the last time he had seen him. He felt a pang of guilt, like maybe he
should’ve talked to the kid or something.
But how could he have known?
Laura squeezed T’lea’s hand. She
gave Laura a watery smile, and went on.
“He started screaming that it was all
too much, that he couldn’t do it anymore.
He looked like he was possessed or something, pacing around, waving his
arms. I was really scared at this
point. I knew he had gotten himself
into something, and I didn’t know what it was going to take to get him
out. Once he finally calmed down, we
talked all night. He told me
everything.” She paused and looked at
Stack. “And you’re not going to like
it.”
Stack was uncomfortable by her
stare. He could understand it, but he
didn’t like being the living representative of the people who had killed her
brother. “Don’t worry about me. He told
you everything?”
She nodded. “Everything but names.” She took a deep breath. The words started rushing out. “There’s a ring. A group of guys stealing from the Widows and Orphans fund. Apparently, B’niah just kind of fell into it
accidentally, was on the take for a little less than a month at that point. It had been eating him alive, which
explained the change in him. He said he
couldn’t look me in the face after what he’d been doing, which is why he had
shut me out. ‘These are big guys,’ he
said, ‘guys that are high up, with families, been doing this for years.’ He looked positively petrified. I didn’t know what to say. He said he had already decided to go to
Internal Affairs, bust the thing wide open.
But he was scared for his life.
‘You don’t understand, T’lea,’ he said.
‘the amounts of money we’re talking about. They’d kill me for sure if they knew it was me.’ I told him I’d help him any way I
could. He looked so happy, so
relieved.” She choked back a sob. “That was the last time I saw him. The next day, I went to the station. I happen to have a friend in IA, a woman
named Berry Landris. We grew up
together. I went to talk to her off the record about what my
brother told me. I thought I could
trust her,” The tears were streaming now. “I don’t know if someone overheard
me, or if my friend is in on it, all I know is 2 days later, my brother was
dead.” She was sobbing openly, trying
to get control of herself. “I know it’s
my fault. And if they got him, I’m sure
I’m next.” She looked at Laura. “I’m so sorry to dump this on you, but I
didn’t know where else to turn.
Laura shushed her oldest, dearest
friend. Her own tears were falling by
now, as well. She remembered B’niah
well, how open and friendly he was, a lot like Charlie. “Don’t be.
You absolutely did the right thing.
We’ll help you with this. Why
don’t you go blow your nose. You look
like crap,” she said, and smiled. T’lea
let out a nervous giggle, and got up, heading for the bathroom.
When she had gone, Laura looked at
Stack. “You understand now, don’t you?”
Stack nodded. He was stunned, speechless.
He didn’t know what to think.
There was no question of whether or not to believe something had happened
to her. He just couldn’t wrap his brain
around it. It was too huge. The idea that something like this could be
going on, practically under his nose.
Either way, he would get to the bottom of it. He had to. The wheels in
his head started to turn again. “I’ll
go see what I can find out. I’ll let
you know what I find. I’ll send over a
detective I trust to keep an eye on you.” Laura started to say something. Stack raised his hand. “I won’t tell him
why, just that you need protection.
I’ll get Needless if I can, though he’s got meetings today.” He chuckled
a little; it came out more like a snort. “They’re meeting with all the Elven
cops. They seem to think the kid’s
death was race-related.” He stood to
leave and looked hard at Laura. “Don’t leave her side. Don’t leave this apartment until I
personally call you and tell you to do so.
You got it? If you hear from any
other officer who says he’s calling for me, you call me immediately.” He handed her his card with his desk, pager,
and cell phone numbers on it. He shook
Charlie’s hand, and was gone.
Charlie looked shell-shocked. He put his arm around Laura and pulled her
close. “So, now we wait, huh?”
Laura turned her face up to his, a
weary smile on her face. “Not exactly
one of my strong suits.”
Charlie grinned. “No problem. You got any cards?”
*
Stack had trouble keeping his thoughts on the traffic. He was headed back to his office, having
decided that the best place to start was by talking to Captain Breen. He wasn’t sure of too many people he could
trust with this, if there even was a this.
But he was sure about Breen.
Breen, Needless, and a couple of others. That was it. Anyway, when
starting a new investigation, always best to get the boss’ opinion.
Breen sat back in his chair and let out
a loud sigh. “That’s quite a story,
Forray,” he said, looking hard at Stack.
Stack shrugged. “I hope it’s just a story, but you didn’t see
this girl. She is scared. According to Laura, she’s not easily scared,
nor is she given to flights of fancy. I
have to believe that there’s something going on, and I wouldn’t call her a liar
in a million years. I was thinking I’d
start with his partner, what’s his name?”
Breen checked the file in front of
him. “Name’s Murphy. He’s human, been on the force almost as long
as you have. Yeah, that’s probably the
best place to start.” Stack nodded, and got up to leave. “Adam,” Breen stopped him. Stack
turned. “Be careful, okay? I’ll do some nosing myself, but we don’t
know if his partner was part of this or not.”
Stack was a little taken aback.
Breen didn’t usually call him Adam.
He must be worried.
“By the way,” said Breen, “Needless was
sent out on a case while you were gone.
I don’t know when he’ll be back, but I assumed you’d want to know, in
case you wanted to get him up to speed.”
Stack smiled. “Thanks. I’ll stay in
touch.” He turned and walked out. He stopped at his desk and called Needless’
cell.
“D’yen”
“Hey.
Where are you?”
“I could ask you the same thing! I’m on a g’luhdamn wild goose chase! Stupid domestic violence call. No one’s talking, no telling how long I’ll
be here. Where have you been?”
“No time to explain. Listen, do me a favor. Whenever you get done there, go over to
Laura’s. I can’t fill you in right now,
but she and a friend need protection. Just get there as soon as you can,
okay?” Stack tried not to sound too worried.
“Yeah, sure. Is everything okay?”
Needless wasn’t fooled.
Stack sighed. “That’s the big question, isn’t it?”
*
It wasn’t hard finding Brad Murphy at
the 23rd. He was one of
those guys that, even if they were whispering, you’d swear he had a
bullhorn. He was booking a prostitute
at his desk when Stack entered. Stack
waited until he was done, and walked over.
“Murphy, right? Detective Forray.” Stack held out his hand.
“Forray? Sure, I know the name.
How are ya, man?” Murphy took
his hand. He seemed genuine enough,
pretty friendly. Stack nodded. “I was wondering if I could ask you a couple
of things about your partner?”
“Harlan? Yeah, I was wondering when you guys would get around to
that.” Stack had been wrong; Murphy’s
voice had dropped to a whisper. “Let’s
go into my Cap’s office, we can talk in there.” He led Stack to the empty office in the back.
“Cap’s out of the office today, so we
won’t be bothered,” said Murphy, closing the door and the blinds as they
entered the office. “What do you want
to know?”
Stack looked at him. “It seems you
already know why I’m here. I’m told he
was acting pretty strange the last month or so.”
Murphy nodded emphatically. “Oh, yeah,
he was a mess. Paranoid, not sleeping,
I don’t think, just a mess. I think he
got in over his head with something, but he never told me what it was. I think he might have told me, fairly soon
actually, but he never got the chance.”
He shook his head. “The whole
thing just seems fishy to me.”
“Can you tell me the circumstances
surrounding his death? Were you
there?” Stack asked.
“Yeah, I was there. We got a call about a burglary in progress,
at a convenience store. When we pulled
up, one of the guys took off, so I went after him, but I lost him. When I came back, the kid was dead, the
shooter had taken off, and everyone around said that the kid never saw it
coming. He was shot in the back.” Murphy paused, trying to form his words. “It just felt wrong to me.”
“In what way?” Stack was interested. He was pretty sure that Murphy wasn’t
involved; he was a nice guy, but didn’t seem bright enough to pull of being
full of that much shit.
Murphy shrugged. “I don’t know. The perp was across the street. He was getting away. Why would he stop just to shoot the kid in
the back? Or, if the kid was chasing
him, how could he shoot him in the back?”
He looked genuinely confused.
Then he shrugged. “I don’t know,
stranger things have happened, I guess, but it just seemed weird, you know,
along with the way he’d been acting lately, like something was on his mind,
something he wanted to tell me, but couldn’t.
You know?” He looked expectantly
at Stack.
Stack nodded. “Yeah, I know.” It seemed
Murphy was really convinced something was going on, but was downplaying it for
Stack. He gave Murphy his card. “You’ve been a great help. If you think of anything else, let me know,
okay?” He turned to leave, and stopped.
“One more thing. Had he started
hanging with anyone new lately, anyone on the force he hadn’t had much contact
with before?”
Murphy was thinking. “Not really, I don’t think. Well, I don’t know if this helps, ‘cuz you
couldn’t really call it hanging, but he’d had quite a few meetings with
Lieutenant Ortiz lately.”
Stack felt a little light-headed all of
a sudden, but tried not to let it show.
“Huh. It might. Thanks.”
He turned and walked out of the office.
Lieutenant Brandon Ortiz was the secretary on the board that had control
of the BCPD Widows and Orphans Fund.
*
Breen hung up his phone, trying to
process what Stack had just told him.
“Ortiz!” He said to himself, unbelieving. Ortiz had been his superior when he was a rookie; he was older
than dirt, and had a reputation for honesty and pulling no punches. Breen was a little shell-shocked, but
quickly regained his composure. He knew
what he had to do. He picked up the
phone.
“Is Lt. Ortiz in? Good.
Please tell him Captain Breen is on his way. It’s urgent.”
*
When he got off the phone with
Breen, Stack called Needless. “How’s it
going?”
“You ever banged your head against a
brick wall?” Needless sounded
exasperated.
Stack chuckled. “I take it you won’t be getting out of there
anytime soon.”
“The woman has locked herself in the
bathroom! I’m about ready to pimp-slap
her myself.” Needless sighed. “Sorry man, it’s gonna be a while.”
“It’s okay. I’ll send a uniform over there for now, just
get there whenever you can.” Stack hung
up the phone. He thought for a minute. There was only one guy he could really think
of, a guy he was in the academy with.
He was sure the guy was clean, but was he sure enough to risk Laura and
T’lea’s lives? He’d have to take the
chance. Besides, Charlie would be
there.
*
Laura was tired. They’d been playing Greedy Goblin for 4
hours now, since it was the only game all three of them knew, and T’lea was
cleaning them out. Luckily, the jumbo
bags of mini pretzels had been 2-for-1 last week. It was getting to be late afternoon, and she was wondering when
she’d be hearing from Stack.
“Hey, Dopey, it’s your turn.” Laura snapped out of her thoughts and looked
at Charlie. She smiled. She’d seen it a million times, but she still
couldn’t believe the effect he had on people.
T’lea almost looked like her old self, and though the laughs and jokes
were still a little slow coming, they were coming. Laura smiled, and played her turn.
The phone rang, and Laura jumped up
to answer it. “Thank God!” she
exclaimed. “I’d kill somebody if I had
to play another hand of that stupid game!
T’lea, pick out a movie.
Anything!” She answered the
phone, “Medrano.”
“Hi,” Stack almost sounded relieved.
“How’s your day been?”
Laura sighed. “We’re fine, just
bored. What about you? How’s it going?
“I’m making progress. I just talked to Needless, and he’s tied up,
so I’m sending another guy. His name is
Eric Fremd. Here, copy down his badge
number, and be sure to ask him for it before you let him in, okay? Just to make sure it’s really him?”
Laura wrote down the
information. “Are you sure you can
trust this guy?”
“Yeah, he’s okay,” Stack answered. “We were in academy
together. Guy’s good as I am.”
“I hope so,” Laura said.
“Keep me posted.”
“Will do. Bye.”
Laura turned to Charlie and T’lea’s
expectant faces. “Stack’s sending over a friend. His partner’s busy, but Stack swears this guy’s okay. So,”
She smiled, “it’s about dinner time, who’s for pizza?”
Charlie looked at his watch in
disbelief. “Shit! I have to do a stakeout tonight! I’m already late! Smiles is out of town and I told him I’d do it! Crap!”
He looked at Laura helplessly.
Softly he said, “It’s really important.
Not just dirty pictures this time, it’s really big. I’m sorry, I have to go.”
Laura hugged him. “Hey, we’ll be
fine, don’t worry about us. We’re getting
protection, and I’ll call you if we need anything. Really, go!” He kissed
her, hugged T’lea, and was gone, his unuttered apologies hanging in the air. Laura turned to T’lea. “You still like pepperoni?”
An hour later, the pizza was almost
gone when they heard a knock at the door.
Laura grabbed the information Stack had given her, and verified that the
guy at the door was really Eric Fremd.
She let him in. He was tall,
blond, square shouldered, about Stack’s age.
Typical look for a cop. Laura was
almost disappointed. “You’re too late
for the pizza, I’m afraid.”
“That’s okay, ma’am.” He said stiffly. Boy, this guy was really by the book, thought Laura.
“Well, I don’t know how long we’re
gonna be here, so come on in, we’re watching a really stupid movie we’ve seen a
hundred times.” She gestured towards
the couch.
He took a seat, and soon the three
of them were joking and talking, though Fremd never took his eye off the door,
or his hand far from his gun. The only
time he moved more than 5 feet from them was to answer a short call on his cell
phone. Boy, thought Laura, this guy’s a
scintillating conversationalist. It was
all, “huh, yeah, uh-huh, sure, okay.”
Laura wouldn’t have been surprised if the guy on the other end had
fallen asleep. Fremd hung up the phone
and sat back on the couch.
“Did I miss anything?” he asked with a
smile. Laura was starting to like this
guy.
*
When Breen walked into Ortiz’
office, he still didn’t know what he was going to say. The old man was sitting at his desk,
finishing up the day’s paperwork, and he motioned for Breen to sit.
“Well, well, well. Captain Breen. This is a pleasant surprise.
How’s the family?” They made small talk for a few minutes. His secretary came in to ask him if there
was anything else. It was past quitting
time, so he dismissed her. After she
left, he turned to Breen. “So, what’s
going on? Tracy said it was urgent.”
Breen looked hard at Ortiz. He suddenly realized. This man has 5 kids. Three had gotten braces. Each got a new car on their 16th
birthday. All went to college, one’s a
lawyer, the other a doctor. Yet here he
is in a designer suit, a fancy watch.
The man drives a car that’s worth more than Breen’s house. He had always claimed he had done well on
the stock market, yet he didn’t seem to be affected by the crash a few years
back. It was staring him right in the
face. Breen couldn’t believe he had
missed all the signs. He began to
speak. “I wanted to talk to you about
something, and it’s kind of serious.
It’s about the kid, Harlan, who was killed a few days ago.”
Ortiz looked puzzled. “Oh, yeah, the elf kid. Too bad, that. They caught the thug yet?”
Breen choked a little. “We’ve got a
few leads. Apparently IA thinks they’re
on to something. I thought you might
want to know.” He watched Ortiz’ face
carefully. “Something about the Widows and Orphans fund.”
Ortiz looked nonplussed. “Yeah, what about it?” Breen couldn’t be sure, but he could swear
Ortiz sounded a little more menacing than he did a moment ago.
Breen spoke carefully. “Yeah, some guys in IA seem to think that
guys are skimming. Say there’s no
telling how many guys there are, or how high it goes.”
“Is that right?” Ortiz looked like he might be sweating a
little. Breen decided to pull back for
now; see what his next move would be.
“Anyway, I just thought I’d let you
know. I’ve got Forray on it right
now. He sent a friend over to Laura
Medrano’s, you know, the reporter.
They’ve got a potential witness there.
I’ll let you know what he finds.”
Breen had set the bait. If the
suspicions were correct, he’d know soon.
He got up.
Ortiz stood and shook his hand.
“Yeah, I’d appreciate it. Let me know
what happens.”
Breen walked out of the room and
shut the door. He stood there silently
for a moment, and he heard Ortiz pick up his phone, and dial. His voice was cold, but it was his words
that chilled Breen to the bone.
“Yeah, it’s me. Breen and Forray are on to it. That reporter bitch, Medrano, she’s got
something to do with it, too. Get over
to her place, now.” As he hung up the
phone, he realized his office door had been opened again. He stared in shock.
“I’m not surprised, just
disappointed,” said Breen, gun trained, as he got out his handcuffs.
*
At a particularly mundane part of
the movie, Laura got up to get a drink of water. She stood in the kitchen, looking out the window for a
moment. She was wondering when she’d
hear from Stack. She was starting to
get nervous. And the sudden banging on
the door did nothing to calm her fears.
*
Berry
Landris, T’lea’s friend in Internal Affairs, was working the overnight shift
tonight, so Stack had no problem finding her in her office. She was on the phone, but waved him in,
motioned for him to sit, and quickly finished her phone call. “My kids,” she said upon hanging up. “They love to call me here when I’m on
overnight. What can I do for you,
Detective Stack?” Most of the IA people
knew him, at least by sight.
“I wanted to talk to you about your
friend, T’lea Harlan.” Stack began.
Berry’s face fell. “Oh my God, how is she doing?” She looked stricken. “I can’t believe what happened to B’niah. Such a tragedy.”
Stack looked her. “She said she came and talked to you a
couple of days before her brother was killed, is that correct?”
“Yeah, that’s right. She asked me something about the Widows and
Orphans fund. Thought there was a ring,
guys skimming money. I haven’t really
looked into it. To be honest,” she
said, lowering her voice, “I kind of got the feeling that maybe B’niah screwed
up, got in over his head, and maybe invented the others. Nasty business, though.” She showed her distaste.
Stack tried to remain calm. “You haven’t looked into it? That’s a fairly
serious accusation. How could a rookie uniform get his hands on Widows and
Orphans money? Wouldn’t someone higher
up have to be calling the shots?” She
just looked at him. He was amazed at
her density. “I mean, would you know
how to get your hands on that money, if you wanted to? I wouldn’t.”
She looked shocked. “I…I…guess I didn’t think about it that
way. I just figured he was messing
around. Oh God.” She looked crestfallen. Good, thought Stack.
“Okay, I just have one more
question. Did anyone see you meet with
T’lea? I mean, who would’ve seen her
coming, going? Anyone?” He was losing his patience with this woman.
“Let me think. I remember it was pretty early, so there
weren’t many other people around. The
only other person around was my supervisor, Captain Black. That’s the only person I can think of. Does that help?”
Stack stood up. “It might,” he said, unable to keep the
sarcasm out of his voice. He left the
office.
*
Officer Fremd was on his feet in a
second, gun trained on the door. It
looked like whoever was on the other side would making his entrance in no
time. T’lea ran for the kitchen, and
she and Laura hid behind the counter, in shock. Laura crept over to her breadbox, and took out her gun. She didn’t eat much bread. She tucked it in the band of her jeans as
T’lea watched, mute.
There was a large crash. Laura looked over the counter. A man, large, dark and mean looking, had
busted through her apartment door. Boy,
he looked pissed. He looked around,
trying to find the women. Officer Fremd
was on him immediately, catching him by surprise with a blow to the
midsection. They swung at each other
back and forth. You’ve got a frickin’
gun! Thought Laura, Shoot him! But they insisted on making rubble out of
Laura’s living room, until finally, Officer Fremd found a lamp on the end
table, and managed to knock the intruder out.
Considerate of him not to shoot the guy, thought Laura.
Officer Fremd came into the
kitchen. “Whoever’s looking for you
knows you’re here. We’ve got to move. Let’s go.”
He ushered them out of the apartment, barely giving them time to grab
their shoes, but not their purses.
They ran out into the dusk. Officer Fremd ushered them into his car, and
they took off.
Laura was breathless with adrenaline
and fright. “We should call Stack. He’ll need to know we’re moving.”
The officer was tense. “I’ll call him. Let’s make sure to get you to safety first.”
“Okay.” Laura was in no position to argue. She watched the lights of Big City whiz by, and wondered where
they were heading.
*
Stack pulled out into traffic. Captain Black, according to his secretary,
should be at the Gobblin’ Goblin, since his wife has class on Wednesday
nights. The man has never cooked a meal
in his life. His phone rang. “Forray.”