Travis didn’t care in the least that she was using him as a sounding board. She is positively a mystery to me. This is a side I have never seen before. “It’s all good Krista. Let's finish up here. I’ll drop you off at your car and then, I’ll check on the status of your brother for you.”
7
Long Island 1978
The windows rattled as he slammed the door. Exhaling a breath Beverly had been holding, and her hands started to tremble.
She could not believe how much worse her life had gotten since she met Nikolay. Her mother used to tell her, ‘Never think things can’t get worse because they always can.’ With a shaky laugh, she pressed a package of frozen peas on her eye, as she thought that she should have listened to her mother.
As she sat at her scarred kitchen table, she looked down at the tiles popping up on the floor and the broken dinner plate. The food it had held, stained the wall it hit, she felt a single tear rolled down her cheek. Placing a hand on the table she pushed herself up on her legs that felt like jello. Standing there she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the kitchen window. She was often told that she was a beautiful woman, even now from time to time. People always commented that her waves of golden blonde hair and blue eyes highlighted her delicate oval face. All that the glass reflected back to her now was a broken and bruised, elf-sized, shattered woman. As if wanting to defy her reflection, she squared her shoulders, straighten her torn blouse and inhaled deeply, One of these days life will be better.
She met Nikolay when she worked at the Diner on Sunrise Highway. She worked the overnight shift, he would always come in at four in the morning after the bars closed. He was such a sweet talker, he’d say things like, ‘why don’t you have someone taking care of you, why should you work so hard, you're such a pretty little thing.' Maybe it was because she was always so tried or because she just wanted someone else to take care of her for a change. She wasn’t sure anymore. The single truth she knew for certain, she should not have fallen for his lines.
Not long after they were married, she became pregnant with Anton. That is when Nikolay changed. He had wanted her to have an abortion, but she refused to.
One night he came home after a night of drinking and beat her so bad she almost lost the baby. A neighbor called the police, and he only received a warning, they told Nikolay if they had to come back again, he would get arrested. Everything was fine the entire time she was pregnant; other than he didn’t come home most nights.
After Anton was born, he started beating her again. He told her that if she called the police this time, not only would he kill her, he would kill Anton. Beverly was too afraid to involve her parents, worried they might call the police. She knew they would try and protect her.
She had been working ever since she could remember. She needed to help her parents take care of her sisters and brothers. Her father had been hurt at work. He was an orderly at Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center. He blew out his back trying to restrain a patient and hadn’t been able to work since.
Her mother did the best she could, but with seven mouths to feed, Beverly had to help. They may not have had a lot, but the one thing they had, the most important thing they had, was love. When she would fall through their front door from exhaustion after a long day at work, she was always happy to be home. Yes, the love spilled over in the Levell’s home.
Looking back on those days, she realized that life was so much better than it is today. She would never trade it though because it would mean she would not have Anton, her son, the only light she had in her life.
Just the thought of him made her smile that sent a burning pain shooting through her face. When she stood up to get aspirin she heard the front door open.
“Mom, are you okay?” Anton yelled out.
She stood and smoothed out her torn blouse again. Pasting a smile on her face, saying “I’m in the kitchen.”
When Anton saw her face, he ran over to her, fire flying from his eyes. “That bastard, I’ll kill him.”
“Don’t talk like that Anton, don’t let his hatred become yours," Beverly pleaded.
“You have to stop sending me out of the house when he starts with you. I could protect you. I could help you.”
“No, he would take too much pleasure in hurting you. It’s better this way.”
“When I have a wife and kids, I won’t be him. I won’t treat them like he treats us.”
“I know Anton, let’s not talk about this anymore, tell me about your day.”
“I almost got trampled by a horse.”
8
Manhattan
As Krista headed towards I-95, her mind was racing. This drive is going to take at least an hour and a half. I hope there isn’t any traffic. I have to get back to Manhattan and check in with Kane as soon as possible.
She was hoping he would let her take some time off to work the case. Everything keeps falling apart.
Her face flushed, and her heart was racing as she looked back over the past three years. Her life had changed from what was thought to be a privileged, contented life, to a nightmare in as long as it took to blink.
Her chest felt as heavy as lead, and she reached for her mother’s pendant; the one she wore every day. Staring at the road in front of her and not seeing it, she almost missed her exit. How can this be? Evan is not a killer. He would never hurt anything. They seem to think he killed another human being. Her thoughts brought her back to what little her father, Anton told her about her grandfather, Nikolay. ‘Your grandfather was mean, deep in his soul.’ Evan isn’t mean, just lost.
She took the exit for the Holland tunnel and headed towards Federal Plaza. Cars crowded the streets and the sidewalks with people. Stopped at a red light she spotted a woman walking with her head down, her thumbs flying across her cell phone, not seeing the group of kids coming her way. What a stupid woman, she must be a tourist. Just as the kid in the middle of the pack was reaching for the woman’s phone, a beat cop rounded the corner, and the kids took off running. The light changed, and she drove down Broadway to the parking garage for the Federal Building.
Finding that someone had parked in her spot, she drove around to the back, where the unassigned spaces were. As she stepped out of her car, the wind whipped her hair around, sending it smacking into her face. She pulled it back and tucked it into her coat, pulling the hood up at the same time. Lowering her head, she walked to the building.
The lobby doors opened with a whoosh as she approached. A blast of hot air washed over her body, sending a chill down her arms. She was so cold the air felt uncomfortably hot.
After being cleared by security, she scanned her badge and pressed the elevator button. When the door opened, she stepped inside, squeezing between two immigration agents.
It was so loud. Her ears felt like they had cotton in them with a bell ringing in the distance. The twenty-third floor couldn’t get there fast enough.
The noise died down each time the doors opened. Like a yo-yo, she stepped out to let people off and then back in again until the next stop. She was alone by the time it hit her floor. As she bolted off the elevator, she ran head first into her director.
“Director Kane, I am so sorry.”
“Where’s the fire Levell”? He laughed.
“Can we talk in your office”?
“Sure, that where I was heading anyway. What’s going on”?
“My brother, he’s in a world of shit this time.”
Kane’s office was a typical government office. The walls were stark white; you almost needed sunglasses. The desk was a six draw black metal and chrome rectangle, with a flat screen monitor that sat on the corner of it. In front of the desk sat a chrome-legged black plastic chair. Kane sat comfortably in his oversized rolling chair, the leather appeared as soft as a timeworn baseball mitt that molded around his body. Attached to the back was a bead-ball back massager. He tried to hide it by pushing the chair all the way in when he stood. There wasn’t another personal item in the room.
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“Take a seat, Levell, let's start from the beginning.”
“I got a call from Jeff Mitkin, do you remember him, my father’s old friend”?
Krista explained everything that happened in Camden, as she finished, she looked Kane directly in his eye, shaking her head and said, “I need to be down there.”
Kane leaned back in his chair, his short dark cropped hair, eyes of steel and voice of thunder had intimidated Krista when they first met. His onyx eyes seemed to pierce through her. “I figured that’s where this was going. I understand the concept of family, with your mother and father gone, I understand he needs you down there. With that being said, you can’t work this. I’ll call down to Philadelphia and let them know you have my permission to be there, but I’m telling you right now, DO NOT get in their way. Understood”?
“Yes, sir.”
“We can do this, one of two ways. You can take a leave of absences, you have five weeks sick/vacation time that you haven’t used. If you need more time than that, you are going to have to take leave without pay. I can’t have you gone indefinitely. This isn’t an open-ended ticket. I can give you two months’ tops”.
“Thank you, sir.”
“I’ll reassign the cases you have now, and we’ll go from there.”
“I only have the one I caught over on Broadway open, sir. I was able to close the rest. Griffin is up to date, him or Simons. They were both with me down there.”
“I do keep track of my agents, Levell.”
“Sorry, sir.”
“Not a problem, I’ll put Griffin on the case,” Kane said as he turned back to his computer screen.
Krista stood up feeling substantially more stable on her feet, the tightening in her chest subsiding a little. “I’d like to leave tomorrow morning if that is okay with you.”
Looking away from the screen and back to Krista, he said, “Just make sure all your LOA paperwork is turned in before you go, I will sign it upon receipt.” As she turned to walk out, Kane said, “Good luck and stay out of trouble.”
“Thank you again, sir.”
As Krista unlocked her apartment door, the exhaustion and fatigue of the past sixteen hours came crashing down upon her. Walking thru the door, she found comfort in the warmth of her surroundings.
She loved her caramel colored sofa and the overstuffed chair. They fit perfectly in the corner of the room. It always amazed her how the apartment looked so much bigger than it was. She thought it had a lot to do with the way the bamboo flooring stretched the length of the space. The way the scatter rugs added warmth to the room made her want to kick her shoes off and curl up with a warm blanket and cup of tea.
She had more important issues to deal with, the blanket and tea would have to wait. Pacing the length of her apartment several times, she knew she was going to have to make a call she had been putting off all day. She pulled her phone out of her purse and punched in her sister’s number. As it rang, a hundred different ways the conversation could go crossed her mind.
When she heard her sister pick up, all she said was, “Dana.”
Dana and her husband Tom, have a home on the North Shore of Long Island, in Old Westbury. They were married the month before her parent’s death. Tom was the glue that held her and Dana together. He tried to help Evan, but it was just too much for Evan to deal with.
“Where have you been? I’ve been calling all day. I thought you were coming for dinner tonight. Tom and I got worried. He said you probably just got caught up with work again. You know you work too much. So much for not missing our weekly dinner, did you get stuck at work?
“No, yes, well, no.”
“Okay, what is it, yes or no? I know you are in love with Tom’s chicken piccata, even more than Evan. What’s going on?”
“It’s Evan; he’s been arrested.”
“What? When will it end? Drugs, he was arrested for drugs wasn’t he?”
“Don’t be so hard on him Dana. You know what he’s gone through.”
“Yes, I know. I’m not sure how I would have handled seeing mom and dad die.”
“That and his shattered collarbone and fractured ribs, the medication the doctors gave is extremely addictive.”
"I know Krista, what I don't know is how much more I can handle. When will it end?”
"Dana, I get that, I do, and this isn't going to help any. He is being detained at the FDC, that’s the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia. I won’t be able to see him until after the arraignment.”
“Wait, the F C D, for drugs”?
“No, FDC Federal Detention Center, and no, not drugs- Dana, murder.”
“Murder, Krista, no! Evan wouldn’t kill spiders for us when we were young. He would catch them and bring them outside. This is crazy. Murder? There is no possible way.”
“I know, I know, Dana but you should have seen him when I found him. He was covered in blood and didn’t even know what was happening. Dana, I’m concerned. It doesn’t look good, not at all.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t believe he would kill anyone, I won’t believe it.”
She could hear Tom echoing what Dana said in the background. After explaining every detail to her and then again to Tom, she hung up the phone, mentally drained. Kicking her shoes off, she fell into her favorite overstuffed chair. After the government confiscated everything, it was the only item she was able to buy at auction from her parents belonging.
It was her father, Anton’s favorite chair. She could still recall as if it was yesterday, him sitting by the fireplace in it, while the snow fell like crystal dust outside. Telling stories about life with his mom, Beverly, and how he met Uncle Jeff, his friend, and business partner.
She pulled the blanket around her body, melted into the softness of the cushions and dozed off; only to be smack in the middle of her parent's car wreck. Her body was drenched in sweat as she opened her eyes to the morning light.
The storm had lived up to all the hype. The city resembled a winter holiday card. Pristine snow covered the ground, the trees and buildings as far as her eyes could see. Her car was also wrapped in a cocoon of white. As peaceful as it looked, it meant her commute would be a nightmare.
She was going to call Travis and check in, but decided to get her car dug out first. When the car was completely cleared off she jumped in. Rubbing her hands in front of the heater until they warmed up. With the heater blazing she pressed her call button, “Call Travis Wilks mobile.”
“Hey, Levell.”
“Hey yourself, Wilks.”
“What’s going on Krista?”
“I wanted to see if you had any information about Evan. Were you able to see him or at least get an update”?
“I did, get an update, that is. He was released from Virtua Camden and brought down to the FDC at five forty-five last night. They processed him, and he’s in the Special Housing Unit aka “The SHU”, where he will be under observation every hour.”
With a deep inhale and an explosive exhale, she whispered, “Thank God.”
“It was a no-brainer, with Evan just being released from Virtua on a drug overdose, they would have to watch him as he detoxed. Anyway, just to be sure, when I called for an update, I mentioned he was administered Narcan for a drug overdose.”
With her emotions nearly overcoming her, she could hardly speak. She knew Travis was the arresting officer. He didn’t have to give her any information.
“Thank you, Travis, thank you so much.”
“Not to worry, Krista. What’s your game plan”?
“I spoke with Kane, laid it all out for him. I’m taking my LOA first, and if it goes any further, I’ll have to go LWOP. He gave me two months’ tops, no longer.”
“I’m headed down to Philly, just got on the road now. My brother-in-law, Tom insisted on paying for the hotel. I’ll be at the Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing. I figure on staying down there for a week or two, even if I had to commute until I have enough evidence to get the case dismissed.
“Krista, you know I shouldn’t give you any of this, but you sound - anyway, I’m going to be in Camden to pull a few threads on leads I have on the drug ring. You're welcome to shadow me after you get situated. It has to be unofficially for obvious reasons.”
“That would be great. I planned to go into Camden and look for anything at all to prove Evan wasn’t involved, just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
It took Travis so long to answer, Krista thought they were disconnected. “The evidence doesn’t lie, open and shut, gun in hand, blood all over his clothes, Evan was involved. We will follow the evidence, see what pops when the lab gets their hands on everything. That’s all I’m saying. Call me or text, and I’ll let you know where I’m at.”
“Honest to the core aren’t you? Talk later.” Krista clicked off and put a call through to Jeff.
“When did the attorney get to see Evan?”
“Right after he was processed. It doesn’t look good. The arraignment will be on Monday at 9:00 am. He told Evan to plead not guilty. I gave him your number and told him to call you today.”
“I’ll be there on Monday. I’m heading down to Philly as we speak. I took LOA to see this through.”
“I’ll see if I can make it back on Monday, I’m taking care of the mess that Nelson murder left me to deal with. I have a flight out to Los Angeles. Keep in touch and if I don’t make it back, keep me updated.”
“I will talk to you later.” Krista hung up the phone thinking, ice formed on every word he said,’… The mess that Nelson’s murder left…,' his friend was murdered, my brother was arrested, and it’s a mess for him!
9
Investigation One
Turning into the parking lot of the hotel, she spotted Travis leaning on the hood of his Mustang, a broad smile on his face, arms folded in front of him, his feet were crossed, and his jacket was unzipped, hanging out like it was a mild spring day. She pulled into the spot next to him, killed the engine and got out.
Vindication- Ties That Bind Page 5