by B R Snow
“The Finance Minister at a cockfight,” Josie said, laughing. “That’s a page one story.”
We stepped outside into darkness and stood quietly for a moment listening.
“Okay, I think the coast is clear,” I said, doing my best lumber as I headed for the dirt path. The cages continued to bang off my knees, and by the time I reached the street, I was dealing with a two-legged limp. “Rooster, let’s stack the cages in the back seat. And you might have to hold them.”
“I’ll figure something out,” he said, placing the two cages he was carrying on the floor of the jeep.
As soon as he had all six cages in some semblance of order, he hunched down on his knees with his back facing us. He placed his hands on top of the other four cages stacked on the seat to hold them steady.
“How are the roosters doing?” I said, starting the engine.
“They seem a little confused at the moment,” Rooster said.
“Join the club,” Josie said. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Where to?” I said.
“I’m thinking the rescue center,” Josie said.
“Oh, good call,” I said, turning the jeep around and accelerating. “You got your keys with you?”
“I do,” she said. “We can put them in the aviary with the other birds. If anybody asks where they came from, we’ll just tell them they were dropped off in the middle of the night.”
“Which, technically, wouldn’t be a lie,” I said, grinning at her.
“How many laws do you think we’ve broken tonight?” Rooster said over his shoulder.
“Let’s hope we never get the chance to find out,” Josie said, glancing into the backseat.
Chapter 14
I came to a stop in front of the rescue center, and Josie raced up the front steps to unlock the door. Then she ran back to the jeep and helped Rooster and I carry the six cages inside. I closed and locked the door and flipped the lights on.
“After we put them in the aviary, what should we do with the cages?” Josie said.
“We’ll just put them in the storage area for now,” I said. “Maybe Teresa can use them for something.”
The adrenaline rush all three of us experienced during what Josie would soon come to call the Reckless Red Rooster Robbery had begun to wane, and we took our time getting them settled inside the netted aviary behind the facility. The roosters wandered around and seemed to be grumbling to each other as their claws kicked up small clouds of dust and dirt. We closed the aviary door, put the cages away, then regrouped in the registration area.
“The next time you organize a night out, how about we just stick with a movie?” Josie said, sitting down.
“What do you think Gerald was doing there?” I said, grabbing a fresh bag of bite-sized from a desk drawer and ripping it open.
“Trying to win some money would be my guess,” Rooster said, waving off my offer of the bag.
“Tell me about the other people you saw there. The ones you met at the daughter’s place,” Josie said, grabbing a small handful.
“I only met two of them,” I said. “They were drinking beer and smoking weed by the pool. The other three never got out of the water while I was there.”
“Beer and weed? You went over there first thing in the morning,” Josie said, popping one of the bite-sized.
“I did,” I said. “But that didn’t seem to matter to them. It was party central.”
“They’re friends of Jensen’s daughter?” Rooster said.
“No, Jennifer said they all worked for her dad’s company,” I said. “She made it pretty clear she wasn’t fond of having them around. Vultures was the term she used.”
“Okay, that might be worth looking into,” Josie said. “If we buy the connection between the drugs and the cockfighting.”
“Do you believe there is?” I said.
“Suzy, I just spent the last hour kidnapping a bunch of roosters from a cockfight,” she said, laughing. “At the moment, I’ll believe anything.”
I flashed back to my breakfast conversation with Detective Renfro, and his reaction to my offhand comment about Jensen selling drugs at the government offices again started rolling around my head. I scowled when an idea bubbled up to the surface.
“What’s the matter?” Josie said, reacting to the look on my face.
“I’m just wondering if Gerald is somehow involved in all this,” I said.
“Please, don’t go there, Suzy,” Josie said, grabbing another handful of the bite-sized. “Gerald’s a lot of things, and I imagine he’s not shy about cutting some corners from time to time. But I don’t see him getting involved in drug smuggling.”
“Would you have ever imagined seeing him at a cockfight?”
“No,” she said after a long silence. “That was way out of character for him.” Then she laughed. “But I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to annoy it out of him.”
“Gerald’s the least of our problems at the moment,” Rooster said, glancing out the window.
“What?” I said, getting up to look out the window. “Uh-oh.”
“What is it?” Josie said, craning her neck to get a peek outside.
“Cops,” Rooster said. “This is not good.”
“Maybe we can pretend we’re not here,” I said.
“Suzy, the lights are on, and our jeep is parked right outside the front door,” Rooster said, heading for the front door and opening it. “Good evening, Officers.”
Two large uniformed policemen strolled inside and glanced around.
“Good evening,” the larger of the two cops said. “I’m Officer Jones. And this is Officer Abbott.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said, beaming at them. “If you’re looking to adopt, we don’t open until nine.”
“Don’t start,” Josie whispered.
“No, that’s not why we stopped by,” Officer Jones said, giving me a dead-eyed stare. “We’re here about some roosters.”
“I think you’re in luck,” I said. “We just got a bunch in earlier today. It’s kind of an odd bird to have as a pet, but whatever floats your boat, right, Officer?”
“Suzy, I swear I’m going to knock you into next week if you don’t stop,” Josie whispered as she grabbed my hand and squeezed hard.
“Ow,” I said, jerking my hand away.
“No, Ms. Chandler,” Officer Jones said. “We’re not here to adopt.”
I frowned. The cop already knew my name. That probably wasn’t a good sign.
“We’re here about some stolen roosters,” Officer Jones said, glancing around again.
“Why would anybody want to steal roosters?” I said, going for bewildered.
“That’s a question we hope you’ll be able to answer, Ms. Chandler,” Officer Jones said.
“How do you know my name?”
“We just came from your mother’s place.”
“You’ve been talking to my mother?” I said, frowning.
“We have.”
“Oh, that’s not good,” I said out loud to myself. Then I brightened. “Well, I wouldn’t put too much stock in what she has to say, Officer. She’s a bit of a drinker.”
I flashed him my best smile that failed to connect.
“Knock…it…off,” Josie whispered through clenched teeth.
“What did my mother have to say?”
“After she calmed down, she suggested that we might find you here,” Officer Jones said. “This is your rescue center, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Josie and I are the primary owners,” I said, nodding.
“Feel free to leave me out of it,” Josie said.
“What makes you think we were somehow involved in stealing roosters?” I said, offering the cops the bag of bite-sized they both waved away.
“Primarily, this,” Officer Jones said, stepping closer to hold out his phone. “This was emailed to us earlier.”
I stared at the photo on his phone and saw the back of our jeep with the license plate prominently displayed.
Also in the photo was Rooster facing the camera with his arms spread on top of the cages stacked in the back seat.
“Probably not a photo you’ll want on the mantel,” Josie said, staring at the officer’s phone.
“Yeah, probably not,” Rooster said. “But it might make one hell of a Christmas card.”
“Wishing you a cage-free Christmas?” Josie said, grinning at him.
“That’s not bad,” Rooster said, chuckling. “But I’ll see if I can do better with my mug shot.”
“Maybe we were just transporting some cages,” I said. “We go through a ton of them around here.”
“Ms. Chandler, please,” Officer Jones said. “Don’t insult our intelligence.”
“I wouldn’t think of doing that, Officer,” I said. “It’s just that I don’t see any roosters in that photo.”
“Okay,” Officer Jones said, nodding. “If you don’t mind, we’re going to take a look around.”
“You got a warrant?” I snapped.
“You got a death wish?” Josie whispered.
“No, we don’t have a warrant,” Officer Jones said. “But we do have probable cause.”
“Probable?” I said, raising an eyebrow. “So, you’re not certain it was us.”
“Suzy, that’s enough,” Rooster said. “Let the officers do their job.”
“No, Rooster,” I said, taking a few steps back until I was blocking the doorway that led out back. “They just can’t come in here and start rummaging around through the place.”
“Ms. Chandler,” Officer Jones said. “You’re really starting to test my patience.”
“Right back at you, Officer,” I said. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to say no until you get a warrant to search the place.”
“Okay, that’s it,” Officer Jones said, removing a pair of handcuffs from his belt. “I’m placing you under arrest.”
“On what charge?”
“I’ll let you know when I’m done writing them all down,” he said, reaching for one of my arms.
I pulled my arm back, let loose with a string of expletives I didn’t know I had in me, then dropped to one knee in serious pain when Officer Jones twisted my arms behind my back and expertly snapped the cuffs on. He pulled me to my feet and gently shoved me to get my walk to the police car started.
“Don’t push me,” I said, stumbling slightly as I took my first step. Then I glanced back and forth at Rooster and Josie. “You saw that, right? He shoved me. That’s police brutality.”
“Trust me, Ms. Chandler,” Officer Jones said. “That wouldn’t even register on the brutality scale. And let’s hope I don’t need to demonstrate that to you.”
“Unbelievable,” I said, then glared at the other cop. “Do you even know how to speak, Officer Silent?”
Officer Abbott merely shook his head in disbelief and held the front door open. Officer Jones continued to hold my handcuffed hands tight as he looked at Rooster and Josie.
“Can you two manage to walk quietly and get in the car, or am I going to have to cuff you as well?”
Josie and Rooster slowly made their way outside and climbed into the back seat and watched as I did my best perp-walk down the steps.
Chapter 15
Detective Renfro sat quietly until he was sure I had finished telling my version of the story, then closed his notebook and slid it to one side. I rubbed my wrists and yawned then focused on the detective.
“Do you have anything to add?” he said to Josie.
“No,” she said. “But I do have one question.”
“What’s that?” the detective said.
“Do you guys have a bus I could borrow?”
“Funny,” I said, glaring at her. “You’re a big help.”
“You don’t need any help,” she said. “Unless we’re talking about therapy.”
“Okay, you two. That’s enough,” Detective Renfro said. “I just have a couple of follow up questions.”
“Go right ahead,” I said, shrugging.
“Are you out of your freaking mind?” he said, staring at me.
“Good one, Detective,” Josie said, then turned to me. “I didn’t expect him to lead with rhetorical.”
“We were merely doing your job for you, Detective,” I said, fuming.
“Sure,” Josie said, shaking her head. “Let’s just insult the entire police force and get it over with.”
“I’m serious,” I snapped, then focused on the detective. “You and every other cop on the island know there’s illegal cockfighting going on, but you don’t do anything to shut it down.”
“We have our reasons,” Detective Renfro said, barely above a whisper.
I let his comment marinate for several seconds, then I grinned at him.
“I knew it,” I said. “There is a connection between the drug smuggling and the cockfighting, isn’t there?”
“I didn’t say that,” the detective said. “I merely said we have our reasons.”
“Which are?” I said, cocking my head at him.
“Which are none of your business,” he said with a small smile. Then his phone chirped, and he answered the call. “Renfro…That’s fine. I’m done with them for the moment.” He ended the call and placed his hands on the table. “Okay, I will leave you two for the time being. There are some other people who want to ask you a few questions.”
“Great,” I said, scowling. “We’re gonna be here all night.”
“Oh, let’s hope so,” he said, giving us a finger wave as he got up and headed for the door.
“He’s not as funny as he thinks he is,” I said, then glanced at Josie. “I’m sorry I got you into this mess.”
“Yeah, I know you are,” she said, nodding.
“You still mad at me?”
Josie reached out and slugged me hard on the arm.
“Maybe a little,” she said, glancing around the room. “I need to pee.”
“Can you hold it until they put us in the cell?” I deadpanned, then grinned at her.
“What the heck am I gonna do with you?”
“Well, you’re going to start by being my maid of honor,” I said.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
“I didn’t think I even needed to ask,” I said, shrugging.
“And I assume you want a bachelorette party?”
“Of course,” I said. “I’m thinking Montreal.”
“We go to Montreal all the time,” Josie said. “I’m thinking Vegas.”
“That could work,” I said. “Lots of good restaurants, catch a couple of shows, do some gambling.”
“Maybe take in a cockfight,” Josie said. “If you promise to behave yourself.”
“Yeah, I’ll see what I can do,” I said. “Do you think they have cockfighting in Vegas?”
“I don’t know,” she said, shrugging. “Apparently, what happens in Vegas, stays there.”
I laughed and gave her a hug, then we both turned when the door opened. A freshly showered Gerald entered and stared at us. He was wearing shorts and sandals and his usual short sleeved shirt with a flower pattern.
“What are you doing here?” I said.
“Great minds think alike,” he said, sitting down across from us. “I was going to ask you the same thing.” He draped a leg over his knee and glanced around the room. “We gave them the money to build this annex, but it’s the first time I’ve actually been inside. It’s not bad. As far as interrogation rooms go.”
“What are you doing here, Gerald?”
“Trying to keep your butts out of jail, what else?” he said, shrugging.
“But how did you know we were here?” I said.
“Your mother called me.”
“And she asked you to come down here?”
“Actually, she asked me to come with her,” Gerald said, yawning.
“My mother’s here?” I said, frowning.
“She is. She went to freshen up first.”
“Crap. How mad is she?”
“I’m gonna go with volcanic,” he said. “You know, molten lava.”
“Got it. Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll be able to talk her down off the ledge.”
“Suzy, I don’t think you understand,” Gerald said, turning fatherly. “All three of you are facing some very serious charges.”
“That’s right,” I said, glancing at Josie. “I completely forgot about Rooster. Is he okay?”
“He’s fine,” Gerald said. “Actually, he’s in the room right next door.”
“Are the cops threatening him with the same charges?”
“Well, you’re the only one who’s being charged with assaulting a police officer. I can’t believe you bit a cop.”
“He had his hands all over me,” I said.
“Save it,” he said, raising his hands. “But in addition to the other charges, Rooster is also looking at inciting a public riot and impersonating a police officer.” He shook his head sadly. “Not good.”
The door opened, and my mother stood in the doorway giving me a dark stare. Then she slowly walked across the room taking measured steps. Give her a cowboy hat and a six-shooter strapped around the waist, and she’d be right at home in a Sergio Leone western. She sat down next to Gerald and continued to glare at me but remained silent. I took her silence as a very bad sign.
“Hi, Mom,” I said eventually.
“Young lady.”
It was never good when she led with a young lady. I sat back in my chair and got ready for the barrage I knew was coming.
“I’d like an explanation,” my mother said.
“Well, you see, Mom,” I said, then stopped when she raised a hand to cut me off.
“I’d like to hear it from Josie.”
I nodded and fell silent. Josie glanced at me then started talking. My mother and Gerald listened in silence, nodding and raising their eyebrows occasionally as she made her way through the story. When she got to the point of us being escorted into the room by the arresting officers, Josie stopped talking and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees as she waited for questions.
“Henry gave you directions to the cockfight?” my mother said.
“He did,” Josie said.