Memphis Legend

by Brian Crawford

  He was slightly less surprised and gestured for me to enter. “You better come in; we got a lot to talk about.”

  ***

  I stepped into the foyer eying the man who invited me in. He did not look overly worried. Hectic, earnest, but not worried. That was a good sign. Confusion abounded; I was speechless. I stammered out a weak hello as he closed the door behind me.

  “Dr. McCain, didn’t expect to see you here so soon.”

  “I didn’t expect to see you here at all, Special Agent Sande.”

  “No, I guess you probably didn’t?”

  “What the…” I stammered. “What are you…” More stammering. “Is she alright?”

  Agent Sande put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “God yes. She’s fine. Come into the living room; everyone is in there.”

  During the run to my house, I had assumed the worst. During the drive, no the race, over, I had continued to assume the worst. I’m not a pessimistic person normally, more of a realist actually, but for some reason, I could not shake the idea that something bad had happened to Ellie. I leaned over putting my hands on my knees catching my breath.

  Agent Sande put his hand on my shoulder again. “Shit, man. What did you think happened?”

  “I didn’t know. I just knew that her car had been towed to the police station and no one was returning my calls.”

  “Dr. McCain…”

  “L.T.”

  “L.T., I do believe you are somewhat smitten with Ellie. You look like shit.”

  “Who’s at the door, Mark?” It was Lloyd calling from further inside the house.

  “Be right there,” Mark replied. “You okay, man?”

  “Yeah, just sick to my stomach from the last 30 minutes of constant adrenaline.”

  “You drove here in 30 minutes? Surely, you jest.” I shook my head no. His jaw dropped in amazement.

  “What’s this about 30 minutes?” I whipped my head towards the voice. Ellie had just entered the foyer. She looked beautiful. Confused, a little worried, but beautiful, and completely uninjured.

  “Ellie, I would have been here sooner, but I had to run home from the hospital, get in the car and drive over. I violated a few traffic ordinances. Maybe all of them.”

  Ellie ran to me and wrapped her arms tightly around me. We held each other in an affirming embrace for nearly a minute. Her head rested against the side of my face. I craned my head to try and cradle her head with mine.

  “Okay, you lovebirds. Let’s get into the living room. We need to get L.T. up to speed.”

  Ellie’s parents, Lloyd and Virginia, were seated on a love seat in the living room. Ellie’s younger sister, Jessica, was standing near the bay window. Despite the muted reception, Lloyd and Virginia seemed happy to see me. Jessica, on the other hand, lit up like a Christmas tree, a warm, welcoming smile on her face, then crossed the room to give me a big hug. “Hey, big guy, didn’t know you were coming?”

  I had a great relationship with Jessica. Physically, she looked like a blonde mirror image of Ellie, same height, same build, same smile, same graceful movements. The differences in their personalities made it difficult to believe they had been raised by the same parents. Everything about Ellie made her perfect for television and the public eye. She was friendly and approachable, yet formal and dignified. Always cautious with her word choices and actions. Jessica, on the other hand, was loud, fun, care-free, never cautious, and smart as hell. She nearly aced her ACT in high school, already had a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and was months away from finishing another degree in environmental engineering from Vanderbilt University in Nashville. All by age 24.

  “Heard from a little birdie that my girlfriend’s car was sitting down at the police station with dirt and grass sticking out from under it.”

  “Ah, that’s sweet. So you rushed right over, still in your scrubs, no doubt, which by the way, damn, you look good in scrubs, to see how my sis is doing?” Jessica turned to address the rest of the room, “But I thought no one had called L.T. yet?”

  Ellie said, “No one had called him that I know of. L.T., you said it took you 30 minutes to get here, but how did you know you needed to be here?”

  I explained that I found out about her car, leaving out any reference of Boyd, while working in the ER. Told them I called three or four times, panicked, and then drove over as fast as I could. Special Agent Sande was particularly interested in how I found out about the car to begin with.

  “I have spies in the town who tell me stuff,” I said.

  “No really, how?” repeated Mark.

  “No really, I have spies in the town who tell me stuff.”

  Tell him the truth while still telling him nothing; it seemed like the best way to go.

  “Okay, so you got spies, as you call it. But why the panic?”

  I told them about my Mercedes and the brick through John Deland’s office window. It seemed like someone was sending me a message. Then, when I heard about Ellie’s car showing up at the police station and no one was answering their phone, I needed to know what was happening immediately. What if the two events were related?

  Ellie said, “I’m sorry we didn’t answer. We ignored the phone when it rang; Mark was explaining quite a bit of stuff to us.” Ellie was studying me with a look of concern mingled with confusion. “If I had known that you had people watching me, I would have called you. You do believe me, don’t you?”

  “Of course. FYI, I didn’t have anyone watching you, just a few people keeping an eye on things around Emmettsville for me. Mark, you mentioned something about catching me up. So what happened tonight? Why is my girlfriend’s car sitting at the police station? Why are you here?”

  Mark stared long and hard at me. “You really got spies in this town?”

  “Yes.”

  “Care to tell me who.”

  “Sorry, Mark. I was in the intelligence business in the Navy. You don’t give up your sources.”

  “Can I at least ask if it is someone in law enforcement?”

  “It’s not.”

  “Would you lie to me?”

  “To protect the identity of a source? Of course.” Mark smiled and nodded as if to say he had to try. I smiled back to let him I had no hard feelings for trying. “Look, guys and girls, I would like to know how my girlfriend’s car ended up at the police station looking like it’s been run off the road. Who’s going to tell me?” I was quickly reaching the limit of my patience.

  Jessica said, “Somebody tell the poor guy what happened.” She scanned the room to see who was going to start talking. “Okay, I’ll tell him.”

  Ellie said, “No, Jessie, let Mark tell him. Mark, tell him what you told me.”

  “Yeah, Mark,” I said, “Tell me what you told her.”

  “You the kind of guy who needs to sit down to hear bad news?”

  “No, but I think I’ll sit anyway.” I picked out a spot on the couch next to Ellie. She placed her hand in mine; each of us gave the other a loving squeeze. Jessica smiled at me holding her sister’s hand, then reached over and tousled my hair. It was something she did the first time I met her nearly a year ago, and it was something she had done every time I saw her since. I had come to expect it.

  Mark remained standing. “I don’t know how to say this other than just to come right out and tell you that shit has hit the fan big time, my friend. I’m talking out of the frying pan, into the fire kind of stuff.”

  “Do tell, please.”

  “I could get in trouble for telling you this.”

  “You already told them from the looks of things,” I said. “So you already broke the rules.”

  Mark shrugged his shoulders before letting out a resigned sigh. He started off by giving me a little history about Darwin Strasser, a crime boss in the Dixie Mafia out of Mississippi. Strasser was known to have a little over a dozen men directly under him, and he had the money and influence to hire others to do his bidding for him. This was something I had already guessed, alth
ough I had not expected him to have that many men on his unofficial payroll. Mark went on to tell me that Strasser thought I had a tape potentially implicating him in the murder of Paul Deland. Mark finished, “He’s not happy, and he wants that tape.”

  “But I never implied anything of the sort. I only said he hired the Estes brothers to collect money from Paul, nothing more. What the…” My eyes bugged as a realization hit me.

  Mark picked up on the change in my countenance. “What?” he asked.

  “You got a problem, Mark. Your office has a mole. And a stupid one at that.”

  “What? My office…wait, the problem has to be on your end. One of your spies talked.”

  “Impossible.”

  “Nothing’s impossible.”

  “Yeah, no offense, but bite me, Agent Sande. I can guarantee the problem is not on my end. Only three people knew about the tape before you, and I mentioned it to Captain Evans. I know I am not the leak. I know the person holding the microphone for me was not the leak. And I know you are not the leak.”

  Agent Sande said, “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “So where’s the leak?” asked Agent Sande.

  “Could be Captain Evans, of course, but I find it unlikely. He’s a dickhead, but I don’t think he’s dirty for no other reason than he would still be in CIU if he were. It would be easier for him to know what’s going on in organized crime that way. Besides, finding the mole is your job. I’ve limited my search to finding murderers only. How many did you talk to about our conversation?”

  “One.”

  “The same one that tipped you off about the threat on Ellie.”

  “How do you know I was tipped off?” Maybe I found out another way.”

  “Not likely.”

  “Why not, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “I don’t mind at all. I’m not sure what department you work in, Mark, but I know it’s not CIU, which means that in a need-to-know work environment, you don’t have a need to know what goes on in there. So, you wouldn’t have overheard something on your own. However, you called a friend in CIU and told him about an interesting conversation you had with your ex-girlfriend’s current boyfriend.”

  Ellie’s head jerked towards me with wide, surprised eyes. “Yeah, Ellie, that took me all of maybe five minutes.” Mark and I both feigned irritation.

  Jessica said, “Ellie, you can drop the I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar look; they are jerking your chain.”

  Smiling, I resumed, “Luckily, this same friend, having been made aware of Ellie and me, overhears something that makes him suspicious, so he returns the favor. And here you are. Voila.” I made a small flourish with my hands for added effect.

  Mark broke out in a huge smile. He was impressed.

  Ellie asked, “Is he right.”

  Mark said, “Yes.”

  She turned to me, looking bewildered. “Are you spying on Mark, too?”

  Mark answered for me. “No, he’s not spying on me. Your boyfriend just has a gift. I’ll bet you are one hell of a doctor. I ever get an ailment no one can figure out, I’m coming to see you.”

  “Thanks for your vote of confidence, Mark.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Mark went on to describe how the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation had been watching Darwin Strasser for over a year. The Bureau was having little success with informants or other leads in an attempt to build a case against him.

  “Let me guess,” I said, “Nothing ever sticks on Strasser, your attempts at infiltrating the Dixie Mafia have all failed, and you have been forced to rely on COMINT.”

  Ellie said, “COMINT?”

  “Communications Intelligence. Probably in the form of wiretaps. Once again, this has been mostly ineffective, especially since a lot of his business is across state lines, but, hey, it’s the best you got right now.”

  Agent Sande was still staring at me, a telling smirk on his face. “My friend, who will remain nameless at this time, intercepted an incoming call to one of Strasser’s underlings that lives on this side of the Tennessee border. Something about a reference concerning scaring the weather girl. The message never mentioned Ellie by name, but what other weather girl has a boyfriend kicking the hornet’s nest. He wouldn’t have even known about Ellie’s involvement if I had not called him a few hours earlier asking if he knew anything about the Estes boys.”

  “No mention of the tape?” I asked.

  “No, I worded it as you overheard a conversation. To be honest, I wasn’t sure the tape actually existed. I mentioned you, but not by name, Doc, and that you were an acquaintance of Ellie’s.”

  Jessica was the first to point out what I was already thinking. “So, some idiot in the Dixie damn Mafia decides to scare my sister by running her off the road, and the only reason Mark was there to help was because we were lucky enough that you called him a few hours earlier. Damn.”

  Mark said, “Yep, that’s about right.”

  Jessica asked, “You told us that you followed Ellie from her apartment to here. Why didn’t you just tell her what you knew?”

  “I don’t know. I guess, in hindsight, I should have. It seemed unnecessary to make her worry if it wasn’t a viable threat.”

  Ellie interjected, “Don’t blame Mark. He was there for me. That’s all that matters.”

  I said, “Which gets me back to my original question. Why the h-e-double hockey sticks is my girlfriend’s car down at the police station?”

  Mark said, “It’s kind of like this. My friend mentioned that the plan was to scare her tonight. I left work a little early and decided to keep an eye on Ellie. I tailed her. Shortly outside of Emmettsville, a four-door sedan, I believe a Mercury, probably a Marquis, passed me and got between us. Nothing seemed suspicious. It looked like they were getting ready to pass Ellie when the car rammed hers from behind instead and sent her off the road. Luckily there was no ditch along that stretch of road.”

  Ellie interjected, “Yeah, thank God no ditch there. I still got a major crick in my neck. Probably got whiplash.”

  Mark said, “The car that hit her stopped. At first, it just seemed like an accident. But when the guys in the car, there were two of them, just sat in the car while their headlights aimed on her, I knew they were the guys sent to scare her. I pulled up behind them, got out of my car and yelled for them to get out. Obviously, they didn’t get out. I did manage to get the first four numbers on the license plate before they sped off.”

  Ellie said, “I had no idea what was going on, then next thing I knew Mark was opening my car door. He made sure I was alright, got in touch with the Emmettsville police department, helped with the report to the officer, and gave me a ride here.”

  “Thank you, Mark. If I was a jealous man, I guess I would be more worried that an ex-boyfriend plays knight in shining armor to my girl. I’m opting more for grateful.”

  Mark continued, “I got Ellie home. Told her what I knew. She told me to tell her family, so we did. We were discussing whether we should call you at the hospital and leave you a message when you showed up here.”

  ***

  Mark and Ellie filled me in on a few more minor details about the crash. Ellie and I exchanged a few more hugs. Jessica gave Ellie and me a simultaneous hug and tousled my hair again. And Ellie’s family asked Mark and me some questions. The cat was out of the bag, so both of us answered as honestly as we could. The general mood in the room was one of gratitude and thankfulness. Both Lloyd and Jessica made a point of telling me they knew it was not my fault. I really cared for both of them and appreciated the sentiment, but they were dead wrong.

  It was my fault.

  A lot of trouble was made to set Boyd up undercover in the town, yet I continued to be out in front of the investigation drawing undue attention to myself. Boyd was supposed to take over the investigation while I supplied support. However, I had screwed that up as well. I did not give Boyd enough direction. He s
hould have only sold a little of the alcohol. Just enough to draw their attention, not their wrath. I got Boyd kidnapped, then had to rescue him. Not exactly hiding in the shadows. If I had, then the Estes brothers would have thought I had let things drop. There would not have been any reason for anyone to go after Ellie.

  It was all my damn fault.

  Lloyd’s voice interrupted my personal pity party. He was asking Mark if Ellie could count on police protection. I could see the color drain out of Mark’s face at the question. He opened his mouth to speak, even stammered a few words, but never started an actual sentence. I offered to answer the question for him. Mark just nodded, embarrassed by Lloyd’s question.

  I explained that Mark was not in their house in an official police capacity; he was a friend of the family that just happens to be a cop. He broke the chain of command when he called his friend, and his friend definitely broke the rules when he called Mark back. It could mean trouble for both of them. Mark added that even if they came clean, it still would not guarantee that the Bureau would help. The whole thing made no sense to Lloyd, but he accepted it.

  Mark added, “I might be able to get the Bureau involved after I talk to my friend. He will have to be the one that initiates things. I can’t do it without it blowing up in our face. It’s going to look fishy enough that my name is on the accident report filed by the Emmettsville PD.”

  My pager went off. It was from Boyd. He had typed “911-411.” I guessed that was his way of saying emergency and information simultaneously.

  Mark waited for me to finish checking my pager. “Do you need to respond to that?”

  “Yeah, but it can wait a minute more.”

  Mark said, “Look, I can talk to him tomorrow, but it will need to be face to face. We should be able to come up with a good idea. In the meantime, L.T., can you get Chief Parker to send anyone over and watch the house?”

  “You know what, I just might. Right now I need to use the phone. In the other room, preferably. Duty calls.”

  Ellie motioned towards the kitchen. I excused myself and hurried to the kitchen anxious to hear what now constituted an emergency. Boyd answered on the first right and wasted no time getting to the point. He had tried to flag me down before I entered the house, but I was moving too fast. He apologized for not waiting until later to call, but he could not wait any longer. He yelled, “We got a big damn problem!”