by Lee Winter
“You’re free,” Alex said in sudden understanding.
Sam didn’t answer. Her eyes fluttered shut and she offered a small, contented sigh. Her whole body seemed to relax.
CHAPTER 21
Secrets
Spring Hill Corrections Facility, an hour away in the Waikato, comprised a gray-walled series of hexagon-shaped buildings with a grassy courtyard in the center of each one. The idea was every room had a view of greenery. Sam trusted Dino appreciated it.
She parked, packed her motorcycle jacket in her bike’s lock box, then straightened her uniform. Sam tried to focus on the business at hand, but her mind drifted. Maori ancestors might have made their canoes and carvings out of tōtara trees, but Sam would have an entirely different appreciation of them forever more.
Sam still tingled at the way Alex’s divinely talented fingers had made her body sing. Last night, she’d been all Sam dreamed about. She’d woken today exhausted, aroused, and grumpy as hell that Dino was forcing her out of bed.
She glanced around. Sam had phoned ahead, explaining the delicacy of the situation, and the need for confidentiality. Dino had been moved into the innocuous-sounding Health Team Leader’s room. A guard posted outside the door eyed Sam warily as she entered.
“He’s got a mouth on him, that one,” he warned.
“Sounds like Dino.” She went to close the door behind her.
“Senior Constable, are you sure you should be alone with him?” The guard’s eyes widened.
“This is a confidential police matter.” She darted a look at Dino. He seemed smaller out of his gang leathers. A prison-issue white T-shirt stretched tight against his gut, and gray tracksuit bottoms hung loosely around his skinny legs.
“Yeah, confidential.” Dino ogled Sam and sneered at the guard. “Bug off now. We need to be alone.”
Sam rolled her eyes. “I’ll bang on the door if I need you,” she said firmly, and then shut it in the guard’s face to end the discussion. She turned to Dino. “Was that really necessary?”
“Man has a reputation,” Dino grumbled. “Or I had one.”
“Why do you think I didn’t meet you in the visitor’s lounge? Bikies don’t talk to cops. Which makes me ask, why am I here?”
“How’s my clubhouse?” He soured. “What’s left of it?”
“Gate’s flattened but the rest looks about the same old shithole. Your old man’s taken it over, and seems busy shouting at the universe.”
Dino looked disgusted. “Laughing at the mess I’ve made of things, probably.” He glanced out the slatted window. “I almost didn’t ask for you, but this is important.”
“Is it about…” She lowered her voice. “The Hornets’ drug drop? It’s tonight, isn’t it? At the old railyard?”
His teeth bared. “Fuck you for figuring that out.”
“Dino, I have to know: Did you warn anyone that the police know?”
“Are you fuckin’ nuts? My rep would be worth shit if people knew I’d narked.”
“You didn’t nark. I figured it out.”
An odd gleam entered his eye. “Gotta admit, it’s not a bad result.”
The hell? “You don’t care what happens to the Hornets?”
“Those little shits? Hooking people on their deadly crap? Nah. Fuck ’em.”
Well. Sam stared at him, digesting that twist. An unexpected opportunity slid into mind. “Shame I don’t know what time it’ll go down,” she said casually, flicking lint off her uniform pants. “Maybe someone could give a few Hornets gravel rash for you—for what happened to your cousin.”
“That’d be narking,” he said, but his eyes became speculative. She could almost see his cogs whirring.
He didn’t speak for a moment. She waited.
“Don’t blame me if you’re stupid enough to freeze your tits off at eleven.”
Eleven. Thank you, Dino, you useful bloody bastard. She’d slide that tip over to the drug squad. Sam leaned back. “This isn’t why you asked me to come, is it? So why am I here?”
“Look,” he said, meeting her eye properly for the first time. “I need you to save my dogs. They got seized. And they seem to like you.” He scowled. “Obviously, or you wouldn’t be still standing. I love those stupid, disloyal bastards, even though I put out the word I abused them to sound meaner. I couldn’t hack it if anything happened to them.” A redness crept up his cheeks.
“So basically you want me to save the dogs that will likely be put down for attacking a bunch of people.”
“Hey, they didn’t attack you, so what’s your problem?” He glared at her.
“Excuse me?” she said, outraged. She distinctly remembered Dino at one point throwing out panicked attack commands in the middle of the melee. “You tried to get them to!”
“Not seriously! Well, okay. Once.” He somehow managed to look both indignant and sheepish. “Only after they’d taken chunks out of all me boys. Besides, they ignored me, so I don’t know why you’re all bent outta shape. So, can you save them? I mean if anyone can, it’s a cop.”
“Why should I help you?”
“I’ll do a deal.”
Sam snorted. “What do you have that I’d ever need?”
“Man like me hears a lot of things. So I know what happened on that movie set you were asking about. So, you spring my dogs, find them a new home, and I’ll spill.”
“A new home? Can’t your friends take them?”
“For fuck’s sake, they’re all in here except Dogsbreath’s woman, and she won’t help. She’s got little brats at home. I don’t trust Dad not to hurt them. And it’ll be years before I get out of here again.” His face hardened.
Sam quickly weighed up the pros and cons. She’d replayed the video a few times and had noticed that Killer had snapped, snarled, and lunged like her brothers, but hadn’t bitten anyone. She’d be a good candidate to be saved. I must be a sucker to be considering this. “There’s no guarantee I’d pull this off,” Sam warned him. “In fact, odds are low.”
His eyes brightened. “So argue the case, hey? Try.”
“I’m probably mad to agree,” she sighed, “but okay. I promise to do my best to rescue your dogs and find them good homes.”
Dino’s eyes filled with relief. “Okay.”
“So? Let’s hear it.”
Dino shot her a suspicious look. “How do I know you’ll stand by your word?”
“Dino, for God’s sake, you already know the answer. I’ve always been an honest cop. That’s why you’re in this mess—I wouldn’t cave to blackmail. And it should have been obvious to you by the way your dogs protected me that I love ’em, too. Okay?” She threw her hands up. “Stop trying my damned patience.”
“Yeah. Yeah, okay.” He actually looked a little shamefaced. “Right, so…the person behind the sabotage, the person who made you run around in stupid fuckin’ circles is Sid.”
“Bullshit!”
“On Killer’s life, that’s the truth.”
“My brother would never—”
“He would and did. Don’t know why. But it was him. Your bro ain’t as perfect as you think.”
Sam’s anger kicked in. “No. Kev, maybe…”
“Kev? You’re kidding, right? That boy couldn’t stitch a fuckin’ plan together if his life depended on it. It was a goddamned relief when you dragged his sorry ass out of the Boars. I was so glad to be shot of that dumb shit that I didn’t even charge him the usual exit fees.”
Exit fees. When everyone beat the crap out of an exiting member. It was true that Kev, then only seventeen, had never seemed worse for wear despite leaving the gang at Sam’s furious insistence.
Realization dawned. “That wouldn’t have stopped you any other time.”
Dino shrugged and looked away.
“Why’d you spare him—really?” Sam asked.
<
br /> “Let’s just say, I think you had one too many shit sandwiches at school. I know I served half of them, spreading the stuff about your mum, making sure everyone knew. I…probably shouldn’t of done it, ’specially since my home life was as crap as yours.”
Since when did Dino develop a conscience? Her eyebrows lifted as he continued.
“Look, the thing of it was, with Kev, I wasn’t going to add to your crap pile, eh? Least, not more than I already had.” He really did look guilty now. “So we got a deal, right?”
Damn it. She really was nuts. “Okay, fine. I’ll do everything I can to help your dogs.”
Relief shone in his eyes. “Fuck off then,” he barked, out of habit most likely, since his words contained absolutely no venom.
She made to leave, but before she opened the door, he added, “And hey, Sam, you stupid bloody bitch? Get the fuck out of Ika Whenu. Okay? You’re too smart to let that boring hole suck any more life outta you than it already has. Shit, why are you even still here? Don’t be a dickhead.” He dropped his voice to a mumble. “Don’t be like me. Just don’t.”
Sam stopped by at the pound on the way home, and after an official monotonously cited Section 33A of the Dog Control Act 1996 at her ad nauseam, she was redirected to Matamata-Piako District Council.
On the way over there, she couldn’t get Dino’s words out of her head. Maybe he was lying? Leverage to get her to help? Although, Dino was many things, but she’d never caught the ugly bastard lying to her.
Sam pulled her gloves off and leaned on the desk at Matamata-Piako District Council, waiting her turn for the on-duty Animal Control officer to meet her.
“Hey,” the woman behind the counter said, “aren’t you that cop from the internet video thingy?”
Sam gritted her teeth, then remembered she needed a favor. “I suppose.” She attempted a charming smile. Well, a smile at least.
“Thought so. My boss loves you. Watches the video on repeat.”
“How nice for him.”
“Your Animal Control officer’s just come in.” The woman nodded behind Sam as an office door opened. “He’s new.”
Sam turned to find Sid staring back at her in surprise, wearing a thick, padded black vest with “Animal Control” emblazoned on it.
“Sam! How’d you find out I was here?” He beamed at her.
Jesus. Yet another job? She tugged him away from Nosy Nora at the counter. “A bad penny’s got nothing on you, Sid. Lemme guess, you were fired from Shezan?”
“Oh yep. Real hard. Apparently leaving my post to save your scrawny bum didn’t fly with Quincy.” He shrugged. “He’s a bit of a shithead, eh? You were right about him.”
No arguments from her. “Okay, I need…” To know if you’re the brother I thought you were. I need you to tell me you weren’t behind the conspiracy… “you to action some paperwork on Dino’s dogs to declare them non-menacing.”
Sid’s eyebrows shot up. “Um, Sis, those Rotties were chewing on everything that moved.”
“Only chewing Boars attacking me. They didn’t go for anyone but people hurting me or them. They’re heroes in my book. I want to get them new homes. But I can’t if they’ve been declared dangerous under Section 33.”
“That’s asking a lot.”
“They deserve a second chance. It’s not fair they’ll be put down for who their owners were.”
Sid dragged out a sigh. “Look, sorry to say this but two had to be put down already. Badly injured.”
Sam’s stomach clenched as if she’d been sucker punched. “W-was one of them Killer?”
He consulted his notes. “Killer and Demon are fine.”
Thank God. “Okay, good. Look you should rewatch the video. Killer didn’t actually bite anyone. Maybe Demon didn’t either? Surely that’d save them? And, hey, I’ll find a dog expert who’ll say in writing that they’ll retrain them to be good, safe dogs.”
Sid studied her. “That’s a long shot, Sam. You have to know that.”
“So argue my case. Ask your boss—doesn’t he like me in that video? Can’t you work that angle?”
“I don’t think I can. I’ve only been here a few days.”
“Sid, come on! You owe me.”
“For what?” He squinted at her.
“Gee, I don’t know, time-wasting a cop with bullshit sabotage on a movie set?” She watched his expression closely, almost afraid of what she’d see.
“What? No. Who told you that?” His left eye twitched.
She’d know that ‘tell’ anywhere. Betrayal welled up inside. “How many times are you going to lie to me? You had me running all over the Waikato region at all hours. Going in that dam. That’s disrespectful as hell. I could charge you.” Sam looked him square in the eye, her anger mounting.
“Look, it was never supposed to get out of hand. It wasn’t supposed to be serious. And the dummy was s’posed to stay a lot nearer the shore. It drifted.” This time his tone was pleading.
“So this was all a game? You were amusing yourself?”
He looked pained. “It’s complicated.”
“I’ll make it really simple: Did you ask Skye, Kiri, and Kev to tell me a pack of lies and get me chasing my own tail or not?”
“I…yes. I talked them into it.”
All the faith and trust she’d had in her brother crumbled. She folded her arms. “I could have died because of your stupid stunts.”
“I never thought you’d go rushing off to accuse the Boars! And I’d never have let you get hurt!”
“Hurt? I was almost killed, Sid.”
Horror crossed his face. “I’m sorry. You know I’d never put you in danger on purpose.”
“So tell me why you did this, and make it damned good.”
“I can’t. Not yet,” he pleaded, expression helpless.
“Damn it!” Frustration surged, choking her. “Don’t you get it? Your stupid stunts got me suspended!”
“I’m really sorry.” Sid sounded contrite. “And I know it looks bad, but your job isn’t everything, Sis.”
How cavalier could he get? “Just because you go through jobs like most people change socks doesn’t mean I do. It took me years of doing the hard yards to become a senior constable and earn my own station. And you’ve stuffed it up for me in five seconds. You lie to my face and then have the gall to call me ‘sis?’ I don’t even know who you are anymore.” She walked away in disgust. “I don’t know you at all.”
“Sam!” he called after her, sounding crushed.
Screw him. He’d brought this on himself.
CHAPTER 22
Beginning of the End
Sam sat on her battered green couch, staring at her wall of postcards. Bruce had decided to grace her with his presence tonight, which meant Mrs. Fenley had already turned in and he was bored. She ran her fingers through his coarse fur. Each postcard represented people she knew. Some she’d liked a little. A couple she’d liked a lot. One she’d even loved—and then not so much. All were gone, far from Ika Whenu.
Except her. Despite the grandest of girlhood dreams, she hadn’t stepped even a toe outside of New Zealand’s shores.
How much she’d wanted to, especially in her twenties. Always, though, duty called her back, duty to family. And look at what family had done to her.
Her brain ached from trying to make sense of what had possessed Sid to jerk her around for some elaborate joke.
Family meant everything to Gina, and Sam had soaked up those lessons at her knee. She’d absorbed her words, believed them, and she’d loved Sid more than any man alive. Loved Kev, too, despite their sometimes-contentious relationship. She’d have done almost anything for them.
But now this.
The Police Commissioner had summoned her for a meeting tomorrow in Wellington to review her suspension. She could be losing her job.
And if that happened, and if she meant so little to her own family, what was even holding her in Ika Whenu?
That was too big a question for one exhausted brain. Maybe it wasn’t even the right question. Too much thinking anyway. She glanced at her wall clock and stood. Time for action.
She pulled on her black boots, to match the black T-shirt and pants she’d donned earlier. A black beanie followed, and she carefully tucked her hair out of sight.
Glancing at Bruce, still curled up on the couch, she asked: “Want to come watch some bikies get their sorry asses arrested?” She tickled behind his ear. “Don’t worry, the bad guys’ll be outnumbered ten to one. We’ll be away from the action. And the railway yard’s not too far to walk, which is good since your furry butt’s not designed for motorbikes, hey?”
Bruce climbed to his feet, tail wagging.
“That’s the spirit.” She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Just don’t tell anyone we’re doing this.”
Her orders had been clear. Sam was suspended and her acting replacement, Senior Constable Murray Snell, would be the local officer advising the drug squad tonight, even though his “local knowledge” could fit on the back of a postage stamp.
Sam had to be especially careful not to get caught, given her meeting tomorrow. As if she could stay away, though. Trying to stamp out the meth trade in Ika Whenu had swallowed her life for so long. She’d agonized over it, held the hands of people she’d known her whole life who’d lost a family member to the addiction, and arrested locals for crimes they’d never have committed without being under its influence.
But if the drug squad did things right, which included simultaneously raiding the Hornets’ headquarters, there’d be no more drugs washing through the Waikato region. Finally, Ika Whenu’s streets would be clean for the first time in almost two years.
“Come on, Bruce.” She scooped him up. “Let’s go watch it end.”
Sam lay on a small rocky cliff that overlooked the disused railyard. Enormous, stacked shipping crates sat around it, rusting and forgotten. The company that used to run this place had gone broke years ago and just walked away.