Bully

by Gonzalez, J. F.

  Danny’s spine tingled at the thought.

  “When shit like that happened,” James continued, “all we did was take the money and look the other way. We didn’t want to see it. Those things were done in the back room and—”

  “Did Eva know about it?” Jerry asked. “You telling me she knew her son was being sold to fucking child molesters?”

  James regarded Jerry calmly. “No,” he said, quietly. “She didn’t.”

  Danny gasped.

  “When the...pedophile segment of our...clientele wanted access to the house for their needs, we made sure Eva and her friends were good and drunk or passed out.” For the first time since his confession, James Whitsett looked disturbed by what he had allowed to happen. “Most of the time those freaks brought their own kids. We didn’t care who they used. They knew the rules and we charged them way extra. We kept an extra tight guard on the house when that stuff happened, and we got them the hell out of there when they were finished. We made sure the kids never complained, either.”

  “You fucking sick sack of shit,” Jerry muttered.

  James pointed the gun at Jerry Valdez’s face. “Is it sick to want the best for your family? To want to build your net worth so your family will be provided for when you’re gone?”

  “It is if it’s done at the expense of another’s suffering,” Danny muttered.

  James swung the gun to Danny’s face. “So I suppose it’s perfectly fine for you to buy goods and work at such super chains as WalMart, who outsource perfectly good white collar jobs to third world countries at the expense of those in this country who worked at building those businesses. Is that what you’re saying? And what about the goods you buy in this country that are made in China or Indonesia by some twelve-year old getting paid twenty-five cents a day? A child who is worked twelve hours or more a day and beaten if he or she grows tired from standing on their feet all day? You telling me you don’t feel guilty when you put on a piece of clothing that says it was made in China or Mexico?”

  Danny didn’t know what to say about that. He knew in the back of his mind that the majority of what was sold in this country—everything from electronics to clothing to toys—was manufactured cheaply in other countries. He’d also heard horror stories of worker abuse in those countries.

  “You don’t feel guilty because you’re so far removed from those people it doesn’t affect you,” James continued. “And you’re just as far removed from people like Bartell and Louie Melendez and Raul Valesquez to care about them. There are two kinds of people in this world, Danny—those who see what they want and take it, and those who get stepped on for allowing the takers to walk all over them. As long as you’re willing to let somebody walk all over you, you’re never going to be anything in life. You’ll be a maggot, a piece of lard who consumes and shits without a care for what goes on around him or how it affects his world. That’s the kind of person you and everybody else in the world is, and that’s the kind of people that deserve what they get. Eva Valesquez could have made something of herself. Instead, she drank it away and it affected her kids. That’s her fault, not mine, not Manning’s. She was already allowing shit to happen that would affect her family. Their home life was already beyond repair. And as long as the money was there and we needed it, I saw no reason to stop what I was doing. My family was more important than the Valesquez family. Eva’s kids weren’t mine.”

  “But Raul killed your son!” Danny shouted. “Don’t you think that if you hadn’t allowed him to be abused, he wouldn’t have turned out the way he did?”

  James flinched, his grip on the weapon tightened as he pointed the gun at Danny’s head. “What are you talking about?”

  “What happened to Bobby wasn’t an accident,” Danny said, staring James down. “Raul Valesquez threw him off that embankment. Jerry and I lied to the police because Raul threatened to kill our families if we told the truth. He told us the police wouldn’t believe us and now I see that’s true. If we had gone to the police, they wouldn’t have done shit because of this set-up you and Manning arranged. Isn’t that right?”

  All the color drained from James Whitsett’s face. “You’re lying.”

  “Why would I lie about this?” Danny said, letting his mouth run now. “You just told us what happened at the Valesquez house, so now we’re telling you what happened that day with Bobby. And what really happened was Raul threw Bobby off that embankment and killed him. And he laughed at us! He actually dared us to go to the police because he knew they wouldn’t believe us. And he was right! They wouldn’t do anything because by then he was doing pretty much anything he wanted to and he wasn’t suffering the consequences because if allegations against Raul were investigated, your little sin ring would have been exposed and you would have been busted on so many charges you’d still be sitting in prison now. You killed your son, Mr. Whitsett. Whether you admit it or not—"

  James Whitsett chambered a round. “Shut up!”

  Danny stopped in mid-sentence. His heart pounded in his chest. Jerry Valdez sat rigid across the kitchen table, eyes wide with fear.

  James appeared to be holding back tears. “I don’t want to hear another word from you,” he said, straining to keep his voice level. “If you lied then, you’re lying to me now. Seems that you and Jerry lied about a lot of things.”

  Tom Jensen’s voice echoed in the house from the living room. “Like what?”

  The three of them turned toward the sound of Tom’s voice. Things happened so fast, they flew by Danny in a rush.

  He remembered James turning the gun away from him as he turned to face Tom; he remembered catching a brief glimpse of Tom Jensen standing at the entranceway to the rear of the living room where he had slipped into the house from the backyard. How long he had been there listening to this exchange, Danny didn’t learn till later. What happened next occurred swiftly and in quick succession.

  Tom Jensen’s sudden entrance surprised James Whitsett and Danny heard three quick shots. He instinctively ducked beneath the table, Jerry joining him as they both dove toward the center of the large, oak kitchen table as more gunshots rang out. Glass sprayed across the table and kitchen floor, plaster cracked and flew. There was a muffled grunt and a heavy thud as James fell against the wall. Danny peeked through the legs of the table in time to catch a glimpse of James Whitsett staggering to his feet, blood dripping onto the shag carpet. The gun dangled from his right hand.

  Tom Jensen’s voice boomed out. “Drop your weapon!”

  James Whitsett staggered to his feet; his hand still clutched the .45. Danny saw him bring the gun up and then he was brought down in a sudden hail of bullets.

  Danny didn’t see James go down. He had turned away from the scene, cowering under the table, his hands over his head. All he wanted to do was crawl into a dark space and hide. The darkness chased him even as Tom Jensen approached them and said, “It’s okay, he’s dead, it’s okay, guys, it’s okay.”

  But it was still far from over.

  Twenty

  THINGS HAPPENED IN quick succession after that. They happened so fast that Danny Hernandez was left reeling from the intensity of it all.

  Tom was arrested shortly after the Redondo Beach Police arrived, based on a warrant issued by Lieutenant Getz of the Gardena P.D.; he was transferred to Gardena City Jail, and the Redondo Beach P.D. entered into a joint investigation into the murder of James Whitsett.

  Thanks to the officers that arrived at the scene who were unaware of the intricate details of Manning and Whitsett’s plan, they took Jerry and Danny’s accusations seriously. Chrissy and Olivia Valdez came home ten minutes after the first squad car arrived. The first officer on the scene, Bob Larson, dispatched a squad car to the home of Father James Clavell. The next ten minutes passed in slow agony for Danny as he waited outside for word of his family, leaning against one of the squad cars. Jerry and Chrissy waited beside him, arms around each other and their little girl, Olivia, with hope in their eyes.

  He f
elt the weight taken off his shoulders when Bob Larson received word that Karen and the kids were found—safe. Father Clavell had put up no resistance. Danny’s family had been held in a back bedroom in a house he owned, tied up and gagged.

  Shortly before Officer Larson whisked Danny away to be reunited with his family, he pulled Jerry aside. “Tom mentioned an FBI agent he was working with, a guy named Hank Baker. Get in touch with him and tell him what happened.”

  Jerry nodded. He still looked amazed at what just transpired. “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” Danny said. “I’m tired. I feel wired, but I’m fine.”

  Jerry was still looking at him funny, as if he couldn’t believe Danny was alive, then he said, “I’m glad you’re okay. Really glad.”

  “James killed Raul,” Danny said, looking directly into Jerry’s face. “You know that, don’t you?”

  Jerry met Danny’s gaze and nodded slowly. “Yeah. You’re right, man. He did it.”

  “Do you think Tom heard that part?” Danny asked. “James confession to killing Raul?”

  “I don’t know,” Jerry said. “I guess we’ll find out.”

  Danny left with Officer Larson and Jerry contacted Hank Baker. An hour later Tom Jensen was released from custody.

  Karen was the happiest he’d ever seen her when he arrived at Father Clavell’s house. She swept him up in a big hug and the kids ran to him, screaming, “Daddy! Daddy!” He hugged them all, kissing them, holding them, feeling himself want to break down and cry at the sheer joy of holding them in his arms.

  And as the day wore on, the pieces started falling into place and some of the back story began to be explained.

  Karen Hernandez reported that James Whitsett visited her at the house early that morning, saying he was an old friend of her ex-mother-in-law and that he’d heard she was looking at buying a place. She’d responded to him immediately, which was enough to drop her guard and James made his move. He’d grabbed her, choked her unconscious, than went for the kids, who were in the back bedrooms getting ready for school. He got them under control easily and herded them into the back seat of his car and instructed them to lie down. By then Karen had regained consciousness and was securely tied up. He placed her in the trunk of his car, then drove to Father Clavell’s house where he got them safely inside. Father Clavell kept watch over them and didn’t say much; during the entire time, Karen was sure she was going to be killed. “The only thing I could think of was saving the kids,” she told Danny at one point.

  It turned out that Tom Jensen heard quite a bit of James Whitsett’s confession—namely the bulk of how the operation ran and how they skimmed off the top of every transaction that occurred at the Valesquez house and why they did it. When he’d gotten to Jerry’s house he’d immediately recognized Danny’s car and parked around the corner, doubling back to the house. He’d slipped into the backyard, then gained entry into the house from the unlocked back door. He’d listened, trying to determine when the best chance to try to disarm James would come, when the opportunity presented itself and he took it. He’d been counting on James to swing the handgun toward him so he could open fire, which was exactly what happened. He was sorry it ended this way, but at that point it was the only way to save Danny and Jerry.

  Because Lieutenant Getz was still in Manning’s pocket, he’d insisted that Tom Jensen be arrested for murder. Tom was held briefly at the Redondo Beach City jail until the pieces started falling into place; namely, Father Clavell’s arrest for false imprisonment and his subsequent corroboration of Tom Jensen, Danny Hernandez, and Jerry Valdez’s testimony relating to what had happened.

  Manning left Los Angeles that afternoon while the interrogations were still in place without telling Getz where he was going.

  Getz was arrested two hours later for obstruction of justice.

  Manning was picked up in San Diego that evening, trying to cross the border into Mexico.

  Later that evening, the remaining two members of the group were arrested at their homes.

  The media explosion that followed was huge. The three large affiliate stations—NBC, ABC, and CBS News ran the stories as their leads, while the smaller local stations followed suit. Reporters from all the local newspapers, as well as Reuters and the Associated Press, descended on Jerry Valdez’s little Redondo Beach bungalow like vultures.

  And once again, Raul Valesquez’s murder was an open case.

  WITH THE FBI on the case, things changed. Now Danny Hernandez found himself being whisked away to a posh hotel for his own protection as the investigation went underway and the effort to apprehend the remaining suspects was carried out. Karen and the kids were advised to be with him for safety’s sake. Likewise, Jerry and his family were also put up in the same hotel. Hank Baker was adamant they would bring a swift resolution to the case. “Don’t worry,” he told Danny as he stopped in his room to make sure things were okay. Hank looked to be around his age, with a strong build and short gray hair. “We got the main guys in custody, and we just heard from the Pennsylvania State Police about Robert Valesquez. Father Clavell gave us the number of a hit man hired to take Robert out and he’s in custody now. Naturally, Robert’s glad that the men behind this are behind bars, but he wants answers. I suppose we all do now.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Danny said.

  That evening in the large hotel room suite—two bedrooms, both with two queen-sized beds—Danny and Karen had a good talk. Danny felt bad for allowing this to happen, and as he told Karen about the past week, everything from Tom Jensen’s first visit, to what happened this morning, he felt guilty. “I feel like if it wasn’t for me, this wouldn’t have happened,” he said, the pang of guilt strong. “If I’d never known Bobby or his dad, James wouldn’t have done this ... taken you and the kids, terrorized you half to death—"

  “What matters is you saved us,” Karen said, kissing him. “You saved us, honey. You were brave and you saved us.”

  “I’m just so glad you’re safe,” Danny said, taking Karen’s hands in both of his. He felt his heart swell as he looked at her and he wondered how they’d ever broken up in the first place. Karen was looking at him with a new light; her eyes showing a radiance he hadn’t seen in years. The kids were huddled on the sofa in the adjoining room watching television—for the first thirty minutes they were in the room, they wouldn’t leave Danny and Karen’s sight. Both parents had to gently pry their grasps from their legs and tell them Mommy and Daddy were going to have a talk in the next room. Everything would be okay. Danny had ruffled his son’s hair and kissed each of them. “You’ll be okay. We’re all staying here tonight. Mommy and Daddy will be right here.”

  At the thought of spending the night with both parents, the children’s faces had lit up. That look of joy was still casting its warm rays on Danny’s mind as he sat on one of the queen-sized beds and talked to Karen.

  “I just want everything to be okay,” Danny said, holding Karen’s hands. “That was the only thing I could think of today when...James had me and Jerry at the house. I was so afraid he would hurt you and the kids.”

  Karen chuckled. “You were worried about the kids more than me! Admit it.”

  Danny couldn’t take his eyes off Karen. “I’d be a liar if I told you that I wasn't more worried about the kids. You’re right about that. But I was worried for you as well, Karen. I didn’t want to lose you. I know we...that we aren’t married anymore, but I still love you. I didn’t want to lose you.”

  The spark that was created that night between them rekindled something that had lain dormant for a long time. Danny felt it, and he could tell Karen felt it too. It was in the way they spoke to each other, quietly, with respect and affection toward one another; it was in the way they held hands and made quick glances at the second bedroom to check on the kids. They talked quietly for a good thirty minutes, with Danny doing most of the talking. For the first time in years he told her about many of the events that had taken place back in the sum
mer of 1977. She’d known about a lot of it, but she didn’t know about Jerry or Raul. He told her about that day in the sewer pipe when Raul Valesquez had thrown Bobby to his death and she listened in stunned silence, her hand darting to her mouth, eyes wide. “I’ve never told you about Raul before because I tried to forget about it. But now that I think about it ... after all that’s happened the last week, I guess I never really did get over it. I could tell that what happened...the way he bullied us, the way he scared me and Jerry affected me in that...” Danny searched for the right words to express himself. “...I never really recovered from it. It made me afraid to try things. Made me afraid to be receptive to other people, which is why I think what happened to us blew up.” Karen looked away briefly, then her eyes darted back to his again. “Let’s face it, Karen,” Danny said. “I should have gotten help years ago about all this. Maybe if I had, we wouldn’t have split up and the kids—"

  Karen put a finger to his lips to shush him. “Enough,” she said. Her gaze was warm, loving. “It’s not worth it to keep saying you should have done something. What happened is in the past and there’s no way around it. Let’s just be thankful for what we have now and what we’ve saved.”

  Danny smiled and Karen smiled back and the feeling intensified. Karen touched his arm lightly and sparks jumped. And for the first time in two years he felt his love for Karen return strongly and he felt that love was reciprocated, that she’d seen something in his demeanor that made her feelings for him return.

  But still, the need to talk to Jerry Valdez further about what happened today burned in him.

  Thank God Jerry and Chrissy were down the hall from them.