Devine's Providence: A Novel

by Stephen Reney

  “That’s okay, Ernie,” I said. Ernie was in our class coming up through the academy, and had been a good, solid cop ever since. “Do what you gotta do.”

  “I’m, uh, going to have to cuff you,” he said. “Both of you. Until backup arrives. You understand.”

  “I do,” I replied.

  “Use my cuffs if you need an extra pair,” said Zachetti, arms still raised. “On my left side there.”

  Ernie carefully disarmed Zachetti, patted me down, and cuffed us both. Zachetti could have knocked him off the balcony with one swing of his backhand, but neither one of us were interested in harming an old friend who was just doing his job.

  He stepped off to the side, out of earshot, and spoke into his radio. Then he approached the old guard, asked him a question, and nodded.

  “Okay,” he said, coming back to us. “Here’s the thing. Chief Delgado wants to take you in himself. Taking all the glory again, as usual, right?” He laughed nervously. I smiled politely.

  “But,” he went on, “he’s at some meeting up in Boston. Gonna take him a while to get here. So we’re gonna go down to one of the empty offices to wait for him. I mean, if that’s okay with you guys?”

  “I guess we really don’t have a choice,” said Zachetti. “Lead the way.”

  • • •

  I was thankful that he chose an office with normal chairs, and not one with bean bags or stationary bikes or pogo sticks or whatever. Ernie pulled up a chair against the door, and sat us both down facing him.

  “May as well get comfortable, boys,” said Ernie. “Gonna be a bit.”

  “For what it’s worth, Ernie,” I said, “Those things I’m being accused of…I’m innocent.”

  “I figured that, Harry,” he replied. “No one that knows you really has any doubts about it. But there’s a system…we gotta do our part.”

  “I get it,” I said. “But you know me. You know us. You can at least let Jake go. He doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

  “My orders were to keep you both here and let the Chief sort it out.”

  “Again,” I said, “I get it.”

  “I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Ernie. “The whole department is in such a panic. And today…just the rumors that’re going around. About you, about the Chief…it’s craziness.”

  “What rumors?” asked Zachetti.

  “Word is that the FBI is investigating Delgado. Some big scheme he’s taking part of. The rumor is that you’re working with them, Harry, and that’s why he’s gunning for you. That he’s framed those murders on you to get you out of the way. Is that…is that what’s going on? Are you with the feds now, Harry?”

  “Not exactly,” I said. “But…that’s interesting. Delgado definitely has a lot to hide. I’ve learned that, and that’s why he’s gunning for me. But it’s more…complicated than just that.”

  “Where are you hearing these rumors?” asked Zachetti. “About the FBI?”

  Ernie shrugged. “It’s all everyone’s talking about today,” he said. “After the news broke about Harry this morning. Everyone says the feds are getting close, that Delgado caught wind of it, and that’s why he’s acting so nervous. He’s getting backed into a corner. No one really believes what they’re telling us about you, Harry.”

  “If that were all true,” I said, “wouldn’t the right thing to be just to cut us loose? If that’s what’s going on, what do you think Delgado’s going to do to us? There are four people dead already because of him—that we know of. What’s another two?”

  Ernie shook his head. “I’m sorry, guys,” he said. “I can’t let you go based on rumors. If what the Chief says about you is true, that’s just what you’d say to try to get out of this. I have to follow protocol until I’m told otherwise. I’m sure you get it, don’t you?”

  “You’re a good cop, Ernie,” I said.

  “Fuck,” said Zachetti.

  • • •

  About an hour passed. Ernie had procured a newspaper and was poring over the weekly circulars. I was nodding off in my chair, wishing I had more of those terrible pain meds, when the noise and cool air from the vents overhead suddenly clicked off.

  Zachetti and I looked at each other and then up toward the ceiling, as if we could see right through the tiles onto the roof.

  “Aw, shit,” said Ernie. “On today of all days. Hottest day of the year. Hopefully it’s just some energy saving feature.” He resumed his perusing of the fine goods and wares of Stop & Shop. Zachetti shot me a discreet wink, then cleared his throat.

  “Say, Ernie,” he said, “I really hate to do this, but…nature calls, buddy.”

  Ernie looked at him and frowned.

  “I hear you,” he said. “You know, once I hit forty, I can’t hold it for nothin’,” he said. “Bladder turned into the size of a walnut. And beer! Beer is the worst. Goes right through me. Drink one, piss three.”

  He stood up, moved his chair, and held the door open.

  “Do me a favor, Harry?” he said, looking at me. “Don’t do anything stupid?”

  “I’ll be right here, Ernie.”

  Zachetti struggled to get up, which proved difficult with his hands cuffed behind his back. His gravitational pull threw him off his axis and he stumbled right over me, almost ending up on my lap. I was immensely happy he was able to right himself before he landed on me and crushed my already-throbbing abdomen, but as he pulled away I saw the handcuff key he had dropped in-between my legs. I gave him an acknowledging wink and put my legs together.

  “Whoa there, buddy,” I said. “Should’ve had your V-8 today.”

  “And I haven’t been drinking yet, I swear,” he quipped.

  “See?” said Ernie. “That’s just what I’m talking about. Sucks to get old, don’t it?”

  He led Zachetti out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom. I guess he thought the big guy was a bigger flight risk than I was.

  “I sure hope this place has working plumbing,” Zachetti was saying. He spoke loudly so I could hear how far away he was getting. “…because it sure won’t when I’m done with it.”

  He let out a Zachetti-sized guffaw.

  “Oh,” said Ernie, flatly. “Great.”

  It took some contortionism, but I was able to get the key and free my wrists. I peeked out the door at the empty hallway. I didn’t know how much time I had to get away, but judging on my knowledge of Zachetti’s bowel movements, I had only five hours, tops.

  Heh heh. Good one.

  I scurried past the bathroom and made it out into the main atrium. The sun had already set, and the lobby was washed in an ominous red-orange light from the illuminated EXIT signs. I flew up the first couple of stairs but had to slow down and gingerly take my time to allow my aching body to catch up to my brain.

  Five. It was five agonizing, painfully slow flights to the top. I would’ve been ready to die if I had climbed five flights of stairs without a fresh knife wound, so I couldn’t help but collapse on the landing when I reached the top.

  After what seemed like an insufferable eternity catching my breath, I hoisted myself up and limped to the end of the landing, toward a door marked “Roof Access.”

  I would have been superbly pissed if this door wasn’t here.

  I pushed it open.

  “Fuck!” I wheezed.

  I was in a concrete stairwell with another two flights above me. It may as well have been Mount Kilimanjaro. I tore off Zachetti’s jacket and left it crumpled up in the corner of the stairwell.

  Forty days and forty nights later (I’m guessing), I reached the top. I was faced with another door marked “Roof Access.”

  Is this what Eric meant by “redundant systems”?

  Panting and weak, I was just about to crash into it when it opened on its own. Instead of the door, I fell onto the person who
had opened it from the other side.

  “Harry!” she exclaimed, catching me.

  “Chelsea…” I squeaked out. She walked me out onto the roof, letting the door close behind us, and laid me down gingerly.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Just…tired…many…stairs.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Helping…you.”

  Her face scrunched up like I knew it would, a quizzical expression like she was trying to figure me out. As if she were so easy to understand and it was everyone else that was complicated. I hated that about her.

  She looks beautiful in the moonlight.

  “Beautiful…moon.”

  She nodded. “Yes. It’s a beautiful moon. We need to get you out of here. I just broke down their air conditioning. The servers can overheat if they’re not cooled off.”

  “Duh.”

  “You shouldn’t have come, Harry. This place will be swarming with cops once they figure out what happened.”

  I was finally beginning to breathe normally again, as painful as even that was.

  “You shouldn’t have come,” I said, sitting up. “We got caught. Delgado’s on his way.”

  “Shit.”

  “The feds are already looking into him. You’re just getting yourself into more trouble.”

  “Harry!” she practically shouted. “You don’t have to always save me! I’d be gone already if you hadn’t come along.”

  She was right. If I had just done nothing, she could have just snuck out without anyone noticing what she had done. Instead, in trying to help, I had gone and messed things up again.

  I leaned on her shoulder to help me stand up.

  The view is actually quite impressive from up here.

  The power station’s smokestacks, with their blinking red lights, stood silhouetted against the starry, moonlit sky. Close by, the white and red headlights and taillights of never-ending lines of traffic dotted over the Providence River Bridge on the I-Way.

  “I have nothing left to lose,” I said to both Chelsea and myself. “And I couldn’t let anything happen to you. I had to make sure you were alright.”

  She hugged me, squeezing her head against my chest.

  “I don’t deserve that,” she said quietly.

  “I know,” I said.

  She pulled away and looked over to the bank of HVAC compressors, each broken open with mangled parts strewn across the rooftop.

  “This’ll set them back,” she said. “Maybe scare them off their plan.”

  “It won’t stop them,” I said. “They’re too powerful. It’s just going to make them more angry. If the feds can at least nail Delgado though, and maybe Temple…”

  “That won’t be enough.”

  I held her firmly by her shoulders.

  “No, it won’t,” I said. “But it never will be. Nothing will ever be enough to replace what they’ve taken…to make up for what they’ve done. Done to Marc’s family, or Philip Grayle’s widow, or to you. Or what they plan on doing to the entire city. But it’ll have to do, Chelsea. It’s the only solace we have. Chasing after anything else is only going to make things worse.”

  She avoided eye-contact with me, but eventually her gaze traveled up from her feet to straight ahead to my chest.

  “Where…did you get this awesome shirt?”

  “Shut up,” I said.

  “No, really. It. Is. Something.”

  “I said, shut up. Let’s get out of here.”

  We started to leave, but as soon as we did the door to the stairwell swung open. Chief Delgado himself floated out into the night, reminding me of Nosferatu. He was followed by Ernie.

  “I’m…I’m sorry, Harry,” said Ernie.

  “Mr. Devine,” said Delgado pleasantly. “And, oh! Miss Woodstern! How nice of us to all get together on such a night.”

  I let go of my embrace with Chelsea but stayed holding on to her hand. I wish I could say it was because I was being sweet, but I remembered that she had Terry’s gun, and didn’t want her to try anything she’d regret.

  “You two,” said Delgado, “have been thorns in my flesh for far too long now.”

  He slowly paced toward us, hands clasped behind his back.

  “I don’t know what your problem is,” he said. “Your insistence on standing in the way of progress. Your failure to just. Go. Away.”

  “Innocent lives have been lost because of you,” I said.

  “Me?” he said with mock offense. “No, Harrison, all at your hands. Don’t you watch the news? Besides, what life amongst us is truly innocent? Surely not Teddy Rocco. Or Philip Grayle. Their hands were as dirty as anyone else’s in this putrid town.”

  “And what about Marc Winters?” I asked. Chelsea tried to pull her hand away from me but I tightened my grip. She must have known now I wasn’t being sweet.

  “Marc Winters was an unfortunate casualty,” he said. “You’re right, it wasn’t his fault. He didn’t know Providence. He didn’t know how things work here. He didn’t know what he was getting himself into. Pity he had to learn on the fly.”

  If there was a pun intended, no one seemed amused by it, not even Delgado. He stopped in front of Chelsea.

  “Just like your girlfriend here,” he continued. “What was the fake name you gave me? Selena? I should have had you taken care of when I had the chance. I thought you were too high profile, it wouldn’t be worth the risk. But I didn’t know you would be stupid enough to stick around.”

  “You’re going to pay for what you’ve done,” I said. “You, Temple, the whole lot.”

  Delgado laughed the coldest laugh I’d ever heard.

  “You know not of which you speak, Harrison. There are forces at play here greater than you can possibly imagine. You are but a speck. As am I. As is Francis Temple. And these forces get what they want. No matter the cost. Always.”

  He stepped in front of me and stared right into my soul. Unblinking. Threatening. Antagonizing.

  His eyes quickly dropped to my chest.

  “Nice shirt,” he hissed flatly.

  “Fuck yeah, it is,” I said.

  I weighed the option of pouncing on him. Overtaking him and beating the holy living hell out of him. He was certainly close enough. But although he was older than me, he was considerably more fit. And I was weaker than I’d ever been. Plus, a glance around Delgado to Ernie showed his hand on his holster. He wouldn’t want to, but he’d shoot me if it meant protecting the Chief of Police.

  Then again, my getting shot on this rooftop is probably the most likely outcome anyway, no matter what.

  No, that would be putting Chelsea at risk, too. Our best bet would be to stall, and pray for a miracle.

  “How did you get so…crooked?” I asked. “You used to be straight-laced. By the book. What happened to protecting and serving?”

  “Don’t make me out to be some supervillain,” said Delgado. “I’m human, same as you. Ms. Woodstern, did Harrison tell you the reason he left the ranks of Providence’s finest?”

  Chelsea’s voice cracked as she responded.

  “I know about his daughter, if that’s what you mean. And his wife.”

  The corners of Delgado’s mouth curved up ever-so-slightly in a smirk.

  “No, that’s all public record. I mean the real reason.”

  “Don’t…” I began, but couldn’t finish the thought. Chelsea gave me a questioning look.

  “But you know about Susan?” continued Delgado. “Then you must know about her run-in with the law.”

  Chelsea nodded hesitantly, but stayed focused on me.

  “And you know how the crew she was involved with all turned on her? Made her out to be the ringleader? And unfortunately, a whole jury agreed. She’s still serving time, isn’t she?”

  “Gerry, plea
se,” I said. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “Oh, but I do, Harrison. You want to clear the air? You want to expose the truth? Let’s get it all out. You see, Ms. Woodstern, the jury got it wrong. Susan Devine was not the mastermind behind the botched Walgreens robbery. It was actually some ne’er-do-well hooligan named…what was it? Chuck?”

  “Chad,” I said softly. “Chad Lydecker.”

  “Ah, yes!” exclaimed Delgado. “That’s right! But Harrison didn’t tell you about Mr. Lydecker, did he, Ms. Woodstern?”

  Chelsea shook her head.

  “Look, Chief,” I said, “this has nothing to do with anything. What I want to talk about is the illegal data mining you and your brother-in-law have got cooking up.”

  Delgado held up a hand to silence me.

  “Don’t you think Ms. Woodstern deserves the truth?” he asked. “That is what you’re after, isn’t it? All this trouble, and you’re not even going to come clean? Shame on you, Harrison. I thought you’d have changed, after all these years.”

  “Harry,” said Chelsea, “what’s he talking about?”

  I bit my lower lip and glared silently at Delgado. He just smiled and shrugged.

  “Go ahead, Mr. Devine,” he said. “I’ll have the courtesy to let you be the one to tell her.”

  I sighed.

  “It’s true,” I said. “After Susan was convicted, Zachetti and I did some digging and found out this Chad Lydecker was behind the whole thing. He was the guy that had gotten Susan involved with the drugs to begin with. They were in the same grief support group together. He had a son—a baby—that had accidentally drowned. I had met him a couple of times, at the handful of meetings I went to with Susan. Everyone liked him. He was a likable guy. I didn’t know about the heroin. I didn’t know he had gotten Susan hooked…until it was too late.”

  I paused, but both Delgado and Chelsea were staring at me expectantly, so I went on.

  “The others involved in the robbery all really liked Chad, too. So much so that they were all willing to testify that it was Susan that arranged everything, not Chad. The prosecutors ran with that, and they even had me fooled…until we discovered otherwise. But by then, the trial was already over and Chad was back out on the street.”