by K. M. Hodge
Sally jumped into the cab and tossed everything on the seat between her and Alex. As they drove away from the restaurant, Alex pulled her into a kiss. She kissed him back and pretended for a moment that her impossible dream might actually come true.
***
Fort County Police Station
Fort County, Maryland
December 7, 2005
7:30 PM
~~~
Michael clenched his fist and shoved the swinging door of the police station open with a bang. The answering service claimed a man made the call about the arrest from the Fort County Police Station number, but everyone here at the station insisted no one called him. If he ever found out who did it, he would kill them with his own hands for cock blocking him.
He pulled out his BlackBerry and skimmed through his email messages. All the money transfers had gone through that afternoon except for one, the one for his newest and biggest client. He would have to remedy it before someone noticed. Lately, it seemed that his luck had run out.
He opened a new email and shot Sally a quick note of apology. This emailing business was bullshit. He needed to get her a phone. By the time she got the message it would be too late to try and resume his date. He figured he might as well go into the office and get some more work done.
Despite the prospect of billing his clients extra hours, his anger multiplied as he thought about what he’d missed out on with Sally. He wet his lips and tried to remember the taste of her kiss.
What would the rest of her taste like?
Chapter 15
Roadside Motel
Salisbury, Maryland
December 8, 2005
2:00 AM
~~~
Alex reached over Sally and set his alarm for the next morning. He groaned as he did the mental math, three hours until he needed to be up and out the door for work. A two-hour drive to Langley awaited him, but being with Sally made it worth the lost sleep.
“Stay,” he said.
“I don’t know if that’s such a great idea.”
He rolled onto his side and kissed her perfect collarbone. “Or the best idea ever.”
Sally’s cheeks pinked, and she began to shake with laughter. Her skin glowed. He couldn’t help himself, he wanted her again. He inched closer and leaned in for a kiss. No medication in the world could touch the intense need he had for her.
Sally stilled his lips with the tip of her finger and rolled away from him. “Oh no. You may be up for another go, but I’m not.”
“Don’t go.” He hated the sound of desperation in his voice, but it couldn’t be helped. “I really don’t want to be alone tonight, especially here in this sad little motel. I promise I’ll be good—Scout’s honor.”
Sally laughed even harder and he couldn’t help but laugh with her, in spite of himself.
“Okay. I’ll be good-ish.”
She gave him a quick kiss and it took everything in him to keep from jumping her right then and there.
“All right,” Sally said as she glanced at the time. “I missed the last bus. So I guess you win. Just don’t go thinking that this is going to become a regular thing.”
She nestled back into the nook of his arm and he couldn’t help but smile as he thought about how he’d maneuvered this evening in his favor. The fucking lawyer didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as Sally, let alone have the right to get her naked. From what he could tell, the guy was laying it on thick with her. Alex hoped that she saw through the act and didn’t end up falling for the guy.
“Did he get you that fancy coat?”
Sally turned to face him, her eyebrows raised. “Yes. Billy destroyed my last one, but I didn’t tell Michael that part. He thinks I’m too poor and he’s too rich to realize I can get a charity coat. Billy just wouldn’t let me get another one.”
Alex envisioned wrapping his hands around Billy’s neck and squeezing until the lights went out. Sally deserved so much more than a shitty trailer, a psycho husband, and a job that used her as bait to catch men who wouldn’t think twice about taking her life—shitty as it was—away from her. He pushed away the worries that his involvement with her would put her in more danger. If he didn’t, those thoughts might be enough to make him stop pursuing her.
“Won’t Billy notice the expensive new one?”
“I’ll get rid of it before he gets home.” Sally examined her nails, or what was left of them. “It’s…it’s just the nicest thing I’ve ever owned. It’s going to be hard to let it go.”
Alex wet his lips and rested his arm under his pillow. His eyelids felt heavy, but he pushed off sleep. “The year my dad died, he stole me a pair of Nikes from the mall. They were the only thing I ever got brand new. Everything else I got from the charity bin at church and half the time the shoes had holes or were missing parts of the soles. So when he brought home the shoe box with the white Nikes I about lost my mind.” Alex stretched out on the bed and played with her hair. “They were the kind the big kids wore on the court and all I wanted was to be the next Bill Laimbeer. But then the cops came and the shoes went with them. When I got my first paycheck, I bought myself a ridiculously expensive pair of shoes.”
“Yeah, like that,” Sally said as her eyes started to drift closed. “I knew you would understand.”
Alex smiled. “Goodnight, Sally.”
***
MDNA Headquarters
Unknown Location
December 8, 2005
5:00 AM
~~~
Jude stifled a yawn and blinked hard to get his eyes to focus on the multiple screens at his station. A light flashed on one of his programs and he clicked to open it. The lawyer must have fallen for Sally’s mix tape, because Jude now had access to the man’s work computer.
“Holy shit!”
He tapped a few keys and opened the program that would allow him to remotely view what the lawyer was up to at such a late hour. Several tabs opened in the lawyer’s browser. He couldn’t click on them without alerting the lawyer that he’d taken over his computer. The hands-off watching could give him some information and insight, but it came with limitations. The screen showed a financial institution’s website and it looked like the lawyer was making a transfer of funds to an off-shore account. Jude wrote down all of the account numbers, and the amounts transferred, as well as the time stamps.
He picked up his phone and called one of his hacker friends who specialized in money laundering and embezzlement. Even though Jude did that stuff for a living, his friend made what he did look like kindergarten computer science. “Hey Slim, I have some accounts I need checked out.”
“Sure, man. Text me the numbers and I’ll take a look.”
Jude hung up the phone and then sent a long string of numbers for the lawyer’s accounts. If he could prove that the dude was taking money from people and funneling it overseas, then his new cop friend might have some legs to stand on against the man. Maybe enough to get the FBI involved. Maybe. He would wait until it was a more decent hour and then call their cop friend.
***
Roadside Motel
Salisbury, Maryland
December 8, 2005
5:00 AM
~~~
Sally awoke to the sound of rumbling garbage trucks outside. She needed to get going, but the warm bed and the naked man beside her made her never want to leave. When it came to Alex, she had no self-control whatsoever. A nagging worry of being caught finally won her over and she slid out of the bed, careful not to wake Alex. If anyone got back to Billy that she’d not made it home, she’d be screwed. No, she needed an airtight alibi. Even so, he still might beat the shit out of her, despite the cop coming to check in on her soon. Billy knew how to hurt her where the bruises wouldn’t show.
“Hey, where are you going?” Alex called out to her, half-awake from the bed.
“I’ve got to get going. Don’t you have work?”
“What time is it?” Alex fumbled with the alarm and sat bolt upright. “Oh s
hit! It didn’t go off.”
Sally dressed quickly and finger-combed her hair in an effort to hide the evidence during her walk of shame. Her phone buzzed on the dresser and she picked it up. Jude calling this early couldn’t be good.
Answering the call, she said, “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve got him in real-time stealing money from his clients’ accounts and funneling the stolen cash to off-shore accounts! I’ve been up all night getting all the stuff together, but, for sure, he’s dirty. I’ve also heard some chatter from the ground that Big D thinks he might be skimming coke from the shipments for personal use. If The Syndicate doesn’t get him first, we can totally get him and turn him into the FBI.”
“The cops aren’t going to touch him. You know that.”
Alex walked over to her, half-dressed. “Is that Jude? Can I talk to him?”
“Jude, Alex wants to talk to you.”
“Wait! What?” Jude’s voice rose.
Sally handed Alex the phone and went in search of her shoes.
“What’s going on, man…. Yeah, I know. It’s not like that. … No, it’s not.” Alex’s gaze swept over Sally. “I care about her….”
Sally caught his eye for a moment. She didn’t want to “girl out” over his comment, but a small part of her was jumping up and down like a twelve-year-old.
“So you have something? … Yeah. that’s good. It wouldn’t hurt to get more. If we could get something on tape that would be great. … Yeah, but are you sure he keeps drugs at the office?” Alex tucked in his dress shirt with one hand. Sally couldn’t take her eyes off him.
“Okay. We’ll talk later. Okay. Bye.” Alex hung up the phone and handed it back to her, but didn’t let go of the phone or her hand. She tipped her head up to meet his kiss and let herself enjoy it. It wouldn’t last. It couldn’t. She broke the kiss and stepped back, breaking his hold on her hand too.
“I’ve got to get going. People are going to talk. I think you know why that wouldn’t be good for me.”
“Tell them you went to your mother’s for the night to see her and your son.”
Sally let out a sigh and her shoulders drooped. “That actually might work. Especially if I get a ride from the airport. I’ll have my mom call Billy to see if I made it home okay. He isn’t supposed to be back in town until late tonight, but it won’t hurt. Jude’s sister can lend me some clean clothes. I can’t very well walk through the trailer park in this wrinkled dress.”
“That’s easy enough. I can drop you off on the way to work.”
“You’re already late and we really can’t afford to be seen together.”
Alex worried his bottom lip. For a second she thought he might try and kiss her again, but instead he stepped back and rummaged through his bag until he pulled out a bottle of pills. She didn’t want to pry, but curiosity gnawed at her.
“What’s that for?”
Alex dry swallowed a few of the pills and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Anxiety medicine for my addiction.”
“The…the sex addiction.”
He nodded, wringing out his hands. His nervous fidgeting further endeared him to her. She didn’t know much about his kind of addiction. She knew a little bit about AA—since she was married to a drunk—and had even gone to an Al-Anon meeting or two back in the day, but Alex seemed so together. She wouldn’t have put him to be in the same boat as Billy.
“I’m sorry. I should mind my own business.” She hated to leave him like this, but she really needed to go if she was going to make her ruse work. “Thank you for last night. It was nice, but I don’t think we should do it again. It’s just too dangerous. I’ve got to think of Zander.”
Alex nodded, not looking up from his clasped hands. She wanted to touch him—offer up some small bit of comfort—but she needed to leave and touching him would make walking away even harder.
“Yeah, you should go,” he said.
She grabbed her bag and her phone and walked out the door. The walls she kept up with everyone else—the shield that protected her from getting hurt—needed to stay up with Alex too. The impossible dream needed to stay in the back of her mind where it belonged. Instead, she needed to focus on the task at hand: taking down Michael. If they needed him on tape talking, then maybe she should pay him a visit at his office.
Ever onward.
Chapter 16
Michael David’s Law Office
West Ocean City, Maryland
December 8, 2005
8:00 AM
~~~
Michael was sifting through his files, looking for the paperwork for the case he would be defending in court the next day, when his phone rang. His secretary hadn’t shown up that morning, something on the answering machine about a stomach bug. He sighed and picked up the phone.
“David Law Offices, how may I help you?”
“You answer your own phone now, Michael?”
“Senator, what a surprise. My secretary is out sick for the day. What can I do you for?”
“I’m calling to let you know that I’ve decided to take on new counsel. I need you to forward all the documents to the Road’s firm, ASAP.”
“Wait, what? You’re firing me? Why?”
“I don’t want to get into this. You’ve been late to meetings, distracted with your girls instead of helping my campaign. You’re a liability at this point. You have to see that.”
Michael pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t argue with him. He had been distracted lately. Shit. “I’m very sorry, Senator. I promise that I’ll be on my game from now on. Just give me another chance.”
“Look, Mike, you’re a nice enough guy, but I’ve given you lots of chances. I can’t afford to lose this campaign because you can’t keep your girlfriends under control. Get your affairs in order or you’re done in this business. I expect you to avail yourself to the people at the Road’s firm and be professional about all this. Don’t make it worse.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll have a courier send the files over to the firm by this afternoon.”
“Good.”
The line went dead and Michael slammed the phone back into the cradle. Plastic shards went flying.
“Fuck!”
He stood up and closed his blinds. He needed something to take the edge off. He walked over to his office safe where a bag of coke was stashed. He’d need to replace what he took with powdered baby laxatives, but no one would be the wiser. The act of cutting the cocaine and making lines calmed him. Snorting three lines, the rush hit him like a freight train. He leaned back in his chair and sighed. Much better. Now if he could just get laid. He pulled up a new email and sent a quick message to Sally. Why couldn’t she get a cellphone like the rest of the universe? He made a mental note to buy her one. Tonight would be the night he would take her. No more cat and mouse. It was time for her to submit to him.
***
Sally and Billy’s Trailer
Ocean City, Maryland
December 8, 2005
8:00 AM
~~~
Billy paced back and forth inside the trailer. He’d already finished off three beers and was working on a fourth. Sally’s mom had called first thing asking if Sally had made it home okay. He couldn’t believe that the bitch had gone off without telling him. Apparently, she needed to be hit a little harder next time.
Billy glanced at the clock on the microwave. Where the fuck is she? Waves of exhaustion rolled over him. The boss didn’t believe in sleep. The fucker snorted eight balls like it was nothing. It made him paranoid, which made Billy extra careful. Now, the lack of sleep and the beer were working against him, but his rage with his wife gave him the extra bit he needed to stay on his feet.
The door of the trailer swung open and Sally limped inside—favoring her left side. “Billy?”
“What the fuck, Sal? Where you been?”
“My mom’s. She called and said Zane missed me. So she got me some tickets to go and visit with them for a little bit while you were gone.”
Billy yanked her by her AC/DC T-shirt and slammed her up against the table. “And you think you can just come and go as you please?”
“I’m sorry. You’re right. I should have called you. I knew you were out with the boss, though, and didn’t want to bother you. I know how important it is that you impress him. But I should have called. Are you hungry? I can make you some eggs.”
“Yeah, I could eat.” Billy tugged the end of her shirt up over her head and tossed it on the ground. “But first I need you to do something else for me.”
He pulled a packet of pills out of his pocket and waved them in front of her. “There’s something in it for you if you behave yourself. A little bonus from the boss.”
Sally stared at the bag like it held a million dollars. “Of course.”
Then she hobbled off to their bedroom like a good little wife.
***
MDNA Headquarters
Unknown Location
December 8, 2005
8:00 AM
~~~
“Detective Cook speaking.”
Jude sat back in his chair and propped his feet up on the desk in front of him. “Hey, Detective. It’s Jude.”
“Oh good. I was hoping you would call. I just found out this morning that State Senator Mitchel fired Michael David. It might be a good time to put the pressure on him. He’s sure to snap at this point.”
“He messaged Sally a few minutes ago. He wants her to come to his office, but I don’t know how safe that is, considering his track record with women.”
“If she can get him to talk though—”
“Fuck the case, I don’t want Sally to get hurt.”
“She won’t be. I promise.”
“Sorry, Detective. I want to believe you, but your people don’t have a great track record of keeping those kinds of promises. It’s more than getting a collar. This is a woman’s life.”
“Don’t you think I know that? She’s part of the reason I’m in this in the first place. For her and woman like her that are stuck.” The officer paused for a moment. Her shallow breath sounds let Jude know she was still there.” I know what it’s like to be trapped in an abusive relationship. She won’t let me help her get out, but I can stop this man from hurting other women. I couldn’t live with myself if another young woman ended up dead because I didn’t act on this. I’m not trying to make some big career move. I think you know this could end my career in law enforcement.”