The Reckless

by David Putnam

  How could anyone hurt a child like that? Anger replaced the sadness and grief for this child in our charge.

  I couldn’t tell Ned about this; he’d kill JB outright. Ned would walk right up, and without saying a word, shoot JB in the face.

  It had to be JB. He was the ex-cop. He’d know the best place to … the least likely place an injury would be discovered. Which also placed this heinous crime smack square in the middle of premeditation. JB had thought about it before acting—before torturing a small, defenseless child.

  Then my mind skipped. Was that the reason why Ned had come to our house to hide out? Did he know about the abuse and that was the reason he’d taken Beth from Hannah? Out in the front yard, before I’d seen the scars, I’d jumped to the conclusion that Ned simply wanted more time with his daughter and had been on the dodge from Hannah in a child custody dispute.

  No, I knew Ned. If he knew someone laid a hand on Beth, that person would no longer be above ground but buried somewhere out in the arid desert, the body desiccated, mummified under the sand.

  What a mess; I couldn’t tell Ned, no way. I didn’t know what to do. I needed sleep and time to figure this all out.

  Dad whispered, “What are we going to do, Son?”

  “I don’t know, Dad. I really don’t know.”

   CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  I STAYED IN my clothes and tried to rest on top of my rumpled bed, the bed Chelsea and I messed up the night before, a time that now seemed like weeks ago. I couldn’t sleep even though exhausted.

  Dad stuck his head in my open bedroom door. “Bruno, that gal that was here this morning, she came back and left you a note. Said it was real important. With all that happened, I forgot about it. I’m sorry.”

  A note from Chelsea. I jumped up, flipped on the light, and grabbed it from his hand. My heart sank. The piece of folded paper with one staple had the name Ollie inscribed on it. Ollie Bell had left the note that would contain the address of her nephew and the names of his friends. I didn’t bother to open it.

  Dad said, “What do you want me to do if those two come back again asking for that poor child?” The pain and confusion in his tone ripped my heart out and made me angry all over again with JB. What I really wanted to do was hunt down JB and put the boot to him. Ned would do nothing less for me if someone even looked crossways at Olivia. I was a bad best friend.

  “I don’t know, Dad. I told you, let me think about it, okay?”

  He nodded. “You know, if we both go to jail, what’s going to happen to Olivia?”

  “We’re not going to jail.” Though I wasn’t so sure anymore. I walked back down the hall to the phone mounted on the wall in the kitchen and picked up the receiver. Dad stood close by. I hesitated over the call. Was it the right thing to do? I dialed Wicks’ phone number as I checked my watch, one a.m. He wasn’t going to be happy.

  He answered on the first ring and said, “Wicks.”

  “Lieutenant, it’s me.”

  “What’s goin’ on, Bruno?”

  “I’m sorry to wake you.”

  “Can that shit. You wouldn’t have called unless it was important. What’s going on?”

  “Ned’s wife and JB came to my house tonight looking for their daughter, Beth.”

  Silence.

  I said, “That’s what you wanted me to talk to Ned about, right?”

  “I’m sorry you got caught up in the middle of this, Bruno. What happened—did you give her the child?”

  “I told them they had to talk to Ned about it.”

  “Ned wasn’t there?”

  “No, he’s out on the surveillance with Coffman. I’m due to relieve them in three hours.”

  “It’s best that Ned gives the kid back. I told Ned that, but you know how boneheaded he can be. The best thing you can do is stay out of it and give him your best counsel. You know how these things are. Child custody issues are nothing but a hotbed of emotions that make responsible people do crazy things. And it tends to ruin lives. It never ends well. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. No one ever thinks clearly when their kids are involved.”

  “You’re saying to stay out of it? They’re staying at my house, Lieutenant.”

  Dad whispered, “Our house.” To remind me that he, too, was wrapped up in all this emotional soup.

  “Bruno, I know he’s your friend, but you don’t want to get pulled into this thing any more than you already are. You’re going to have to kick him out. You’re just enabling him. While he stays at your house, you’re making it easier to hide his daughter.”

  “Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, it does, but it also puts Beth in the crossfire. What happens when Ned doesn’t have any place to go with his daughter?”

  “I know it’s a tough situation. Right now, Ned’s not making the right choices, and we have to help him make those choices.”

  “Lieutenant, there’s something else.”

  I didn’t know exactly how to word it, didn’t know if I even wanted to put him on notice, and paused. Once I put him on notice it was like letting the genie out of the bottle; you could never put him back in.

  Wicks said, “Boy, I know I don’t want to hear this. Go ahead.”

  “There’s strong evidence that JB and Hannah have physically abused Beth.”

  “Son of a bitch. Well, that changes everything. I have to make notifications. IA has to come into it now, and the kid’s gotta go to Child Protective Services until we get this whole thing straightened out.”

  “Not CPS. Come on, Lieutenant, not Beth. Can’t she stay here until everything gets sorted out?”

  “I’m sorry, that’s the way it has to be. We can’t show any sort of bias. Make sure Beth’s available first thing in the morning. I’ll have them there to pick her up at nine. Bruno, you want to tell Ned?”

  I gripped the phone and closed my eyes. “Yeah, that’s on me. I’ll handle it.”

  “Tell Ned it’s okay for him to take a few days off. Maybe you should, too—stay with him so he doesn’t do anything crazy.”

  “What about the case? This guy Gadd is using children to rob banks.” Then I remembered that Gadd was also the Darkman. I hadn’t told anyone, not even the lieutenant. I wouldn’t let that genie out. No way did I want to come down off the investigation with Gadd still running around free, ruining young lives.

  “Use your best judgment. Maybe it’ll be better if Ned does work, keep his mind off it. I’ll leave that up to you.”

  “Thanks, Lieutenant.”

  “Get some sleep. I’ll check in with you tomorrow.”

  Numb and bewildered, I muttered into the dead phone, “Its already tomorrow.” I hung up.

  I stepped into the living room and paced back and forth, trying to imagine the look on Ned’s face when I told him, the pain, the pure anguish. He’d blame me in part—how could he not? I’d called and told the lieutenant, got the large bureaucratic ball rolling that would bulldoze right over Ned and Beth. I did it before I even gave Ned a chance to do anything about it.

  I checked my watch—a little less than three hours before I had to relieve Ned and Coffman. I didn’t have to tell Ned for three more hours. Chicken. I was just putting it off.

  But I couldn’t sleep, not with that mess swarming around in my thoughts. I reached up to the top of the entertainment center in the living room, took down my gun, and strapped it on.

  Dad had been watching me. “What are you going to do?”

  “I can’t sleep.” I pulled the folded and stapled note from my pocket. “I told another friend I’d help her out. I guess I’ll go and try to at least take care of this problem.”

  I opened the front door and stepped out. Dad behind me said, “Be careful out there.”

  “I will.” I eased the front door closed leaving Dad with nothing more than a ball bat to ward off an insidious kind of evil I’d laid at his doorstep.

   CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  IN THE FRONT yard at the curb, I sat motionless in th
e FBI-issued Toyota waiting for inspiration in how to handle the mess involving Ned and his little girl with no inkling at all forthcoming. Sleep would help, but no way would sleep come, not with everything swirling round and round. Wicks may have been right. There might only be one real option: let the system take over. Plug everything in, stand back, and just let it go. But no way, under similar circumstances, would I want that to happen to Olivia.

  I opened Ollie’s note by tearing loose the staple. Enough ambient light from the street allowed me to see without turning on the overhead dome. The note read:

  Dat little shit Devon’s layin his head on Willowbrook tween Compton an Roscrans, 11431, its a lime green crib with white trim. He’s a big kid, over six foot and chubby wears his hair in a fade. Has one of dem Cadillac medallions around his neck ona long chain.

  I fount out what you woodnt tell me about dat asshole Gadd. I know what he’s all about now, what he’s up to. You doon have ta worry about him no mo. I’ll take care a his sorry ass. You jus hep out my nepfew.

  Luv ya lots

  See ya soon lover

  O

  Another load of adrenaline dumped into my already overtaxed nervous system. No way could Ollie tangle with Gadd. He’d kill her without thinking twice about it. She’d never see it coming either. She had no idea the danger she’d put herself in just entering Gadd’s orbit, let alone trying to put him down. She carried an ice pick in her purse for self-defense. Gadd would never let her get that close. And she didn’t know how to operate on stealth mode, not with her bulk and all those damn bracelets.

  I got out, went back in the house to call Ollie to tell her to stay the hell away from Gadd, insist on it. Take her to jail if I had to. I couldn’t tell her about our surveillance that she’d walk right into even if she did try something that dumb. The scary part about it—I knew her well enough that I knew she would try it.

  Dad stood in the living room and didn’t ask any questions when I came back in.

  I dialed. The phone rang and rang. I hung up trying to think it through. I turned to Dad. “You heard the conversation with my lieutenant?”

  He nodded.

  I said, “Tomorrow morning CPS will be here for Beth. Under the circumstances, it’s the best thing for her. You understand that, right?”

  “No.”

  “Dad, you think it’s right that Ned’s on the run with his little girl? Would you want that for Olivia? You and I would never put any child through that kind of thing—I mean going on the lam and ducking the law, hiding out with the children like a gang of fugitives. No, we have to trust in the system and let it do its work.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  He put his hand up on my shoulder. “All right then, I’ll make sure everything goes smoothly.”

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  I went back outside and got in the car. Disturbed—nothing seemed to be working out right, but I started up and headed to Willowbrook. At least Ollie had given me something I could take care of, something I could make right. I’d take Devon D’Arcy by the ear, yank him off the couch he slept on, and shake some sense into him.

  Ten minutes later I made my first pass of 11431 Willowbrook Avenue and spotted Ned sitting down the street in the dark in his Pathfinder watching the place.

  What the hell?

  Seeing Ned let the guilt slither back in, guilt so heavy it about smothered me. I had to tell him, get it over with.

  I pulled around the corner and came up on the radio. “Ned, what are you doing at this 10-20?”

  “Hey, partner, good hearing from you. Thought you were supposed to be sleeping. We followed the primary over here after he finished up at that other location.”

  Coffman jumped in, “Bruno, what the hell are you doing here?”

  “I, ah … was … following another lead, and it happens to be right where you two landed.”

  “I told you to get some sleep. You’re due to relieve us in a couple hours. You can’t work on no sleep.”

  “Couldn’t sleep, I’m good. Hey, Ned, meet me around the corner over here.”

  “Roger that.”

  I made the turn into an unknown side street perpendicular to Willowbrook, the street sign removed by the local hoodlums. They also knocked out the streetlights making it much darker and easier to blend into the shadows. Seconds later Ned came around the corner with his headlights already off and double-parked, his driver’s window to my driver’s window, the cars only inches apart. He looked in good humor. The job did that for him; he loved it. He tilted back a chocolate Yoo-hoo and took a bite of a pink snowball cupcake. He spoke around the marshmallow and coconut confection. “What lead are you following that brought you here?”

  “Remember this morning, Ollie, and the problem with her nephew? Well, this is the address she gave me.”

  “No shit. That means this pad might be Gadd’s main location, the place he operates from. Very nice. What’s the matter? Something’s wrong?”

  I couldn’t find the words to answer him.

  He sat up and leaned out a little. “Is it Beth? Did something happen to Beth?”

  He just tipped his hand that he knew for sure Hannah and JB were on the hunt for Beth.

  “I found out what’s going on,” I said. “You should’ve told me. You played me, Ned, and I’m not happy about it.”

  “Did Hannah find Beth? Did Hannah get Beth?”

  “No, relax. Dad covered for you, but you put him right in the middle of your mess and that’s not right.”

  He eased back in his seat and shot me the trademark Ned smile that under normal circumstances might’ve softened me up a little.

  “She didn’t get Beth,” he said. “That’s good, real good. Bruno, anything you want, anything I have it’s all yours. I owe you.”

  “You’re on the dodge from the service of a court order. You don’t have anything but what’s in that duffel bag sitting in my living room?”

  “Sorry about this whole thing. I should’ve told you, but you’re Mr. Law Enforcement, and you would’ve gone all policy and law on me and called CPS. The last thing I want is to have Beth in a foster care home while the court tries to decide who’s the best parent. You wouldn’t want Olivia in foster care, would ya?”

  I shook my head; no words would surface.

  The knot in my stomach tightened. In a few hours, that’s exactly what was going to happen. Beth would be taken into protective custody and become a ward of the state. Right at that moment I realized no matter how hard that would be on Beth, it was still the best thing for all concerned. It might be the only way to keep Ned out of trouble. If Ned went crazy over this child custody battle, what good would it do Beth? What good would it do anyone? I had to consider the long game and made my decision.

  I needed to change the subject and asked, “How long have you and Hannah been separated?”

  Ned looked away. The question about losing Hannah yet again hurt him a great deal. “Seventeen months, ten days, and thirteen hours, if you have to know.”

  “How long have you been on the dodge?”

  “Just since I’ve been at your place, that’s all.”

  “She’s got papers that she’s looking to serve you, but I think you already know that.”

  “You know this game,” he said. “The judge always, always rules in favor of the mother. It’s not fair, Bruno.” He slugged his steering wheel. “Hannah’s going to get custody, and I’m going to be left out of raising that wonderful little girl.”

  I didn’t think that would happen, not with the scars on Beth’s feet. The judge would seriously consider Ned for full custody. But not if Hannah dumped JB, then the threat would be gone. Round and round we go.

  “Don’t sweat it,” I said. “Everything’s cool for right now. I haven’t had any sleep and it’s too late to drive home. Can you stay right there and watch my back for a couple hours?”

  “You got it, partner, and thanks for covering for me.”

 
; The guilt again rose up in my throat and threatened to choke me. By the time Ned made it home in the morning, it’d be all over and he’d hate me for life. I eased the seat back as far as it would go and pulled the green John Deere ball cap down over my eyes, knowing I wouldn’t be able to sleep.

  But in an instant, one as brief as a heartbeat, sleep jumped up, grabbed me by the throat, and pulled me down into a dark abyss.

   CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  HEAT FROM THE sun woke me. I yanked my .357 from under my leg and sat bolt upright in my car looking around, looking for a threat, a target.

  “Hey, partner, that can’t be good for the old ticker,” Ned said, from his window. He handed me a tall cup of coffee in a Styrofoam cup from his vehicle still parked in the same place, and I brought my seat back up, put my gun back under my leg, and popped the lid of the coffee. The lukewarm brew, laden with cream and sugar, tasted wonderful. “Man, did I need this. Thanks … Hey, how did you get coffee when—”

  “Gibbs came in to relieve me and Coffman. He ran this coffee over. He’s set up where Coffman was and has the eye on the location. Coffman’s gone home to get some sleep.”

  “Why didn’t you wake me?”

  “You looked like a walking cadaver. You needed the sleep.”

  “You’re not kiddin’ about that.”

  The neighborhood looked different in the light of day, not nearly as ominous. Most all of the houses sported gang graffiti and wrought-iron bars. None of the cars on the street would sell for more than a couple of hundred dollars, cracked windshields, faded paint, bald tires. A dog with mange stopped to sniff something in the street and kept on going.

  I checked my watch, nine o’clock. CPS would be at the house taking custody of Beth. A coward, I didn’t want to tell him. He could find out by driving home. I hated myself for it.

  “Okay,” I said, “I got this now. You can take off. Are you and Coffman still coming back in four hours?”

  “I’m not leavin’. The banks open at nine—that’s right about now. That asshole Gadd blew his whole wad at the card club. He’s got to be hurtin’ for some cash. I’m not gonna miss out on all the action by going home and sleeping through it, no way. You cover for me now. I’ll sack out.”