Infatuations

by Barbara Winkes

  “You could say that. Ashley isn’t the only one who made bad choices, but I figured it out pretty quickly. There’s a reason why his ex didn’t get her day in court.”

  “You were in a relationship? He abused you too?” Ellie felt queasy summing up the likely course of events.

  Addy slumped onto the worn green couch.

  “He’s the kind of guy who gets away with it. He always has his buddies with him, and they’re all carrying. Why be foolish?”

  The sensation of nausea gave way to anger, as Ellie found more and more confirmation for her theory. How many women lived in fear in this area? She had checked Bob Stanton’s license before, and she assumed the other members of the watch all had legit gun permits. That angle, unfortunately, would get her nowhere. As much as she wanted to take action, right away, it would take something solid to make the higher-ups understand about this epidemic of domestic violence. Worse, they might be wary to open that can of worms after the authorities had just shut down a sect that had been operating under the radar for decades.

  “I want to make sure that this time, he doesn’t get away with it,” she said. “But I need you to help me. I assume that Bob’s friends clashed with the drug dealers at times. Do you know if they did drugs themselves?”

  “They mostly drank and went out looking for trouble. But Ashley’s boyfriend came over once, and they talked for a long time.”

  “Friendly?”

  “Business kind of friendly. I don’t think Bob was interested in buying some pot for a party. He always had big ideas, about making money quick.”

  For their insistence not wanting to talk to the police, it seemed to be a relief to both Ashley and Addy that someone was listening to them—perhaps for the first time.

  “Do you have any proof, pictures, a recording, anything of the two of them together?” Ellie’s heart beat faster. If she could link Stanton to Lemont, it would be to the detriment of both of them. They could clean up the neighborhood and make it safer for its residents—just not according to the business model the two men might have had in mind.

  “Are you crazy? Either one of them would have killed me if I had tried that. You know about the waitress, and no one has any idea what happened to that ex-wife.”

  “All right, something else. Is Bob the leader in that neighborhood watch? Did you meet any other members, or know who has the authority?”

  “Only when they needed someone to cook for them. They pretty much look the same, brooding guys who think everyone is taking something away from them—you know, the sluts and the gays and the immigrants. Funny how they always find someone to blame for their shit other than themselves.”

  Ellie could only agree, but she was excited to finally get somewhere. “You have names?”

  “Sure. And…I don’t know if that’s important, but there was this nineteen-year-old, always leering at me. He was there for the meeting with Ryan as well, and he idolized Bob. His name’s…Jarrod, I think, Jarrod Tanner.”

  It took Ellie a few seconds to remember where she’d heard that name before. He’d been on the list of students who had volunteered for the program to work with the homeless in the park—according to the list, he had only attended once. Since Norton and Heller had confessed to murder and arson respectively, there had been no need to go back to that list. Now, she wondered if she might have overlooked something.

  “This is all very good. Thanks so much for making time for me, Addy.”

  “Well…it doesn’t happen every time that the police come around to actually listen what we have to say. I guess it goes both ways.”

  “I’ll do my best to make sure you won’t have to worry about them any longer, and Ashley as well,” Ellie promised.

  Back in her car, she gathered her map and notes once more, adding points according to the interviews. A picture was emerging, but she still needed physical proof to put Lemont and Stanton in the same room. She needed to find out more about Jarrod Tanner and pay him a visit, but she’d have to confer with Casey and Sam first, and then head back to the station to see what Waters was up to.

  If it was true that Lemont and Stanton had worked together, it made sense for them to involve someone younger, a contact in a school or college. It was a truly clever and devious plan—the pretense to drive out crime while cutting deals with one particular player. Both men would benefit from it. Stanton and his neighborhood watch could present some successes, and Lemont could get rid of a big part of the competition.

  Until they’d start to eat their own. Getting too close to people like that could come back to seriously bite you, not that Ellie felt sorry for a group of self-pitying violent misogynists.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “You have any idea where your girlfriend is?” Waters grumbled as Jordan passed by his desk. “Not taking the job so seriously after she couldn’t wait to have it. I see.”

  She could see the flash of annoyance on Maria Doss’s face.

  “She’s out working,” Maria said. “You know, detective work.”

  Jordan secretly enjoyed the exchange, deciding she didn’t need to add anything to it.

  Waters wasn’t easily placated. “I didn’t tell her to go out. There are five open cases, and she’s on a wild goose chase. I don’t need that.”

  “Well, perhaps Jordan can help you. She doesn’t look busy.”

  Not so amused now, Jordan made a slightly obscene gesture in Maria’s direction, behind Waters’ back.

  She couldn’t deny the truth of Maria’s statement though.

  “Sure, what do you need?”

  “For Harding to show up, now. You’d help me a lot if you could get her here.”

  “All right, relax. I’ll call her.”

  If Ellie was out investigating by herself, Jordan was certain she had a good reason. She hoped that it wouldn’t get her into trouble with Lieutenant Carroll. She saw Maria’s thoughtful gaze, wondering if she knew more.

  Fortunately, the moment she clicked on Ellie’s number, Ellie walked in, Casey and Officer Potts in tow.

  “Harding,” Waters barked. “It’s already late, now get your ass over here.”

  His words caused a collective cringe from the women in the room, a reaction that he ignored. Jordan had a hard time not to interfere, even though she knew for certain Ellie could handle herself.

  “Hey, Cliff, I’m sorry,” she said with a shrug. “I need to finish up with these officers first. I think we have a few new leads.”

  Jordan hadn’t missed Maria smiling to herself.

  “What part of get your ass over here didn’t you understand?”

  No one was smiling at this point, and the lieutenant had come out of his office as well.

  “Waters, Harding, a word?” His tone made it clear that this was not a suggestion. At least it would be mostly Waters who would have to explain himself, Jordan assumed.

  “Retirement can’t come soon enough,” Maria commented.

  * * * *

  Cliff Waters left the lieutenant’s office fuming, stopping short at slamming the door. Ellie hastily got to her feet. She didn’t care that he was mad at her, but she didn’t want his foul mood to slow down the progress she’d made.

  “Harding, wait a minute.”

  She sat back down, feeling herself tense up with worry. What could this be about? So far, Lieutenant Carroll seemed on board with her line of investigation, though he had warned her he needed to see results soon if the inquiries extended into the neighborhood watch and its connections to Lemont.

  Ellie understood that, and she was sure she could provide these connections if Waters let her do her work.

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Are you planning on filing a complaint?”

  The question caught her off guard.

  “What…no, I don’t think so. Detective Waters disagrees on how to handle this case. I understand I’m still new to this, but—”

  “I wasn’t talking about the case. There’s a fine line between a joke gone too
far, and harassment, and I would hate for one of my detectives to be on the wrong side of that.”

  “I appreciate your concern, but I’m fine, really.”

  Lieutenant Carroll didn’t prod. “I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “Good job.”

  “Thank you.”

  “And make sure those leads are being followed. We can’t let these people down once more, or they’ll never trust us again.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  Ellie left the office lost in thought, feeling strangely awkward as she returned to her colleagues. It hadn’t even crossed her mind that she could bring Waters’ behavior, should it escalate from here, to a superior. Truth be told, she had found it annoying and stifling with regard to the job. Since Maria Doss had toughed it out for so long, Ellie, being the newbie, didn’t want to rock the boat, especially when it came to a fellow cop.

  All of a sudden, she understood a whole lot more about why it was so hard for Ashley, Addy, and many other women to trust the authorities…Perhaps they had before, and it changed nothing about their situation.

  This wasn’t true for Ellie though. She had people in her life that had her back—and she’d do whatever she could to make sure those women could live without fear as well.

  * * * *

  “I want to talk to Lemont again, see if I can shake him a little, make him think the deal with the neighborhood watch is off. And I want to pay this Jarrod guy a visit. It’s probably not a coincidence that he was involved in the university program, if only briefly. He might want to turn on either one of them.”

  “It’s not going to be so easy if Stanton is his idol,” Jordan reminded her. In a quieter corner of the Night Shift, they were hashing out the day. To Waters’ chagrin, the lieutenant had approved more personnel on the Raynor/Stanton/Lemont case.

  “Yeah, but maybe there’s a chance he could establish himself if Stanton were gone. There is a good chance that we can play them all against one another, and I have this feeling that Jarrod is the weaker link.”

  “A lot of people we talked to today were intimidated,” Casey said as she sat across from them in the booth. “Nothing specific, but there’s a lot of tension.”

  “We also need to find the ex-wife. I really think she has something to tell us.”

  “Not to change the subject, but…well, to change the subject, you’re all set for the wedding now?”

  After the turbulent day, this was something out of a different world.

  “I think we are,” Ellie said. “We have the date and the venue, a license, invitations out and dresses.”

  “You guys have a cake, too, right?” Casey asked, laughing when Jordan and Ellie gave her a blank look. “Oh my God. You know you can’t get married without a cake, right?”

  * * * *

  They had spent part of the evening browsing websites of bakeries, but the next morning, any sweet delicacies were far from Ellie’s mind as she sat across from Ryan Lemont in the confines of the small room.

  Waters stood sulking against the wall—though not far enough in Ellie’s opinion, she could still feel him breathing down her neck. Lemont gave her a lazy grin. “Well, if it isn’t Nancy Drew again.”

  “I’m surprised you have an appreciation for young adult literature. Good for you, but that’s not why I’m here. You lied to me.”

  He laughed. “Honey, I lied to a lot of women. So what?”

  “We have a pretty conclusive list of your high profile clients. I guess it’s true that you prefer them, but you wouldn’t turn down a big chunk of the local market, would you?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m thinking you don’t know either.”

  Ellie leaned back in her chair, studying him—hoping he’d start to fidget at some point, that the authority she had in this situation would have more weight than appearances. She had to rely on that, because she had to ruefully admit that it would be hard otherwise to intimidate the drug dealer.

  “Don’t worry about that. I know a lot. I know you’ve had meetings with the neighborhood watch, which is kind of strange, since they promised they’d drive people like you out of town.”

  “People like me, isn’t that some sort of bias? Can I sue for that?” he asked, still grinning.

  “People in your business, Ryan. Getting drugs out on the streets and, wait, into schools. If someone gave you contacts to get it done, and took care of the competition at the same time, that would be an offer too good to walk away from. I imagine that’s what you did.”

  “Keep imagining,” he scoffed, but there was a minute change to his demeanor. Ellie wasn’t celebrating yet. She had come into the room with the plan to get him to say something compromising—for him, for Stanton—on the record.

  “There are witnesses, Ryan, who saw you meet with Bob Stanton. What were you talking about in those meetings? The self-proclaimed law and order guy and the drug dealer, an odd couple, don’t you think? I asked you the wrong question the last time. You weren’t selling him drugs. He agreed to let you be and lean harder on all the others, and you…what did you do for him in return? Get rid of a homeless man who was bothering him?”

  Lemont shook his head, exasperated.

  “It will come out anyway, and the way it looks right now, both of you are going down. How hard, that’s up to you. If you come clean now, we might even be able to help you.”

  Silence greeted her words. While Ellie had expected nothing else, she was still aware of the pressure. She needed something to take to Jarrod later. A bluff would perhaps do with the teenager, making him think that Lemont was going to turn on him and Stanton, but she would have loved to present something more substantial—to Jarrod, her colleagues, and the lieutenant.

  “Look, we both know you’re not new to this. You know how it works. You can talk to me now, or wait until Bob and his friends get scared enough to talk, and when they do, that will be pretty bad for you. Your choice.”

  She pushed her chair back and got up.

  “You’ll be surprised. The guy’s a freaking psychopath.”

  Ellie suppressed a smile, her heart beating faster.

  “You know, not just any story to save your hide will do.” She made a move to leave, only to hear his exaggerated sigh.

  “I provide high quality entertainment to a lot of important people,” he said. “Some of them might even be in your line of work. They’re all adults, and they know what they’re in for.”

  She slowly sat down again. “Even if I were to believe you, what’s your point again?”

  “I don’t sell to kids. That’s what I told them.”

  “Drugs, blackmail, murder, but you draw the line at selling in school, I see. That’s noble of you…kind of.”

  “This is no joke. I’ve done some shit, yes, but I didn’t kill the waitress. I don’t know who did.”

  “What about Marco Raynor?”

  “I don’t know that either.”

  “Come on!” Ellie got to her feet again, this time walking straight to the door.

  “I know there was a hit out for him. I didn’t pay for it.”

  “Really?” It was the first time Waters spoke. “Then who did?”

  “I have no idea. I could ask around, but…as it is, I’m stuck here, aren’t I?”

  Ellie cast a glance at her partner, wishing they had a rapport as easy as Jordan and Derek. She was pretty sure that part of what Lemont said was true, but that he was jerking them around at the same time. They needed to figure out which part was which, but she wasn’t sure Waters would be helpful. At least, they had more people on the case now.

  “Think hard. We’ll be back later, and you better have some answers for us. Have a good day, Mr. Lemont.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Watching Ellie on the job was hard for Jordan, even though she knew she’d have to get over herself, and soon. The interrogation made her squirm with all sorts of unprofessional sentiments. She felt ever protective of Ellie, having to resist the urge to barge into t
he room at any sign of disrespect from either Waters or Lemont.

  And then, seeing her make a seasoned criminal uneasy was just plain hot.

  When they sat in Jordan’s car to go to a diner nearby for lunch break, the greeting became a little more passionate than intended. Who could blame her? The wedding was just weeks away. She was giddy and in love, and for once in her life, not waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  “Okay. Hi,” Ellie said, a content smile on her face. “I did okay, didn’t I?”

  “Hell, yes. I wish it was time to go home, then I could show you in more detail.” Her frank words made Ellie blush, which did nothing to disperse her inappropriate emotions. A rap on the window made them both jump.

  “Get a room, you two,” Casey said after Jordan had rolled down the window. “You got a cake yet?”

  “Keep this up and you won’t be getting any,” Jordan threatened her. Casey walked away laughing. “Okay, I don’t have much time. Let’s get something to eat.”

  Ellie leaned back in her seat with a sigh. “Yeah. I’m hungry, I guess.”

  “What’s wrong?” Jordan asked as she pulled out of the parking lot. “I might be a bit biased, but I wasn’t kidding. You did as well as anyone could have. You rattled him. I don’t know that I believe he had nothing to do with the murders, but he gave us something to work with. That’ll be helpful when you talk to that Jarrod guy.”

  “Yeah. Hopefully. Did you have any luck finding the ex yet?”

  Jordan had spent part of her time since assigned to the case trying to find Stanton’s ex.

  “I have a last known address I’ll check after lunch. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

  “Thank you. You know, I wouldn’t mind some cake. Empty calories sound really good right now.”

  Jordan smiled, thinking they might tame her out of control emotions as well. “Sounds good to me.”

  Life couldn’t get any better, could it? On top of it all, Kathryn hadn’t called or texted in a while, obviously accepting that Jordan needed some distance between them on all levels.

  * * * *

  After lunch, they returned to the department. From there, Jordan went to check out the address of Bob Stanton’s ex. Ellie and Waters went to see Jarrod Tanner.