by K. M. Hodge
“What’s that?”
“Someone dropped it off for you. It seems you have a secret admirer.” He smiled, handed her the box and then stood there staring at her and the box with a big, dumb grin on his face.
“Do you mind?” she asked.
“Sorry. Of course. Of course. I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a good night, Sal.” He smiled and nodded, then turned and scurried away.
Once she was alone again, she pulled the ribbon and lifted the lid. Inside was the most beautiful powder-blue peacoat she’d ever seen. She plucked it out and tried it on. A perfect fit. Glancing inside the box, she noticed a card. It read: To keep you warm when I’m away. Best, Michael.
She caught her reflection in the window and twirled, feeling the soft, warm fabric caress her skin. She couldn’t keep it…could she?
***
Church Hill Neighborhood
Richmond, Virginia
December 5, 2005
6:00 PM
~~~
Alex knocked on the door, harder than he should have, and rocked back and forth on his feet as he waited. After a few moments, the door opened and his best friend, Doc, stood in the frame, scowling at him.
“You’re mad at me. I know. But I need to talk to you.”
“You’ve got another therapist for that now. Call her.” Doc made a move to close the door, but Alex held out his hand and stopped it.
Doc’s cheeks blazed red and her lips pursed together in irritation. “Goodbye, Alex.”
“No. I need to talk to you. I know I messed up, you were right. You’re always right. I should have listened to you. I’m ready to listen to your advice now.”
She squared her shoulders and crossed her arms over her chest.
Alex fell to his knees and looked up at her, pleading. “Please, I’m begging you.”
Doc sighed and dropped her arms. “Get off the ground before the neighbors see you and start talking.” She opened the door wider and stepped to the side to let him in. “Come on, get inside.”
Alex let out a breath and rose to his feet. “Thank you. Thank you. You won’t be sorry.”
“Yeah, yeah. Get in. Don’t make me regret this, Alex.”
Once inside, he made his way to the kitchen and got himself a bottle of beer, making himself at home. Doc leaned against the wall and eyed him like she had x-ray vision and could see into his soul.
“Do you really need that right now?”
Alex took a long gulp of the cold beer and chose not to answer her question. Instead, he sat down at the table and traced the knots in the wood. He did it every time, like a nervous tick, but it calmed him. It was something Doc probably noted in her therapy notes about him. She sat down across from him. The mere act of being near her again, in a house that felt more like home than his own, made him feel safe again. Up until that moment, he hadn’t realized how much he’d spun out of control.
“I need to talk to you,” he said.
“So you keep saying.”
“I can’t with you scowling at me like that.”
“Don’t piss me off and I won’t have to look at you this way.”
“Do you talk to your other patients this way?”
“My other patients pay me.”
Alex reached for his wallet and threw a twenty-dollar bill on the table. “Here.”
Doc surprised him by pocketing the money. “You’ve got twenty minutes. Go.”
He downed the rest of his beer and tossed the bottle in the recycling bin behind him.
“There’s this woman.”
Doc groaned and rolled her eyes.
“Hey, I paid you. Cut that out.”
“Sorry, continue.” She sat up straight and gave him her full attention.
“Thank you. So, there’s this woman.” He paused a beat to measure her response. This time she stared back at him in that stoned-faced therapeutic way that he always imagined she looked like with her real clients. “I met her before Iraq. We had an affair and it ended. Well, it ended badly.”
Alex stood up and got himself another beer. The weight of Doc’s judgmental stare didn’t dissuade him. He required the courage only alcohol could supply if he was going to talk about all this and not lose his shit. He leaned against the wall where the bottle opener was bolted and stared down into the bottle. “The last time we were together, her husband caught us.”
“You sure have a pattern, Alex.”
“Yeah I guess so, because he tried to kill me. But the similarities stop there because this girl stopped her husband and saved my life. She broke an empty beer bottle over his head. Knocked him out cold.”
Alex raised an eyebrow at Doc, but she simply stared back at him like they were talking about grocery lists, not domestic violence and affairs.
A small smile curled up at the corner of Doc’s mouth. “And then what happened?”
“I left her there with him. Which was stupid, but she kept telling me to leave and that the police were coming. I don’t know.”
He sat back down and drank some more of his second bottle. An alcohol induced calm washed over him. He sat back in the chair and took in the kitchen. The empty sink and the sparkling counter tops stood in such stark contrast to the chaos that ruled over his home and relationships. Doc’s completely organized life and demeanor acted as his anchor, holding him in place when the storms of his addiction threatened to capsize him and lay his entire life to waste. For her, he would try harder, do better. He owed her that much.
“When I got back to the States, I went back to the bar where it’d happened. Her cousin owns it. He told me that Sally—her name’s Sally—well….” Alex paused to take a long gulp of his beer. “He told me she was dead. That her old man killed her because of me.”
“Oh, Alex.” Doc’s placid expression rippled with concern. “Oh no, there’s more.” Alex ran his fingers through his hair. He could use a cigarette, but Doc didn’t go for smoking in the house. “So…so that crackpot art therapist friend of yours—”
“Hey, Patty is a wonderful therapist.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “Then you can go to her because I quit that art therapy bullshit.”
“Okay, I already do.”
“Wait a minute. You see a therapist?”
Doc waved him off. “Yes, but we aren’t talking about me. We’re talking about you. And you only have ten more minutes.”
Alex reached into his wallet again and took out another twenty. “Here.”
She pocketed the money and sat back in the chair. “Continue.”
“Okay, so that therapist you made me see wanted to put some of my therapy drawings in her friend’s show. Betty. I think you know her.”
Doc nodded.
“Well, you can imagine my surprise when Sally came to the show.”
Doc cocked her right eyebrow into a sharp V. “So, not dead?”
Alex paused to finish off the beer. When he drank the last of it, he tossed the empty towards the bin. Missed. Fuck. Thankfully it caught the edge of the trash and fell to the floor without breaking. He picked it up and went in search of another bottle, but found the fridge and pantry empty of booze.
“You’ve had plenty.”
He plopped down in the chair. “Her cousin lied about it. Maybe to protect her. Maybe just to fuck with me. I don’t know.”
“What happened at the show?”
Alex looked away from Doc. “I slept with her.” When Doc said nothing for a long moment, he went on, “I know. I know. It’s not part of my sobriety plan.”
He cleared his throat, stood up, and then walked over to the patio door and looked out at the falling snow. It would be Christmas soon.
“She’s got a boy.” He turned to face Doc. “I thought it might be mine. Your therapist friend said I just wanted it to be true to make up for the baby I’d lost. But…but he looks just like me. Plays ball, smart as a whip.”
“But he’s not yours?”
“I looked up his birth certificate. The math doesn’t work in m
y favor.”
“It’s understandable to twist the facts. To want to believe he’s your son. But it doesn’t help you move on from the real losses you’ve experienced.”
“That’s what your friend told me.”
“Told you she was a wonderful therapist,” Doc said.
Alex harrumphed. “I tried to end things with Sally—do the right thing.”
“Tried?”
“I went to her son’s football game to talk to her. To cut things off. We kissed and someone saw us and told her husband. When she got home he almost beat her to death with a frying pan.”
“Alex, I’m so sorry to hear that. Is she okay?”
“Her friend called me from the hospital. I went to see her. That asshat she’s married to is getting off scot free. He told his dirty cop friends that she fell and of course they went along with the story. Sally told the cops she fell too. I guess I can understand why she didn’t fight back, but I can’t help but be mad at her too, which is stupid.”
“That’s a lot going on.”
Alex looked down and examined his shoes. They needed to be shined. He nibbled his bottom lip and looked over his shoulder at Doc. “I went to see her again today.”
“Oh, Alex.”
“I cornered her at the WIC office. Hell, I flashed my badge and everything.”
Doc’s face fell. “What did you do?”
“I told her I could save her. She’s hooked in with some really dangerous people and I’m terrified that it’s going to get her killed. I can’t just sit back and do nothing.”
“And what did she say to your offer?”
“To go fuck myself.” Alex rubbed his aching forehead and stared out at the yard. “I don’t know. It sounds like she might be doing some illegal spying. She’ll end up dead or in jail and then what would happen to her son?”
“What would happen to you?”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
“You know what you need to do.”
“I want to get better. I do, but I can’t do it without you, Doc.”
His best friend, hell, one of his only friends, sighed and looked away. Her lack of response pained him. How could he ever hope to find his way out of his addiction without her help? No one else had ever believed in him. What if she didn’t now? “You’re all I’ve got, Doc. You’re all I’ve got.”
Doc sat back in the chair and looked down at her joined hands. “I know. I’ll think about it.”
***
Kelly’s Cafe
Ocean City, Maryland
December 5, 2005
6:00 PM
~~~
Jude took a tissue out of his pocket and dabbed at his nose while he waited for his soup. He hated being sick. Especially since he wasn’t seeing anyone and had to take care of himself. A dry tickle formed in the back of his throat and he coughed. He looked up as the café’s doors jingled when a group of people bustled inside. The snow outside now came down in earnest all over the DC Metro area and most of Maryland. Everything would shut down tomorrow especially in DC. They didn’t know what to do with themselves in inclement weather so the one or two times it did snow every year, the world stopped. Not that he minded. He could use the day off, from the grocer at least. The Syndicate didn’t provide days off, sick or otherwise.
A man in a black leather jacket sat down in Jude’s booth across from him. The seat cushions sighed under the weight of the man. “There’s nowhere else to sit. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Nah, man. I don’t mind. Just fair warning, I’m sick.”
The waitress came around with his soup and hot tea and placed it in front of Jude. “Sorry for the long wait, babe. We’re getting slammed tonight. Can I get you anything, sir?”
“I’ll have what he’s having.”
The waitress made a note on her pad and disappeared into the crowded space towards the kitchen.
Jude took a sip of the chicken noodle and sighed.
“Nothing better than a hot bowl of soup on a day like today, right?” the strange man asked.
Jude grunted a reply. He didn’t mind sharing a space with the guy, but he certainly didn’t want to suffer through inane small talk with this stranger.
“Before long, the pretty snow will turn into a slushy mess. Dirty like everything else in this town.”
Jude paused and put down his spoon. “What’s your name?”
“Danny. And you’re Jude.”
Jude coughed into the sleeve of his shirt before glaring at the man. “How do you know my name?”
“We have a mutual friend of sorts.”
“Oh?”
“Alex Bailey.”
Jude sat back and relaxed his shoulders, eyeing the man in front of him. He didn’t appear to be a threat, but in his experience, you could never be too sure. “Who?”
“I know it’s not safe or in your best interest to disclose the fact that you know the man. So I’ll do all the talking and you do what you want with the information, okay?”
Jude simply stared back at the man, afraid to nod.
“The lawyer, Michael David, is a lot dirtier than you think and your friend is in danger. The men involved have already disposed of the mistress’s brother. He and his family have vanished and people are being paid off right and left to keep it all quiet.”
Jude coughed again and then sipped his tea. The waitress set down Danny’s order and disappeared as quickly as she’d appeared. The café now bustled with people trying to come in from the cold. The noise level rose so Jude had to lean over the table to hear the man better.
“You need to stop the inquiry into the lawyer before your friend ends up dead like the last girlfriend.” Danny took a sip of his tea and winced. “As far as I can tell, no one else knows, but his people will really start looking into your girl’s background and start tailing her if she doesn’t give it up. There’s been chatter that someone bugged the lawyer. He found a device in his home and has everyone on high alert. If the men involved find out who your girl is and who she’s married to, they’ll kill her and her kid. It won’t take long for her to crack or make a mistake. This is a dangerous game and you’re both out of your league.”
Jude tossed a twenty on the table for the waitress and stood. “I think I’ve had enough conversation for one day. Thank you for your company and the interesting story.”
“My pleasure,” Danny said, returning his attention to his soup.
Jude pushed his way through the crowd and outside. He blinked snowflakes from his eyes several times and then tightened his coat around his chest and chewed the information the investigator had given him over in his mind. Sally wouldn’t quit now and certainly wouldn’t listen to Jude. Her relationship with the lawyer already seemed to have passed the point of no return. But Michael was the kind of guy who wouldn’t stop sniffing around until he bedded Sally. Something she said she had no intention of ever doing. He pulled out his phone and shot a quick text to Alex, thanking him for his warning, but letting him know they would be continuing forward with or without his help. Alex responded quickly.
She said as much. I’m in. I can’t let you do this alone. And I won’t take no for an answer.
Chapter 14
Tiny’s Truck stop
Salisbury, Maryland
December 6, 2005
1:00 PM
~~~
Alex and Detective Elizabeth Cook smoked through half a pack of cigarettes while they waited for Jude behind a dingy truck stop.
“Are you sure your friend’s coming?” the detective asked between puffs.
Alex checked his watch and sighed. “Yeah, I think so.”
“I’ve really got to get going back to the station—”
“Hey, sorry I’m late. I had to shake the tail on me,” Jude said as he popped up from around the corner of the building.
“You sure you lost them?” Alex asked, as he held out the package of cigarettes.
Jude shook his head. “I’m good man, thanks. The idiots fo
llowing me are easy enough to lose. But I can’t be gone long or people will start asking questions and I don’t want any of these idiots to start thinking things. Billy already reamed me for not keeping an eye on Sally at the game the other day.”
Alex winced at the memory. If he had only stayed home that night. But then again, he wouldn’t have known what she was up to with the lawyer.
The detective held out her hand. “Hi, I don’t know if you remember me or not, I’m Detective Cook.”
Jude took her hand and gave it a quick pump before dropping it and looking over his shoulder. “Yeah, I remember you.”
“You sure you’re all right?” the detective asked.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Just have to be sure, ya know. Can’t ever be too careful with these people.”
The detective narrowed her eyes and took a puff of her cigarette. “These people?”
“Don’t play like that. You know who they are but if you need me to spell it out for you then: the mob…The Syndicate. The people I work for.”
The cop’s mouth dropped open and she gazed back at him wide-eyed with surprise. “Wait. You’re a part of the group?”
“At this point, it’s not by choice, okay?” Jude stiffened and squared his shoulders. “I can’t tell you anything more so don’t bother asking. No offense, but I trust cops about as much as I trust my little sister behind the wheel of a car.”
The detective shook her head and took a long puff of her cigarette. “I don’t know if I can trust you either, if that helps any.”
Alex leaned against the cinderblock wall and watched the two of them hash it out. All he cared about was making sure Sally and her boy got out of this mess.
Jude seemed extra jumpy today, which made Alex nervous. Their plan wouldn’t work unless they worked as a team. “She can’t help you if you aren’t totally up front from the beginning.”
“And what assurances do I have that you aren’t going to put me away for the crimes I’ve committed or, worse yet, get me killed?”
The cop dropped her cigarette and put it out with her foot. “I can get you protection if what you can give me is good enough. I really want to get their lawyer, Michael David. That would be a start. His mistress died of an apparent mugging gone bad, but that might not be the whole truth. Her brother came to me asking for help and now he turns up dead too. If I get the lawyer, then I can bring in the FBI and they can try and get him to turn state’s evidence. I know half my department is being paid to look the other way. I’m getting a lot of heat for pursuing any of this. So I get your need to be cautious, but someone needs to stop them and I don’t see anyone else lining up to do it.”