by Bill Bernico
“Thanks, both of you,” Matt said. “I’m going to do it.” He rose from the sofa, upended his glass, draining the last of the chocolate milk from it and handed the glass to Gloria. “And thanks for that, too.”
Gloria hugged her son at the kitchen door as he and his father returned to the garage. Matt offered his hand, but Elliott didn’t take it, opting for a hug instead. “Thanks again, Dad,” Matt said and returned to his car. He could probably still make it back to the office before Benny left for the day.
Matt parked in the lot again and walked to the elevator. When he got out on the third floor, Benny was waiting. “Heading out?” Matt said.
Benny nodded. “Yeah, I figured it’s better to be early, in case this John Crawford fella knocks off early today. I’ll see you tomorrow Matt.” Benny got on the elevator and waited as the doors began to close. He quickly stuck his arm out, sending the doors open again. He looked out at Matt. “I forgot to ask you, what did you decide?”
Matt smiled at him. “I’m going to take it,” he said as the elevator doors closed. Once back in his office and comfortably seated behind his desk, Matt put his feet up, leaned back in his chair, locked his fingers behind his head and closed his eyes. He and Captain Burke would have something to talk about tomorrow and Matt was eager to get started on this new venture.
Twenty minutes later Benny pulled to the curb across from the cab company and half a block down. He pulled the snapshot of John Crawford from his pocket and attached it to his sun visor with a rubber band. Half an hour after that, Mr. Crawford emerged from the overhead garage door and walked to his car. He knew where Crawford lived and had expected the man to drive toward that area. Instead the off-duty cabbie turned right at the first corner and drove away from his house.
Benny stayed with him across town and watched as Crawford pulled to the curb in front of a large white house on Hampton Avenue. Benny parked five cars behind Crawford’s and waited for the man to walk up to the white house and ring the bell. As Benny watched through his binoculars, a good looking woman answered the door and smiled when she saw Crawford standing there. She invited the man inside and closed the door.
Benny got out of his car and casually walked across the street and over to the large white house in question. He made a note of the address in his notepad and slipped it back into his pocket. He pulled out his cell phone, which also had Internet access, and brought up the address directory site. Benny punched in the address and got the owner’s name, noting that in his notepad as well. He dropped his phone back into his pocket and soft-footed it up to the house. He quietly stepped up to one of the side windows, trying to see in. The first window closest to the street had a shade pulled down. He tried the next window and was able to see into the kitchen, but there was nothing happening there. Benny stepped back over to the first window and took a closer look at the shade position. It was almost all the way down, but there was still half an inch of space at the bottom, so he leaned closer and peered in.
Inside, Benny could make out Crawford and the woman. He was putting his arms around her waist while she wrapped one arm around Crawford’s neck. With her free hand, she reached back and pressed a button on some box that Benny couldn’t fully see. Music began to play and the couple slowly began to move around the room. Crawford and this woman surely didn’t waste any time,” Benny thought. They got right into the romantic mood. Benny watched until the song ended and the couple parted.
The woman reached back again, pressing another button before she faced off with Crawford. They both looked at their feet and started moving with the music, but stopped a few seconds later when the woman switched off the music and pointed at Crawford’s feet. She demonstrated the step, stood back and waited while Crawford tried it on his own. Suddenly Benny felt really uncomfortable and a bit stupid. This was no affair. John Crawford was taking dancing lessons. Just to be sure, Benny waited and watched until the song ended, keeping an eye on the woman. Just as before, she reached back, pressed something and another song started playing, but with a different beat. The couple went into their routine again, with the woman talking to Crawford as he watched his feet.
Benny quietly walked back to the street and back to his car. When he got behind the wheel again he pulled out his notepad and wrote down what he had witnessed, ending his notes with two words—dance lessons. He closed the notepad again, slipped it into his pocket and drove home. He’d give Matt a full report in the morning. He checked his watch. It was only four forty-five. Then he remembered telling Matt’s son, Nicky that he’d stop by sometime after five. He was glad his case hadn’t taken him all night. He would have forgotten all about Nicky’s problem and may have just added to them by not showing up.
Benny pulled up in front of Matt’s house at ten minutes after five. He didn’t see Nicky or Veronica in the yard so he walked up to the kitchen door and knocked. Chris answered and smiled when she saw Benny.
“Benny,” she said. “Come on in. Nicky’s been talking about you all afternoon. Matt tells me you’re going to give Nicky a few pointers on self-defense. I think that’s great that Nicky should know how to defend himself.” She turned toward the living room. “Nicky, Benny’s here to see you.”
Normally, when she called Nicky away from his television shows, her son would complain and ask for just a few more minutes. The words were hardly out of her mouth when Nicky came running from the living room into the kitchen. He smiled broadly when he saw Benny standing there with his mother.
“Hi, Nicky,” Benny said. “You ready for a little rough-housing in the yard?”
“You bet,” Nicky said. “Let’s go.”
Benny turned to Chris. “Better not keep my student waiting,” he said and followed Nicky out into the back yard.
Nicky stood there, not sure what to do with his hands. He nervously looked around and then up at Benny. “The first thing you need to know,” Benny said, “Is how to stand. Take a look at how you’re standing.”
Nicky looked down at his feet, which were pointed strait at Benny and spaced a few inches apart. Benny took a stance of his own and told Nicky to look at how he was standing. “See, the way you’re standing you’re not braced for that first punch that your opponent is sure to take. You’d be easy to knock over standing like that. Look at my feet. See how I’ve got them spaced wider apart with one foot slightly behind the other? If the other guy suddenly hits me, my feet will be braced and he won’t be able to knock me down.”
Nicky repositioned his feet like Benny’s.
Benny held up both hands, each one rolled into a tight fist. “Go ahead, Nicky, hold yours up like this.”
Nicky clenched both hands into fists and held them up like Benny had instructed. “Go ahead, try to hit me, but do it really slow.” In slow motion, Nicky moved like a kid starting a fight. He reached out with his right fist but Benny held his forearm up, blocking the punch while coming in with his other hand to connect with Nicky’s stomach. “See? When you’re ready for the other guy you can keep from getting hit while at the same time, delivering a blow of your own.”
Nicky smiled again, obviously seeing the advantages Benny was giving him. Benny showed Nicky a few more basic moves and then sat on the back yard bench to catch his breath. Before the afternoon was up, Nicky was able to make some pretty fast moves on his instructor and even got in a few punches of his own. Benny, who’d been caught off guard a few times, could feel his ribs starting to ache and decided to call it a day.
“That was very good, Nicky,” Benny said, patting Nicky on his back. “You just keep practicing those moves and the next time I come over I’ll show you how to take on two guys at the same time.”
“You can do that?” Nicky said. “Cool. I can’t wait. When can you come back?”
“I’ll check my calendar,” Benny said. “And I’ll let your dad know when I see him at the office, all right?”
Nicky thanked him again and ran back to the house to tell his mother all about his lesson. Benny walked up
to the back door just as Chris opened it to greet him. “Thank you, Benny,” Chris said. “Can you come in for a while?”
Benny waved her off. “Sorry, Mrs. C,” he said. “But I’ve got to run. Tell Matt I’ll see him in the morning.” He walked back to his car, wiped his sweaty brow and drove home, feeling as satisfied with the lesson as Nicky probably did. When he got back to his apartment, Benny took two aspirin, kicked off his shoes and settled into his recliner. Nicky was tougher than he’d imagined. All he really needed was some confidence building. Benny wished he could be a fly on the wall the next time a bully tried any aggressive moves at school with Nicky.
Matt got home a few minutes after Benny had pulled away from the curb. Chris met her husband in the kitchen when he came in. “You just missed Benny,” she said. “He just left and I think Nicky really learned quite a bit from him. I have a feeling he won’t have any more bully problems at school after today.”
“That’s great,” Matt said. “I’m really glad I found Benny. He’s becoming a real asset at the office and apparently here with Nicky.”
“No kidding,” Matt said. “How’d he do?”
“He’s in his room,” Chris said. “Why don’t you go and ask him?”
“I think I will,” Matt said, turning and walking toward Nicky’s bedroom. He knocked and opened the door to find Nicky posing in front of the mirror over his dresser. He was flexing his muscles and practicing a few mean looks. He stopped when Matt poked his head in and looked a bit embarrassed.
“Oh, hi, Dad,” Nicky said. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
Matt shrugged and spread his hands. “I knocked,” he said in his defense, “But I guess you didn’t hear me.” He sat on the edge of Nicky’s bed. “So tell me, how’d it go with Benny? Did you learn anything?”
Nicky smiled. “I sure did, Dad. Boy, that Jason is going to be sorry if he messes with me again.”
Matt motioned for his son to come and sit next to him on the bed. “Nicky,” Matt began, “All that stuff Benny taught you, you understand that it’s just for self-defense, right? I mean, just because you know how to defend yourself doesn’t mean you can go around looking for trouble. I don’t expect you to run away from a fight if the other guy starts it, but I also don’t want you starting any fights just to prove something to someone. Understand?”
Nicky nodded. “I think I do, Dad. I learned all these neat tricks so I won’t have to fight, right?”
“That’s just about the way I’d have said it,” Matt told his son. “I imagine, though, that Jason will probably test you at least once more, since he has no idea that you know what you know. But I suspect that once he knows you can fight back he’ll probably leave you alone from now on. You know what else? I’ve heard of situations like this where the bully not only left the other guy alone afterwards, but in one case he and his former victim actually became good friends.”
“Not Jason,” Nicky said. “Even if he had never punched me, I wouldn’t want to be friends with him.”
“Oh,” Matt said, surprised. “Why’s that?”
Nicky paused momentarily, looking for the right words. “Because he’s weird. He dyes his hair black and wears black nail polish and baggy pants with chains and metal studs all over them. He gives me the creeps, Dad.”
Matt had to laugh at the mental picture he’d conjured up of this kid he’d never met. He patted Nicky on the shoulder and stood. “No one says you have to be friends after all this, but don’t go out of your way to make fun of him or talk bad about him to other people. You never know, Jason might just grow out of that stage on his own after he sees normal guys like you getting all the girls.”
“Aw, Dad,” Nicky said. “I’m not getting any girls. They’re just as creepy.”
“Believe me, son, they won’t be in another couple of years.” He left Nicky sitting there with a puzzled look on his face and returned to Chris in the living room.
“What did you two talk about?” Chris wanted to know.
“Oh, you know, guy talk,” Matt said and left it at that.
The next morning on his way into town, Matt called the office a little after eight-thirty and got Benny on the phone. Without mentioning the twelfth precinct or Lieutenant Cole, Matt let his partner know that he had business downtown and that he’d be in as soon as he was finished.
Matt walked into the twelfth precinct and straight for Captain Burke’s office. He knocked and was invited in. Captain Burke gestured toward the chair across from his desk. “Have a seat, Matt,” he said. He let Matt get comfortable before asking, “So, what’s your decision?”
Matt smiled. “You can count me in,” he said. “I think this could work out pretty good for both of us.”
“Excellent, Matt,” Burke said. “I’ll let Lieutenant Cole and Detective Sheldon know at my first opportunity.”
“Are we the only four people in this exclusive group?” Matt said.
The captain nodded. “So far, but they’re both out sizing up other possibilities even as we speak. Once we have what we consider the right size task force in place, I’ll contact you and let you know about any assignments we feel would best suit this group.” The captain stood now and extended his hand. “Thanks again, Matt. I think you’re going to be a great asset to us. And if you know of anyone that you think would fit the criteria for this group, let me know about him or her. Don’t you approach them yourself. Just let us know of a likely candidate and we’ll give them a little test of our own.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Matt said. “I’ll try to live up to your expectations and I’ll keep my eyes and ears open for another untouchable for you.” He left the twelfth precinct and drove back to his own office.
It was nine-fifteen by the time he walked into the office and hung up his jacket. Benny was on the phone so Matt remained quiet and took a seat behind his desk.
“And thank you again for your business, Mrs. Crawford,” Benny said into the phone. “I’ll get our bill out to you this morning and please keep our number handy in case we can help you in the future. Good bye.” Benny hung up and looked at Matt.
“Another client?” Matt said.
“That was Mary Crawford,” Benny explained. Then he remembered that he hadn’t had a chance to tell Matt about his night of surveillance. “That’s right, you don’t know about last night yet, do you?”
“No, but I have a feeling you’re going to tell me, aren’t you?”
Benny smiled with anticipation of Matt’s reaction when he heard about Mary Crawford’s ‘cheating’ husband. “Turns out the guy was taking dance lessons on the sly. He wanted to surprise his wife the next time they went out. He was planning to ask his wife if she wanted to dance and then pull her out onto the floor and show her what he’d learned.”
“See, Benny,” Matt said. “There are some up sides to marriage and to cases like this turning out the way this one did. Which reminds me, I never did ask you if you had any steady girlfriend or fiancé or even if you were married. But then again, it’s really none of my business.”
“No, that’s all right,” Benny said, holding up one palm. “I don’t mind the question. I get that all the time from my friends and family. They all want to know when I’m going to get married.”
“And what do you tell them?” Matt said.
“Well,” Benny began, “I read something somewhere, I forget where, but in effect it said that when someone is murdered, the police always investigate the spouse first. And that pretty much tells you everything you need to know about marriage. No, I’m in no hurry.”
That took Matt by surprise and he had to laugh. “I never really thought about marriage like that myself. I must have one of the good marriages. My folks got the other one.”
“And what do you suppose is your secret?” Benny said. “I mean, just in case I come across some wily female who wants to tie me down.”
Matt mulled that question over for a moment before offering, “You just treat her the way you’d want to be treate
d. Anything else is just icing on the cake.”
“I’ll try to keep that in mind if Miss Right ever comes knocking,” Benny said. “So, what do we have going for us today?”
Matt flipped the page over on his desk calendar and found a note he’d scribbled to himself more than a week ago. It was a reminder to call his dentist to make an appointment for a teeth cleaning. After he’d made the call he turned back to Benny and said. “I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a little restless. You up for a ride?”
“Sure,” Benny said. “Where’d you have in mind?”
“Anywhere,” Matt said, switching his phone service from the office to his cell. “Before these walls start closing in on me. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
The two of them had driven several blocks in silence, neither one knowing what to say to break the ice. Benny finally thought he’d better say something, anything to get the ball rolling and offered, “So, Matt, do you know what you get when you mix alcohol and literature?”
“Huh?” Matt said, puzzled by this question from out of the blue.
“Just trying to make a little conversation,” Benny explained. “You seem like you’ve got your mind somewhere else. Is there anything wrong?”
Matt gave Benny a quick glance. “Oh, no, I’ve just got something on my mind. I guess I’m not very good company today.”
“Is it something you can talk to me about?”
Matt shook his head. “Thanks, Benny, but it’s something I really can’t talk about.”
Benny took a deep breath and let it out. “Okay, I think I get it. Forget I asked. Your private life is private.”
“No, it’s nothing like that,” Matt said. “It’s a different kind of problem I have to work out for myself, but thanks for asking.” They drove along in silence again for another three minutes before Matt said, “All right, I give up.”
“Say what?” Benny said.
“I said I give up,” Matt repeated. “What do you get when you mix alcohol and literature?”