He squeezed her gently. “Sure.”
“If only we could. You have to go back to running the city, and I have to go back to a crazy man and find out if my friend Councilman Parker is our serial dumper.”
Drake went still. “What?”
She nodded. “Yeah.” Then she told him about the information she’d gotten from the HazMat. “Only three companies in the state handle the disposal of those specific chemicals, and Parker Environmental is one of them.”
“Now that is real interesting.”
NIA wanted Parker for murder, and Drake couldn’t help but wonder if her investigation would impact their own. He couldn’t tell her to back off without giving her a vital reason, because she would definitely demand one. Down the road the Parker issue might turn into a bone of contention between them, but for now he wanted to sit here with her by his side and wonder if she’d like to make love again.
To test the waters, he turned and asked her with his kiss. She responded with a heated yes, and they began the dance.
On Sunday afternoon when Drake pulled into her complex and waved at the guard on the gate, Lacy felt sad. Their interlude had been perfect in every way, and now she had Monday to look forward to.
He cut the engine. “Why so glum?”
“I don’t want to come home,” she said in a little girl’s voice.
He chuckled and traced her cheek. “I certainly didn’t want to bring you home. We’ll go back soon, I promise.”
“I’m holding you to that.”
They shared a long kiss, then got out of the car to go inside her building.
Once inside her apartment, Drake said, “How do you feel about having a bodyguard?”
She shrugged. “Mama wanted to call the Fruit.”
Drake stared. “Of Islam?”
“Yep. She says she has a connection.”
“Remind me to never make her mad.”
Lacy smiled. “She’d never be mad at you. She thinks you’re cute.”
He eased an arm around her waist and gently pulled her to him. “And what does her daughter think?”
“She thinks the mayor’s head is big enough. Another compliment and it may explode.”
He kissed her to pay her back. When they came up for air, he held her against his heart and said, “I have a friend named Walter McGhee who is real good at keeping people safe. I’d like him come over and hang out with you for the next few days.”
Lacy looked up. “That would be okay. Lord knows I don’t want to be one of Parker’s statistics.”
“What’s that mean?”
She explained.
Drake looked down at her face. “He said that to you?”
“Yep.”
Drake’s jaw tightened. “Did you tell Detective Franks?”
“I did, but he said it wasn’t something they could arrest Parker for.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s on the record. Why don’t you come home with me?”
“As much as I’d love that, no. I want to be in my own space for a while.”
Drake wanted to argue but knew he wouldn’t prevail, so he let it go for now. “If anything jumps off, you call me first thing. Okay?”
“Will do.”
He stared down into her eyes and couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to harm her, but somebody did, and the knowledge angered him. “I’m going to head home. I’ll call you later.”
“Sounds good.”
They walked to the door. Drake wanted to tell her to lock the doors, don’t talk to strangers, and all the other clichés of safety, but decided to kiss her senseless instead. After many many kisses good-bye, he left and Lacy locked herself in.
Fifteen
Sunday night, Parker and Fish were discussing strategies in the trailer that served as the landfill’s office. Parker was going over the production printouts for the last thirty days. “According to these totals,” he said, “in a few more weeks the dumping will start paying off.” Not having to fork over the usual fees and tariffs, the company was saving enough money to maybe straighten out the financial mess Wheeler had made.
Fish pointed out the obvious: “But we don’t have a few more weeks.”
“I know,” Parker replied tersely. According to a tip he’d received from one of his sources, the feds were going to bring in dogs to search his three landfills for Wheeler’s body. With that in mind, he knew he couldn’t afford to have even a sniff of impropriety around his operations, so everything had ground to a halt. No dumping, no drugs coming across the border, and no smuggling of any kind. Until the feds either found something or grew frustrated enough to quit and leave him alone, he couldn’t move a damn thing, and that was going to cost him money too. “At least we can continue to stash some of the garbage in the new subdivisions.”
He had worked out a novel way to get rid of a large portion of the tons of garbage the trucks picked up each day—by using the open land of the three new subdivisions his real estate company was building. The construction crews dug down about eight foot, dumped the garbage in, and covered it with topsoil. Once the houses were built on the site, no one would be the wiser. He not only saved money on the disposal of the trash, but by using the trash as fill, he could cut back on the amount of topsoil he needed to truck in for the building sites. It was a win-win situation.
But the feds’ imminent arrival was a problem.
Fish said confidently, “I say let ’em look. They won’t find anything.”
“They found that woman in Utah.”
“Yeah, but we made sure Wheeler was in little bitty pieces before we fed him into the compactor. If they find anything, they won’t be able to tell him from last week’s pizza.”
“You’d better be right.”
“I am. They can bring in all the dogs they want.”
Parker had no idea when the feds would show up, but according to the tipster, it would probably be in the next few days. He had already talked to his lawyer about the possibility. She advised him to sit tight until the search warrant was served, but Parker was finding that hard to do. Because of that bastard Wheeler, his empire was on the verge of collapsing and now the feds were sniffing around looking for his body. If push came to shove, he had his passport and $600,000 stashed in his office drawer ready to go. Having an office less than a ten minute drive away from the airport was a plus too. His wife would have to fend for herself.
Fish asked, “So, the flyers didn’t get the reaction you thought they would, did they?”
Parker’s jaw tightened. “Is this your I told you so?”
Fish gave him his shark smile. “You’re going to need more than a blurry picture to bring down Mr. Mayor, especially if he’s in with those Dope Buster people. Nobody has been able to catch even a sniff of where they disappear to after the raids, so finding them ain’t gonna be easy. Plus the good citizens love them. Hell, I applauded when they took down the crack house on my block.”
Parker cursed.
“You know what your problem is?”
“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“You need patience. Impatience may have gotten you to where you are now, but it’s a new world. You can’t throw your weight around and expect people to do what you want anymore. That’s old school. These days folks get offended and call the ACLU.”
Parker sighed. “What’s your point?”
“My point is: Chill. After the feds leave and this mess with Wheeler is over, then we concentrate on Randolph.”
“The election’s next year. There isn’t time to chill.”
“Sure there is. Between your contacts downtown and mine underground, we might get lucky and find the truth. At least I might. You’d be surprised at the big names you run into at booty clubs. Once they get a few drinks in them and start getting hot for those women on the poles, they’re liable to tell you anything.”
Fish’s large pupils met Parkers. “Somebody somewhere knows about the men in those vans. Soon as we find the key, we own the mayor.
We can make him sing ‘Dixie’ on the steps of Hart Plaza if we want.”
“We?”
“Yes, we. We’re a team now, Councilman Parker. Didn’t I tell you that?”
“No,” Parker said stonily. “What makes you think I need a partner, or even want one?”
Fish smiled. He slid his briefcase toward him and lifted the lid. Reaching inside, he pulled out the big black switchblade he’d had for so many years he’d given it a name: Bloody Mary. The weapon was asleep in its sheath, but with a flick of Fish’s wrist, the deadly eight-inch blade revealed itself in all its gleaming glory. Fish smiled as he ran a finger down the edge. “Mary and I have done a lot of work on your behalf, councilman. Haven’t we, baby?” he said, talking softly to the blade, stroking it like a lover. He looked up at Parker. “Mary thinks we deserve a partnership, and so do I.”
Parker tried hard to look away from Fish’s fingers on the knife, but couldn’t. He was as mesmerized as a cobra dancing to a charmer’s song. “How much do you want?”
Fish shrugged. “Forty, forty-five percent.”
Parker exploded. “Forget it. I’m not giving you that much. We’ll both go broke.”
“Sure you will, and no, we won’t.” Fish closed Mary and placed her back in his case and closed it. “Once all the dust settles, we’ll talk again.” He pushed his chair back and stood. “I hear your little tree hugger isn’t liking the phone calls she’s been getting. Apparently she was so messed up, she and Randolph ran away for a long weekend.”
“What?” Parker had no idea Green was now Randolph’s woman.
“Folks all over the city garage were talking about it. If you didn’t have the people skills of Jabba the Hut, you wouldn’t have to hear these things secondhand.”
Parker snarled inwardly. He had no idea who or what a Jabba the Hut was but he knew an insult when he heard one. “Are you leaving?”
Fish nodded and said, “Yep, but don’t worry. Mary and I will be back.”
As he left the trailer, Parker followed him with wintry eyes. He should’ve had Fish killed a long time ago. Now, it might be too late.
Lacy returned to work on Monday feeling fresh and rejuvenated after the long and memorable weekend with Drake. She gave the eager Ida and Janika the G-rated version of the trip then happily went into her office.
The first hour of the day was spent making phone calls to some of the east side block club presidents to remind them of the upcoming Environmental Watch meeting to be held on their side of town at Kettering High School later in the week. In response, she got a few answering machines, a few wrong numbers, and two people who cursed her out for waking them up then hung up on her. Lacy grimaced and decided to work on something else.
That something else turned out to be the arrival of Lenny Durant and a man Lacy didn’t know. Lenny introduced the big block-shaped man with beady eyes and glasses as David Bales.
Lacy gestured them to the empty chairs in her office. “Please, have a seat.”
They sat, and she waited to hear why they’d come.
Lenny started it off. “Bales was part of the crew that dumped the stuff on the southwest side.”
Lacy couldn’t hide her surprise. “Who do you work for?”
“Parker Environmental.”
Her eyes widened. Was this the concrete evidence she’d been after? “Do you have any proof?”
“Yeah,” Bales told her. “Pictures and video.”
Excited, Lacy wanted to shout Hallelujah. “May I see them?”
“Don’t have them on me. Wanted to check you out first. Lenny says you’re the real deal, but I wanted to see for myself.”
Lacy looked at Lenny, who wordlessly acknowledged her thanks. She asked Bales, “What do I need to do to look at what you have?”
“I’ll give it to Lenny and he can pass it to you.”
“Okay, but may I ask why you’re coming forward?”
Lacy saw his jaw tighten before he answered, “My kids go to that school.”
She stared. “Where the barrels were found on the playground?”
“Yeah. Me and the crew I was working with left them there.” He met her eyes. “Parker wanted me to poison my own children!”
It was obvious Bales was outraged. “When I told him I wouldn’t do it, he gave me the choice of doing the job or be fired, so I did a couple more nights last week, just to get the evidence I needed to bust his ass.” Bales was immediately contrite. “Didn’t mean to cuss. Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Lacy assured him. “Do you still work for Mr. Parker?”
“He thinks I do, but I’m not going back. Finding a new job will probably be hard, but I can’t work for him knowing what I know.”
Lacy had nothing but sympathy for him and the choices he’d been forced to make. “When would you be willing to turn over your evidence?”
He shrugged. “Whenever you want, I guess.”
“Would you be willing to testify in court against Parker?”
“Yeah. I want to be there when they drag him off to jail. I have the stuff at my house. I’ll give it to Lenny and he can bring it back to you.”
“Sounds good. Thank you, Mr. Bales.”
“No, thank you,” he replied. “Lenny said turning the pics over to you was the way to go. Parker’s a big man in this town. If I give the evidence to the police, I might not see it again.”
Lacy understood. “Then I’ll wait for Lenny and we’ll go from there.”
Bales nodded and stood. She came out from behind her desk and shook his hand. “Thank you very much for what you’re doing.”
“No problem. I can’t wait to nail his fat behind to the wall.”
She turned to Lenny. “Thanks.”
He shook her outstretched hand. “I’ll be in touch.”
And they left.
Lacy pumped her fist like Tiger Woods and whispered, “Yes!”
To celebrate, she hit the power button on the small CD unit sitting on top of one of the bookcases, then dug out the CD she wanted to hear. Slipping the disk in, she walked back to her desk as the first sweet notes of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On” began to play. Lacy sang along, knowing Marvin would be pleased with what just took place.
Parker was late for the council’s closed door session and was hurrying into the building. When the elevator door opened, he was startled to see one of his employees, David Bales, standing inside waiting to step out. Bales looked equally surprised, and for just a split second Parker swore he saw fear in the man’s eyes as well. The other people stepped out. Parker let them pass then asked Bales, “What are you doing downtown? Shouldn’t you be working?”
“Had some business to take care of. Rats.”
Parker held the edge of the elevator so the door wouldn’t close. He then checked out the man standing with Bales. The face was vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t place him at the moment. “So Bales, are you on board now?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.” He and Bales had gotten into a heated argument over leaving barrels at the school his kids attended. Bales had threatened to quit, but had apparently changed his mind because he was still working as far as Parker knew. “See you at the site.”
“See you.”
Bales walked off with his companion, and Parker got on the elevator. The identity of the companion bugged him, but Parker let it go for now.
Lacy’s office phone rang, but she hesitated before picking it up. In the back of her mind were the threatening calls she’d been receiving, and she was admittedly paranoid.
Ida called out, “I’ll get it, Lace. Hang on.” Janika and Ida were doing their best to catch the phones so she wouldn’t have to, and she was grateful to them for it.
Ida came in a few moments later. “It was His Fineness. He’d like you to come upstairs for a moment.”
“Good, I can tell him the news about the soon-to-be-ex city councilman. Everybody else will have to wait until we get the evidence. Okay?”
“Unde
rstood, now go up and see what he wants.”
Rhonda showed Lacy into Drake’s office. Lacy smiled at Drake, then noticed a man sitting quietly in one of the chairs.
Drake said, “Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Want you to meet Walter McGhee. Gee, this is Lacy Green.”
The man stood, and Lacy walked over and shook his hand. Walter was as tall as Drake and dark-skinned. He looked fit enough to be a wide receiver or a defensive back. Lacy thought he was kind of cute too. “Nice meeting you,” she said.
“Same here.”
Lacy sat down on one of the plush leather chairs, and Drake said, “I’d like for Walter to be your shadow for a while.”
“That’s fine. How much of a shadow?”
Walter answered, “Where you go, I go.”
“That much, huh?”
He smiled, showing even white teeth. “That much.”
“I suppose it doesn’t make sense to have you around if you’re not with me.”
“Exactly.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll have my own gear, sleeping bag, toiletries. I’ll take you to work and bring you home. I’ll bunk wherever you have room.”
“So you’ll be moving in?”
Walter looked to Drake, who told Lacy, “It’s the best way, babe.”
Lacy wasn’t sure how she felt about having a strange man in her apartment, even if he was recommended by Drake, but when she weighed that against the reality of the stalker being out there somewhere, the decision became an easy one. “Do you like French bread?”
The three talked logistics for a few moments longer, then Walter got up and waited outside Drake’s office to give Lacy and the mayor some privacy.
Only then did Lacy tell him about Bales and Lenny Durant.
Drake was pleased by the news. “If he has even one good picture, Parker may have to kiss his license good-bye. A lot of times polluters are simply fined, but for a dumping of this magnitude, be nice if he got prison.”
Black Lace Page 21