The Usher

by Will Pettijohn

  “And I’ve missed you, my wonderful husband. Tell me … what has happened that you’re now retired, Colt?”

  “There are no more bosses now, and I don’t have to do it anymore.”

  “Oh no! Colt … did you?”

  “Oh, of course not, Emily. I wouldn’t ever do anything like that. I didn’t have to, though. Someone else did. Someone who was a very power-hungry idiot did it.”

  “So you’re free now?”

  “Yes, my love … I am finally free from that life. We … are free now. I don’t have to worry about any of that anymore. I can live a normal life now.”

  “Oh wow, honey. I am so glad that you’ll be here to change the lightbulbs, take out the trash, and mow the lawn. Ha.”

  “Ha, ha, ha, did I say I was retired? I meant that I was retarded, not retired.” The two of them laughed as he moved his hands up to her, placing them around her chest, hugging her now. They were happy, and it was finally over for them. Emily had stood by him and helped him try to live a semi-normal life through all of the torment he had had to endure over the years. Now they would be rewarded with a normal life.

  Chapter 31

  Rick and T-Bone made their way back to Dallas late Thursday evening and called it a night. “I’ll pick ya up in the morning and we’ll tell Captain Dickie what Young did for us,” Rick said as he pulled up in front of T-Bone’s apartment building and stopped. T-Bone nodded and opened the door. “Okay, Bubba. See ya in the morning. But I do have a question, and it’s been bugging me since we left.”

  “What’s that, T?”

  “I wonder why Young spilled his guts to us. I mean, after that entire bullshit that he’d been through and the things that he did to make that guy Marcell pay. Still saying that he was innocent, just to break down and tell us that he wanted us to know. I don’t believe Young confessed again just to ask for a few things he wasn’t getting in prison. It just doesn’t make any sense to me, man.”

  “I thought that he’d given us way too much way too quickly as well, Bubba. But you never know what goes on in a mind like his. He may have been so struck with cell fever that he is beginning to have a nervous breakdown. A little while in jail would do it to me, for sure.”

  “Well, according to Young, he didn’t have it very good in there. He bitched about the shower, the gym, and not having anything to do. Maybe he wanted us to get him all the things that he didn’t have in there. Maybe he is going stir crazy. But I am worried that he gave it all up so quick.”

  “I think Young figured that we had everything we needed to prosecute him and he decided to try to play the game a little bit more and get some things that he wanted out of it too. When we left the room, we acted like we didn’t care if he talked or not. That may have made him believe that we had all we needed. I asked him about the girl, and that made him begin to think.”

  “So why didn’t you open the phone records and let him think that all the highlighted marks were phone calls, like you originally planned?”

  “’Cause I didn’t think about the idea that Young hadn’t made any calls to the Bennigan residence. If he hadn’t, he would have assumed that we were calling his bluff and trying to trick him. That would have pissed him off for sure. And because I forgot to highlight any calls—ha, ha! He would have just seen the phone record and no marks on it. It would have made us look stupid. I think it had more of an effect on him than opening it and letting him see what was there, in the end.”

  “Maybe you’re right. Maybe he thought we didn’t want him to see what was there. That probably made him wonder what was there more than he could handle. But he never asked again. That’s what has me all messed up about it, Bubba.”

  “We may never understand what goes on in a mind like Young’s … why he gave us all the details and told us about the girl and what he had to do. Young didn’t act like a trained FBI agent today. He acted like a scared criminal who needed help and decided to feed us enough information to help him get what he wanted.”

  “That’s right … I can’t imagine him breaking down like that unless that’s what he wanted us to think he was doing,” T-Bone said. Then he stood up out of the car and said, “I’ll see ya in the morning, Bubba.” Rick nodded and then drove away after T-Bone had closed the door.

  The next morning Rick picked up T-Bone, and the two made their way to the precinct where they would explain all that had happened to Dickie. They parked in the garage and made their way up the elevator and then to the captain’s office. Rick and T-Bone were excited about the information they had discovered, and they knew Dickie would be happy as well. They walked over to Dickie’s office and knocked on the door. Dickie looked up and frowned at them. He put his pen down on the table and leaned back in his chair.

  They walked in and sat down. They both looked at Dickie and then at each other. “What’s up, Cap?” Rick asked.

  “I just got a call from the warden at the Beaumont federal prison. I was on the phone with him for almost forty-five minutes this morning.” He leaned his elbows on his desk, raised his hands to his head, and then began rubbing his temples.

  “What about it, Captain?” Rick asked. Rick could tell Dickie was stressed and wasn’t happy about the conversation he and the warden had had.

  “He asked me if I thought you two were helping Young,” he started to explain, but he was interrupted by his office phone ringing. He placed one finger in the air and answered his phone with his other hand. “Captain,” he answered. The conversation was tense, to say the least. Dickie began to swell up as he listened to the voice screaming on the other end of the line. The detectives could hear fragments of the voice from four feet away, but couldn’t make out the words.

  “Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor. I spoke with the warden this morning as well,” he explained. Rick and T-Bone were uneasy now as they could hear the voice of the mayor yelling into the phone. “Yes, sir … I am fixing to tell them what we talked about. They both just walked in my office.” Dickie looked at the detectives and then down at his desk. The voice continued to scream, and even though it was muffled, the two detectives could tell that it was a bad day to be Captain Dickie.

  “Okay … I’ll tell them …” The phone went silent, but Dickie acted as if the mayor were still there. “Okay, Mr. Mayor, you have a nice day. You too, sir … Thanks,” he pretended, and then hung up his phone. “I want to know what the hell happened at that fucking prison yesterday, boys!” he shouted.

  Rick stood and closed the door. He sat back down in the chair and explained, “A breakthrough happened, sir. Young confessed to everything. I was right about the girl and about Archer helping him.”

  Captain Dickie stood up as well, and his face turned red. His blood pressure was through the roof, and it was evident that he was furious. “It wasn’t a fucking breakthrough, and it was a fucking breakout!”

  Rick was stunned. He thought he’d heard the captain right, but he looked at him with a puzzled look on his face. “Did you say breakout, sir?”

  “You’re goddammed right that’s what I said.”

  “But he was in cuffs and shackles when we were there the whole time, Captain. How could he have broken out?”

  “The warden told me that you guys left and he was taken back to his cell in solitary confinement. When they checked on him at ten last night, he was gone and so was the guy in the cell next to him. I want to know everything that was done and said at that fucking prison yesterday!” Dickie began pacing the floor behind his desk.

  “Well, we went through security. We were placed in a waiting room until they had Young ready for us, and then they let us into the interview room. We walked in and sat at the table and began talking to him.”

  “The warden said that y’all had left the room for a while, told the guard not to take him back to his cell, and then went back in. Is that true?”

  “Oh … yes, si
r. I wanted Young to think that we didn’t need his information, and my tactics worked.”

  “What the hell did he think you were there for if you didn’t want his information?”

  Rick hated to be scolded, but kept his composure as best he could while explaining. “Umm … I thought when he saw the envelope, he’d assume that we had something in there that would seal the deal, but I never opened it. He asked what was in it and I told him that wasn’t his concern. When we came back in the room, he said he would tell us everything and he wanted some things in return. You can watch the video of the interview, I’m sure the prison records all visitors with inmates. I have the taped confession from yesterday as well.”

  “I asked the warden about that, and he said that someone had stolen the security tape from the security office. Did you say anything else to Young … anything that might incriminate either or both of you?”

  “No, sir … It’s all on this audiotape here that I brought for you to listen to,” Rick explained as he pulled it from his coat pocket and placed it on the table.

  “Well, let’s hear it then,” Dickie ordered. The three of them listened to the audio of the whole interview and then Rick pushed the “stop” button on the small recorder. “See, Cap, there’s nothing there that helps him to escape. It’s all by the book, and now I’m really glad I have it.”

  “What about when you guys left the room? Why did you stop the recording then, if you knew that you were going to go back in?”

  “Well, I wanted Young to think I was being real when we left, and if I had left the recorder on, he may have assumed it was a trick.”

  “Okay. Well, the warden thinks that you two had something to do with Young’s escape, and the mayor is asking that you two be placed on paid suspension until an investigation is conducted. I’ll need both of your badges and your weapons until this is over.” He sat in his chair.

  “Captain! We haven’t done anything wrong. We went and interviewed a prisoner who just happened to escape after we left. But nothing was ever said from Young or us about an escape. I don’t understand why we’re being punished for something that we had nothing to do with. Besides, Captain, if Young has escaped, then we need to get out there and look for him. He’s going to go after Marcell.”

  Dickie looked puzzled for a moment and asked, “Who is Marcell?”

  “Leonard Marcell … Remember…? He’s the guy Young tried to pin the Bennigan murders on. He still hated him yesterday when we talked to him. He wants that man to pay, and he wants him to pay with his life. What about that guy, Captain Dickie? We all know how crazy Young is, and he’ll kill this poor guy if we don’t help him or at least warn him that Young is coming. Besides, Young is still delusional. He claims that this guy Marcell is a hit man for the Mafia. Young is not a well individual, and now he’s out on the streets again?”

  “Young is still on the run, and no one has been able to find him yet. The warden assumes that he has taken the guy in the cell next to him captive and will use that to his advantage. He also says he’ll probably head straight for Mexico and never be seen again if they can’t find him. They are focusing most of their resources on looking for him on the path to Mexico. But whether he’s right or wrong, you two aren’t going anywhere around this case anymore. You’re officially suspended until I can get to the bottom of this, and then I’ll let you know that you’re back in service.”

  “Cap, I think this is bullshit!” Rick said as he and T-Bone began removing their weapons and badges. “We know this case and we know Young. We need to be helping out on this. He is one crazy bastard, and he’ll go after Marcell unless we stop him.”

  “It’s out of my hands, Detectives. You’re on paid suspension as of right now. You want to go with unpaid suspension and perhaps even charges pending?” Dickie said as he reached out his hand. Rick and T-Bone placed their credentials as well as their guns on the captain’s desk.

  “So what are we supposed to do, Captain?” Rick asked.

  “Go home and try to relax until you hear from me. When we find him and sort this shit out, I’ll let you guys know.” Dickie shook hands with both of them. The two detectives made their way out of the office and down to the parking garage. They noticed someone leaning on a Crown Victoria parked next to theirs. As they got closer, Rick could see that it was Archer, and his nerves began to tingle. Rick and T-Bone both knew that Archer was dirty now and maybe even involved with Young’s escape. “Hey, Archer, what’s up?”

  “I got a call from my supervisor this morning. He said that Young had escaped and may have taken a hostage. This just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?”

  “Yeah and the shitty part of this whole mess is, T and I went and interviewed Young at the prison yesterday, and now we’re suspended until an investigation,” Rick replied.

  “What? Why would they suspend you guys?”

  “The warden at the prison thinks we had something to do with Young’s escape.”

  “Ha ha ha ha … Did you?” Archer laughed and then regained his composure.

  “Fuck no! I would like to see Young’s hair smoking in an electric chair for what he has done. I wouldn’t even piss on him if he was on fire.”

  “I think I know what Young will try to do, Detectives. I believe he’ll go after Leonard Marcell. Young hates that guy with a passion. I can’t understand why he won’t just let go.”

  “That’s what we told the captain. Young told us yesterday that he still hates that guy. I believe you’re right, and that he’ll kill him unless we can stop him.”

  “So what did you have in mind, Rick?”

  “Nothing. We’re suspended and can’t do anything. But the warden thinks that Young has kidnapped someone else and is headed for Mexico. I wish we could catch that fucker again and then just …” Rick cautioned himself, as he wanted to say the words “kill him.” But he wasn’t sure about Archer’s intentions and how deep his take was in all of this mess.

  “Well, I’m gonna go and check out Marcell and see if I can spot Young. If I can find him, I’ll let ya know. He’s a crazy man. He’ll tell anyone anything to help himself, and Young is set on getting Marcell. What else did Young say yesterday, Wise?”

  Rick knew better than to mention anything that Young had said about him being dirty and now probably picking up where Young left off suddenly … “He was mostly talking about the girl he killed and why he regretted killing her. But other than that … he just talked about how he killed the Bennigan family and why he wanted to pin it on Leonard Marcell. Hell, Young thinks Marcell is a hit man for the Mafia. Isn’t that the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard?”

  “Ha ha … Yeah … That’s pretty crazy. I told you Young would say anything he could to help himself. I’ll keep you guys posted on the case. Even though you can’t go with me, it doesn’t mean you have to be out of the loop.”

  “Okay. You have my cell number. If you need anything, let me know.” Rick shook Archer’s hand and they went their separate ways. Rick and T were exiting the parking garage when T asked, “Is that guy fucking creepy or is it just me? Archer’s a bad man, and he knows too much about our investigation. Hell, he even knew we were going to be in the parking garage and was leaning on our car when we got there. That’s just creepy.”

  “No, it’s not just you. He’s a scary fucker. I think he knows where Young is. I think someone in our department is working for him, and I think Young is right about him playing a game. But he is certainly going to be harder to catch than Young was.”

  “What do you mean, Rick?”

  “Well, I think the only reason we caught Young was because Archer helped us. Young won’t be here to help us catch Archer, so we’re on our own now.”

  “Remember when Young was captured and Archer had the FBI there? Archer was still acting weird after Young was taken away. It’s like his cheese has slid off his
cracker. I think Archer was afraid of what Young would tell the FBI about him, Archer.”

  “Ha. Yeah, I remember wondering whose side he was on in that room that day. Young had the stage though, and when Archer had the FBI tackle him when we walked out, I was confused. I remember wondering why they weren’t tackling Archer too. But he’s a smart guy, that’s for sure. We’ll just have to be smarter than he is and be extra careful.” Rick exited the parking garage and walked out to the street.

  The suspended detectives made their way through town and then pulled up to T-Bone’s apartment. Rick stuck his hand out and said, “Well, Bubba, looks like we’re on vacation for a while. You gonna be all right, man?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine. My girl is gonna like the fact that I’m getting paid and can be at home with her all the time. But I bet ya a dollar she’ll be ready for me to get back to work when they call us. I’m going to catch up on a whole lot of sex! I’m gonna beat the stuffing out of that pussy, every day. She always bitches because I don’t give it to her enough. I bet by the time I go back to work, she’ll be glad I don’t have too much energy while I’m working.”

  “Ha ha. Well, enjoy your time off, Bubba. Don’t go having a baby on me. You’re too old.”

  “Who the hell are you calling old? You’re old enough to have gone to grade school with Jesus Christ. Ha ha!”

  “And that’s why I don’t have a girlfriend, T. After they realize that you’re a good guy, they want a baby. It would be different if they got a dog and were happy with that, but NO … They all want curtain climbers. I’ll be seeing ya, Bubba.”

  “Ha ha,” T-Bone said, and closed the door. He leaned down and looked through the window. Rick pressed the button and rolled it down. T said, “You need to find you a good girl and settle down, Rick. You ain’t getting any younger, and you don’t take very good care of yourself either, man. A good girl in your life would change you and probably make you do better at your job.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”