“I had to hide in between dumpsters, Tom,” I said evenly. “I crouched in bushes and got to watch you inspect Mia’s tonsils right in front of me.”
“Where are you?” Tom sounded guarded, controlled. He apparently wasn’t too affected by the whole scenario; at least not as much as I was. This made more anger bubble to the surface.
“I said not to bother. I have a ride already,” I squeaked.
“Will you call me after your meeting with Ben?”
How did Tom read me so easily?
“I didn’t say it was Ben who is picking me up.”
“It’s Ben,” he said evenly. “Who else would it be?”
“Oh, whatever.” I saw Ben’s truck at the light and stood up waving.
“Ruby, I only want to be with you. Please remember that.”
The lump in my throat stopped me from answering. I hung up.
Ben pulled up and leaned over to unlock his passenger side door. “You feel like having some coffee?”
“I feel like getting out of here,” I said with irritation.
I got in and we drove to the café we’d been at the night Dakota went missing. It seemed slightly inappropriate, but I let it go. Ben wasn’t smooth, but he was a good guy. We slid into a booth at the back of the room.
“So, what have you been up to since this morning?”
Ben looked out the window. “I’ve been doing some research.”
“I heard, Ben.” I put my hands flat on the table. “Checking up on Tom?”
“He told you?”
“He did,” I said evenly.
He drew a file from underneath his jacket and set it on the table.
My stomach flopped. I didn’t have to open it to know what it was. I tapped my finger on the manila cover and leaned in, my voice a whisper.
“You had no right to pull this, Ben. This is supposed to be sealed. It was expunged from his record.”
Ben’s face registered shock. “You know about this?”
I looked at him, dumbfounded. Even though it lay hidden under my bangs, I ran my finger over my temple feeling for the scar there. Catching myself, I balled my hands in my lap. “Of course I know about this. And you pulling it complicated Tom’s investigation.”
“I can’t believe you know about this.” He leaned back in the booth seat and rubbed his face with both hands. “A kid died, Ruby.”
I didn’t want to do this now. I didn’t have the strength to relive that horrible night. I willed my voice to sound calm. “I know that. I also know it was an accident.”
Ben opened the file. “From what I read, the D.A. wanted to push for manslaughter. There just wasn’t enough evidence. The witness…”
He flipped the first page up to read more, and I saw an upside down picture of Tom in his teens. His bruised face and bloodied shirt made my heart ache.
Shaking, I reached out to touch Ben’s hand, my whisper barely audible above the murmur of the café’s customers. “The witness refused to cooperate and was treated for shock.”
Ben’s hand tensed and his gaze moved from the file to mine.
“How do you know that, Ruby?”
“I was there, Ben. I was the witness.”
“But this happened at a detention center…” He stared, and then his face changed from concern to suspicion. “Y-you were there?”
I nodded.
“What…how?”
“Let it go, Ben. It was a long time ago.”
Ben wrapped his hand around my arm and leaned forward.
“Ruby, this guy has brought nothing but destruction since he got here. What am I supposed to do, just let things fall apart?”
I pulled my arm away, irritated.
“That’s not fair. Tom didn’t do any of the damage. Antonio Llave got one of his boys to do it. It was the Culebra.”
“You’ve known all along who was behind the vandalism, they killed Dakota too.” It was a statement, not a question. Angry, he closed the file abruptly.
“Ben—”
“Does Tom know who did it?”
I nodded.
Ben’s expression hardened.
“I was afraid you’d go after him, Ben. He’s a dangerous guy. Antonio is with the Culebra street gang.”
Ben looked at me like I was a stranger. When he spoke, it was with bitterness. “I thought I was doing you a favor, Ruby, letting you know what you were getting into. But apparently you already know what kind of guy Tom is and don’t care.”
“He isn’t like that,” I argued and pushed the file away. “He…you don’t know the whole story.”
“Then enlighten me, Ruby. Explain how this kid, this killer, can turn into your white knight.”
“He’s not my white knight, Ben.”
“Then tell me you’re not in love with him.”
I hesitated, and then looked out the window. “I…I can’t.”
Ben picked up the file and waved it. “I don’t know how you can justify what he did, Ruby. I don’t know how you can want to be with him.”
“Just because I have these old feelings for him resurfacing doesn’t mean I’m going to throw myself back into a relationship with him,” I spat. Guilt for leading Ben on and giving in to Tom’s magnetism burned in my gut.
“You love him, but you don’t want to be with him.” Ben looked at me with suspicion. “Explain that one.”
“Tom and I obviously have a complicated history,” I said quietly, fighting for control.
Ben’s gold-flecked eyes darkened. He waved the file at me again. “Explain how something like this doesn’t make you run the other direction.”
“You don’t understand what it was like, Ben.” My voiced hitched.
Ben leaned forward and grasped my hands in his. “Tell me, Ruby. What happened that night?”
There was no way I would talk about that. Not here, not anywhere. Ben wouldn’t understand.
“Fine.” Ben got up from the table, grabbed the file, and stalked out the front door. He never looked back. He just drove away, from me and the mess that was left of my life.
28
Tom
Tom leaned back in the office chair and put his feet up on the wood desk. He thought about Ruby and chewed the inside of his cheek, brooding. He needed to talk to her. The look on her face when he kissed Mia tore at him. This was hurting her. All of this. Tom rubbed his temples, pushing back the pounding in his head. He’d finally found her. Miraculously, she wanted him back, but this operation could ruin their chances. Tom wouldn’t let that happen again, not this time. He’d fight for them.
An angry question tore Tom back to the room. Jason Peterson paced back and forth yelling at his sister, Mia. Tom, supposedly her new boyfriend, said nothing. You don’t interfere with family problems. He’d learned that early on in his undercover career.
Jason continued his tirade. “You better not be behind this, Mia. If you have a problem, if you need money to pay off your gambling debts, you come to me. You don’t sell drugs out of my club, behind my back.”
She shot a look of worry in Tom’s direction, but he just smiled at her serenely and winked. He couldn’t let her know he was concerned. Jason was a lunatic. Tom had seen him beat a member of his own crew down over a few broken bottles of scotch. He used the broken bottles.
“I-I didn’t know about any of this,” Mia whined. “Tom, you tell him. We’re all about the new clubs in Arizona, setting them up. I don’t have any reason to sell out of Flow. It’ll bring down heat.”
Tom nodded his agreement. “Yeah, Jason, why would we move dime bags out the back if we’re trying to get real weight out to my clubs in Arizona? That’s counter-productive, man.” Tom grinned at Jason. “Speaking of which…”
Jason nodded, his eyes narrowed. “I’m working on it.”
“I’m just sayin’,” Tom countered. “We got bachelor party season gearing up, and I need to compete. I have to have the whole package to offer, you know what I mean? Girls, booze, and party favors, all of it. I
need you to come through with those, Jason.”
Jason waved his hand dismissively and glared at Mia, distracted. “You’ll get your ‘party favors’, Tom.”
Tom scanned the bank of surveillance cameras behind Jason. None of them were in the hall leading to the bathroom area, which is where most dealers did business. He looked at Jason, curious. “Hey, how did you hear about the drugs going out of your club anyway? I mean, I gotta watch out for that kinda stuff myself.”
Jason’s arms flopped at his sides. “I found a bunch of those little empty plastic baggies out in the stairwell, like they fell out of the idiot’s pocket.”
Tom suppressed a smile. He’d planted the bags there himself to add to the pressure on Jason. The more problems Tom created for Jason, the likelier a big sale happened, quickly.
“Definitely sounds like a street thug,” Tom said to Jason. “Do you think the cops are onto it?”
“If the cops know about this we have a big problem,” Jason said and nodded. “I haven’t heard anything so far, but yeah, they’ll act on the information if they think it’s good.”
“So do you have any idea who it is?” Mia asked her brother. “Who would be dumb enough to sell drugs out of your club?”
Jason stopped pacing and buried his hands in his slacks pockets looking genuinely confused.
Born to privilege, he owned several high end clubs around the city. Tom knew that Flow was one of them. How many more Jason owned under shell companies was one of the questions he and the DEA wanted to answer. That, and who his supplier was.
Jason hooked a thumb at the door. “All I know is I have real product, kilos, which could be in jeopardy because some street level loser wants to make some quick cash. Narcotics squad could be watching us as we speak.”
As far as Tom knew, no one was selling anything out of the back. He just wanted to Jason to believe someone was. Jason’s paranoia bordered on the crazy. Tom used that to move up the sale timeline. Jason being nervous meant he’d make mistakes.
Tom let his feet drop to the floor and stood up, stretching. He tossed a Styrofoam cup of coffee in the trash can and shrugged. “You have no other suspicions, besides Mia?”
Jason narrowed his eyes and then reached into the top drawer of his desk. He pulled out a sheet of paper and held it out to Tom. “I have an idea.”
Tom looked at it but didn’t move. “Can’t you just tell me?”
Annoyance crossed Jason’s face. “No, I can’t just tell you, Tom. It’s a picture.”
Tom’s cover, a business man with family money and a taste for meth, came as part of a plea deal between Mia and the Attorney General. Supposedly a trust fund baby, Tom didn’t jump when given an order. Instead, he sauntered over to Jason and took the picture with a bored look on his face.
Mia, in exchange for a deal, both vouched for Tom and fed him information on her brother’s business deal. The problem was, as Jason’s little sister, she didn’t actually know very much. Jason expected Mia to be obedient window dressing, nothing more.
Tom looked at the photo. It was a surveillance photo from the front door camera. The large Samoan bouncer stood at the velvet rope letting customers in. The photo showed him dropping something in a woman’s purse. He’d seen the bouncer do this the other night. He was dropping a pass to a competing club into her purse, not drugs.
Still, Jason’s wrong guess served his purpose, so Tom shook his head with feigned disgust. “He’s probably taking bribes to get in, too.”
Jason’s eyebrows rose. “You know, you might be right. I’ll have Mia stand by the door tonight to watch who he lets in.”
Tom nodded and held the paper over Jason’s desk. As the paper fell, Tom let a quick dissolving pill drop out of his palm and into Jason’s coffee cup. A glance at Mia showed she hadn’t seen it. The tiny pill case, attached to an elastic string sewn into Tom’s sleeve, retracted when he let it go. An old magician’s trick, Tom smiled remembering the carnival with Ruby.
“You gonna drink this?” Tom asked and picked up Jason’s coffee to cover the fizzing.
An old trick, Jason fell for it and took back his drink. “Yes, I’m gonna drink it.”
He gulped it down to keep it from Tom who shrugged. The stimulant would keep Jason on edge, just enough for him to not be able to think quite as clearly. The more Jason felt out of control, the more influence Tom could have over him to do the big money deal as soon as possible. Not exactly regulation, but effective.
Tom’s thoughts went to Ruby again. He hated the risk she was taking by going after that paperwork. If she wasn’t so angry at him for kissing Mia, he might have been able to talk her into waiting. Tom ground his jaw.
Ruby’s hold on him defied time and logic. He ached for her. Hated being away from her. Ruby’s terrified face flashed out from a long ago memory. Tom shook his head and fought to control his fear for her. He’d almost lost her back then.
Jason’s voice pulled him back from his worrying.
“I’m telling you,” Jason breathed and loosened his tie. His face was flushed. “I’m worried that we’ll run into trouble. My supplier is making noise about an investigation. He says there’s DEA all over these streets.”
“So, he’s local?” Tom asked and crossed his arms thoughtfully, his attention perked.
“Yeah, but he’s leaving me hanging,” Jason said and wiped his brow with his sleeve. “I mean, I got a million things happening all at once, you know? And now this dealer working out of my club…I tell you, when I catch the guy—”
“If you’re right about the bouncer selling out of your club, then the police will do a raid,” Tom interrupted. “You can’t afford that.”
Jason nodded and shot Mia a look. He sat down in his office chair and muttered while unbuttoning his shirt. “We need to check it out.”
Tom went over to look out of the second floor window of the club. He saw a guy standing against the sign post across the street. One of Tom’s paid informers, the guy kept pacing back and forth in front of the pole like he needed to pee. Someone would notice him soon. Tom ground his jaw, thinking of a way to get out of the meeting.
Jason’s voice behind him sounded angry, on edge. “If this guy brings down the local police on me, I’ll kill him myself.”
Tom’s stomach tightened. The guy outside, the informer, was actually looking up at the window. It amazed Tom that none of Jason’s guys had gone to talk to the guy yet. Tom had to get out there. Sounding bored, he turned to Jason and shrugged lazily.
“You want me to take care of it, Jason?” Tom asked and shrugged, barely interested. “I mean I can ask around. If we stop this bouncer, then maybe your supplier will hurry up with my stuff.”
Jason’s forehead, moist with sweat from the amphetamines, wrinkled with surprise. “Yah, would you?”
Tom nodded once and then checked his watch conspicuously.
“I gotta go,” Tom said. Then to Mia, “Pick you up later?”
She went to nod, but Jason put his hand up. His face was angry again. “No, tonight Mia watches the door, like you suggested.”
“Yeah, OK. I’ll look into this bouncer dude,” Tom said and smiled. He hadn’t suggested she watch the door, actually.
“You solve this problem for me, and I bet I can get that meeting for you,” Jason said suddenly.
Trying to get a meet with Jason’s supplier for months, Tom smiled, relieved. “Consider the problem solved.”
“Just make it quick!” Jason yelled suddenly angry. “I have a lot more riding on this guy than your order. I’ve got big things happening, you understand?”
Jason’s temper, usually under control, turned mercurial this past week. It wasn’t just the drugs Tom was slipping him. Jason was folding under the pressure of this level of play. Fancy clothes and money didn’t make up for Jason’s general murderous personality. Something would unravel. He watched Jason’s face change from anger, to barely controlled trembling. This guy would crack soon, Tom decided.
�
�No problem, Jason. I’ll take care of it.” Tom said and grinned.
Jason smiled back, a bit maniacally. “Good.”
Tom shot Mia a look to be cool and she nodded imperceptibly.
“I’ll be back,” Tom said.
Tom walked out of the office, down the back stairs and around to the front of Flow. The informant, now practically dancing across the street from Jason’s window, saw him and stopped moving. Tom pointed straight ahead and walked, head down, along the sidewalk a few blocks until he got to the alley. The informant, a homeless guy named Chuy, shuffled into the alley a few minutes later.
Tom turned and faced him frustrated. “Chuy, what are you doing, man? You might as well hold up a big sign that says, Tom is a cop!”
Chuy flinched at the sound of Tom’s voice.
Feeling like a jerk, Tom put his hands up in surrender and shrugged. “What’s going on, Chuy? You have something for me?”
“Worth a lot,” Chuy mumbled. “This is worth a lot.”
Tom nodded and reached in his pocket. “Tell me first, and then we’ll see.”
Chuy batted at imaginary flies and cursed at them. He uttered a few words in a language Tom knew to be non-existent, and then his eyes found Tom again. He jumped, like he hadn’t seen Tom there before.
“What do you want?” Chuy yelled at Tom.
Tom sighed. He felt really bad for the guy. The tattoo on his forearm was Special Forces.
“You said you had some information,” Tom reminded him. “You said its worth a lot.”
Chuy snapped his fingers and laughed with a hacking cackle. “Oh yeah,” he said with excitement. “You know the house, the safe place?”
Tom shook his head. “What house?”
“The one that’s safe for the girls and the moms with the kids.”
Tom thought for a second and then understood. “You mean the women’s shelter, Haven Home? Is that what you’re talking about?”
Chuy snapped his fingers again and pointed to Tom, nodding. “That’s it. The shelter.”
Tom’s heart jumped in his chest. “What’s going down, Chuy?” His pulse paced up as he peeled two twenties off a roll of bills.
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