by K. M. Hodge
***
Danville Press
Danville, Virginia
June 8, 2008
4:00 PM
~~~
Jason drove straight through to the paper in Virginia. His assistant Editor-in-Chief had been calling for days, but he’d ignored all the calls, letting them go to voicemail. He believed in his staff’s ability to function without him. When he arrived at the paper that afternoon, he was pleased to see they had done well in his absence.
The news that awaited him, though, took his breath away. The front page of the paper that day read:
Local editor from the Danville Press was pushed in front a Metro train.
His chest tightened and his breathing became labored to the point that he had to sit down. He thought back to the last time he had seen Sara. What had been her role in all of this, and did this happen because she had warned him? So distraught by all that happened, he hadn’t noticed someone standing in the door frame of his office until he heard a sharp knock on the already open door.
“Can I come in?” a hesitant, but familiar, voice asked.
Jason looked up from the police report and the articles to see a familiar face. “Charles?”
He stood and rushed the man, pinning him hard against the door. He could kill him for what happened to Katherine.
Charles did nothing to stop him. As Jason’s forearm dug into the asshole’s throat, constricting his breathing, he turned red and then purple.
Right before Charles passed out, Jason let him go. He was no murderer. “You aren’t even worth the effort to kill you.”
Charles’ hand went up to his neck as he struggled to force air back into his lungs. “You....” He struggled to take in air. “You have every right to want to kill me.” He sat down in the chair on the other side of the desk. “I fucked up. I know that.”
Jason folded his arms across his chest in an effort to keep himself from attacking the scumbag again. He was afraid that next time he might not be able to show any mercy.
The man’s eyes filled with self-loathing. “I wish you would kill me. I’m too chicken shit to kill myself.”
Jason attempted to keep his breathing tempered and his mind clear. “What do you want?”
Charles’ face sunk. “Is she safe?”
In all the years Jason had known him, he’d never seen Charles this upset before.
“She’s with her partner. They—”
Charles held up his hand to interrupt him. “I know, I heard.” His face twisted in agony. “Is she going to be okay?”
Jason slumped down into his office chair—too tired for this. “That’s kind of a loaded question. Is she alive? Yes. Are the physical wounds healing? Yes. Will she ever heal mentally? Emotionally? I don’t know.”
Charles’ body rocked back and forth. “I never, ever wanted anything like that to happen to her, you have to believe me.”
Jason shook his head. “Bullshit! You almost killed her, I don’t know how many times. How does what you did not come out the same in the wash as what that animal you left her with did to her?”
“How dare you!” Charles’ voice grew louder. “I love her.”
Jason shook his head. “You have a pretty shitty way of showing it.”
Charles clenched and unclenched his fists.
“I didn’t come here to fight with you.”
Jason pushed back his chair and started to pace. “Why are you here?”
The once-mighty man looked up at him with a look of desperation. “I want to turn myself in, but I need your help.”
Jason stood dumbfounded for a moment. “Um... okay, what do you want from me? Why don’t you just go to the police or the FBI?”
“I need your help in getting in touch with the right people. I don’t know if you know, but there are people in the FBI that are dirty when it comes to this investigation. I need to get to Katherine’s boss, the man you’ve been working with—Richards.”
Jason’s eyes shot up to meet Charles’. He hadn’t seen this coming, not in a million years.
Chapter 15
Brian Williams Estate
Hinsdale, Illinois
June 8, 2008
4:00 PM
~~~
Katherine stooped over a row of cherry tomatoes, eating more than she was picking. Each one exploded in her mouth with a rich, tangy flavor she couldn’t get enough of. It was the perfect distraction from the constant pain and panic attacks she had been experiencing all day. Recovery was a long and painful process, she knew, but knowing this didn’t ease her discomfort in any way. Finding joy in the simple things seemed to be the best way to go.
Betty elbowed her in the side. “Save some for the salad.”
She smiled at the older woman, embarrassed. “Sorry.”
The lines around the woman’s eyes softened and she smiled back. “Your hair really is quite lovely red. I’m glad we dyed it back.”
Katherine touched the soft ends of her newly washed and dyed hair. “Me too.” She tucked a lock of it behind her ear before stooping back down to pick away at the weeds.
The other woman had been tickled pink when Katherine started making suggestions about the gardening, pulling on her knowledge from her days at the nursery. They had spent half the day toiling under the hot sun, talking about natural insecticides and plant food.
Betty popped a tomato into her mouth and stretched her back. “It is such a beautiful day to be out in the garden.”
Katherine squinted and took in the sight before her. There was something to be said about getting ones hands dirty and putting sweat equity into a project.
Alex, who had been watching the Tigers and Indians game, stepped outside for a smoke. He quickly lit his cigarette and wandered over to the garden where the women were working.
She could feel the heat of his gaze, and wondered if he liked the red hair? She looked up from the vegetable rows and was taken aback by the look in his eyes.
I guess he does like it.
He smiled and raised his hand in greeting as she tucked away a shy smile and waved back.
Betty looked up and caught the wordless exchange between the two young people. “Alex, blow that smoke over here, will you, dear?”
Alex chucked. “Oh no, I made a promise not to let you anywhere near this.”
He put out his half-smoked cigarette, making Betty groan in protest. Before he went back inside, he paused for a second at the patio door, catching Katherine’s eye one more time.
As the door closed, Katherine let out a breath and smiled to herself.
“He’s a good man. Not bad on the eyes, either,” Betty said.
Katherine chose not to take the bait. “Oh, you think so?”
The coy old woman straightened her back and looked down at Katherine. “Yes! I would assume you would too!”
Katherine looked up at her and broke into a fit of laughter. She was rewarded by a sharp swat to her side.
“Oh, you!” After a moment of silence, Betty continued. “You know he likes you? A lot.”
Katherine bit her lip and paused. She had never been open to talking about her personal life. “I know. I like him a lot, too.”
The other woman clasped her hands together at her heart. “Oh, good.”
“How long have you known him?”
Betty stood up to stretch her back again and wipe away the sweat from her brow. “We’ve known Alex for quite some time now. We met through a friend of mine. We were still living in D.C. and he had just gone on furlough after a long time in the Middle East.
“An art therapist friend of mine showed me one of her client’s work, which she thought I might be interested in exhibiting in one of my shows. It was Alex’s. He’s a really talented artist. He had some beautiful sketches of the city and the people in his neighborhood, but the ones that most impressed me were drawings of a Middle Eastern woman. They were so dark and moving that I just fell in love with them. I just had to meet the artist.” A faint nostalgic smile tugged at
the corners of her mouth.
“When I met Alex, I fell in love with him too. He’s such a sweet, sensitive man. Brian and I sort of adopted him. We tend to do that sort of thing. He had no family to speak of and was kind of a mess back then, and needed to be tended to, much like this overgrown garden.”
“I had no idea.” Katherine tugged some weeds up by the roots as she thought over all this new information.
***
Alex and Brian stretched out on two separate but matching La-Z-Boy chairs, watching the Tigers cream the Indians. Only one beer remained of the six-pack Brian had stored in the mini fridge between the chairs. For the first time in a long time, Alex began to relax. It had always been this way when he visited with the older couple. They were the closest thing he had to parents, even though they were only fifteen years his senior.
A commercial break came on at the bottom of the sixth inning, during which Alex took a long sip of his beer and turned to Brian. “Your wife is working hard on her cupid campaign. She already has Katherine and me getting married and making babies.”
The older man grinned, his pale blue eyes bracketed with fine lines. “She is a force to be reckoned with. I didn’t stand a chance, and neither do you.”
Alex took a long drink from his beer. “Am I crazy if I think I might want all that, too?”
The other man just smiled and shook his head in a knowing way. “Yeah, you don’t stand a chance.”
From inside his pocket his phone rang with Doc’s ring tone. “Sorry, I have to take this.”
He quickly put the footrest down and answered the call. “Hey, Doc, I’m sorry. I know I was supposed to call you today.”
He grabbed his beer and went out to the front porch to talk. It was comforting to hear Doc rant into his ear about how she was worried—Chris, too.
“Doc, I’m doing okay. I’m taking my medication. I’m staying away from the computer and the TV. Well, except for the baseball game I was just watching.” He laughed a little. “Baseball isn’t going to mess with my sobriety, though.”
Doc sighed in his ear. “I just don’t want you to get hurt in all this.”
He nodded, even though she couldn’t see him, which made him smile. “I appreciate your concern. How are you feeling? How’s Chris? How long is he on leave for again?”
They soon fell into normal conversation about everyday things. He wasn’t ready to tell Doc he was in love with Katherine and wanted to have a real relationship with her, a real life. Her blessing was important to him, and he worried she wouldn’t approve... yet.
***
CJ’s Biker Bar
Off I-70
June 8, 2008
8:00 PM
~~~
Jason sat with Charles at a corner table, drinking scotch. The bar was far enough out of the way that they wouldn’t run into anyone they knew, and it seemed like as safe a place as any to have a clandestine meeting.
Charles unabashedly told Jason everything about how he was recruited, what roles he played in the organization, and the laws he broke in the process. He was very clear about laying out how everything was tied to certain people within the FBI, who were obstructing justice in exchange for large sums of money or were being blackmailed into compliance.
Apparently, Charles had been collecting information for months as a means to protect himself, but now he was going to use this knowledge to protect Katherine and bring The Syndicate down. He had papers and recordings that implicated Senator Mitchel in some of the illegal dealings. The most damning of all was proof that Senator Mitchel had hired the hit man who shot Katherine in March.
Jason took careful notes, recording every detail. He asked all the right questions so that, in the end, they had compiled a report that would piss off a lot of people. For the first time since they had known each other, they were working together for a singular purpose—make the men involved pay for what they had done.
Charles paused to take a long drink of his scotch, and continued. “There’s more.”
Jason looked up from his notes, not so sure he wanted to know anymore. “What?”
Charles took a deep breath. “The Syndicate had Sara under their thumb. She was being blackmailed into being a sort of double spy. They used her to get information they suspected was in your possession. I don’t know if you know this or not, but she worked for the CIA with Alex. I think they might have been lovers.”
Charles gulped down the last of his scotch. “I was ordered by them to kill her. I’m the one who pushed her off the train platform.”
Before Charles could say more, Jason took a long gulp of his scotch, letting the burning liquid sting his throat and chest. His head spun and his stomach turned. Everything in his body told him to run, but he stayed still.
Charles wet his lips with a quick sweep of his tongue. His voice had begun to tremble. “Scott thought she was going to talk, and turn in the two of us in exchange for immunity. There were some extremely incriminating photographs that linked the dear Senator and I to known individuals in the conspiracy—not a smoking gun, but enough that the prosecution could have gone forward with it, gotten warrants and what not. It gave her a big upper hand, which made her a giant fucking target. Dumb bitch never should have let those pictures see the light of day. The Syndicate intercepted a call between her and a CIA handler. She had to come out of the shadows to turn herself in, and that’s when I was to remove the threat... or be thrown to the wolves myself.”
Jason’s fist clenched together, snapping his pencil in two. “You son of a bitch! You murdered her?” He spoke in a hushed whisper, looking around to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. He had always known Charles was an ass, but he had never thought him capable of murder.
Charles held up his trembling hands in defense. “I’m not proud of what I did. I can’t sleep or eat, and my fucking hands won’t stop shaking. I’m here trying to make things right. After what happened to K-Katherine....” His breath hitched. “I knew I couldn’t keep doing this.”
Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. Why do I keep letting myself get pulled into this mess?
“You should also know that I killed the man who hurt her, too. His body is dumped in some burnt-out house in Detroit.” The tremble in his hands caused his tumbler to shake and rattle on the table.
Jason reached across and stilled the other man’s hand. “What the fuck, Charles?” He drank the remaining two fingers of his three-finger scotch. He didn’t relish his appointed role as confessor, and had no council for the man.
“I know this is fucking messed-up, man. That’s why I came to you. You’ve always been an honest, stand-up guy. You’re the only person I can trust.”
Jason’s nerves were flayed open, leaving him raw and exposed. “I wish you hadn’t come to me. I was trying to get away from all of this. I left her, for fuck’s sake, just to be done with this.” He motioned for the barkeep to bring another round of drinks.
“But she’s safe, right?” Charles asked.
Jason nodded, not wanting to give away too much. He didn’t trust Charles. “I don’t know where she is, and I wouldn’t tell you even if I did know. She’s safe—as safe as she can be.”
Charles let out a shaky breath. “Good. I don’t want to know anything else. It’s better that way.”
The barkeep brought their drinks, and Jason drank his in one gulp, making him gasp. Once he had caught his breath, he pulled out his phone and called ASAC Richards.
“Hi, this is Jason.”
“Is everything okay with Katherine?”
“Yes it’s fine,” Jason said. “I have someone with me that I think you will want to talk to. We need you to keep quiet about it. It’s a matter of life or death, and it may well be what breaks your case.”
An hour later, ASAC Richards pulled up outside the bar. When he walked inside and saw who Jason was sitting with, he reached for his gun holster.
“What the fuck!” Richards’ face burned red.
Jason stood
up and placed himself between the two men. “Just hear what he has to say.”
Richards took his hand off his gun and sat down at the table. “This had better be good. Start talking.”
Charles took a deep breath and started his sordid tale.
“Charles, I’m going to have to put you under arrest. You understand that, right?” Richards asked.
Charles nodded. “Take me now or I’m a dead man.”
***
Brian Williams’ Estate
Hinsdale, Illinois
June 9, 2008
11:45 PM
~~~
Alex lay in bed watching Katherine sleep when his phone started to buzz on the bedside table.
Grumbling, he grabbed it and walked out of the bedroom. “Bailey.”
“Alex, I have some good news and some bad news,” Richards burst out.
Alex ran his fingers through his bed-head hair. “Do I need a cigarette for this?”
“Charles turned himself in to the FBI. His lawyer is talking with the Attorney General’s Office now to work out a deal of some sort to avoid capital murder charges. We have him in temporary custody now, but will be transferring him to the State tomorrow morning.” The man sounded positively giddy.
Alex exhaled. “You’re kidding me!”
Richards chuckled. “It’s a long fucking story, and it’s not the hour to hash out that shit, but yeah. Katherine’s friend, Jason Knettle, set up the whole thing. I met up with them earlier tonight at some dive bar outside of town.”
He had never in his wildest dreams thought that Charles, of all people, would turn state’s evidence. “What prompted his change of heart?”
“Katherine’s attack fucked him up. He takes full responsibility for what happened, as he should. He confessed to killing the man who attacked her, which is where one of the capital murder charges comes in. I’m just playing a hunch, but I have a feeling that there is more to all of that. He also confessed to murdering that woman that was pushed in front of the Metro. Apparently, she was a part of all of this as well. Apparently, she was going to turn him over to the CIA.”