Broken Sky

by Saurav Dutt

  She made her way to the door, noticing the spots of blood from her mouth trickling down onto the carpet and settling into the fibre beneath. She pulled away the chain and stood out in the corridor. Nobody was there to answer her call for help.

  She heard Madsen stagger to his feet in the distance, his low rumbling voice cursing her name. Without looking behind her, she began to run. Running faster and faster with each moment as her pace quickened, running so fast the sound of her heart thumping was the only sound she could hear.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Andie wished she had just let the telephone ring. There was a slight pause on the end of the line, the heavy breathing of a male voice, and she knew it was Sean. Inebriated again she wondered, needing a shoulder to cry on, but not this time. “What do you want?” she sighed, twirling the telephone cord around her fingers. His breathing continued before a voice crackled to life. “You’re leaving me no choice Andie…” Sean rasped “…this is over then, I’ve just signed your goddamn precious papers…I’m leaving soon, I just wondered, if you…”

  “-reconsidered?” Andie completed his sentence “the answer, is no..”

  She heard a slight whimper, garbled words before he fell quiet again. She could hear the fizz of static on line and could discern the low drone of a television set in the background. “I thought we were clear about this..” she trailed off “just sign the papers and let’s leave it at that, I don’t want to discuss this anymore…please.”

  “…you’re being irrational again” Sean hesitated “this is bigger than the two of us, there’s Petey involved in case you forgot.”

  “And like I said we can sort out visitation rights, it’s not an issue…as long as you control your drinking” Andie replied, noticing a navy blue BMW making its way up the road and parking opposite her house. Inside were two men, engaged in fierce discussion, and as her attention wavered she completely failed to digest what was being said to her.

  “So?” Sean snapped, the annoyance in his voice palatable as he awaited her response.

  “What..” Andie asked as she noticed both men step out of the car, the shorter of the two waving at the other to remain seated. He wore a crumpled dark grey suit, looking unkempt, hair uncut, and his face unshaven. He had cop written all over him. It was his suited, bespectacled partner with the relatively calm demeanour who put her mind at ease.

  “You really think your asshole boyfriend is a surrogate father for my son?” Sean snarled “have you even thought this through, he needs a role model, somebody he can respect goddamn it…” he hissed.

  “It’s the same pattern over and over” Andie replied “you put that charm on, drop the booze for a week or two and you think you’re back to normal, and then you’re off the wagon and you become exactly the sort of person I want far, far away from my son…and from me.”

  “We can work through this….” Sean paused “I’m not an alcoholic Andie, so don’t insult my intelligence”

  She shook her head in dismay, and noticed the stranger across the street staring at the house. Dragging the cord away from the kitchen counter, she hid behind the door frame as she watched him approach. He seemed hesitant, unsure if he even had the right place. “I got to go Sean” she sighed. “Oh is your boyfriend there?” Sean chuckled after a long, uncomfortable pause “you’re still a married woman in case ya forget that little fact baby, you’re acting like a slut…great role model for a mother, eh?”

  She slammed the phone down, her pulse quickened and immediately she took the phone off the hook. No sooner had she done so she felt her cell phone buzz. She let it ring, only for it to stop and start up again within moments. Before she could grab the cell phone and turn it off the doorbell rang.

  Walking steadily towards the hallway, she leant against the door frame and listened in, expecting the knock that came. “Who is it?” she demanded. “I’m a police officer” came the swift reply. “Put your ID through the letterbox” Andie shot back. There was a long pause before the ID badge poked through the box slot, she held onto it firmly before yanking it away. Flipping up the frayed and tattered leather edges, she was first taken aback by the glowering look on the face of the Detective staring back at her in the photograph. Detective John Cassini. His eyes were puffy; the dark circles under them prominent even at the younger age the photograph was probably taken. Realising the photograph was slightly faded and tatty, she realised the ID was not a badge but a precinct card and had expired about six months ago.

  “You done?” John queried from the other side. She opened the door, and saw him pacing back and forth, cigarette in hand and the imperfections of his crumpled, unhealthy skin in full view as the last cracks of afternoon sunlight fell across his face. “I’m sorry, I had to be careful” Andie smiled as she forked the ID over. “I noticed your friend over there from the window” nodding towards the car parked across the road. “I asked him to sit in the car” John smiled. “What’s this about then Detective?” Andie replied “and if you don’t mind, please extinguish your cigarette…”

  “Yeah, sure thing” John smirked, dropping the freshly lit item to the ground, stamping his foot down onto it in annoyance. “I haven’t done anything wrong” Andie said, turning her back to John as she marched down the hallway and walked straight into the kitchen. He closed the door behind him and carefully studied the décor of the house as he followed behind. As he entered the kitchen he noticed her pouring a glass of wine. She took a liberal sip and waved the glass towards him. “No thanks M’am, I’m on duty..” John lied. “So….where’s your real ID?” Andie snapped as she took another sip.

  “That was my real ID..just an old one from when I was a lot prettier..” John replied, stiffening up as he leant against the refrigerator “if you doubt who I am then why did you let me into your house? Anyway I’m here to see Andrea Rossi….I am in the right place aren’t I?” he smiled, knowing the answer.

  “I don’t go by that name anymore” Andie mumbled “everybody calls me Andie, I would appreciate it if you did too.”

  “I bet nobody calls you Mrs Rossi either…” John smiled.

  Andie paused as they met each other’s gaze. “You got a smoke?” she asked.

  “Yeah, sure” John replied, stepping forward to pass a cigarette which he casually lit for her “I didn’t mean to be curt, I just wanted to be sure you were who I thought you were..your reaction told me what I wanted to know. You’re still Mrs Penner aren’t you?”

  “Not for long” Andie replied, taking a long drag from the cigarette “I’m in the middle of a divorce, well almost near the end of it actually.. I guess I will be back to Ms Andrea Rossi soon enough…you’re here ‘cause of my old man, right?”

  “Well…” John hesitated before he was cut off.

  “..I don’t owe anyone an explanation” she began “he’s my father in the sense of the word only, nothing more. I don’t see why I should have to talk for him at his parole… he has to explain himself why he’s sorry for the all the things he’s done in his life…it’s not my duty just because I have that family name..I was up for three nights straight wondering whether I should go or not..in the end I decided I didn’t have it in me…I’ll see him if he’s ill, I will go to see him then…but I won’t support his release, because deep down in my heart, I don’t think he deserves to be released from prison.”

  “You didn’t go to his parole?” John enquired, noticing how adeptly she was alternating between drags of her cigarette and sips of her wine.

  “No…” she trailed off as she stared at him “..I thought that’s why you’re here, oh my God have they approved it?”

  “Does that concern you?” John asked.

  “Why should it?” Andie snapped, refilling her glass as quickly as she had finished it.

  “Because he’s Dennis Rossi…” John shrugged his shoulders “he’s a legend around this city…self appointed King of New York.” he added, noticing that Andie had now taken her glass and cigarette and began walking towards the d
rawing room. She slumped down into the couch and stared sullenly at the wall.

  “Well…to me he was just my old man..” Andie sighed as she gingerly placed the glass on the coffee table next to her “who is your buddy outside in the car?”

  “He’s FBI” John replied, taking a seat opposite her as he studied the room, focusing on a book shelf packed with small photo frames. It was the one in the far corner that made him stare longer than he wanted to.

  From across the room, he could discern the shape of the face, the receding hair and mischievous smile. He rose from his seat and walked over, studying the picture carefully. It was old, the frame dusty. There sat Dennis Rossi. Outlandish Hawaiian shirt, customary cigar, black Ray Ban sunglasses and arms outstretched. By his side sat his wife Gina, in a kimono with a beaming smile, sunglasses propped on the head and her hand placed on the shoulder of a moody, obviously unhappy young woman sitting in front of her.

  “FBI?” Andie scoffed “you sure this isn’t about my old man?”

  “No” John murmured “it’s about her…your Mom….remarkable, I couldn’t see this before…” he pointed at the photo, wiping the dust clear from the corners of the frame.

  “Why isn’t your FBI friend in here?” Andie sighed, turning away from the picture “anyway, you’re beating a dead horse Detective..”

  “That’s quite a thing to say about your own mother..” John arched an eyebrow, looking at the picture and then at Andie, realising she looked far older than her years.

  “Well she left me, died a long time ago, died alone in a pool of booze, drugs and painkillers that’s what they said..who really knows..” she shook her head, fighting back the urge to weep “what else is there to say..”

  “Is that what you were told?” John frowned, taking the frame off the shelf and bringing it over to her. She looked away, a tear glistening in her eye as she took a final drag of her cigarette.

  “I don’t want you here any longer, please leave..” Andie sighed, snatching the frame from John’s hands and marching over to the same shelf, placing it face down. She turned round to face John who had now taken her seat. “Don’t make me ask twice..” she warned as she studied the car parked across the road from her window.

  “You do look a lot like her” John smiled “the same attitude too..”

  “What kind of Detective are you exactly? Who the hell is your superior?” Andie snapped “show me a real badge otherwise I’m calling 911..” she sighed, her hands on her hips as she found herself unable to control the anger clawing up from her gut.

  “I am a real detective” John replied “but if you called my superiors I’d be in a world of shit, reason being is I’m on suspension…and I’m on suspension because I’ve been helping your mother, Gina Rossi…and no I’m not wasting your time Andie..because different to what you may believe, know or think or been told…Gina Rossi is alive and well and in Manhattan.”

  “Detective, please’ Andie scowled, her head collapsing into her hands “I’m going through a shitty time at the moment, I’ve not got time for messing around, I just got off the phone to my soon to be ex husband..I have enough shit to deal with right now…please whatever you’ve got to say, I’m not interested..now just leave.”

  “I know what it sounds like” John shrugged his shoulders “but I didn’t come here to waste your time; I wasn’t sure who she was at first, but all the stuff that’s happened..it’s harder and harder for me to believe that she is not your mother…and at this point I’m beyond conspiracy theories, I’m sure it really is her.”

  “This is ridiculous..” Andie grimaced “what do you want me to say? What exactly do you expect me to do about it?” she snapped, the veins in her neck bulging as her face reddened “I was barely 25 before they told me she was dead; dying as she lived, boozing, throwing back pills like no tomorrow and a junkie …you know how I felt about it? I just shelved it, shrugged my shoulders as if it was expected..I expected help from my old man, but they threw him in jail..he couldn’t care less what happened to her…I remember the trial, I remember my dad wishing my mother was dead and I remember her being around me even less than she was when I grew up….so the fact is, Detective -to me at least-whatever the truth of the matter is, she is better off dead to me..”

  “At the very least” John replied “put an incorrigible cop out of his misery…identify this woman for us, so we and I know who she is…I look at the woman in that picture frame, and I see the woman who is sitting in my apartment less than a half hour drive away from here…it’s driving me freakin’ crazy, if she is who I think she is then we can leave it at that..but everything, every shred of evidence suggests that she is your mother and she came here to find you..”

  “Why is your buddy sitting in the car?” Andie asked, wiping a tear from her eye as she stood facing the window.

  “He’s not my buddy” John replied “and he’s here because he is sure the woman in my flat is your mother.”

  “And you’re not?” Andie probed, walking steadily over the shelf to flick up the photo frame. She stared longingly at her own expression in the picture, recalling exactly how unhappy she felt at the moment it was taken. She frowned as she noticed her father’s gleeful expression, completely oblivious to how his daughter felt. She recalled that it was scarcely seconds after the flash of the camera had flickered away that her mother rose to her feet and screamed at her for not smiling.

  “That’s why I came here” John answered “I want answers too. Look my department thinks I’m involved in shit that doesn’t really concern you… I think you owe it to yourself to know if your mother is still alive…and if your own child has a grandmother.”

  “First they told me she just ran away, then there was a death certificate” Andie shot back “I’ve told my son his grandmother died before he was born. There is no sense in going after all of this, she brought nothing but a world of pain into my life..there is nothing to gain in going over the past.” she sighed, clenching her fists, trying to suppress her sobs.

  “If you come with us, we’ll explain everything..look your kid is probably at school now, right? We’ll have you back in no time at all..” John explained “ask yourself this Andie, what the hell is there to lose?”

  “How do I know I can even trust you?” Andie asked as she gazed away from the picture “what kind of cop are you? Suspended for what?”

  “I didn’t come here to harm you” John replied “and if wanted to, I’d have done it already…and the reason I am suspended is because I care for this woman, your mother…I would love to be wrong about this, but…” he trailed off, unable to find the words.

  “I don’t know what to make of it..” Andie wept “..I…I really don’t”

  “Let me put it this way” John nodded “If you leave this now, I’ll understand…I don’t know what happened between you and her….…but if you don’t come with me now and see this woman, you’ll never know..and you might just live the rest of your life wondering if you should have made that move.”

  “…you know something funny?” Andie smiled to herself as she wiped a tear away.

  “What?” John asked, signalling Agent Pearce who was now standing outside the car.

  “Well all this time I thought she was dead…” Andie laughed “..I prayed, just prayed that if she could come back to me for one moment… so that I could break her jaw, sounds bizarre don’t it? Just to pay her back for all the hurt..”

  “Well it is kinda funny ain’t it, because now you just might have that chance..” John chuckled as he moved towards the hallway.

  “Something like that” Andie sighed as she began to follow him “…somehow I woke up knowing I wasn’t gonna have a normal day..I won’t believe this until I see her standing right there in front of me.” Andie shook her head.

  “I can’t promise you’ll like what you’ll see” John replied “but I know how you feel, I wake up every morning thinking the same thing and regardless of how you feel, what have you got to lose?”

&
nbsp; Chapter Sixteen

  “This man is a stain on this entire precinct, Captain” Dzunda grimaced. He began to slowly pace back and forth in Captain Durning’s office, pulling down the shutters as Russo locked the door. Durning sat at his desk, his gut splashed over the table as he swallowed hard, searching to find the words. He was sweating. His clammy palms and sausage shaped fingers flicked through the report compiled by Internal Affairs, he was less than half way through but he had already had read enough.

  “With respect” Durning breathed in “you know a hell of a lot less about John than some folders and pysch evaluations tell you, I’ve worked with the man on the streets, I know what he’s made of and the fact is I would trust him with my life.”

  “And when was that exactly?” Russo chimed in, circling the room like a caged tiger “when you worked with him on the streets?”

  “Judging by the fact that you and me probably share the same baker..” Dzunda scoffed “that was probably some time ago..”

  Durning pushed the papers away with a scowl, turning his chair towards the wall where he concentrated on a picture of John amidst the collection of pinned up Polaroid snaps, fishing rod in hand with an ear to ear smile as they embraced in one of them. “Tell me something” he coughed “the two of you, how much attention did you give to reading his file before you marched in here? I bet you probably focused on the bills, the visa cards, the bankruptcy filings, all the shit in his life.”

  “Captain” Russo glowered “IA focuses on the shit, it’s the shit that creates more shit and that creates, well that creates a cop who decides one day he’s gonna pitch for the other team instead of taking anymore shit..”