by Mike Ryan
“Well? What do you think?” Jones asked.
“Didn’t really say anything we didn’t already know,” Recker said. “I think it’s still too soon to know what’s going on even for them.”
With nothing more they could really say other than they’d keep monitoring the situation, the trio got back to working on their own business. After three solid hours of putting their nose to the grindstone, their concentration was finally broken by the sound of Recker’s phone ringing. As it was after five, Recker thought maybe it was his better half calling. He got up to answer it, walking over to the counter where he’d left it the last time he’d gotten a drink.
“Probably Mia checking about dinner,” Recker said.
He was surprised when he picked it up and looked at the screen, seeing it wasn’t Mia. It was Vincent. Highly unusual, he thought, especially after just meeting with him that morning. He also thought it strange it wasn’t Malloy calling. Usually Vincent’s right-hand man made the initial contact when a meeting was arranged, or they started preliminary work on a problem. Vincent usually only called if it was something urgent that needed immediate attention. Recker picked up his phone and looked at his two partners and shook his head, letting them know it wasn’t Mia.
“Surprised to hear from you again so soon,” Recker said.
“Well, in situations like these, urgency is required.”
“Just what situations like these are you talking about?”
“I suppose you’ve heard about the two police shootings by now?”
“Yeah, I watched the press conference they had earlier.”
“Then by now I’m sure you know the severity that the department is dealing with right now.”
“Yeah. I may be wrong, but I never figured you for someone who bled blue.”
“We’ve known each other for a few years now, Mike, you know I’m a level-headed guy. I don’t believe in chaos and letting the inmates run the asylum. Police are very much a necessity in our society today. Without them, who knows what kind of nonsense we’d be running into on the street every day.”
“You don’t want to return to the wild west?” Recker asked.
“Ah, it was a glorified period of violence. Anyway, back to our topic, if you recall this morning, my police contact wanted to have a word with you.”
“I don’t think my answer has really changed since then. Still not all that interested.”
“Well, I told him of your reluctance to meet.”
“So, what’s the issue?”
“He has asked me if I could try again to persuade you,” Vincent said.
“Why all the interest on your part? You work for him or does he work for you?”
Vincent let out a small laugh. “You should know by now, Mike, that I don’t work for anybody.”
“You’re just doing this guy a favor by talking to me?”
“I think there’s a slight misconception when people think I have officers of the law on my payroll. I don’t have them out there doing illegal things, killing guys, muscling people around, dealing drugs, things like that. They’re good, hardworking officers. They just get paid to distribute certain information to me.”
“Or bust up rival criminal enterprises,” Recker said. “Or stand by and arrest lookouts of a city center gang while a third party goes inside a restaurant and eliminates the competition? Or surround a house that has a rival leader on the premises.”
Vincent laughed again. “I guess you could look at it that way.”
“What exactly does this guy want?”
“I believe it has something to do with the two police shootings. He knows you’re someone I’ve done business with, I told him you have a way of finding out things that slip through the cracks, he asked me if I could reach out to you. It’s as simple as that.”
“You’ll forgive me for my hesitancy, but it’s not every day that a police officer asks to meet with me.”
“You think I might be setting you up for something?”
“It’s not so much that I don’t trust you, I think we’ve always forged an understanding between us. But as much as I respect the boys in blue, that same trust doesn’t go over the line for them.”
“Mike, believe me, I didn’t take the risk of rescuing you from the back seat of a police car, just to set you up a few months later. You have my word on that.”
“Trust doesn’t come that easily for me. I’ve gotten this far on my ability to read situations correctly, and being careful enough to avoid things that look a little shady,” Recker said.
“And you have good instincts. But I’ll tell you this, I guarantee this is not any type of setup. Not by me, not by them.”
“I believe that it’s not you. But what makes you think this guy’s not looking for a promotion, trying to lure me out somewhere and get the drop on me? Or maybe even a guy who’s got stars in his eyes and figures he can lay this whole mess at my feet.”
“No, it wouldn’t happen, and I’ll tell you why. Because he came to me and asked me to set something up with you on good faith. Nobody uses me as an excuse to lay the hammer down. A man’s only as good as his word. I know you feel the same way. How do I know it’s not a trap? One simple reason, he knows I would not put up with it. If he uses my connections for a setup and makes a liar out of me, he knows, like everyone else, that after it was over, he’d be taking a swim in the river. And he wouldn’t be coming back up for air.”
The insinuation was clear for Recker. And though he believed every word Vincent had told him, he still wasn’t sure about it. Though Recker always appreciated the work of the police, crossing lines, and interacting with them wasn’t something he was fond of doing. Today’s friendly cop could be tomorrow’s enemy trying to lock him up. Still, there was something tugging at him that he should accept the meeting and find out what the detective wanted. Eventually, Recker relented.
“Fine. I’ll meet with him.”
“Great.”
“But I’ll do it on my terms. I’ll name the place and time.”
“Where and when?” Vincent asked.
“There’s a little bar in the northeast on Grant called Gino’s, you know it?”
“I do.”
“I’ll meet him there tonight at ten. I’ll wait five minutes after. If he’s not there by then, I won’t be either.”
“Understood. I’ll convey your terms to him.”
“Good. I hope they’re acceptable because I won’t alter them,” Recker said.
“I’m sure they’ll be fine. This might be a good time for your rumored friend to make an appearance.”
“Well, if the rumor turned out to be true, I’m sure he would be. But he wouldn’t be anywhere anyone would be able to see him.”
Vincent chuckled to himself, admiring Recker’s attention to detail. “I do wish you’d eventually come around and accept a position with me. We could do a lot of things together.”
“Tempting offer, but I think I’ll stick with the gig I got now for a while.”
“I know. I’ve given up on possibly tempting you to the dark side for some time now. Anyway, how would you like to find out who the contact is? Want a secret handshake or something? Maybe one of you wears a certain color tie?” Vincent asked, joking. “Maybe one of you sits against the wall drinking a glass of milk through a straw?”
“That would be quite the sight, wouldn’t it?”
“I would almost pay money to see it.”
“I don’t think we need to do anything that extravagant,” Recker said. “Just tell me his name. I’ll take it from there.”
“Ah yes, you have your ways of finding things out, don’t you? His name is Detective Tony Andrews. Been on the force about twenty years, black hair, has a wife, two kids.”
“What district’s he work out of?”
“Twenty-second. He’s a good man, you have nothing to worry about with him. Some guys have shifty eyes, you know the ones I’m talking about. You can almost see the wheels spinning inside their hea
ds, wondering how they’re gonna try to pull one over on you. But not this guy. He’s solid. You’ll do good business with him. I’m sure of it.”
“I guess we’ll see.”
Recker and Vincent exchanged a few more pleasantries, then hung up. Recker put his phone back on the counter and put his right hand on his hip, his left elbow leaning across the counter as he stood silently in thought. Though nobody else had said a word since the conversation ended, Recker could almost feel the tense stares of his two partners, beating down on him. He stood straight and looked over at them, a neutral expression on his face. Jones was the first to start hammering him with questions.
“Was that what it sounded like?” Jones asked.
“I dunno. What’d it sound like?”
“It sounded as if you agreed to make an appointment with the good detective that we were speaking of earlier.”
“Well, I guess you heard correctly then.”
“Weren’t we talking about how it was not a good idea to do that?”
Recker looked at him strangely. “I don’t recall any of us saying that.”
“Oh. We didn’t?” Jones asked, looking at Haley, who shook his head. “Hmm. Perhaps I was just thinking it in my head and didn’t let the words pass my lips.”
“I don’t know, I look at it like this. We thought it was strange that an officer wanted to meet, we wondered what he wanted, now we’ll know.”
“Assuming it’s not some type of trap set up to get you.”
“You don’t think it’s a trick, do you?” Haley said.
“No, I don’t think so,” Recker answered.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t think that Vincent would allow it. It’s like he told me, he didn’t rescue me from a police car a few months ago, just to set me up, or let someone else set me up a few months later. It wouldn’t make any sense.”
“I somewhat hate to agree with the man, but that is a valid point,” Jones said.
“You want me to tag along?” Haley asked.
“You know it,” Recker said. “I may be trusting. But I’m not that trusting.”
“Did you get a name of the guy?”
“Yeah. Vincent said his name is Tony Andrews, works out of the twenty-second.”
“I’ll pull his information up and see what we can find.”
As Jones swiveled his chair around to work on the computer, trying to find out what he could about Detective Andrews, Recker and Haley began discussing the specifics of their upcoming late-night outing.
“What are you thinking?” Haley asked.
“Might be better to have you on the outside somewhere,” Recker replied. “That way you can give me a little warning if you spot any trouble.”
“How ‘bout if I sit in a car outside? If something comes up, you duck out the back and I’ll fly around to the back door and speed out of there.”
“Probably the best option. Either that, or you set up across the street with a rifle.”
“Yeah, but if I do that, and trouble pops up, I might not be able to get to you in time. You might get surrounded.”
Jones couldn’t help but hear parts of the conversation and wanted to put his two cents in. “I think Chris’ idea is better.”
“Probably,” Recker said.
“But neither strategy accounts for the possibility that the police could surround the building before he’s able to get to the back door.”
“Gino’s Bar is at the end of strip center.”
“Yes, I’m aware of the location.”
“He’s got a roof hatch.”
“If it gets too hot, you go up to the roof and make your way to the last building, then climb your way down,” Haley said.
“Wouldn’t be the first time I had to do that,” Recker said.
Jones raised his eyebrows as he continued working. “Yes, but let’s hope that it was the last.”
3
It wasn’t long before Jones had pulled up a comprehensive file on Detective Andrews. The three men read over his information, but nothing stuck out that would make them apprehensive about the meeting. Other than being on Vincent’s payroll, that is. But Andrews had a very good record, had been a detective for over ten years, and from what they could tell, wasn’t a dirty cop. If they didn’t already know he was in cahoots with Vincent, based on his record and file, they never would have looked twice at him.
“Seems like an upstanding cop,” Haley said. “Nothing that would indicate he’s not a trustworthy guy or anything.”
“You mean, other than the fact he’s a cop working with Vincent?” Recker asked.
Haley shook his head, agreeing with the point.
“Well, just because his record seems good, doesn’t mean he’s necessarily on the up and up,” Jones said. “It could be he’s just really good at covering his tracks and staying underneath the radar. We still must be cautious.”
They continued preparing for the meeting, working right past dinner. Recker had forgotten he was supposed to go home for dinner with Mia. About six-thirty, Recker’s phone started ringing again. When he went over to grab it, he made a grimacing face when he saw it was her.
“Hey.”
“Hey, yourself,” Mia said sternly, though she was just playing with him and wasn’t really mad.
“So, how are you?”
“Good. You?”
“Good,” Recker answered, thinking maybe she’d forgotten about dinner too. Or she just assumed something had come up and wasn’t going to quiz him over it.
“Did you happen to forget something?” Mia asked, keeping up her angry front.
“Uhh, yeah, I think so.”
“You think? Or you know?”
Recker sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to pull one over on her. “I’m sorry. I know I was supposed to come home for dinner. We just got caught up working on something.”
“You know, I’m really getting tired of this,” Mia said, still in full acting mode. “If you’re gonna keep on doing this, I just . . . I don’t know if I can continue.”
“Continue?” Recker asked, starting to get worried about what she was going to say. “You mean us?”
“Well . . . I mean, continue . . . this charade,” she said, unable to keep up the front anymore and letting out a laugh. “I really had you going there for a moment, didn’t I?”
A look of relief swept over Recker’s face as he wiped some sweat off his forehead. “Yeah, yeah, you did.”
“I’m sorry, sweetie, you’re not really angry with me, are you?” Mia asked.
Recker thought for a moment, thinking it sounded like he might be getting off the hook for skipping dinner. “I guess that would depend on you.”
“Me? Please don’t be mad, honey, I was only joking with you.”
“Well, how ‘bout we make a deal then?”
Mia wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that. “What kind of deal?”
“I won’t be mad at you for the kidding if you won’t be mad at me for missing dinner,” Recker said.
“I guess that’s a deal I can live with.”
Recker smiled. “OK then.”
“I get the better end of that deal.”
“Oh yeah? How you figure?”
“Because I wasn’t mad at you to begin with,” Mia said.
“Oh,” Recker replied, looking at the time. “I know I was supposed to be home around an hour ago. I hope you didn’t have things waiting.”
“No, actually I had to work a little late myself. I didn’t get home until just a little while ago. Maybe ten or fifteen minutes.”
“And you just felt the need to call and play a prank on me?”
Mia laughed. “It was kind of funny, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, I almost fell on the floor laughing,” Recker sarcastically said.
Mia figured they joked around long enough and changed the subject. “I take it you’re not coming home anytime soon?”
“No, something really big came up.”
“So, you’re gonna make me eat alone again?”
“I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you.”
“You better,” Mia playfully said. “I miss you.”
Recker looked over at his friends, not wanting to get too sappy and emotional in front of them and damage his dangerous reputation. He turned his head away from them and put his hand over his mouth as he talked more quietly.
“I miss you too.”
Recker didn’t talk quietly enough, though. Both Jones and Haley snapped their heads in his direction as he muttered the words, though they’d both heard him say such things before. Recker tried not to get overly sentimental in the work environment to keep his mind focused on business.
“Aww, I miss you too,” Haley said, joking.
“Yes, we all miss you,” Jones said, getting in on the gag.
Recker laughed to himself as he heard the pair behind him. He looked over at them, trying to give them a stern look to indicate his displeasure, but he couldn’t pull it off. He waved his hand at them and turned his back to them again as he continued talking to his girlfriend.
“Was that David and Chris I heard?” Mia asked.
“Yeah, they apparently thought we needed an office clown or something.”
“Tell them I said hi.”
“I will.”
“When will you be home?”
“Probably not till late,” Recker answered. “Maybe eleven or twelve.”
“That late?”
“I’m sorry. Something big came up.”
“Such as?”
“Has to do with the police shootings.”
“Shootings? I thought there was only one?” Mia asked.
“Another one happened this morning.”
“Oh no.”
“Yeah, so we’re gonna look into it.”
“I don’t get it. Why do you have to look into it? I’m sure the police are launching their own investigation into it, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, they are,” Recker said. “But somebody asked if I could meet to talk about it.”
“If someone has information, why would they talk to you instead of just going to the police about it?”