The Mourning Missed

by J. Don Wright

  “Lilly, come in, sit down, please. Would you like a drink? Oh, that’s right, you don’t drink alcohol. Would you care for a soda, some coffee, tea?” He effused civility.

  Lilly just stood and stared. “I’ve come to arrest you for your involvement in the murder of Clint Parsons and Martin Bacchus, the before and after the fact involvement in the raid on the Montrose City Police Academy, the ordering and causing of the death of two new police officers during the assault on said Academy, Drug and weapons trafficking, and for be a lying asshole,” Lilly said politely.

  “I don’t think the last part is against the law, unless it’s to a law enforcement official in the performance of their duties,” he smiled at his flippant response. “The lies I told you had nothing to do with any case you were working. As for the other items, well, Clint was just unfortunate collateral damage. By the time we realized he didn’t know anything, it was too late. All the drugs we gave him trying to wake him up only succeeded in destroying his heart.” He paused and shook his head solemnly, as if that loss was a terrible burden for him to bear.

  “But I’m not lying to you when I say I had nothing to do with the attack on the Academy. In fact, when we heard about the plan, we ordered or boys to steer clear of any involvement. But the Boss wanted it done,” Hank deflected. “In fact, he’s the one who put the $20,000 contract on your head. We’re just gears in the machine. Well oiled gears, which play a big role, but gears nonetheless. Would you like to know who the Boss is?”

  “I already know,” Lilly said. “My father.”

  Hank threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, he would be so embarrassed to here you say that. No, your father is the enforcer and detail man for the Boss but he’s not in charge. In fact, he quit once before because he wanted to do better things for his family. Then your mother died and that changed everything. I almost lost him to the booze but managed to pull him back out and save his sorry ass. Kinda makes us even now.”

  “So, where is my father and why would he threaten Phillip Samuels just to get me to quit looking at things?” Lilly demanded. “Especially when I don’t know nearly as much as anyone likes to think?”

  “The Boss grew tired of your snooping around and interfering with the smooth nature of things,” Hank explained. “The Boss doesn’t like turmoil; he likes things to go smoothly. When you and Parsons started asking questions, it annoyed him. You’re a crusader, Lilly. Whether it’s by wanting to make people obey parking laws, or whether it’s making people behave themselves in public, you’re a champion. Hero of the downtrodden. Savior of the abused.”

  Hank’s face turned ugly. “Well, did you ever stop to think that a lot of the people you’re going to affect don’t want to be saved? They’re quite happy living from one fix to the next, performing whatever menial tasks they get assigned in life just so they can have their chemical Zen.” He paused and calmed himself with visible effort. “Here’s what I’d like to offer you. I’d like to give you enough money to get out of here before someone collects on that bounty, if you’ll let me.”

  “I wouldn’t take your blood money for anything,” Lilly hissed.

  “You see? That’s what I’m talking about,” he shook his head sadly. “Why won’t you let anyone help you? You’re like my own daughter. I held you in my arms most of the flight on the way here after your father made me leave Vietnam with your mother. That’s right,” he said at her look of shock.

  “She left ahead of him. I just told you otherwise because it paints a more poignant picture. I was actually there for her those eighteen months while he stayed behind in Vietnam. Someone had to secure the supply trains that provided the drugs we’ve been distributing throughout the Midwest for twenty years now.” He sighed and his face softened at an apparently fond memory.

  “I even almost convinced her to marry me when it looked like Jubal wasn’t coming home. We heard reports he was dead but then he showed up and all was forgiven. So I was almost your father. I was even there when your mother died in the hospital.” He turned fully toward her and his face softened even more. “I can be here for you now, if you’ll let me get you out of this.”

  “You don’t have anything I want,” Lilly said coldly.

  “See?” Hank sighed. “Your mother was the same way; wouldn’t listen to reason. She found out about the drugs and guns we were selling and threatened to go to the police if we didn’t stop. We had serious backers and partners by that time. We were both already rich as kings! They told your father if he didn’t talk some sense into her it would become a problem.”

  Shaking his head, he continued his tale of woe. “Jubal tried, but she wasn’t having any. So the partners arranged for your mother to have a heart attack after she delivered the baby. The chemical they used left no trace and the doctors had nothing else to blame it on other than that her heart stopping.”

  Hank watched Lilly’s face twist with rage and fury as she realized her mother had been murdered by the same people who had been responsible for her two brothers’ deaths. His resigned look told her he didn’t seem to care now. “Your father wouldn’t authorize an autopsy so the secret was buried with her. Oh, he did crawl into a bottle for about six months but the rest of it was all acting for your benefit. You were getting old enough to observe and understand. Jubal and I didn’t want to lose you the same way we did your mother. We cooked up this little scheme to convince you he had become a derelict.”

  Pausing, Hank sat his snifter down and reached under the end table next to where he sat, pulling out a small gym bag. “Last chance to be reasonable. There’s $250,000 in there for you to walk away and never look back.”

  Lilly just stared at him. “You’re still under arrest.”

  “God, how I admire your moxie,” he smiled warmly. “But the time is passed for anyone to help you, I fear. You see, your father has never been out of the business for more than a year. In fact, he’s here right now.”

  Whirling, she stood face-to-face with what had become, in her mind, her nemesis. This was the man she had seen and heard before. Fifty pounds lighter than last she had seen him, he was dressed in a dark suit, black shirt, black tie, and wore a black fedora. Even from 15 feet away, she could feel the angst radiating from him.

  “Why couldn’t you just be a good little girl and stay at home with your brothers?” He wondered aloud. “Lord knows they kept you busy enough. I did that on purpose, you know. Just so you wouldn’t have time to think about me, wonder where I was, maybe even come looking for me.”

  “But, no,” he seethed. “You had to join, of all things, the Police. I tried to make them understand you weren’t a threat but soon you became an embarrassment to me. My own daughter, bent on destroying everything I’ve built for the past twenty-five years.”

  Seeing the surprise on her face, he chuckled. “Yeah, I started in the drug trade while I was stationed in Vietnam my first tour. Why else in the world would I even have considered going back for two more? By the time the war was lost, I had a supply network established and more product than I knew how to move.”

  Smiling a death’s head grin, he continued his story. “So, I came home and found others who also saw the writing on the wall. This country will always have a dependency problem, because we’re raising a bunch of weaklings.”

  Lilly could see his vision shift out of focus and she realized this was a rant he had espoused many times. “There’s no moral compass in this country anymore, no integrity. Politicians lie to us on TV while they line their pockets with graft. When one occasionally gets caught, the next one pardons him.”

  “No, I have no faith in this country anymore. But, it will continue to make me richer as long as I continue to provide drugs and guns to those willing to pay for them. And now, it’s time for you to go,” he said, signaling someone in the next room.

  The same man who had escorted her in came into the room with the same gun in his hand. “This way, please,” he asked politely.

  “Where are you taking me? What are yo
u going to do?” Lilly asked, turning to Jubal. “Did you know it was your filthy drug traffic which killed your second son? Did you know it was your gun traffic which got your eldest imprisoned, mutilated, and gang-raped? Did you know your other three sons live in foster homes and barely remember who you are?”

  “Is that wealth you’ve accumulated worth all you’ve done to your family? You disgust me,” she raged. “If I could somehow alter my DNA so I had no biological ties to you, I would. But because I can’t, know this. You are not my father. You haven’t really been since I was ten. You put me through all that as a child to keep me in line? I don’t even know who you are but I promise you this. You’re a dead man. I don’t know when or how I’ll make good on it but that’s my solemn vow.”

  “Get her out of here,” Jubal said harshly.

  “If you’re so dead-set on having me killed, do you not you have the balls to do it yourself, you fucking coward?” She screamed. “Or have you gotten to the point of soullessness that it doesn’t even affect you anymore? Well, you’ll have to do it here and now, because I will not go peacefully.” Taking two steps up out of the sunken den, she launched herself feet first at her father’s chest.

  His hands swept up quickly, brushing her feet aside, which she had anticipated. Her tiny fist struck past his outstretched arms for the bony ridge at the top of his throat. When she punched his hyoid he gagged and backpedaled, grasping his spasming trachea. She had hit him hard enough to collapse that bone and he was even now asphyxiating.

  Landing beside him in a crouch, she leapt aside just as the thug with the Golden Eagle fired. The bullet gouged a furrow along her ribs as it passed but Clint immediately dampened the pain. The .50 caliber slug continued on until it made contact with the back of Jubal Jackson’s left hand. It was clasped over his right, which was grasping his throat as he struggled to draw breath. The bullet destroyed his trachea before separating his second and third vertebra.

  Landing on the counter in the foyer, Lilly leapt again onto the chandelier which hung from the center of the den ceiling. The thug was trying to track her with his pistol but she was too fast and he didn’t expect her to swing from the ceiling fixtures. By the time he had recovered, Lilly had pendulumed away and back, launching herself straight for him. The gun came up into her face and she had just a moment to think, I love you, Clint.

  There was a blast and the thug went flying backward into the wall behind him. Landing in a crouch, Lilly leapt for his pistol where it had fallen down the hall. She didn’t know who had killed the big man but was working on the assumption they were all after her. Someone had targeted her and missed, hitting him. As she whirled with both of her tiny hands clasped firmly around the huge grips of the pistol, her finger was taking up slack on the trigger. Searching for a target, she saw Duane Hollister standing in the entryway of the house with a riot gun in his hands. It was leveled at Hank.

  Thirty-Five

  “WHERE ARE WE GOING to hold him until the Feds get here?” Lilly asked Phillip as soon as he arrived at Hank’s home. He had found a cane somewhere and was using it with his left hand to support his injured right leg.

  Someone from the Academy had driven him into the city and was even now standing a discrete distance behind him. Looking around his shoulder she recognized Tealey, who was now carrying one of the ubiquitous TEC-9s. “You doing alright?” she asked. He smiled and shrugged; then grimaced.

  “We could hold him in the county detention cells but that would mean someone staying there with him to prevent his transfer,” Phillip sneered.

  “We certainly can’t put him in county isolation,” Lilly added. “Looks like we’ll have to keep him until the Feds can get here.”

  “Look, my offer still stands, and I’ll make the same one to all of you,” Hank said, sounding now like a greasy used-car salesman. “A quarter mil each to just walk away.”

  “We could take him back to the Academy until they get here,” the Colonel said, ignoring Hank. “I’m sure we could figure out how to detain him for as long as is needed. Especially when I tell the new officers and all the staff that he’s responsible for all the death and destruction today, and for Marty.” He seemed to consider for a moment. “Yeah, we can just put him in a room and let everyone know if he comes out, he’s fair game.”

  “What are we going to do about the PC and Burnside?” Lilly asked. “If they aren’t already in the wind, they will be soon.”

  “Actually, that’s why we’re waiting on the FBI,” Phillip explained. “I called them on the way here and told them who the other two crime bosses are. They’re in the process of arresting them even now. I assured SAC Brimmer that Hank was securely in our care until he could free up some men to take him into custody.”

  “Then the Academy it is,” Hollister said.

  “So, what are we waiting for?” Lilly asked. “What’s for dinner tonight, anyway? Halon fried chicken?”

  “Halon au gratin,” Tealey snarked. “We better get a lot of take-out.”

  After snapping cuffs on Hank, Phillip hobbled out the front door behind Lilly, who was still holding the Desert Eagle. Tealey was behind Hank and the Commandant brought up the rear with the riot gun at ready. It was full-on dark outside. The Colonel’s Suburban was parked at the curb in front of the car which had been there earlier. The Academy cruiser was pulled into the driveway and stuck out into the street in front of the SUV.

  “Let’s take Hank in the SUV with Lilly and I and you two can bring the sedan back,” Hollister suggested.

  “Ah, I’d rather go in the Suburban with you three and let Tealey drive the sedan back,” Phillip corrected.

  “Well, I think the Commandant, the ADA, and the officer should go in the sedan, and Hank and the pain in the ass should go in the SUV with me,” a voice said from farther up the driveway. The Colonel whirled but a man was already there with a pistol in his face. He took the shotgun while another relieved Tealey of his machine pistol. Taking the weapons, they stepped back while the PC strode up and held his hand out to Lilly. “I’ll take that,” he commanded. Four other armed men stood spread across the front yard, weapons at the ready.

  “I could just use it on you, right after I shoot Hank in the back of the head,” Lilly replied, not moving.

  “Kill him,” the PC said, pointing at Tealey without breaking eye contact with Lilly. The man who had taken the shotgun fired it from the hip, blowing Tealey back against the car parked there with a load of double-ought buckshot.

  “No,” Lilly screamed as Tealey’s lifeless form slumped to the concrete.

  “Let’s try this again,” the PC said. “I’ll take that.”

  “You bastard,” Lilly growled and leapt on him.

  He was an even six feet and solidly built but had gone soft. His belly slowed him down and he had barely gotten his hands up when she punched him in the throat, crushing his trachea. Using him as a shield, she shot the man who had murdered Tealey between the eyes from four feet away. The back half of his head disintegrated from the force of the 300 grain bullet passing through. As Perth slumped, she clambered over him and shot the second man beside the first in the throat.

  So infuriated at men who felt power allowed them to do whatever they desired, she had lost all consideration for how her actions might affect anyone else, or even herself. Remotely, she heard the roar of a big-bore gun and felt the heat of a weapon discharged from behind her. Another mercenary had his pistol up, aimed at her face. She dropped into a crouch and shot him in the chest. Then she was swaying spider-like on the lawn, searching for her next target.

  Five men lay dead in Hank’s front yard and the PC was gurgling his life out. The sixth had dropped his pistol as he dropped to his knees with his hands held high above his head. Tealey lay dead in the driveway. Hollister stood holding his Model 66 and Phillip had his carry weapon held at high battery.

  “You weren’t exaggerating. She is fast,” the Colonel said.

  “I expected her to react like this if anyone
tried to stop us, so I was already cocked and locked when we came outside,” Phillip supplied.

  “Revolver,” the Commandant said, holding the shining pistol up in the dim light from the streetlamp nearby. “Never needs to be cocked or locked; always ready.”

  Hank stood as if frozen. He slowly turned his blood-spattered face to each of them before his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.

  THE NEXT DAY, HANK was recovered by a representative of a joint FBI/DEA task force investigating the drugs-and-guns network based out of Montrose City. “We’ve been gathering data on this cartel for three years. It only took you three people two months to blow it all open,” the representative smiled. “We could use people like both of you on our team to take down whoever the Boss is.”

  “Oh, the Boss is going down,” Lilly vowed. “But it won’t be the same without Sarge,” she said sadly.

  “I’m just an Assistance District Attorney who likes where he lives and what he does,”

  Phillip declined politely.

  “And I wouldn’t last a week,” Lilly grinned. “In fact, I’m not even sure I’ll make it as an Assistant District Attorney Investigator. I have too many bad habits you would try to break me of and everyone who already knows me understands; I don’t break.”

  Don't miss out!

  Click the button below and you can sign up to receive emails whenever J. Don Wright publishes a new book. There's no charge and no obligation.

  https://books2read.com/r/B-A-OIJJ-ZNWDB

  Connecting independent readers to independent writers.

  Also by J. Don Wright

  Lilly Jackson Series

  The Mourning Missed (Coming Soon)

  Soul Reader

  Behold !

  Standalone

  The Book of Enoch: Lucky 7