A good word from them and Reebah’s obvious talent for hacking had saved her. She did a year in prison and then she was released on probation provided she worked for the government helping them to protect their computer servers from people like her.
“You got what I asked for?” said Danny.
“Yeah,” said Reebah, “but it wasn’t easy. My boss has been watching me since some asshole here tried to hack into the state’s treasury reserve database.”
“But you got it done, right?” asked Danny.
Reebah smiled like a kid. “Of course I did. I’ve been through the main firewall many times but the protections are tough. I should know, I was on the design team.” She took out a piece of paper and gave it to Danny. “Cleaned up my footprints so no worries there.”
Danny looked at the paper and his face fell into a flat, grim visage. Erik didn’t have to ask the question. He knew.
“It’s him, the Mayor,” said Danny.
“Fuck me,” said Erik. “What the hell was he thinking?”
“The usual,” said Danny. “He wanted some, so he just did it and then something went wrong. Wrong enough that Rashindah Watson had to be killed.”
It all made sense to Danny now and the text messages showed a clear motive. He was glad he kept a digital copy for himself.
“I just can’t believe it went down like that,” said Erik. “Why do it?”
“That’s what we have to find out,” said Danny. “But if we go knocking on doors...”
“We’ll get our dicks chopped off,” said Erik.
Reebah laughed as she took a long drink from an enormous can of Red Bull.
“Then we’ll have to be careful, do it on our own time and stay clear of the boss,” said Danny. “She’s looking the other way, but we can’t paint her in a corner.”
“You guys would make lousy criminals,” said Reebah.
“Let me guess,” said Erik, “you got a better idea, right?”
“Well, I used to be a lowlife,” said Reebah.
“Whatever we do, it can’t be traced back to us,” said Danny.
“It won’t be,” said Reebah.
“And by the way, what you know makes you part of all this,” said Erik, “so you cannot be implicated or you will go back to jail.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Reebah. “As far as I know, you were never here.”
She reminded Danny of a bad kid as she smiled, delighted with starting trouble.
“So what you got in mind?” asked Danny.
“The most valuable thing in this life right now is information and this information is priceless,” said Reebah. “There’s only one group of individuals who would pay us to get this out. We need to take that opportunity.”
Danny smiled, understanding what Reebah was proposing.
“Okay,” said Danny. “How do we do it?”
The next day, two reporters, one from The Detroit News and the other from the Free Press received a solicitation from an anonymous tipster asking for money in exchange for the story of the year. The tipster had blank money orders sent to a P.O. Box and made it easy for them to trace him back to a little company called Ayar Mobile Tech. Each reporter agreed to the deal and was given digital files showing the illicit connection between the Mayor of Detroit and a murdered girl.
In these communications, they found words and phrases of such a sexual nature as to make adults nervous. It was the kind of story that would sell papers, elevate careers and make the national and international news.
But even more interesting to these local journalists were the references to an old case the Mayor had been involved in. In court, he had made certain denials. Now it seemed he had lied under oath.
Quickly, each reporter went through the proper channels and set about writing stories that would inform, outrage and titillate the public.
Two days later, Detroit and its Mayor were the talk of the nation.
PART TWO:
WESTCIDE
“The hell with it, kill ‘em all.”
-Danny Cavanaugh
14
SCANDALOUS
Danny was cool even as the earth moved under him. The two news stories had rocked Detroit. Both papers had dropped front-page bombs with embarrassing headlines: “mayor’s deadly sex scandal” and “sexts and the city.”
Both papers had printed racy excerpts from the information and blacked out certain words like a redacted file. But anyone could tell what the conversations were about.
And the worst part for the Mayor was statements wherein he bragged about firing a department head named Valerie Weeks. Weeks had sued for sexual harassment and lost. But Mayor Patterson had sworn under oath that he had not ordered her termination. Each paper had printed this exchange:
au: i c that weeks bitch got
a new job. too bad you didn’t
get none of that p----y?
gac-2837-cod: no biggie her loss i
would have tore her s---t up had
to show that ho who the boss was
au: damn you cold smh
gac-2837-cod: this is my city and
she was lousy at her job anyway
au: bulls--t you fired her cause
she wouldn’t give u that ass!
gac-2837-cod: yeah and the dumb bitch
was all surpprised when i did it.
what the f—k did she think?
Au: you are soooo bad lol
gac-2837-cod: u luv it
Mayor Patterson was avoiding the press and the city spin-doctors were working overtime. Przybylski was all over the news, making denials and issuing vague statements. But you could almost see the sweat on his brow as he spoke, saying that the evidence, even if true, could never be used against the Mayor in court.
Neither newspaper had not stated a connection between the murder and the Mayor himself but they had damned sure suggested it. Murder. Even with a man like Patterson, it seemed incredible.
The media worked tirelessly trying to find ways to extend the story. A local TV station found a college girlfriend of the Mayor who had accused him of threatening her years ago. The word “Kill” had been said in the interview three times.
Reebah’s very clever plan had lead both reporters to a disgruntled employee named James Massik from Ayar Mobile Tech who’d been fired recently. Massik had crossed the border to Canada and disappeared. AMT’s President denied that any employee had sold the information but no one listened to him. No one really cared where the info came from.
Danny was in the office of Horace Kowalski, the department’s liaison to the Mayor’s office. As soon as the news stories had hit, Riddeaux passed the matter up to Kowalski like the hot potato it was.
Kowalski was a short, round man. He had a head full of beautiful silver hair that he kept immaculately styled. His gray eyes looked very troubled as he sat across from Danny in his office. They had been over the story several times and still Kowalski seemed unsatisfied.
“This is not good, officer,” said Kowalski. “Not good at all.”
“So you keep saying,” said Danny.
“What a coincidence that this story leaks after you find the information and present it to your boss.”
“I was thinking that. Maybe Riddeaux sold us out.”
“We’ve considered that,” said Kowalski. “It’s unlikely.”
“Seems like water under the bridge now,” said Danny. “I mean, it’s out there now, right?”
“Do you know what’s at stake here, Detective?” asked Kowalski. “If the text messages can be linked to Mayor Patterson, then he could be up on perjury charges. That’s a felony.”
Danny knew the consequences were serious. He had not made the connection to the Weeks case when he read the texts. His friend Marshall had defended that case and won. Now, it might all blow up in his face.
“Why are you telling me all this?” asked Danny.
“This is an unforgiving city, D
etective,” said Kowalski. “The Mayor will want someone to blame.”
“From what I’ve read, he has no one to blame but himself. If he did all those things, he should resign.”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” said Kowalski. “Despite appearances, I am still a cop. Twenty years on the street, you know?”
“I do,” said Danny. “And you were shot back in ’83, I heard.”
“Yes,” said Kowalski, and he smiled with just a little pride. “Anyway, I have your official statement, read it over and avoid the press.”
“You have my official statement?” Danny wanted to laugh but nothing came out.
“Yes,” said Kowalski. “This is the department’s official position and if you value your job, you will agree to it.” He handed Danny a piece of paper with a short paragraph on it.
Danny read the statement, which didn’t say anything really. It was just a restatement of the facts that the death of Rashindah Watson had been closed.
“I won’t say this,” said Danny. “But if the department wants to put these words in my mouth, I guess I can’t stop them.”
“But do you agree that the case should be closed?”
“No,” said Danny. “I don’t.”
“I suggest you keep that opinion to yourself,” said Kowalski, and then he took the paper back.
“So off the record, what do you think?” asked Danny.
Kowalski started to speak then stopped, thinking for a moment. “I’ve seen a lot of shit in this godforsaken city. I remember when it was pleasant and hopeful and I’ve watched it turn into a gray, broken shell. Detroit, and to some extent its people, have lost their souls, son and that makes this the most dangerous place I know. So I think you should watch your back on this one.”
Danny nodded ever so slightly. This was advice he never needed to hear in his line of work but it was nice to know Kowalski was on his side.
Danny left Kowalski’s office and headed back to work but his mind wasn’t on the day job. It was the after hours work he was looking forward to.
Someone had gotten away with murder and he was not about to let that go.
“I should talk you out of it but I’d do the same thing,” said Vinny as they ate dinner. “How could your boss close the case when there are still loose ends?”
This had been on Danny’s mind quite a bit since it happened and he had a reason in his head but somehow it didn’t seem sufficient.
“Riddeaux was given her assignment by the Mayor. She’s trying to get rid of the case out of loyalty to him. But she is still has some cop in her. Turning a blind eye to our off the books investigation is as much as she can do on that end.”
“But the text messages, don’t they prove the Mayor had something to do with it?”
“To a cop, maybe,” said Danny. “But to a politician or a regular person, it’s just some guy trying to get some ass. Embarrassing, but not a crime. It’s the perjury thing that’s gonna get him in trouble, though. And I hear the lawyers for the woman he fired are reopening the case.”
“And they’ll ask the prosecutor to indict him as leverage to settle. So, you think he did it?” asked Vinny with quiet disbelief.
“Maybe she pressed him for money so he had her shut up. Or maybe some over-zealous assistant got carried away. All I have to do is find a link between the Mayor and whoever killed that girl because I’m pretty sure he didn’t do it himself.”
“So, you don’t think the guy you shot did it?”
“No,” said Danny. “We never found the gun. And why not shoot the witness, too? A pro would have killed them both. It was sloppy.”
Vinny nodded and ate some food. And then it came again, the silence and the playful half-smile on Vinny’s face. She was thinking about it again, he thought. The baby.
Danny fell into sync with the silence. He was suddenly not very hungry and wanting to go out looking for clues.
“You’ve been thinking about what we talked about before?” She asked.
“Yeah,” said Danny dully. “I… It’s a big step.”
“Yes. And I know you’re scared—“
“Nobody said that.” And suddenly Danny felt the need to argue with her, to get heated about this. He didn’t know where this feeling was coming from but it was strong. He wanted to fight with her and then walk away from the whole thing.
This was one of the many terrible things about being a man, he thought, that push and pull between strength and flaw, courage and fear. The comfortable life of a shacked up childless man would be obliterated by the lifetime commitment they were talking about.
“I was going to say, I’m afraid, too,” said Vinny and her face had contorted into a confused look. “But I think we shouldn’t punish each other over it. I mean, I think women have a different feeling about this, you know.”
And now Danny felt guilty. He was about to snap at her and she just took all of the fire out of him. He realized that it was too late in this relationship to invest in juvenile notions of life. They were inside each other more so than most married couples.
Vinny was feeling the call of time and if there was one thing he knew about women, one thing he had learned from Chemin Jackson, his best friend’s wife, it was that female time was very different than male time. That clock raced like the wind.
“I’m sorry,” he said gently. “It is scary.”
“I’ve never been real girly,” said Vinny. “I know it and most of my boyfriends have always liked that. I never thought that it was kind of a promise, you know, not to be girly. But I am a girl.”
“I know that. I never thought you wasn’t, Vinny.”
“I don’t need attention and compliments. I don’t fuss about a lot of things I know my friends do. I just feel like maybe I blindsided you.”
“Come on, don’t think that,” said Danny, “ and I don’t think any man is ready for this. I know Marshall wasn’t.”
“I remember that,” said Vinny. “You know Chemin called me while it was happening.”
“No, I didn’t know that,” said Danny.
Marshall and Chemin had almost gotten divorced over his refusal to have children. Marshall’s family had lots of issues and he worried that he would pass them on to his kids. Danny remembered how ugly it got and he had somehow ended up in the middle of it all.
“What did she say?” He was really curious now.
“It was strange,” said Vinny. “She said kids were the key to life and something about kids and light. She was crying and upset. All I know is that it scared me a little. But now, I think I know what she meant.”
Vinny looked at him and smiled a little, letting him know this was not a bad thing for them.
Suddenly, he remembered Vinny at the academy years ago, trying to force her thick hair under her hat, then later as she slammed a robber into the side of a brick wall. He remembered her being shot at the Big Boy on Jefferson and then he saw himself beating the shooter into a coma as Vinny lay bleeding on the floor. And they were still here, still together and trying to figure out their lives.
Danny wanted to say something beautiful and profound but he had no such gift for speaking. That he loved her did not seem enough to express himself. He wanted Vinny to know that she was everything to him and that any child of theirs would only make things better.
He got up from his chair and pulled her into their bedroom. They kissed and tugged at their clothing, in a hurry to join before anything could stop them.
Soon, they were naked and then before she could do anything, Danny was on his knees in front of her, pulling her toward him.
Vinny yelled audibly as his mouth made the connection to her. She struggled to keep her balance as waves of sensation rose. Her legs shuddered, and she fell into the bed.
Danny followed her eagerly, laughing a little at her tumble.
Vinny pushed him on his back, then spun around away from him, taking him into her mouth and lowering herself onto him. She hea
rd him make a noise, but it was wonderfully muffled.
He wondered if the shameless sexting had affected them both. Maybe, he reasoned, but it didn’t matter.
Vinny broke the connection and turned to face him. She straddled him and then maneuvered him inside of her and they both murmured at the final connection.
He started to move but she stopped him. “Just a second,” she said, adjusting to him. “Okay… alright, baby.”
They began to move with each other and his disquiet melted from the purpose of their union.
He looked up at Vinny and she had never been so beautiful.
15
TONY HILL
Chief of Police Tony Hill hated his desk. It wasn’t that it was ugly. Quite the contrary, it was fine piece of mahogany with brass accents and elaborate carvings at the corners. It was what it said that bothered him.
First, it was big, too big. So big that he often lost things on it. Second, it wasn’t even his. His predecessor, Chief Vernon Noble had ordered it before he was replaced. Tony had tried to stop the requisition, but the desk had already been paid for.
Tony was a calm and serene man these days. So many years on the street and in law enforcement’s political game had given him great perspective on life.
He was still married and his son Moe was a fine young man in private school. His best friend, Jim Cole, was still by his side, right down the hall, in fact. And he had his dream job at last.
Tony was a humble man, quick to compliment, deferring to others but always in control of what mattered. This was why he didn’t like the big, ostentatious desk. It wasn’t him. That desk was a lie.
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