by Starling,Amy
“I don't need revenge. Not long as she's safe and I'm free.”
Brett appeared to be thinking hard. I knew he was the opposite of James in that regard. When someone wronged him, he'd do what it took to lay down some payback, no matter the price.
We dropped James off because he wouldn't stop whining about Melody until we did. From there, though, we were lost.
“Let's just go back home,” I said, feeling defeated after all this. “I'm tired.”
“But the bomb,” Jenna protested. “We can't keep this thing in the house! What if it explodes?”
“Maybe we can disarm it. Cut the wires or something,” Charlie said.
“No one's cutting anything.”
After the rush of our victorious escape began to wear off, what remained was weariness and mostly fading hope.
What the hell was I supposed to do now? Harvey could burn down more buildings before anyone who cared caught him. Victor got away with whatever he liked because he simply ran this town, and I had no clue who to trust, who I could turn to about him.
Even my own squad was corrupt to the core. No wonder they always gossiped about me and looked down on me. To them, I must have looked like Miss Goody Two Shoes, the naive female cop who thought everyone played by the book just like her.
“Maddie?”
Brett studied me with concern. He lay his hand in my lap, offering me to take it. Mad as I was at him, it was the only bit of comfort I had right now.
“I give up, Brett.”
“Don't.”
“And why not? What other choice do I have? This game is over for us.” I let the tears fall at last. “When I first got put on the arsonist case, I was so excited. So eager to prove to the department that I could do the job, that I didn't just get promoted because Victor liked me.”
“But you can do the job. You're probably the most competent, ethical officer this town's got. Maybe I've made fun of your moral compass, but I respect it. I really do.”
His shoulder, strong and sturdy, beckoned to me. I put my head on it, too weak to keep up my anger anymore.
“Doesn't matter. This isn't like in the movies, where despite impossible odds, the good guys always win. In the real world, evil wins far more often than I wanted to believe.”
I thought I had beaten my depression years ago, but it came crashing back over me then, like a thick black blanket of despair. This blanket was so heavy that beneath it, I could barely move.
“Even if the bad guys do win,” he said softly, “you and I still got each other. We can leave the city to them, take off somewhere together far away, and never worry about them again. Just like James and Melody.”
“It's not that easy. You and my brother just broke out of jail. If you think they won't come looking for you, you're crazy.” I laughed and dried my eyes on his shirt. “Besides, after all the things you've done, I very much doubt we'd make it long as a couple.”
“I did what I did to get results. I might be one of the good guys, but I'm not above doing shady things to catch the crooks.”
“You'd fit in well with the local police, I guess.”
Charlie turned down Watercrest Street. Almost home. My bed was calling my name, and the only thing I wanted to do was bury myself under the blankets and forget all this.
“I thought about you while they had me locked in that cell,” he continued. “Thought about how much I'd screwed up. I was terrified I would lose you.”
Despite how pissed I was at him, I was afraid of the same thing. I snuggled into the nook of his arm, feeling like that just might be the only safe place left in my world these days.
“See any pigs?” Charlie glanced at Jenna. “Were we followed?”
“All I see are regular cars. Of course, doesn't mean they couldn't be cops in disguise.”
We were nearly at the house now. Boy, did I really wish they'd put more streetlights out here.
“Loop around the block a couple times,” I told Charlie. “And drive past slowly. They could have guys watching the place for us to return.”
But we saw nobody. Made sense, I supposed. Long as Victor thought he'd be getting the safe, he would probably call off the hunt.
Charlie pulled into the driveway. “Might wanna open the garage,” he suggested. “Don't think it's smart leaving this thing in the road.”
Jenna got out to open it up. Just as we pulled into the garage, a black car drove slow up to the house.
I tensed and squeezed Brett's hand. “Who is that?”
“Looks familiar, kind of like that car we spotted hiding in the bushes,” Brett said.
“Yeah, but that was Charlie, right?”
The car had darkly tinted windows so we couldn't see inside. When it pulled into the driveway behind us, blocking any chance at escape, my stomach churned. I put my hand on my gun, ready to shoot whoever threatened my family if need be.
The car continued to idle, and a man in a suit emerged from the passenger's side. I recognized his icy blue eyes instantly.
He didn't smile and barely blinked as he strode toward the cruiser. Then he knocked on the window as he displayed a shiny badge.
“Agent Alex Powers, Federal Bureau of Investigation,” he said. “Step out of the car, please.”
Chapter 26 - Brett
I'd gotten into lots of trouble for doing dumb shit in my life. But being nabbed by the FBI after busting out of jail?
Now that was my crowning achievement.
“I said get out of the car. All of you.”
Agent Alex was calm, cold almost. He didn't sound like he planned to arrest us.
None of us spoke as we filed out. Charlie looked as if he was plotting to flee into the woods. Probably wouldn't be smart. Cops you could outrun, but I wouldn't take a gamble with these guys. They probably had snipers watching us from the treetops.
I stood close enough to Madison to feel her shaking. The terror going through her mind right now had to be killing her, and that I couldn't fix it drove me nuts.
Poor Jenna stood behind me, trying to use me as a shield. Hopefully, he'd leave her alone. She was a good kid and had nothing to do with the mess we'd gotten into.
“H-how can we help you, agent?” Madison stammered.
Finally, he gave us a thin smile. “Relax, officer Finley. You're not in any trouble. Rather, it's we who need your help.”
We all exchanged nervous looks. The FBI needing civilians' help was something that only happened on crappy television dramas.
Wasn't it?
Alex gestured to the house. “Mind if I come inside so we can talk?”
She felt for her keys. “Don't see how I can decline.”
Inside, she invited him to have a seat in the kitchen. Jenna busied herself making tea to avoid his piercing gaze. I'd have liked to join her, but not when Maddie needed me most.
“We've been watching you for a while now,” Alex admitted. “There are some very interesting things happening in this city.”
Charlie shoved away from the table. “It's all my fault, man. Don't punish them for the things I did wrong, okay?”
“Charlie, shut up,” Jenna hissed as she handed Alex his tea.
He ignored the dolt and sipped his beverage. “You don't recognize me, Finley?”
“Please just call me Madison,” she said, studying him. “You're the man who bumped into me at dinner earlier.”
He nodded. “Apologies, but it was a necessary action. Now, would you please turn around?”
An odd request, but she turned her back to him anyway. Alex picked something tiny off the crease of her dress, then held it to the light. I thought at first it was merely a shard of glass.
“Technology is amazing these days, isn't it?” He showed her the near-microscopic object. “To think something this size can record everything it hears with crystal-clear accuracy.”
Punching an FBI agent was a bad idea, but I wanted to right then. I glared at him while Madison stared in shock.
“You were spying
on her?” I growled. “See, Maddie, I told you law enforcement isn't to be trusted.”
“But we're a lot like you, in some regards,” he said. “We're the good guys, but to catch the crooks, sometimes we must do some not-so-good things. Surely you understand.”
Holy hell. He'd heard every word of every conversation anyone had with her. That meant he'd been snooping on us in the car, and when we went to Melody's to get the bomb, and who knew what else?
“I don't understand,” she said. “Why would you do something like this to me?”
“This poor woman has enough trust issues as it is. Where do you get off violating her privacy?”
Alex seemed not to hear us. He gestured to the laptop that rested on the kitchen counter.
“It's not safe to run about with an explosive device like that. I have to wonder what you planned on doing with it?”
Jenna had managed to hold herself together this long, but not anymore. She cried loud sobs as big tears rolled down her face.
“What do you want from us already? We're just decent folks who got caught up in this mess. We only want out. To forget it ever happened.”
“Yeah, dude,” Charlie added, putting an arm around his sister. “If you're looking for the real criminals, try Victor and his lackey, Harvey.”
Again, Alex ignored them and helped himself to the laptop without asking. He hummed as he opened the back panel. The putty stuff fell out on the table; we all winced, expecting the house to explode at any moment.
“Hmm. Not too bad, for an amateur.” He gently tugged at one of the wires until it came loose. “Well now, that's a relief. Had this thing gone off, it would have taken out much more than just that girl's apartment.”
“What do you know about Melody?” Madison snapped. “And if you've been eavesdropping this whole time, how about you stop with the questions? You seem to know all the answers anyway.”
“I know quite a few of them. You're going to help me fill in the gaps.”
“Oh, am I?”
“You are if you want Victor Patterson to pay for his crimes.”
There was a faint flicker of hope on her face. I didn't much trust this guy, but right now, he was offering Maddie a chance to stop Victor.
Alex was shady, no doubt about it. Still, this might be our only chance at having normal lives again.
A normal life, together. I couldn't ask for more than that.
She clung to Alex's arm. “You know about Victor? What? Tell me!”
He pulled an iPad tablet from beneath his coat and turned it on. A picture of a man who looked quite like Victor, but younger and somehow different, popped up.
“His real name is Nick Mariani, first of all. He's the son of one of the most notorious gangsters in New York.”
Madison studied the photos in shock. The teenage boy in them had shoulder-length black hair, while Victor's was graying and neatly cropped. He had many tattoos; Victor had none that I had seen. Even his style of dress was like that of a different person.
“You mean he's not really the police chief?” Jenna asked.
“Oh, he is – albeit he didn't earn that title legitimately.” Alex flipped to some news story about the guy, dated almost thirty years ago. “His father, Leon, flew under the radar most times, though his boy was always causing him trouble. One day, something big went down. There was a shootout with the police, in which Nick was thought to have been killed.”
“Whaddya mean, 'thought?'” Charlie piped in. “What kind of incompetent cops would have walked away without proof?”
“They found his blood spilled at the scene, but never did find the body. Leon's whole family mourned the kid.” He shrugged. “Police weren't interested in searching for a lost criminal, so they chalked him up as 'indefinitely missing' and called it a day.”
Nice to know cops in New York were even lazier than the ones here.
“And as time went by, it seemed that indeed, he had to be dead. Nobody saw him in New York again. Yet somehow, he was alive and well.”
He opened another picture. In this one, Victor had short blonde hair, blue eyes, no tattoos, and a new nose.
“Then about two years later, this guy pops up. Went by the name of Eric Sharp, had a 'job' running a restaurant in Chicago. Turned out that place was just a front for a huge counterfeiting operation.”
He showed photos of men being led out of the building in handcuffs. Victor was among them, and he did not look pleased.
“So you're saying this Eric was the head of that scam?” I sipped my tea, wishing it had some booze in it, but alas. “That guy has been busy. Gotta give him props for his ambition, I guess.”
“Given that counterfeiting is a federal crime, that's when we became involved in this picture. He was arrested, but his lawyer got him off the hook.” He sighed. “It wasn't until after that, when we found evidence of his DNA at the scene, that things got interesting.”
Next he showed us some kind of medical-looking report. I wasn't smart enough to figure out what all the terms meant, thought Jenna and Madison seemed to be keenly interested.
“Back in the late eighties, DNA testing was in its infancy. It took ages to get results, which were occasionally questionable or even inaccurate. When several folks noticed that Sharp looked an awful lot like Mariani, we decided to test anyway. A strand of hair compared to the blood he'd shed in New York... A perfect match. That was no accident.”
“So you knew who he really was,” Madison murmured. “Why not hunt him down and arrest him again?”
“He'd been proven not guilty, first of all, and at that point we had nothing else to pin on him. Shortly after the verdict, he got scared and pulled his identity swapping stunt yet again.”
“Christ,” Charlie said. “Just how many names has this freak taken?”
Alex smiled. “Probably more than we know. He became Larry Heinlen next, and attempted to lay low across the country in Seattle. We caught onto him for fraud; he bolted before the arrest and completely vanished for three years more – then popped up yet again as Greg Krauser in Indiana.”
It made my head swim. This man had taken so many identities, how the hell could he keep them all straight?
“How could one man pull this off? The effort and money involved to create a new face, a new life...”
“He had his daddy's money helping him at first. Then, as his experience with counterfeiting grew, he could pay for it on his own. Black-market ID theft, facial reconstruction surgery, the works.”
I gestured for Madison to sit beside me – looked like she was gonna pass out – but she preferred to remain standing where she could pace around the kitchen.
“All the while he was in business with his father, helping him build an empire based on illicit drugs like cocaine, ecstasy, meth, you name it. Here's a picture of a warehouse the Santa Fe police uncovered in two thousand two that we're almost positive belonged to the family.”
He wasn't exaggerating. It was a run-down building, a factory or something, with crates of drugs far as you could see. If that one kilo of coke Charlie bought cost us twenty K, the value of that haul must have been...
Made me dizzy just thinking about it.
“What do you mean, almost positive? There was nothing you could pin on them to make arrests?”
His eyes lowered. “Unfortunately, where this much product is involved, you tend to have... corruption among the rank-and-file officers. We believe they were bribed in some manner to 'lose' any evidence. Then, as before, they vanished.”
“Okay, I get it,” Madison said. “So he changed identities a dozen times. How does this lead to the Victor we know today? And what's it got to do with me?”
“Gangsters often have tight-knit connections with law enforcement. It's partially how they evade arrest and get away with so much of what they do.” He showed a picture of a slightly-younger Victor with less gray hair. “Victor Patterson moved to Texas ten years ago and quickly worked his way up the police ranks. Must have decided he could ge
t more done were he running the show.”
“Ten years.” Madison counted something on her fingers. “That was well after Harvey set fire to our house. Victor wasn't the police chief yet, but somehow he managed to alter the records of his son's death.”
“He probably had a lot of power even before joining the police,” I said.
“Right. Maybe the men knew each other prior to Victor getting hired. I did overhear Victor yelling at him, something about how he'd been helping him for years and Harvey owed him.”
I got a feeling those two were more closely connected than we'd yet figured out. Didn't really matter to me, though. Only thing that mattered was that Alex had caught onto his game, and he'd be behind bars real soon.
If he didn't pull another identity swap, that is.
“We were busy trying to hunt down his last-known persona, but at this point, we wondered whether to simply give up. While we were looking for Peter Smith in California, Victor was making a new life for himself here, totally unbeknownst to us.”
“So for the past ten years, you guys didn't notice the shady crap he was up to?” Charlie asked.
“It's quite a bit easier for a police chief to hide his actions than your average civilian. Few people question them; most folks are afraid to challenge their authority.” His gaze fixed on Madison. “Except for you.”
“I dated him.” She glanced sadly at me. “For just a few months. There was a pretty big age gap, and other officers questioned my intentions, but I liked him. He was charming, cultured, had the money to show me a good time. Showered me with gifts and attention. It was far too easy to fall under his spell.”
She looked guilty. I didn't agree with her choice of boyfriend, but I didn't blame her for being with him. On paper, the guy sounded like a woman's dream come true.
“Did he never show his true self to you?” Alex wondered. “You've been working at the department for four years. You got close to him.”
“I never saw this side of him until just recently. I mean, yes, he did have a temper, and sometimes he'd go from being calm to raging in seconds. The officers were afraid of him. I wasn't.”
“He started acting weird after the first fire, right?” Jenna said.