“Well,” she started, “the night before last, her father—his name was Haziz—was working at his liquor store and he was killed by two people robbing the store.”
“Oh God!” I said, “That’s awful!” I had a very distinct chill running down my spine and I immediately wondered if this was a random crime or if maybe Hank had staged what was actually an execution to appear to be a random criminal act. “Did he die right away? Did he suffer?”
“Based on the fact that he was shot in the face and that his head was nearly blown off, I’d say death was instantaneous,” she said. “Apparently, the thieves had already gotten all of the cash out of the register, so they didn’t even have to kill the poor man. He didn’t have any kind of a gun behind the counter, so it’s not like they felt threatened by him. What is wrong with people these days? It’s like a human life has no value to some folks!”
“So, there was more than one robber?” I asked.
“A man and a woman, according to the news. The police were able to retrieve security camera footage from a concealed camera that was up on a shelf behind the counter. Both wore scuba style masks, according to the TV news. They were both white and the woman had long brown hair. Apparently, it was obvious she was a woman based on her breasts, which were very large for her petite body. The man is apparently a big guy. According to the press release, what they do know about the assailants doesn’t match up with any descriptions of criminals involved in recent crimes in the area.”
“Wow!” I blurted out unconsciously.
“What?” she asked.
“Oh,” I replied hesitantly. I scrambled to think up a plausible reason for my verbal reaction. “Uh, it’s just—um. It’s just that you don’t often hear about chicks being involved in this kind of thing.”
“I know, right?” she agreed. “It makes you wonder what kind of background a woman like that would have, that would make her participate in such a violent crime.”
Brenda went on to say, “I read a news article in the paper today that said there was an unnamed police source who stated the cops were looking into the possibility that the killers were not there to rob him at all. The fact that the two—uh—perps, I guess—they just stood there and gunned him down after he had followed their instructions and that he had his hands up in the air has led to speculation that this was a planned execution. They are looking at anybody who might have had a reason to murder him and stage it to look like a robbery gone bad.”
“I just don’t believe that anyone would want Haziz dead, though,” she went on. “He was a gentle, sweet man. In fact, he was one of the most attentive and loving fathers I have ever come across during one of my cases. He doted on that little girl! And she loved him! She really cherished him. Whenever I was around them, she was always askin’ for him to pick her up or hold her on his lap. When I would get to their house, his wife would usually have to call them in from the back yard, where they’d be swingin’ or playin’ together.”
“Of course, just to be thorough, I had to ask neighbors and some of his former employees about any concerns they might have about Haziz,” she continued. “Literally every person I talked to said that he was a great neighbor, or a great boss, or just a heckuva nice guy. There were no indications he was leading any kind of double life or that he was involved in anything shady. I just can’t imagine anyone having reason to purposefully go after him or his family!”
Fuck me! I thought to myself. Assassination of a clerk who is cooperating with robbers and not going for a gun of his own. Description of assailants compatible—very compatible—with Hank and Jodi. Timing of the event that puts it not too long after what happened to little Suzie. No other similar crimes that the cops can connect to this case. This can’t be a coincidence, what happened here is obvious! I literally felt nauseous as it occurred to me I was too late to stop Hank and that his latest victim was not even guilty of the crime for which he’d been murdered. This shit had gotten seriously fucked up. It was clear to me that Hank had become the monster I’d been fearing he could become, and now he’d influenced Jodi to become his murderous sidekick.
I was going to have to find a way to put a stop to this shit, once and for all. Not only was my best friend a homicidal loose cannon who, according to every current indication, was looking for opportunities to prove to himself, and his girlfriend, what a fearless deliverer of justice he was. The other problem, and this was the one that scared the shit out of me, was that when—not if— he and Jodi were caught, it was very likely Jodi would provide the authorities with details of how she was pulled into Hank’s world of vigilante justice. Based on my recent conversation with Hank, I was certain he had already divulged details of his previous missions to Jodi in order to get her off and inspire her to join him in planning and executing his future acts of retribution against those who he identified as perpetrators of evil. That meant she knew about the skeletons in my own closet—she knew about Brandon!
It was not hard to imagine a scenario where the two of them would get arrested. In such a situation, Jodi would be enticed to come clean with any information she had regarding Hank’s criminal activities—as well as my own—in order to receive favorable treatment from the office of the District Attorney during their prosecution of her for her own crimes. Upon hearing about how Hank and I had killed Brandon, I would be investigated and possibly even arrested and charged for murder. I was certain that the authorities would disregard the fact that we had what many people would consider a very strong justification for what we had done. If I were to go down for Brandon’s murder, it would be bye-bye career, bye-bye Ryan, bye-bye comfortable life, and hello perpetual shit storm that would follow me for the rest of my earthly existence. Fuck!
In the few seconds that had transpired since Brenda had described what she had heard on TV and read in the paper about Suzie’s father being murdered, I realized my own future, and that of my family, was in mortal jeopardy due to Hank’s psychotic compulsions. I knew at that moment I would have to find a way to neutralize the threat posed by him, as well as his psycho-bitch girlfriend. That was the only way I would ever be able to find peace of mind and freedom from the fear that my greatest secret would eventually be exposed.
“You even listenin’ to me, Doc?” Brenda asked, as my consciousness returned to the present world around me.
“What? Uh yeah,” I lied. “I—uh. I just spaced out for a minute when you told me what happened to that poor man. Why does shit like that have to happen? That poor bastard, and his family! From what you’ve told me, his little girl will probably never recover from losing her father like that.”
As I responded to Brenda’s inquiry about whether or not my mind had been elsewhere, I had projected my feelings of anger, betrayal, and terror into my thoughts regarding the family involved in Brenda’s CPS case—the family that Hank had unjustly destroyed.
“I’m sorry to have laid all of this on your doorstep, Doctor Bishop. I’m sure you’ve got plenty of other things to worry about besides what’s been bothering me. I do appreciate you listenin’ though. You’re a good man, Doc. I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but I’m proud to call you a friend. I don’t hardly know any other doctor who would stop to give me the time of day, much less fetch me a cup of coffee and ask me about my life.”
“Honestly, Brenda,” I said, “I respect the hell out of you and what you do for children and for society. Besides that, I’m honored that you consider me a friend. That’s a lot more than I can say about how most of my peers make me feel. I’m sorry I spaced out like that, but I just can’t shake the mental image of that poor guy, who was just doing what he needed to do to provide for his family, standing there waiting for his executioner to pull the trigger and blow his head off. Of course, what’s even worse is the image of his wife opening the door to the cops who had come to tell her about it. These kinds of senseless actions that steal lives and destroy families just really get to me.”
“Well,” she said, “just so you know, I went t
o talk to his wife and see if I could do anything to help them. Obviously, she is torn up about what happened and terrified about their future. She has never worked and has no ability to step in and run the liquor store. She’s afraid that they’ll be destitute before long. She did allow me to set up a ‘Go Fund Me’ website so maybe she can keep enough money coming in to feed little Suzie until she can get her feet on the ground, and maybe get some type of career training. She’s also anticipating needing to get Suzie some counseling to help her work through the loss of her father, as he was clearly the most important person in her life. She’s a strong woman and I know that she’ll be fine if she can just get a little help during this transition.”
I suddenly felt a heavy burden of responsibility to this family. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I had lit the match and touched it to the fuse that had ultimately led to the explosive events which had killed Suzie’s father and laid waste to her family’s peaceful existence.
“Do me a favor, Brenda,” I said. “Write down the details I need to get to that site. I’m going to make sure that family gets the help they need.”
“Oh, you know,” she replied, with a guilty look on her face, “I wasn’t trying to pull you into this. You don’t even know these people. Please don’t think I was tryin’ to get you to put in any money! I’m sorry, I was just talkin.’ You’re a good man, but I don’t want you to feel obligated to contribute. I was thinkin’ more about their friends and neighbors, you know. Like their community wanting to help them out.”
“Oh, I know you weren’t baiting me, Brenda,” I said. “Sometimes, I believe certain things come to light in your life for a reason. In those moments, you need to listen to the voice inside of you telling you that you have been presented with the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life. Some folks perceive this voice as God or The Holy Spirit or some saintly being. Personally, I think that it is just the basic—I don’t know—goodness, I guess, that makes us different from all the other creatures in the world. Right now, my inner voice is telling me there is a reason I happened upon you today, and a reason you shared this story. I think it was because I needed to hear about what happened to this family, so I could reach out. Don’t apologize for telling me about these poor folks. You didn’t make me feel obligated to help them. I see it more as an opportunity and I just want to thank you for being the vector that exposed me to their story.”
I was being sincere when I told Brenda I was thankful for the chance to help this family in need. I had always looked for opportunities to reach out and provide a helping hand when I was inspired to do so. What Brenda didn’t need to know was that I was also thankful that she had provided me with the critical insight I needed into what was going on in my best friend’s fucked up mind. This knowledge would allow me to begin figuring out how to prevent him from destroying other families through his twisted attempts to right the social wrongs around him. By stopping Hank, I would not only be protecting his future victims. I would also be protecting the secrets regarding my own past which, if exposed, would lay waste to my family and my future.
Section Eleven:
The Intervention
Chapter 50
Since I had obviously been unable to convince Hank that he needed to abandon his newfound passion for being a real life Judge Dredd, I thought maybe I’d have better luck talking to Jodi and seeing if I could convince her that what he’d been doing was wrong. I thought maybe I could point out how fortunate she was to be involved with him and how, I knew, they could spend the rest of their lives together enjoying the fruits of his labors. With the small fortune he had accumulated and multiple streams of income which would continue to flow to him from his businesses, he could easily retire from medicine any time and devote his time to living a life of leisure. Although I did not believe it, I planned to tell her I could see Hank selling his anesthesia group in order to have time to spend his days and nights with Jodi traveling to exotic destinations, eating at the best restaurants, drinking the best wine, and, basically, enjoying all of the pleasures in life which his wealth afforded them. I planned to suggest that Hank had confided in me regarding his adoration of and devotion to her, although, in truth, I wasn’t actually certain that hers would be the last name on his long list of sexual conquests.
I needed to find a way to get her alone in order to be able to speak freely to her regarding what Hank had been up to, without him knowing about it.
Knowing that Hank had taken his kids skiing in Colorado over spring break, I called him and asked if I could borrow his canoe. I described a fictitious camping trip which I was planning to take with my son Corey at Guadalupe State Park near San Antonio. He told me it was locked up in his garage, but he offered to have Jodi meet me at his place in order to open the garage and disable the alarm, which I had correctly anticipated.
“What the fuck?” I asked, pretending to be offended. “So now you trust Jodi more than your best friend? Why don’t you give me your damn alarm code?”
“Listen, numb nuts,” he responded, “I’m happy to give you the alarm code, but you still need a key to get into the side door of the garage. Jodi, as my assistant—not as my girlfriend—keeps an extra set of my keys, so don’t be such a little bitch. Don’t worry, Marky-Mark, you’ll always be my favorite, even if you don’t have beautiful, huge ass titties and an ass like a porn star, like Jodi does.”
“Now, just wait a second, that’s completely unfair. You know I’ve been doing that Brazilian Butt lift video. I think my ass would look pretty good on a porn flick,” I said.
“Well, I guess it’s time to find you an agent then,” he replied.
We both laughed and I said, “Okay, then. Well, hope you and the kids have a great time on the slopes. Be careful. I’ll give your girlfriend—personal assistant, I mean—a call, and get her to let me in your garage. I’ll get the canoe back to you the next time I’m in town.”
“Thanks. See you soon Broheem. If you see anything else in the garage that might come in handy, just help yourself,” Hank said. “Except for Jodi, that is. Love you, man, but I’m not sharing!”
“Not a problem, dude,” I replied. I thought about saying something to the effect that I wouldn’t touch that psycho hose beast with a ten-foot pole, but I thought better of it. No sense pissing him off. Instead, I finished up with, “She’s all yours, big guy. Have a great trip. Thanks again and I’ll see you soon.”
*****
When I pulled into Hank’s driveway, I could see Jodi’s Mazda Miata, which Hank had bought for her in lieu of her annual Christmas bonus the prior year, parked in front of the four-bay garage. He had built this structure when he started accumulating his many big boy toys like his Mustang, his boat, his multiple ATV’s, and his Jeep. I pulled into the parking area between the house and the detached garage, then backed my SUV up to the open double sized bay, which was where he parked his four wheelers and his boat, and was where he stored his outdoor gear, including the canoe.
“Hey there, Marky,” Jodi said. “How are you today?” I hated that she had started calling me Marky, but I felt like it would create more awkwardness than it was worth if I were to tell her how much I cringed each time it came out of her mouth. Frankly, if I could somehow compel her to stop saying all of the shit that made me cringe, she would become a mute.
“Hey Jodi,” I replied. “How’s it going? Thanks for meeting me over here and letting me into the garage. I know he must have some air-tight security going on here, since it’s where he keeps all of his most esteemed possessions.”
“Actually, I am his most esteemed possession,” she replied. “None of this stuff can do for him what I can do.”
There she goes making me cringe again.
As it had many times before, it occurred to me that Jodi might have an exaggerated opinion regarding her importance and significance to Hank.
“So,” I said, “you feel like you’re Hank’s possession? And you’re comfortable with that?”
“I’ve
told you before, Mark, I’m comfortable with whatever Hank wants and I will become whatever he wants me to be. I just recently proved that to him, so I know that he’ll never doubt it.”
I thought I knew where she was going with this, although I wouldn’t have guessed that it would be quite so easy to get her talking about it.
“What did you do? God, did you have a threesome?” I asked.
She smiled demurely.
“Was it with a chick or a dude? Or wait—was it another couple? Are you two swingers now?” I probed.
“It wasn’t a threesome and it wasn’t any kind of orgy, but it was way hotter than that,” she blurted out, not waiting for me to finish my inquiry. “Hank doesn’t need anyone else around when he has me!”
“Okay,” I said. “I’m sure you’re right,” I lied. “But I do know Hank has a fantasy about doing two chicks at one time.”
“Well, that’s fine,” she said. “I’ll fuck some other guy as he watches, or I’ll go down on some other chick. Like I said, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him satisfied! But, that’s not what I was talking about. I was trying to let you know that you’ve been replaced.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. “I think you might have the wrong idea about me. Hank never had me fuck other people while he watched so he could get off.”
“Fuck you, Mark!” she said. “I told you that’s not what I was talking about!”
“I know, Jodi,” I responded, with a sardonic grin on my face. “I’m just giving you shit. Okay then, tell me. How is it that you’ve replaced me? It’s painfully obvious that you want to gloat about something, so let’s hear it.”
“You know, Hank told me what he helped you do. He told me every detail. Then he told me about how he took care of that piece of white trash who was harassing the scrub tech at the hospital. Now, that’s a man! That’s a total badass, motherfucking man! I couldn’t hardly wait for him to finish before I grabbed him and made him take me to bed.”
Fatal Flaws Page 32