by Dale Mayer
He looked at her and softly said, “We’ll take care of this.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “I’m on my way to the hospital,” she said to the person on the other end of the call. “I want to know who released him. I gave very strict orders. Yes, I know what it said. I’m the one who wrote it,” she said, “but that doesn’t mean you release him to the abusive father,” she snapped, hanging up without saying goodbye.
She walked into her bedroom and quickly got changed. When she was ready, she came back out, dressed much more casually than her normal workday attire, but wearing something she felt more appropriate for the hospital. “Drop me off at the hospital, will you?”
“It’s probably just as quick to walk with you there,” Fallon said, looking at Kano for confirmation.
Kano nodded. “What good can you do,” he asked Catherine, “if he’s already been released?”
“I’ll need to address some paperwork, and I’ll also need to report some negligence,” she said. “Besides, I highly suspect you’ll be back in no time with that boy.” She spun around and glared at Kano. “Right?”
He nodded slowly. “Yes, that’s true,” he said, “providing we can find them in time.”
“Find him,” she snapped. “The boy isn’t well enough to be free, especially not in his father’s care. His father doesn’t even believe he’s ill at all.”
“We’ll have a talk with the father right now,” he snapped.
“It sounds like your previous threats didn’t work.”
“It’s not like that doesn’t ever happen,” he said, “but it’s rare.”
“You do that, and, in the meantime, on the walk over to the hospital, I’ll contact my mother and see if I can get anything more out of her.”
“Deal,” he said. “But if she thinks we’re pushing you, she won’t help.”
“I have my own leverage,” she said quietly. “I just don’t know if it’s any easier to utilize or not.”
“Care to share?” Fallon asked.
She shot him half a smile. “No,” she said, “definitely not.”
“Is your mother likely to let you pull something like that on her?”
“Not likely,” she said.
“I’m concerned about your safety,” Kano said, suddenly walking to her. “You know your mother.”
“I do, indeed,” she said, with a nod. “So let me deal with her.”
He frowned, not liking it at all apparently.
She laughed. “Come on. This is the best answer. This way at least I’ll get what we can for answers.”
“She hasn’t given you any yet,” he pointed out.
Just then Fallon walked up and said, “Come on. We got to go.”
“Did you locate him?” Kano asked Fallon.
“The father went home,” he said. At that, the three of them headed outside.
“I’m surprised he did that,” Catherine said.
“I am too,” Kano said.
“Your threats don’t work anymore,” she said. “Maybe you’ve become a teddy bear.”
“Not in this lifetime,” he said, his voice hard. “Not for assholes like that.”
She turned in alarm. “You can’t kill him. You know that, right?”
He widened his gaze and said, “Kill who? Some slugs are meant to be moved to a new garden, and some spiders just need killing. Then you get idiots like this.”
“He obviously feels strongly about his son, if he did this.”
“Or he’s trying to retaliate against his wife. Where was she anyway?”
“Good question,” she said. Frowning, she pulled out her phone, as they walked down the stairs. “I’ll see if I can find out.”
“Because I don’t have a good feeling. If Angus went after the kid, why wasn’t the mom there?”
“I didn’t think of that,” she said. “I know she has a job, but I thought she was staying at a shelter, until the apartment got squared away.”
“Find out for us,” he said. As they headed outside, they quickly walked up the street to the hospital.
“Nice and handy for you, isn’t it?” Kano noted.
“One of the reasons I bought it,” she said.
“And, if you bought it,” Fallon said, “that was a hell of a good investment.”
“I received some money in trust, supposedly from my father, whoever that ended up being,” she said. “It was years ago, but I kept it in a nice little fund to build some interest, until I was ready to spend it. I wanted to make sure I bought something that would increase in value, and real estate made sense.”
“It makes sense to me,” he said. “Most people aren’t that wise about their money.”
“I didn’t want to depend on my mother at any stage of the game,” she said, “and I think, in some weird way, my mother respects and actually admires that.”
“I think,” Kano said, “your mother is at a stage where she wants to have a little more of a relationship with you than you’re prepared to have with her.”
“Maybe,” she said. “I’m not really prepared to let that door get too wide.”
“Considering the fact that we’re being followed right now,” Fallon said, “maybe we need to clarify whether it’s her or somebody else.” He looked at Kano. “Let’s have Ice check that out too.”
They deliberately walked under cameras on the city street, so that they were easily seen. As they walked, Fallon was texting messages to anybody in the industry who could help track what they were up to.
“We’ve done what we can at the moment,” Kano said. “We’ll break off at the hospital and go visit your friend.”
“Take it easy on that little boy,” she said. “He’s pretty sick.”
“Is he still?”
“I was looking at releasing him tomorrow,” she said, “but the dad is just as likely to hurt him even worse.”
“We’ll see,” Kano said.
*
As soon as the guys had seen Catherine safely inside the hospital, Kano and Fallon turned and bolted back for their vehicle.
“I still don’t like anything about the Catherine and DeeDee scenario, much less the DeeDee and Bullard issue.”
“I know. It’s starting to feel like a completely lost cause.” Fallon paused. “Except for the fact that somebody tried to snatch Catherine to get at you.”
“Which is something that Mom won’t talk about.”
“As long as she’s doing her own investigation and hasn’t lost her grip.”
“You even mentioning that is likely to get you shot, by the way.”
As soon as they pulled up outside of Angus’s apartment, Fallon asked, “How do you want to play this?”
“I could go in raising thunder, but it would probably just terrify the little boy more than he already is.” Kano studied the apartment, even as Angus ran out the front door to throw some items into the back of the vehicle. “You think he’ll pull a runner?”
“It sure looks like it,” Fallon said. “The question is, where is the boy?”
“He should have had this all packed and ready, with the boy being the last thing he picked up,” Kano said, his voice hard.
“That’s a mistake he won’t make twice.”
“No, so what’s our legal background here?”
“According to Ice, it’s not great. The police really don’t like any interference, so we’re back to the question of, what do you want to do?”
“Why don’t you contact Charles?” Kano said, “and see if we have any pull anywhere. This guy needs to be deep-sixed someplace, where he can’t wiggle out again.”
“The problem in this case is, we can’t hurt Angus without being up on abuse charges if we go too far,” Fallon said. “Since scaring the crap out of him apparently didn’t do the job, I suggest we go to plan B.”
“And what’s that?”
“We’ll get a full-on confession out of him, and then we’ll have him turn himself in to the cops,” he said.
Kano thought about
it and gave a decisive nod. “They can’t get too pissed off at us for that, can they?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Fallon said, with a smile. “But personally I’d rather just beat the crap out of him.”
“You and me both,” Kano said. And, with a heavy sigh, he exited the car and stood. “But we also know that the local cops tend not to like that.”
“Let’s see what we can do. Angus may well have a weapon that he’s planning on pulling on us. Maybe we can have him turn it on himself instead.”
“A guy like this? … If he pulls a weapon, he won’t even know how to shoot it, so he’ll probably shoot himself in the foot first.”
“Yeah, but we can’t be too sure,” he said. “Going in cocky won’t—”
“I’m not cocky,” Kano said. “I’m pissed, and this asshole will pay for what he just did. That little boy has to come first in somebody’s world,” he said.
“Let’s hope the wife is okay.”
“Right. Speaking of which, let’s get Catherine to request a welfare check—or at least phone Samantha—to make sure she’s okay, and see if Catherine knows what’s going on yet.” Kano shook his head. “It’ll break my heart to find Samantha inside, helping the dad run.”
“I know, yet we’ve seen it time and time again,” Fallon said, with a heavy sigh.
“Let’s hope we don’t today.”
They walked up the front driveway, and, as they heard the rear door slam, Fallon slipped around the back of the house.
The father came racing outside and into the front yard, his arms full of more bags. He took one look at Kano, then froze and started backing up. “No, no, no,” he said. “I was just leaving town.”
“Yeah, you were,” Kano said, “only you went to the hospital and stole your little boy, and that was not part of the deal.”
The guy shook his head. “No, no, no,” he said, holding up his hands. But they were full of stuff, and he quickly dropped everything. “I’m leaving right now,” he said.
“Too bad you didn’t leave already,” Kano said. He spoke in a conversational tone, as he walked closer, forcing the guy to move back, but he was already peeing in his pants, as he retreated.
“Interesting that you thought you could take your boy away and not face the consequences. Yet now that you’re facing them, you’re already pissing your pants,” he scoffed.
“Look,” he said. “He’s my boy.”
“A boy who you obviously don’t give a shit about because you’ve done nothing but hurt him,” he said. “Where is he?”
But Angus wouldn’t answer that question; he just kept shaking his head. “No, no. You can’t stop me. It’s not allowed. The police will stop you.”
“Which is why we’ll have a nice little talk with you,” Kano said, as he backed him into the apartment. He shut the door with a very concise click. “Where’s your wife?” Immediately Kano saw fear cross the guy’s face. Kano said, “If you killed her, there’s no saving you at all.”
“I didn’t kill her,” he protested.
“Somehow I don’t believe you.” He picked up the phone and called Catherine. “Did you contact the wife?”
“I’ve sent cops over,” she said, her voice tense. “There’s no answer on her cell phone. Did you find Jeremy?”
“We’ll give you an update on that in a few minutes.”
Just then came a shout from Fallon at the back of the apartment. “I’ve got the boy,” he said, and then Fallon was gone.
Angus turned around, looked, then started to scream. “You can’t take him,” he said. “He’s my son!”
“I don’t care,” Kano said. “In your hands, that boy is in danger. So whether he’s your son, or he’s your nephew, or he’s some kid you stole off the street—you don’t get to be around him.”
“You can’t stop me,” he roared. Then he charged Kano, with his head down, like a bull in a china shop. Kano easily sidestepped him, and the guy tripped and fell on the floor.
“See? You’re just a damn bully,” Kano said. “You beat up kids and women, but you never really stand up for a fair fight.”
“This isn’t a fair fight,” the man said.
“You’re right,” Kano said. “You’re really obviously not well equipped for this.” He looked up to see Fallon walking in the front door.
“What’s the matter?” Fallon said, with a motion to the guy on the floor. “Did he trip?”
“Actually he did,” Kano said, with a half smile. “How’s the boy?”
“The ambulance is outside.”
Kano looked up in surprise. “That was quick. We didn’t even see them coming.”
“You can thank Catherine for that.”
“I still want to know where the mother is,” Kano said. “What about the cops?”
“They’re coming,” he said, “so you got five minutes.”
“You can’t hurt me,” the guy said, with a smile. “The cops will save me.”
“You know what? You’re probably right,” he said, “but you tripped once already, so I can’t really do much more damage than you’ve already done to yourself.” And, with that, he lifted the guy to his feet and said, “But you’re not going unscathed.” With that, he punched him incredibly hard in the stomach. The guy bent over, crying like a baby. “Remember that. Do you know how we found out about you here?”
“No,” he said.
“The same way we’ll find out what your life is like in prison, and I’ll tell you right now. If you ever come after your son again, we’ll make sure you don’t see daylight. Do you hear me?”
The guy protested, but Kano gave him a threatening smile. “We have ways and means that you can’t even imagine. Just like we’re here now, we’ll make sure you don’t even get to breathe again. You understand?”
“You can’t do that. It’s my son,” he said.
At that, Kano reached out, grabbed him by his throat, and tightened his grip, hard.
Angus gasped and choked, struggling.
Kano finally eased up and said, “I don’t hear your compliance.”
Immediately the guy refused to agree, so Kano squeeze his neck again. Angus choked for air, but he didn’t back down. “Bit of a stubborn snot, isn’t he?” Kano noted.
“That’s all right. By the time he’s bent over double and taking a half a dozen men in his jail cell at night,” Fallon said, “he’ll change his tune.”
The man’s gaze widened. “No,” he said, “you can’t do that to me.”
“Why not?” Kano asked, puzzled. “It happens to every puke like you in the joint.”
“No, that’s not fair.”
“Nothing fair about this. Remember? You’re the one who abuses little boys and beats up your wife. When you’re in jail, they’ll find out about that. You’ll spend your life in solitary, or you’ll spend it cuddling up to somebody who’ll protect you.”
The man started blubbering at that. “No,” he said, “I won’t hurt my boy anymore.”
“You won’t even see that boy anymore. You got that?” Kano growled.
“And you’ll tell the cops exactly what you did,” Fallon added.
“No, they’ll throw me in jail,” Angus whined.
“Yeah, they will,” he said, “but we’ll get you thrown in jail anyway. But this way, there won’t be a trial, so that you can’t traumatize your son and wife over it all.”
The guy started to cry. In the distance, they heard sirens.
“You can’t do this,” Angus wailed.
“It’s already done,” he said. “I’ll send a text right now, letting the guys in jail know that you’re coming and what you’re like and what you did to your family.”
“Fine. I’ll confess,” he said almost instantly. “If you send me to jail, I’ll do my time and be good. Just keep those guys in prison away from me.”
“Depends on if you screw up,” he said. “Screw-ups in jail have a very short lifespan.”
The guy started bawling again.
“He can try that in jail,” Fallon said cheerfully, “but I wouldn’t give him very good odds.”
“No good odds for somebody like Angus,” Kano said. “The other prisoners will absolutely cream him in prison. Even they don’t like abusers.”
The cops came to the door and knocked. Fallon opened the door, explained what the problem was, and said, “I suggest you listen to what he has to say right now. This guy is likely to change his story many times over on his way to the jailhouse.”
The cops came in and asked, “So what’s going on here?”
The father turned to Kano, took a deep breath, and swallowed. “I tried to kidnap my son tonight,” he said. “I’ve been beating him up since he was little, just trying to teach him a few things, and I don’t like resistance.”
Kano cleared his throat, which prompted the trembling man to continue in a rush.
“I’ve also been beating up my wife. I thought I was just tuning her up a bit.”
The cop stared at him hard. “Tuning her up?”
Angus nodded slowly. “She’s somewhere between here and the women’s center she was staying at.”
“Somewhere?”
“I tossed her in a Dumpster bin,” he mumbled.
“Did you kill her?”
“No, no,” he said. “I didn’t. I left her alive.”
“And your boy?”
“I took him out of the hospital. I knew I wasn’t allowed to, but I didn’t care. I was just trying to get away.”
“And what has brought on this change of heart?” the cop asked curiously, his gaze going between the three men in the room.
Angus opened his mouth, took one look at Kano, then shut it again. “Can you just take me in, please?” he said. “I need to face the music.”
“Yeah, you’d do well to get yourself behind bars before we find your wife,” Kano said in disgust. He looked at the cops. “Have you got somebody heading off to the Dumpster?”
“We need more directions about where that Dumpster is,” the cop said.
Angus shrugged. “I saw her walking, and I lost my cool,” he said. “I don’t even know where she is.”