by Jack Young
Joe smiled at his wife as he noticed her smile of approval. Joe was forty-two and was nearing twenty years as a police officer. Twelve of those years were as a detective with Jacobs as his partner. Although he was one of the older policemen at their station, Joe tried to maintain a decent athletic build. He stood six-two in his socks and at almost two twenty, most suspects never tried to get physical. Every now and then one would and Joe was forced to put them down and incapacitate them. Those moments were getting tougher for him though.
Joe Thompson was a fairly handsome man who looked both youthful and intimidating. His hair was cut short. Years before, when he had more hair, Joe used to like to apply some gel or mousse to his hair, but the older Joe became he didn’t care. His brush cut hair matched his four-days growth of beard in that both had decent amount of gray hair to distinguish him as not a young cop anymore. His build and hard look was completed by his piercing gray eyes.
“Nelson can handle things for a bit. I’m sure EMS and the fire department are still in the way anyhow.” He looked at their meals, a grilled chicken salad for Darcy and a basic cheeseburger with fries for Joe.
They met in college when Joe was in his last year studying Criminal Justice and Darcy in her second year studying English. She originally went to college to be a teacher, but she worked for the college newspaper and covered the 2000 Presidential Election and caught the reporter bug. Over the years, she also authored and published through a small state publishing company four novels which were political thrillers and sold a fair amount within the state. These helped with their salaries and a fifth book was in the works.
As Joe watched Darcy pour Caesar dressing over her salad, he couldn’t help admire the woman he married. She was strong and beautiful. Although she maintained a full-time job, she was the one who did most of the things for their three children. She did all that and still managed to find time to write for both her job and whatever book she was into at the moment.
Darcy was several inches shorter than Joe and she, too, still had a youthful athletic build. A build that went back to her days running cross country in high school. At the moment, her blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail which always drove Joe nuts. Watching her situate her food made Joe wonder if Jacobs could handle things a bit longer so Joe could try and sneak a quickie in with his wife.
Darcy forked some of her salad. “So, what is it Nelson texted you about?”
Joe was chewing on some of his burger. He swallowed, and took a long drink from his iced tea before answering, “Off the record, there was a shooting at the Target in the Heights.”
“Oh shit. In the store?”
“No. In the parking lot. Witnesses are probably being interviewed by Nelson and other officers. Whoever did the shooting also threw a grenade inside the truck they were shooting up.”
“You should go. This sounds big.”
“Yeah, I should, but if I don’t eat, we’ll work through the next meal and I’ll be starving.” He waved the waitress over. When she was standing next to their table, Joe pointed at his burger. “Could I get another order of this with onions to go please?”
The waitress nodded. “Yes. Of course.”
“Thanks.” Joe smiled at Darcy. “The least I could do is feed Nelson before he gets to growling like a big old bear. Plus, it’ll smooth over me not getting there in a hurry.”
Darcy nodded and smiled. “Yeah, it will. I’ve seen that hungry bear before. It’s not a pleasant environment.”
Joe made it a mission to chow down his food. “Doesn’t one of the kids have something going on at school tonight?”
“Yeah. Thomas did, but his teacher is sick and sent an email about rescheduling it for a later date. They made volcanos.”
“I remember doing that when I was in school.” He looked at his watch. It was more than ten minutes since he ended his call with his partner. Joe looked at his wife. “Babe.”
“I know. You have to get going. I guess we’ll see you at home tonight, right?”
“Yeah. Hopefully, it won’t be too late.” The to-go order was brought out to their table and Joe paid for everything. “I’m sorry, Darcy. This is not how I envisioned our lunch.” He leaned in for a kiss on Darcy’s cheek. She turned at the last moment and their lips met. They kissed a long, deep kiss which was probably borderline too much for a couple in their forties to do in public.
Darcy pulled away. “Come home safe and there will be more to that kiss.”
Joe smiled and grabbed the takeout box holding it in front of his crotch concealing his arousal. “I will definitely come home safe for that.”
Nelson Jacobs was barking orders to everyone at the crime scene when Joe arrived. This was nothing new because Jacobs was always yelling around. He was just a loud person, in general, so it was natural for him to be the loudest in a large group. Those in his figurative crosshairs at this scene were news reporters. It was just a given they’d make their appearance at the scene and other than Darcy, Jacobs loathed reporters. Joe figured he’d be seeing his wife at the scene soon enough. She had to meet with one of their daughter, Beth’s teachers about an overdue assignment. He did see one of Darcy’s co-workers and that probably meant she missed out on this shooting. She wouldn’t be too upset about that because that happened every now and then.
Joe made eye contact with Jacobs as Jacobs grabbed a bullhorn and turned to the reporters. “All you news people will get your chance at an interview once everything is dealt with as protocol dictates. Someone from the department will put out a press release and inform you all about a possible press conference. What I need from you all is to be patient and back up so everyone can work the scene as best as we can. Thank you.”
Joe stopped at Jacobs’ side. “That was a good one, Papa Bear. Almost brought tears to my eyes…Almost.”
“Fuck took you so long getting here?”
“I was in the middle of lunch with Darcy, remember? Our food was just brought to us.”
“Yeah, but did it really need to take that long?”
Joe held up the to-go box. “I was waiting for this.”
“Oh yeah?”
“But, if you don’t want it, I can give it to one of the reporters. They all look starving.”
“Give me that.” Joe handed the meal to his partner who opened the Styrofoam container. “These Jo-Jos, the jalapeño ones?”
“Would they be anything else?”
“I don’t know, man. Kelly got you to hide those snack cakes I was bringing to the station. Took me a long time to trust you again.”
“Hey. She threatened me. She was gonna have Darcy start me on that same sorry-ass diet you were on. Fuck that. Plus, you ended up losing what, like, damn near twenty-five pounds then. This is a treat for that and to smooth over for running late on this.”
“I suppose.” Jacobs held up his food. “I gained all that weight back, but thanks for this. It’s gonna be one of those nights. This might be my only meal.”
“Another reason why I got it for you.” Joe handed his partner a diet soda and laughed inside to himself at the irony. Joe pointed at the destroyed pickup truck. “So, what happened?”
“Fucked up shit is what happened. Got some witnesses who said a van pulled right in front of the truck and lit it up with a machine gun until the windshield was gone and then threw a grenade in there to finish everything off. Pretty much what I told you on the phone.”
“Any idea whose truck this is yet?”
“Ran the plates and the truck belongs to a Curtis Gordon. He was a thug twenty years ago pushing dope on kids and did some time for that. Been out for almost eight years.”
“I kind of remember hearing about that. Do you think this is some kind of gang thing and Gordon went back to slinging dope?”
“Dunno. Need to look into it still. You never know though.”
“That it?”
“So far. I got some officers still taking statements. Waiting to see what they come up with is all.”
As if on cue, an officer waved them over to him. Both Joe and Jacobs walked over to the young officer. He looked fresh out of high school and was short and stocky. When the two detectives stood in front of him, he pointed to an older woman. She looked to be Native American and perhaps around seventy years of age. “Detectives. This woman here has something I think will help.”
Jacobs was also known to give the younger officers a good teasing that appeared to others as him being a hard ass. “You think or you know?”
The kid didn’t know how to respond. He just pointed to the woman. The detectives turned their attention to her. Joe gave her a curt smile. “Ma’am. Did you see something?”
“Yes.” She appeared nervous which was understandable.
“Did you see everything?” Joe asked pointing to the truck.
“Yes. Yes, I did.”
“Do you feel comfortable telling us right now?”
“I…I think so.”
“Okay. Please try.”
She cleared her throat. “I’ve heard a bunch of people talking about the van, but none about the two men walking towards the truck.”
Jacobs pulled out his notebook. “Men?”
She nodded. “Yes. Two of them. Both were white. One was a bit older than the other one.” She pointed at Joe. “The older one was probably about your age.”
Jacobs kept writing not looking up. “These two men, did they seem to be working together?”
She shook her head. “I really don’t know. Maybe. I don’t know.” She shrugged. “The older one was carrying a gym bag or something.”
“And the other guy? Joe asked.
She shook her head again. “No. He didn’t have a bag. He was closer to me though, so I could see what he was carrying by his side like he was hiding it.”
Joe had a good idea what the guy was keeping hidden. “Did you see what he was carrying?”
The woman nodded. “Yeah.”
“What was it?”
“It was a gun. Not like the revolver I have at home though.”
Jacobs was still scribbling. “Anything else?”
“They both looked surprised. They did talk to each other afterwards and then took off.”
“That’s good,” Joe said, “Did you see what they were driving?”
“Yeah. One had a truck. The guy with the bag. It was a black truck. The gun guy had this shitty-looking car. He also had someone with him. Looked like a kid.” She tried to think of anything else. “That’s about it.”
Joe nodded. “Thank you, ma’am. The officer will be here if you think of anything else. Does he have your info?” She nodded.
Jacobs motioned them to walk back over to the smoking pickup. Joe looked around trying to get the lay of the land. “Well, Papa Bear. What do you think happened?”
“I think a lot of shit went down. You?”
“Same. It sounds like the guy with the bag was dropping it off and the other guy was there to take out whoever was in the truck and probably take the bag, but the guys in the van beat him to it. Who are the guys in the van and who were the other guys the woman saw?”
“Who are all these guys? Shit!” Jacobs shook his head. “Sometimes I fucking hate this job.”
5.
Lanny was eating a plate of buttered noodles with a glass of beer. He wasn’t expecting any visitors, so when Marcus came storming through the gate and approached him poolside he was surprised. Not totally surprised though because he’d heard over the police scanner about what happened in the Target parking lot. He set his beer down as Marcus helped himself to a chair across from Lanny. “What the fuck, man?”
“Evenin’ to you, too, Marcus.”
“What the fuck happened at the drop?”
“I don’t know. I sent someone else to drop off the bag.”
“Who?”
“Guy I know. Haven’t heard from him yet though.”
“What’s his name?”
“Don’t worry about it. He’ll call. He always does. I trust him.”
“What if he was behind this?”
“Not my guy. He’s no killer. Well, not a cold-blooded one. He is a badass though, but no stone cold killer.”
“What about the bag?”
“I’ll know when he contacts me.”
“That bag needed to get to Brady. The guy in the truck was to take it to him by four this afternoon. Now, I’m fucked. If I’m fucked, so are you for not delivering it.”
“I’m no bag man, Marcus. I don’t do that shit. Plus, I was doing you a favor What happened in the Heights is exactly the reason I don’t do that shit anymore.”
“Simple job, though. Drop the bag off, make a little scratch from doing so, and walk away.”
“Maybe he did before all that shit went down. Just wait. He’ll call me.”
“I’ll wait here with you then.”
“You sure? Could be hours or even tomorrow sometime when he calls. Especially, now that shit went sideways.”
Marcus’ face froze as he appeared in deep thought. His looked changed from one of anger to one of fear. “Seriously, I need that bag to get to its destination.”
“Why? What’s in it?”
“Doesn’t matter to you. I just need it to get somewhere.”
“Why didn’t you just take it yourself?”
“Brady’s pissed at me and doesn’t want me around.”
“What did you do?”
“I’m dating his daughter.”
“So?”
“Well, he has a few daughters and I’m going with the youngest.”
“How young?”
“Twenty.”
“Jesus, man. You and me are up there in age together. I’m fifty-five.”
“Fifty-four.”
“Yeah and you have grandkids. Th’hell you doing messing with a kid like her?”
“Just happened. I was over at Brady’s taking care of some business and she was home for the weekend from college or something. I didn’t even talk to her or anything and a couple of days later she showed up at my store.”
“The hardware one or the snack shack place?”
“The hardware store. She came in looking for a job.”
“Really? Even though her dad’s loaded?”
“That’s what I said, but she persuaded me to hire her on the spot.”
“Man, I don’t even want to know how she did that. So, that’s the reason you couldn’t take the bag yourself?”
“Yeah.”
“No bullshit?”
“Why?”
“Why? Because if I took it myself, I could’ve been killed like the guy in the truck.”
“Same if I went.”
“Could that have been about something else? I mean, Brady does have a few people who hate his ass.”
“Maybe. Who knows. He’s not the clean businessman you see on TV.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Marcus looked at his watch. “Could you call your guy? I need to talk to him. This bag still needs to get somewhere and I need to know if he has it or if it blew up in the truck.”
“What’s in the bag that’s so damn important?”
“I said don’t worry about it. I just need this done.”
“Fine. I’ll call him.” Lanny began dialing. “Man, you’re lucky Brady doesn’t kill you for dating his daughter.”
Paden sat in his truck parked in Joanne’s driveway staring at the bag contemplating whether he did the right thing in splitting the money with the other guy, Davy. He knew he probably should contact Lanny and inform him of what happened, but Paden also had a sneaky suspicion that Lanny already knew. Usually, Paden would’ve made contact by now and was expecting Lanny to call or text. He didn’t know what to tell Lanny if he contacted him. He wanted to tell Lanny that everything went off fine and the shooting happened after he left the parking lot. Would he believe that? That was the thing worrying Paden. Could he sell it?
Why did he even drive to Joanne’s house? Habit perhaps. Paden wasn’t g
reedy and he knew that most, if not all, of the money should go to Joanne and the baby. One hundred grand would support them for a long while if budgeted wisely. He’d have to leave her instructions on how to take care of the money. To make it physically disappear, but still accessible to use. He had some ideas for all of that and needed to hash them out. He decided at that moment he didn’t want or need the money.
Paden grabbed the bag and exited the truck. He used the key Joanne gave him a few years before to enter her house. The house wasn’t huge, but it was cozy. It was never totally clean either. Not that it was filthy by any means. There were always a few dishes needing to be washed and a full hamper in the bathroom with clothes waiting to be washed. Some clothes were washed and some items Joanne preferred to air dry. Those air-drying were hanging off the handles of the exercise bike in her bedroom. The place definitely had that “lived in” look.
Paden paced around the house brainstorming some ideas to stash the bundles of money. His stomach growled and he found himself looking into the fridge for something quick to eat. Nothing looked good. He opened the freezer and grabbed a Ham and Cheese Hot Pocket and as he was removing the meal from its box an idea hit him. Paden fixed his meal and put it in the microwave and set it to the recommended time. While his meal cooked, he began removing other boxes of frozen meals out of the freezer. He pulled out a couple more Hot Pocket boxes and a couple of boxes of frozen pizza. Paden removed the meals from their boxes and threw them away. He knew it was a waste, but he needed the boxes for the bundles of cash. With some tape from Joanne’s study, Paden taped the boxes shut. They were packed with money and he put them back into the freezer with the taped ends facing the rear. It wasn’t a perfect hiding spot, but he hoped it would be enough for Joanne to figure out later when she needed the cash.
As Paden took out the trash, he felt a little bad about all the wasted food, but when he went back inside the house and saw no trace of the money, he was impressed with himself. Now, he needed to figure out a way to tell Joanne about the money and what to do with it. He couldn’t leave a note out in the open in case someone came there looking for the money. Texting her what to do was too risky. Paden smiled to himself as he thought of something clever to tell Joanne.