by Jack Young
“Do all simple businessmen have an arsenal at their disposal?”
“Any businessman who wants to keep his family safe does.” A large man appeared from the house and sauntered over to the shed. Brady pointed to the man. “Davy, this is Big John. He can help you with this.”
Davy nodded at Big John and looked back at the weapons, He reached out and grabbed a 9mm Beretta and looked at both Big John and Brady. “How soon can I do this?”
Davy’s mind came back to the present when his mother refilled his coffee. He rubbed his eyes before scarfing down the rest of his eggs. “Mom, thanks for the meal, but I really should get going. I’m not sure how many days I’ll be gone.”
He got up and kissed his mother on the cheek. She patted his arm. “Be safe, David.”
He smiled. “Always.”
13.
Joe’s head was killing him and the four Advils he took an hour before had yet to kick in. On top of that, he was tired. There was nothing he could do about being tired. He couldn’t slow down on this case as it became more complicated. He turned to his partner who was looking at the security footage from closed circuit TV’s around Target. “Anything yet?”
“No. Everything’s too grainy. Why are we looking at these again?”
“We need to find out who these guys were that approached the truck and why they were there, but I already think I know why they were there.”
“Oh yeah? Enlighten me, partner.”
Joe took a swallow of coffee. “It’s just a theory. Something that’s making more sense since Gordon was found at that motel.”
“So, what’s your theory?”
Joe pointed to the screen. “See that guy with the bag? He’s there to drop the bag-perhaps with cash-to Gordon.”
“Yeah, but Gordon’s not in the truck.”
“I don’t think the guy knew that. He’s just dropping the bag off to whoever.”
“Okay. And the other guy?”
Joe put his right hand down next to his right leg. “See how he’s holding his hand and arm low?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s a little behind him, too, like he’s hiding something.”
“What’s he hiding?”
Joe pulled his hand up like he was holding a pistol. “Like the witness said, he’s got a gun, Nelson. Watch”
They watched the video. Soon the van pulled into view. They were watching from a camera pointing from the Target’s front doors, so they couldn’t see into the van to see who was shooting. They did see whoever was in the cab of the truck flailing around as they were being shot. Joe pointed at the screen where the two individuals approaching the truck were. Both lay flat on the ground. The man with the bag looked around. “Probably looking for cover,” Joe said. The other guy was crouched behind a truck, but still in view of the cameras. He, too, was lying on the ground and it was now apparent he had a pistol of some kind in his hand and pointing it in the direction of the gunfire. Joe paused the video. “See. Right there.” He was pointing at the guy with the gun.
Jacobs leaned forward and put on his reading glasses. “Damn. You’re right. I can’t tell what kind, but that’s a damn gun alright.”
They continued watching the video and saw the grenade thrown into where the windshield had been shot out by the machine gun fire. It soon exploded as the van drove off. The two men remained lying on the ground for a moment longer before standing and walking to the truck. The one with the pistol tucked it down the back of his pants and they seemed to be talking to each other. Jacobs was leaned in close to the computer screen. “I can’t tell who they are. Can you?”
“No, but I can zoom in some and maybe clean up the video.” Joe then began clicking keys and moving the mouse around. He did this for a few moments until he thought he had it just right. “Ok. I think I got it as best as I can.”
They both studied the faces of the two men in the video. When the man with the pistol turned his face enough, Joe paused the video. “You recognize this guy?” The image wasn’t clear and Jacobs shook his head. Joe printed the image from the color printer nearby. He made several copies. When those were printed, he gave one to Jacobs and put a couple into the case file.
Joe came back to the computer and started the video again. It took a moment for the guy with the bag to give them a clear enough view of his face and when he did, it wasn’t a full-frontal view. It was enough, though, for Joe to pause again. “Holy shit.”
Jacobs looked at his partner. “You know who that is?”
“Not really, but I recognize his face from somewhere.”
“Where?”
“I’m not quite sure. I know he has a funny name. Different kind of name.” Joe closed his eyes and tried to focus. This only made his head hurt more. When he opened them, the brightness of the office pierced his eyes. He didn’t usually get headaches, but when he did, they were a bitch like the one he currently had.
Joe printed copies of the photo of the man with the bag, gave Jacobs a copy, and the rest went into the file. He knew he was in for the long haul which meant he’d miss out on dinner again. He looked at the copies. “You know, Nelson, this isn’t the biggest lead.”
“True.”
“We’ve worked with less before and got the job done.”
“We sure did.”
“I suppose, we now get out there and ask people if they know this guy. Start with Target and then the surrounding neighborhoods?”
Jacobs laughed. “Yeah. Needle. Haystack.”
“Well, it’s better than sitting around here trying to guess.”
“Yeah. Suppose so. I better give Kelly a holler to tell her to go ahead and eat without me again. I suggest you do the same with Darcy.”
“Yeah. I’m definitely gonna have to make it up to her that’s for sure.”
“Oh yeah? How?”
“Probably with a 20s night.”
“Th’fuck’s a 20s night? You two dress up like the damn Great Gatsby or something. Go to a speakeasy and drink bathtub gin?”
Joe laughed. “No. It’s where we go out clubbing like we were still in college. We usually find a sitter, but Beth is fifteen and can do that now. Darcy and I then hit up three or four different clubs and let loose.”
“Sounds stupid if you ask me.”
Joe shrugged. “Whatever makes her happy, right?”
“True. Which clubs?”
“Depends on how we’re feeling.” Joe then realized something. “Nelson, I got it.”
“Got what?”
Joe showed him the copy of the man with the bag. “I know where I’ve seen him before.”
“Where?”
“Not exactly sure, but one of the clubs Darcy and I have gone to before. He’s a bouncer at one of them.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Time to brush up on your disco moves, Papa Bear. We’re going clubbing.”
Two hours and four clubs later, Joe and Jacobs still hadn’t found anyone who could identify the man in the photo. Joe and Darcy only went to a handful of clubs when they went out, so he was still hopeful he’d find the right one. Jacobs was less patient. He insisted Joe take him back to the station where he believed the lead they were looking for was somewhere in the files.
They were a few minutes away from the station when Joe passed a building he recognized. “Hold on, Nelson. I’m gonna flip a bitch right here.” At the next intersection, Joe conducted a U-turn and drove back to where he saw the sign for a club called Penni’s Playhouse. He parked along the curb and both he and Jacobs got out of the car.
“Really, man?” Jacobs was pointing at the sign. “A titty bar?”
Joe nodded. “Yeah. I started thinking about that time Jonesy got married. He had his bachelor party here. You didn’t go, but I did. That was, man, what, about two years ago, right?”
“You think the guy in the photo works here?”
“Maybe. He may not anymore, but I think he did that night. He worked the door when we came in and partway through th
e party, Jonesy’s cousin or some shit was getting too touchy with one of the girls and some other bouncers intervened. Being one of the cops on the scene, I stepped in and talked everyone down. I wanna say I actually talked to this guy that night. I convinced him to let the cousin stay for a bit longer. In the end, the cousin passed out in the middle of a lap dance an hour later.”
“Sounds like I missed a hell of a party.”
“Not really. Naked women and beer. Nothing too original for a bachelor party.”
It was nearly six thirty when they entered the establishment. Mötley Crüe’s “Home Sweet Home” was blaring over the speakers and one girl was currently onstage dancing. She was wearing an 80s big hair wig, a black leg garter, and nothing else. Although only two men were watching her dance, she worked the pole and the stage as if the place was packed. She looked barely old enough to work there and Joe had his suspicions thinking she lied about her age so she could.
There wasn’t a bouncer working the door when Joe and Jacobs walked in, but a man sat at the bar watching the girl dance. He was a large-built man and wasn’t really watching her as a patron. He watched as if he was on the job, which Joe figured he was, and would be someone he needed to speak with. If he stood, he was probably six two like Joe, but had at least fifty to sixty pounds on him. The guy’s head was shaved giving him a Neo-Nazi type of vibe. He made eye contact with Joe and Jacobs and then turned to the woman working the bar and as she leaned forward, he whispered something in her ear. Joe assumed they guy told the woman that there were cops on the premises.
The woman at the bar was probably Joe’s age and looked as if she knew her way around the pole and stage. She wore her obviously dyed blonde hair pulled back in a pony tail revealing a tattoo along the left side of her neck. It appeared to be an entanglement of roses. She also had ink covering most of her right arm and her white belly shirt revealed she had more along her left side of her muscular torso. She watched the two detectives as they approached. “Can I help you two?”
Joe held out his badge. “I’m Detective Thompson and this is my partner, Detective Jacobs.”
She took a sip of the drink in front of her. “Figured you two were cops.”
Joe smiled. “That obvious, huh?”
She smiled back. “You work in a place like this long enough and you tend to learn how to read people.” She held out her hand. “I’m Penni.”
Joe shook her hand. “Nice place.”
“Thanks.”
The music stopped and a man spoke over some speakers. “Give it up for Lita Dodge.” Joe watched the girl pick up the dollar bills on the stage and pull out the few bills from her leg garter as she walked off the stage. He turned back to Penni. “Lita Dodge?”
Penni gave a small laugh and shrugged. “Well, Lita Ford was already taken.”
“Gotcha.”
No sooner did Lita Dodge leave the stage than the house announcer was back on the speakers. “Alright, guys, here she is, back for your enjoyment, the Magnificent Marisa!” Nine Inch Nails’ song “Closer” started playing over the speakers as the next dancer took the stage. Joe was intrigued by the dancer, but she really didn’t have much on Darcy, so he turned back to Penni. “Penni, my partner and I are looking for someone.” He began unfolding the photo.
“We get all kinds of people in here, you know. We see people from everywhere. It’s too hard to keep track of all of them. Except maybe for Merle and Guy over there.” She pointed to the only two patrons.
Joe nodded. “I think the guy we’re looking for works or worked here at one time.”
“That so?”
“Yeah. I was here for a bachelor party a while back and I seem to remember this guy.”
Joe handed her the photo and her eyes gave away that she recognized him. “Oh yeah. He worked here. Only for a couple of months though. Shit. I can’t remember his name. Larry, you recognize this guy?” She handed the photo to the large man sitting at the bar.
The man held the photo towards the lights flickering from the stage. “Oh yeah. This guy was a tough motherfucker. Wonder what happened to him?”
Joe took back the photo. “You remember his name?”
Larry nodded. “Evans was his last name.”
“Okay.” Joe looked Penni. “Do you have employee records for him?”
She shook her head. “Probably not. If he only worked here a short time, he was probably paid under the table a flat rate for the nights he worked here.”
“He had a girl’s name.” Larry said.
Penni shook her head. “No. Not really. It was different, I’ll say that. It started with a P though because I remember he and I joked a little about it.”
“Payton.” Larry said.
Joe looked at Larry. “Like Walter Payton?”
Penni held up her hand. “No. Not Payton. Paden. I remember he said it rhymed with Iron Maiden.”
Joe jotted this down. “Spelled like maiden with a P?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. I remember now, though, it was Paden Evans. However Paden is spelled.”
Joe looked at Jacobs. “What do you think, Papa Bear?”
Jacobs shrugged. “It’s something. Now, let’s go see what we can find out about him.”
14.
Paden was digging out the money he stashed in Joanne’s freezer. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since he put it all there. He was in such a hurry then and didn’t think he would be around for another day, but now Joanne was at school making preparations to leave with him, maybe even resign. She said something about a penalty she’d have to pay for getting out of her contract during the school year; ten percent of her contract was needed for this. If that happened, Paden had the money to pay that for her. She did feel bad about leaving the kids so abruptly. He told her he’d understand if she wanted to wait until the end of the school year before she left, but he needed to go sooner.
After packing up all the money in the same bag he previously carried it in, Paden began thinking of the other guy who showed up at the Target-Davy. Paden wondered what happened to him and what he was doing with his share of the money. It was a random thought, one that made him wonder why the guy in the truck was just going to hand the money off to someone else right after Paden delivered it. For some reason, that didn’t make sense. Maybe Gordon was worried about being caught with the bag. But, if that was the case, why didn’t he just set the meeting up with Davy? The more he thought about it, the more he began thinking Davy didn’t tell him everything. More than likely, he was there to kill the guys in the truck and take the money.
None of that should’ve mattered to Paden. He was leaving town with a hundred grand and the woman he loved. He was about to embark on a new part of his life. One that included a family. He just had to wait for Joanne to be done with school for the day and they would leave. He wasn’t even sure where, but he had enough cash to keep them under the radar for quite some time. They could rent a cabin over on Flathead Lake if they wanted to. That actually sounded like a great idea. Paden began to do research on his phone while he waited for it to be closer to the end of the school day. He wanted to surprise Joanne with this idea.
Joanne sat in the principal’s office while her resignation letter was being read. Cynthia Marks was the principal who hired Jo a few years before and they had always worked well together and respected each other. As tough as it was for Joanne to write the letter and present it to Cynthia, she could also see how tough it was for Cynthia to process the fact that one of her best teachers was resigning. Cynthia set the letter down and took a tissue from the box on her desk and dabbed away the tears from her eyes. “Why?”
Joanne raised her eyebrows. “Why what?”
“Why now and why can’t you wait until the end of the year? The last day of school is the Friday before Memorial Day. That’s just a little more than five weeks away. Is there something going on?”
Joanne shook her head. “No.”
“Then you should stay and finish the year.”
> “I can’t Cynthia, I need to go now.”
“Think about your students, Jo. They still need you.”
Joanne smiled. “Cynthia, you’ve never tried to pull the old guilt trip tactic on me. Please don’t now.”
Cynthia nodded and smiled. “Okay. So, what now? Do you have a job lined up somewhere else?”
“No, but I’ll look for one when I’m ready.”
“Jo, you’re the most rational person I know. This is not like you. What are you gonna do for money?”
“I have that covered.” Joanne thought of the money Paden told her about. It wouldn’t last forever, but it would give them time to relocate and she would worry about a job later. Maybe even when schools in their new location began starting up again. Paden was urgent about leaving and she wanted to be with him wherever he went. “Cynthia, I love you. You know that, but I need to leave right away.”
Cynthia still did not understand the reasoning. “Are you in trouble?”
“No.” After saying that, Joanne wondered if she sounded as if she was.
“What about that guy you go with? Paden?”
“No.”
“Are you leaving with him?”
“Why?”
“I’m just trying to get a handle on why you are leaving is all.”
“When things settle, I’ll call you. This is tough for me, Cynthia. Please, don’t make it worse.”
Cynthia nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
They both stood and Cynthia came around from behind her desk and they hugged. They both were crying a bit and when they eased up on their hug, Cynthia, while still holding onto Joanne smiled. “Jo, I love you. You know that, right?”
“Yes, I do.”
Cynthia released the hug and grabbed them both a tissue. “Don’t leave today without seeing me again.”
“Of course. I’ll see you later, okay.”
“Are you going to tell your students?”
“Yes. I’m picking them up from music. I’ll tell them once we’re all settled back into the classroom.”
“Want me there for that?”