Beck

by Toye Lawson Brown

  Why would I? She knew nothing about me. We were the client and the hired help.

  “What a gorgeous night,” she said, and came to stand next to me. “The world looks so different when there is nothing but miles and miles of water in front of you.”

  “I’ve spent much time on the water. I loved to fish, sail, and get back to nature. It helped with my sanity,” I said.

  “I get my hair and pedicures done to help with my sanity.”

  I laughed. “Not the same.”

  Abbie nudged me with her shoulder. A zing of heat ran down my arm. “Can I tell you a secret?”

  “I’m all ears,” I said.

  “I’ve never been fishing before. I don’t know if I’ve ever held a fishing rod.”

  “You gotta go just once. Do it while camping. Sleeping under the stars, cooking food caught minutes before. There is nothing like it.”

  Her brow rose. “I trust your word on that. However, a city girl camping?” She threw her head back, laughing. “That would be a disaster.”

  Camping had been a disaster with Joanie. The woman was scared of anything that moved, even ants.

  Abbie’s phone rang, and she dug it from her purse. The look on her face was horrifying. That made my blood run hot.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  She shook her head slowly. “He just won’t stop.”

  I took the phone from her and read the message.

  Eddie: I’ll be downtown tomorrow. We need to meet up. I have to talk to you.

  I decided to respond, because Eddie did not take her seriously.

  Abbie: Drop dead, asshole. Moreover, stop contacting me before I call the police. Lose my damn number.

  Abbie leaned over my shoulder. “That’s not going to work. He’ll keep badgering me until I talk to him.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  She shrugged. “I can’t do it today or even tomorrow. It will take a while before I’m able to talk to Eddie again, if ever.”

  “Abbie, is he known to cheat and expects you to forgive him again?”

  She saddened as she paused to stare out in the distance. “Cheating isn’t a mistake. It’s unforgivable in my book. It breaks the bond of trust, and if I can’t trust you, I can’t be with you. It’s not that difficult for someone to take a step back and realize that cheating on someone will tear them apart in every way possible. Make them feel like they’re not good enough. Eddie has done that to me—he finally broke me.”

  “Then take as much time as you need before talking to him. In my book, he doesn’t deserve that much courtesy.”

  “You’re right. Giving him a chance to explain will solve nothing.”

  I stepped away from her and asked, “Are you ready to go?” The text message from that asshole had ruined the evening.

  She pushed off the railing. “No. I’m not ready to go home. Let’s talk about you.”

  “We’ve talked about me,” I said, hoping to deflect any further questions.

  “We’ve talked around you.” Abbie walked over to a bench that faced the lake. She patted the space beside her. “Sit.”

  I scrubbed a hand down my face and did as she ordered. “Okay, what do you want to know?”

  Crossing her legs, she brushed the material of my pants. She was too close for my comfort.

  “You’re young, probably not much older than me. What happened in Chicago that landed you in Cleveland?” She raised her hand to wave me off before I started talking. “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but you’re going to. I need to know whom I’m trusting my life to.”

  My pause didn’t help my case. If Abbie didn’t like what I had to say, the most she could do was have me removed as her bodyguard.

  “Okay. You asked for it. I was a cop in Chicago. I loved my job and helping people; especially at-risk kids.”

  “Wow, that’s awesome.”

  She should hold her praise until I continued with the story. Then her appreciation would tumble faster than the Berlin Wall.

  “I thought so. My partner was older and less than a year from retiring. He was so damn old-school that it unnerved me. He could be difficult, and we butted heads, but he was my superior, and my word would be against his no matter what proof I had.”

  “Beck.” Her voice was low and soft.

  The timbre was a clue she knew where my story was going. I couldn’t look at her without seeing the eyes of the people who had judged me so harshly.

  “Beck,” she said again. “Were you part of a shooting involving a black male? I’m a journalist. I possess a sixth sense for people hiding a story.”

  I rubbed the bridge of my nose, frustrated about defending my character and myself once again. I was fucking tired of being judged for something I didn’t do.

  “Yeah. I wasn’t the cop that pulled the trigger, though. My partner did. That didn’t matter to the African American community. They wanted my head along with his.”

  “What were you responding to when this happened?”

  “We were responding to an accident involving a child on a bike. When we arrived, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. The girl was hurt, but nothing life-threatening, and she was alert.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “Shaun came running toward me. The young girl was his sister.” I swallowed. “It happened so fast. I knew Shaun. He didn’t carry weapons. He was a good kid and helped me at the recreation center with the kids after school.” I shook my head. “He had a bright future ahead of him. Boy was smart, and a great athlete. He was also funny. He kept us laughing.”

  “Oh, God, Beck.”

  “He was scared and wanted to check on his sister for himself. Like a big brother should do. His parents worked hard and were saving to move the family from the area because they feared this would happen to Shaun. I honestly felt they didn’t have to worry about him; he didn’t roll with the troublemakers.”

  “How did it go bad?”

  This was the part no one wanted to believe or let me explain. The media dug for the truth, and the precinct withheld information the public had a right to know.

  “When Shaun ran toward me, he went to pull up his pants.” I paused, the vision too clear in my head: the sounds, the smell, his cries, and then silence.

  I choked back the guilt and regained my composure. I felt Abbie’s hand on my shoulder. “It’s all right, Beck; you can tell me.”

  I hung my head, the lump in my throat strangling me, my heart racing. I didn’t want to finish this—it fucking hurt worse than Joanie leaving me.

  However, I found my voice. “I don’t know what my partner was thinking. The situation was under control, and no one should’ve gotten hurt. However, my asshole partner pulled his weapon and shot Shaun six times. The kid didn’t have a weapon. He didn’t even have a fucking phone on him.” I paused again. “He killed that kid in front of me in cold blood. I couldn’t save his life. He died by the time I began CPR, begging him to hang on. His sister was screaming, unable to get to him. Pandemonium broke out around us.”

  “My God, Beck. That is awful.”

  “The city was in an uproar—another killing of a young black man by white cops. My gun was in my holster; I never pulled it because I knew Shaun was not out to harm anyone. He just wanted to make sure his sister was okay.”

  Abbie continued to caress my shoulder. “No one believed you? What about the people who saw what happened?”

  “It didn’t matter, Abbie. The protestors hit me with the guilty-by-association bullshit. My asshole partner knew what he’d done was wrong, but he lied his way around what happened instead of doing what was right. He even tried to paint a picture that Shaun had a gun, and he’d seen it. That shit didn’t fly with the EMTs already there and people standing around. It got swept under the rug. Their reports were never released to the public by the police.”

  “So you gave up your fight to make things right? Why didn’t you stay and make it right, Beck?”

  “It was me against an
entire police department. The bigwigs backed my partner when he changed his story that the shooting wasn’t intentional—that he panicked. I was told to keep my mouth shut. I might’ve been able to keep my mouth shut, but the urge to beat his fucking face in every time I saw him wouldn’t go away. “

  Abbie said nothing and continued to listen.

  “Two years after it happened, the community was still in an uproar. My partner went about life like nothing happened, while it ate at me every day. Finally, I had no choice but to resign. If I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in jail, leaving the force and Chicago was my best option.”

  “I guess I see your point,” she said.

  “Plus, my family got death threats when they tried to stand up for me. Anyone who stood up for me got threatened. Even Shaun’s family knew I would never hurt him and went to the media to state my case.”

  “My heart goes out to them,” she said. “A grieving family can be coerced. It sounds like they stood up for what they believed in.”

  I nodded. “They wanted my named cleared completely, and my partner charged with murder. That’s how it should have happened. Instead, he was exonerated, and the shooting classified as accidental.”

  She sighed. “So you left your life in Chicago? That was very noble of you.”

  I shook my head. “Nope, it was to escape the nightmares I couldn’t shake. Also, to get away from my girlfriend who felt I should get over it. She was not supportive or sympathetic to Shaun’s family.”

  “Excuse me? She sounds like a bitch that doesn’t give a care about anyone but herself. She should’ve supported you through such a traumatic experience.”

  I nodded. “I was too blinded by love to see her true self. It took me a minute to figure out she was not the woman for me. My mother tried to get me to see that for years.”

  “And here I was giving you advice on how to win her back. Always listen to your mom. I should’ve listened to mine when she warned me about Eddie.”

  I was surprised she wasn’t running away from me. “I guess we should both listen to our moms, since they seem to know best.”

  “It’s not right you got trapped in the category of ‘bad cop’ because of your partner. There isn’t anything you can do to restore your image in Chicago?”

  “Probably not. It was my decision not to work on a force where we were sworn to protect and serve, yet stood behind a cold-blooded murderer.”

  She took my hand in hers. Damn, it was warm and soft.

  “You know, the follow-the-leader syndrome is strong in some communities. If some people were to think and see what was going on around them, they wouldn’t be lead around easily. Not every cop is bad. I agree some are getting away with murder, but I have faith that will change. Police departments all over the world can’t keep protecting the bad seeds contaminating the department.”

  I unintentionally squeezed her hand. “Until that happens, the good cops are trying to stick it out or leaving the force, as I did.”

  Abbie released my hand. “Do you want to be a cop again?”

  That question had floated through my head once or twice. I had finally made a decision. “Nope. I like what I do now. If I get to keep my status as a bodyguard, I get to protect people, but in a different way.”

  She laughed. “I’m sorry protecting me has been boring and uneventful. I told my father he was wasting his time.”

  I stood up. “It’s better to be safe than sorry. We’d better get going; it’s late.”

  “Yup. Oh, I forgot to tell you—Dad sent me an email that someone will be by to install one of those visual doorbells. It was weird he emailed me instead of calling, since I hadn’t talked to him in a couple of days.”

  That was strange. Any communication was supposed to come to both of us. “I didn’t receive anything from your father or the office. Do you still have the email?”

  She nodded. “I printed it out because I knew I would forget which day. I have it at home.”

  Chapter Ten

  Beck

  Four days later, Briggs stopped by to relieve me for a few hours. I went home, collected my mail, opened the windows to air out the place, and dropped my rent check in the slot.

  My apartment wasn’t grand, a three-room efficiency over a dance studio on Lorain Road. The studio closed at eight in the evening, so I was able to get some sleep before going to work, and I was too tired to care what they were doing down there when I got home.

  The music thumped the floor beneath my feet. This was a far cry from my home in Chicago. I’d lived in a townhouse with three bedrooms, a chef-inspired kitchen, and an open living area with a fireplace. It cost a mint, but I could afford it. My budget when I moved here only provided me with this. I had not officially started working at GDB, and the landlord took a chance on me paying the rent each month. Thank goodness I hadn’t blown through my savings.

  I sat on the couch and opened the mail I felt required attention first. My paystub from GDB. I really didn’t need to open that, but I was curious if my new position came with a raise. I carefully ran my thumb under the perforated flap, and my mouth dropped to the floor.

  “Fuck,” I murmured. The job paid more than I was making as a cop. Swiping open my phone, I checked my bank account. Yup, there was a significant increase in funds. I’d been saving every penny possible to move. Shoot, I could stash away a lot more and buy a house if I stayed here a bit longer.

  I looked around my scantly furnished apartment that consisted of a brown leather sofa, a matching chair, a coffee table, two floor lamps, and a television.

  The floral curtains that didn't match my furniture, were from the previous tenant. I really wanted one of those memory foam mattresses, too. The apartment could use a few things to make it home until I made the decision to move, and the extra money would help.

  After I’d packed more clothes and secured the apartment, I drove to the Parker home feeling a little upbeat. It felt good to tell her about my past and know she believed me. She had been sympathetic and given me comfort. Something Joanie hadn’t done.

  Abbie was different to Joanie in a lot of ways. I liked her spunk and joy for life. How she bounced back from a bad situation. She didn’t sit around the house and mope over her heartbreak—she worked and carried on with life. I would catch her looking sad, but Abbie kept her chin held high.

  She was a fighter, and if her father did have an enemy out to harm her, she wouldn’t have a problem defending herself.

  I passed through the security gate of Walter Vista, following a white van. There were no markings on the vehicle, which made me suspicious. But there were other homes, and this van could be going to one of them.

  Then I remembered the email about the doorbell. When Abbie and I arrived home that night, I’d forgotten to get it from her. We were both on an emotional high and just went to bed.

  I followed the van down the road. The driver peeked into the side mirror, catching my eyes. My skin prickled. I called Briggs.

  “What’s up, Beck?”

  “I think we have company. I’m following an unmarked van. Only he spotted me and might abort his mission.”

  “I’ll meet you outside. Don’t try to take him down by yourself. There could be others in the van.”

  “Where is Abbie? I know she likes to take a swim around this time.”

  “She is. I’ll get her out the pool first. Watch yourself, Beck.”

  “I got this,” I said, and hung up.

  As we passed the Parker estate, the van suddenly stopped. I was a car length behind and not close enough to ram it in the rear. The back door flew open, and I ducked just as gunfire erupted. The windshield shattered, showering me with glass.

  I couldn’t sit here like a duck and risk being ambushed. I pulled my weapon and shot blindly through the blown-out windshield. Sitting up, I quickly put the car in reverse and floored it to put distance between us.

  I didn’t know if I’d hit anyone, but the van took off. I went after it, calling B
riggs along the way.

  We raced through the quiet community until the road ended at the wall separating the houses from the lake. Three men darted from the van. Two went south; the other went north. I didn’t know their plan, so I gambled on who to follow.

  I took the guy going north and gave Briggs the direction the other two went. North would lead the man to the homes and right past the Parker house.

  If Abbie were alone, she would need me. I had to get to her. Sweat poured off my face as I ran through the dense patch of woods. It was hot and dry. The grass crunched under my feet as I gained on the man ahead of me.

  He turned to face me, and for sure I thought I’d seen a weapon in his hand. I dove behind a tree just in case the bullets came flying. The sudden dive caused me to lose ground on him as he kept running.

  “Briggs, I lost him. I’m heading to the Parker house,” I yelled into my phone.

  “Help is on the way.”

  Briggs sounded winded; he was running too. This quaint private strip of heaven was turning into the violent city streets these residents paid a pretty penny to stay separated from.

  No amount of gates, fences, or security would keep the bad element out if they were determined to get in.

  Totally losing track of the guy, I stopped running to check in with Briggs. “Anything?”

  “Fucking bummer, man. The two we were chasing managed to escape through a broken fence. Is the van still here? If so, I’m going to check it out.”

  “Should be. He would’ve had to double back by me. Do you want me to meet you at the van?” I asked.

  “No, continue to the house and check on Abbie. Zane and I will take care of the van and meet you at the house later.”

  “Roger,” I said, and broke into a jog to reach the house; the car would have to wait.

  As I walked around from the rear of the house, I saw a man standing on the porch. My heart raced with anticipation. Was it the guy I had been chasing?

  Staying close to the house, I took him in—thank God it wasn’t him. But who was he? Was there a fourth man I hadn’t detected?