by W L Knightly
He pulled into a parking lot that hadn’t seen more than drug traffic in ages and saw his friend’s car, and it was that moment when he realized he shouldn’t have come down there alone.
As he approached, the man rolled down his window. “Good to see you, Senator.”
“Good to see you too, Stan. I wish we had a better view.”
“Well, you being a senator and all, I thought it was best to stay out of the public eye.”
Michael looked ahead to see a man pushing a dolly across the street. He had most of his belonging stacked upon it, and they were tied to it with bungee cords. “Yeah, I think we’re safe.” At least, he hoped he was.
“Is this about your son?” Stan asked.
Michael was shocked to hear his son mentioned. “No. I came to ask a favor. My son doesn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Well, he actually kind of does. You see, before I can do you a favor, maybe you should do me one. Get that little shit of yours to pay what he owes my supplier.”
“Your supplier? You’re dealing now?” He hadn’t known Stan to ever dirty his hands with such petty shit.
“Yeah, just like your son. Well, I’m a bit better at it, or else he wouldn’t have come to me for this latest fix, but all the same, my supplier is after me to talk to you about it.”
“Kyle is dealing?” He felt the pit of his stomach turn sour and knew Kyle had just ruined everything he had planned.
“Yeah, well, he was. He got himself in some trouble back in Olympia, and it followed him here. I only gave him a handout because I thought he was good for it. I found out differently yesterday. Now my guy is mad at me, and it’s going to be an ugly scene. When you called, I just assumed that’s what this was all about.”
“No, I needed a different kind of hit.” He wasn’t sure how he could depend on the man for anything more than information.
“Well, you pay me what your kid owes, and then we can talk business. Until then, I’m afraid the best I can do for you is give you the warning.”
“How much are we talking?”
“A grand for me.”
“You gave him that much?”
“Your kid has a real problem.”
He hadn’t been aware it was that bad. “When did he come to you?”
“Day before last. He said he had just gotten into town. I did him a solid.”
“Well, do me one next time, and don’t sell or give him anything.”
“You’re messing up the flow of business. My supplier won’t like that. We usually don’t convince people to stop being cokeheads.”
Michael wasn’t sure he was doing the right thing, but he didn’t know what else to do. “I’ll hire you to be my security.”
“I thought that was Clay White’s deal. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen the man around in a few days.”
“He went to New York. Something about his family. We didn’t see eye to eye on the trip.” He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal and that he hadn’t dumped Clay’s body in the farthest lake.
“Well, it’s like I said. You get my supplier off my ass, and I’ll see what I can do.”
“You know there is a killer on the loose, right? He’s all about taking out corrupt assholes who bend the system.”
“So, let me guess. You’re his top asshole?”
Michael realized he’d misspoken. “I’m sure my name is among those he’s already killed, yes. I know who he is, and I’d like to take him out before he does any more harm. I know you’re a man who likes to get things done.”
Stan laughed. “I’m a man who likes to get paid.”
“Well, there will be a nice big paycheck at the end. I just need to make sure this asshole is taken out swiftly and without a trail for the police to figure out I’m involved.”
Stan raised his chin and looked down his nose at him. “Your boy owes Spinks fifty grand.”
“I’m not getting my hands dirty with my son’s shit. I’ve done it too many times. But I’ll pass the word along.” He was going to have to make sure his son took care of his own business so he didn’t suffer any consequences.
“You just like to get them dirty with blood.” He gave him a knowing look, and Michael wondered what he knew. Had Clay’s body been found?
He couldn’t let himself worry about that. “I hire men like you so I don’t have to get my hands dirty at all. Do we have a deal?”
“I’ve already told you, Young. You take care of your business, and then so will I.” With that, he put up his window and drove away.
Michael sank back in his seat. “Son of a bitch.” He quickly put up his own window and then drove the fuck out of there before any of the homeless people could see him.
He had hoped to be driving away with a solution, and instead, he was driving away with more problems. His son and his immaturity and his stupid drug addiction were dragging him down once again.
He had only gotten to the first stop sign when his phone rang. He saw it was Josephine and let out a long breath. Having a daughter who was a detective was proving almost as difficult as having one that was a murderer. “Hello, darling.”
“Hello, father.” He loved the sound of her voice but hated it when she called him father.
“I’ve told you a million times, Josephine, please, call me Dad. There’s no need for such formalities between us.” He’d been trying to get her to be more casual since the day he’d come into her life.
“And I’ve asked you to call me Jo.”
“Jo is a boy’s name, but even though I’ve waited my whole life for my daughter to pamper and spoil, now that you are here, I will choose my battles more wisely.”
Josephine gave a soft sound on the other end as if she were smiling. “That’s a wise decision. I wondered if you had thought any more about us meeting?”
“Just you and me?”
“And Jake.”
“Let me look at my calendar and squeeze you in. I promise I will get with you both.” He knew it had to be about the case if she wanted her partner to be there, and while he wasn’t impressed with meeting to be questioned, he would take whatever time he could get with her. “I just have some other pressing matters to get to. Things for work. You understand, right? Our government doesn’t wait for any man.”
“Of course, I understand. But please, get back with me soon. It’s pretty urgent.”
Isn’t everything, he thought. “I will, darling. Don’t worry. See you soon.” He wondered if she had found out about her brother. He knew he’d taken great measures to ensure the case could never be found. He’d paid handsomely to have it wiped out and was certain that Mathews had handled it years ago.
He ended the call, and then his mind went back to his other child. “One fucking nut, and this is what I’m stuck with?” Talk about bad choices.
He had often thought of what he would have done if he had just stayed with Josephine’s mother. At the time, he thought he was making the right decision, but by the time Brenda was pregnant with Kyle, he knew he hadn’t. Finding out he was expecting a son was the only time he thought that maybe things could be better, but then Kyle was born, and while he was so much like him in ways, the signs that he wasn’t quite right started to show.
There was the time he’d killed the neighbor’s bird by throwing it into a fan, and even though he had claimed he wanted to see if it could fly faster on the wind it made, Michael had always wondered.
When Kyle was fourteen and he and the neighbor’s kid hooked the car’s exhaust to a plastic bin in which he put the maid’s dog, Michael knew something was disturbing about his son. His wife had called it morbid curiosity, and they both played it off as boys being boys. The maid quit, and they had to not only pay her off at the time but also later when she was called as a character witness for his son when he went to trial for murder.
It was amazing the lies you could get people to tell for a few hundred thousand dollars.
By the time he made his way back to the hotel, he looked around for
Kyle and hoped he’d find him there harmlessly waiting in his room. He only needed to find out which one. He went to the front desk where the attendant greeted him with a big, flirty smile.
“Hello, Mr. Young. How may I help you?” The question came out of her mouth as if she was offering to drop to her knees and service him if he so desired.
“I’d like to know what room Kyle Young is staying in.”
“Kyle Young?” She glanced down at the list and smiled. “We have no one registered by that name, but I have a feeling he’s used an alias.” She turned the screen around and let him see the entry. “K. Senatorson.”
“That’s him.” So much for discretion. The little asshole.
“He’s in seven-thirteen. Would you like for me to call up and let him know you are on your way?”
“Please don’t. I’d like to surprise him.” He reached in his wallet and handed her a twenty.
“Thank you, sir. Would there be anything else I could help you with? Now or later?” He had already banged one member of the staff, and while it probably wasn’t the best move, he had hoped it wouldn’t go any further than the two of them. Especially since he’d paid her for her services. With the way this woman was leaning her tits across the counter, he had a feeling she had a certain impression about him.
“Maybe you could check on me later?” He had already given the other woman the brush off, and he could use a little company. This girl seemed a bit younger than the last, but he had a feeling by her mannerisms that she was just as experienced.
“It would be my pleasure.” She smiled as he turned and walked away.
You’ve got to love the Rockford.
He went up to the seventh floor and found the room. As he knocked, he listened carefully and couldn’t hear anything. He knocked a few more times, and suddenly, a door opened on the other side of the hall.
“The man who stays there went out,” said a tall woman with a deep voice. “I saw him go out about an hour ago with a spicy little thing.” Michael realized she was a man in drag and wondered what else his son had been into.
“Thank you.”
“No problem, sugar.” The woman blew him a kiss and sauntered down the hall to the ice machine.
Any issue he had to take up with his son would have to wait. He went up to his suite to wait him out.
Chapter 8
Jake
After going back in to take photos of the letter and to make sure that Kevin processed it properly, they left the lab and headed back across to their office where they had been pulled into a small meeting about the two officers who were going to New York with the department. After donating some cash to the widow’s fund and signing the sympathy card, they finally made it back to their office.
“That was a sweet card,” Jo said. “Did you see what some of the men were writing?”
“Yeah, it makes me feel like a chump for just scrawling down my name. I’ve never been good at expressing my feelings, especially when I care about someone.”
“I know how that is,” said Jo. “It’s tough at times.” She sat behind her desk. “So, where do you want to start? The property listings, was it?”
“Actually, I’ve got another idea. I’m going to go talk to the neighbors and see if any of them remember the accident and if they know the man who used to live in the house.”
“Great idea. If you could get a name, it would be a lot easier.”
“Yeah, I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner, but someone has to know something.”
“Well, in your defense, it’s been crazy, and we did just find the place.”
“Yeah, but still. I think my focus has been out of whack.”
“Both of ours has.” She got to her feet. “So, let’s go.”
Jake felt like this was something he needed to do alone. “You just sit tight here at the office, enjoy your new chairs, and I’ll be back later.”
“Excuse me? I want to go.”
“I know. But I feel like this is something I should do on my own. We can’t even go to the forensics lab without arguing, and I’m thinking some time to clear my mind and focus will do us both, and this case, some good.”
“You know I could just follow you out there, right?”
“But you won’t. Because you respect my decisions, right?” He knew he’d get her with that one.
“Yeah, I do. As much as you respect me and how I got this job in the first place.” She sat back down. “I’ll just be spinning my wheels down at the records department. Good luck to you, detective.”
Jake felt like an ass for not letting her go along, but he had already made a mess of things, so he didn’t let it get him down for long. He went out of the building, passed Sam and Dannie arguing in the parking lot, and then made it to his car. He wasn’t about to go there and get in the middle. Things with those two had been back and forth since the day she got her job.
He drove across town to the neighborhood where the Madden’s had lived, and then he parked out front of the house on the side of the road. He looked toward the houses, and while the one directly next door on the right looked abandoned too, the one across the street and on the other side looked like someone lived in them. The house on the left didn’t have a car out front and no garage, so he turned his attention to the house across the street where he saw a window blind was crimped open. It suddenly moved, the blind snapping back in place.
“Bingo.” Nothing beat a nosey neighbor for information. They always offered too much information, and he hoped that this time, it would be no exception.
He got out of his car and went to the door where he knocked. He waited a minute and knocked again. “Hello?” he asked when he heard footsteps on the other side of the door. “I’m Detective Thomas with the Spokane PD. I just want to ask you a few questions regarding your neighbors.”
“Let me see your badge,” said a woman’s voice. “Put it to the window.”
He rolled his eyes and then took his badge out and held it to the window. “If you could just step outside?”
The door opened, and a short, old woman with white hair and a long muumuu-looking robe and house shoes stepped out with him. “Forgive me for not being dressed. I’ve been watching the news all day. So much tragedy in the world.”
“I know what you mean.”
“Oh, of course you do, detective. You probably see it every day.” She looked him square in the eye and then put her hand to her lip. “I remember you.”
“Have we met?” He imagined he would remember meeting the woman, but it wasn’t like he’d never forgotten something.
She shook her head. “Nah, it’s just that I’ve seen you before. Would you like to come inside? I’ve got a pot on boiling, and I really need to watch it.”
He had hoped that this wouldn’t take long but didn’t want to upset the woman. “Sure, let’s go on in. I have a few questions I’d like to ask you about the house across the street.” He followed her inside, and she led him straight into the kitchen, which was all avocado green and harvest gold. The mushroom canisters were hardly the only thing dated, but he remembered his mother having the same ones and smiled.
“I might be able to help you out. I’ve lived here for over forty years now. That house belonged to the Madden family. But I’m sure you knew that.”
“Yeah, and I wondered if you could help me remember the name of the man of the house?”
“Casey Madden. He was pure gold. He still owns the house, I think. He just won’t live there. It’s a shame what happened to his kid. My husband and I had gone out of town and didn’t get back until the next day. I remember telling him everything exciting happens when I’m not home.”
“It’s a good thing you weren’t.” They had wondered if the burglar had tried to hit other homes.
“Not a thing was touched over here. I told my husband, I said I wished the guy would have broken in over here. We have those fake security signs, you know? My grandson got them for me. I often wonder if we didn’t have th
ose, then the man would have come here, and that little girl and her mother would still be alive.” She put her head down and wiped a tear on her sleeve.
“Yeah, it was a tragedy, for sure. Do you still talk to Casey?”
“No, I never really did. My husband did. He passed away about a year ago, God rest him, but I knew Alyssa and Emma. Alyssa’s parents lived in the house years ago. They left it to her. They both died in a plane crash. Small engine planes are the worst. My daughter wanted me to go on a trip to the islands with her, and I said not if I have to get on one of those puddle jumpers. I’d rather swim it. Of course, I say that, and I’ve never been one to be on the water either. Have you seen some of the things that happen on those cruise ships? What a nightmare. They can keep them. I’m not going down like the Titanic.”
“Did they ever mention if they owned other property?”
“Not that I know of. He wasn’t from around here originally. They would come over and visit, but we mostly talked baking and swapped recipes and garden tips. Now, come to think of it, she did say something about having a big garden. But they never did one across the street. She was saving ideas for their new house.”
“They had bought a different house, or was it in the works?”
“You know, I can’t remember.” She walked over and checked her boiling pot. “It seems they were thinking about selling this place and buying another, but I can’t remember if they ever did. I know the husband was in the military, and they really weren’t planning to do anything big until he was home for good.” She put her hand over her mouth. “You know, I seem to remember that he was just home from his last tour when all of this happened. Poor guy. He was such a good soul. A gentle giant is what my husband used to call him.”
Jake could see the man more clearly in his head, and he was a tall one, broad shoulders and lean muscles. He could have very well bulked up into the size of the Hangman. He couldn’t wait to get back to the office and share with Jo what he had found out, and then he caught himself getting too worked up about her again. For one, she wasn’t happy with him, and he was continuously making it worse, and for two, it did no good to long for her in any way. What was done, was done.
