Compulsion

by Terri Breneman

  “So either Judge Crayton is in on this, or she has a different view of the Fourth Amendment,” Toni said. “She said on Saturday that she was switching from civil back to criminal. Maybe she’s just being careful.”

  “You saw her Saturday?” Boggs looked puzzled.

  “Yes. She came over to say hello to Vicky at Patty’s party.”

  “She stopped by the table and wished me a happy birthday,” Patty said. “I thought that was odd, but cool.”

  “Do you know her?” Boggs still looked confused.

  “I testified once in her courtroom when I first started. I think it was right before she transferred to civil. But otherwise, no. I don’t know her.” Patty shrugged.

  “I think that’s a little weird,” Boggs said. “I think we need to watch her.”

  “I agree,” Vicky said. “And so does Anne.”

  “What about the phone records for Dead Granny?” Toni asked.

  “This is where it gets interesting.” Vicky took another drink. “Dead Granny’s been busy. She also called Tucker on a regular basis. A bunch of other numbers I haven’t tracked down yet, but Judge Smith and Butch are on there. And there’s another one that certainly sticks out. Mike Johnson.”

  “The detective?” Johnnie asked.

  “One and the same,” Vicky answered.

  “Well, that makes things a little more complicated,” Boggs said. “We’ve got to be very careful. Hard to say who’s involved and how deep this goes.” She took a sip of her beer. “Hey, what about checking the GPS thing on the phone?”

  “Already tried,” Vicky said. “It’s been disabled. All we know is that all of the calls came from Fairfield, according to the pinging off the towers.”

  Toni was shaking her head, unable to fathom the depth of corruption. “So Judge Smith and Butch were involved. But here’s what I don’t get. The case I was on with Butch a few months ago was a burglary. It had nothing to do with drugs.”

  “Maybe this organization is more than just drugs,” Johnnie offered. “It could involve guns, prostitution or political crap.”

  “Maybe.” Toni took another bite of her mushroom pizza and then looked at Vicky. “Hey. Remember a few months ago when you said one of your sources told you that Judge Smith was involved in kiddie porn? Could that be the connection?”

  Vicky sipped at her beer. “Hmm. That’s a real possibility.”

  “That makes sense to me,” Johnnie said. “Organized crime within the world of bad porn. And by bad I mean kiddie or the snuff films.”

  “Snuff films?” Patty seemed confused.

  “Those horrible things that involve the rape of a woman and then they actually kill her,” Johnnie explained.

  A wave of sadness and disgust swept the room and everyone fell silent. Toni shivered. After a deep breath, she shook those terrible images from her mind and got back to the topic. “And I get that and it seems possible,” she said, “but how does this relate to me?” She looked at Vicky. “I got the impression when you called that you had some connection to me.”

  “We do. Well, sort of.” Vicky pointed to Patty and took another drink of her beer.

  Patty finished her last piece of pizza and put her plate on the coffee table. “Cathy called me this morning,” she said. “You know, my sister Lori’s friend?”

  Everyone nodded.

  Patty took a sip of beer. “The first thing she asked me was if you were okay, Toni.”

  Toni felt that dread again. Cathy’s psychic abilities had proven to be accurate a few months ago when she knew she’d been in danger. “Had you told her about my car?”

  “No, but she knew about it anyway. At least she knew there’d been a fire. She didn’t know it was your car. Anyway, she told me that you kept coming to her mind and that she sensed danger.”

  Toni felt her heart beat faster. She’d been afraid when she came home tonight. But afraid with no real reason. As far as she knew then, the car was a random act. But now that Cathy felt she was in danger, Toni realized her fear was real. She wasn’t sure what she should do.

  Boggs put her arm around her. “It’ll be okay, babe.”

  “Why are crazy people always fascinated with me. Jeez!”

  Boggs held her tighter.

  “There’s more,” Patty said. “Cathy told me that she was almost certain that the fire was related to drugs. She wasn’t sure how, but that’s what she was getting. And she said she felt like someone was obsessed with you. Not the same as last time, but still obsessed.”

  “Oh, jeez.” Toni felt almost hopeless. She curled up closer to Boggs.

  “Don’t worry, babe,” Boggs said tenderly. “We figured it out last time and we’ll figure it out this time.”

  “That’s right,” Johnnie said. “You’ve got four reasonably intelligent women here to help you.”

  “And a psychic,” Patty added.

  “Thanks, guys.” Toni smiled at everyone and kissed Boggs on the cheek. She felt a little better. “Now, let’s try and figure this out.” She sat up and took a sip of her beer. She sounded more confident than she actually felt. “If Cathy’s right and this is all connected, maybe we can see how I fit in.”

  “Right,” Boggs said. “Let’s assume for starters that the guy who runs this organization had the judge and Butch on the payroll. And Mike.”

  “Or woman,” Johnnie said. “We’ve found a lot more women heading up organized crime lately. And by we I mean the FBI.”

  “Okay.” Boggs smirked at Johnnie. “Let’s say ‘the boss.’ Anyway, the judge and Butch are killed because of Toni.”

  “Hey!” Toni protested.

  “You know what I mean. Then one of his, or her, dealers is killed and Toni has the case.”

  “That’s stretching it a little, don’t you think?” Johnnie did not seem convinced.

  “Well, maybe.” Boggs thought a minute. “But it would put a crimp in the organization if one of your dealers is wiped out.”

  “Okay,” Toni said. “If the boss person thinks I’m the cause of his, or her, problems, then maybe I could see the connection.”

  “But why torch your car?” Patty asked. “I don’t mean to seem cruel or to scare you or anything, but why not just kill you? This is organized crime, right?”

  “I agree,” Johnnie said. “If we’re talking real organized crime, they usually just get rid of a problem.” She looked at Toni apologetically. “Sorry.”

  “That’s okay.” Toni smiled. “I agree. At least from what I know from my vast knowledge of this area. And by vast knowledge I mean that I’ve watched The Godfather one and two.”

  Vicky was tapping her fingers on her notepad. “What kind of person are we talking about, Toni? I mean psychologically?”

  Toni leaned back on the couch with her beer. “Well, the stereotypical head of organized crime is usually very logical. They’re very much like any CEO of a big company. The main difference is that the law doesn’t apply to them. They do what they need to do for their business. And if that means paying a judge, then so be it.”

  “So how does torching your car come into play?” Patty asked.

  “It would be a tactic to scare me, I guess. But that doesn’t make sense here. I’m not involved in anything right now that would affect anyone’s business. At least as far as I know. The only cases I have right now are pretty run-of-the-mill. You know— burglary, DWI and drug possession. I don’t have any trafficking cases or kiddie porn. The only thing I have that relates is Kevin Tucker’s murder.”

  “But what if this is a crazy person?” Boggs seemed serious. “Nothing personal, babe, but you seem to attract those kinds of folks.”

  Toni rolled her eyes. “Gee, thanks.” She took another sip of beer. “But if we were dealing with another crazy person”—she made quote marks with her fingers—“and I use that term clinically.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “And we appreciate your clinical expertise and correct psycho jargon,” Vicky said. “Go ahead. What would
they do?”

  “Well, I could see them attempting to take something from me since I apparently took something from them. So, they take my car from me.”

  “And that would be the end of it?” Patty asked.

  Toni shrugged. She had a feeling it would be much more than that.

  “I don’t like this,” Boggs said. “What if things continue to go wrong with the organization. Or at least in the eyes of the boss. Then what?”

  Toni shuddered. If they were really dealing with a person who had a true mental illness, it would be impossible to predict what they’d do next. And if Cathy was right in believing this person was obsessed with her, then anything that went wrong would be her fault. The last crazy person almost killed her. And Boggs. Oh, my God. Boggs. She shuddered again and this time Boggs must have noticed.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  Toni looked at all her friends. If she was in danger, then so were they. “If the boss thinks I’m responsible,” she explained, “then every time something goes wrong, he or she will try to hurt me by taking something from me. First my car, then maybe my home or my friends.” She looked down at Mr. Rupert, who was curled up next to her on the couch, and felt tears well up in her eyes. She pulled him onto her lap and kissed his head. “Or maybe even Mr. Rupert.” She couldn’t stop the tears now.

  “Son of a bitch,” Boggs yelled. She jumped up and began pacing. “What the hell are we going to do? We don’t even know who ‘the boss’ is.” She looked at Toni, who still had tears streaming down her face, and sat down next to her. “I’m sorry, babe.” She put her arm around her. “We’ll protect you and Mr. Rupert. Don’t worry, okay?”

  Toni wiped her cheek and snuggled in closer to Boggs. “I know,” she said. “I just scared myself is all.”

  “We need a plan,” Vicky said. “We need to check out Dead Granny. Maybe one of her relatives lives here. The phone number was issued to her when she was still alive, so that could be a lead.”

  “I’ll take care of that,” Johnnie offered. She got a notepad from her messenger bag and wrote down the specifics that Vicky gave her. “What about bank records from the judge and Butch? Do you have enough to get a warrant?”

  “I don’t think so.” Vicky was tapping her pencil on her own list. “But I’ll talk to Anne about it tomorrow. I’m thinking we’ll stick with Judge Baker. Anne is confident she’s okay.”

  “And I’ll see if I can get anything from Mike,” Patty said. “Maybe he’ll slip up.”

  “Be very careful,” Vicky instructed her. “Maybe just keep track of any phone calls he gets that make him leave the room, make note of the time. If it was legit, he wouldn’t care if you heard.”

  “Isn’t there something else I can do?”

  “Follow up on the hard drive from Tucker’s apartment,” Vicky suggested. “Maybe there’s something on there.”

  “I’ve got an idea,” Boggs said suddenly. “If Tucker was the main dealer out of the gay bars, they probably replaced him. Maybe if we nose around we can find his replacement.”

  “We need to be very careful,” Vicky reminded her. “We have no idea of who’s involved.”

  “I bet we could trust Bert,” Toni said. Bert Newton was one of the bartenders at the Cat’s Meow, a mostly lesbian bar. Toni had always enjoyed talking to her.

  “We could absolutely trust Bert,” Johnnie said. “Remember? She said if she could ever help us out in any way that we should call her.”

  “That’s right,” Boggs said as she squeezed Toni’s shoulder and grinned. “And she’s got a huge crush on Toni.”

  “I’ll talk to her later on tonight,” Johnnie said. “She may have known Tucker. Do you have a picture?” she asked Vicky.

  Vicky dug through her backpack, which was on the floor. “Here,” she said, producing a copy of his mugshot and handing it to Johnnie.

  “Well, you’re certainly prepared, aren’t you?” Johnnie said sarcastically.

  “Always,” Vicky said with a wink. “It comes in handy, especially on dates.”

  “What about Toni’s protection?” Boggs looked concerned. “They know where she lives. We’re moving to a loft, but not for another three weeks.”

  “What?” Patty sat up straight. “You guys are moving in together? How come you didn’t tell us? This is so cool.”

  “We found the place Saturday,” Toni explained. She described the loft to the others and for a few minutes she was completely caught up in the excitement, forgetting the reason they were all gathered tonight.

  “And it’s got an excellent security system,” Boggs added when Toni finished. “But what can we do in the mean time?”

  “I can set up some cameras,” Johnnie suggested. “On the front door and the parking lot. And we’ve got this laser thing that I can put on the door and windows. When the beam is broken it can set off an alarm or call a cell phone or do whatever you want. It’s pretty slick.”

  “And how are you going to justify that?” Vicky asked.

  “Well, I am the station chief here in Fairfield, you know.” Johnnie grinned. “And this looks to me like organized crime, which then could be racketeering, which is a federal crime. Federal crime equals FBI, so I don’t see a problem.”

  “That sounds good to me.” Boggs finished her beer and got another round for herself and Vicky and Johnnie. “And I’ll stay with Toni at night.”

  “Gee,” Vicky said. “We’d hate to put you out, Boggs.”

  “Very funny. We need to pack anyway.”

  “What can I do?” Toni asked. “I feel like I’m letting you guys do everything.” She thought for a moment. “Hey, maybe I can look for cases that Butch had and see who he was representing. Maybe that’ll give us something.”

  “Good idea,” Vicky said. “I’m going to update Anne and Captain Billings. He needs to know what’s going on. He’s already talked to Anne about the stuff with the judge and Butch, but he doesn’t know the rest.”

  “Do you think Cathy would be willing to come over and talk to us?” Toni asked Patty. “Like she did a few months ago, see if she gets anything?”

  “I’ll call her and find out.” Patty pulled out her phone. While she talked, the others made sure there was nothing else they could do for now. Patty closed her phone. “She can come over tomorrow night at six thirty. She has another appointment later on.”

  “Perfect,” Toni said. “Maybe she can give us something to go on, some type of clue.”

  “I’m going to head over the the Cat’s Meow and talk to Bert,” Johnnie said as she picked up her messenger bag, pulling her pack of cigarettes from inside. “I’ll have the cameras and the lasers set up tomorrow.” She looked at Toni. “Do you have an extra set of keys?”

  Toni went to the kitchen and searched through her junk drawer. After several minutes she located the keys and tossed them to Johnnie. “Is it just you coming inside?” She felt a little apprehensive about allowing a stranger into her home, especially with Mr. Rupert there alone.

  “It’ll be me and a tech,” Johnnie said, an unlit cigarette hanging from her lips. “And don’t worry, I won’t let him out of my sight, okay?”

  Toni smiled slightly, feeling embarrassed about her paranoia. “Thank you.”

  “Okay,” Vicky announced as she got up. “Everyone’s got their jobs to do and we’ll meet here tomorrow by six thirty. What about food? I won’t have time to go home and eat.”

  “How about if I pick up sandwiches for us at Subs-R-Us?” Toni grabbed a pad of paper to take orders. “I’ve got plenty of beer and soda. What do you guys want?”

  They placed their orders and Vicky stopped at the door. “Hey, what about your car?” She looked at Boggs. “Are you driving her to work?”

  Toni answered for Boggs and smiled. She’d completely forgotten about her new Bug. “We got a new car after work.” She kissed Boggs on the cheek. “It’s in the parking lot now.”

  “Is that your Bug?” Patty asked. “I noticed it when I pulled in. It�
��s so cute. How does it drive?”

  “Great, I guess.” Toni shook her head. “I don’t think I even noticed. Vicky called just as we were getting ready to leave the dealer.”

  “Is it in your spot?” Vicky asked.

  Toni shook her head.

  “Good. Does it have plates or just temporary tags?”

  “Temporary. The old ones were sorta burned.”

  “I’d suggest you pick up the new plates tomorrow and continue to park in the visitor’s section. At least for now, okay?” Vicky hugged her on her way out.

  After they all left, Toni and Boggs picked up the beer bottles and pizza boxes and took them into the kitchen. Toni noticed her hands were shaking and she just stared at them. Boggs looked over and quickly wrapped her arms around her.

  “I know you’re scared, babe. But it’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out. We always do.” She kissed her. “Let’s get our minds off it for a while,” she suggested. “It’s still early. I’ve got some boxes in my SUV. Why don’t I go get them and we can pack some stuff? I’ll take these pizza boxes out to the Dumpster and be right back.”

  “That sounds good,” Toni said. “We’ll be out of time before we know it.” She opened the front door for Boggs and quickly locked it behind her. This is stupid. Why am I so scared? She’ll be back in a minute. She waited by the door, looking out the peephole. Nothing. What’s taking her so long? Toni’s heart was racing. She started to pace and patted her pockets, making sure her phone, wallet and keys were still there. This was ridiculous, she told herself. What good would those things be? So she could run out to the parking lot like an idiot and jump in her car? I need a gun.

  A noise outside made her jump. She felt a knot in her stomach and she froze. What was that? She tried to make her legs move, tried to get back to the door so she could look out, but nothing on her body seemed to work.

  Another loud bang.

  “It’s me, babe,” Boggs yelled.

  Toni felt her whole body go limp, but she managed to unlock the door. Boggs was balancing at least six empty boxes and had apparently kicked the door with her foot.“Sorry,” she said as she took some of the boxes from Boggs.