Gumbo Justice

by Holli H. Castillo

  “My God, baby, are you okay?”

  She nodded. “You’re getting Durrell Wilson’s brains on you,” she said numbly.

  He pulled her closer, holding her tight. “I can’t believe he got to you. I am so stupid. I looked away for one minute and you were gone. When I heard those gunshots, my heart stopped.”

  She believed the concern in his eyes. “I shouldn’t have left,” she said, unable to control the sobs that were erupting, no longer mad at Shep. She didn’t care any longer about what he said to Wanda, or even if he really was planning to go back to her. Ryan just wanted him to comfort her right now, and convince her she was safe.

  Spence walked back up, looking as if he didn’t want to interrupt. “Uh, the car is stolen,” he said. “It was reported two months ago. Crime lab is processing it right now. And Durrell Wilson is dead. Coroner is on the way.”

  Shep held her tight.

  “EMS is here,” Spence continued, “in case Ryan needs to be checked out.”

  Ryan finally pulled back from Shep then and shook her head. “I just need my cell phone from the trunk. And I want to go home and take a shower.” She paused, wondering why she was still alive. “He didn’t hurt me. He could have killed me, but he just let me go.”

  Sgt. Mitchell walked up. “Ryan, I need you to answer some questions before you go home.”

  Ryan told the Sergeant everything she could remember.

  “Is there anything about him that was familiar?” the sergeant asked her.

  She waited a second, trying to concentrate on what she had noticed about him. “Just his cologne. Somebody I know wears that cologne. I can’t remember the brand, but it’s something expensive.”

  “Could it have been Chad?” Shep asked.

  She shook her head. “He wears Polo. I just can’t remember. Can I go home now?”

  “That’s probably a good idea,” Shep said, pointing to a news van that had just stopped at the corner. The sergeant nodded his agreement

  “How did he set this up?” Ryan said out loud, walking to Shep’s car, his arm around her shoulder. “How did he know I would be here, or that I would be outside at that particular time? And how did he know Durrell Wilson?”

  “He must be watching you, waiting for an opportunity. If he is a cop, he could have found out about Wilson pretty easily. The only thing I know for sure is that you’re not getting away from me again.”

  He grabbed her in his arms and held her possessively. Ryan noticed a flash going off, but ignored it.

  They rode to her house in silence, Ryan not wanting to discuss what had just happened and Shep obviously not knowing what to say. She didn’t blame him for what had happened, but she knew he would blame himself regardless. And while the maniac terrorizing her was not Shep’s fault, she wasn’t ready to tell him that yet. Once they got inside her apartment, there was an uncomfortable moment.

  “Ryan, I know you just went through something terrible, but I think we need to talk.”

  “Fine,” she answered. “You can talk to me in the shower.”

  He followed her as she shed her clothes, stopped to throw them in the garbage, and then walked into her bathroom. She turned on the shower and brushed her teeth before she got in.

  “I did tell Wanda that I had to babysit you,” he admitted. Ryan could feel him watching her, but she refused to look at him. “And your dad did ask me to watch out for you, and to keep Chance Halley away from you. Why do you think the captain wasn’t calling you every five minutes to check up on you?

  “But I would have watched out for you even if your dad hadn’t asked me to. And I only told Wanda that to get her off my back. I tried for three months to explain to her we were through, but she just wouldn’t go away. She even made a big scene at the station a while back. I know it was stupid, but it was easier just to put her off for a while.

  Ryan frowned at him. “So when my daddy came back, you were what, going to screw her a couple of times before you let her down gently?” She watched the water at her feet turn red, trying not to notice the small chunks that were stubbornly refusing to pass through the smaller holes of the shower drain.

  “No. I was going to tell her that after spending so much time with you, I ended up falling in love with you.”

  “Why would you tell her something ridiculous like that?” Her heart was pounding ferociously as she started lathering her hair with Soothing Lavender shampoo.

  “Because it’s something Wanda could understand.” He took a step toward the shower. “And because it’s the truth. Ryan, I knew way before your dad left town that I wanted to be with you.”

  She stopped lathering and waited a few seconds before responding, her heart still racing out of control while she contemplated her response.

  Finally, she said, “You know, I could use some help.”

  Shep took half a second to strip and join her. He shampooed her hair and scrubbed her body in silence until every trace of foreign blood and tissue was gone.

  Ryan stepped out of the shower, her skin pink, and Shep looked at her uncertainly.

  “This may sound grossly inappropriate after everything that happened today, but you’ll notice I’m not drunk right now,” she said, and turned to walk out of the bathroom.

  Shep stopped her, grabbing her around the waist from behind.

  “Do you think this a good idea?” he whispered in her ear. “You just went through a traumatic experience. Maybe we should wait until things are more normal.”

  She turned to face him. “Shep, things may never be normal. I just want to forget everything for a little while. I want to forget about dead bodies, and losing my promotion, and somebody putting a sack over my head and driving me around in the trunk of his car. I just want to feel good for a change, even if it’s only for a few minutes.”

  He ran his hands down her naked back. “Baby, if there’s one thing I can do, I can make you feel good.” His voice was husky. “And for longer than just a few minutes. If that’s what you want.”

  “Is it what you want?”

  “What do you think?” He moved her hand to his penis, which was standing at attention. “Shep Jr. has been wanting to come out to play with you for a very long time.”

  He pulled her tightly against him, and then kissed her neck and shoulders, sending the blood coursing throughout her body. He pressed his lips to hers, his tongue probing deeply, searching urgently, before lifting her up and carrying her into the bedroom.

  Her heart raced out of control as Shep nibbled her earlobe, his breath hot in her ear. He placed her gently on the edge of the bed, but remained standing next to her, his mouth engulfing her nipple, and his hands stroking her body. She let out a slight gasp and felt her hips lifting to meet his hand.

  “You are so beautiful,” he murmured as he knelt in front of her, kissing her belly button, seemingly excited by the belly ring. He buried his face between her thighs, and Ryan suddenly knew why Wanda might find it difficult to give this man up.

  Afraid of climaxing too quickly, Ryan pulled back from him and climbed into the bed, reaching in the nightstand for a condom.

  He followed her into bed and pressed his face between her legs again. She moaned, and for the next two hours, Shep proved true to his word.

  Exhausted, sweaty, and out of condoms, Ryan finally collapsed, her eyes closed, wanting to hold on to the feeling of complete satisfaction forever.

  “You okay, baby?” Shep raised himself up and stared down at her.

  “Just savoring the moment,” she answered, lifting her face to kiss his neck.

  He finally rolled off of her, and put his arm underneath her, pulling her close. “You don’t have to do that. There’s going to be plenty more of them.”

  She laid her head on his chest and answered, “Not if you don’t get some more condoms.”

  “I’ll bring a whole case,” he said, nibbling her earlobe. “But four times wasn’t enough?”

  “It was more than four times for me,” she admitte
d. “God, I never want this to end.”

  He gave her Gilbert’s smile. “I was that good, huh?”

  She felt her face turn red. “You were, but that’s not what I meant.” She stopped, embarassed, and then finally blurted out, “I thought something was wrong with me. You know, because of Chad —”

  Shep interrupted her. “I’ve already told you there is nothing wrong with you, baby. Trust me. The problem was all his.”

  Ryan swallowed hard, and then forced the words out of her mouth, desperately needing to explain the last few months to Shep. “After Chad, I really wanted to find somebody safe just to be with, to prove the problem wasn’t with me. But I kept getting scared, thinking what if the same thing happened with somebody else?” She closed her eyes, slightly ashamed.

  “You don’t owe me an explanation. And I would have been happy to oblige you at any time,” he said, his fingers playing over the cherry-red lips tattooed on her hip.

  She opened her eyes and looked away. “Shep, I’ve seen the girls you get. Tall, gorgeous, skinny blondes, who can probably suck a bowling ball through a garden hose. Why would you have ever thought of me?”

  “Are you jealous?” he asked, seeming amused. “You never exactly seemed to be interested.”

  “I said it before. I never thought I was your type.”

  “You’re right.” He held her hair away from her face and kissed her mouth, long and deep. Her heart started racing all over again. “You’re too good for me. And you’re definitely too good for that asshole Chad. I wish I would have had the nerve to ask you out before you went out with him.” He nuzzled her neck. “He would have never had the chance to hurt you.”

  “Technically, you still haven’t had the nerve to ask me out,” Ryan pointed out, trying to change the subject. “And do you really want to talk about that loser when we could be doing this?” She brought her head down to his chest and ran her tongue around his nipple.

  He closed his eyes and waited a moment before he spoke. “Baby, I could spend the next six weeks making love to you, condoms or not. But even then, I’d still want to know what he did to you.”

  She sat up. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you had a thing for the man.”

  “He’s a douche bag,” Shep said. “I just want to know what happened.”

  When she realized he wasn’t letting go, she finally gave him a summary. “He hit me a couple of times.”

  Shep pulled her back down and stroked her hair. “Why did you stay with him after he hit you the first time?”

  “I was an idiot. I thought it was a one time thing. He apologized, and cried, and swore he would never do it again.” She looked away, knowing how pathetic she probably seemed.

  “What about after that? Why didn’t you leave him when he hit you a second time?”

  She sighed. “I guess because I felt stupid about not saying anything to anybody the first time. I didn’t know how to get away from him by then.”

  “And what happened when you broke up?”

  She sighed. “I was so freaking sick of him. We had just tried to have sex and as usual he couldn’t. He got mad and blamed his impotence on me, saying I didn’t know how to turn him on. I left and called Edie. She convinced me to dump him.

  “So I went back to his apartment to break up with him, face to face, which was probably the biggest mistake of my life. That’s when I caught him with the paralegal. He was wearing this freaky leather outfit with the ass cut out, and a mask that had a zipper for the mouth. That weird girl was spanking him with a paddle. I told him we were over. He didn’t take it well.” She hoped Shep wasn’t going to push for more. She still wasn’t ready to tell him the rest.

  Shep frowned. “And after all that, you still don’t think he could be the one behind this? He hurt you and you dumped him, not to mention caught him in his leather fairy outfit. You don’t think he could be doing this to get back at you?”

  She shook her head. “Why would he call himself Jacob? And why wouldn’t he have just killed me when he had the chance?”

  “Because it’s some sick game to him.”

  “What about Durrell Wilson?” Ryan asked. “How would Chad even know about him?”

  Shep sighed. “I don’t know, baby. Maybe crime lab will get something from the Mercedes. They should be processing it now. I’ll call over there and see where they’re at. And I can call Doug and see if he’s found out anything else about Patti for you.”

  “Speaking of Patti,” Ryan said, “when she took me, she brought me to an apartment in the St. Thomas. I really didn’t think about it until I found out Patti was dead.”

  Ryan watched Shep climb out of bed, unable to stop herself from admiring his body, despite the topic of conversation.

  “Oh, and it’s not mentioned in the file,” Ryan added, “but there was a little boy in the apartment. When Patti heard the police coming, she sent him away with a man I’m pretty sure was a pedophile. I only remembered it when I listened to my taped statement. Do you think there’s any chance that this could be connected?”

  Shep leaned over and held her face in his hands. “I don’t know, baby. After I call the crime lab I’ll look through Patti’s file again. You good for now?”

  She kissed him softly on the mouth. “I’m great for now. And we’re out of condoms anyway.”

  MONTE

  Monte Carlson sat in a midnight blue, two-door 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass, knowing he had an important decision to make. The car belonged to one of his sisters, and no one would recognize it or connect it to him. If he wanted to, he could just drive off, without anyone ever knowing he had been there.

  He was parked outside the Magnolia Housing Development, the second housing project in the Sixth District. Criminal activity was at an all-time low in the Magnolia, which was probably why Devon Jones was hiding out here.

  Monte had known where Devon was for some time– one of his contacts had clued him in to that pretty early on. Monte just had a policy about interfering in what he called SNIM. The acronym stood for Shit Not Involving Monte. And Devon’s problem didn’t involve Monte, so he should have just stayed out of it. Period.

  But he couldn’t. He knew there was a hit out on Devon. His sources told him Devon was worth fifty G’s to somebody. And Monte didn’t see how he could let that happen.

  Ordinarily, Monte would just shrug off information like that. For instance, when he heard that L’Roid Smith was going down, Monte hadn’t cared. Smith was going to walk one more time, the body count was climbing and wasn’t much anybody could do about it. So somebody decided to take him out. Monte didn’t so much look the other way as just ignore the information until he had heard Smith was already dead. Not a big dilemma, especially when he heard through triple or quadruple hearsay that a D.A. had paid for the hit.

  Then the same thing with Jeremiah. No great love loss there either. Jeremiah was a middle-aged punk who avoided getting caught at least a dozen times for serious crimes nobody could pin on him. And he beat women, not just his wife, but his own mama and his sisters. So Monte ignored the information that time as well. And he heard through the same hearsay network that the same D.A. paid for the hit. So no big deal to him again.

  Somehow, Monte didn’t find out about Charmaine and her daughter. He might have stepped in for that, gotten the kid to a safe place at least. He liked to think he wouldn’t have let an innocent little girl get killed.

  Cleeves was a different story. Monte had heard about Cleeves an hour before he went down. Monte had already suspected Ryan of maybe being the D.A. who financed the hits. She hated Cleeves, and she had a connection to all the other victims. Nothing Monte could do. Everything he had found out would have been inadmissible in court anyway, so there was no point in revealing what he knew. And truth be told, if Cleeves was dead, it would save Monte the time and trouble of having to follow him around until Cleeves did something Monte could arrest him for. No way Cleeves was getting away with his little show in court. So Cleeves had been kill
ed and Monte once again hadn’t done anything to try to prevent it.

  But now he heard that Ryan had been taken on a joy ride in the trunk of a car. Whoever did it could have killed her if he wanted. That bothered Monte more than he would admit to anyone else. And knowing that Ryan wasn’t the one behind the homicides, he had to rethink his policy of noninvolvement.

  He knew a lot of people were looking for Devon, wanting the money. Wasn’t much to some people to kill a kid. Devon was borderline anyway. Any day now the boy would wake up and be a criminal. Today he was stealing bikes to ride, tomorrow he would be sticking a gun in somebody’s face who wouldn’t give it up. It was the logical progression without some kind of divine intervention.

  Call me Jesus Christ, Monte thought, because Devon hadn’t crossed that line yet. Monte couldn’t just let him get killed. Especially if Devon had the information that could lead to the person responsible for trying to hurt Ryan. Monte decided he wouldn’t change his policy — he would just make a one time exception.

  8:30 P.M.

  Ryan sat at her father’s desk for the second time in two days, wondering what he was going to have to say when he got back in town, which would be any minute. She also wondered if they were ever going to be able to find out the identity of the killer. Shep was with Sean in the interrogation room, showing photo lineups to Devon. So far, Devon had recognized many of the cops from the lineups. He just hadn’t seen the cop that had been in the St. Thomas the night of Smith’s murder. If he wasn’t able to make an ID from this set of photo arrays, Shep or Sean would have to compile more lineups. Ryan hoped they didn’t lose Devon again in the meantime.

  She glanced at her father’s inbox and an envelope with the NOPD insignia caught her attention. The return address bore the stamp of the Public Integrity Division. She held it up to the light, trying to see inside the envelope.

  Finally, she ripped the envelope open. The captain was going to be so mad at her anyway, one more transgression on her part wouldn’t make a difference. She skimmed the letter. The investigation into the beating of Chad Lejeune had been concluded and no disciplinary action would be taken against the captain at this time. The letter was dated this morning, and had been hand-delivered, as evidenced by the absence of a postmark.