A Killer Past

by Maris Soule

  Ella glanced at the wooden stick, then back at Mary. ‘See, even you worry about your safety. We really do need this Neighborhood Watch.’

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  ‘DID YOU GET anything helpful?’ Wally asked.

  Jack looked up, shrugged, and closed the Rodriguez file. ‘He said he’s Jose’s cousin, but he wasn’t about to admit he was on his way to see Jose.’

  ‘Anything in the car to connect the two?’

  ‘Nothing obvious. Our boy Pedro had some fast-food wrappers and a throwaway phone, but that was it. The Sheriff’s Department had already gotten a warrant for the phone, but the only number Pedro had called that immediately checked out was to his mother. They’re working on the others.’

  ‘Any to this area?’

  ‘One, but it must have been to another throwaway.’ Which didn’t surprise Jack.

  ‘Any chance this cousin might turn?’

  ‘Would surprise me if he did.’ Jack remembered the look on Pedro’s face. ‘Guy’s scared.’

  ‘Probably just a mule. Like the phone, a throwaway.’ Wally shook his head. ‘Sometimes I feel sorry for these guys. They don’t realize the risk they’re taking. Some don’t even know they’re transporting drugs.’

  ‘Oh, he knew he had drugs. He fessed up to the crack cocaine they found in the car. The spare-tire section had been modified, and the rocks were hidden under it.’

  ‘Why hide those and not the kilo?’

  ‘No idea.’

  ‘Was this guy an illegal?’

  ‘Looks like it. Driver’s license was fake. But I wouldn’t feel sorry for him. He spoke good English, and he told me exactly where to find the rocks.’

  ‘Damn.’ Wally started to walk away, then turned and came back. ‘Jack, we have got to find something on Rodriguez. Anything that would give us a reason to raid his place. In all the years I’ve been here, we’ve never had drug and gang problems like we’ve had since that bastard arrived.’

  ‘I’ll keep on it,’ Jack promised, then remembered something else that had been on his mind. ‘You’ve been here a lot of years, Wally.’ Thirty-five years, as far as Jack knew. ‘You ever hear anything about a woman being put here under the Witness Protection Program?’

  ‘Witness Protection?’ Wally shook his head. ‘No, not that I’ve heard of.’

  ‘Would have been back about forty-four years ago.’

  ‘Way before my time.’

  ‘And mine,’ Jack admitted. ‘But wouldn’t you have been given something when they made you chief? Some kind of file that would include information like that?’

  The way Wally scrunched up his forehead, Jack knew he was thinking, but then Wally shook his head. ‘Hell, it’s been more than ten years since I was promoted to chief. If there was any such file, I sure don’t remember where it might be. Why? Do you think we have someone under that program here in Rivershore?’

  ‘It’s sure looking like a possibility.’ He quickly summarized his request to his son and John’s call to him that morning. ‘I checked my messages when I got back here, and I didn’t have anything, but from what my son said, it sounds like you or I will hear from someone. The only possibility I can think of is Mary Smith Harrington is under that program.’

  ‘I’ll look through the old files, see if I can find anything.’ Wally gave a grunt. ‘Think we’ve been harboring someone famous all these years?’

  ‘Maybe infamous.’ Though Jack couldn’t quite imagine Mary Harrington fitting that category.

  Eleven days after having been attacked by the two gang members, Mary wished she still had the resources that had been available to her when she worked for ADEC. Although computers were barely coming into being when she left, she was sure the agency would now have the latest tech available. The computer she had was three years old and already outdated, but up until now it had been all she needed.

  It wasn’t as though she used the computer a lot. Although she had an email address – Harry had talked her into getting one – and belonged to Facebook – Shannon had begged her to be a ‘friend’ – Mary had kept the amount of personal information available about her to an absolute minimum. No pictures, no accurate date of birth, nothing that would have linked her to her past. She had gone on the Internet occasionally for a new recipe or to look up a word for a crossword puzzle, but up until two weeks ago she hadn’t done a lot of research, not like she’d done lately.

  Day after day, she’d been learning about gangs, about tattoos, about the wearing of colors, and gang hierarchy. She’d even started asking complete strangers what they knew about gangs: the librarian, the grocery store clerk, and anyone at the gym who looked young enough to know about gangs or who might have children who would know. By the end of the week, her head was full of facts but nothing concrete.

  Growing up in San Francisco, she’d known gangs. There were the Italians who visited the neighborhood and hired her mother as a ‘hostess’. For the most part they treated her nice, called her a cute ragazza, and said they were just borrowing her mother for a little while and to be good while she was gone. Her mother liked the Italians, said they paid her well, but there were times when her mother came home with cuts and bruises and swore she would never do business with one of those wops again. And she might not have if she hadn’t been hooked on the drugs they could provide.

  The gang wars in high school were the Negros against the Chicanos, as the Latinos were called back then. It was important to know who ‘owned’ a street, whose turf she was on. For her, hooking up with Raphael after her mother died was for protection as well as a way to make money. If she hadn’t gone with Carl after Raphael died, she would have been vulnerable.

  She hadn’t thought about gangs when she moved to Rivershore. Oh, there’d been groups of kids that formed what might have been called gangs, but for the most part they came and went with the seasons. When Robby was young, there were very few blacks living in Rivershore – there simply wasn’t enough work to bring a large number of them to the area – and most of the Mexicans who worked in the fields were migrants, here when the crops ripened and gone after the harvest. She did, however, remember one year when Robby was in high school that he complained about a group of black kids that had harassed one of his friends.

  When Robby called Wednesday night – her son’s usual phone call to see how she was doing – she asked him about that incident.

  ‘You mean Ethan?’ Robby said in response to her question. ‘Yeah, he had a lot of trouble with those black kids, and all because he turned a girl … one of their girlfriends … in for cheating on a test.’

  ‘So what did he do about it?’

  ‘He moved,’ Robby said, matter-of-factly. ‘Don’t you remember, Mom, how upset I was? He was one of my best friends.’

  ‘Why didn’t he stay and fight back?’

  Robby scoffed. ‘What, and get himself killed? I never told you everything they did to him, but it was scary.’

  ‘Like what did they do?’ Robby was right. He’d never told her any of this.

  ‘Slashed the tires on his mom’s car and threatened Ethan’s little sister. I think it was when Ethan’s dad found a dead cat on their doorstep that he decided to ask for a transfer and took that job in Ohio. Ethan felt so guilty.’

  ‘Why didn’t you ever tell us this?’

  ‘And what would you and Dad have done? Told them to go to the police? They did, and the police did nothing.’

  Mary could hear the disappointment in her son’s voice and knew he was right, Harry would have suggested Ethan’s family go to the police. She also knew the problem with law enforcement was they had to enforce laws, which meant they had to have proof of a crime. If the gangs in Rivershore were anything like the Mafia, they either scared witnesses so much no one would testify against them or they left no witnesses.

  ‘I might have been able to help,’ she said, even though she knew that wasn’t true. She wasn’t like the super heroes in comic books. She couldn’t fight crime in a cos
tume and be viewed as a typical housewife and mother in her day-to-day clothes.

  ‘It turned out all right, I guess,’ Robby finally said. ‘Ethan did well at his new school, got into Harvard, and now works for Google.’

  ‘What about Shannon? Has she ever been bothered by gangs?’

  ‘Not that I’ve heard about.’ Robby snorted. ‘You’ll have to ask her. Lately she barely talks to her mother, and with me it’s always, “Everything’s fine, Dad.”’

  ‘I will ask her,’ Mary said, hearing her son’s frustration. ‘It will get better, Rob. She’s just trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life.’

  ‘Go to college, that’s what she’s to do,’ he said firmly, and Mary understood why Shannon rarely talked to her father.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  THE FOLLOWING WEEKEND, Mary took Robby up on his suggestion and asked Shannon if she’d like to go shopping in Grand Rapids and then have dinner. With Christmas less than six weeks away, Shannon readily agreed, and Mary picked her up at two o’clock. On the drive to Grand Rapids they talked about school; or rather, Shannon talked. ‘It’s so boring, Grandma. All the teachers talk about is “When you go to college.” Even my friends talk about it. Their parents have them filling out applications, writing essays.’

  ‘What about your boyfriend?’ Mary said. ‘Aren’t his parents pushing for him to go to college?’

  ‘No. He’s got the neatest parents.’ Shannon practically bounced when she turned in her seat toward Mary. ‘They told him they think he should take a year or two to find himself, decide what he wants to do for the rest of his life. They want him to experience what it’s like to live in another country, learn other languages and cultures.’

  On the surface it made sense to Mary. ‘Does he have a plan on how he’s going to accomplish this?’

  ‘Sort of. I mean, like I told you, he’ll be on that bicycle trip this summer. And then, after we get together in Paris, we’re going to get a place to live and learn the language. And then we’ll travel to other countries. Germany. Italy. Africa. Like everywhere. You know.’

  Mary knew. She knew it sounded fun and romantic. She also knew Shannon’s plan had flaws. ‘And how do you plan on paying for a place to live and for all of these trips?’

  ‘We’ve been saving our money. Aiden has almost a thousand now. And I, well …’

  ‘I believe you said you had around five hundred.’

  Shannon sighed. ‘Maybe more like four hundred. I sort of had to buy some new shoes.’

  Mary chuckled. ‘I don’t think four hundred dollars will last very long.’

  ‘Yeah, but …’ Shannon hesitated, and Mary glanced her way. The girl licked her lips, and gave Mary a longing look. ‘I kinda hoped, you know, like maybe you could loan me a little. Just enough until Aiden and I find jobs.’

  ‘Oh, Shannon.’ Mary shook her head and kept her eyes on the road. ‘Your mom and dad would kill me if I gave you any money for a trip like that.’

  ‘But don’t you agree it would be a wonderful experience for me?’

  ‘Yes, but not the way you have it planned.’

  ‘Then how?’ Shannon asked and sighed. ‘How can I get Mom to even consider the idea?’

  ‘You’re going to have to come up with a proposal that shows her why a year of travel would better prepare you for college. You’re going to have to figure out a way to pay for that year.’ She paused and glanced at her granddaughter. ‘A way that doesn’t include me.’

  ‘But how?’

  ‘There are programs you could apply for, overseas jobs. Get on the Internet. See what is out there.’

  Shannon leaned back in her seat. ‘I never thought of that. Yeah, if Aiden and I had jobs lined up before we even got over there, we’d be set.’

  Mary laughed. ‘Shannon, if you want to go on this trip, I definitely wouldn’t tell your mom and dad that you’re planning on living with your boyfriend, not unless you plan on wearing a chastity belt while you’re there.’

  ‘A chastity belt?’ Shannon screwed up her nose. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘It’s …’ Mary glanced at Shannon, then shook her head. ‘Never mind, just don’t say anything to your mom and dad about living with Aiden.’

  It started raining as they neared Grand Rapids, a downpour that demanded Mary’s full attention, so she decided to hold off questioning Shannon about gang activities until they’d finished shopping and were having dinner.

  Mary’s favorite restaurant in Grand Rapids was Charlie’s Crab, and Shannon didn’t object when Mary suggested they have dinner there. Nestled just off Fulton Avenue with a view of the Grand River, the restaurant was known for its seafood, and both Mary and Shannon ordered crab. ‘I have a question,’ Mary said, after the waitress had taken their orders. ‘Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about gangs. In fact, my friend and neighbor, Mrs Williams, is so worried about gangs, she wants to start a Neighborhood Watch. What do you know about gangs, Shannon? Do we have them in Rivershore?’

  ‘Do we?’ Shannon rolled her eyes. ‘They’re terrible. I think Mrs Williams is right, Grandma. You old people should have some sort of way to watch out for each other.’

  Mary wasn’t sure she liked the way Shannon said ‘you old people’, but that was beside the point. ‘Have you or any of your friends ever been bothered by gang members?’

  ‘I think they bothered Aiden. He won’t say anything about it, but one day last spring he came to school with a black eye, and he told me I shouldn’t go out alone at night.’

  ‘What about you? Have they ever bothered you?’

  ‘Yeah. Sort of.’ She looked away, not meeting Mary’s gaze.

  ‘What happened?’

  Shannon looked back. ‘A couple girls stopped me after school.’

  ‘And…?’

  ‘They wanted me to give them some money.’

  ‘And then what?’

  Shannon looked down at the table. ‘I told them I didn’t have any, but they said I’d better find some or something bad would happen to me.’

  ‘So what did you do then?’

  Her granddaughter lowered her head even more and whispered her answer. ‘I took some from Mom’s purse and gave it to them.’

  ‘Oh, Shannon.’ It took Mary a moment before she could think of what to say. ‘You’ve got to tell your mom what’s going on … and your dad. This has got to stop.’

  ‘But how? What…?’ Shannon stopped talking when the waitress brought their salads, then went on, almost at a whisper, once the waitress left. ‘There’s this guy. Jose something or other. They say he’s really mean, that he’s already been in prison. They say if they don’t bring him money, he’ll kill them. That he’ll kill me.’

  ‘Jose.’ She had what she wanted. A name – a person – to focus on. ‘Find out this Jose’s last name. Then tell me, and I’ll take care of the problem.’

  Shannon’s look expressed her disbelief. ‘You will?’

  Mary realized she’d said too much. ‘In a way, I will,’ she faked. ‘I’ve got a friend in the police department. He needs to know about this Jose guy.’

  Jack hadn’t seen or talked to Mary Harrington for over two weeks. He also hadn’t been called by anyone about his search into her background, and neither had the chief. That surprised Jack, but he was willing to let sleeping dogs lie.

  He had other matters on his mind, had thought Pedro Rodriguez might be a way to get to Jose Rodriguez. But once Pedro had a lawyer, he stopped talking, and as soon as he was arraigned and his bail posted, he disappeared. He was supposed to check in with the Detroit Police Department, but he never did, and when Jack followed up on the address Pedro had given him, ‘mi madre’s’ house turned out to be an abandoned warehouse.

  Big surprise. The guy had lied to him.

  Jack doubted they would ever see Pedro again, unless as a corpse.

  Gangs and drugs weren’t the only activities keeping Jack busy. Two African-Americans had robbed the downtown bank. It took Jack two
days before he had their names. One turned himself in after Jack talked to the man’s sister. The other one offered no resistance when Jack and Officer Carlson visited his home.

  Paperwork also took up a good part of Jack’s time, along with a court appearance on a rape case he’d handled a year earlier. He was glad when the verdict came in as guilty. The man had been a minister, had preached on Sundays and raped underaged girls during the week. Jack had been afraid the jury might have been swayed by the minister’s age and looks. He could have passed as Santa’s double, but his victims said he was anything but a sweet old elf.

  Some people wondered why so many cops had drinking problems. Jack figured if those people met as many scumbags as he did, they’d also have drinking problems. That Monday night he really wanted to stop in at the Shores after work and have a couple of beers, but he’d told Carlson he’d be at Ella Williams’ Neighborhood Watch meeting, and Jack figured it probably wouldn’t look good if he came in smelling like a drunk.

  Phil would be in charge of the meeting, but Jack was curious to see what these people were thinking. He also wanted to see if Mary Harrington would be there, and if she did attend, what she would say.

  Would she confess to the group that she’d had an encounter with two gang members? Tell them how she defended herself?

  No matter what she and the boys said, Jack was sure she was the one.

  In truth, he doubted she’d say anything. If she was in the Witness Protection Program, she’d already learned what happened when you testified against a gang. Being a good citizen could make you move, force you to leave your family and friends, and require you to take on a new identity.

  He wondered what she would say if he told her someone was still protecting her past.