by Mike Ryan
“Yo, what’s up?” Tyrell asked.
“Just seeing how you were making out.”
“Same as before, man. Whole lotta nothin’.”
Recker sighed loudly into the phone to signal his displeasure.
“I feel ya, man, but I don’t know what else I can do. I can’t make people talk.”
“I know,” Recker said. “It’s not you. I’m just ready to be done with this thing.”
“Why you even getting all worked up about it? It’s not even your thing, right? I mean, that cop came to you. This ain’t on your feet.”
“I dunno. Doesn’t really matter who came up with it. Fact is, I was asked to help. When I do something, and I can’t figure out what’s going on or get to the bottom of it, it pisses me off.”
“I hear you, man, I hear you.”
“Have you talked to everybody again?”
Tyrell took a moment to think and rubbed the back of his head. “Uhh, lemme see . . . uhh, no, there’s a few more.”
“Any chance any of them are promising?”
“Man, I don’t wanna even give you the slightest bit of false hope. The chances of one of these cats telling me something is next to nothing.”
“All right, I’ll talk to you later.”
Tyrell kept going, talking to anyone he thought might have had some knowledge of what was going on. One by one, though, he struck out. It’d been several hours since he last spoke to Recker and he thought he should update him on his lack of progress. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen in anticipation of dialing, then just happened to look across the street. He thought he caught a glimpse of a man walking into the neighborhood pharmacy. The man went by the nickname of Bones because he was tall and thin. He had a similar background to Tyrell and was someone who usually knew what was going on in the streets. Tyrell hadn’t talked to him previously because Bones had been out of town for the past two weeks. Tyrell crossed the street and ran into the pharmacy to catch up with the man. Once they saw each other, they slapped hands and gave each other a hug.
“Man, where you been keepin’ yourself?” Tyrell asked.
“Been spending time with my family over in Jersey for a couple weeks. Going through a rough patch right now?”
“Oh really? What’s been going on? Everything all right?”
“Nah, not really. My brother died, and I was over at his house for a spell, trying to help keep his wife and kids together. It’s been rough, man, been real rough.”
“Aww, sorry to hear that, bro. They gonna be able to pull through?”
“I dunno. He didn’t really have no savings, so it’s gonna be hard for them. Gonna be a single woman raising a couple kids. You know how hard that is.”
“Yeah.”
“I mean, I’ll do what I can, send them a few dollars here and there. Just hope I can do enough. It’s hard enough making money for my own family, know what I mean?”
“Yeah, definitely do,” Tyrell said, hoping they could help each other. “Hey, you think you could help me find some people that I’m looking for?”
“Maybe. Got some names?”
“Man, I got names, pictures, everything.”
Tyrell then pulled out the pictures from his new leather jacket and handed them to his friend. Bones took a minute to study them. Tyrell kept a close eye on his friend’s face as he looked at the pictures, hoping he’d give off a clue. And he did. Bones made a couple of expressions that showed he might have known them, or at least know something about them. He then passed the pictures back to Tyrell.
Bones shook his head. “Sorry, man, don’t know these fellas.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Can’t help you with that.”
Tyrell didn’t believe him. The clues Bones made with his face told him he did know them. Tyrell moved in closer to him to make sure nobody else in the store could overhear them. “Listen, there could be a lot of money involved in this for you if you know these bulls. All I’m asking is for you to tell me what you know or what they’re caught up in. Could really help your family out.”
Bones gulped as he nervously looked around the store. Tyrell could see he looked anxious for some reason. He tried to spur Bones on to tell him what he knew.
“Nothing will come back to you. You got my word on that,” Tyrell said. “You know I wouldn’t put you in a position like that.”
“These are some dangerous cats you’re playing with, man.”
“So, you do know something.”
“I know you’re messing with some bad people. You’d be best to leave this alone. This is out of your league. Mine too.”
“Listen, I’m not asking for me. I’m just working. I’ve been asked to find the information and pass it along. Whatever happens after this ain’t on me or you.”
“I dunno, man,” Bones said, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt.
Tyrell knew he needed to convince the man a little more. They’d known each other a long time, and knew each other’s reputations. Like Tyrell, Bones was highly regarded by all who did business with him. He had a reputation of being trustworthy and reliable. Tyrell was about to use that trust.
“Bones, man, this is big. Bigger than the both of us. There’s some big-time players involved in this. They’re looking for information, and they ain’t gonna stop until they get it. Who knows how many people are gonna get hit before this is over?”
“Hit? Whatcha talkin’ about?”
Tyrell had forgotten that since Bones was gone for a couple weeks, he probably wasn’t as up to speed on what was going on. Tyrell then spent a few minutes explaining the situation.
“So, all those people are dead now?”
“Yeah. You know The Silencer, right?” Tyrell asked.
“Yeah, man, who don’t?”
“Well he’s in on this.”
Bones nodded and took a product off the shelf and went over to the cash register to pay for it. Tyrell walked over to the door and waited for him to finish. After he was done, Bones came over to the door and motioned with his hand for Tyrell to follow him. Bones opened up, and started talking as the two walked along the sidewalk.
“How you know The Silencer?” Bones asked.
“Straight up? I do some work for him from time to time.”
“Seriously? Wow, that’s some shit right there.”
“Make sure you keep that on the down low,” Tyrell said.
“You ain’t gotta worry about that with me, you know that.”
“Well, he’s looking for these guys. He knows something’s going on. And believe me, he ain’t gonna stop looking.”
Bones seemed to be more willing to talk about the subject knowing Recker was in on it, though he appeared to be more interested in finding out more about The Silencer. “What kind of guy is he, man? What’s he like?”
“Who? The Silencer?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s a good dude, man. A really good dude. Got good intentions, wants to do right by people. It don’t matter if you’re black, white, Asian, catholic, protestant, Muslim, he don’t care about none of that. To him, you’re either good or bad.”
Bones let out a laugh. “What’s he working with you for then? You know, me and you, we’re not exactly classified as great citizens.”
“Nah, it’s not like that with him. He’s after the real bad dudes. He’s not after guys like you and me just trying to survive. We don’t really hurt nobody. He’s after the people who got black hearts, who don’t give a crap about who they hurt as long as they benefit from it.”
Tyrell could tell Bones was still wrestling with whether he should tell what he knew. Though he thought his friend would eventually get there, Tyrell figured he’d sweeten the pot to get there sooner. He pulled out the white envelope from his pocket and waved it in front of him, making sure Bones saw it.
“There’s three thousand in here,” Tyrell said. “He authorized me to give it to whoever gave me the informati
on he’s looking for.”
“Three thousand?”
“Yeah, as long as the information checks out. Think about it, man. That’s three thousand you could give to your brother’s family, help them out. Do some good by them. You ain’t mixed up in any of this, are you?”
“Nah, it’s not like that. I just don’t want it to get back to me.”
“You got my word on that, bro. I don’t need to tell anyone where the info came from.”
Bones stared at the envelope, enticed by what was inside. “When would I get that?”
“Probably a day or two. I’ll relay the information, he’ll check it out. If everything comes back good, I’ll swing by you and hand it off.”
“Then that’s it?”
“That’s the end of it.”
Bones nodded, agreeing to the terms of the deal. They stopped walking and scurried over against the wall of the storefront they were in front of. Bones took another look around just to make sure nobody was nearby listening.
“OK, I don’t know all the details of what’s going on and all.”
“Just tell me what you know,” Tyrell said.
“All right. I don’t know all the people in those pictures you showed me. But I recognized two of them.”
Tyrell quickly dug the photos out of his jacket and showed them again, so Bones could point them out. “Which ones?”
Bones pointed to the two that he knew, then Tyrell shoved them back in his pocket.
“You know those guys were cops, right?” Tyrell asked.
“Yeah. There’s a few more of them too.”
“There are? You know their names?”
Bones made a face and shook his head. “Nah, not their real names. Know a few nicknames though if that helps.”
“Yeah, that’ll help a lot.”
“The other two guys I know, one guy is nicknamed Siv, the other was nicknamed Butch.”
“Siv and Butch?” Tyrell asked. “They variations of their names or something?”
Bones shrugged. “No idea, man. Just know that’s what they were called.”
“You actually seen this Siv and Butch?”
“Yeah, a couple times. They’re cops too from what I understand.”
“You know what all this stuff’s about?”
“I can’t say for sure about the shootings or anything like that,” Bones answered. “But the two I pointed out, and the two names I gave you, they were dealing. They were into some heavy stuff.”
“The cops were dealing?”
“Yeah. It goes like this. Ever since Jeremiah got taken out, everything in this town goes through Vincent. At least the main stuff. There’s some little dealers here and there that either Vincent don’t know about or he just don’t care ‘cause they ain’t that big yet. I mean, you know all this, I ain’t gotta tell you that.”
“What about these guys?”
“They see an opportunity to pick up where Jeremiah fell. They think they can make a lot of bread and Vincent won’t be able to touch them ‘cause they’re cops. Either that or they’ll make a with Vincent where they’ll scratch each other’s backs or something.”
Tyrell thought it sounded good, but there were still a few things that didn’t make sense to him. “So, who’s killing these guys then? Is it Vincent? He knows there’s a new group coming up and he’s putting them down. Or are the cops taking out their own? Fighting with each other or something?”
Bones shrugged, not having any idea. “I don’t know. What I do know, is these guys were starting to make some deals, make contacts, putting stuff together. All the other stuff that’s been going on, I can’t speak to that.”
Tyrell nodded, taking it all in. Once they were finished, and Bones gave him all the information he had, Tyrell handed him the envelope. Bones looked a little surprised that he was giving it to him already.
“What’s this?” Bones asked. “I thought you had to check out what I was saying first.”
“I believe you. I don’t think you’d make all that up.”
“Never know, man. I could be lying to you.”
Tyrell smiled. “Hey, it’s no skin off my nose. Don’t mean nothin’ to me. The Silencer, though? That’s another story. Trust me, if you’re lying, he will find you.”
“I got nothing to worry about. It’ll check out.”
“I know it will.”
“Hey, are you like, real tight with him?” Bones asked.
“Why?”
“I dunno. You said you do some work for him from time to time.”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe you could put in a word for me if he ever needs something. You know, look me up. You know I know things out here. Maybe I could help him out if the price is right.”
The two men shook hands as they finished their talk. “I’ll put the word in.”
14
After Tyrell was done with his questioning, he went back to his house before calling Recker to let him know what he found out. Though he did trust what Bones had told him, Tyrell liked being extra cautious whenever he found out interesting information. He didn’t like to blab about it in public places, just in case there were wandering ears around. Plus, if someone was watching or following him, he didn’t want to make it seem like he got something so good he had to call someone about it right away. That would immediately make Bones look bad and put him in danger if those cops happened to be watching him. Tyrell just didn’t take those kinds of chances. He wanted to make it look like they were just having a normal conversation between friends.
Once Tyrell did call Recker, he recalled his entire conversation with Bones, not leaving any details out. He even went over it two times to make sure he didn’t forget anything. Recker was happy they finally had a lead to work on, though he still had questions and reservations about it. He was taking information from someone he didn’t know. He always was hesitant to do that, even though he trusted Tyrell’s judgment completely.
“How solid do you think this information is?” Recker asked.
“I think it’s good. Real good.”
“You trust this guy?”
“I do. I think he was straight up leveling. I don’t have any doubts about that.”
“All right. Good job with everything.”
“Thank you, thank you. Just my normal excellent work,” Tyrell said with a laugh.
“OK, we’ll take it from here.”
“You got it. You need something else, just let me know.”
“We will.”
After hanging up, Recker then let Jones know what Tyrell found out. Haley was working on a case and wasn’t scheduled to be back until later that night. Before doing anything, they discussed it amongst each other for a few minutes.
“What do you think? Call Detective Andrews and give him the names?” Jones asked.
Recker shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I don’t think we should tell anyone about this until we’re certain what’s going on.”
“Well, let’s find out who this Siv and Butch are first.”
Jones immediately went to work on his computer, pulling up police personnel files. He typed in the names to see if anything popped up automatically, not that he was expecting it to. They didn’t sound like last names to him. Nothing came up instantly . Recker pulled up a chair next to him and started looking through the files on another computer, seeing if any names looked similar. He was quickly halted by Jones, who had started another search already.
“Hold on, hold on,” Jones said, tapping Recker on the shoulder.
“What’s up? Find something?”
“Possibly.”
With Jones’ first search, he was looking for those two names specifically. He then performed a search for any names that included Siv or Butch, even a partial name. He got a hit on one of them.
“There’s a few possibles,” Jones said, reading the screen, then pointing to some names. “Here, you take these three, see if there’s any connection to our list of fallen officers. I’ll take the
other three.”
After both men looked at their respective lists, Recker couldn’t see any connection to the officers who were killed. Jones, though, thought he found the missing link.
“I’ve got it,” Jones said. “Detective Jay Sivelski.”
Recker eagerly moved his chair over to see the screen and started to read it. “He knew Jennings.”
“Indeed, he did. It appears he also knew Bridges. I can link him to those two. He recently worked cases involving both officers.”
They spent a few more hours trying to learn the identity of the man they knew as Butch. But it was to no avail. They couldn’t find any evidence of someone named Butch. But it didn’t mean he wasn’t there. They knew he had to be. Once they found the first name, they knew the other one wasn’t far behind. After exhaustively searching, both Recker and Jones leaned back in their chairs to decide their next move in finding out the man’s real name.
“I think we should contact Andrews,” Jones said.
Recker looked at him, not sure he wanted to go in that direction yet. “I dunno. If they’re guys he knows, friends with, it might complicate things.”
“But won’t it eventually get to that point anyway? I mean, what difference does it make if you talk to him about it now or you wait a week or two until we have all the evidence and lay it out for him? The circumstances will still be the same.”
Recker nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right about that.”
“And whatever happens as a result of it, we will get there sooner. Besides, aren’t you the one who said we should trust him?”
“Don’t go using my own words against me.”
Recker concluded that calling Andrews was the right move. Hopefully he could figure out who the other guy they were looking for was. The detective didn’t pick up until after the fifth ring.
