by BL Burke
“Perry wants you to Ask me. What exactly? He already knows right?” Cindy said. Marshall turned quickly, his drink sloshing over the side onto his fingers and the beige carpet. Marshall switched hands and licked the drink from his fingers.
“Huh?”
“Don’t play dumb, he’s talking about me right?” Cindy said. Marshall didn’t say anything. “Wow, we’re supposed to be a secret, I haven’t told anyone.” Her voice sounding incredulous. She omitted Kate and James.
“It just sort of… came out one day,”
“One day… sort of?”
“We were having some drinks… kept calling me a fag and you know how it is.”
“A little peer pressure and you outed us? Z. Walter has rules against it. Even so, I don’t want defense attorneys to have any ammo against a prosecution.”
“We’re going to tomorrow.”
“To close people in my life, not everyone.”
“Perry’s one of those for me. You’re a smart attorney, you could easily do better than assistant DA.”
“That’s not why I do my job.” Marshall shook his head sitting on the arm of the sofa. Cindy was ready for the conversation. Almost a fight, but not exactly because neither considered this a real relationship. No bringing the other home to the families, no bravado to co-workers, no nice dinner dates at top restaurants.
“You want to put bad guys behind bars, you want to make sure they don’t get off with some weak sentence.”
“I’ve seen it happen before! Every day these judges let scum off the hook.” Cindy stood up from her chair and took a drink. “This can ruin my credibility. What would Z. Walter would say. He could fire me.”
“He adores you, It’s not going to happen. Besides, he’s got enough on his plate and you breaking a minor rule ain’t gonna change that.”
“If it does, you’re quitting or we’re done.”
Marshall smiled, with a little more teeth than before. “I’d quit.” He said sliding down to the cushion. He took a drink of his whiskey and set it on the table.
“Wait, what do you mean?” Cindy said.
“About what?”
“My boss?” Cindy said. Marshall was rumbling something over in his mind. Something he didn’t want to tell her. “Tell me?”
“It has to do with Perry… and what he wanted me to ask you.”
“I don’t know what Z. Walter is doing all the time. I mean, I could try to find out.” Cindy said, Marshall took a large drink, his eyes shuffled to the phone. She felt like she was invading his work life, but it was hers too. “Is it why you’re pounding that Scotch?”
“It’s Bourbon… and no, it’s not about what Z. Walter is doing.”
“Stop being so cryptic.”
“A kidnapping case… Perry’s brother.”
“Oh god, I’m sorry.” Cindy said, “but Perry shouldn’t be on the case, Knight would stop that.”
“I know.” Marshall started. Cindy shrugged and shook her head. “We think someone grabbed him after a night of dog fighting.”
“He’s a dog fighter?” Her concern vanished and she shrugged. Marshall seemed to be watching her every movement, his finger was rimming the top of the glass. “Oh well.”
After what seemed like a minute of staring he said, “Perry thinks he has a suspect.”
“I can’t tell you what Z. Walter knows.” Cindy said.
“I’m not asking. Perry do you know him?”
“You mean who is he or where we lovers?”
“Lovers?”
“Besides who he is, no haven’t worked on a case with him.” Cindy pushed her hair behind her ear.
“What about his brother?”
“Should I?”
“Perry’s last name is Jefferson, his brother is Eddie?” Marshall said. Cindy grabbed the glass of wine and took a drink… how did she not put it together. The air conditioning had shut off, but the hairs on her arm were standing up still. She took a drink of the wine and held the glass like a small baby in her hands.
“Yes,” Cindy said, “it’s the same one… isn’t it.”
“It is, I mean he is,”
“And you’ve know this how long?”
“The problem…”
“How long Marshall!”
“Today, Perry told me and I looked up the case.” Marshall took another drink from his glass. “It wasn’t going to change anything if I would’ve told you.”
“In your mind, in mine your partners with an asshole, an animal and a douche.”
“Asshole yes, douche, sometimes, but he isn’t an animal. He did his time, they sent in to the military, he served with honor, I have records.”
“Records that show he killed my brothers dog and nearly him.”
“How he tells it he just wanted to stop the dog from killing Eddie, he didn’t want to even be there.”
“Perry was there, got off easy like his brother. How did I not know… not remember?” Cindy shook her head, she figured that bastard would’ve been behind bars somewhere, not patrolling the streets under the shield of the MPD.
“Regardless… he has his suspect.”
“Fine, he has a suspect for the kidnapping of a loser ex-con criminal. What do I care about it? I won’t prosecute the case.”
“James,” Marshall blurted. “He thinks it’s your brother.” Cindy slammed her wine glass on the table, she heard it crack and saw a small shard flash out of base.
“And you?”
“I don’t know.” Marshall said. “But there’s something I want to show you.” Marshall walked over to his computer and turned it on.
“Don’t care,” Cindy said, if it was something that would cast suspicion on James, it wasn’t something she’d have a part in.
“You have to,”
“I don’t have to do shit,” Cindy stood quickly and headed to the door. Behind her, she heard Marshall’s footsteps. He put his hand to the door before she could grab it.
“Just watch this,” he gave her a nice smile, one she never could resist.
“Fine.”
“I don’t want you to see everything… just this.”
“What is everything?”
“Have you been everywhere in the rescue?”
“Yeah, top to bottom.”
“Do you recognize this room?” Marshall said pointing at a screen shot. She looked white brick walls, and the concrete ground.
“Nope.” Cindy said, “that room like that could be in a hundred buildings in a ten-mile radius.” Did she recognize it? Maybe. What does it have to do with James and Eddie.
“Are you sure,” Marshall said, then pulled up a different screenshot, it showed a black man in the middle of the room and a white guy on the ground with a blood covered face.
“What the hell is this?”
“That’s Perry’s brother,” Marshall said pointing at the black man, “this is Tomas something, a cow rapist or whatever. I think he’s dead.”
“What is wrong with you? Why the hell are you showing me this?”
“Look at the top of the screen,” he pointed to the lower half of a body in the top corner. “These look like the shoes your brother was wearing today.”
Cindy gave a snort, “Brown boots?”
“It’s just one thing, there’s the assault, the building looks old… I don’t know, has he ever mentioned killing people to you?”
“Killing?”
“This guy, he makes them fight to the death, Eddie and Tomas are just two, there’s been others according to the website.”
“No.” Cindy swallowed, she felt her heartbeat quicken.
“Well, Perry thinks it’s him.”
“James is not a murderer. That’s the worst evidence I ever saw, a room and shoes?” Cindy could feel her face getting red, she felt like she was between a laugh and tears.
“Before the fight, they say Eddie’s a dog killer for ten years.”
“Public records. Perry just wants to ruin my brother’s life again? Make him t
he suspect in some bull shit case where a loser who no one would care if he disappeared has actually gone missing? You want to what bring him in, question him?”
“I don’t.” Marshall said quietly, “but I have to, there’s just too many questions and too much points towards him.” Cindy walked to her purse and grabbed the open bottle of wine. She took a drink from it then went straight to the door.
“Then he’ll get a lawyer, me. You can question him in front of me,” she said lowering the bottle from her lips.
“In front of you is fine.”
“Call my office then… and you can forget brunch.” Cindy’s voice began to rise; she couldn’t help it. If there was a fight, she’d fight for her family.
“Stay,”
“We’re not on the same side on this one.”
“What about that justice you love? If he’s guilty what then?” Marshall said, Cindy smiled.
“There wasn’t any shown to your partner, and the light sentence that his brother and that little crack head got was laughable.
“I get it, James was a little kid… maybe it turned him into a monster.”
“I’m leaving.” Cindy twisted the knob feeling her heart crash. “If he did do it, it’s for good reason.”
“Does murder ever have a good reason.”
She pulled the door shut and walked down the stairs. At the bottom she sat down on the stoop, her hands were shaking as she took a drink from the bottle.
Chapter 32
“You can’t be serious, it’s too quick, and this guy? This is dangerous!” Renee said from behind her desk.
“All of them are dangerous, the cops are getting too close. It’s only a matter of time until they come for me.” James said.
“So your solution is to go after a cop?” Renee’s face started to go red, she waived her hand in front of it. “This will end us and the shelter.”
“Not you or Brew City, just me. I’ve made sure of it.” James said putting on his jacket. “It doesn’t matter anymore, you have no idea what’s going on, you never knew...” Sometimes it was hard having someone with him. He looked out of the crossed windows.
“Another though? If you must just get rid of this one, just… I don’t know… take him out.” She made a finger gun and pointed it at the ground.
“I’m not a murderer,” James said, Isaac popped into his head.
“You call it what you want, you’re forcing men to fight to the death.”
“I’m allowing people to fight for their lives... which is more than they gave Shadow.”
“And if he lives again? And again? He’s doomed to fight until he dies.” Renee said. “I believe in you, but I also think… about his family.”
“What about mine,” James yelled. “Shadow? Cindy was gone, parents never there,” he was done feeling sorry for himself.
“You have to start living in the present. Go out there and look at every dog see into their eyes… if it weren’t for those bastards, we’d barely have resources for fifty dogs not the hundreds we help.” Renee said, “Without you here what’s going to happen? There are so many more animals that need us to stay alive, we have a family here.”
“You’re the head of the family.” James felt his arm pop, “I’m the crazy uncle or nephew.” Renee shook her head. “It needs to happen, people need to take notice.” He paused and stood up from the couch in her office. “That’s why I streamed the fight.”
“You did what!”
“I need to show people, it’s got to stop, all of it.” He saw tears forming in her eyes. James hugged her. “I can’t stop this now. Everyone who kills elephants for their tusks, skin minks alive for their fur, take out monkey’s brains while they're still awake. I could go on and on.”
Renee nodded on his shoulder. It was all she could do. James knew she was a believer, she sniffled. James pulled the keys from his jacket, he gripped the key to his Jeep and gave her a little smile. “It’s not over for me. Or us.” James shot her a smile. He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll be back,”
“Last words?” she said, choking back a tear.
“Not yet,” James said. He walked through the barking and howling dog kennels. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Bruno, head cocked asking where he was going.
----
James looked at his eyes in the rearview; even in the dim lights of the parking lot lamps he could see too many dark circles, too much red in them. He snapped on Renee, that wasn’t him.
The one man James wanted more than any was a cop, a detective and by all accounts these days, a decent human being.
The long apartment complex on the city's southwest side was a maze of buildings, asphalt parking lots with some greenery shoved in. They were the tallest buildings around, three stories each and held 48 units. The target who lived her was also a cop but wasn’t very decent.
James reversed next to the trash enclosure that held a couple of large dumpsters and pulled out the file on him, police records are simple when you have someone who can access them.
Jackson “Jack” Calloway,” same height and build as James, though his love of the weight room and his bro time gave him seventeen inch biceps and a chest that could rival a great ape. Six months on the job, light reddish hair, green eyes, a steroid infused Leprechaun.
James put the file under his seat, grabbing his Taser he shoved it in the back of his pants and got out of the Jeep.
The day’s warmth was beginning to subside. He could see himself at a bonfire, sitting next to the warmth of the crackling logs with someone like Kate.
He put it out of his mind. It wasn’t to be, none of it was, not for James. There was the mission. One he chooses. James felt his arm want to push out and stretch. With all of his will he fought it. James held his arm steady as he stepped up to the lobby door.
He had no plan, how would he get Jack out and back to the ‘Gate?’ James felt the ticking in his elbow. The crooked metal pins wanted to tear through his skin, but James ground his teeth. It needed to stop.
James’ arm started to throb. He could feel the blood rushing through his body into the shoulder and down toward the elbow, he held his breath until he couldn’t. Like a whip, he lost the battle and his arm shot out cracking through the night air. James took a deep breath and leaned against the brick wall.
He started to read the name plates, most were printed, two weren’t. J. Calloway was, unit 116. He looked through the inner door but couldn’t see any numbers. He was about to press a button when the door burst open.
“Move!,” the man yelled as he pushed past James. A waft of something bad hit him. He grabbed the closing door then looked back. The red hair and bulk was evident. He shut the door and started to walk after Jack, Jack the killer, Jack the Cop, Jack the ass, the one Kate didn’t want to prosecute.
“Hey Jack,” James said as the man shut the dumpster. He turned around, James lifted the Taser, pulling the trigger he saw the prongs hit him in the stomach and shoulder, ten thousand volts.
Jack’s body tensed, his mouth was shut, muscles randomly seized then twitched.
The shocking stopped and Jack dropped to a knee. He released the charge and started to refill it. Jack didn’t go all the way down.
James looked up and aimed, footsteps started approaching rapidly. Strong hands reached out for James grabbing at his throat, and another hand hit the gun from his hand.
Jack was pushing him violently backward. His lower back ran into something and we was pushed back. Jack kept squeezing. With a quick move James lifted his arm up, chopping at Jack’s elbow. His hand released.
James got a leg between them and pushed Jack away. Jack stumbled backwards, he was still woozy, but every second he seemed to be regaining strength. James coughed.
Jack lowered his head and started to charge like a bull, his arms outstretched trying to catch James.
James ducked under the arms and spun behind Jack. A thick sausage finger hit his temple. His head started to pound. When he turned bac
k Jack was quicker, unleashing a jab at James. It hit him just under the left eye. James dodged the second to the right, the third caught him in the shoulder.
He spun again putting out his hand to brace himself he grabbed the top of the dumpster.
James twisted himself around just as Jack tried a bull charge again.
James threw both arms around the lip of the dumpster and leapt shooting both feet out like a piston they smashed Jack in the face. His body flipped in some gymnastic corkscrew and landed on his shoulder with a grunt. James dropped down and kicked at his face.
Jack’s eyes opened quickly and he used his large arm to block it. His hand grabbed James’ leg and twirled him like a little doll, balance gone he collapsed to the ground. His head snapped back and landed hard on something jutting out.
Confused, his mind was going in different directions. James barely knew which way was up, let alone where Jack was. James took a second to find himself realizing that Jack was just as disoriented, maybe more so. He was grabbing his hunched shoulder. A wounded gorilla, Jack was staggering toward his apartment.
James looked around for the Taser. Nowhere, he pushed himself to his feet and saw what he landed on was just what he needed. He aimed and shot out the prongs hitting Jack’s neck and lower back, the man collapsed to the ground.
James stumbled to the Jeep like he’d had a few and reached the door. Three jabs with the key before he got it in. As he started the car he looked up. An old black lady was looking down from the third story, James threw the Jeep in drive and pulled up next to Jack. He pulled out a needle and stuck it in Jack’s neck, just a little help for him to sleep. As he lifted the huge man into the back seat he heard the first siren. He pushed and pushed, finally everything was inside. James threw a blanket over the body and hopped in the front seat. He lowered his head and took off through the maze of buildings, luckily, he didn’t have plates on. A cozy looking couple watched him jump over a speed bump at thirty-five.
Out on the road he knew he needed to get away. The best thing about the freeway in Wisconsin, few cops.
Chapter 33
