‘Sorry.’
She nodded at my bin. ‘Had a fight with your beau?’
‘Nah.’ I looked down into the bin. The card sat wedged into the stems. ‘Unwanted secret admirer. We’ve brought in another dealer. Bob is with him in room three.’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘You’ve been busy.’
‘This one came quietly.’
‘You think you can get another?’
‘I’ll see what we can do.’
Bob joined me ten minutes later. He pulled up the top of the donut box and lifted one out. ‘Want one?’ He pushed the box towards me.
I thought about how my arse had looked on camera. There was a good chance Billy would see that. ‘Nah. I’ll stick to the protein bar. Gloria wants us to get one more.’
‘What’s your list say?’
I looked over my shoulder at the door as I pulled it out of my pocket. ‘Ummm.’ I unwrapped my protein bar and took a bite. ‘This one hangs out in front of The Nasty Crow on Mondays and Tuesdays.’ I looked over at Bob.
He made a keep-going hand motion. Normally I would have protested that the Club was shut on Mondays, but if Carlos did in fact own The Nasty Crow, you never knew when he might show up there.
‘There’s only one more that is always active on a Monday.’
‘Who is it?’
I pulled a face. ‘Big Bad Ben.’
‘Big Bad Ben?’ He let out a laugh. ‘Oh that is golden. Where do they get these names from?’
‘Hmmmm. Well Long John got his because his name is John and he is long, so it’s possible that this Ben is a bad arse.’
‘Yeah.’ Bob waved a hand at me. ‘But we’ve got you.’
He was getting little too blasé about my performance abilities for my liking.
‘What if Big Bad Ben owns a firearm?’
‘We shoot him?’
‘Have you ever shot anybody, Bob?’
‘No. But you have.’
‘That was accidentally on purpose.’
He shoved the rest of the donut into his mouth. ‘Shwo?’
‘I’m a lousy shot. I have never hit anything I’ve aimed at. What about you?’
He swallowed noisily. ‘I‘d say I had a fifty-fifty chance.’
I snorted. ‘We’re a fine pair.’
‘We’re the ‘A’ Team.’ He held his hand up for a high-five. The effect was ruined by the fact that donut gunk was smeared on his front teeth.
I ignored his hand and looked at the clock. ‘Come on.’
9
Hero Schmero
‘What’s wrong with you?’ Bob asked.
I plucked a twig off the tree we were walking past and swished it back and forth.
‘Nothing.’
‘You’re all twitchy.’
I swished some more.
‘It’s making me jumpy.’
Swish. Swish. Swish.
‘I don’t like it when you stop talking.’
I whacked my twig at a pole.
‘Chanel.’
I stopped my whacking and turned to face him. ‘Bob.’
‘What is it?’
I looked up at the night sky. ‘I just got a bad feeling about this one.’
‘Is it the name?’
‘Nah.’ I couldn’t see any stars. That was probably the one thing I missed about Hickory. The night sky.
‘Well, what then?’
‘I just feel it in here.’ I touched my chest.
Bob shifted from side to side. A nervous shuffle. ‘Maybe we should just be happy with two.’
I looked back up at the sky. Billy was under the same sky. He was doing what he had to, to come back to me.
‘Nah.’ I shook my head. ‘Let’s do it.’
I felt a teeny bit guilty about dragging Bob into my personal vendetta. But I consoled myself with the fact that we were just doing our job.
He held his fist out to me. ‘The ‘A’ Team,’ he said.
‘The ‘A’ Team.’ I smiled as I reached out and bumped his fist.
We both turned to look at the pub that Big Bad Ben worked out of. Its extended licence meant it was still open. It would be closing in the next ten minutes.
‘Should we go in?’
I thought about it for a moment. ‘I don’t think so.’ That nagging feeling was back in the pit of my stomach. ‘Let’s wait and see.’ Evan had given me a brief description of Big Bad Ben. I was thinking that the face tattoo was going to make him easy to pick.
I looked around for a suitable hiding place.
‘What about there?’ Bob pointed to the bank across the road. The wide archway entrance meant there would be enough room for both of us to stand in shadow.
‘Perfect.’
We moved over to the shadows provided by the bank entrance to wait.
‘Want to play Celebrity Head?’ Bob asked.
I looked over at him. ‘Do we have to stick to humans?’
‘Nah. Let’s mix it up.’
I nodded. I had the perfect celebrity in mind for Bob. ‘You start.’
‘Am I human?’ he asked.
‘No. Am I human?’
‘No. Am I male?’ Bob placed his hands in his pockets and leaned back against the wall.
‘No. Am I male?’
‘Yes,’ he said.
‘Hmmmm.’ I was a non-human male. Who would Bob pick for me?
‘Hey,’ he looked sideways at me, ‘do you realise this is our first stake-out?’
I laughed. ‘Shame we couldn’t do it in the car. We’d be more comfortable.’
‘And we’d have drink holders.’
‘But we’d stick out like two cops in a patrol car.’ We’d left the car the next block over.
‘I still think the drink holders would be worth it,’ he said.
‘And the reclining seats.’
‘And there’d be room for donut boxes.’
‘Am I an animal?’ I asked.
‘Nope.’ Bob scratched at his head while he thought. ‘Am I an animal?’
‘Yes.’ I ran my tongue over my teeth. They felt furry. I hoped I didn’t have food stuck on them.
‘Am I a pony?’
I laughed. ‘A pony?’
‘Yeah. From My Little Pony.’
‘You’ve seen that?’
He shrugged. ‘I took my niece to see it in the holidays. So, I’m guessing that’s a no.’
‘No. Am I….’ I stopped and looked towards the pub. The first of the patrons was starting to leave.
A couple of women staggered down the stairs. One tripped on the bottom step, letting out a scream as she grabbed her friend’s arm. She regained her balance and they clung to each other while they laughed.
I hadn’t had a girls’ night out in quite a while. It made me miss Becky, my best friend from Hickory. She and Bobby were still travelling around Australia, too scared to go home and face the music from their elopement ruining Bec’s Mum’s fun.
A group of men had followed the women out. ‘You right luv?’ one of them said.
The women looked at him and burst out laughing like it was the funniest thing they’d ever heard.
The door opened again and another group of people stumbled out into the cold night. I rubbed up and down my arms with my hands. The uniform jumper wasn’t quite cutting it.
‘There.’ I nudged Bob and pointed as the door opened again.
‘I see him,’ he whispered back.
Big Bad Ben was as bad as I had feared. A giant of a man, he had muscles on muscles, his neck so wide that it appeared to join directly to his shoulders.
‘Shiiiiiit,’ Bob breathed.
The Maori tattoo Evan had told me about turned Big Bad Ben’s face into a hideous mask. He appeared to be snarling even though his mouth was closed.
‘How about we leave him for the detectives?’ I whispered.
‘I second that motion.’
Big Bad Ben paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked back up to the pub door. It opened again and I
sucked in a shocked breath as Luca exited. Carlos, Stefano and Billy emerged a few moments later, a large crowd of giggling girls following them.
I pressed myself back against the wall, but Bob jerked forwards.
‘Bil…,’ he started to yell.
I pulled him backwards, slamming him against the wall as I covered his mouth with my hands. ‘Shut up,’ I hissed.
His eyes were wide points of white in the gloom, but I felt him nod against my hand.
I released him and fought down my urge to crouch in the corner with my hands over my eyes. Instead I turned to see if we were sprung.
The five men stood in a group, their voices low as they talked. I let out the breath I had been holding. It looked like we had gotten away with it.
Moving to the edge of the shadow I cocked my head to see if I could hear what they were talking about.
‘She needs to be dealt with,’ Big Bad Ben said. ‘She brought in two of my dealers tonight.’
‘She’s harmless,’ Carlos said. ‘A child playing with fire.’
‘How are we meant to move this next shipment if she keeps taking our men off the street?’
Carlos laughed again. ‘We’re talking about a flea on an elephant.’
‘They’re dubbing her Super Cop.’
‘There’s nothing super about her.’
I felt Bob pressed up against my back.
‘Oh really?’ Big Bad Ben flexed his neck to either side. ‘Cause that’s not what we heard.’
‘Oh.’ Carlos mimicked Ben’s aggressive posture, crossing his arms and puffing out his chest.
‘We heard that she took down your entire security team at The Crow.’
I could see Carlos’s fist clench and unclench as he tried to stare down Big Bad Ben. He tilted his head and said, ‘She wasn’t alone.’
‘Whatever,’ Ben said. ‘The Crystal has told me to deal with her. So if you’re not going to, I will.’
‘We’ll do it,’ Billy said. ‘Leave her to us. We have a score to settle with her anyway.’ He had entered into the cross-armed, chest-puffing posture competition.
Big Bad Ben stared at him. I could see the muscles in his jaw bulging. ‘Fine.’ He nodded his head. ‘But if she doesn’t stop before the next shipment arrives….’
I shivered at his unspoken threat.
‘She will stop.’ Billy said. ‘You can count on it.’
Big Bad Ben nodded again and then turned and strode off down the road. Carlos, Luca, Stefano and Billy departed in the other direction.
Bob and I stayed where we were, both of us silent till they were out of sight.
‘What was that all about?’ Bob finally asked.
I rubbed at my arms, not sure if it were purely the cold that was making me shiver. ‘Maybe we should go somewhere else and talk.’
‘Did you really go to The Nasty Crow?’
It seemed the last of the patrons had left the pub. I peered around the corner, looking up and down the street to make sure they were really gone before I stepped out from our cover.
‘And Billy? What is Billy doing with them?’
‘Shhhhh.’ I put a hand on his arm. You never knew where there might be ears.
‘Fine,’ Bob huffed. ‘But you are going to tell me?’
I turned and looked up at him. ‘I’ll tell you some of it, if you promise not to tell anyone. No one. Not even Sasha.’ I crossed my arms. I wasn’t going to let a loose tongue get Billy killed.
He licked his lips as his eyes darted to the side. ‘So, I can never tell her?’
‘Just till this is all over, Bob.’ I stared into his eyes, trying to work out where his mind was at.
‘Okay, deal.’
I held my little finger up. ‘Pinky promise.’
‘Really? That’s, like, for six year olds.’
‘Pinky promise is the most binding of all promises.’ I shook my little finger at him.
‘Oh, fine.’ He hooked his little finger around mine. ‘I promise I will not tell a single soul until this is all over.’
‘If you break that promise,’ I said, ‘and I am alive to find out, there will be no more free donuts for you, ever.’
‘Geez, Chanel.’ He fell in next to me as I started walking up the street. ‘No need to get nasty.’
I shook my head as I laughed. Only Bob would think that cessation of free donut rations was the worst thing I could do to him.
We didn’t speak as we walked back to the car, me thinking about how yummy Billy had looked, Bob probably thinking about free donuts.
The attack came silently and swiftly. One second I was standing next to the car waiting for Bob to let me in, the next I was pressed up against it, my attacker pinning my arms to my side.
‘Stop following me,’ Billy growled in my ear.
I wriggled around till I was facing him. ‘I wasn’t following you,’ I hissed back.
‘Hey, Billy,’ Bob said.
‘Bob.’ Billy looking over my shoulder and nodded his head before turning his steely glare back to me.
The car beeped and I heard Bob’s door open.
‘So if you weren’t following me, who were you after?’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Carlos?’
‘Please, no,’ I said. ‘I am assuming you have that end of the investigation in hand.’
‘This is not your investigation.’ He pushed against me.
‘That’s where you’re wrong,’ I said. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a police officer.’
‘A police officer who is going to get herself killed.’ His face softened for a second. ‘Stand down, Chanel.’
‘You need my help.’
‘Please.’
I met his gaze, torn between wanting to kiss him, and wanting to smack him. ‘I’m just doing my job.’ I forced the clipped words out between clenched teeth.
He snarled as he stepped back. ‘How am I meant to do my job when I’m worried about you the whole time?’
‘Not my problem.’ I crossed my arms. ‘I seem to be able to do mine even though I’m worried about you.’ I didn’t mention the truth. That at times I was only able to keep going, even though my insides were laced with liquid terror, because I was worried about him.
‘Christ, Chanel. Why are you being so stubborn?’ He raked at his hair with his hands.
‘Because I love you.’ The words burst out of me. ‘And I miss you. And I want you home.’ Tears threatened to follow my confession. ‘I will not stop till you are home safe. I know that you need me.’ I wiped the back of my hand across my eyes. ‘I don’t understand why you are too stubborn to see that.’
His anger had melted away during my outburst. ‘I miss you too, Baby.’ He reached out and stroked my cheek. ‘You just don’t know what you are playing with.’
‘Oh really?’ I pushed his hand away. ‘Do you know who The Crystal is? Do you know where the next shipment is coming in? Do you know how they are getting the drugs into the country? I mean this is a drug that can’t be detected.’
Shock took over his facial expression as I fired my questions at him.
‘I’m guessing that is a no,’ I said.
His mouth opened and closed a few times. ‘How do you know about any of that?’ he finally asked. ‘Did Trent…?’
‘Trent won’t tell me diddly-squat.’ I pulled open the car door. ‘I’m not as useless as you think.’ I hopped into the car.
‘I don’t think you’re useless.’ He gripped the top of the door. ‘I just don’t want to see you hurt. Or worse.’ He didn’t say the alternative but it hung in the air between us. Dead.
‘You do your job, and I’ll do mine.’ I pulled at the door. Maybe if I squished his fingers he’d be out of the game.
‘Fine.’ He snatched his hand out of the way.
‘Fine.’ I slammed the door and turned to face the front, not looking as Bob pulled away from the curb.
***
‘So,’ Bob stirred sugar into his second coffee, ‘let me get this straight. You and Nick
went into The Nasty Crow and took down their entire team, just so you could talk to Billy?’
‘That stuff with his team was never our intention. It just kind of happened.’
He threw his head back and laughed. ‘You are one crazy bitch.’
‘I’m not a bitch.’ I reached out my foot and kicked him under the table.
‘Ow.’ He rubbed at his shin. ‘I meant it as a compliment.’
‘Oh.’ I picked up my coffee. ‘Sorry about that.’
‘So, what are you going to do now?’
‘Same as we have been. Keep bringing in the dealers and hope that Gloria can get something out of them.’
‘What about what Bad Ben said?’
‘Big Bad Ben?’
‘I was trying to dilute the terror his name causes.’
‘I’ve seen him. There’s no diluting the terror.’
‘But you’re doing it anyway?’
I picked at a rough nail that was driving me nuts. ‘What choice do I have? The alternatives scare me more.’
Bob had a pained look on his face as he nodded, no doubt thinking of Sasha, and what he would do to keep her safe. Or maybe he just had indigestion. He had consumed a large amount of bakery goods throughout the course of the evening.
I picked up my coffee mug and drained the last of my latte.
He looked at his watch and then did the same. ‘We should probably head back to The Station. What are we writing up about the latest incident?’
‘Nothing.’ If Trent caught wind of any of it he would probably lock me up in the cells until it was all over.
We paid for our drinks and food and then headed out to the patrol car. The intense darkness of night was fading.
I felt a momentary sadness. I knew I bitched about night shift, but there was something special about being awake just before dawn. A sacredness. When everybody else was asleep, and you had the city to yourself. There was so much potential. A day yet untouched by sorrow, or disappointment, where possibility ruled.
We managed to drag out the paperwork from our first two arrests to fill up the rest of our shift. My eyes felt like I had poured a bucket of sand in them by the time the day shift finally turned up.
I turned off my computer and stood, stretching my arms above my head as I pushed up onto my tiptoes. My ribs hurt where Long John had kicked me.
Billy Page 19
