A Lifetime of Vengeance

by Pete PJ Grondin

  “Thanks, man. I’ll see you in the morning. Have a beer for me tonight. I’m too damned tired.”

  Johnny left the interrogation room and headed towards his desk. Ray followed close behind and began to shuffle papers on his own desk. He did this until Johnny was out of site. He picked up the phone and called detective Al Poreczwski, Homicide.

  “Hey Al, Ray Krebs, Vice. I’ve got some info for you. Yeah, you know that stiff, Danny Vallero, who had his brains blown out? We heard through a busted junk head that he was dealing some weight in crack. Sounds like he was going out of town and hauling it in himself. Looks like there’s no local connection to pursue.”

  Al Poreczwski didn’t think that Ray Krebs should be making decisions for Homicide, but folks moving drugs were Ray’s area of concern. So this news was not of any consequence except now there was a potential motive.

  “Thanks for the call Ray. This is another piece of the puzzle but I don’t imagine that we’ll be wasting much time on this one. So the druggies and dealers are killing each other off. I wish they’d work faster. Make our load a little lighter.”

  “Yeah, but it seems like we have more and more trash walking the streets these days. Maybe they’re multiplying faster than they knock each other off. You should have seen the house we busted. There were little kids playing on the floor in the same room as grownups smoking and dealing crack. It’s a sick world that we live in. You know, you’ve seen it. Didn’t you do a stint in Vice?”

  Al’s eyes drifted a bit as he thought about his time in Vice. For the most part it was uneventful except one near miss. His partner was shot in the chest not one foot from Al. His partner survived only because of his Kevlar jacket. He suffered a single broken rib. The damn things weren’t perfect, but they did work. A broken rib was a small price to pay for continuing to live. “Yep. Nothing like it is today though. You guys have it pretty tough. I guess that’s why they keep Vice guys young and move us old timers to Homicide. The path to retirement. I can’t wait.”

  Ray smiled at that and said, “Al, I gotta run. We’ll see you. Let me know if you have any questions. I can have a copy of the interrogation sent to you after it’s signed. Talk with you later.”

  Ray was done with his ‘official’ calls from his desk phone. He had one more call to make but it would be from a pay phone on the street. He didn’t think that Jason Roberts would appreciate a call that could be traced to a cop’s desk.

  * * *

  Donnie Lee Lester sat alone in his living room, drinking a beer, watching TV and cleaning his shotgun. He’d been out shooting beer cans off a fence at Jamie Watkin’s place in Ocoee. It was always risky business shooting guns with Jamie. He was such a hot-head that you wondered if he’d turn and put one between your eyes. And he was always angry about something. If it wasn’t that dope shipments were too slow, it was that they were giving Jason Roberts too much of the take. Or he’d be mad just because he ran out of beer. Donnie Lee wasn’t sure if it was his red hair, his being from Texas, or if he sat on a cactus when he was younger and a thorn was still up his ass. He did know that Jamie was loud and obnoxious and was bound to get them both and Bobby Aquino into big trouble. You can only run your mouth so long before it catches up with you and you insult the wrong tough guy.

  Donnie was watching the fishing channel on TV. He wasn’t sure why, because he didn’t fish. He thought about it trying it many times, but he was too busy with other things, like making money. He was thinking about the deal that was to go down tonight. He’d just heard about it while he and Jamie were out shooting. Phil Daniels had come out to Jamie’s and let them know the details. No big deal, Donnie Lee thought. But Jamie acted as if he were insulted, especially after he’d been called on the carpet the past week.

  “How can Jason expect us to make any kind of money with these peewee deals? I mean, we were doing better when we were independents. We were hauling in the dough. We’d never even do a deal this small. I’m about ready to tell ol’ Jason he can stick his mule business up his ass. I’m sick of being his hey-boy runner. You tell him to get us some bigger action or we’re out on our own. We know all the right folks. We’ll put his ass in the poor house.”

  Phil was a pretty patient guy when it came to dealing with Jamie. It made him a little nervous talking to him while he had a shotgun in his hands but Jamie had never threatened him. They went back a long way to high school. So he usually let Jamie blow off some steam, and then he’d calm down. After that Phil would explain the facts of life to him. ‘He was getting the largest deals that Jason had going right now’ he’d tell Jamie. ‘Things were a bit slow’ he’d say. ‘When things heated up, Jamie, Donnie Lee, and Bobby would be the top dogs and get the meaty deals’. It was all bullshit to keep Jamie from going off the deep end, but each time Phil explained the facts of life to Jamie he seemed less and less pacified. Phil figured that there would come a time when Jamie would blow up. When that happened, Jason Roberts would pull the plug. If Jamie was lucky, that’s all he’d do. Most likely Buddy would be called in to put a few dents in Jamie’s head. And if that didn’t work, well Mr. Roberts knew how to handle problems. Jason didn’t like trouble and Jamie was a potential source of real trouble.

  “Jamie, are you through?”

  “Hell no I’m not through. I’m just getting warmed up. I’m telling you right now you better tell that Yankee bastard to free up the goods and start lettin’ us handle some weight. This is bullshit, bullshit, bullshit! I’ll kick his faggot ass all the way to the north Tennessee State Line if he keeps fuckin’ with us.”

  Patiently, Phil asked again, “Now, are you through?”

  “I guess for now.”

  “Mr. Roberts would like for you guys to handle a twenty five bale move tonight. Your cut is $1200.00 per bale. Cash on delivery. Pick up and drop off points are on the sheet. The cash is in the box in my trunk. Take your cut before you go to the site. Any questions?”

  Jamie did the math in his head. Ten grand each for a nights work. Not bad except he wanted more. “Next time, I either want a 50 bale load or I want $1500.00 per bale. This is my last deal at slave wages. He can kiss my ass. This is bullshit,” he said again, just for emphasis. “I’m pullin’ in over a million bucks a year for this asshole and this is the crumbs he throws at me. I can move a hundred bales tomorrow night if he can throw the weight my way. And I can move another fifty the next morning. I can handle it. Can he? That pussy mother fucker.”

  Through all of this, Donnie sat quietly. He knew that Jamie was at the end of the line with Mr. Roberts. He thought that after the temper tantrum he threw the other night he wouldn’t even be getting this deal. Jamie did bring in big bucks for Mr. Robert’s organization but sometimes money wasn’t the most important part of the job. Drawing too much attention to ones’ self was not a good thing. Too bad, he thought to himself. That means that he and Bobby would split the take in two instead of three. That would be nice. Well, time would tell if Jamie would take himself out of the picture.

  He went back to cleaning his shotgun and watching the fishing channel. A good ol’ southern boy had just landed a beautiful large mouthed bass. Donnie Lee had never seen one in real life but it was fun watching these guys on the big screen TV. Almost like being there, Donnie thought.

  Donnie Lee had no idea that he would not see the day when Jamie was out of the organization.

  * * *

  Negotiations went quite well for Brian and the band. They weren’t instant millionaires but they were off to a good start. Brian was all set to give his notice at the Sentinel Star. He had one more weekend gig at the Rock, where his agent and Atlantic Records would announce that Brian and the Hot Licks had signed a major record deal. They would be in the studio recording their first of what would be many albums within the next two weeks. The concert tour would follow immediately after the album’s release. Brian and his band members were very excited. Rick Wessler was already talking about what he was buying first. A car, a house, new clothes, almost
every sentence out of his mouth was preceded by “I’m gonna buy me a . . .”. Brian was being a bit more down to earth. He’d been dreaming about this day but he was thinking that he’d hold off on the buying spree. He really needed to think this through so he’d first called his Dad and Mom.

  Brian’s Dad was supportive but cautioned Brian on not getting into trouble. “You know this rock and roll crowd is all tied up in drugs and sex. Keep your head on straight. This could last for years or it could be short lived. You have to be prepared for the worst and you‘ve got to protect yourself. You’ll have all kinds of loonies who claim to be your long lost friends.”

  His mom was less than enthusiastic. She never did approve of this lifestyle. She never dreamed that Brian would have this opportunity so she never really spoke to Brian about it. Now that he was heading down the road to rock and roll stardom, she had nothing good to say. “Brian, this will ruin your life. I wish you’d walk away from it right now. Working for a living is not all that bad, is it?”

  That’s when he told them that he may have a steady girlfriend. He told them about Ginny Parks, how they met, where she was from, how beautiful she was, how nice she was, how he was head over heels for her. This news was more to their liking. They never were sure about Brian’s love life. He never talked about it with them. He seldom mentioned any girls’ names. When he did, he always followed it with “she’s just a friend.” They were never sure if Brian was interested in girls. He always seemed more interested in Star Trek, Star Wars, or rock and roll music. He was kind of a skinny, shy kid, not too outgoing in social situations. He tended to hang around his male friends and blushed visibly when talking to any girls. If he had a steady girlfriend this was indeed good news. Maybe he was coming out of his shell. One thing they noticed, even when he was young, when he was performing, he wasn’t shy. It’s as if he was a totally different person. And he was good at it. If this new girlfriend helped him overcome his introversion, they were all for it. From Brian’s description, she sounded like a wonderful girl.

  After he hung up the phone, Brian started to plan his financial future. He had two other people with which he wanted to talk finances. He knew that Al Michaels had made a good living in the nursery business and was pretty frugal with his money. When he’d talked to him a few years ago, Al was planning on retiring at 45. That was aggressive. He’d told Brian that he’d have to sock away about 50% of his income to achieve that. When they spoke at the ‘Rock’ the other night, Al mentioned that he was a little ahead of schedule, but still planned to keep to the ‘retire at 45’ goal instead of having a monetary target. Brian was impressed with that. Here he was struggling at the Sentinel Star for peanuts and his friends were thinking about their retirement years. With his contract, he could get serious about finances.

  The other guy he wanted to speak with might be a little more difficult to talk with right now. He was having a few problems of his own. Pat probably wouldn’t want to hear about Brian’s finances while he tried to get back in his wife’s good graces. But if things settled down in Pat’s life, he knew that Pat made a small fortune and was able to keep a major portion of it. He still didn’t understand how he could have kept his life a secret from his wife. How could you live with a woman for years and keep a major secret like that. What the hell was going through his head? Maybe he was really whacked out of his mind. But if that were the case, how did you start and run your own business? How did you spend six years in the Navy and work on a submarine? Maybe that was it. They’re all crazy on subs. “Why else would you get on one of those things?” Brian thought to himself. But if Pat were sane, and he sure seemed that way the other night (though a bit stressed), he’d make an excellent financial advisor. Brian was going to need the advice, he was sure. He’d never seen or handled anything like the kind of money his new contract was about to shower on him. Just the base salary was a lot of dough, but the real money was in the perks; proceeds from record sales, concerts, merchandising, and personal appearances. It was all there for the taking if things went as Brian hoped. He was confident. For the first time in his life he thought he could face anything and anyone.

  And he was in love. Truly in love with a girl named Ginny Parks.

  Chapter 26

  Pat and Joe sat down at Joe’s living room table. Joe was still covered in sweat from his workout with Lisa. He really wanted to get cleaned up a bit and get to the pool so he didn’t keep her waiting, or worse yet, miss her altogether. She’d think that he’d chickened out or just didn’t care to see her again. That was the furthest thing from the truth.

  “So how’re we doing, Pat? I see we’re right on schedule.”

  Pat looked at Joe with a worried, strained look. “I don’t want to talk schedule for a minute. I ran into Brain Purcer last night. I was at the vault and he drove right up.”

  Joe frowned. “What were you doing at the vault? You know we’re supposed to stay away from there for now. How the hell did Brian find you there?” Joe said with an edge in his voice that bordered on anger. “What the fuck is going on, Pat?”

  “I wrote Brian right when I got out of the Navy. I told him where we were moving and told him I’d like for him to stop by and meet Diane and the kids. He did, only I wasn’t there.” Pat paused and looked around Joe’s apartment, avoiding his stare. “Diane and I had a fight the other night. Actually I blew up at Sean for no good reason. Diane stepped in and I guess we did have a fight. Bottom line is that I walked out and haven’t been home since. I went to the vault to gather myself and calm down. I stayed there last night and today. I was sitting there just going over things in my mind when I see headlights on the monitors. It’s Brian.”

  The more Pat talked, the more Joe’s face showed his annoyance with what Pat had done. He had to stop himself from leaping right into Pat’s face. This was a major blunder on Pat’s part and one that Joe would never have believed Pat was capable of making. “What did Brian have to say? I mean, did he tell you what he and Diane talked about? Why would Diane let him through the door, that crazy looking freak?”

  “That’s the really bad part.”

  Joe rolled his eyes at this. “What could be worse than you hanging out at the vault?”

  “Brian told Diane about the grove business, the nursery business, that I may have a pretty good stash of cash, and that he couldn’t believe that she didn’t know. Brian pretty much spilled his guts about everything except the real business. I guess he figured that’d send Diane over the edge. Apparently she was pretty astonished at just what she’d heard.” Another pause. “Joe, I don’t know what to do. I have to go home and talk her. She’s probably already changed the locks, got a restraining order, and notified the police to be on the lookout for my car. I miss her but I’m more scared to face her than any of these assholes we’re dealing with.”

  “Pat, wake up! She’s still in love with you. You’re just stressed out. Let’s talk for a bit and we’ll figure out what we have to do here. First, quit whining. You sound like a school girl. I know you’re stressed but, God man, you’ve got nothing to worry about. We know what we have to do. It’s all laid out and if we execute, we’re golden. Nothing points to us. Next, slow down on the consulting business. Keep the clients that you have and don’t pick up any more. Next is the toughest. You have to go home and talk things through with Diane. You have to tell her everything except, of course, that you were a dope dealer and made the majority of your money that way. You’ve gotta come clean on the grove, the nursery, even your lifestyle. She’ll forgive you for smoking a little dope; even a lot of dope. But you can’t hide this stuff from her any longer.”

  Pat knew that his little brother was right. He sat for a few minutes longer. Then he looked at Joe who was studying his older brother with a calculated look. Pat’s slight smile let Joe know that he was getting through but it wasn’t a complete victory yet.

  Pat said, “Okay. I can do it. I have to take care of the next target. I got the info on Randy.”

  Joe l
ooked at him in surprise. “You mean Donnie, right?”

  “No, I mean Randy. Randy Farley.”

  Joe was shocked now. “Randy’s dead. Killed the other night in his apartment. No details were released except that it was a murder. They had a ‘person of interest’ but they let her go. I thought it was us.”

  “Wow!” Pat’s first reaction was one of surprise, then confusion. “Coincidence? Randy was up on some dope charges. Maybe he opened his mouth to the wrong folks and they didn’t like it.”

  “Maybe. But I think we better watch developments for a few days. Let’s step back for a week or so and let things calm down. Even though Randy isn’t really connected to the others too closely, it can’t hurt to wait a few days. There’s one other thing that you need to know. Jamie, Donnie, and Bobby have been dealing with a guy named Jason Roberts. He’s a pretty big time player. It turns out that Danny Vallero worked for him, too. This is another reason that we may want to let things rest for a few days,” Joe said.

  Pat thought that this was pretty logical. They’d waited for over six years for this. It won’t make any difference to wait a few more days.

  Joe looked at the kitchen clock and exclaimed, “Oh shit! I’m late. I’ve gotta run right now!” Joe stood up quickly, pushed his chair in and headed for the door. He didn’t have time to clean up now. He’d have to shower real quickly at poolside.

  “Late for what?” Pat asked.

  “I’m meeting a chick at the pool, if she hasn’t already left. I was supposed to be there ten minutes ago. Damn! Let yourself out and lock up. Stay here and think for a while if you need, but think about what I said . . . about everything. Go home tonight, Pat. You need to go home and make sure everything is right with Diane. I mean it.”

  “I will. We’ll see what happens over the next few days before we get things back in gear.”

  It didn’t take that long to see what happened next.