Danger Deception Devotion The Firsts

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  The car lurched and snapped Marcie’s wandering mind back. Her seatbelt dug deep into her shoulder when Sam yanked the wheel, a sharp right at a turnoff across the four-lane steel bridge. He pulled up alongside a lone dark sedan in a deserted dirt and gravel lot. Average rundown houses were scattered in the distance.

  Car doors squealed open and clattered shut. The crunch of gravel and muffled voices met behind the car. Marcie didn’t wait for an invitation. She pulled the inside handle and leaned her shoulder into the heavy door, giving a good shove. The hinges creaked. Marcie stepped out and joined Sam and Jesse.

  “Thanks for meeting me.”

  “It’s starting to get a little hot. What the hell’s going on, Sam? Derek, my captain, your former boss, has gone ballistic. And Dev called, told me you took off. He also said a couple of uniforms showed up and took Reggie in for questioning. And get this—Derek’s now overseeing the interrogation because you’re back in town and just happened to be behind this mystery girl when she was robbed. This is all crashing in on you, and Derek’s really pushing your connection with Marcie. He suspects you two are transporting drugs together. Why the hell didn’t you tell me a sack of marijuana was found in your locker up north?” He didn’t give Sam any opportunity to respond. He paced his heavy body back and forth, kicking up dirt. “You know Derek’s got it in for you, and I don’t like the direction this is heading. Did you know her up north?” Jesse jammed his stubby finger in the air at Marcie.

  “I didn’t know her. She was attacked and robbed. I stopped to help. There’s nothing more. You know me, how could you even think…”

  “How could I think? You should have told me about the weed, especially when we knew she was up to no good. Yes, I’m your friend, and as your friend, I’ve watched your back over and over, every time you did some lone ranger stupid-ass move, always because of a woman. It’s just that before, it used to be Elise.”

  “The drugs weren’t mine. For six months, I … we … my team investigated one of the most powerful drug dealers on the west coast; a guy by the name of Lance Silver. This is the big time. He’s no little guy. He’s got houses across this country and down into South America, connections all over the world. He’s the largest marijuana grower in the Pacific Northwest, if not the country. Our team was big. We had everybody investigating this guy, and I put everything into nailing that bastard. He trades marijuana for guns and cocaine. I don’t know how he did it, but he got someone on our team to act as his informant. He knew we were coming, because when we showed up pounding on his door with our warrants—all the marijuana was gone. He must’ve had quite the team working all night to move the amount of stuff he had. And we knew it had been there. We have informants too, but, suddenly, no one saw anything. His marijuana hadn’t even been cut the day before. How’s it possible to clean up that quickly? The marijuana in my locker was planted. Don’t you think it was pretty convenient that during our raid, an anonymous call just happened to go into the Sequim detachment to check my locker at the gun club?”

  “So what happened? You’re suspended, under investigation...which is it?”

  Marcie knew her mouth was agog. Her mind spun, trying to make sense of what Jesse said. And that name, Lance Silver, churned butterflies and fired chills inside her stomach. Why did it sound so familiar?

  Sam leaned against the back of his car and rapped his knuckles on the trunk. “I left.”

  “What do you mean, you left?”

  Sam crossed his arms and shrugged.

  “You just walked away, said nothing. You’re kidding, right?”

  Sam didn’t answer.

  “Are you under investigation for the drugs in your locker?”

  “I don’t think so. I was pissed off. I threw my badge on my boss’ desk and walked out.”

  “You quit, or did he ask for your badge? I want the whole story, Sam. Christ almighty, is the DEA looking for you?” Jesse ripped off his tie and tossed it through the open window of his beat-up, brown Olds. He was so livid she could see veins bulging on the side of his neck.

  “Look, I’m not under investigation. My boss knew I had been set up. So did my partner, Diane. I was angry about how Lance Silver had screwed me. I wanted a break, that’s all.”

  “So why’d you turn your badge in?”

  This time, raw emotion flooded Sam, and he shut his eyes. When he opened them, a hint of pink colored his face. He took a hard, deep breath and then honestly faced his friend. “I wasn’t planning on going back.”

  Jesse must have recognized something in his expression, because he grabbed Sam’s shoulder and shook hard. “You fucking idiot. You’re planning to take care of it yourself, maybe looking to do some kind of vigilante justice, handle the problem the cops can’t. Huh? Yeah, I know I’m right.”

  “I’m not going to let him get away with what he did to Elise.”

  “Elise! What the hell does any of this have to do with her?”

  Sam scrubbed his hands down his face as if trying to wipe away a layer of skin. Then he looked upward and closed his grief-stricken eyes. “Elise was investigating some smuggling ring of guns and drugs flowing down from the north. For months, this case with the ATF distracted her. After she was killed, I found notes in one of her home files about the case, including a mention about Leon, Mama Reine’s grandson—how he distributed for this broker in New Orleans, receiving this endless supply of marijuana and guns. She didn’t come right out and say in her notes that it was Lance Silver, but with the leads and stakeouts I’ve done since I went up north; I know, in my bones, he’s the guy.”

  “Sam, where are you getting this? Elise was killed by Della, Leon’s mama; a grief-stricken woman who wanted simple justice after Elise killed her baby boy when she apparently tried to bust him on illegal possession of firearms and drugs.”

  The way Jesse said it, even Marcie knew there was something he wasn’t telling.

  “What are you saying? That the shooting wasn’t justifiable?” Sam snapped.

  Jesse stalked two steps toward Sam and then stopped. “Maybe it’s time this all came out. You’ve been angry with me for years, even cut our friendship, because I couldn’t get you to wise up. Elise may have joined the academy before you and I, but her motives were not to help those in need and make this city a safer place. She wanted things. I don’t know what. Even her ATF team members started to wise up to her. She was no team player. And that so-called case with Leon and a smuggling ring up north, she wasn’t working on anything like that with her team. I checked. Forensics didn’t jive with what she said happened in the shooting, either.”

  “That’s absolute bullshit. What the hell are you doing?” Bitterness cracked Sam’s voice.

  “I’m not saying this to hurt you. I was watching her on the side, too, and so was someone on her team. Too many times, drugs, guns, and even evidence went missing from a few of their big busts. They knew someone on the team was dirty.”

  “She wasn’t dirty. Not Elise.” The fierceness with which Sam eyeballed Jesse had Marcie taking a step back. She wondered if Sam would hurt Jesse. But then he shook his head and ground his teeth before looking away.

  “Don’t you remember that, after Della killed her, all those rumors popped up that you and Elise were on the take? And Della, I talked to her. That poor woman was so wracked with grief. She swore to me that she knew Elise was dirty and that she used her connection to Mama Reine to seduce Leon into the dirty world of drugs. She said Elise was the broker, and Elise killed Leon because he wanted out.”

  “Leon was just a scared kid selling Lance Silver’s drugs. Elise wasn’t…” Sam knocked Jesse’s hands away when he tried to touch him. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore, Jesse. I want to know what’s going on with Derek. Why’s he pushing my connection?”

  “Because he believes, like I do, that Elise was a dirty cop, except he won’t believe you knew nothing about what she was doing. You were married to her. It’s called guilt by association,” Jesse snapped. “Sa
m, you made a hobby out of studying people telling lies and figuring out how they tick. The NOPD homicide department knew this about you. And yet you couldn’t see what Elise was doing. I think deep down you did, but you’d never admit it. Didn’t you ever question where she got her money? Those fancy clothes she bought, the sports car, all on a cop’s salary. Come on. You had to know she was up to something. She had money stashed somewhere. She would have kept her own accounts, and I’d bet anything, that you still don’t know where they are.”

  Marcie stood off to the side and breathed softly. She tried to make herself nonexistent. More than anything, she believed, at this moment, that she had become an albatross around this amazing man’s neck. Sam had taken her in, stood by her, and still hadn’t turned his back. Why?

  “Come on, Sam. You want to fix it. You look at this whole circumstantial mess through Derek’s eyes, and if you’re honest, you’ll see it ain’t all that far of a stretch.” Jesse held his large, fisted hand up. “One, mystery girl carries a backpack that’s stolen, but the security footage shows Reggie and the kid are waiting for her.” Jesse raised a finger. “Two, they expected her. Three, Reggie’s been under investigation for a while, which I just found out, for his suspected role in transporting drugs. Four, you happen to be right behind mystery girl, right after your own case crashes around you and a knapsack full of marijuana’s discovered in your locker. Five, you’ve taken Marcie, a virtual stranger, in like long-lost kin, and we know she transported something.” Jesse held his outstretched hand high to make his point. “Add to all of this, Elise’s sketchy past of being a dirty cop; a dirty cop you were married to at the time.” Jesse dropped his hand and took a step back. “This may not play out well for you, my friend.”

  Jesse shed his dark, rumpled sports coat and tossed it through the open window of his sedan. Sweat stained the underarms of his blue dress shirt. His dark glasses obscured his telltale eyes, constantly showing the question that Marcie was thinking.

  “What’s Derek saying now?” Sam asked.

  “That you may be involved with whatever went down at the airport with mystery girl, that you’re part of a smuggling ring bringing marijuana down from up north, and Reggie’s working for you. And the Elise thing—Derek’s reopened the file.”

  Goosebumps chilled Marcie’s warm skin. This was her fault, what was happening to Sam, even though it had been started by another woman; a destructive, dishonest woman. But was she any better? She couldn’t do this to Sam. It wasn’t right.

  Sam paced back and forth. Gravel crunched beneath his feet as he ran his hand up and over the back of his head, refusing to look her way. Marcie sensed a pile of pretty heavy shit heaping up from a dark past, his and hers, filled with secrets and lies. What a mess.

  “You thought about calling your boss? If you’re not under investigation, you get him to back you up. Help get this heat off you.”

  “Not yet. You said you got something for me.”

  Jesse shook his head. “You amaze me. That ego of yours makes you think you’re untouchable. You refuse to ask for help. Why do you always have to do things the hard way?” Jesse didn’t wait for a response. He reached in the open passenger window of the front seat and pulled out a manila envelope. He waved the tan envelope like an alluring red blanket in the air. “Look, these are just facts.” Jesse faced Marcie with a shadow of speculation. “You sure you want to read this in front of her? I’d bet my bottom dollar that whatever she’s neck deep in, you want no part of.”

  Don’t push. She heard it. She knew it. But she didn’t listen. “I have a right to know, so, both of you, please don’t treat me like some mindless ditz,” she said. “And, Jesse, I know you’re concerned for Sam. I am, too, but don’t ever speak through me like that again.”

  “Whoa, Marcie, back off. Jesse’s put his butt on the line for whatever shenanigans you’re involved in, and whatever trouble it is, my generosity’s been rewarded by being dragged right in the middle of it. So cool your mouth, girl,” he snapped, driving the knife a little deeper in her heart.

  “Let’s all get a grip, okay?” Jesse’s radio buzzed with static. “Shit.” He gave the police scanner a hasty look before stepping toward the car.

  Sam pulled a few papers from the envelope. He walked while he read and then stopped cold about twenty feet away, turning to Marcie. His sharp eyes were filled with accusation.

  To be viewed with such contempt shredded her heart a little more. What did I do? Would Sam finally turn his back and walk away?

  Tension appeared to vibrate across his wide shoulders. “Who are you?”

  Her stomach twisted. What was in the file? “Sam, you know as much as I do. I don’t know. Please don’t look at me like that.”

  Jesse stepped forward, maybe to block the potential explosion he expected from Sam.

  Sam ignored him. He waved the papers in the air and firmed his stance. “It appears you produced a passport at check-in under the name Lisa Francis. The birth date matches no records we can find. Is this an error?” Sam shrugged. “We can’t check because the passport’s no longer in your possession. So let’s say it was lifted along with the knapsack. This is the question of the day: What was in the knapsack, Marcie, Lisa Francis, or whatever your name is?”

  “I’m supposed to bring you both in. Derek wants to talk to you and Marcie,” Jesse said.

  Heaviness surrounded her. Everything at stake began to snowball into something completely beyond her control.

  Sam stuffed the papers back in the large envelope. “Does Derek know about the passport and the name on it?”

  “He does now, Sam. He too finds it weird she remembers her first name as being Marcie, but this passport, we know it’s a forgery. There’s no way I can hide that kind of information.” Jesse offered a helpless shrug and turned his head away to face the noisy traffic. He shook his head before facing Sam again. “You know the political game Derek likes to play. Right now, he’s making it sound as if you’re on the run with Marcie. He’s spiking it up, making himself look the martyr. He’s spouting off now with the argument that if he’d known about the passport from the get-go, he’d have taken Marcie then and planted your ass in a holding cell.”

  “Shit, what next?” Sam wiped a rough palm across his forehead and walked in a wide circle.

  “Well, actually, Sam, it gets better.”

  Sam froze.

  “Derek’s alluding to a connection between the missing drugs on your island adventure with the Feds, the marijuana found stashed in your locker, mystery girl’s mishap at New Orleans airport, and her missing backpack. Because of your connection to Elise, the ATF and NOPD’s suspicion that she was on the take, he’s tying a whole shitload of circumstantial crap against you. He’s building a case that maybe Elise wasn’t investigating any northern smuggling ring on her own, but you and she were actually part of it before she was killed. You and I know fools have been put away on less.”

  “I’m not working for Lance Silver. I was set up. That marijuana was planted in my locker. I’m not under investigation. You talk to my boss; he’ll tell you.” Sam loomed in front of Jesse, and this time Marcie did step back.

  “I don’t need to talk to your boss to know the truth,” Jesse said. But you need to know this; Derek’s going to spin his own tale on this and bypass the Feds. This is a different jurisdiction. Read between the lines, my friend. Call your boss. Get him to pull you in. You need his help. He can make it go away. You know the Feds down here have always proven their ability to take down dirty cops in New Orleans. The tale Derek’s spinning, they’ll see it as it is; corrupt and bad policing by a politically motivated captain who’s good at making an innocent man look guilty.” His frustrated words spewed. Any fool could see the common sense Jesse tried desperately to hammer into Sam.

  Sam hurried to his car and pulled open the door. “You haven’t seen us, Jesse. I’ll call you later.”

  “Fuck, Sam. You’re digging yourself in deeper. Cut her loose. You’re putting
me in a tough spot. You know, as well as I, how serious this is. The drugs, especially this airport stuff… Ever since 9/11, airport security’s been jammed up tight. Didn’t you notice today that airport security’s at level orange? Come on, Sam. With the possibility of a false passport and questions about what she transported; this is bad. You know this. This could get ugly real quick. Use your head and think.”

  Sam slammed his door shut and stalked toward Jesse. “That’s exactly what I’m doing, and you know why. I have way too many eyes on me, all this speculation and a whole lot of questionable crap. No, I need to handle this my way.”

  The potential of this snowballing into a nightmare was unavoidable. Jesse plainly cared deeply. Marcie could see how he fought to convince Sam to make a clean break and walk away. And he was right. He should leave her.

  “This is my fault, Sam,” she said. “I don’t understand any of this or why you’ve been dragged into the middle of it. You were there for me and took me in. I’m grateful for it. I don’t know what to do. Maybe I should just go with Jesse. At least then, your name will be cleared. You don’t deserve to be treated this way.” Her voice shook and her eyes burned, and she wept deep inside, needing to give him this way out. At the same time, she prayed he wouldn’t take it. When had she begun to need him so?

  “Don’t play the martyr. That’s exactly what you don’t do down here. You can’t remember anything, or do you suddenly remember? Which is it?” He crossed his solid arms, confronting her, attitude and all.

  “No, Sam, I don’t. I wish I did. Then maybe we’d have our answers.”

  “Careful what you wish for, Marcie. You may not want to know.”

  He had her there. She stuck out her jaw over the sting of his words. He was a crack shot, and he’d hit his mark.

  Jesse’s police scanner sizzled to life when a voice demanded his whereabouts. All three heads focused in on the dispatcher’s lilt as if she were a viper ready to strike.