Tempted by the Badge

by Deborah Fletcher Mello

  Joanna rolled her eyes a second time, turning her attention to the food on her plate.

  For a good few minutes neither spoke, falling into their own thoughts. Mingus hadn’t known just how hungry he was until he realized he was shoveling his food into his mouth, barely chewing before swallowing. He suddenly sensed Joanna watching him out of the corner of her eye, amusement dancing in the dark orbs. He reached for a paper napkin and wiped it across his mouth and then his chin.

  “The spaghetti’s good,” he said. “It’s really good.”

  Her smile lifted. “Thank you.”

  “Do you do a lot of cooking?” Mingus questioned.

  “Not as much as I’d like. I love to do it, but it’s not always practical cooking for one. Occasionally, I’ll have friends over and then I can really show off my culinary skills. How about you? Do you cook?”

  Mingus shook his head as he helped himself to a second helping of the meal. “When it’s necessary! I wouldn’t say cooking is my forte. I do, however, consider myself a connoisseur of great cuisine. I enjoy good food no matter who has prepared it. And this is exceptionally good!”

  Her smile widened. “I appreciate the compliment.”

  Mingus smiled, lifting his glass of merlot in salute. “Question for you,” he said as he rested the wine goblet on the table and leaned back in his seat. “Do you know a man named Kyle Rourke?”

  Joanna paused in reflection, her fork stalled in midair. “No. I don’t think so. Should I?”

  Mingus shrugged his shoulders. “He’s a petty level criminal. Been busted for some minor offenses. Check fraud, shoplifting, that kind of thing.”

  She shook her head again. “Not the kind of crowd I usually run around with. Sorry.”

  Mingus reached for the digital camera he’d rested on the other end of the table. He depressed the button for the images and passed the camera to her. “Do you know that girl?”

  Joanna studied the image that filled the screen. “I don’t know the girl, but that’s Marion Talley with her.”

  “What about the next picture?” Mingus asked. “Who are the two men standing with Talley and the principal?”

  She pointed with a manicured index finger. “That’s John Talley, Marion’s husband. He’s president of the Board of Education, and that’s Coach John Dyer. John runs the athletic department and coaches the boys’ basketball and baseball teams. He coaches one of the girls’ teams, too, but I don’t remember which one,”

  Joanna flipped to the next image, bristling slightly. David Locklear was standing on one side of a chain-link fence and the girl from the previous image was standing on the other; neither was looking happy. She took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before releasing it in an annoyed huff.

  “And you’re sure you don’t recognize the girl?”

  Joanna returned to the first image and stared intently. She shook her head. “No. I’ve never seen her before.” She lifted her eyes to stare at Mingus. “Who is she?”

  “I don’t know yet. But she left with a man named Kyle Rourke. I had my brother run his license plate to get his name and address.”

  “I still don’t know either of them.”

  “Don’t you think she looks like you? You both are about the same height, with similar body types.”

  Joanna stared a second time. She and the young woman in the picture shared the same warm complexion but little else as far as she was concerned. The girl had more hips and whips than she did, her curves fuller and softer. Joanna was thinner, her body more athletic and toned. The stranger was also wearing what was clearly a wig, or maybe even a weave. Thick and lengthy, the extended tresses fell to her waist. Joanna’s shoulder-length hair was natural, straightened periodically with a blow dryer and a flat iron.

  No, Joanna thought to herself, I don’t look anything like that woman! She was only slightly offended by his comparisons. “I don’t see it,” she said. She rested the camera back on the table. “I don’t know either of them...

  “Did you talk to David?” she asked.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Do you plan to talk to him?”

  Mingus gave her a look but didn’t bother to answer. He turned his attention back to his plate and the last of his spaghetti. A good few minutes passed as she sat glaring at him.

  Despite her frustration she trusted that he knew best. She knew that everything he did served a purpose and his not talking to David Locklear was probably for her own good. She didn’t like it, but she would deal with it. It still didn’t stop her from wanting to give the kid a well-deserved tongue-lashing. She took a deep breath and rose from her seat, gathering the dirty dishes.

  Mingus rose with her, taking his own plate to the counter.

  “Please. Sit. I can do this,” she said.

  “I know. But it’ll go faster if you let me help.” He moved to her side, reaching for a drying towel as she filled the sink with soapy water.

  “It gives me something to focus on. Otherwise I might lose my mind. House arrest is no joke.”

  “Technically, you’re not on house arrest. They just want to know where you are at all times.”

  “Technically, it’s still a pain in the ass!” She lifted her foot and waved it from side to side.

  Mingus chuckled softly as he wiped a clean towel across the washed plate she passed into his hands.

  “So, can you really get it off without setting off any alarms?” she asked.

  “Are you planning on making a break for it?”

  “I’m just curious.”

  The man smiled. “You know what happened to the cat that was curious, right?”

  Joanna laughed. “Touché!”

  They fell into a moment of easy quiet, moving smoothly around each other as they returned her kitchen to pristine condition. As Joanna wiped down the kitchen table, Mingus leaned against the counter and watched her. Joanna pretended not to notice but his intense stare had her feeling a little out of sorts. She took a deep breath and cut an eye in his direction. “Why are you staring at me?”

  Mingus shrugged his broad shoulders. “I have a lot of questions.”

  “So, ask. I don’t have anything to hide.”

  “Tell me about James Pratt.”

  Joanna blinked, that question not at all what she’d been expecting. “James? Why are you asking me about James? That was high school!”

  “I didn’t know there were questions that were off limits.”

  “There aren’t, but I haven’t thought about James in years. That just came out of left field.”

  Mingus shrugged again. “How long did you two date? I assume you two dated before he asked you and not Marion to the prom, right?”

  “We didn’t date. James was the kind of boy parents didn’t want their daughters dating. To be honest, back then, James scared me. He was more experienced, had plenty of female attention and you just knew he’d be trouble. The kind of trouble your mother warns you about and you still chase. He could also be aggressive. My father didn’t approve of James. But we were science lab partners and I tutored him in math. We became friends and he use to tease me a lot. By the time we graduated he was more like a big brother than anything else.

  “He’s married now with four daughters. The last time I heard anything about him he was doing well. He owns a fast-food franchise over on Morgan Street. It’s a Chick-fil-A or a Shake Shack, I think. It’s one or the other. But we don’t keep in touch, if that’s what you want to know. We catch up if we happen to run into each other, but it’s been months, maybe even a year since I last saw him.”

  “And he asked you to prom?”

  “He wanted to take my friend Debra Magill. Debra and I were on the cheerleading team together. But Debra had already said she was going with his friend Craig. Asking me was supposed to make Debra jealous.”

  “Did it?�
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  “Debra married him the day after graduation. They’ve been happy together ever since. At last count they have five kids together.”

  “How did Marion Talley fit into the equation?”

  “Marion was a fungus. She had it bad for James, but he was not interested in her. After Debra turned him down, Marion asked him to take her to prom and he told her no. That’s when he asked me.”

  “Did you go to prom with him?”

  “Damn right! It was senior prom! That, and no one else asked me.” She laughed, the wealth of it gut-deep.

  Mingus smiled, the bend of his full lips dimpling his cheeks. He shook his head.

  “So, neither you nor Marion ended up with this guy, so why has she held a grudge all these years? I’d think she’d be mad at the woman he married.”

  Joanna sighed softly as she leaned against the counter beside him, folding her arms over her chest. “It’s felt like Marion and I have been competing against each other since the third grade. I got picked one too many times to hand out the test papers, or always got an exam grade that was higher than hers. We both ran for class president and I beat her twice, our sophomore and junior years. We both applied to Ivy League colleges and I was accepted everywhere I sent an application. She wasn’t so lucky. She was also a bully and she enjoyed making my life miserable whenever she could. Prom was just the last of many instances when she felt like I had bested her. I never gave it much thought until we had an argument a year a two ago and she blurted out how she had always hated me and why. It was sad, but it explained a lot of her behavior.”

  “What were you arguing about?”

  “There was an issue about the teacher pay structure that was going before the school board and we were both asked to speak at the board meeting. She didn’t think my opinion was needed and since I wasn’t a department head she felt she was better positioned to represent our peers.”

  “Sounds to me like most of it was just petty bullshit.”

  “It was, which is why I try to avoid her whenever I can. After all these years, I can’t make her like me and I see no reason to try.”

  Joanna shifted her weight from one hip to the other. Her brow suddenly furrowed with concern. “You don’t think she has something to do with this, do you? I mean, I know she can be evil as hell, but this would be a whole new level of demonic for her. She couldn’t possibly hate me that much, could she?”

  Mingus shrugged his broad shoulders. He didn’t bother to respond.

  Joanna turned, reaching for an empty glass out of the cabinet. She shook her head as he reached for his own glass, filling them both from the bottle of wine that remained from dinner.

  She found it slightly disconcerting to have Mingus questioning her about her past. She hadn’t thought about her high school years in ages. James Pratt was a vague memory at best, as were most of the boys and men she’d dated over the years. Not that she’d dated all that much.

  She could count on two hands the men she had spent time with and have fingers left over. There had been no long line of lovers who she’d spent time with. The last man in her life had been a friend of a friend. His name had been Patrick, a social worker with the state of Illinois. The relationship had barely lasted six months. Patrick had been looking for a life partner and Joanna knew he was not the man for her. He’d been decent in bed if that counted for anything, but the fact that he wasn’t a reader and considered libraries to be antiquated and books extraneous brought their affair to a quick end. She whispered a silent prayer that Mingus didn’t ask her about Patrick. That wasn’t a story she was ready to share.

  Mingus’s cell phone suddenly chimed loudly, an incoming call drawing his attention. He answered, throwing her a quick look as he stepped out of the room.

  “Hey! What’s up?”

  Joanna listened, still standing where he’d left her.

  “Where?” He seemed to be listening intently, the few words he spoke being one-word responses more than anything else. “You sure?”

  The mood suddenly felt anxious, the hairs on the back of Joanna’s neck twitching, goose bumps rising on her arms. His tone had changed, something in his voice raising concern. He had barely ended the call, returning to the kitchen, when she accosted him for an explanation.

  “What’s going on? Who was that? Is everything okay?”

  “I need to run. Are you going to be okay by yourself?”

  “No, I’m not,” Joanna answered emphatically, a littler perturbed by his attitude. “Was that about my case?”

  Mingus stared at her for a moment.

  “One of my guys has identified the woman who was at the school today talking to David. Her name is Alicia Calloway. Does it ring any bells?”

  Joanna shook her head. “No.”

  “She’s an exotic dancer at a gentlemen’s club here in Chicago.”

  “A stripper? Why was she at the school?”

  “I’m going to go ask her. So I need to leave.”

  “I want to go with you.”

  “That can’t happen.” He looked down at the floor and the government-issued bracelet around her ankle.

  “You said I wasn’t under house arrest.”

  “Where I’m going isn’t a place you want them to have a record of you being anywhere near.”

  “You also said you could get it off.”

  “When it’s necessary. Right now, I just need you to stay put.”

  Joanna threw up her hands, frustration dropping like a wool blanket around her shoulders.

  Mingus suddenly reached his hand out, drawing his index finger along her cheek. His touch was gentle and calming. The gesture gave her a moment of pause as she stared into his eyes and felt herself sinking into the emotion swimming in the dark orbs. She nodded in agreement. Mingus didn’t bother to say anything else, instead turning on his heels as he headed for the exit. Joanna called after him, his name a soft vibration against her tongue.

  “Yeah?”

  “Will you come back?”

  “I don’t know how long it’ll take, Joanna.”

  “It doesn’t matter what time. Just come back. Please?”

  Looking back at her from the front entrance, Mingus hesitated for a split second. Then he nodded his head and turned, disappearing into the rising darkness outside.

  Chapter 6

  The dank nightclub catered to a horde of pestilence perched precariously on the edges of wooden seats and uncomfortable bar stools. Despite the early hour most inside were already lost in the hollow voids of a drunken stupor. Dubbed the Boys’ Room, it was a low-level strip club with a questionable clientele. It catered to Chicago’s underground, its misfits and the downtrodden desperate for a moment of respite. When one needed information on a criminal element in Chicago, answers could always be found inside. You just needed to know who to ask and Mingus always knew who would talk and who wouldn’t. He frequented the place when a case called for it and sometimes when he just needed to kick back and relax, no one having any expectations of him The bouncer at the door greeted Mingus by name.

  Identifying the young woman named Alicia had simply been a connection of dots that had started with the man who’d given her a ride from the local high school. It had taken a couple of hours and a few degrees of separation to discover his associates, his bad habits and his obsessions. Alicia Calloway topped all the man’s lists. Discovering Alicia’s identity answered questions Mingus hadn’t even asked yet and felt like the first real break in a case that seemed like it could go nowhere fast.

  Mingus slipped the man at the door a hundred-dollar bill and eased his way inside. Moving to the back of the club, he settled down at a table in the corner that gave him an unobstructed view of the bar, the stage and the exit doors. His presence didn’t go unnoticed. The bartender had given him a nod as he poured a shot of bourbon into a glass. Minutes later that shot glass and a bee
r chaser were delivered to the table by a voluptuous blonde wearing nothing but a black G-string and four-inch stiletto heels. Her makeup was intense: heavy foundation, an abundance of rouge, a vibrant red lipstick, dark eyeliner and lengthy eyelashes. Her hair was teased and sprayed into a full bouffant mane, the blond strands framing her small face abundantly.

  She kissed his cheek, her smile pulled full across her face. “Mingus Black!”

  Mingus smiled as he greeted her warmly. “Hey, doll!”

  “Long time no see. I thought you might have forgotten about me.”

  “Now, Lily, you know that will never happen.”

  The woman giggled, her eyes wide in amusement. “Is this visit business or pleasure?”

  “Strictly business, this time.”

  “That’s never any fun.” The woman named Lily pushed her Botox-enhanced lips out in a slight pout.

  Mingus chuckled softly. He downed the shot of bourbon and then swallowed a swig of the bottled brew. “We can’t always play like you play, mama!”

  “What do you need, handsome? And how can I help?”

  “There’s a dancer here. I’m told she calls herself Alicia.”

  “Alicia Champagne. What do you want that skank for?”

  His brow lifted. “Why does that sound like you don’t like her?”

  “She’s young and dumb. Thinks the world should revolve around her. And no, I have no love for her. Tell me you’re here to bust her ass for something.”

  He laughed again. “I just need to have a conversation with her. Is she working?”

  “It’s your lucky night. She goes on next, if I’m not mistaken.”

  “Would you make the introduction?”

  Lily held out her hand, her palm upright. “How badly do you want to talk to her?”

  Mingus reached into the breast pocket of his leather jacket for his wallet. He pulled out another hundred-dollar bill and slid it across her fingers.

  “You must want to talk to her really bad!” Lily exclaimed as she folded the bill into a small sliver and slid it into the heel of her shoe.

  “Actually, I need to ask you a few questions, too.”