Betrayal

Jumbo was still holding the empty paper bag, his mouth agape.

I turned my back to them. "Let's get the fuck out of here. It's starting to stink."

* * *

I was ending my shift. I was in the break room shooting the shit with Lanny and trying to figure out our next move. Lanny was complaining about his most recent girlfriend. He'd had so many I'd lost track. I was half listening as he rambled on.

"... so what do you think Max?"

I looked at Lanny with a blank stare.

"You know... my girlfriend?"

"Oh... you mean Bambi?" I asked, trying to piece together what he'd been telling me.

"Randy, Max... Randy... have you been listening to a word I've said?"

"Uh, sorry," I said sheepishly. "A bit distracted."

"I'll say so," said Lanny. "This case is getting to you."

"It's personal Lanny."

"I get that."

Rodriguez came strolling in from his patrol. He hadn't had time to check in yet, and was pouring himself a cup of coffee out of the pot sitting on the warmer. An intervention was in order. I took his mug away from him and poured the coffee down the drain.

"Going to save your life here Emil." I took my thermos filled with my special blend and re-poured him a cup. "Taste this."

He took a sip and gave me an approving look. "Thanks Max."

He put the mug down. "I was hoping I'd see you. I saw Lester today, and I know you're looking for him."

He had my attention. "So?" I asked him.

"He's hanging out at Syd's. You know that place?"

I knew Syd's. It was a dive bar in the West End. I always suspected they were running a fencing operation in the back room. Lots of bikers and ex-cons would hang out there. Lester would be right at home.

Lanny and I hadn't changed into our civvies yet. I wanted to get on this lead before Lester disappeared again. We went to the cruiser and drove to Syd's.

Syd was tending the bar. He was probably in his late fifties or early sixties, short and squat with thinning stringy white hair and a sallow complexion. The bar had been there for at least twenty years, and looked every bit of it. He was wiping down the bar with a dirty rag when Lanny and I walked in. He spotted me immediately. Syd and I had history. I busted his wife for possession with intent to distribute and she was still serving time in the County lockup.

"The queer bar is down the street," he sneered.

A couple of guys wearing the leathers of a local motorcycle club stopped their pool game to look at me. They were holding their pool cues in a way that could be considered threatening. It didn't bother me. I could see that Lanny's hand was near his sidearm.

I went up to the bar and made a quick reach across it, pulling Syd forward by the front of his shirt.

"Listen shitbird. I heard that Lester is hanging around here. Tell me where he is."

"Fuck you Max." He spit on me. A gob of it ran down the front of my uniform.

I pulled him closer so his feet were barely touching the ground. Our faces were inches apart.

"I'm going to give my partner the go ahead to kick in the door of your storeroom. We're going to take inventory in there and if there's anything we find that doesn't belong to you I'm going to take you personally to jail so you can have a reunion with your wife."

His face was getting red. "Let... me... go..."

"Tell me."

He glared at me, but I could tell he was getting short of breath. He was a cowardly shitbird, and started to sing.

"He'll be back here at eleven. He's running an errand for me," Syd choked out. I let go of his shirt. His feet went back on the floor and the color returned to his face.

We had over an hour to kill before Lester came back. I went up to one of the bikers and took the pool cue from his hand.

"OK... who wants to play me? Quarter a ball."

* * *

I actually made some money off the bikers. They didn't know I grew up with a pool table. A tall guy with a heavy beard, tatted up, threw a twenty on the table.

"Remind me never to play against you again," he muttered.

"We're here to serve you," I added helpfully as I scooped up the double sawbuck off the felt.

"Fuck you... officer," he said, half-joking.

I patted his shoulder. "Practice, practice, practice."

He glared at me, as him and his buddies gathered together to hit the road. It wasn't but five minutes later that Lester came in the back entrance. Once he saw me, he let the door shut and ran back into the parking lot. Lanny swooped in with the patrol car and cut off his escape route. My partner got out the car to snag him while I exited the bar. Lanny already had him spread eagled with his hands on the hood of the car.

"Lookie what we have here," I said to him. "We've been looking all over for you Lester."

He turned his head to look at me. "Seriously, did you have to see my mother? What kind of asshole does that? A lesbo cunt like you?"

I let the insult roll of me. "She's very proud of you. She showed me the trophies you won running high school track. Very impressive. But I think your running days are over."

"You don't have anything on me... let me go," he said, struggling against Lanny's grip.

"What do you think Lanny... can we charge him with just being a scumbag?"

Lanny chuckled. "Ohio Criminal Code Section 2917.11... thou shalt not use grossly abusive language..."

I reached in his pocket. I pulled out a crack pipe and a rock of crystal meth inside a folded piece of paper.

"Hey... you can't do that."

"Let's add possession to the charge," I said to Lanny. My partner held out a zip tie to bind his wrists.

"Wait... wait..." Lester said with desperation in his voice.

"Wait for what Lester?" I asked him. He was already shaking. His eyes were on my hand, which was holding his pipe and drugs.

"What do you want to know Max?" he said, finally relenting.

"Rachel... I heard that you know what happened."

"Look Max... I'll get in trouble if I tell you."

"That fine Lester. Lanny, arrest him."

Lanny pushed his face against the hood and started to zip tie his wrists together behind his back.

"OK... OK...," Lester said, surrendering. "I heard that Rachel got shanked with a serrated knife."

"I know that Lester. Tell me something I don't know. Who did it?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Lanny, why don't we take Lester to the station? We can make sure Jumbo's people see him. We'll tell them he's been very cooperative."

"You can't do that!"

"Watch me."

"It was Steph," he blurted out.

"You sure?"

"I overheard her say it. It was part of her initiation to prove she's loyal to Jumbo."

"And who leaked the info to Jumbo?"

"Alan... Alan Parsons."

I was on the right track. I pulled him off the hood of the car and shoved him forward. He stumbled on the broken asphalt parking lot. I threw his pipe and his rock on the ground. He picked them up and ran off, looking back and glaring at me, and then disappearing into the shadows.

* * *

I was making preparations to hunt down Steph. I had mapped out likely locations where she could be found and was figuring out what order I would search them. My phone rang.

"Max."

It was Banks. After the Brianna debacle I thought I'd never hear from him again.

"What's up Carl?"

"We got an anonymous tip on Jumbo's next meet up with Alan Parsons."

"Anonymous?"

"The officer who took the call thought it was Brianna."

"I see."

"Thought I'd give you a heads up. Meet up is tomorrow. I'll text you the details if you're interested. Are you?"

"What do you think?"

"Right, right. Same as last time. We get Jumbo, you get Steph."

"That's all that I ask."

"You got it."

* * *

Like the last time, I hung out at the command center a block away from another one of Jumbo's safe houses. They let me watch on one of the monitors with a feed from one of their drones. It didn't look like they'd been tipped off this time. There were sentries at the front door and two black SUV's parked in front. My guess was that one of them was Jumbo's. I saw a silver Lexus pull up and a man exit the vehicle. I couldn't make out who he was, but he was Alan's size, and I was pretty sure it was him. It definitely wasn't Heather. He disappeared into the house.

Moments later I heard the "Go" command over the radio. SWAT officers in black armored suits stormed the house. I didn't hear any gunfire. I heard the audio from someone's radio.

"Police!"

There were sounds of a scuffle.

"Get your fucking hands off me..." shouted a deep male voice sounding like Jumbo's.

"Stay still... " said a different male voice, followed by the sound of a heavy object hitting the floor, probably a person.

"Over there!" someone shouted. There were sounds of footsteps. Another scuffle.

"Got her!"

A couple minutes later I saw a large black male I assumed to be Jumbo and a small white male, probably Alan Parsons, with their hands zip tied behind their back and being led to a paddy wagon.

"Max," the radio barked.

"Yes?"

"It's clear to come here. Your friend is ready to meet with you."

I tugged on Lanny's sleeve. "Let's go."

He followed me down the block to the house. The perimeter was already secured and one of the FBI agents let us past the yellow caution tape to the inside of the house. Carl was there to meet us.

"Looks like Brianna gave us good intel. We got Jumbo, Parsons, and a whole lot of cash and drugs. We've sent a team to the station to arrest Driscoll and one to City Hall for Rance Morgan."

Banks was holding a plastic evidence bag.

"What's that?" I asked him.

He smiled. "The piece de resistance," he said in passable French. He held it up to the light so I could see through it.

"A military style knife, serrated. It could be the one that was used to kill Rachel."

He opened the bedroom door he was standing in front of and waved me inside.

"Here's your friend, the owner of the knife."

Lanny and I went into the bedroom. He closed the door behind us. I could hear his footsteps walking away.

Steph was standing inside, fuming. Her hands were zipped tied behind her back. One of her cheeks had a bright red mark, presumably from the scuffle when she got arrested. Her eyes were shooting daggers at me.

"Where's Brianna?" I asked her.

"I caught the little cunt snooping around. I gave her a little going away present."

"What do you mean by that?" I demanded, shaking her by her shoulders.

"A little hotshot, if you know what I mean."

I did. It was heroin mixed with a lethal dose of fentanyl.

"Just like the little present I gave to your whore Rachel."

My blood pressure went instantly through the roof. I grabbed her by the neck and shoved her to the ground. I could feel myself squeezing the life out of her.

"Max... no... no...," Steph gurgled as my hands tightened around her neck.

Lanny tried to pull me off her. "Jesus Max, you're going to kill her!"

My hands were squeezing the life out of her. I watched her legs started to thrash on the ground. I was blinded by rage.

"Max!" Lanny sucker punched me in the stomach. It took all the wind out of me. I let go.

I was doubled over, coughing and retching from the blow.

"She'll get hers," Lanny told me. She was wheezing and rubbing her throat. She gave me another death stare.

I spit on her face. I watched the white frothy goop run down her cheek.

"Take her out of my sight. She makes me sick."

* * *

I thought I knew where I could find Brianna. The abandoned house on Detweiler Street. The one where we found her twice before. I had Lanny watch the outside of the house while I went inside.

The front door had now been torn off its hinges and was lying in the front yard. I took out my flashlight to illuminate the dingy interior. I watched my step through the garbage and drug paraphernalia scattered about and tip toed up the squeaky staircase. I shined a light in the bedroom and saw a motionless person sprawled out on the mattress. I went closer and saw it was Brianna. Her arms were limp at her side and there was a needle dangling from her arm. From what I could tell she was dead a few moments after she shot up.

I knelt next to her and cradled her head in my lap, stroking her matted hair and closing her lifeless eyes shut.

"Brianna..." I sobbed softly. "Brianna."

A tortured life, all the way to the end.

She had made her amends in the best way she knew possible, and left our world for hopefully a better one in the great beyond. I wished it didn't have to end this way, but somehow I knew it would. I could have loved her, and her me. I pulled the needle out of her arm and placed it on the floor.

I let her head down slowly and then kissed her cheek one last time. Dazed, I waded through the squalor and walked outside into the bright sunlight.

Lanny was standing in the weed choked front yard, waiting for me. "Find her?" he asked, seeing the answer on my face.

"Yeah..."

"Was she...?"

"Yeah, call the paramedics to retrieve the body."

"That sucks."

"You can't imagine, Lanny."

"I'm sorry."

"Some people are destined to never find happiness. Maybe I can find some for her."

"She didn't die in vain," he said, trying to comfort me.

"No, she didn't. But it didn't have to end this way, dying alone on a shabby mattress."

I started to cry. He gathered my in his arms and let me rest my head against his shoulder.

"I need a drink Lanny," I told him.

He put his arm over my shoulders and led me to the car. "Not today Max... not today."

My thoughts suddenly went to Lehka. Her phone call stuck with me. Lanny knew her.

"Can you call Lehka for me? Maybe she can take some time off and come to Cincinnati."

"That's a great idea Max."

Lanny realized I needed support, and lots of it.

"Bless you Lanny. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Maybe we should get married," he said in jest to lighten the moment.

"Anything but that. Take me back to the Grand Lake. If I can't have a drink, at least I can have a donut."

* * *

Max and Lehka will return.