Blindsided

"What do you want Pemberton?" she asked, not politely. I'd heard that there were some workforce reductions coming up and she was being pressured to trim some of her team. Maybe it wasn't the best time to poke the bear.

"Wondering what we're doing on DaVanna."

"Nothing," she said, making sure she made eye contact with me.

"Nothing?" I asked.

"Maybe you didn't hear me the first time."

"But she's out on the street."

"We run Vice, not some fucking crusade for your benefit, in case you haven't noticed. Have you confirmed that she's into drugs, prostitution or gambling?"

It was probably too early to tell her that I fucked one of the West End's major drug dealers and had an unconfirmed rumor that DaVanna was indeed into drugs.

"Well, no Sir. But what about for being an asshole bitch?" I asked.

"You're looking at one here. Did you want a piece of me?"

"No Sir."

"Then Pemberton, why the fuck are you wasting my time?"

"Well I thought . . . "

"Don't."

"I . . ."

"Pemberton . . . Chief is asking around for a headcount reduction and you're already on his shit list. Do you want to be on the list for the chopping block as well?"

"No Sir."

"Well then get the fuck out of my office before you do."

* * *

Shit. No authorization to chase DaVanna. That left me two choices. Obey the chain of command as I should or ignore my superior officer, thereby risking my already nosediving career, and go hell or high water to nail that sanctimonious cunt. I'm sure you know what choice I made.

My best option was Chili. Star had given me information I could use against him. Even though he wouldn't give up Jumbo, he might have heard something about DaVanna. According to Lily, both she and Jumbo were using the same supplier. I got a bag of donuts, a full thermos of coffee, and staked out the storefront location Star gave me for Chili's fencing operation.

I waited about two hours until a black Escalade pulled up front. Chili got out. I ran over and intercepted him before he got to the door of the shop. Bird was with him.

"Chili, we need to have a conversation." Then I looked at his sidekick. "In private."

Chili got his wallet out and gave Bird some money. "Go to Skyline and get me two Cheese Coneys and a large Coke," he said. His eyes looked sideways, telling Bird to get lost.

He unlocked the front door and let me in.

"What you want?" he asked me. He wasn't polite.

"Information."

"Fuck you."

"I found your little fencing operation. I know your employer wouldn't be too pleased to find out his head of security has a little piece of side action in his territory."

"Fuck you. I'm not telling you shit."

"I'm not asking you about Jumbo. I know that's a death wish. What about DaVanna Caruso. Do you know her?"

"I know that bitch."

"What do you know about her?"

"I know I'd like to fuck her."

"Everybody does, and I think a lot have. But that's not what I want to know. I've heard that she's going to get a drop on Monday. You know anything about that?"

"Maybe. What's in it for me?"

"Your life. I've got Adine Williams's home phone number. It's listed." I pulled out my phone and started to dial. "I think I'll call her up and speak to her son."

He pushed the hang up button on my phone before I could finish.

"You don't need to do that," he said.

"Then tell me what I need to know."

"Yeah. I heard that cunt is getting a key of blow."

"When?"

"Next Monday."

"Morning?"

"Uh huh."

"You take care of yourself Chili," I said, opening the door to leave.

"Fuck you officer."

* * *

Chasing down leads on DaVanna chewed up the rest of the day. I decided to call Alessandra at work, hoping she could spare a few minutes to bring me up to date on what was going on with Lesley. She answered on the fifth ring.

"Hey Max. I'm swamped right now but I know we have to talk."

"Maybe later?"

"I've got an idea. I have to prep some more chicken so I'll be by myself in the back room, outside the kitchen. If you want to pop over here, you can talk to me in there."

Why not. I had nothing better to do. I'd catch dinner there after I spoke with her.

"Sure," I answered.

"Great . . . bring some warm clothes."

* * *

The diner was packed. She had two assistants filling orders while she stepped into the back to prep more chicken for their trademark fried chicken. I found her with a boning knife, carving up some whole chickens. She had a white apron on that was smeared with blood.

"Sorry we had to meet this way."

"I saw a lot of diners out there, and my guess is they'd be very unhappy if they didn't get their fried chicken," I said.

Alessandra threw some chicken parts into a clear plastic bin. "I'm trying to prevent a riot," she said, and then smiled. It was good to see that she retained her sense of humor.

"So how goes it?" I asked.

"Better. She acknowledged to me that she has a problem. She's going to try to quit on her own and she's promised to go to rehab it she can't make a go of it. At least it's out in the open."

"Is she still using?"

"I think so. She's still agitated but she's trying to control it."

"Fuck."

"Yeah."

"So do you now where she's getting her stuff?" I asked.

"Not really. I figure she's driving into the West End. She knows most of the players."

"I figured as much. They don't care who they sell to."

"So what are you going to do?"

"What can I do? I don't think I'm in a position to dictate terms. My only leverage is to leave, and that's not going to help her."

"So you're going to ride it out with her."

"It sure looks that way."

"Did she tell you when she's coming back to work?"

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Shit, you know that girl. You can't keep her away from the job."

"Spoken like a true cop's girlfriend."

"You know from experience."

I was married a few years ago. The memories of the fights were still fresh in my mind.

"You've got a tough road ahead of you," I told her.

"Story of my life," she said with a sigh.

I did treat myself to a chicken dinner and skipped the drinking that night. The talk about Lesley's addiction made me think more about my own. One night sober. At least it was a start.

I did have an idea about Lesley.

* * *

The next morning I woke up clear headed, a pleasant change from my normal morning routine of two Advil and a shot of vodka to chase it down.

First stop was Happy Donut. It wasn't even quite 6 a.m. and the place was empty. Bea was sliding in a tray of freshly made chocolate old fashioneds into the display case when I walked in.

"Max, where's cute partner?" she asked.

"I imagine she's at the station," I answered, though wondering if she really did make it in.

"You still seeing that young girl?"

Bea had met Courtney and knew we were dating on again off again. She never missed the opportunity to find fault with my choice of women. She was of course right.

"Not recently."

"She no call you?"

"That's right."

"You chase young girl. You be disappointed," she correctly surmised.

"Sometimes you have to live for the moment," I philosophized.

"I do that with man and end up with three children."

"Maybe that wasn't the best expression."

"Maybe you date women your own age."

"Maybe you're right."

"I pack jelly donut for your cute partner."

* * *

I clocked into the station a bit after six. Lesley's smiling face was in the break room sitting at one of the tables.

"Got coffee for me?" I asked.

"Brewed a pot with your beans," she answered, pointing to one of the coffee pots on a warmer. She knew I hated the station coffee, which was basically colored water, and used the beans I kept stashed in my locker. I went over to the coffee station, poured myself a cup, and sat with her.

"So?" I asked.

"I apologized to her. I begged for her forgiveness. I was practically on my knees."

"Good," I said. I handed her the white paper bag with the jelly donut. "Here's your reward."

She opened the bag and peeked into it.

"From Bea," she said.

"Your biggest fan. I'm not sure why."

"Because she sees me for who I really am."

"I must have missed it."

"Fuck you Max."

"That's the old Lesley. Are you . . .?"

I didn't want to say it out loud in the break room.

"I'm working on it."

So she hadn't quit yet.

"I think I'm going to have you do some research for me."

"Here at the station?"

"Uh huh."

"While you're out and about?"

"Lesley, I can't take you out when you're . . . you know."

"Max . . ." she started to protest.

"I mean it Lesley. And you better not fucking lie to me."

"All right," she said dejectedly. "So what is it you want me to do?"

"I got a tip on Jumbo Williams and DaVanna. I need you to contact Avery Sawyer. Do you remember her?"

"Yeah. She prosecuted DaVanna."

"That's right, with the information we gave her."

"I need her to prepare two search warrants, one for DaVanna's apartment and the other for Jumbo Williams's house." I told her about the quantity of the coke and the date and approximate time of the drop.

"For real?"

"Uh huh."

"Who'd you get the information from?"

I wasn't going to tell her I had sex with Lily Chao, known drug dealer, to get it. Then she'd be all over my shit. I'd tell the judge when I was swearing out the warrant and no one else.

"Confidential source."

"You can't tell me?"

"I don't think you want to know."

"Max, sometimes you really piss me off."

"Well, be pissed. Buck up Lesley. You can be useful to me here. It's your decision when you go out on the street. I'll be back at lunch."

* * *

I figured out who was supplying Lesley. I drove to the corner where Jimmy Beans hung out. He was there with Tree, shooting the shit and drinking 40's. I pulled up right in front of them and jumped out.

This time Jimmy Beans ran one way and Tree ran the other. I chased Jimmy and caught him halfway down the block. I think all that early drinking slowed him down a step. I tackled him and he did a face plant on the sidewalk. His nose will never look the same. I stood him up, bleeding from his broken nose.

"Whatcha running from Jimmy?"

He used his fingers to pinch his nose. "Fuck you Max," he said, though it came out funny because he sounded like Donald Duck.

"I figured out that you're supplying my partner, aren't you?"

Lesley's rap on his knuckles wasn't to punish him. It was to silence him before he let known that he knew Lesley.

"What's it to you?" said Donald Duck.

So I was right.

"Stay away from her."

"Fuck you."

I pulled his hand away from his nose. Blood flowed down his face. I used my fingers to pinch his nose, and not nicely.

"Fuck God damn it!" he screamed.

I let go.

"More where that came from Jimmy."

"OK, OK," he said, grabbing his nose again.

"If I see my partner take one more pill I'm going to blame you," I said. I picked up his can of malt liquor off the sidewalk and poured the rest over his head.

"Have a nice day shitbird."

* * *

"What did Avery say?" I asked Lesley.

"She working on it. She said that this better be right because both of your asses are going to be on the line."

"She owes me. DaVanna's conviction was a real feather in her cap."

"Yeah, but the tainted evidence wasn't."

"That wasn't my doing."

"She didn't see it that way."

Lesley's comment reminded me I had a loose end to address once I put out the current fires. Pete Westfield came immediately to mind.

"So why's she doing this?" I asked Lesley.

"Because she wants to get Jumbo and DaVanna, just like you."

"You set up a meeting?"

"Uh huh. Tomorrow at nine sharp. At the courthouse. She's got a friendly judge lined up to sign off."

"Good work partner."

"Am I out of the dog house yet?" Lesley asked.

"Not yet partner. You've got some cleaning up to do."

"I'm working on it."

"I found your supplier."

"It wasn't Jimmy's fault," she said.

"I know, but it felt good kicking his ass."

* * *

It was Wednesday night and Wednesday night was Bailey's night. You could see the "Who's Who" of the Cincinnati lesbian crowd.

Courtney texted me that day and we agreed to meet at Bailey's that night. The last time I did that DaVanna proceeded to steal her from me, with me going home empty handed and her going home with my girlfriend. I was certain it wasn't going to happen again.

You wonder how DaVanna could do such a thing and how Courtney could fall prey to her. Picture a woman of immense beauty who was one of Cincinnati's power brokers as the Hamilton County Prosecutor, a woman with boundless ambition and no morals. That's DaVanna. I was a cop on a cop's salary who lived in a motel in Cincinnati's red light district. Not a difficult equation to solve.

We set 8 p.m. as the time to meet at Bailey's and for once I was on time. Courtney had just gotten there and was seated at the bar drinking her usual fancy bourbon. Maddy was wiping the counter next to her, putting down a napkin in front of the empty bar stool.

"Fancy seeing you here Max, on time that is," Maddy said sarcastically. She too knew what happened that night because she was there. I had shown up twenty minutes late for my date with Courtney, and in that short time DaVanna had been able to charm my girlfriend away from me.

"I learn everything the hard way Maddy," I told her. Then I kissed Courtney on the cheek.

"Isn't that right babe?"

"So right Max," my now on again girlfriend said.

"What'll it be Max?" Maddy asked, knowing that after the short round of pleasantries that my drink order was next.

"What's she having?" I asked, pointing to Courtney's glass.

Maddy went to the top shelf and pulled off an impressive and expensive looking bottle.

"This," she said.

"How much?" I asked.

"Forty a shot," Maddy said. That would have bought me about ten pints of cheap vodka at my liquor store. But Courtney had undoubtedly started a tab. She had a Platinum card funded by her gazillionaire father. And he could afford it.

"Sounds reasonable. Set me up," I said.

"So Courtney. Feels weird to be here again, doesn't it?"

"Not really Max. That's behind us, isn't it?"

"In the rear view mirror," I answered, though truthfully I'd never forget it.

"We're just fuck buddies anyway," she said. I wasn't sure Courtney was capable of an emotional commitment. But the sex was always fantastic.

"So what have you been up to?" I asked. It had probably been three weeks since I saw her last. We never really discussed our plans outside of our fuck sessions.

"Here and there. I was in Paris meeting up with a couple friends."

"Tennessee?" I asked naively. I had a couple cousins who lived there.

"For Christ's sake Max, broaden your horizons. France. Have you ever been out of the country?"

"Does Mexico count?" I asked. I'd been to Cancun once with some girlfriends when I was in college.

"No," she said definitively. I guess Mexico didn't count.

"Then no, I haven't," I answered.

"You need to get out more. Next time Daddy will let us use the jet and I'll take you there."

"You're too fancy for me Courtney."

"I know," she said. "But no one fucks like you do."

"I could say the same about you."

She gave me a mischievous smile. "You have."

"So you say."

"Want to do more research tonight?" she asked.

"For scientific purposes only," I added.

"Of course."

Someone made a noisy entrance into the bar. All heads, including ours, turned in the direction of the front door. Saints be damned. It was DaVanna and her posse. Hadn't I suffered enough already? She of course spotted me right away and brought her harem with her. There were at least five, and all were dressed to the nines.

"Say, look what the cat dragged in," she said to me, coming too close for comfort, crowding me.

She was wearing a low cut slinky short black evening dress and stilettos. There was a trace of glitter in her make-up that made her flawless mocha colored skin shine. Her breasts were prominent and her legs were waxed and perfect. She flashed that fake runway smile that I'd seen in a hundred publicity shots.

"Hey babe, I guess they don't take the trash out till tomorrow," I said to Courtney, ignoring DaVanna.

DaVanna was not one to be ignored. She demanded control of her audience.

"Look here Max. I'm back. You thought you nailed me to the wall, but it was with a thumbtack. You and your drug addict partner did some pretty flimsy police work."

I wondered how she knew about Lesley. She put her hand on Courtney's thigh. Courtney pushed it off.

"So now you don't want me?" she asked Courtney.

"I don't think so DaVanna," my on again girlfriend answered.

"Last time I saw you I remember you were begging to eat my pussy. You remember that don't you?"

"Fuck off DaVanna," I told her.

"I wasn't talking to you Maxine," the seductress said. "I was talking to this cute little piece of ass over here." She put her hand back on Courtney's bare thigh. "Can't she speak for herself?"

"You heard Max," Courtney said. "We had our time and now it's over."

"Nothing's ever over with me sweetheart." Then she put her finger on my shoulder. "Or with you."

She sashayed away, her posse in tow. I couldn't help but watch her hips sway as she walked away from me.

"Fucking bitch," I said to Courtney, though reluctantly admiring DaVanna's ass.

"She wasn't that good," said Courtney.

I held up my glass to toast with her.

"That's something," I said for my pyrrhic victory.

I was going to get that fucking cunt if it was the last thing I did.

* * *

We had several drinks before DaVanna left the bar. I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of leaving first. I was ready to close out the bar tab.

"All done?" Maddy asked. She took away our empty glasses.

"For tonight," I said.

"DaVanna's a piece of work," said Maddy. She was within earshot of the entire conversation. I'm sure she wouldn't have missed that interchange for the world. She knew all about the bad blood between me and DaVanna.

"That's one way of saying it," I said.

"What's another way?" my best friend asked.

"She's the spawn of the devil," I answered.

Maddy gave me a hearty laugh. "Max, tell me how you really feel."

"You know where I stand, all the time," I said. "I make no bones about my feelings."

"You are someone I wouldn't want to fuck with," Maddy concluded.

"Well said friend."

"So what have you got in store for her?"

"I'm working on it."

"I'm sure you are. Closing out the bar tab?" Maddy asked.

Courtney flipped her Platinum card on the bar.

"You young lady are playing with fire here," Maddy said to Courtney while pointing at me.

"It's the way I like it," said Courtney.

"With Max, it's like drinking from a fire hose," my best friend said, and not inaccurately.

"I can handle her," she said to Maddy, as if I wasn't there.

"My friend Max here doesn't like to be handled."

"She does in bed," said Courtney, unabashedly.

"That I wouldn't know," said Maddy, taken a bit back by my girlfriend's directness.

"I do," said Courtney. Then she looked at me. "Don't I Max?"

"I don't kiss and tell," I said, somewhat embarrassed.

"I'll leave it to you to work it out," said Maddy, picking up the credit card and running it through the portable reader. The machine whirred and spit out a receipt. Maddy handed it to Courtney.

"Now don't do anything I wouldn't do," said Maddy.

"Don't worry, we will," said Courtney. Then she tugged on the sleeve of my black tee. "Time's a wastin'"

* * *

It was a short drive to the Royal Palms. I'd actually never seen Courtney's place, which I understood was fabulous. We always met at my place. I think Courtney got an extra charge when slumming it with me, with all the pimps, prostitutes and druggies hanging out at the Royal Palms. She knew no one would fuck with us because everyone there knew I was a cop.