Blindsided

She was a jet setter, skiing in Switzerland, partying in Paris, and clubbing in New York. I was her piece on the side. Her bad girl. Someone she could do anything with and wouldn't be judged. I accepted my role. I knew Courtney wasn't going to be my emotional support. That came from Maddy, Nicky, Lesley and Alessandra. Courtney satisfied, well, my more carnal needs.

We pulled into the parking lot in my Honda Civic. No use parking Courtney's Jaguar in this parking lot. She'd Uber it home the next morning. I parked in my usual spot next to the Royal Palm's fenced in swimming pool. At that time, it was still in use, though no one really dared go swimming in it. Since then the pool was filled in with dirt and choked with weeds.

Courtney got out of the car first and surveyed the scene. It was about 10 p.m., and the night crowd was just assembling. There were two guys dealing coke out of their car and there were at least three black Escalades there with pimps touting their girls out in the open. It was business as usual for me but a source of amusement for Courtney.

"Do people here think I'm your whore?" Courtney asked, taking my arm and snuggling close.

We walked through the parking lot arm in arm. No one paid attention to us.

"No Courtney. You dress too well to be one of the working girls." Courtney was wearing an expensive looking designer t-shirt, cut-off shorts and heels. She of course looked fabulous.

"Am I your whore Max? I want to be," she said, slipping her hands inside my jeans as we were walking.

We got to the outside stairs to the second floor. "Of course you are Courtney. Who would turn that down?"

"Apparently DaVanna," she said with a chuckle as we climbed up the stairs.

"Fuck DaVanna."

"But I guess you did," I added in a snarky voice.

We got to Room 204. I fished the key out of my jeans pocket.

"I thought we were past that Max."

"Sorry."

"Just open the door and let's fuck."

I opened the door. The room was a mess. There was last night's Chinese takeout still sitting on the dresser and there were two partially drunk pints of cheap vodka on the nightstand. The bed was unmade and the clothes I wore to work were still laying in a heap on the floor.

"Got the place all gussied up for me, did you?" Courtney said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

I took my arm and cleared all the leftover Chinese into the plastic waste can.

"Nothing but the best for my girl," I said. "So what's it going to be tonight?"

She opened up a dresser drawer and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "I'd like to try these Officer Pemberton."

"You wanna pay for what you did with DaVanna?" I asked, and not entirely in jest.

"Uh huh," she said. She wanted to exorcise that demon once and for all. She held out her wrists in front of her.

"Take off your clothes and get on the bed shitbird," I said, as if she were my prisoner.

"Is that what you call the people you arrest?"

"Just the ones I like," I told her.

She obediently removed her clothes, folding them and putting them on the floor, then she sat on the bed. I handcuffed her wrists and then had her lay down lengthwise on the bed. I pulled her handcuffed wrists above her head and used one of my neckties to bind the handcuffs to the bed frame. She tugged on the impromptu restraint and found she was completely at my mercy.

"Please don't hurt me officer," she pleaded in a high pitched voice.

I pinched her nipple hard enough to make her wince. "I'll do whatever I fucking well please."

I thrust two fingers inside her. They went in effortlessly. This roleplay was exciting her. Her hips raised up to maximize their penetration.

"You slut," I told her. "Your pussy's soaking wet."

"Fuck me Max." There was urgency in her voice.

She was writhing against my hand. "You're supposed to be my prisoner," I told her. She was losing the thread of the scene.

"I don't care Max. Just keep fucking me." Her hands tugged at the cuffs as she bucked her hips.

She looked too good to me with her arms stretched over her head and her pussy sopping wet. I had to taste her, role play be damned. I pushed her legs apart and started eating her fragrant snatch. Sticky and delicious.

"What . . . happened . . . to . . . the . . . bad . . . cop?" Courtney asked between panting breaths.

"You don't know how bad I can be."

Her eyes begged me for more. "Show me," she said.

I did.

Chapter Six

The Day of Reckoning

There was a buzz in the station. We were getting ready for simultaneous raids on Jumbo's house and DaVanna's apartment. I was with the team going to DaVanna's apartment. I wanted to see the anguish on her pretty little face when we busted her. Lesley waited at the station. I made sure she wasn't going anywhere until she was back on the wagon.

I went with a team of six officers. Two had a battering ram and were prepared to break down the door of DaVanna's penthouse apartment.

"Police!" one of the officers shouted through the locked door. "Open up, or we're going to break down the door!"

We waited for a minute. Another shouted warning.

Just as they were about to bust open the door, it opened. DaVanna stood there, dressed casually in designer jeans and a blouse and holding a cup of coffee. She was already made up and looked stunning as usual. She acted as if a neighbor was stopping by to share some gossip.

"Can I help you officers?" she asked. She picked me out of the crowd and gave me a flirtatious wink.

One of the officers handed her a search warrant. She glanced at it and threw it on the floor. She stood aside to let us in.

"Don't dirty the rug," she said, pointing to the plush white carpet.

"Fancy seeing you here," she said to me as I entered her apartment.

"Fuck you DaVanna," I said to her. "Where are the drugs?"

"Drugs? Why in the medicine cabinet." She gave me a haughty laugh. Alarm bells were going off in my head. Something didn't seem right.

She went back to the kitchen and sat at the counter, drinking coffee and reading her phone. Her apartment was as stunning as she was, with panoramic views of the City skyline. She ignored us as we tossed her apartment. After two hours we found nothing.

The lead officer came to me. "Nothing Max. We've looked everywhere."

DaVanna looked bored.

I walked around the apartment one last time. Something caught my attention in her bedroom. I saw something shadowy in the overhead air conditioning vent.

"Check up there," I said to one of the junior officers. He went and retrieved a step stool. He used a screwdriver to free the vent and pulled it off. There was a plastic package taped to the side of the aluminum duct. He ripped off the tape and hand the package to me. I gave it to the on-site tech, who was ready with a testing kit. The package was first photographed, measured and weighed before it was opened on the kitchen table, with DaVanna watching.

I waited anxiously for the result, eager to cuff my nemesis.

"It's baby powder Max," he pronounced.

DaVanna started laughing.

"Got you Max," she said gleefully.

Blindsided again. Fuck.

I went into the next room, calling the team that raided Jumbo's house and expecting to get the same bad news there. I expected that this was the end of the line for my career.

Blake Jenkins was the team lead at Jumbo's house. He picked up after the first ring. There was shouting in the background.

"You were right Max!" he said over the shouting.

"I was?" I said, surprised at the turnabout.

"Did you doubt yourself?" he asked.

"We came up dry here," I said.

"We've got a kilo of pure here. And I'll be God damned if it wasn't taped to the bottom of his mother's china cabinet. We also recovered a stash of weapons. He's going away for a long time."

Something didn't seem right there. It was too easy. "Was he that sloppy?"

"Who the fuck cares? We've got this asshole. He's cuffed and someone's reading him his rights. We're hauling him back to central booking after we're done here."

"All right. Good work. See you back at the station."

"You're going to get a citation for this Max."

Or something else, I thought.

* * *

The brass at the station were jubilant. Even though we struck out at DaVanna's, Jumbo was a big prize and I was the center of attention. I should have been happy but I wasn't. I didn't get DaVanna and she'd clearly been tipped off. And Jumbo? He looked as if he was set up. The coke was too easy to find.

"Great job Max," Chief said to me in the break room. There was an impromptu celebration there. Everyone in the room was holding a beer, including him.

He took me aside. "All is forgiven over that Adine William's complaint. With Jumbo's arrest, that complaint is going to get shit canned. You always seem to pull a rabbit out of a hat."

"That's me boss," I said, trying to smile.

"You just made my life easier and I won't forget it."

What he was saying was that he could fuck off until his retirement now that he had this big bust under his belt. I guessed that was something. That meant Odette would off my ass as well. Now I had time to focus on Lesley. I put my beer down on the table and slipped out of the room.

Enough of the bullshit. Lesley had fucked up for the last time. There's no way DaVanna could have escaped without being tipped off. And the only people that knew in advance were the Chief, Avery and Lesley. I couldn't believe that Chief was the leak. He was too close to retirement and wouldn't fuck up his pension for a few shekels from DaVanna. Ditto for Avery. Why the fuck would she tip off DaVanna? And Lesley wasn't herself. She was using. It was all going to shit, and the day of reckoning had arrived. Lesley had gone home and were going to have it out as soon as I got to her house.

I needed my coffee and a donut to steel myself for the confrontation. I pulled up to Happy Donut and arrived at the store just before they closed. Bea was behind the counter cleaning the coffee maker. She looked up when I entered.

"Why the long face?" Bea asked me in her heavily accented English.

"I've got some hard work to do," I told her.

"Where your cute partner?" Bea always had a soft spot for Lesley.

"She's not with me today."

She scowled. "I see trouble on your face."

"Is it that obvious?"

"For you, yes." Bea was never one to mince words.

"You know more than you should Bea," I said to her. Her soft eyes conveyed compassion beneath her gruff exterior.

* * *

I was in uniform, driving our squad car, and arriving for an unannounced late evening visit to Lesley and Alessandra. Lesley let me in the porch door and led me into their kitchen.

"To what do we owe this unexpected honor?" she asked. Alessandra was about to wash the dinner dishes.

"Business," I said. Lesley could tell from the tone of my voice that it was serious.

"Do I need to go?" Alessandra asked, running the hot water.

"Please," I asked. She turned off the water and wiped her hands on a dish towel.

"I think I'll go upstairs then and get ready for bed," she announced.

We both bid her goodnight.

"Les, I have to ask you this now, and I'm sorry to do this, but do you know how DaVanna got wind of what we were up to?"

She look at me startled, surmising that I was accusing her, which I was. "Max, how could you ask me something like that?"

"I'm sorry Les. I just have to know."

"I really don't know how she found out. I swear." She looked at me when she said it and her tone was truthful.

I was processing her denial when she felt compelled to defend herself more.

"Max, why would I do that? I helped you get her the first time. And I helped you secure the warrants. Why the fuck would I do that?"

"You're using, Lesley. You're not yourself," I offered, but now it sounded lame.

"So the fuck what? What does that have to do with this? So I'm not myself. It doesn't mean that I've gone all traitor on you. Think about it. Why would I do it?"

I was at wit's end. If it wasn't Lesley, then who? Who had access to this information? The raiding crew didn't find out the destination until shortly before they went. I went through the list again. Chief, Avery, me, Lesley and . . .?

Lesley was mad and frustrated at me. "Max, Alessandra has to get up early. You're barking up the wrong tree with me. I resent that fact that you even considered that I was capable of betraying you. You need to leave."

Then it hit me. Alessandra. Fuck, Alessandra. She lived with Lesley. She might have overheard something. But she hated DaVanna, and was always person above suspicion for me. Yet some way, somehow, DaVanna might be still pulling her invisible strings. She blackmailed her sister once. Why not again? But with what?

If it was Alessandra, then it was something she had done in her youth, when she was running wild. The burglary was serious, but maybe there was a deeper and darker secret. I had to know if my hunch was right.

"I can't leave," I told Lesley. "I need to talk to Alessandra."

"No," said Lesley. "She's probably upstairs getting ready for bed. She has to get up in five hours."

I ignored Lesley's refusal and walked past her to the stairwell. I got to the top of the stairs and saw that the bedroom door was closed, though there was light leaking out from under it so she was probably wasn't asleep yet. I knocked.

By now, Lesley had come up. She was standing behind me.

"Yes?" Alessandra answered. I heard the hairdryer turn on right after she answered me.

"It's Max," I shouted.

I heard the whirr of the hairdryer for at least another minute.

"I'm going to bed," she finally said.

She wasn't going to open the door. She probably had already figured out why I was there.

I tried the door knob. I rattled it but was locked.

"Alessandra. Open the door," I asked again, this time a bit louder.

The room was quiet now.

A "no" finally rang out.

Lesley pushed me away from the door. I didn't offer a lot of resistance.

"I can't let you in Max," she said, blocking the door. She must have had an inkling what I was up to.

"I need to speak with you now Alessandra," I shouted over Lesley.

There was a longer pause.

The voice coming from behind the door was angry and loud. "Max, didn't you fucking hear me the first time? Go away."

I could practically see the steam coming out of her ears on the other side of the door.

"Max, I'm going to do something to myself." Alessandra finally said.

"No you're not," I shouted through the door. "You're not that person. Now let me in."

I stood and waited. It must have been clear to Lesley that Alessandra was the culprit.

"No," my partner said in a firm voice, in a state of denial.

"Not her," she added, as if that would convince me. "She would never do anything like that."

"Lesley. You know she told DaVanna. You have to trust me on this," I told her.

"Trust you to arrest the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with?"

It was the most painful thing I'd ever done in my life. Yet it had to be done.

"I'm sorry Lesley. I really am. You have to let me pass."

"Max, can I really trust you? You knew I would chase that guy and yet you left me there alone . . . and I got shot."

My past transgressions were coming back to haunt me at exactly the wrong time.

"Lesley. Think about it. Who knew the plan? Tell me."

"We did," she said reluctantly. Her stance softened. She knew where I was going.

"That's right. So the only way someone else knew is if we'd told them. Now I know for a fact that I didn't tell anybody. Now who benefited most from knowing our plan?"

Lesley sighed. "DaVanna."

"Right Detective. Now tell me who DaVanna's sister is."

"Alessandra."

"And who lives with one of the two of us and could have maybe possibly overheard our telephone conversations?"

There was no answer. There didn't need to be.

"I think she knew," she blurted out.

"How?"

"I thought I saw her going through my phone. You know, umm, sometimes I forget to lock it. Alessandra could have listened to my voice mails and looked at our text messages. She's smart enough to piece it together."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Really Max?"

"OK." I said. Of course Lesley wouldn't give up her lover. No fucking way. She was loyal to a fault as well as I was and Alessandra rated higher than me in her book. And anyway, why would she worry? Alessandra hated DaVanna. That much was clear. It never occurred to her that Alessandra would have ratted us out.

So I went back to our conclusion.

"That's what I came to. It's obstruction of justice, plain and simple Lesley. The only thing I don't know is why? What kind of secret does DaVanna know or have that's so important that Alessandra would give us up?"

"Max. You can't." Her resistance was half-hearted. She inched away from the door.

"You know I have to Lesley."

I put my hand on the door knob.

"Alessandra. Open the door. I'm not leaving."

She must have heard everything Lesley and I had said to each other. I heard footsteps padding on the carpet.

The door was unlocked and opened. Alessandra was wearing an old t-shirt and boxer shorts, the usual clothes she wore to bed. The t-shirt was so worn you could clearly see the outline of her breasts and nipples.

"You want to know why," she said, now resigned to her fate.

"You know I do," I said.

"Max, I'm begging you . . . "

I was seeing the face of a desperate woman.

"Max, I can explain it . . ." she said, trying again.

"Max, please," she finally pleaded.

"Alessandra. It's no good. Any of it. Tell me now or tell me later. You'll know I'll get it out of you."

"I can't Max . . . I can't," she said, openly sobbing. Lesley was behind me with her hand on my hip.

"Just make this easy for all of us."

The sobbing slowed but didn't stop. It was punctuated with sniffles.

"I had to."

"Why?"

"Because . . . because she would have told you that . . . that . . . I killed someone."

"What?"

"I did . . . did . . . I killed someone and she was going to tell you."

I stared at her.

"Why didn't you come to me first?"

"You would . . . you would . . . you would . . . you would have ruined everything. Just like you are now."

"Alessandra, I'm not here to ruin anything. You have to be responsible for what you've done."

Lesley went and hugged her lover.

"You love me?" Alessandra asked her.

"With all my heart."

"We'll get through this," Lesley promised.

I turned Alessandra away from me and put the cuffs on her wrists.

Chapter Seven

Revenge

It was a sad day. I'd booked Alessandra into the County jail. Lesley was devastated, as was I. Lesley took the day off. I hoped against hope that she wouldn't start using again.

I had my demon to feed. Was I going to drink myself into a stupor or face this latest tragedy sober?

The demon won. I started at Bailey's right after work. Maddy wasn't there, but that was of little consequence because I wasn't in the mood to talk. I had three drinks, which I knew kept me right under the legal limit, and then went off to the liquor store. Thank God Nigel was there instead of some part-time flunkee. He greeted me when I came into the door.

"I saw something about you on the news today," he said. "Something about your partner's girlfriend going to jail. Is that true?"

"I'm afraid it is," I said.

"Two bottles then, right?" he asked, reading me correctly.

"Yes sir."

He bagged up two bottles. He could sense I wasn't in the mood for our usual playful banter.

"Be well Max," he said.

I nodded and then left.

* * *

The Royal Palms parking lot had its usual assortment of junkies, pimps and other lowlifes, but the Rolls Royce parked under my room 204 stood out like a sore thumb. It could be only one person, and I was hoping she wasn't there to gloat. I parked my car and approached Lily's. Jasmine got out of the driver's side and opened the rear passenger door. Lily got out, bedecked in a colorful dress with a flower pattern and thin spaghetti straps. She had exquisite taste in clothes.