Chapter 4
895 Words
Chapter Four
Most of the faces I passed were familiar but at the same time strangers. Like a sense of déjà vu from a life that wasn’t mine, everything was the same but different. I recognized a few cops and exchanged small talk with a couple whose names I could remember. I also saw many new faces that reminded me just how nervous and out of place I’d been when starting as a beat cop almost twenty years ago.
After making the trek through the new station and passing pleasantries with everyone, Rey finally led me to his office. It, like most of the station I had just walked through, looked new and unlived in. Boxes cluttered the floor and crates of files had been stacked in the corner.
“Have a seat,” Rey said as he tossed his cap on a file cabinet. I followed suit with my jacket, glad to be free of it.
“You know,” I said, as I slumped into a chair. “I have to ask. How did you know I was coming into town?”
Rey smiled “Man, a good detective never tells his secrets.”
“It was Amir wasn’t it?”
“Damn.” Rey looked disappointed his ruse had been busted. My friend, landlord, and occasional informant, Amir had been involved in nearly all my cases back in London. A good guy who had made some bad decisions, he was now desperately trying to make up for them, apparently by greasing the wheels before my arrival back in New York.
“You know, you and Amir are kinda similar,” I said, keeping a straight face. “You’re both family men, both dedicated to your work… and both complete assholes at times. You’d get along well.”
“It’s great to see you too. So, do you want to tell me about this non-vacation you’re on, or shall we stand here and bust each other’s balls all day?”
I liked trading jabs with my old partner again. We worked it like a familiar routine between two well-practiced performers.
I got as comfortable as I could in the chair sitting in front of his desk as he took the larger one behind it. “It’s a long story.”
I wanted to tell Rey everything. That I’d come back to America to make a man suffer, to force him to answer for his crimes and experience the same pain he had inflicted on me, before most likely putting a bullet in his head.
Instead, I simply shrugged.
“Hmm,” Rey looked at me with sympathy. “It’s Teach, isn’t it? By the way, thanks for that tip, bro. I was a rock star around here for a day or so after that bust. Not every day we cross paths with a professional killer.”
“Happens to me all the time,” I mumbled.
“What?” Rey asked.
“Nothing. Look, Rey, I have to see Teach. You have to help me out. Whatever it takes.”
Rey leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed and regarded me for a second. “You think Teach is the one that did it, don’t you?”
“Five minutes, Rey, is all I need.”
“And when you’ve beaten the guy to a bloody pulp or worse, what then? Ride off into the sunset back to London? Leave me to answer to the captain about why I let a psychotic ex-cop put a bullet into a man we had in custody?”
Rey knew me well, it seemed, even after all this time.
“He did it, Rey, I’m sure of it. And if he didn’t kill them himself, he knows who did. I can’t let this go. You know—”
“I know, Tom,” Rey spoke softly. “I know what this means to you, and I know what you lost. Sarah and your little Tommy. I miss them too.”
“So you understand why I can’t drop this. Imagine if it were Connie.”
Rey rubbed his temples and looked at the ceiling. It was a d**k move bringing his wife into the argument, and I instantly felt bad, but it worked.
“Okay, okay man, I’ll do what I can, but even I can’t authorize a civilian to get time with a perp charged with multiple homicides. It’s above my pay grade.”
“So let’s see the Captain.”
“Well, I have some good news and some not so good news on that front,” Rey said.
“Good news first.”
“Teach is here, in the building. He’s going through his second round of interrogations.”
My heart rate jumped, and the familiar embers of anger stirred. “Holy s**t,” I snapped. “When can I talk to him?”
“Well, that’s where the bad news comes in. It might not be that easy.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Rey. Why not?”
Rey rubbed his head again as if a headache was building. “Do you remember Captain Parks?”
“Yeah, of course. Is he going to have a problem with me talking to Teach?”
“No,” Rey said with a nervous laugh. “I don’t think he’d care at all. But what he thinks won’t matter. Captain Parks had a heart attack a few months back. He survived, but it was bad. Parks retired a couple of years earlier than he’d planned and moved to Florida. Spends his days chasing Marlin and sipping Mojitos or whatever retired police captains do these days.”
“So?”
“So we’ve got a new captain now.”
“Is he going to cause a problem?”
Rey let out a sigh and climbed to his feet. “That’s not for me to say. But I think you should have a talk before you worry yourself about it. Come on…I’ll walk you to her office.”
A female captain?
Things really had changed around here.
- Writer
