LIVING ON THE EDGE

CHAPTER: 37

A Blood? Sharon felt her adrenaline rising. If Adriana had gotten mixed up in gangs at one time, she probably had other skeletons just waiting to fall out of the closet. The good news was that Maury County had a strange gang structure that discouraged thugs from other states from connecting with them. This unique gang structure was inspired by Maury County's strong tendency to have neighborhoods separated by ethnic group, religion, and race. Gang colors are less important because you are your flag; whereas skin color, religious garb, or last name defined a person.

If there was some type of gang connection to this case, it would be easy to rule out people from out of town. Maury County has a special way of killing its own.

"So he had a red bandana. Okay. That is good. Anything else you remember?" Sharon asked Nicholas.

"They had a messy break-up. Mom and Dad were worried. I guess he got a little physical with her. The summer they broke up, I think Adriana was nineteen, my parents sent her to Huntsville," Nicholas said.

Huntsville is pretty far away from SweetWater. If Adriana agreed to go that far away, she would suspect that things had gotten very physical at some point, Sharon guessed.

"I think Adriana filed charges against him. There might be a police record of that," Nicholas said. 

A police record would bear a name, but Sharon was willing to bet the perpetrator was Sam DaCosta.

"This is very helpful. Anything else you can remember?" Sharon asked Nicholas.

He sighed and dug into his pocket. "I had to smuggle these out of the house. I don't know if Mom and Dad know these exist, but I remember Adriana storing them in the garage. Please do not tell them that I gave them to you. Just makeup something, okay?" Nicholas said to Detective Sharon.

Sharon nodded, picked up the envelope, and thanked Nicholas for his time. She gave him her business card and left. On the way back to the car, she peeked inside the envelope. Her jaw dropped as she stared at Adriana, wearing a red bandana, her fingers curved into a gang sign. A tall, thin, brown man stood next to her holding a baby. "Red Eagle gang," Sharon said, recalling the gang dialect she had heard screamed through the streets of Maury County when she was a cop. 

Adriana was in a gang? It seemed unlikely, but there she was in a red bandana, and with a man who clearly, based on his excess of red, was in a blood-based gang, or pretending to be a gang member indulging in violence. Either way, it was shocking to see Adriana glowering and intimidating on the camera. 

"Oh my God, what did this girl get herself into?" Sharon muttered before sticking the photograph back into the envelope.

Gang involvement, even if it was just for show, opened whole new messy problems. What if Adriana had done something years ago and a gang member had found her and demanded revenge? What if Adriana had remained affiliated with the gang all these years? That might explain why she was in Maury County, but that theory seemed so strange. Mother of two, wife of a doctor, gang member on the side? It was not a likely scenario, but then again, Sharon had not expected Adriana to have any type of association with the gangs.

"Who the hell could she be?" Sharon wondered aloud.

Sharon climbed into the car and pondered upon this new information about Adriana. Secret lives, a lot of us have them, and now and then a demon we thought was dead and gone comes back to haunt us. If Adriana had an abusive ex-boyfriend, there was a chance that he had come back to kill her, especially if she had pressed charges against him. Of course, a great deal of time had elapsed since that relationship, but abusive men rarely change. Now, Sharon just needed to confirm his identity.

While traveling through the highway, Sharon considered the fact that the case might get dangerous. Stuart was a great assistant, but now that the gangs would be involved, she did not feel comfortable using him to gather information. Sharon had dealt with the gangs in the Maury County area. They were not the ones to be messed with. The ruthless nature of the young men and women in those gangs was incomparable to that of gangs in other areas. She would have to deal with this case without Stuart, but she could not handle it on her own. She needed help, but it could not be from a civilian. 

                                                                         **********

"Cedric, I need a favor," Sharon had stopped by NPD (Nashville Police Department) on her way back to the office. This time, Officer Cedric was in and available. She wanted to get an update on the gang situation in Maury County. 

Her childhood friend, Officer Cedric Travis was five feet, eight inches, and had a 175-pound weight. He had smooth, coffee-black skin, and was built like a mini tank, but he was gentle enough when he was out of uniform. He took Sharon's hand in his and shook it with vigor.

"What? Now, remember, Sharon, you chose to go back to being a civilian. You could still have access to all these remarkable law enforcement tools," Officer Cedric said.

"Yeah, but I have a lifelong friend who is a cop, and he knows that we are both fighting for truth and justice, so he is going to hook me up." They both then shared a hearty laugh.

"Okay, what do you need?" Cedric asked Sharon.

"You are not going to believe this." Sharon slid the picture of Adriana throwing up a gang sign, and wearing her red bandana with pride across to Cedric. The baby, who was wrapped in a red blanket, was being held by a lean man with a matching bandana.

"What? I cannot believe this! Hey, listen, Sharon, you cannot pursue this. The gangs in Maury County are not like they were when you were there as a cop. They have morphed into something much uglier and more dangerous than what we dealt with back then. The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is handling most of the gang stuff around here because it has gotten very bad. You have to back down, Sharon."