Chapter 5: Penn Has A Visitor
1053 Words
“This place is a sh*thole."
Penn grimaced, but let his best friend and former partner into his new digs. Not the mansion, but the seedy apartment next to Brooke. “It's right next door to the woman who saw the murder."
“Are you sure she'd in danger?"
“The man killed was dealing drugs. I'd bet my life on it. Brooke either is involved in it or has no idea."
Kent flopped into a chair and a cloud of dust rose from it. He sneezed a few times. “Really nice place."
Penn lowered himself into another chair already knowing not to disturb the dust. “I even have pets."
“Rats?" Kent said then looked around as if they would be strolling across the floor.
“Yeah, but we've come to an agreement," Penn said.
Kent shook his head. “You can go start your new life."
“No, I have a feeling that this case is parallel to that last case I did with you. Drug dealers. Random killings that are not so random."
“Still not your problem. You turned in your badge and gun weeks ago."
“Doesn't mean I truly stopped being a cop."
Kent shook his head. “You can stop. You get to have this new, cool life."
“I'll trade places with you."
Kent snorted. “You know that they'll pry my badge out of my cold, dead hands."
Penn knew this was true, and at one point in his life, he thought the same thing. Then a lawyer appeared on his doorstep. Along with Jeeves. It had taken many more meetings before Penn was convinced it wasn't a prank. He'd toured the company and wondered if maybe it was meant to be.
“You want a beer?"
“Sure, change the subject."
Penn snagged two beers from the refrigerator that was only steps from where they were sitting. The first floor of his house was larger than this whole apartment. His old house, not his mansion. He still couldn't wrap his brain around owning a mansion. The taxes on it were more than his cop salary.
He handed Kent the bottle. “Beer in a glass bottle? You are moving up in the world. Will you still remember me when you're on your yacht?"
“I don't have a yacht."
He probably could afford one, but he'd never been the yacht type of person. Then again, he'd never been the mansion type of person either, but soon he'd be moving into one.
“Just a matter of time. Exotic cars? You'll be using your influence to get out of speeding tickets."
Penn laughed. Kent had been busting his chops about this since he'd heard the story of how his father's estate had tracked him down. “I don't know what it is all going to look like."
Kent's gaze went around the tiny apartment. “Not like this. What is it about this woman?"
“I don't know, Kent. I saw it from across the street in the dusk. Maybe it was how she carried herself. My gut says she doesn't know what she is involved in. Or what Josh, her co-worker, was involved in."
“He didn't come up in any searches as having any priors."
“Could be an alias," Penn said.
He no longer had access to what the cops did, but Kent would come through for him if he needed anything like that. They'd been friends from the first day they became partners. Kent always had his back and he had Kent's back. Kent was married with children, and Penn had been there to celebrate all of those milestones.
He didn't have any milestones like that of his own. He'd never found the right woman.
“Checked on that as best I could, but nothing came up. I can't spend too much time on it since it isn't my case."
“I appreciate anything you can do," Penn said.
He didn't like being out of the loop, but that was his lot in life now. He was supposed to be taking the helm of a hospitality company that owned resorts and hotels. He had postponed his start day, but he knew the board wasn't going to wait much longer. They'd hinted that the company was ripe for takeover, but Penn held the majority of the stocks. He wasn't selling.
“I know, man. I can't believe that you're in this hole for a woman."
“Someone needs to protect her. If Josh was killed by a drug dealer, I doubt the dealer was the one who called the hit. This could be huge, and if it is that huge, then we know who it is."
Carlo Martinez was a drug dealer. Worse than that. He ran a cartel that had ties to the CIA and so he had cover. Penn and Kent had been warned off pursuing anything with him, but Penn refused to back down. He didn't care who the man was backed by; he needed to be stopped. Kids were dying from the drugs that man put on the street.
One woman had unknowingly floundered into the situation. Penn couldn't walk away from her.
“Have you even made contact with the woman?" Kent asked.
“No, but I met her roommate. She flirted with me, but Brooke is the one I'm keeping my eye on. Paige would need protection also, but she'd be considered collateral damage to the likes of Martinez."
“I can't talk you out of this?"
“Not as long as Leone is overlooking how big this murder is. He's too arrogant to listen to the likes of us," Penn said. “I don't trust him to do a thorough job. I don't care about solving the crime. I'm all about preventing another one."
“But do you know she's in danger?"
Penn didn't know anything for sure but what his gut said. The murder had been a hit and Josh as a librarian was a cover for something else. He'd stake his life on the fact that Brooke had no idea about Josh's other life. She'd stumbled into something much larger than she could comprehend. She wouldn't think people like Martinez even existed.
“Has my gut ever steered us wrong?"
- Writer
