Dave Zeltserman - Small crimes

'You promised me nothing was going to happen there,' she said in a voice that could cut glass.

'Either of those two get hurt?' I asked.

'Tina's in shock.'

'She's a gutsy kid. She'll be okay. If she hadn't nailed Earl Kelley with that glass I'd probably be dead now.’

‘Damn you, you promised me!'

'Yeah? Why should you've believed anything I said? Look at me. I'm a dirty ex-cop and a paroled felon. If you're going to believe me that's your problem.'

She was livid. 'You sonofabitch.'

'What are you complaining about? You have your story. And it's a good one. I'm the one with the bruised ribs and a sliced hand.'

'You almost killed a man in that club.'

I made a face. 'It was self-defense. He was going to take Eric's head off with that baseball bat if I didn't do anything. And he was going to do a lot worse to me. Anyway, he'll live.'

'You just about castrated him!'

'Look, he was trying to kill me.' I was starting to get annoyed. It was bad enough that my hand throbbed like crazy and that I could barely breathe without a searing pain sucking my breath away, but now I had to listen to this?

'Eileen,' I continued, trying to keep my voice under control, 'just be happy, okay? You got a great story. There was no other way of getting it. If you had gotten the cops in Bradley involved you would've been shut down from the start. Let's just finish this up and show that college club distributing crystal meth.'

'We're done. I'm not sending you out with any of my people again.'

It was pretty much what I had expected. It didn't matter, though. I had thought the matter out when were driving back from Bradley.

'You don't need me for this last part,' I said. 'The club is the Blue Horn in Eastfield. Get the state police involved if you want. Have one of your interns or someone young go there tonight and buy crystal meth, and then send the police and Eric in. It will work fine.'

She wanted to argue with me. I could see it in her eyes, but there was nothing to argue about.

'You're still going to interview me on the air tonight, right?' I asked.

'I'm going to have to. I can't find any other link between Manny Vassey, his son, and that old tannery you broke into.’

‘What do you mean?'

'I checked at the Registry of Deeds and that property is owned by a June Hathaway.’

‘I never heard of her.'

'You wouldn't have. She died in seventy-two.'

'So Vassey has a bogus owner on the deed. So what? Someone's been paying the water and power bills there. And buying supplies. And paying for the rubbish removal. You'll find a link if you dig around.'

'I hope so.'

'You'll find one,' I said. Anyway, someone's going to talk. If not one of the guys we caught on video then one of the cops on Manny's payroll. Someone's going to roll over on him to protect themselves. You'll tie Manny and Junior up in this.'

'We'll see. But we will need you to talk about what you know on the air tonight. In the meantime, the Registry of Deeds is open for another half-hour. It's probably a waste of time, but I'll send one of my people over to find out what name is on the Blue Horn's deed.'

She wavered a moment before leaving. I could see the uncertainty creeping into her eyes and then spreading and dulling her hard edges. I could almost hear the thoughts running through her. What if I was lying about Manny and Junior's involvement? All she had at the moment was my word on it.

I should've been expecting something like that. It shouldn't have come as any surprise. I don't know. Maybe I was too distracted by the pain ripping into my side and the raw throbbing in my hand, and maybe that was keeping me from thinking clearly, but I couldn't help worrying. My plan was to bust Junior's gambling and drug operations wide open and make it political suicide for Phil to strike any deal protecting him. I knew that given enough time Manny and Junior would be tied to what was going on in that tannery and their other businesses. For now it would have to be my word against theirs.

I hung around the station. Around six Eileen found me and told me what I was expecting – that according to the deed the Blue Horn had been sold three months ago to June Hathaway. She had the name of the previous owner and she was going to try to track him down and see whether he was willing to make a statement. At a quarter past seven Tina found me and asked whether I wanted to join her for dinner. My stomach felt as if it were in knots, but I needed something to kill the time so I went with her.

We ended up going to a steakhouse about a mile from the station. Tina ordered a sirloin and I stuck with a salad and cream of mushroom soup. It was about all I felt I could handle.

She was trying to smile at me, but concern was wrecking it.

'How are you feeling?' she asked.

'I'll be okay,' I said. 'No serious damage done at least.'

'That was really amazing in there,' she said. 'I thought that bartender was going to kill all of us.'

'He gave it his best shot. I guess it just wasn't good enough.' I paused for a moment to take a bite of my salad and to look at Tina. She was very pretty, there was no arguing about that, but it was the way she was looking at me that got to me. Maybe years ago when I was quarterbacking my high school football team, Elaine might have looked at me like that, but probably not even then. I don't think any woman, or really anyone, had ever looked at me with the admiration with which Tina did at that moment. It choked me up a bit.

'You were really amazing in there, Joe.'

'You were pretty damn good yourself.' There was something contagious about her smile, and I couldn't help smiling back. "That was quick thinking on your part. If you hadn't nailed Earl with that glass, I would've been taken out of there in a body bag.'

'I can't believe I did that,' she said, laughing. 'It just happened. I guess it was reflex.'

We ate quietly after that, but it was comfortable quiet. I even realized I had stopped worrying at one point. Near the end, Tina showed me an uneasy smile.

'Joe, I don't know if you've been watching our broadcasts, but for the last couple of weeks we've been hitting you pretty hard.'

'That's okay. I deserve it.'

'I don't know if that's true anymore. What I saw today was incredible. For those things to be going on shows that the whole Bradley police force has to be dirty. It's no wonder you ended up the way you did. But what you did today was amazing. You're going to be single-handedly responsible for cleaning up this whole area.'

'I appreciate that,' I said. 'Not every cop on the Bradley force is dirty. Some are, but not all. I ended up the way I did because of my own mistakes. I have no one to blame.'

The way she looked at me right then almost stopped my heart. s

'Why don't we find someplace we can be alone, Joe?'

I wanted to. God did I want to. But she was almost twenty years younger than me. There was more to it than that. I didn't even know if I had a future past the next few hours. But there was still more. There was Charlotte. I know it's crazy, but I started feeling guilty. As nuts as Charlotte was, I knew that in some bizarre way we were meant for each other. That at some level we understood each other and that we could help each other. As beautiful and sane as Tina was, she didn't have a clue what was inside me.

'Tina,' I said. 'It's eight thirty and we got that news broadcast at ten.'

'We have enough time.'

'I've got to be honest,' I said. I want to more than you could ever imagine, but I'm feeling pretty beat up right now.’

‘I'll be gentle.'

'Why don't we give it a few days and see how we're feeling then?'

That just heated her up more. The desire flushing her face was almost too much for me. I almost weakened. But Jesus, I couldn't do that to her. Instead, I just sat back and looked into her eyes. She showed me a little smile, took a business card from her pocketbook, wrote on the back of it, and handed it to me.