Black 01 - Black Rain (15 page)

Chase pulls her hand away, drinks more juice and doesn’t say a word. She tilts her head curiously. Sometimes if you let a person talk long enough, they’ll tell you where they are coming from, she thinks. She runs her fingers through her hair and put her elbows on the back of her chair. “So you got it all figured out, huh, Brutus?”

Brutus shoves the last of his doughnuts in his mouth and nods. “Chase, when I was a young boy, I remember my daddy as a drunk. A real son of a bitch. He would
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slap my momma and me around. We took it for a long time. Shit, after a while you start to think that’s what love is—ten bottles of beer, a pint of Jack Daniel’s, cussing, fussing, a slap or punch to the head, a bloody nose and my daddy dragging my momma to his room in that shitty trailer to fuck her and pass out.”

“So, you’re saying that to say what? I’m sure at some juncture in this conversation you’re going to make a point.” Chase says, beginning to get restless.

“I’m saying that to say when a man has had enough, he puts an end to the misery. Like my dear old daddy.

When I was thirteen, my daddy pulled a sawed-off shotgun on my momma and made her give him head in front of me. To this day I don’t know why. But at that point, I’d had enough. The next day I was cooking chicken because my momma was so ashamed of what had happened she couldn’t face me. My daddy loved chicken legs, so I dipped a couple in antifreeze and battered them up after that, and when he came in I had them on his plate with some mashed potatoes. He ate the food on that plate so fast, it scared me. That was one of the few times I remember my father thanking me for anything. He went to bed later that evening and never woke up.” Brutus leans toward me. “You and I both know we’re not getting out of this alive, unless Dread is taken out. I know who’s pulling Dread’s strings. He has a boss and I know who it is.”

Brutus winks at her as he wipes his mouth and sees if any interest shows on her face.

Chase feels she’s being set up, and she has no reason to trust Brutus. She’s suspected that Dread was not the brains behind this black ring, but she can’t afford to blow her cover.

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“You know this is dangerous talk, right? You saw what Dread did to the last person who tried to cross him, and he has this thing about loyalty. My life has not been a piece of cake. My mother and father died when I was sixteen. I was left to live with my father’s brother, my uncle Learie Chase. My parents had left everything to me, but Uncle Learie thought it would be best if I were to move in with him and my aunt Elizabeth. About a month after my parents were buried, Uncle Learie came to visit me in the middle of the night. He tried to rape me. I snatched the wire from the base of my lamp and sent the electrical charge into his left testicle. My uncle Learie has one nut now. He was the only family I had in the world and I haven’t seen or spoken to him in over ten years. So I can sympathize with what you’re telling me, but Brutus, trust is not one of my strong traits. I think we should drop this conversation, while the ball still has air in it, if you know what I mean and excuse the pun.”

Brutus nods his head, smiles and takes his Harley-Davidson magazine out of his back pocket and opens it up, covering his face. “Okay, Chase, consider the conversation ended. Oh, by the way, we’re supposed to meet a Kansas City detective tonight at his hotel and welcome him to Nebraska, but you didn’t hear it from me.” Brutus lowers the magazine and winks at her as panic rushes through her body.

Chase wonders if he knows that she’s an agent, or if he knows she’s connected with Detective Joe Johnson.

If so, how’d they find out and how can she warn Joe?

She hopes he was smart enough to bring Vernon for backup. She can’t see Vernon letting Joe come alone, as tight as they are. How’d they get the information on
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what hotel Joe would be staying at and what time he’d arrive? There’s a serious leak in the police department and the bureau. She’s sure Dread’s money and influence has something to do with it. And who in the hell is over Dread and what is at stake? Something bigger than she expects is going down and she needs to find out fast before she, Joe and Vernon end up dead. She gets angry and is tired of the cat-and-mouse game Brutus is playing.

“Brutus, why in the hell are you telling me all this?

If
you
got a point, make it!”

Brutus slowly puts down his magazine, seeing that he has Chase’s full attention. “There’s something I want, and there’s something you want. Just think about it. We need to get going to this meeting. I’ll drive,” Brutus says as he gets up, pulls his sunglasses from his shirt pocket and heads toward the squad car.

So many things go through Chase’s head. Brutus is up to something and she needs to figure out what his angle is fast before he ends up getting them both killed.

When she gets in the car and fastens her seat belt, Brutus looks over his dark sunglasses, “Not a word of this to Dread, Chase.”

She stares at him and lets the moment’s silence speak for her. As they roll through the streets of Omaha they don’t say a word. The uncertain silence has her stomach churning as nervous energy flows through the police vehicle.

Chase stares out the window and remembers when she, Vernon and Joe were on the Missouri River Serial Killer case. She remembers the condition of the dead prostitutes: bruised, battered, limbless and violated. She remembers the feeling of helplessness she felt.

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She feels the same vile irritation starting to rise in her throat now. She considers how similar her situation is becoming to that and wonders if this is a parallel. Has she sunk so low as to be prostituted by the FBI. She keeps hearing Brutus compare her to a dog. Then she thinks of how Joe held her in his big arms in Jefferson City and how safe and loved she felt. If only he wasn’t married. No other man has ever made her feel that way.

The possibilities are always there, but now she has to figure out how to warn Joe.

Chapter 9

We are about forty minutes from downtown Omaha, when I get this melancholy feeling that something is not right with my dad. I jerk the powerful Corvette over to the shoulder as dusk falls on the open road. I grab my cell phone and hit the speed dial to my parents’ home.

“Joe, what the hell is going on?” Vernon groggily asks as he awakes from his slumber.

I answer while holding the cell phone to my ear, “I got to call my dad. Something doesn’t feel right.”

Vernon takes out a cigar, unwraps it and places it in his mouth. On the fourth ring Mom answers and I can tell by the sound of her voice that she’s been crying.

“Mom, this is Joe. How’s Dad doing? Are you okay?”

Mom tries to hide her emotion, but doesn’t do a good job. “Your father is slipping away from me, Joe. We’ve been together for fifty-two beautiful years and all those
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memories are fading from your father. It’s so hard, son, sometimes he doesn’t even recognize me.

The people from hospice came by at the doctor’s request. They’ve been very helpful and are helping me cope with this. Your brothers and sisters are here, but they are just as distraught as I am. Your father’s systems are slowly shutting down. They say he only has about six days to live.” Mom sighs, and I can tell she is getting agitated. I know she is scared and probably has started to consider life without my father. “Where are you, Joe?

Why are you not here?” Mom starts to break down and cry.

I let the car seat back and wipe the tears from my eyes. “Mom, I’m so sorry I’m on this case. I’ll get home as soon as I can. Is Dad in any pain?”

“They’re giving him morphine shots, so he’s pretty comfortable. Sierra and the kids have been a godsend, Joe. She’s here now. You want to talk to her?”

“Yes, please put her on the phone. And Mom?”

“Yes, son.”

“I’ll always be there for you, Mother. You know I love you, right?”

“I know you do and I love you, too. You be safe and watch your back and come back safe to us, you hear?”

“I will, Mother. I’ll be home soon.”

Sierra gets on the phone and I melt when I hear her voice.

“Hi, Joe, baby, I wish you were here. It’s so hard seeing your father like this.”

“I’m sorry I’m not there, sweetheart. Thank you for helping Mom. It really means a lot to me and my parents. Are things really bad?”

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“Dad’s a tough man, Joe. He has the kids around him when he’s feeling well. He has them laughing and talks to them about Grandpa getting ready to go to Heaven, and that he’ll be watching them from above. He told them when they do bad he’s gonna come back and haunt them. But he is in and out sometimes with his memory.

He is mixing the kids’ names up, but they just correct him as they hug and kiss him.” Sierra giggles as both of us start to cry.

“Yeah, my dad is a character. I’ll be home as soon as I can. Call me on my cell if he takes a turn for the worse.

I’ll be in touch, baby.”

Vernon touches me on the shoulder as I wipe my tears and he takes the phone from me.

“Sierra, how you doing, girl? Tell Gertrude that we’re fine, and that we’ll try and wrap this up as soon as we can. Tell the family I send my love, okay?” Vernon hangs up the phone.

Vernon rubs his chin and puts his hand on my shoulder. “Joe, I know this is very hard for you, man. But, you need to shake this stuff off, bro. We are about to get into some very dangerous shit, Joe. You have to have your wits about you and focus or we might as well head back to Kansas City and make funeral arrangements for Chase.”

I think about what Vernon has said. I lay my head back and close my eyes. My father’s never been sick. I picture him in bed. I feel guilty as hell, but it makes me feel better that Sierra is there with the kids.

I get out of the car, sit on the hood and gaze at the golden and green sea of cornstalks that line the other side of the highway swaying to and fro like ocean waves.

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“Vernon, this is harder than I thought it would be, but I’ll get it together. We need to check in with Agent James to get our orders and point of contact.” The sun slowly sets on the horizon, and I can’t help but think that it’s symbolic of my father’s precious life slowly fading from him.

Majestic colors—orange, blue, yellow and red—

encompass the skyline as, enchantingly, birds fly away to some unknown place. The hollow breeze that blows across my troubled face is cool. A large flock of geese fly overhead, their wings falling up and down as if they are waving goodbye to me. My father’s presence surrounds me and I smile. Things will turn out for the best.

I’ll get back to his bedside in time for him to cross over to his eternal bliss. I promise myself that.

I dial the number to Agent Royal James’s office at FBI Headquarters in Kansas City. He answers on the second ring.

“Detective Johnson here, I’m outside Omaha. I just wanted to check in and find out my point of contact.”

Since Agent James doesn’t know that Vernon is with me, it’s better to keep it that way, just in case my feelings about this situation turn out to be true, Vernon will be my trump card.

“Good to hear from you, Joe. I talked to Agent Chase earlier today and she’s fine for now. Dread has struck again, though. We found six men shot in the back in a field in a nearby town. It appears that the poor bastards were gunned down while running for their lives. There was also a Sioux City police officer killed and burned in his squad car.”

“Was there any evidence fingering Dread Cattanno?”

“Yes, Agent Chase was an eyewitness, but without
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her we don’t have a case. We also need to get the list of dirty cops that connected to Dread. I hear he keeps the list closely guarded in his study safe. One more thing…”

It’s amazing how much damage this guy has done and how Chase handled being in the middle of that mess. The department has let Dread get out of control.

Someone must be protecting him.

“There’s more?” I ask.

“Yes. Agent Smelley was found dead. We found him in a barn in Nebraska. His body has been released to his family. We’ve requested that they not go to the press for obvious reasons. They were pretty angry, but agreed to our request. We have to solve this case for them, as well.”

Anger swells inside me and I’m not sure it’s because of how Smelley was killed or that it’s being compounded by suppressed feelings about my dad or both.

Agent Smelley was a good man. I’d known him for over five years. Whatever the case, my left hand clenches into a tight fist.

“I feel for their loss, and Dread will pay. Where should I report and who is my contact?”

There’s a hint of a pause, then James says, “I’ve arranged for another agent, Epiphany Duvall, to meet you.

She’s from Dallas, Texas, and she’s the best of the best.

She’s been briefed on the case and she knows what you look like. She’ll contact you at the hotel. She’ll fly in tomorrow morning. Your room will be under my name.

Everything has been taken care of, so don’t worry about anything. Just show your identification. You’ll have a suite at the downtown Marriott. We also have an inside man at the hotel, Agent Jason Phillips. We call him
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Little Tiny. You’ll know why when you meet him.”

Agent James chuckles.

“You know how I feel about working with people I don’t know, Agent James…so how am I approaching this Dread Cattanno when I get into Nebraska?”

“That’s why I got you the best agents to back you up.

Don’t worry about Dread, he’ll contact you. Word is out that a bad-ass detective from Kansas City is out to get with his group. I’m sure he’ll have something up his sleeve to test you, so be careful. And, Joe, don’t kill him.

He’s vital to the case, you understand?”