The Green Line (35 page)

Another gunshot rang out and a window shattered. Marcus went into the front hall and saw Duvane clutching his arm on the ground outside. Marcus turned to the empty living room. He shouted, “Thomas Callahan, you’re under arrest! Don’t make this worse for yourself!” Marcus slowly moved through the room with gun at the ready and continued. “There are a lot of innocent people here. Your mother for one. A baby. Don’t make this any worse.” He walked through the dining room and looked back into the kitchen area at the women in the corner.

“How could this get any worse?”

Marcus turned to Callahan’s voice. Callahan was standing just inside the dining room by the hall, with his gun pointed at Marcus. Marcus’s gun wasn’t aimed at him. He made a slight move. Callahan cocked the trigger.

“You’re supposed to be dead.”

Marcus moved slightly to face him. “Surprise.”

“I guess I’ll have to kill you both again.”

Marcus didn’t move. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.” The bathroom door under the stairwell began to open.

Callahan chuckled. “Yeah, I bet you do.” He lifted the gun slightly, closed an eye to perfect the shot, and straightened his firing arm. Abby was behind him. Lifting something big and white over her head.
Whack
. The weight of it came down hard against Callahan’s head. Abby dropped it. Callahan collapsed on the ground, dropping his gun. The white object shattered as it hit the tile floor. Marcus moved in with his gun pointed at Callahan, rolled him onto his back, and put all of his weight on top as he grabbed his arms and pulled out his cuffs.

· · ·

ABBY
fell to the ground.

“Abby!” Meg’s voice called out from the kitchen.

“It’s okay!” Marcus shouted toward the kitchen. Meg and Callahan’s mother ran into the room. Lizzy was still in Meg’s arms.

“Trip!” His mother ran and crouched at his side. He was regaining consciousness.

Marcus forced Callahan to stand and ushered him outside. Callahan’s mother followed. “What’s happening?” She was pleading for information as they went out the front door.

“Abby!” Meg ran to her and they hugged.

“Meg, I’m so sorry!” She looked at Lizzy then, flushed and puffy from tears. “Lizzy! Hey, baby girl. I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!” She was shaking her head. “I can’t believe I brought this into your house.” She couldn’t speak anymore.

“We’re okay! We’re okay!”

Abby looked around at the shattered porcelain surrounding them. “I broke it.”

“What is that, anyway?”

“The lid to your toilet tank.”

Meg let out a chuckle. “Are you telling me that you nailed him with my toilet?”

Abby smiled then. “Guess I did.”

THIRTY

WHEN
the doorbell rang the next morning, Abby looked out the front window from the hall. It was Marcus.

Nate shouted, “I’ve got it!” from the kitchen. Abby went back into the guest room, grabbed her things, and walked down the hall to the nursery. Meg was sitting in a chair, rocking Lizzy.

“Okay, I’m heading out. Thanks again for the clothes,” she said as she posed in the blue business suit.

“Hey, that looks good on you!”

“Well, it’s lucky for me we’re the same size.”

“Well, at one point we were. Take your time returning it. I’ve got some baby weight to lose anyway.”

Abby walked into the room and sat on the edge of the bed. “Meg, you look beautiful. And you’re the nicest person on the whole planet. After everything that happened here yesterday, I….” She didn’t know what else to say. “Thank you for everything.”

Meg stood then. “You know what they say: A traumatic event brings people together! I can tell we’re going to be great friends. Now get out of here. You’re late.”

“Okay. Thanks. Thanks for everything.” She planted a kiss on Lizzy’s head. “Bye, baby girl!”

Nate and Marcus were chatting in the front hall at the foot of the stairs. “Hey guys.”

“Hey there, Abby, you ready?”

“Yeah.” She gave Nate a big hug. “Thank you for everything,” she whispered.

Nate pulled out of the embrace and held her arms in a firm grip. “Hey, we’re family, right?” She nodded in agreement. “Good. Don’t forget it. I’ll call you later.”

Marcus opened the passenger door for her and started up the car.

“Well, what have I missed?” Abby inquired.

“It’s been quite a twenty-four hours, my friend.”

“Yeah?”

Marcus pulled out onto Sheridan Road and headed south for the city. “Where to start? Okay, first, Isabel Ramirez came into the station yesterday afternoon. She identified Callahan in a line-up. We called in another guy who I knew was at Reggie’s the first time Callahan and his cronies came in; the brother of one of my contacts on the street. He identified the three officers and Callahan as well. They’re all in custody. They’re now the primary suspects in Leon’s drive-by shooting and the plan is to charge Callahan with the murders of that prostitute, Ali Rashid, and his friend as soon as you come in to give your statement.”

“All good stuff.”

“And we got a search warrant yesterday afternoon for Callahan’s business. Several officers have already spent hours gathering paperwork and computers and everything that might help. They’ll be going through the arrest records and evidence connected with every property he’s acquired through auction. His phone records and e-mails are being scoured. Any contacts with Chicago police will be investigated.”

“Good.”

“And Reilly is anxious to do whatever he can to lessen the charges against him, so you can bet he’ll be testifying against Callahan.”

“And of course I will too.”

“Yes, I think Callahan will go away for a long time.”

“What about bail? If he gets bail, you have to tell me because I’ll leave town. I wouldn’t feel safe.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that, Abby. With all of the charges and evidence they’re piecing together, a judge will know what a flight risk he’d be. And besides, his father came into the station yesterday.”

“Yeah?”

“One would guess that a powerful family would be protecting their own, lawyering up. But it turns out Trip Callahan is not exactly the golden child. The father came in to see him and said good-bye. Told the officers he was washing his hands of him.”

“Wow. And what about the charges against me?”

“Duvane personally saw to it that the entire case was tossed. It’s really over, Abby.” He put his hand on hers. “And I couldn’t have done this without you, you know. Really, I give you all the credit here. And I wish I had protected you better.”

Abby put her other hand on his. “You did fine.”

He looked over at her. “You saved my life yesterday, Abby.”

It didn’t feel that way. It felt like being with Marcus, working this case, had somehow saved her life. She smiled. “You like my toilet-lid move, eh? Gonna use that one sometime?”

“I might!”

They continued down Sheridan and cut over to Lake Shore Drive. Within minutes they had a perfect view of the skyline and the Drake Hotel, perched right there at the curve, straight ahead.

“And what about the prosecutor you saw with Callahan?”

“We’re just starting to build the case against him. Not sure yet how much he knew, but Duvane’s getting a warrant for his personal financials and the state’s attorney has put him on leave pending the investigation. It’s going to take a while, but we’ll get them all.”

“Wow. Are you still undercover? Will you stay with Internal Affairs?”

“For now. Amazingly enough, my cover’s still intact. And according to Duvane, there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

“I’m glad you’ll be staying in Chicago. I’ve gotten used to having you around.”

He smiled. “Me too.”

They drove in silence past Navy Pier and took a right on Monroe toward her building.

“And now you can get back to work too. Must be a relief.”

She gave a half-hearted “yeah.”

He pulled over under the L tracks on Wabash in front of her office.

“Thanks for the ride, Marcus.”

“Hey, it’s the least I could do. I’ll be in touch,” he said in his most professional tone.

She leaned over then and gave him a big hug. “Friends?”

He smiled and hugged back. “Friends.”

“So that means we actually start hanging out sometimes? Go get a beer or something?”

“I’d love it.”

“And if you ever need someone to bounce ideas off of, or do a little covert research, I’m your girl!”

He laughed then. “Yeah, yeah. Get out of the car already.”

IT
was about ten o’clock by the time Abby got to the lobby. She hadn’t shown up to work now since last Friday—three days without a word, other than Sarah trying to cover for her. She never even got that partnership memo turned in. She might even get fired, but she felt at peace. She really didn’t care what happened at this point but thought the partners deserved—no she deserved—for them to know the truth.

She had called ahead and asked Dorothy, Jerry’s secretary, when he’d be free, so she knew she could get a few minutes right now. She headed straight to his office and knocked on his open door.

“Abby, please come in. I was going to call you in here today. I never got a partnership memo from you.”

She entered and shut the door behind her. “Yeah, about that. I need to tell you something.”

BACK
at her desk, Abby organized a to-do list for getting through the work that had piled up since Monday. She couldn’t wipe the grin from her face. The shock on Jerry’s face was priceless. The firm was never going to fire her now. The media would be all over this story within hours and Abby’s role was sure to shine light on her firm. They would never want to be thought of as the big firm that fired her for solving some kind of crime ring and putting a murderer and several dirty cops behind bars. The firm would want to put her on posters as the face of justice. Jerry was probably already sharing the story with every other senior partner he could find.

It felt good to have the firm behind her again, but nothing felt quite as good as finally being ready to live her life. She couldn’t live for Denny anymore, and she finally realized that she didn’t have to. And when the dust settled from all of this, she was sure she’d cry again about letting David go. They were kindred spirits—more than she ever let him know.

But she would not cry today. Today was for new beginnings. For setting in motion a game plan and charting a new course. She was determined to find her own way and this desk would not hold her for much longer.

ABBY
was finishing up for the day when a new e-mail popped up from Seth, the eternal cheerleader of the firm’s associates. The regarding line said only:
HAPPY HOUR CELEBRATION
. Abby opened the mail:

Hey everyone. Sarah’s back from her honeymoon and it’s not official yet, but the word at the water cooler is that one of our own may soon leave the lowly rank of associate to become a partner. We need beer. Clark Street Ale House. Five o’clock. Be There.

Abby shook her head and smiled. Jerry had already given her the heads up regarding the whole partnership issue. She looked down at her calendar. The afternoon was clear. And then she saw one more new e-mail. It was from David. She held her breath and opened the message:
Hi Abby. Thanks for the note. I don’t think the worst of you. I know what happened. We should talk. Can you meet?
He knows what happened? But how could he? And then, before the excitement of talking to David again took over, she reminded herself aloud, “He loves someone else now.” She wrote back,
Thanks David. Looks like that matter’s all cleared up. Thank goodness. I’m happy to talk whenever you’ve got the time. Take care.
Maybe she could face him tomorrow.

And then she noticed them. The flowers from Ali. Still sitting in what was now brown water, surrounded by dried-out petals on her desk. She sat back and took a deep breath. So much had happened. So much had changed. And it all started because of Ali. He’d saved her life in every way. She looked back at the calendar. Just four weeks had passed since that fateful night.

ABBY,
Sarah, and her husband, Rick, stood at the end of the bar with their drinks in hand. Abby suggested a toast to Sarah and Rick’s marriage, Sarah suggested a toast to Abby’s survival, and Rick suggested a toast to Neil’s rise to partnership, which gave them the biggest laugh. They all looked over at Neil, who was off in the corner, holding court among the younger eager beavers. “Let him have it,” Sarah said to Abby, as if she needed reassurance.

“Absolutely. I’m moving on,” Abby advised with confidence. She took a deep breath and welcomed the major change in direction she was now willing to make.

“Hi everyone.” The sound of his voice sent her pulse racing. Butterflies fluttered. How could she even look at him? Sarah and Rick looked up and got off their stools with enthusiastic greetings. Abby remained frozen. She couldn’t turn around. She heard him congratulate the newlyweds and order a beer.