Turtle Island (18 page)

‘You know I had all the warning signs, just ignored them...’
Leroy raised his large hands in a dismissive gesture.
‘She...was...just the most beautiful woman, did I tell you
that?’

Georgina smiled. ‘Leroy, she still is, she is not
dead.’

‘Then why do I feel as though I am mourning her. She has gone
and I miss her so...’ Leroy’s voice trailed away, cracking
slightly. ‘…much.’

There was a vulnerability to the big man that was hitting home
to Georgina’s heart. She wanted to console him, take him in her
arms and ease away the pain, maybe she felt that would help relieve
her own burdensome anguish or would that just be calculated self
reciprocation. Part of her wanted to mother him, part of her wanted
him to father her, part of her, the trained self reliant woman
wanted to step back and not get emotionally involved. That side of
her was saying in her head. ‘Keep your distance.’

‘All I have is this video; she didn't even leave a
photograph.’ Leroy paused the video, Lia was laughing, holding a
hose, water gushing from its spout spilling onto her face. ‘Hey,
I'm sorry. I must really be dragging you down.’

Georgina stopped herself from going over to Leroy and hugging
him. ‘What are you going to do?’

Leroy shook his head and looked out through the window. ‘I
don't know yet.’ He sighed. Then added. ‘Have another drink, then
maybe drink some more until the pain eases.’

‘Sounds like a good idea, maybe we should get drunk together.’
Georgina didn’t want to leave him alone to drink. As always, there
is safety in numbers.

‘There's a tumbler beside you in the bag. She took all the
glasses, so I bought some from the gas station last
night.’

Georgina felt inside the plastic bag lying next to the sofa
she was perched on and grabbed a plastic tumbler. She threw it to
Leroy who, though his senses were dulled by drink, managed to catch
it.

‘Only got brandy.’ He said unscrewing the cap of a
bottle.

‘Fine.’ Georgina shrugged not really caring what she was going
to drink as long as it was alcohol.

‘So, you know my problem, what's yours?’ Leroy filled
Georgina's plastic tumbler to the brim. ‘Sorry, no coke left.’ He
handed her the full glass, their fingers touching briefly. Georgina
realised that was what she wanted now more than anything; human
contact. Leroy held onto the glass, spilling brandy down their
fingers.

Georgina took a deep breath. ‘My problems pale in comparison
to most people I know, present company included.’

‘A problem is a problem is a problem.’ Leroy raised the glass
in salute to Georgina and took a large gulp from the plastic
tumbler. Georgina passed the brown folder to Leroy.

‘This is one.’ Georgina handed Leroy her report.

Leroy’s eyes focused on the A4 pages of type.

‘You pick your times.’ Leroy said trying to concentrate. He
began to read Georgina's case report; he sat back in to the seat,
while she swallowed back the contents of her tumbler then topped up
both glasses.

Frusco closed the folder and pressed the intercom on his
desk.

‘Get me Agent O’Neil, Hannah? She’s staying at the Motel off
highway 14.’ He let go of the button, not waiting for a reply and
dialled a number on his phone. The phone, eager to please as usual,
rang in his ear. Frusco waited for Rick Montoya to answer. The
phone rang three times before a child answered.

‘Hello.’

Frusco knew Ray’s voice and asked to speak with his father, he
heard the phone being placed down and the child saying. ‘Okay’
followed by his little voice booming. ‘ DAD, PHONE.’

There was a scrabbling sound and Ray spoke quietly into the
receiver. ‘He’s coming...’

Frusco could hear the child breathing and chomping something,
probably gum. Then from nowhere the boy said. ‘I gotta bike
today.’

Norman felt uneasy speaking to the boy, having missed out on
the whole child rearing process. It was not that he didn’t have
any, he had a boy and a girl, it’s just that he was too busy
working while they were too busy growing up.

‘That’s nice.’ Frusco lamely offered.

Fortunately before Frusco had to indulge in any more ‘small’
talk, Rick picked up the extension. ‘You can put the phone down
now, son.’

Norman heard the click; Rick asked ‘What’s up?’

‘I need you to make a full account in writing of what happened
last night, it seems O’Neil is going to name you as being
incompetent and endangering the lives of other officers, including
herself.’

Rick listened in silence.

‘I’ll eh...I’ll...come in...right away.’

‘You know the procedure once a complaint has been issued by an
FBI agent against a Police officer, Internal Affairs are going to
be all over you and the station, plus...’ Frusco didn’t like saying
what he had to say next and took a deep breath before continuing.
‘Plus, I’ll have to have to suspend you until any investigation is
completed.’

Rick felt his stomach flip. He stood pole-axed. He placed the
phone receiver back in its cradle without saying goodbye to Frusco.
Rick put his jacket on. Just as he was leaving the front door
Jo-Lynn caught him.

‘Where you goin’, hon?’

‘I gotta go in.’

‘But you said you got time off time to be with Ray and
me.’

‘I know, I know...It’s just that something...unexpected has
just occurred.’ Rick kissed Jo-Lynn on her lips and walked straight
to the car and sped away without further explanation. Jo-Lynn stood
at the door baffled.

‘Is something wrong?’ Korjca’s voice gently asked, sensing her
employer’s distress. Jo-Lynn put on her fake smile- the one that
she usually reserved for clients that she didn’t much like. ‘It’s
nothing to worry about, I’m sure.’

‘I see that the protection men have gone.’ Korjca’s broken
English added a greater hint of danger. Jo-Lynn peered across the
road, the darkening sky hovered overhead cutting visibility. An
empty space occupied the place where the twenty-four hour police
protection vehicle had stood guard for the past two and a half
days.

Leroy closed the file. ‘Are you sure you want to do
this?’

‘You saw the way Montoya acted. He may as well have been
holding the knife himself.’

‘I know that he's been under a lot of strain. The threats may
have clouded his judgement.’ Leroy tried to defend his
partner.

Georgina wanted to believe that, but if that was the case then
he should have distanced himself from the investigation. ‘Anyway, I
thought I would show you.’

‘Frusco won't be too pleased that's for sure.’

‘What about you, what do you think?’

‘Me, I'm nearly past caring…’ Leroy emptied the remains of the
rum bottle in his glass before resting it down next to the other
empties. ‘But Rick is a friend. One of the few true friends I have
at this moment. I’m not happy…but he did jeopardise our
lives.’

‘Do you think I’m being unfair?’ Georgina pressed for Leroy’s
opinion.

‘Does what I think really mean that much.’ Leroy rested his
head against the curve of the chair. The effects of the rum slowly
driving home.

‘I don’t know, I always seem to be on the outside...on the
periphery, looking in on the real world, that kind of detachment
doesn’t always make you the most popular person in the room. It’s
kinda hard to judge whether I’m being too...’ Georgina searched her
mind for the right word but Leroy found it first

‘Objective.’

Georgina smiled. ‘Something like that...So?’

‘So...’ Leroy took a breath. ‘My opinion for what it’s worth.
Rick Montoya is a friend and a good detective. He’s been there
backing me up, supporting me and I have never had cause to find him
lacking in commitment...’

‘But?’ Georgina could sense a ‘But’ was coming.

‘But,’ Leroy cleared his throat, making room for a confession
Georgina thought. ‘But he arrived on Turtle Island under a cloud of
suspicion. Now I wouldn’t tell you this under any other
circumstances because he’s a brother...’

Georgina was getting impatient, wanting to know Leroy’s
secret.

‘But?’

‘But there were rumours that followed him here.’

‘What sort of rumours?’

‘Let’s just say that he had a brush with Internal Affairs back
in Chicago. I don’t know the full account, Rick’s never entrusted
me with any confidences from those days. I do know it’s something
to do with Jordan’s death.’

‘His daughter.’

Leroy nodded. ‘I looked into it, he doesn’t know though, but I
thought that if I’m putting my ass on the line with this guy then I
need to know about the rumours and dispel any harbouring doubts I
had about his...’

‘Commitment.’ It was Georgina’s turn to complete a
sentence.

‘Yeah...Something like that. Commitment.’ Leroy paused, drank
a little. ‘So I dug a little and I found some things
out.’

Georgina sat forward on the edge of her seat, willing Leroy to
reveal whatever he knew about Detective Rick Montoya.

Leroy closed his eyes, tried hard to remember the details, the
names, and the places.

‘Rick had been on the tail of a small time sociopath, Fortune
something, was his name, something like that anyway. As I say
mostly small stuff, a robbery here, extortion there, nothing much,
but all of a sudden Fortune’s name was linked with a kidnapping. A
wealthy young business man, Patrick Multhorne.’ Leroy took another
sip from the tumbler before continuing. ‘Whether Fortune had
Multhorne or not will probably remain a mystery. It seems that on
the day Jordan died Rick was taking her home from school, when he
caught sight of Prentice Fortune, yeah that was his name Prentice
Fortune, driving a beat up ol’ Mustang. A chase ensued. The rest is
history. Rick somehow managed to clip Fortune’s Mustang; his jeep
rolled killing Jordan instantly, breaking her neck. Fortune’s
Mustang mounted the kerb and shot straight through Garland Bach’s
front window.’

Georgina looked puzzled. ‘Who?’

‘Garland Bach.’ Leroy continued. ‘They’re high fashion
retailers. Fortune had his girlfriend with him at the time. She was
all but decapitated when a scaffold pole used as part of a display
went through her head. Three people in the shop were injured, one
person was left paralysed under the wheels of Prentice’ car.
Prentice was arrested but the Chicago PD couldn’t nail anything on
him…muchacho embaressmento.’

‘Surely Prentice had a strong case for
compensation?’

‘Yeah, sure he did, would have won too, but you know how the
system works. Chicago PD stood by their man, Rick had lost too.
They dragged the case out and started to counter sue Fortune’s
estate on behalf of Rick for the loss of his daughter, which just
about financially crippled Prentice Fortune. He dropped the case,
had to sell house and just about everything else. Meanwhile Rick
took a sideways promotion to...’

‘The Missouri PD.’ Georgina raised her glass and polished off
its contents.

‘Correct, but allegations followed him here. IA was all over
him for about two months, then they seemed to disappear, things
went quiet, returned to normal. Fortune Prentice vanished; Patrick
Multhorne was never found. So as you can see, another round with
Internal Affairs is going to dig up a whole can of worms.’ Leroy
finished his glass and sank back even further in to the armchair.
‘Shit man, I’m outta booze, why is it that when you want to get
steamin’ you can’t?’ He tossed the plastic tumbler to one
side.

Georgina could feel the effects of the brandy beginning to
take hold.

‘I don’t know what to do.’ She waited for a response from
Leroy but he just stared at the ceiling, remote, lost once
more.

‘Life’s a bitch.’ Leroy whispered.

Georgina woke, it was dark. She was lying across two seats of
Leroy’s sofa and had a thin blanket wrapped over her. Her shoes had
been removed though she had no recall of taking them off herself
and her jacket was lying folded over the back of a dining room
chair in front of her. She sat up in the darkened room and tried to
focus. The armchair opposite was empty. Her eyes stumbled around in
the darkness trying to pick out familiar objects; there was no sign
of Leroy.

‘Leroy.’ Georgina whispered through the dark, though she
didn’t know why. It was as though she didn’t want to break the
fragile tranquillity of the night. The only sound was that of the
promised rain running down the windowpanes, that and her breathing.
She walked to the window and looked out. Not a soul stirred on the
street, the only activity, that of droplets of rain bouncing hard
from sidewalk back toward the sky, fighting gravity, refusing to
yield to it. The world was empty tonight. The aching loneliness in
her, depicted so clearly on the streets. She turned, wondering
where Leroy was, whether he had driven off in a drunken stupor to
find an open liquor store, or whether he had sobered up and had
gone off in a mad search for Lia. Georgina walked down the hall to
find the bathroom. On the way back she passed an open bedroom door.
Leroy was lying sprawled across the bed with just his ‘CK’s’ on.
She stopped in the doorway and watched him sleep. Tonight they were
both vulnerable. She entered the bedroom, stripping down to her
underwear and curled in tight to Leroy.