“I know.” Zack reached across the table to take his hand, smiling. “There’s nothing wrong with being a cop. One of my best friends is and I like him anyway. To be honest, I knew this would probably happen sooner or later, once you decided to spend part of your time on the dark side.”
Dallas waited until the waitress had set down their meals and left before replying.
“It’s not really the dark side. Just a deep shade of gray. I have no problem dealing with the punks who go after the homeless with intent to harm them. But this is more than that, if we’re right.”
“How is Kinsley going to explain he thinks someone is using his car and the let the police know he’s afraid it’s for something illegal?” Zack asked after taking a bite of his sandwich.
“He’ll tell whoever he talks to that as far as he can figure, the thief found the spare key in the wheel-well and uses the car sometime between when he goes to bed, and morning, since the car is always there when he gets up. He’s going to say that he only suspected something because he noticed added mileage and that he’s needed to fill up more often than normal. He’s just sure it’s some kid joyriding, but he wants it stopped. I also asked him to say he got in contact with me because we knew each other from church and he knows I’m a cop.”
Zack snorted. “You haven’t seen the inside of a church since forever.”
Dallas grinned. “No one has to know that but you and me, and it works. Better than saying I met him at the grocery store, which was my first idea.”
“Yeah, true.”
They continued eating, remaining silent for a while.
Then Zack said, “You’re sure he doesn’t know the guy the fingerprint belongs to?”
“So he says. Short of giving him a lie detector test, there’s really no way to prove differently. I’m sure he’ll be grilled up and down about it, though.”
“One would hope so. Is there any way to give the description of the man Dani and the others have seen to whoever gets Kinsley’s case?”
“Not that I can think of, but, I do have an admitting photo of the guy from his last arrest. We can show it to the kids just to be certain Willie Howarth is the man they saw.”
Zack snickered. “Willie?”
“Yeah. Fits sort of. Anyway, when we’re out tonight, we’ll show the photo around to see if any of the girls recognize him.”
“What about staking out Kinsley’s car?”
“That will be done, I’m sure. Unfortunately, at this point, I’m out of it. At least officially.”
“Unofficially, if we see him, we’re not going to make an anonymous call to nine-one-one,” Zack said, scowling.
“We should call, but yeah, maybe we deal out a little hurt first, just so he learns his lesson.”
“That works. And I think your ride is here,” Zack told him, seeing a patrol car pull up in front of the diner. “I’ll see you when you get home.”
Dallas nodded, murmuring, “Love you,” as he got up.
“You sticking me with the tab?” Zack asked with a grin.
“Damned straight. You make twice what I do.”
Chuckling, Zack said, “Love you too,” then watched as Dallas hurried out of the diner to get in the car.
Chapter Fifteen
Thanks to the fingerprint Dallas had found in Kinsley’s car, and good police work, Willie Howarth was picked up two days later, soon after he arrived at Kinsley’s house around two a.m. and tried to take the car again. He ran when he realized the police were closing in on him, making it back to his home three blocks away. When they stopped him from leaving in his own car, the officers confiscated a bag he was just tossing into the trunk. It contained photos of underage girls.
“Much like the ones I found on Facebook,” Dallas told Zack that evening.
Howarth was now in custody for grand theft auto and child pornography.
“They got a warrant, based on the photos, to search his house and found a room in the basement that matches the one in the pictures. There were also addresses on his computer in a well-secured file, not that that stopped our computer expert from finding them. Two of them were for houses out of state belonging to known madams. The police in those districts will check to see if any of the girls in the photos are there.”
“We did a good job,” Zack said then added wryly, “even if we didn’t get to finish it the way we wanted to.”
“But it is over and he’s going away for a long time—God and the courts willing,” Dallas replied, giving Zack a quick hug before stripping off his uniform and going to shower.
He came back into the bedroom a few minutes later, put on a pair of jeans and went in search of Zack and dinner. He found Zack sitting at the kitchen table, a plate of food in front of him, looking a one of the papers from a pile by his elbow. There was a second plate, laden with pot roast and vegetables, at Dallas’ place, so he sat, picking up one of the papers as he began to eat. “This is going to be quite an extravaganza,” he commented.
“I know,” Zack agreed. “Thankfully it’s all being handled by the hotel’s party planner now, as far as pulling it together. Mr. Mackie gave me these so I could take one final look, especially at the guest list—in case we missed someone who should be on it. Brian has the same list.” Zack chuckled. “I think Brian’s feeling very overwhelmed right now. He called me to ask if we couldn’t postpone it for a week—or a year.”
“It’s a bit late for that, isn’t it? Considering it’s happening this Saturday.”
“He was kidding—mostly. I got him calmed down. He said before calling me he’d talked to Mackie to give him a couple more names.” After putting the paper back on the pile, Zack took a couple of bites of roast before saying, “Will you come with me?”
It was a logical question. They rarely, if ever, went out in public together. Dallas was out, but given that he was a cop, he didn’t flaunt his sexuality. For Zack, it had never really come up as he had few friends outside of Brian, given that he’d spent the last few years of his life moving between his real job and the one he’d taken on as a protector of the homeless.
Putting down his utensils, Dallas looked at Zack, his lips quirking up. “It would be a hell of a way to announce we’re a couple.”
“But you’re willing to?”
“Yeah, I am. Hell, Mike keeps pushing me to hit up the clubs and find someone. Now I can get him off my back.”
“He what?” Zack looked at him in dismay.
“Whenever I get stressed, that’s his idea of a cure. And I did—once. Met a really great man.” He grinned at Zack. “One whom I wouldn’t trade for the world. So, yes, we’ll go to this shindig together.”
“You do realize you’ll have to rent a tux.”
“Ugh. Maybe I’ll reconsider.”
“Nope.” Zack leaned over to kiss him. “You said yes. No take-backs.”
Dallas snorted. “That was childish.”
“You keep me feeling young, so it was warranted.”
“Uh-huh. Try again.”
“Kissing you? Gladly.” He cupped one hand behind Dallas’ head, kissing him deeply.
Dallas returned it quite heartily before saying, “We’d better finish supper and get to bed. We have to be up again in six hours and counting.”
“Taskmaster,” Zack grumbled.
“It’s not my fault you decided to save the world—or at least a small part of it.”
“And it happens more often, now that I have company.”
“Always and forever, in every way,” Dallas replied softly. “Now…eat.”
* * * *
“It should have been you, not the damn cops, who took care of that bastard,” Raven said, glaring at Reaper.
Next to her, China and Zip nodded in agreement.
“I agree. But it would only have been a temporary fix. He’d have been back before you know it,” Reaper replied. “This way, he’ll end up in jail for a good long time, and that’s partly because of the help we got from all of you in tracking him down.”
Zip grinned. “We done good with that.”
“You did well,” Wrath said.
“Now you’re an English teacher?” Zip shook his head. “What are you guys? I mean, in real life.”
“This
is
real life, Zip,” Wrath told him. “We’re just two men, who want to make it better for you, if we can.”
“You’re doing okay with that,” China said. “And pretty soon, maybe Off-the-Street is going to be better too.”
Reaper nodded. “No maybe about it. It definitely will be.”
“Still didn’t answer my question.”
Zip studied Wrath, who was, as always, dressed like a homeless man. This time he wore a tattered jacket over a gray hoodie with the hood pulled up. “I know you from somewhere,” Zip said. “Just can’t figure out where.”
“Bet he’s a cop,” Raven told him with a laugh. “Or maybe a social worker.” Turning serious, she added, “Those are the only people we ever meet face-to-face who actually see who we are and give a damn about getting us off the streets.”
“What about Brian?” Reaper asked.
“Him too, though he’s
sort
of a social worker. Just not in a fancy office. I wish…”
When Raven didn’t continue, Reaper asked, “What do you wish?”
“That there was some way we could help too.”
“Tell you what,” Reaper said. “Why don’t I talk to Brian? Maybe—once the shelter has moved into the new building—he’ll have some ideas about what you—all of you—can do. Like an outreach program. I know he’s talked about that a couple of times.”
“Really? Damn. I could get down with that,” Zip said. “Well, as long as I don’t have to preach to the kids. Not doing that ’cause it’s a big turn-off. At least, for me it is.”
“Me too,” China agreed.
Reaper chuckled. “Has Brian ever done that to you all?”
“Well…no,” Zip admitted.
“Then I doubt he’d want you to do it when you’re handing out food and condoms.”
“Yeah, good point, I guess.”
“So I’ll let him know you guys might be interested, if he starts one. For now, though, Wrath and I have to get moving.”
“Yeah, we know. Keeping the world safe for democracy.”
Wrath laughed, glancing at Reaper. “Not quite, but at least trying to keep your world safe.”
“You are!” China said, suddenly hugging Reaper. “Both of you are. Thank you!”
“No thanks needed,” Reaper replied quietly, hugging her back. “Now off with you, and find somewhere safe to crash. I don’t want to be saving your asses if I don’t have to.” He smiled when Zip saluted before the trio took off.
“They’re good kids,” Wrath said as he and Reaper headed in the opposite direction.
“Most of them are,” Reaper agreed. “Despite what they’ve been through, most of them are.”
Chapter Sixteen
“You look very handsome,” Zack said, as he adjusted Dallas’ bowtie.
“I feel like a damn penguin.” To demonstrate, Dallas waddled across the bedroom, much to Zack’s amusement.
“That doesn’t negate the handsomeness, so collect your wallet and keys and let’s get a move on. We don’t want to be late.”
Dallas gathered his things, saying, “I thought being late was fashionable.”
“Let’s leave that to the bigwigs. I think Brian would appreciate us being there on time to give him some moral support.”
A little over half an hour later, they walked into the Crystal Room of the Gold Hotel.
“Boy, this takes me back,” Dallas murmured, looking around.
“You were what—all of three in 1985? You can’t remember what it was like back then.”
“Movies, my dear man. Lots of bad eighties movies I watched with my dad.”
“I remember that. Well not on a bar, but the game,” Zack said almost wistfully, looking at the Pac-Man figures decorating the bar along one wall. “And fluorescent pink and blue lights.”
“Like you were old enough to get into clubs back then.”
“Wasn’t, but I snuck into one.” Zack laughed. “And got kicked out two minutes later, but I still got a look at the lights.”
“What do you think?” Mr. Mackie asked, coming up beside Zack.
“You did a great job. It looks like people are getting into the theme,” Zack replied, watching a few couples already out on the dance floor at one end of the room. “No disco ball?”
Mackie laughed. “That is
so
last year, or more to the point, something from the seventies, as I discovered to my shame, when I suggested it to our party planner. You should stake a claim on a table if you plan on eating. You and…” He looked at Dallas.
“Dallas Comstock,” Dallas replied before Zack could.
“A business partner?”
“No,” Zack said, putting his arm around Dallas’ shoulders. “My life partner.”
“Well… I’ll be damned. Who knew? Somehow, for whatever reason, I had you pegged as a confirmed bachelor, Zack.”
Zack chuckled. “It’s been a while since I was.” He glanced around. “Is Brian here yet?”
“He is. And he brought a few special guests. I think they’re in the game room at the moment.”
“The what?”
“We set up a video arcade. After all, this is supposed to be the eighties. It’s over there.” Mackie pointed to an archway off to their left.
Grinning, Zack said, “This I have to see. And yes, Dallas, those I do remember. They were a great escape from…things. Before I decided to escape for good.”
Dallas gave him a tight, if fast, hug, asking, “Is this bringing back bad memories?”
“Not at all. What’s past is past and now I have good memories—thanks to you.”
By then they were walking through the archway into what was an excellent reproduction of an arcade. There were a few early arrivals huddling over the games at one side of the room.
“Oh, boy,” Zack whispered.
Brian sat on padded bench between two of the machines. Several kids in their mid to late teens surrounded one of the boys, cheering him on as he played Gauntlet. The girls were wearing skirts and blouses while the boys had on nice jeans and shirts. If Zack had to guess, they were Brian’s special guests. Kids who used the shelter whenever possible.
Which for damned sure is fitting, but…
Grinning, the boy playing the game turned to look at one of his friends. It was Zip. Colly was right beside him, and Raven and China stood on the other side, along with a few kids Zack vaguely recognized, although he couldn’t put names to the faces.