Authors: P.A. Jones
Tristan
It wasn’t my first time behind bars. They looked the same, smelled same—rusty steel. The inmates looked the same, failed and vulnerable. But it was different this time.
Last time when I was behind bars, I was drunk, beaten, and this time I was alive. I'd punched that officer, because he pinned Nikki on the car. I couldn’t watch that. I just had to hit him for what he did. He had it coming. I felt good about it, although I was ‘behind bars for it. But I couldn’t guess what was taking Nikki so long to get Peterson’s ass here.
It had been two hours now that I’d been cooling my heels, looking at the people sitting there. I remembered the last time when I was in, the dickhead who was punching that poor guy. When I thought about that jail fight, now I thought I’d acted wrong. I could have saved that guy in that moment, but I never knew what after I'd left the cell. He must have gotten another beating, if the cops hadn’t moved him somewhere else.
Damn, I should have refrained from provoking that bully that time.
I looked out the bars of the cell. There was nothing I could do that time. The chance was passed. It’d been eight months since then. I’d changed a lot after that. I lost one friend, and I'd gained my love.
I turned out to be an MMA fighter after all. While looking back at my life, I realized the mistakes I'd made while I was with Nikki. I didn’t trust her completely, I blindly decided that she would be good with her husband, but it wasn’t the case. I should have talked with her, at least once before I made any decision.
It was completely my mistake. Maybe the things would have been better if I was with her throughout,
but now we stood on the brink of losing our
.
No, I can’t lose Stephen like this.
I realized that I just called Stephen our son. That was strange, I never thought like that. He was always Nikki’s son. I loved him, like I would love my own son. But this new feeling…it was something amazing. It was growing in a relationship to embrace a new one.
Maybe I’m ready to take the next step.
“Hello, Tristan, how are you?” A man’s voice broke my thoughts.
The voice was familiar, like one time I had hated this voice. My neck jerked up. Gavin was standing in front of me. But how was that possible? If I wasn’t wrong, he should be with Emma, maybe with a son or daughter.
“How is Emma and her…”
“It’s a son. And both are fine. She is with her mom for a couple of months.” A smile appeared on his face, giving me assurance that everything was all right between them.
My heart felt good, good for Emma. She was my bestie and would remain one though we ’hadn’t talked in many months.
“Thanks. Good to hear that.” I smiled back at him.
“I heard about your little adventures with the cops.”
“But…” I couldn’t understand how he could be here.
“I was in town, and Peterson called me to help one of his clients. And while we were discussing it, your friend came.”
“You mean, Nikki?” I asked. “Where is she?”
“Yes, she is sweet. You two…”
“Yup.” My cheeks turned red. It was the first time I was feeling it.
“Right, Emma knows about her. She mentioned it a few months ago.” He grinned. “Good…I also heard about your other business these days. Maxim, huh? I heard he is fierce on the battle ground.”
I grinned. “Just a little perk of being bad-ass.”
“Anyways, I’ll get you out of here first. We have many things to discuss then.” He went back into the station.
I sat back on the bench waiting for a cop to come and release me.
I didn’t have to wait for long. A cop came and dragged me out. Yes, he dragged me out; he seemed pissed off. I suspect that was because I'd hit one of his friend.
“This is not going to save him, Mr. Phillips," the cop said as he pushed me in a chair. “I’m keeping an eye on him. Punching a cop, it’s gonna sting.”
“As I said already, the court will decide who is at fault here, officer.” Gavin spoke in full authority.
***
“That was quick,” I said, as we walked out.
“Thanks to Peterson, he got the orders from a well-known judge.” Gavin slapped Peterson on his shoulder.
“How do you know each other?” I asked.
“We were at same college.” Gavin smiled. “It was a heck of time.”
“Yes, it was.” Peterson chuckled.
“Cool, but where is Nikki?” I asked.
“She and Carrie went back to day care. They had to pick up Stephen from there.” Peterson told me. “Anyways, I was discussing Gerome’s case with Gavin, before Nikki came in.”
“So the private investigator you were talking about was Gavin?” I couldn’t believe my destiny. Emma had a divine friendship tie with me. Whenever one was in need, other helped out.
“Yes. I didn’t know that you know this fool.” Now it was Peterson’s turn to hit Gavin.
“Yeah,” I grinned. “Didn’t he tell you? Our history goes way back. Even before he knew his wife.”
Gavin grinned. “Yes, and I still remember the way you looked at me when Emma introduced us for the first time.” He winked.
I laughed out loud. It was a good past. I'd always felt jealous of that bastard. But Peterson was right; he was the best man to help me in the case. “Anyways, are you taking this case?”
“I think so. It looks interesting to me. And given the dire situation here, we must act fast.” Gavin’s gaze turned serious.
“The case will open in four days. What you have to do should be done before that,” Peterson replied.
“What?” I jumped on my feet. “It was supposed to open next week.”
“Yes, it is. And today is Tuesday,” Peterson said.
“Fuck. I almost forgot what day it is.” I pushed my hair back with one hand. The fear was punching my gut now.
Tristan
“Gavin, thanks for helping me out.” I thanked him as we walked to the car. But the time limit set for the case was punching my gut from the inside out. We had very little time left..
“It’s okay Tristan, I owe you. After all, you helped Emma so many times and in so many places.” He patted me on my back.
“What now, guys? What is the plan? How are we going to trace Gerome?” Petersen said.
“I don’t know. Gavin, you are the investigator here. Do you have any idea about how can we trace him?”I didn’t have any idea what we should be doing. Or I didn’t have any clue what Gavin should be doing now.
“For starters, let’s begin with the complete story so I can understand the case. But in the meantime, we should start searching for Gerome.” Gavin’s face hardened.
“Yes, guys, we should start with looking for Gerome. I doubt he left the country with that much money. The FBI would catch him if they got even a little hint of this amount of money getting out of country,” Peterson chipped in.
“If only I'd caught that bastard at the airport that day.” My fingers stretched into the fist. “I swear to God, if we ever catch hold of him, I’m gonna bust his face.”
“What did you say?” Gavin held my shoulder.
“I’ll kill that bastard.” My cheeks flushed with heat.
“No, where did you see him?” Gavin talked fast.
“At the airport, when I was about to leave.” I looked at him. I didn’t get why was he asking that.
“Time and date.”
I told him the flight time and number. “But why? I never caught that flight. “ I'd actually had to ask the officials to get my luggage delivered back to my home.
“Do you have any photos of him?” Gavin looked anxious, like he got some clue out of the blabber I was doing.
“I don’t. But wait, Nikki should have one.” I took out my cell and called her.
“Hey, sweetheart. How are you?” Her voice echoed from the other end. “Sorry I couldn’t come there as I' had to pick up Stephen. But Peterson assured me that he would get you out of jail.” Her voice had a hint of apology and that was enough for me. That woman loved me more than anything and I loved her the same way.
“It’s okay, babe. I called you because I want Gerome’s picture.”
“Why would you want that?” Her voice cracked.
“Gavin wants it. I don’t know why, though.”
“Okay, let me send you one through whatsapp.” She hung up the phone.
I looked back at Gavin. He was doing something on his cell. “Does he look like this?” He showed me a old picture of Gerome and Nikki.
“How did you get that?” I was in awe.
“Very easy, this was on their college website. But I would need a recent one," he said.
My cell flashed. It was Nikki’s message. She had sent me a recent picture of Gerome and Stephen.
“That should do.” Gavin peeked at my cell and then he took it from me.
“But why do you want his picture?” I asked. “We can’t put his name in the newspaper with no reason.” I wasn’t sure if putting anyone’s name in the missing column fetched result these days.
“No, we are not putting him in the news, but I’ll search for him. I mean, my contacts will search him for me.” He walked away with his cell.
I stood there waiting for him to come back. “Are these private investigators always like this? Always mysterious?” I asked Peterson.
“I don’t know. In college, he was a decent talker.”
Gavin came back after couple of minutes.
“Can you please explain to us what are you going to do with the photo?” Peterson asked.
“Well, we have his picture, we know when he left the city and the time period. We can check the flights he took that day.” His face was shining with the light of knowledge. “Now I sent his picture to couple of FBI friends, and I’m sure they will chase him from anywhere.”
“That sounds good.” It was a good plan. I could see why he was a private investigator and we were not.
“Now we should be able to get his whereabouts very quickly.” Gavin smiled.
“You are really a life-saver, buddy.” I smiled. For the first time in a week, I could see some light at the end of the tunnel and Gavin was holding that light.
“That’s a brilliant idea, my friend,” Peterson sputtered. “And you already have the right contacts for this. Don’t you?”
“Let’s go and grab a coffee first. We can expect the call back anytime,” Gavin said.
“Yes, let’s go to Cafe Coffee House. They serves a great coffee. We will discuss the whole story as well,” I said.
“And I’m more interested in knowing how you managed to get such a beautiful girl, Nikki.” Gavin winked.
“Because you got, Emma.” I slapped his shoulder lightly.
“I never got to know. How did you know each other?” Peterson was looking at us curiously.
“Some other day, Peterson. Now get your ass in the car and drive us to the coffee house,” I said.
He shrugged his shoulders and walked to the car. We followed him.
***
“How is your son doing? Did you decide his name yet?” I asked.
“Well, we haven’t yet. Can you suggest anything?” His eyes darted to my face. “Emma was insisting on giving him your name, but I declined that.” Gavin chuckled.
“You should let her call him Tristan. It will be punch in your gut every time she calls him by my name.” I winked at him. My tension was lightened by his idea. I was confident that he would find Gerome’s whereabouts.
“That would be so true.” Gavin chuckled.
“Guys, let’s be serious here. We have a story to discuss.” Peterson put his serious nose in our conversation.
“Come on, dude. We are meeting for the first time after a couple of years,” I snapped at him.
“Whatever.” He shrugged his shoulders and looked away.
“Okay, getting back to the topic. Can you tell me the whole story?” Gavin asked.
I studied his face. His face was hardened again.
“It started when I met a beautiful girl, Nikki…”
Half an hour later, I'd completed my whole story from the start to the present. Gavin and Peterson listened carefully. Gavin even asked me a few questions and jotted down a few things.
“And then…”
Gavin’s cell buzzed. He threw a hand at me to keep quiet and walked away.
Peterson and I sat there in silence. We had nothing to talk about. The silence was peaceful.
Gavin came back with a smile on his face.”I think I have’ good news for you," he offered.
“What?” I asked in curiosity.
“I think we got Gerome’s whereabouts.”
“What?” I almost jumped out of my chair. The coffee tipped over and spilled out of the mug.
Tristan
“Where is that bastard?” The coffee spilled on the table. My rage was growing inside.
“Philadelphia,” Gavin said, with a serious tone. “And we have to get there before he flies away.”
“What is he doing in Philadelphia?” I still couldn’t believe he’d gotten hold of Gerome so easily and so quickly.
“There is a large money laundering market in Philadelphia. He must be trying to make his money clean.” Gavin dialed another call and walked away. A few moments later, he came back. “Let’s go. I got the three tickets for us. The flight is in two hours, so we must hurry.”
“Let’s go.” Peterson picked up his jacket and the car keys.
***
“I still didn’t get how you found his whereabouts so quickly,” I asked. I had’ to know that. We were on the flight to Philadelphia and I had’ two hours to learn about his ways.
“I have’ my contacts, Tristan. Sorry, I can’t reveal the names, but trust me, they are good. And when they say Gerome is in Philadelphia, we will find him there.” His hand darted to my shoulder.
“I’m amazed.”
“Tracking him was actually easier than you think. I knew his starting point and date. I could get that information from the airport very easily. I also knew he had the money bonds and he would need to cash them somewhere. And there are only two places in the USA, Philadelphia and Vegas. So he must have visited either of those places. See how simple it was?” His smile was reassuring.
“Thanks, Gavin. I appreciate you helping me in spite being with your baby boy.”
“Come on, dude, that’s what friends are for. And if I ’hadn't helped you now, Emma would have killed me. She always thinks highly of you.”
“She is a sweetheart. And my best friend.” I smiled at him.
“But I want one promise from you. You won’t do anything crazy when we catch him. By law, we can’t put any charges against him. So we have to tackle it carefully.”
My nerves were on edge. I was going to kill that bastard if I saw his face in front of me.
“I’ll try.” Heat flashed across my face. I could feel the rage building inside me. He was the reason Nikki and I were separated for eight months, and for all the pain and emotional turbulence we’d gone through. He was the sole reason Nikki had to go through all this.
“Don’t even try anything. I’ve asked my contacts to pull some information on him and we will put pressure on his weak point.” He looked outside of the window. “Trust me, most of the times pressuring weak points is more useful than hitting the man.”
He sipped the wine the flight attendant served. “Peterson, do you think we can pull anything on him? I’d asked my source to take his pictures when he dealt with the local mafia. Would that be enough?” Gavin asked.
Peterson opened his eyes. From the moment we were in flight he’d shut his eyes. Apparently he was afraid of flights. I would have made jokes about it, but it wasn’t the time.
“It depends on the laws in Philadelphia. But we can definitely check that out. Only after we get off of this fucking flight.” His hands were clenched to the seat belt.
“Do you know every flight has a forty-five percent chance of crashing on sea or land?” Gavin whispered near him.
“What?” Peterson shouted. Everyone around us started looking at us.
“Yes, now go back to your meditation.”
“Who told you that? Is that official?” Peterson freaked out. His face changed colors pretty quickly.
I was in agony, but looking at his face, I forgot my tension.
“It’s real,” I said, adding to Gavin’s lie.
“No, you two are bluffing. Aren’t you?” His eyes were widened in fear. I was afraid he would puke if we didn’t stop.
“You can think that. But the truth will remain.” Gavin smirked at him.
Peterson called a flight attendant. A pretty girl came hurrying.
“Miss Becky.”Peterson read her name tag.
“Yes, sir. What can I do for you?”Becky smiled professionally.
“Is it official?” Peterson wiped the sweat on his forehead.
“What?” She was confused.
“That every flight has forty-five percent chance of crashing.” Peterson tried to keep his voice low, but a passenger could hear him. His attention was fixed on Peterson and the attendant now.
“No, that’s not true at all. Somebody gave you wrong information, sir. We have less than fraction of a chance of crashing anywhere. “ She smiled at him, showing how foolish he was. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“No, thanks.” Peterson was looking at Gavin now, with fiery eyes.
The moment that attendant was gone, he punched Gavin on his shoulder. “You jerk.” And then he closed his eyes again.
Gavin chuckled out loud, and I joined him.