Authors: Jesse Abundis
Chapter 71
My Future Is Bright
He was greeted with the same corny smile, hand shakes and the “ Hope you’re feeling better.” automated messages from each of his co-workers. Each one Klecko wanted to stab and choke repeatedly. Yesterday discovery should have brought him some peace, but it just left him more pissed off than usual.
“ This is video one, today we’re going to free one of God’s lost children from all their sins, are you ready to feel the lords warm embrace.”
“ Shut the fuck up.” He growled at image of Casey Miller as she smiled at him.
“ This pain you feel, is only temporary, soon you will be in the lords hands, so let all doubt and fear exit your body, let the lord take away all these evil sins from you!”
“ I said shut up!”
A passing officer thought that was meant for him. “ Sorry, Lieutenant, I’ll keep it down.” Klecko paid no attention to the wandering eyes hovering over him after his little outburst. He ran into his office , closing the door behind him and took a seat.
“ What’s happening?” He held his head between his legs, as the images slammed against his head, images of a scared man walking aimlessly into the night, turning around to face a shadow and asking it,
“
What is it all for? “
The scared man walks past the shadow, still muttering to himself the same question over and over, until he disappears down a dark road.
“ Knock, knock.” Harkness shoved opened the door with a grin that ran from ear to ear never letting Klecko to catch his bearings. The door slammed against the wall, startling a few of his co-workers. None of that bothered Harkness nor did he care if it seemed a tad out of line. He came walking in with that brisk walk of swag and junkyard dog persona he was know to wag around the office and streets. The once fouled mood that seem to run his life these past days had vanished in a haze. Klecko could tell all of this was brought on due partly to having his routine back as it once was, and he was right. After being almost mowed down, Harkness and his wife spent the next five minutes making love, once it was done they shared a steak and beer, as it always had been for the past thirteen years of their marriage, on every sixth day of the month.
The moment he inched closer to Klecko’s desk, he tossed a stack of paper work that was concealed under his arm onto the desk. “ We got a lot of fucking work to do.” He said sliding into the chair that was across of Klecko’s desk. Harkness even hummed a little tune as he waited for his boss to answer.
“ You mean were stuck doing Vazquez shit again?” Klecko brushed back his hair, trying to regain his composure.
“ Vazquez is done.” Harkness smirked. “ Little twat will be lucky if she can work as a security guard, guarding an empty lot.”
Klecko scratched his forehead, trying to make sense of what Harkness was telling him. “ What do you mean by that?”
“ That hot Latina bitch went bat shit crazy.”
“ Take it back a few,” Klecko held out his hand. “ What caused her to go bat shit crazy?”
“ We get called into the worst looking crime scene, I mean the worst thing you could imagine, body parts all over the place, drawings on the walls, just some fucked up shit.” Harkness shivered. “ Anyway, she see’s her informant Bobby dead on the floor, has a bitch fit, looses her marbles and takes off. I go after her, she starts her car and tries to mow down a couple of boys in blue and me.” Klecko felt a tad disappointed for Vazquez failed murder attempt on Harkness life. “ The brass wants to keep it all under the table, hence why we didn‘t want to tell you about this over the phone. Instead they send me to do it.” That made Harkness feel special, he was honored that the higher ups had him in their thoughts.
Klecko recalled his Guardian reassuring him that he would handle Rita, surely this was his doing. Klecko wasn‘t quite sure if he should feel relieve or worried. How much in depth detail did he have about Rita Vazquez, how could one man know what string to pull to have her house of cards come crumbling down?
“ Anyone heard from Vazquez?” Harkness shook his head.
On the safe side, there was never a chance of anyone linking the murder to him, he could breathe a little easier knowing blackmail was out of the question. The only obstacle in his way was his Guardian, yes he knew this man did save him but having someone like that out in the world was a threat to his safety, besides what better a second kill then someone who was larger than life, it was like collecting God‘s own head.“ What a shame and I really liked her.” Klecko said to Harkness.
“ On the bright side, we get to do what we do best.” For Harkness that would be his detective work, for Klecko it was starting his new life and planning one major take down of the century. This wouldn’t make the papers, this would be his own private collection.
Chapter 72
Holding The Cards
The rusty elevator hummed to life, almost gasping out of breath as it slowly climb the top. “ You need to keep an eye on him, do whatever it takes to keep him happy, but just keep him under your nail.” Shouted this young handsome man over the roaring of the elevator, he wore baggy clothes and a red headed wig on his head, that laid half way off his head, revealing his dark hair underneath, coming back from an early morning visit with a love one. “ Yes, I know how this makes you feel, yes I know it feels like your cheating on him, but you need to trust me and believe in me. Who were you before you met me?” He smiled as the woman on the other side answered. “ I’m trusting my life in your hands. This wasn‘t how I planned things, I was hoping I would have more time, but we don‘t. It‘s now or never. You must trust in me, have I ever let you down?” Another smile on his face as she answered. “ I’ll call again tonight.” He hung up and placed his phone inside his pocket as the elevator came to a stop.
He pulled open the doors to his studio hoping to find everything as it was when he left it, only to be horribly disappointed. “ Maggie, what are you doing?” He sighed as Lisa’s mother flopped around the floor, trying to wiggle herself to safety as she was tied to the chair. This was the second time she tried to escape, each time she did so, she knocked over glasses of water, his paintings and equipment, it was torture to keep this place clean. “ You really need to stop doing this you‘re going to end up hurting yourself and Lisa wouldn‘t like that. In fact Lisa isn’t pleased with your attitude, it took the both of us a lot of courage to share such a deep secret with you and this is how you repay us?”
Maggie screamed through the cloth tied around her mouth, hoping that someone on the outside world could hear her. The young man that she knew as Gerard pulled her back up, her eyes followed his every move, waiting for the moment that this man plan to slice her throat and dump her cold body somewhere in the middle of nowhere. “ We need to talk,” He grabbed a crate and dragged it over to where Maggie was, so they could have a one and one conversation. He pulled out her cellphone and let the message that was left for her play.
“ Mag’s, it’s me, where are you? I just stop by your job, they said you haven’t shown up for three days, What’s up with that? let’s get together right now and have lunch, I got some great news, we’re getting closer in catching the bastard, call me back.”
The look in her eyes was enough to tell him this was somebody she held close to her heart.
“ I need you to tell me who this is.”
He undid the cloth from her mouth to let her speak. “ I don’t know, he’s no one.” She stammered.
“ Don’t you lie, “ He pointed his finger at her, every ounce of his body felt like grabbing his tools and undo this burden, but Lisa was watching, she wouldn’t approve of it. “ Just tell me who it is?” Maggie shook her head, refusing to say a word. He took a deep breath before continuing. “ You better start talking, or I’m going to fly over to L.A and kill your husband and son and I’m not joking. Because I have a feeling
the bastard
the caller mentioned is me, and the last thing I’ll let anyone do is harm me and my soul mate, you got that?” His words were so calm and soothing, yet threatening.
Maggie hung her head down, letting the tears run down her face. “ His name..,” She tried to bite down on the words, but she couldn’t let this maniac hurt what was left of her family. she cursed herself for coming to N.Y, if she stayed in L.A none of this would had ever happened, now she was left with no choice. “ His name is Peewee,” She sobbed frantically as those words came out, ashamed and disgusted at herself for selling out a friend. “ He was helping me look into my daughter’s disappearance, he and this girl, Karen, that was her name.”
“ How much do they know.” He grabbed her face in his hands. “ How much do they know about me?”
“ They know about the others, they know about the women you killed. Please don‘t hurt my family anymore, I told you everything.” Maggie cried out in agony.
The killer stuffed the cloth back into Maggie’s mouth. “ Peewee, I knew I heard that voice before, he said he was close in catching me.” He arose from his seat, pressing his fist into his eye sockets. “Mother fucker!” He caved his foot into the crate, smashing it into pieces, Maggie flinched in her chair each time she saw the brute strength he put into his kicks, she could picture him caving his foot into his daughter‘s skull the same way, the pain she must have felt.
“ It’s ok, it’s ok.” He brushed back his hair, regaining his composure. “ You’re going to help me lure him in, I need him out of my way, and you’ll do this if you want to make it out alive to see your family again.”
Chapter 73
WITHOUT FEAR
“ I wasn’t like this you know, I had a dream, I wanted to be an actress. Marry a movie star, come out on those magazines, be someone that a little girl would look up to. But that’s kinda hard to do when your father beats and rapes you every time he‘s drunk out of his mind.” The rain came down that one fateful night as they met for the first time under the overpass. “ Your face is too bruised to be a movie star, your body is too used to ever be loved.” The droplets on the poor girls face wasn’t from the rain, just the sorrow that poured out of her.
On the streets this sweet damage girl was name Veronica, a name given to herself as to mask her identity to the world, and to keep anyone from her past from finding her. Her birth name had been Denise Hillshire. “The day I ran from home, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I figured if you were going to get fucked, you might as well get paid for it, right?”
Rita held on to her hand as she spoke. Trying her best to be there for her. “ You don’t have to do this, if you don’t want to. I can protect you.” She remember telling her those words, as she lean in, letting their faces caress one another. Rita knew if anyone in her team found out, her career would be over. But at that time, it didn’t matter, she would gladly walk away, if it meant leaving with her beside her arm. “ I can get you out of here, we can get out of here.”
Denise kissed Rita on the cheek, caressing that sweet face of hers, embracing her in her arms, smiling at her lover to calm down. “ I know you’ll protect me. That’s why I want to do this. I’ll help you get Pardo, I’d walk to hell and back if you asked me to.”
* * *
Fast forward, back to the same bridge just a year ago today, rain coming back down harder than that night, ready to make another pack, this one with the devil in the shadows that reached out to her after yesterday‘s debacle. It gave no name, only promises of seeking justice for the loved that had been lost. She knew this could be a trap, Pardo wanting to plug the last threat to his empire, the last cop wanting to stand toe to toe with him. Apart of her enjoyed that thought of being put out of her misery, without Denise what was left for her? “ You called me, what do you want.” Rita stood in the pouring rain as her dark shadow hid under the tunnel.
“ It’s a shame what happened to Denise.” He said to her.
“ Is that all you have to say?” She yelled over the rain.
“ For a cop that has no more friends, you sure are bossy.” She could see his smile from here. She took a step closer to get a better look at his face. “ Not so fast, one more step and you’ll get a shot between the eyes.” He wagged his finger at her.
“ For someone that claims to be eager to help me, you surely are ready to gun me down.” Rita said back at him, with her hand neatly grasping her sidearm.
“ I’ve seen your track record, people under your protection tend to end up dead. I’m sorry, if I want to keep myself alive.” Rita would have pulled her weapon out, but she was at her lowest, everyone she knew had turn her back on her, there was no one to trust. This shadow was no friend, but in this city he was the closes thing she would have.
“ I’m sorry.” She said to him, taking two steps back and taking her hand off the sidearm. “ You said you could help me?”