Take down, p.7
Take Down, page 7
part #1 of Detective Danny Acuff Series
I was stunned. How did she have time to do this, in just a few hours after catching her with Mr. Esquire? Even more importantly, how had she been emotionally ready to do this? I tried to read the four pages of legal writing closer, and it reminded me of my first year in law school: full of big words with Latin and formal, absurd writing.
But the divorce offer was clear cut. What mattered now was what should I do?
It hit me that, suddenly, all of my anchors to east Tennessee were gone. Holding the draft separation agreement, that much was clear.
Should I go back to Memphis? Was my spot as a detective there still available? Who knew? At this point all I had were questions. And all I needed and wanted was a drink. Probably, a whole slew of them.
Having said that, I knew I would not be able to drink in our massive, stupid home, which I detested even more now. It was Ali’s home. Certainly not mine. Never really had been.
I left in a hurry, driving to a local bar not far from our house, my body feeling partly numb, partly sick.
I didn’t know the bartender, but he seemed a nice enough guy. I hit the ATM on the way over, and I handed him $50, telling him that I planned to get totally hammered. And that he could trust me on the fact that I seriously needed it.
He laughed and asked if it involved a woman. I nodded, and he said, “Of course.” I told him to take the $50 and keep it for himself, but that when I could no longer stay on my seat, I wanted him to call a cab for me. I handed him another twenty dollars, gave him my home address, and told him that would be for the cab driver.
He laughed and thanked me for my sense of responsibility. Then he looked me up and down, probably noting my size and bulging muscles.
“Are we going to have any problems out of you? You’re a damn hoss, and our doorman isn’t exactly that tough of a guy.”
“No, I’m not a violent drunk,” I said. “I just laugh a lot. And I might get a little loud.”
He slapped the bar and smiled. “In that case, what can I get you started with?”
I can't say I remember a lot from that point on. I started hitting the liquor, and I didn’t stop. The next thing I remembered was waking up in bed at almost noon the next day.
I should have called in to say I was sick, but I wasn’t sure it even mattered. Would I even be staying at the Akin PD? I’d been hit with a surprise cheating affair and divorce document, all on the same day. Plus the details of Akin being more corrupt and backward than some third world country.
Still in bed, still groggy and feeling like complete hell, I reached for my phone.
I saw a text from Colette, which said, “Do not bother coming in. I’ve told Captain Carter that you called me before eight this morning and said you were sick, and wouldn’t make it in today.”
Wow. Colette was really becoming a great friend. Certainly, not like the asshole Irwin, who would have probably taken great pleasure in diming me out to Carter for missing half the day.
I half-limped, half-crawled down to the kitchen, leaning hard on the stair’s handrail. My head was killing me, and I felt like I needed to throw up. I needed aspirin and water, as soon as possible.
I swallowed the aspirin, drank half a bottle of water, and moved as best I could toward the shower. Maybe I’d try to sleep some more after that, but regardless of what I did, today would be a painful reminder of why I hadn’t gotten drunk in a very long time.
Chapter 20
The next day, I arrived at work right at 8 a.m. No point in arriving early anymore, after what I had learned about the town of Akin.
Colette was already there, and she smiled real big when I showed up.
“Good morning, Danny,” she said, still smiling broadly. “I wasn’t sure if I would see you today or not.”
“After the way I felt when I woke up yesterday, you can plan on seeing me every day from here on out.”
“That bad?”
“Yeah, that bad.”
“Want to talk about the latest with Ali?” she asked.
“Maybe later,” I said. “Where’s Irwin?”
“He’s still playing cowboy with the Drug Task Force,” Colette said. “I'm not even sure he came in this morning. I think he is driving straight out to the county now.”
I nodded and sat down at my desk. I still had no idea what I planned to do. Either with the job or with the proposal from Alison.
I had not texted Ali regarding her divorce proposal, but she had texted me while I was getting hammered (I hadn’t even noticed). And in the text to me, she said that she and her family were looking forward to hearing that I had agreed to the settlement offer.
She added, “Danny, let's not make this ugly. You know my father will start to take it personally, and he will bury you with a legal fight that lasts years. It will cost you tons of money. Money that you do not have and cannot get access to. I am sorry for how all this went down, but let's go our separate ways on as good a note as possible. You know the settlement offer is more than fair.”
And indeed, it was. Remarkably, Ali was offering to pay me $2,000 a month alimony for the next two years. The document stated this was because I had given up my higher-paying job as a detective in Memphis to move back to Knoxville to be near her family and new employment.
That’s what the legal document said, but I knew it was more about how she had screwed up by being with this man. And Alison was no idiot. She knew I could find the clues to prove it if I chose to.
There were probably texts, local bartenders who would recognize her and her male friend if shown a picture, maybe even receipts at a hotel in the area. And if there were no hotel receipts, there were the man's neighbors I could interview. Once I found out his name and got my hands on a picture of him, I would be able to prove what I was pretty sure had happened – or been going on between the two of them.
Ali knew this. A part of me agreed with her: $2,000 a month is a lot of money when you don't spend much like me. That total would be on top of my salary as an Akin Detective. Or in addition to what I’d be making each month if I returned to the Memphis Police Department. Of course, if you spend like Ali does, then that’s not much money. But for me, that’s a ton.
Colette interrupted my thoughts.
“Are you alright, Danny?” she asked.
“Oh, yes,” I replied. “Sorry. I got lost in my own thoughts there.”
“I understand,” she said. “You have been through a lot of traumatic events the past couple of days. I’m glad you’re at work, though. I think that’s better than being home and dwelling on it all.”
“Or drinking on it all,” I said.
She smiled. “Definitely better than that.”
I stepped over to my desk and leaned against its top surface, crossing my arms. I took a deep breath and said, “Colette, I'm not sure I will stay here. Everything you shared with me the other day has shaken my belief in both this department and this town.”
She nodded.
“I understand,” she said. “I don't know what else to say. I remember my own shock.”
I paused a moment. I wasn't sure how to say this next part.
“Just say it,” Colette said, reading my mind.
“It’s going to sound wrong,” I said, “and I don’t want you to think that I don't believe you, but I need to verify the things you’ve told me. I need to make my move against Mr. Harrison and see how this plays out.”
“I completely understand. And what will you do if I’m correct?”
I thought on that.
“I will deal with the situation when that happens,” I said.
“Danny,” she said, “don’t get in your mind that you can solve this problem. I have tried to bring in the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. They even came into Akin and did some digging around, but left with nothing. You cannot change the town of Akin. They cannot change the town of Akin. Even the FBI could not change the town of Akin, assuming they ever decided to try. This town is so rooted in corruption and so controlled by the good old boy network, that your entire Marine Corps could not come in and root out everything going on here.”
I took in what Colette said, and I knew she might be right, but I also knew I'm not one to give up. I'm persistent as hell, and I would be damned if now that I knew that the town of Akin was corrupt, that I would allow the people to live another day under such a system.
I had given a couple years of my life trying to give people freedom from oppression in Afghanistan, and I had spent eight years as a detective in Memphis trying to better people's lives in rough slums where hope was practically non-existent. As I chewed on Colette’s words, I decided right then and there that I would stay in Akin and clean this place up, even if it cost me my life. Assuming that it didn’t cost me my life, I could move on, maybe back to Memphis afterward.
Wearing the badge meant standing up against the bullies and helping right wrongs, regardless of the cost. That’s what I believed ever since I took my first oath straight out of the police academy, and it’s what I still believed to this day.
Besides, at this point, there wasn't a whole lot in my life. So who better to break this town wide open than a man who had nothing to lose?
Chapter 21
Following my talk with Colette, and before I could get far into my work, Police Chief Fred Bradbury stopped in the detective's office and asked me to come with him. I glanced over at Colette, but she shrugged, clueless as well. I had no idea what he wanted, or if I had done something wrong.
I stepped in the hall with the chief, and he patted me on the shoulder a couple of times.
“How are you doing, Danny? I was hoping you would be okay with going for a ride with me.”
I glanced down at him, trying to read his face, but as usual, there was just the same old smiling Chief Bradbury looking back at me. He continued to look warm and friendly.
I smiled, and said, “Of course.”
I followed him out to his police cruiser, which, since he was the chief, was a 4x4 SUV. No driving around worn-out patrol cruisers for him. He unlocked the doors, and we climbed in. As he backed out of the parking space, he glanced around the morning sky.
“Sure is a beautiful day, isn’t it?” he asked.
“It is,” I said, still completely unsure what this was all about.
Fred Bradbury was certainly the kind of person who stopped and smelled the roses. I saw his eyes lock on birds, and he stopped the vehicle a moment to watch a squirrel in the grass by the police department. Maybe his approach to life was a result of him nearing retirement, or maybe he was just a friendly guy. Either way, you couldn’t help but really like the guy.
The boss drove the Jeep Cherokee out of town, taking his time. He’d slow to let people pull out of driveways, and he must have smiled and waved at more than a dozen people. It seemed almost everyone knew him.
We drove a while, neither of us saying a word. I wasn’t the type to suck up, and I had no idea where this was going. A small side of me, the crazy Marine side that’s always alert for trouble, had me wondering if Chief Bradbury planned to drive me out of town and kill me. Maybe throw me in a deep mine up on the mountain.
But he would have had to be a hell of an actor to pull that off. He just seemed so nice. And why would he have hired me in the first place if he was part of some massive corrupt system?
Besides, he certainly didn't seem to have that intention, and the hairs on the back of my neck were not standing up, but the drive was odd. And even though I figured it was less than a 1 percent chance he might try to harm me, I kept part of my mind on exactly where my Glock sat on my belt in relation to the seat belt. I didn't want it to get hung up if I had to go for it.
Chief Bradbury’s SUV groaned as we climbed the steep hills, which made up part of the Appalachian Mountains. He never said a word, but he kept a smile on his face. He hummed some, but I couldn’t place the tune. And he constantly kept his eyes alert for birds, squirrels, and deer, of which we saw one as we climbed higher and higher.
Seeing it, he braked hard and pointed, “Lookee there!” And then he’d pulled over and watched the deer feed a few moments before it grew nervous and ran off.
We continued our journey and he finally slowed the Jeep Cherokee. We pulled into a lookout on the side of a mountain. The place had three parking spots, but none of them were in use. The overlook was a popular place for people to stop and take photos, as it afforded an amazing view of the countryside.
The chief put the vehicle in park, cut the engine off, and turned to me.
“So Danny, tell me how you are liking the job.”
I paused, wondering how frank I should be.
“Chief, if I’m honest, I have to tell you that I have some serious concerns about the job, the department, and even the town itself.”
He smiled even wider.
“I hoped you would say that. Tell me more.”
This was strange, I thought, but I pressed on. I laid out to him my investigation of Bill Harrison and the staged incident at his store. I explained how Irwin had said he would handle it, but then shut down my tough line of questioning. How Captain Carter had chewed me out for asking tough questions of an important person in town. And how I had later investigated the case hard once Irwin was out of the way, discovering all sorts of circumstantial evidence that pointed me toward obtaining a search warrant.
Chief Bradbury smiled. “And did you obtain it yet?”
“No, I did not,” I said. “Colette called me before I finished my paperwork. And she had some interesting things to say about why I shouldn’t proceed.”
“What did she say?”
“Well, Chief, I’m not sure how much to share. I don’t want to betray her confidence, or portray her in a bad light. But let's just say she had some concerns about me proceeding.”
Chief Bradbury turned away from me and looked out over the distance across the mostly brown, wooded landscape of the hills and valleys before us. Our area had been lucky and not received a major freeze or snow, so the trees looked much like they did in October. They still seemed warm and inviting, not dark and cold as they seemed to turn during a harsh winter.
“Danny,” he continued, “Colette is a good one. And you should listen to her and lean on her as much as you can. I can guess what she told you, and I assure you she’s correct. This town has some problems, and I have not been able to solve them. Not yet, anyway.”
He grimaced, and his typical smile disappeared. And for the first time I could ever recall, that smile was nowhere to be found.
“It makes me sad, Danny, but I have worked in this department for 30 years. And I have been unable to solve one of the town's great mysteries in that time.”
He sighed, looking sad. We sat silent a moment, and he finally continued.
“Now, I have very little time left, and even less power in the department or city. Bottom line, Danny, you are my last hope. That's why I hired you, and that’s why Captain Carter will do everything in his power to run you off. Now, we need to have a serious talk about some things.”
Chapter 22
“You need to know, Danny, which I'm sure Colette told you, that there is a powerful group of men in this town, which are a part of the good old boy network. I suppose every small town has them, and I suppose in most cases this group is good for a town.
“I thought that was the case here in Akin for years when I first moved here thirty years ago from Virginia. Matter of fact, I continued to believe it until roughly five years ago. Up until that point, I thought the good old boy network just protected itself, pulling favors for its members from time-to-time. And I’m talking about pulling favors both in the judicial system and in the political realm.
“Up until five years ago, I fought against the system merely because it was the right thing to do. I was a member of the law, and I believe the law applies to everyone.”
I nodded at that.
“But once I became chief,” he continued, “I gained two things: I gained closer access to the good old boy network here, and I also gained access to chiefs across the country at the various conferences and training events that I’m expected to attend.”
Chief Bradbury paused again, looking out across the mountains as if what he was about to reveal was so heavy and deep that he must brace himself for it. I sat and waited patiently.
“I learned,” he continued, “from the conferences and training events that Akin is truly unlike other small towns. We have a cancer here, and it’s deeply embedded, and it’s highly dangerous.”
He sighed and lightly thumped his hand against the steering wheel a few times. After probably ten seconds, he said, “Danny, I hired you because I think you can solve what I have been unable to solve. And believe me, I’ve tried.
“But you have more than just the talent and experience to crack this town wide open: you also know how to take care of yourself. And I must be frank with you. I must warn you as clearly as I can, right now: your life will most certainly be in jeopardy as you begin to unravel what is really going on here.
“You will need to be incredibly careful, and I suggest you trust no one but Colette and me. Colette will want to help you, but she has a family. They have leverage on her. It’s my understanding they won't have leverage on you.”
I looked down, without meaning to.
“I’m sorry about that,” he said. He reached over and patted me on the shoulder.
“What was her name?” he asked.
“Ali,” I replied. “Well, Alison, actually.”
“No more cute love names now, huh?”
“No, not anymore,” I said quietly.
Neither of us said anything for a moment.
“Did Colette tell you?” I asked.
“No,” he answered, “but I noticed you stopped coming in early and missed a day. You don't strike me as the kind of guy who stops coming in early unless there’s a good reason. You certainly don’t look like you get sick easily. So I asked around.”
