He headed straight to Andy’s house. He knocked on the door and a big bulk of a man answered. He was surly but seemed to relax when he realized it was Zane, the town’s chief of police.
“Yes chief, how can I help ya?”
“I’m looking for Andy. Is he here?”
“Why? He done somethin’ wrong?” the man asked immediately suspicious.
“On the contrary,” Zane smiled. “He’s done something right.”
“Oh, well that’s good,” the man smiled. He opened the screen door and invited Zane in.
Zane politely declined, saying he was enjoying the beautiful day outside.
“Andy!” the man shouted.
Moments later a young boy about James’ age rounded the corner into the living room behind the man at the door.
“Yes, Dad?”
“Police chief here wants to have a word with ya. Take a walk with him outside,” the man replied stepping aside to let Andy out.
Andy stepped outside on the porch and looked up at Zane.
“Yes sir. How can I help you?”
“Shall we take a walk?” Zane suggested.
“Okay,” Andy shrugged.
Together they stepped off the porch and walked across the open field in front of Andy’s house. Zane could feel his father watching them.
“Am I in trouble Chief?” asked Andy.
“No. Not at all,” Zane assured Andy tousling his hair. “I just have some questions I’d like to ask you about a job interview you had the other day.”
“Oh, that. Okay,” Andy replied.
“I understand you never turned up for work. Did you decide you didn’t want to work there or was there something else that stopped you from going?”
Andy shook his head. “No sir. I just felt something wasn’t right about the job. When they called me to go yesterday, I answered and said okay, but decided not to. Then James sent me a message and said they were packing drugs.”
“I see. What did you think about that?”
Andy was quiet for a moment. Hesitant. Then finally he made a decision. “Can I ask you not to say anything Chief?”
He looked up at Zane searching for assurance.
“Your secret will safe be with me as long as it doesn’t break the law.”
Andy smiled, “No sir. I’m the one who called the police with the tip-off.”
“I thought as much when you told me you didn’t go to work. I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you, sir. But please don’t say anything. When I tipped the police off it was because I wanted the drug dealers caught, not my friends. But I heard I got them into trouble. I didn’t mean to. Honest.”
“It’s okay. I won’t say anything. I promise. But I wanted to ask you if you could remember anything from your interview. Anything at all that could help us find this woman. She escaped yesterday.”
“She escaped? Wow!” Andy was surprised. He was quiet as he thought a moment. He closed his eyes tightly. “Come to think of it, there was something....”
“Okay. Can you remember?”
“I’m trying sir.” Andy kept his eyes closed. He screwed his face up and he looked as if he was in pain as he tried to remember.
Zane waited patiently as Andy tried to remember. Then he opened his eyes and his face lit up. “I’ve got it!”
Zane waited for him to continue.
“She had a pen and a pencil from a motel. The ‘Hello Goodbye’ Motel just outside town. I don’t know if she’s staying there but I figured she had to be when she interviewed us. She told us she was only in town for a few days setting up her business and when I saw the pen and pencil, I figured she must be staying there while she’s in town.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police that?”
“I was scared to reveal who I was, and in all honesty, I just remembered now about the pen and pencil. Besides, I figured she’d been arrested anyways....”
“Thanks, you’ve done great Andy. I’ll tell no-one that you gave us the tip-off. But James knows I came to see you.
So don’t tell him anything we discussed. Just tell him you couldn’t answer my questions because you never turned up for work.”
“Sure, thanks Chief. I appreciate it and I’m glad I was able to help.”
Zane tousled his hair again and thanked him before leaving. He turned onto the main road and headed to the ‘Hello Goodbye’ Motel just outside town.
He reached it in no time and drove by slowly. There weren’t many cars out front but he decided not to stop at the motel itself.
There was a supermarket a bit further down on the opposite side of the road. He pulled off there and parked behind other cars so his cruiser wasn’t so readily noticeable. Then he retrieved the binoculars from the cubbyhole and settled down to watch.
The ‘Hello Goodbye Motel’ was a single-story structure with ten guest rooms. Even so, it wasn’t easy to approach with stealth. All the rooms had windows that looked out front over the main road. The entrance was such that every car had to drive by each room on the way to the reception. The chances of being spotted were high and the chances that Hope wouldescape if she saw him were high. He would have to go to reception and ask if they had a guest fitting her description.If she spotted him driving up in that time she would be long gone by the time he got to her room. He watched for hours but so no movement. He wondered if Hope had checked out already. After her capture, she might have decided to move on. Brian radioed him and asked where he was.“I’m questioning the kids we arrested who were released. So far nothing. Let me know if anything comes up at your end.”Brian assured him that he would.Zane turned his
He breathed slowly and as quietly as he could trying to hear what was happening in the bedroom. He hoped she would leave again soon for any reason. His luck had run out though. He heard her push open the bathroom door and enter the bathroom.He heard the rustling of clothing and saw the blur of her movements through the shower curtain. He wondered if she could see his blurred outline standing still in the bath. From her blurred outline, it was clear that she was undressing. She finished undressing and sat down on the toilet, relieving herself. Then she flushed the toilet and Zane heaved a quick sighof relief under cover of the noise of the flushing toilet.In the next instant, the shower curtain was swept aside as Hope cried out.“Who the hell are ...?” She broke off her question as she realized that Zane stood in her bath. She held a pistol trained on him. A smile slowly stretched across her face.“Well, well, Chief.”
She listened to him breathing and to his heartbeat. She felt torn. She hadn’t known a man like Zane in a long time. But from when she had first been informed about him and come into this town and watched him, she had felt an ache in her heart. An ache she hadn’t known since she had first laid eyes on her daughter’s father all those years before. She had known what she was coming to do here. Had been promised this was her last job. Then they would let her go. Let her daughter go and she would be free. With a handsome payoff to boot and even funding for a non-profit organization to help street kids without having to employ them to pack or push drugs on the street.In her heart, she agreed with Zane. He was right. Even though she hadn’t started outright and had been peddling marijuana to begin with, she had never intended to do it this long. It had never been meant to be a way to make a living but rather a temporary to an end.And then? Then she ha
They dressed and Zane left the way he had entered. Through the back window.Zane left Hope feeling more besotted than ever before. He felt as if he was adrift on the ocean. He had not felt the way he did about Hope since his fiancée. He was disappointed though. She was not going to give him the chance to show her that he could help her. She was going to continue regardless. Whatever hold the people had over her, it was more than she believed he could offer her.He told himself that he had to wise up. He had to be strong and accept that she was going to go down at some point.At this point, everything was between him and her and he had to believe that she would have some honor if she was caught and not take him down with her.Zane pondered their chat and her remark that there were corrupt cops involved. She had denied that there was any corrupt police on his team but since she had turned up here just maybe there were corrupt police on his team and s
Zane looked at Sanchez as he pondered what to say and where to begin. He had always considered Sanchez as one of his best friends. They had gone to the academy together, graduated together, and started together learning their trade on the streets of Chicago.Zane had always seen Sanchez as his equal in their careers even though they were best friends as well.He knew though that what he had to say would potentially put him below Sanchez from a legal standpoint. Even so, he knew he could trust Sanchez if anyone. Besides Sanchez was in the FBI, separate from the police force. He was safe discussing what he had to discuss with Sanchez.“I think I’m in a spot of trouble. Or maybe more than just a spot.”Sanchez sat forward. He was all ears. “I’m here buddy. What’s troubling you?”Zane hesitated then made his decision and plowed on. He told Sanchez how they had received a tip-off about a drug-running operation i
Zane arrived back in Hurstville after dark. He felt better after meeting Sanchez. He’d had time to think on the journey back and knew he had to keep his distance from Hope as much as possible.He would try to steer things through Brian and the other officers as far as possible. He was the chief after all.His phone buzzed with a message. Talk of the devil…It was Hope.Why so quiet?He looked at the message. He was tempted to answer it but decided not to. He needed to cut ties. Sanchez had let him know he could still get through this with his job and badge intact. But continuing with what he had done with Hope wasn’t going to help him. He was sad at having to cut ties.He had not felt like this with any woman for a long time. While he hadn’t spent much time with Hope, there was something more than he had felt for other women he had briefly dated since his ex-fiancee. He wasn’t quite sure what it was th
The phone rang ten times before it was finally answered.“Eric?”“Sanchez! Nice to hear from you man. It’s been a while.”“It sure has. It’s good to hear your voice too.”Eric was in the FBI jurisdiction under which Hurstville fell.“What can I do for you?’“I had a visitor yesterday. A highly placed source who told me about a drug network expanding to Hurstville. Are you guys aware of the operation? Are you tracking anything that way?”Eric was silent for a moment. “Who’s your source?”“He’s highly placed. He told me that his source told him there’s a bunch of corrupt cops involved in this ring and that Hurstville is the last stop to opening a cross country drug-running highway. His source set up the network in other towns before Hurstville and is now setting it up in Hurstville too. He came to me because he doesn’
Zane and his men were in place well before three pm. They had arrived separately and crept into hiding in the bushes and long grass that surrounded the Old Mill.The Old Mill had ceased operations years before and was in a state of disrepair. Nevertheless, the owner kept the caretaker employed. Everyone expected it was out of the goodness of his heart that the owner employed the caretaker.The caretaker, Kevin, was in his seventies and lived alone at the Old Mill. He had been loyal to the employer for many years and everyone believed that keeping the caretaker on even though he was unable of fulfilling the duty of taking care of the Old Mill was the owner’s way of repaying Kevin’s loyalty.Why Kevin would be involved in being a contact for a drug cartel was beyond Zane. There was no confirmation that it was him though. Just the fact that he was the caretaker and therefore living onsite didn’t make him the contact. Nevertheless, they stayed well