C23 Chapter 23

The next morning Zane woke and made breakfast for them. Amanda woke and found Zane in the kitchen. She helped make coffee and they had breakfast and a shower before they dressed and headed over to Amanda’s house where he dropped her off.

Zane accompanied Amanda into her house and she led him to her mother’s room. She introduced Zane to her mother again but her mother hardly recalled who he was. He made small talk with her for a while and then they left her mother to rest.

Zane said goodbye to Amanda on the porch and told her he would call later.

“Zane,” Amanda called as he turned to leave.

He stopped and turned back to face her. She still held his hand and pulled him close again for a kiss.

“Will you promise me something?”

“Depends what it is my lady,” Zane smiled.

“Will you promise me you’ll think about joining me in the city?”

Zane was quiet. He was taken aback that she would ask him after they had been reunited for such a short time. It was a big ask too. She was effectively asking him to turn his back on everything here and leave it behind. Sure he could ask for a transfer but he wouldn’t get a job at the same level as he had now. Plus the pay would not be equivalent to the amount

of risk he would effectively take with his life. If he did though, at least it would be a start from which he could find other opportunities.

“I will,” he replied. “Do you have any contacts that might be interested in hiring me outside the police force?”

“I’ll ask. But if not I’ll always hire you. I can pay in kind,” she smiled.

“That sounds tempting,” Zane smiled. “I have to warn you though that my price is quite high. Paying in kind might be quite tiring.”

“Oh, I don’t think so. Not when I enjoy it as much as I know I will.”

“You’re all mouth now my dear,” Zane whispered in her ear. “I might start making some kinky demands and I don’t know if you would like to pay in kind then.”

“Oh, really Chief. Is there a darker side to you I don’t know about?”

“No. Just one that likes to explore.”

She became more serious. “Think about it Zane,” she said. “Most importantly, we’ll be together. I can support us while you look for something or even set up your business if you want.”

Zane was silent and she pressed on.

“What have you got keeping you here? You’re alone here. Even you said there aren’t women who’d be interested in you or who you’re interested in. Do you want to grow old and die alone here? The mountains and the fresh air are great but you can’t marry them.”

“Whoa,” Zane smiled. “Who said anything about marriage?”

“Well, don’t you want to get married someday? I’m not talking about us. I’m just thinking out loud. But what would be wrong with us getting married anyway?”

“I was just teasing Mands,” he replied using his other name for her. “I’ve been so long without someone in my life that I haven’t even given marriage any consideration.”

“Well, a couple of years back I knew a man who wanted to get married. He even asked my dad if he could marry me.”

“Really? What happened?” Zane asked playing along.

“My dad died,” Amanda replied skimming over what had passed between him and her father.

“Really? Did he die because a man asked if he could marry you?’

“Not really. My dad said no. And he died sometime after that.”

“Aah. Did the man ask again after your dad died?”

She shook her head. “No. Not yet.”

“Do you think he’s moved on?” Zane asked.

“No. I think he’s thinking of coming back.”

“Really? Do you want him to come back?”

“Absolutely,” Amanda said with a smile in her voice. “But he needs to go a lot further to stay with me this time.”

“I see,” Zane said. “Do you think he will?”

“Eventually. I think he will yes.”

“Wow, you seem to know him well.”

“Well it’s been a long time so I’m hoping I still know him as well as I used to know him.”

“I guess time will tell.”

“I guess it will,” Amanda said.

They had been standing against the cruiser, embracing as they spoke. They parted with a kiss and Zane drove off. He passed his home on the way to town.

Zane arrived at the station and was greeted by Terry and Brian.

“Morning Chief.”

“Morning,” Zane replied trying to put on his best face. They all moved to the meeting room where Zane asked for updates on the previous day’s activities.

No-one had anything significant to report and the briefing was finished quickly. As they exited the meeting room, dispatch gave them word that shots had been fired downtown.

Zane and Brian rode together again heading to the location as fast they could. Siren’s wailing they dodged traffic like they were playing an arcade game and jumped red lights silently praying that oncoming traffic heard them and slowed down or stopped. Fifteen minutes later they arrived at the location.

Zane parked the car across the street blocking it. They climbed out and crouched behind the car doors. Three bodies lay in the street ahead of them and a fourth person was trying to crawl out of the street. He made it a short distance further before he stopped moving.

Neither Zane nor Brian had seen where the shot had come from. A car stood further down the street parked half on the curb and half off. The doors and trunk were open. A white powder was scattered across the road in places. Under the circumstances, it didn’t take much to figure out what it was.

They remained hidden behind the car doors as more police vehicles arrived and officers began to gain the upper hand on the scene by virtue of their numbers. They waited patiently for any sign of movement or any more shots to be fired but there were none.

Finally, Zane stood and called his men together. He instructed Terry and Donovan, another new officer but not as new as Johnson, to explore the buildings from where they thought the shots had come from and see if they could find anything. Zane told them to check the rooftops as well and question possible witnesses.

They disappeared into the buildings as Zane and Brian moved around the scene. They checked the people on the ground and confirmed that all of them were dead.

Zane crossed to the vehicle. He let out a low whistle as he saw the contents of the trunk of the car. It was stacked almost to the brim with drugs. The gap in the trunk was from the load that the dead men had been carrying when they were shot. A bag lay in the street from which the drugs they had been carrying had spilled.

Brian spoke up. “This is ‘Deepneedles’ territory. I’m guessing these guys are with them or trying to muscle in on their territory.”

“Looks that way. Or it’s a drug deal gone bad,” Zane said. “I don’t think anyone who was trying to muscle in on another gang’s territory, would try to make a deal in their territory in broad daylight. It’s the kind of shit that you do in a warehouse. This whole scene doesn’t make sense. Unless they got ambushed here.”

“That’s a possibility,” Brian replied. “I’m guessing though that none of these guys were Deepneedle’s men. They must have been the queenpin’s men.”

“You think she’s getting her ass kicked trying to break into the territory?”

“That’s my guess,” Brian replied looking at the bodies.

“Okay, well let’s get them bagged and tagged,” Zane said as the ambulance and coroner’s vehicles arrived. Forensics were hot on their heels.

Zane spoke with the forensics team. He asked them to send the results as soon as possible. He wanted prints so they could ID the bodies as soon as possible and hopefully get some leads from their identities.

Zane called Brian and they headed back to the station.

“I need you to get onto informants again and ask them what they know of what went down here today.”

“Sure thing,” Brian replied.

Zane dropped Brian back at the station. He headed to a part of town he didn’t normally frequent and found a quaint coffee shop. He ordered a cup of coffee and pulled out his phone.

He sent a message to Hope.

Was that your drug deal gone bad?

Don’t know what you’re on about. I’m not running things anymore.

So what are you doing? Why are you still in town?

I do as they say.

Meet me.

There was no answer. Zane swore and put his phone down. Then he cursed and picked it up again. He tried calling Sanchez again. No luck. He left another message but held little hope for an answer.

He had an uneasy feeling, the feeling that you get when you feel troubles coming but you don’t know what it’s going to look like when it arrives or how bad it’s going to be. He wished he had someone to turn to but he didn’t. Sanchez had been his only hope. And now with Sanchez not returning his calls, his mind began to wander. Was Sanchez part of this too? Was that why he had cut him off and didn’t return his calls anymore?

Feeling desperate he headed to the coroner’s office and asked that the bodies that had been recovered from the gang shooting be fingerprinted so he could the prints through the police database as soon as possible. He waited an hour before he finally had the prints of the victims.

He headed back to the station and scanned and uploaded them into the database.

Fifteen minutes later he had the names and records. They were all small-time criminals and all of them had previously been arrested for possession, robbery, or some other small-time crimes. They had all served time in the same prison at the same time. All released early for good behavior. Something was off. Very off. Zane called the prison and asked to speak to the warden. The warden wasn’t available and he left a message saying he wanted to inquire about the four prisoners and who had authorized their early release.