Small Crimes (32 page)

‘No.'

'If
I had you take a drug test—'

'Nothing
would show up. What's going on, Craig? Phil come by and try to convince you I'm
doing coke?'

He
shook his head, but he was always a lousy poker player.

'Did
you hear how Phil jumped me after church? I had eaten some powdered doughnuts
and he thought the sugar residue on me was cocaine.'

'I
didn't hear anything about that,' Again he was lying.

'If
you want me to take a drug test, give me a cup.'

It
was my turn to bluff, because I knew the cocaine I ingested Saturday night
would show up in a test. He wavered for a moment and then waved away the idea
of the test. Again, he wouldn't want to have to deal with the consequences.

'Forget
it. Just get out of here. I'll work on relocating you to Albany.'

As
I left his office, he sat frozen, still unable to face me.

It
was only four in the afternoon. I was beat. Thanks to Dan's boys my face now
felt like raw hamburger, and my nose throbbed as if it had a life of its own. I
ran my fingers along its outline. It

was
more swollen than before and felt as if it were pushed out of place. I walked
over to the drugstore and bought some aspirin. I avoided the mirrors inside the
store. I didn't want to see how bad my face looked.

When
I got to my car, I headed off towards Burlington. This time I was careful about
being followed. I pulled over several times and used every trick I knew to make
sure no one was behind me. I stopped off once to buy some fast food and then
found a roadside motel. I made sure to park in the back so my car couldn't be
seen from the road.

When
I got in my room I closed the shades. I didn't bother with any ice this time. I
knew it wouldn't do any good.

After
I looked up what I had to in the phonebook, I ate the food I bought, took some
more aspirin, and set the alarm clock for five in the morning. Then I settled
back and watched TV. At some point after all the late-night talk shows had
finished I must've blacked out.

Chapter 19

A-police
siren blasted in my ear. As I jerked awake, I found myself in freefall. I flung
my arms out and grabbed whatever I could for dear life. Slowly, I got my sense
of equilibrium back and realized I wasn't falling. It was pitch black, my heart
beating a mile a minute, and all I knew was I was flat on my back. Then I
remembered. The police siren droning away was only the alarm clock next to me.
It all came back then and I remembered my plan, what I was going to do. I lay
in bed long enough for the pounding in my chest to slow down. Then I forced
myself out of bed. I took a quick shower, dressed in the same clothes I wore
the day before, and left the motel.

It
wasn't yet five thirty by the time I pulled onto the road. I felt calm as I
drove. One way or another it was all going to be over soon. If it worked as I
hoped, I'd be heading to Albany by the weekend.

If
it didn't, well, if it didn't...

I
forced the thought out of my mind. No matter what, after today they'd at least
remember me for something other than what I did to Phil.

I
got to the TV station by six. I decided that for what I was going to be doing
it would be better to have a TV cameraman with me.

When
I got to the lobby a security guard stopped me. I gave him my name and told him
I wanted the news director. He got on the phone and
I
sat and waited. I knew they aired an early six thirty news
broadcast and someone would be there.

I
didn't wait long before a young kid came down to the lobby to see me. He
couldn't have been much older than twenty-five. While it was only a few minutes
past six in the morning, he already looked disheveled. His shirt sleeves were
haphazardly rolled up and his tie was crooked and uneven. He squinted as he
moved slowly towards me. At about three feet away he stopped and held out his
hand in a quick, jerky motion.

'You're
Joe Denton, right?' he asked.

I
ignored his hand and nodded. I was tired of the pretense that anyone actually
gave a crap. He stood awkwardly for a moment and then pulled his hand back.

'I'm
Steven Wolcott,' he said. 'I'm an assistant news director here. I have to
admit, I was surprised to get your call. What can I do for you?'

'I
have a proposition I'd like to make.'

'Sure.'

'Can
we go to your office and talk about it?'

'I'm
sorry, yes, of course. Let's go upstairs.'

I
followed him to the elevator. After we got in it, he let out a nervous laugh.
He told me there'd been some talk about trying to get me in for an interview.

'You
know,' he added, 'ask you questions about what's it like to be out of jail, how
people are treating you, whether you have any remorse, stuff like that. You
know, give you a chance to get your side of the story out.'

I
didn't bother answering him. Once he realized I wasn't going to say anything he
gave another short nervous laugh. He tried some more small talk and then stood
awkwardly the rest of the way up. When the elevator door opened, he stepped out
quickly.

I
followed him through the office to a small conference room. After I took a
seat, he asked whether I'd like some coffee. I told him I would and asked if he
had anything to eat. When he came back, he brought me a cup of coffee and three
doughnuts on a paper plate.

He
took a seat across from me and clasped his hands behind his head, trying to
look calm and in charge, but I could see a mix of eagerness and nervousness in
his eyes.

'Tell
me about your proposition,' he said.

I
took a long sip of coffee and then asked him if he ever heard of Manny Vassey.

He
thought for a moment and shook his head. 'Sorry, I've never heard of him.'

'You
should've.'

'Why's
that?'

'Manny's
been running a number of criminal enterprises out of Bradley County for years.
Bookmaking, loan sharking, extortion, drugs, prostitution - you name it, he's
got his hands in it. And though he operates out of Bradley, his businesses go
across the state.'

'Really?
Jeez, I wonder why I've never heard of him before.'

I
shrugged. 'He's a smart man. He pays off the right people and keeps things
quiet. Manny's in the hospital now dying of cancer. His psychotic son, Junior,
has taken over and is expanding the business. Junior is now manufacturing
crystal meth and distributing it through college clubs that he's forcing owners
to sell to him.'

He
blinked several times, making a face. 'How much of this can you prove?' All of
it.'

'Do
the police know about this?'

'I
don't know about the crystal meth part, but yeah, you got guys on the Bradley
police force and in the sheriff s office who know what Manny's been up to. Too
many of them are on his payroll to do anything about it.'

I
couldn't read from his expression whether he believed me. He could've either
been dumbfounded by the whole thing or thought I was nuts, or maybe that I was
trying to use them for some private vendetta.

'So
what's your proposition?' he asked. 'Do you want to be interviewed on the air
about this?'

I
shook my head. I want to take a cameraman and reporter out with me and show
them Vassey's operations in the works. Where his bookmaking and loan sharking
operations are headquartered, his crystal meth lab, show his clubs in the act
of distributing it, all of it. And I want it shown tonight on your ten o'clock
news.'

'Wow.
I don't know if we could do something like that—'

'I
want a decision now. Otherwise I'm taking this to one of the Boston stations.'

He
looked rattled. 'I can't make this type of decision,' he said. 'The news
director will have to agree to this.'

'Let's
talk to him, then.'

'Her.
Eileen Bracket. And she doesn't get in until eleven.’

‘Call
her up.'

'I
can't do that. I'd be waking her up. Eileen doesn't leave here until midnight
every night.'

I
started to stand. He held his hand out to stop me.

'Wait,
okay?' he asked. He bit o» his lip as he tried to make a decision. 'I'll call
her from my office. Just wait here, okay?'

He
left the room in a hurry. While waiting, I ate one of the doughnuts and
finished my coffee. Then I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind. The next
few hours were going to be critical. I had to break Junior's operations wide
open for what I had in mind to work.

It
didn't take long for the kid, Wolcott, to come back. As he took a seat across
from me, he looked more harried than disheveled. He tossed a pad of paper in
front of him and tapped his pen nervously against the edge of the table.

'Eileen's
on her way,' he said. 'It's probably going to take her forty-five minutes to
get here. In the meantime, I need some background information.'

'Go
ahead.'

'How
long have you known about this?’

‘A
long time.'

'Can
you please be more specific.
'

‘Maybe
fifteen years.'

And
you said that other police and sheriff s officers are being paid to ignore Mr.
Vassey's illegal businesses?’

‘Yes.'

'Could
you give me their names?'

'No.'
I shook my head. 'You can investigate this yourself later and figure out who's
on Manny's payroll.’

‘You
can't give us any names?'

'No.
I'm going to help you expose Junior's operation, but that's all. There is
police corruption involved, but you're going to have to discover that
yourself.'

'What
about the sheriff of Bradley County?'

I
hesitated for a second as I tried to decide whether that was a lucky guess or
if it was common knowledge that Dan was crooked. I shook my head. 'I'm not
ratting any police officers. At least not directly.'

He
made a face as if he wanted to argue with me, but it passed. 'Okay,' he said.
'Let's move on. Where are you going to be taking our people today?'

'What
do you mean?'

'I
need the location of this crystal meth lab, you know, and the other places.'

'If
I give you that you won't need me.'

"That's
not why I'm asking for it. We want to do our own checking on these locations.
We're going to need to do this if we're going to put a story out by ten
tonight.'

'Sorry.
You'll know the locations when I take your people to them.'

He
swallowed back what he wanted to say and then gave kind of a whimsical smile.
"There's not much point to this, is there?' he asked.

'Doesn't
seem to be.'

‘

‘Why
don't I leave you alone, then, until Eileen comes.'

'Sure.
I could also use another cup of coffee.'

He
was shaking his head when he left the room, but he brought me back a fresh cup.
I didn't wait alone for too long before Eileen Bracket showed up, probably no
more than twenty minutes. She was about fifty, thin, with a hawk nose and sharp
angles all around. She must've rushed over - her hair was still damp from a
shower and she had no makeup on, making her thin angular face appear drab and
bloodless. As I looked at her, I couldn't help noticing that she had the palest
blue eyes I'd ever seen.

Wolcott
introduced her to me. Shaking her hand was like holding a cold piece of bone.
She took a seat across from me and Wolcott pulled up a chair next to her.

'Steven
filled me in on your proposal,' she said. I have one question, Mr. Denton -
why?'