Fifteen:

“This is like Queer Eye for the mobster guy!”

Henry exclaimed as he surveyed the leathery black sofas and the aged mahogany furniture that appeared to be hand-crafted. A richly stocked study with a pleasant, aged smell of first-edition classic books and novels. Whoever said crime does not pay, has never seen how mobsters and their families live. At least until or unless their assets are seized. Building a Rico case against crime families is an exhausting and extensive process, even in the aftermath, the families are left with many flourishing legitimate businesses that can never be linked to the crime family. So, crime does pay, very well, even if it also profits off human misery and desperation.

Even now that I loathe the police of this city, I cannot bring myself to justify how any of this wealth and comfort is obtained. Perhaps it is the eternal hidden optimist inside me, but I refuse to believe we are built for nothing but to grind each other to dust in the human meat-grinders disposing of the fallen. There is a part of me that combats the discard of human life simply for the sake of convenience. Don’t ask me to trust, but you can always ask me for help.

“Yeah, I am sure the fairy godfather designed this place,”

I told Henry, who looked on me with glowing eyes and enthused bated breath.

“There is a fairy godfather?!”

He asked, and I scoffed and shook my head slowly.

“No, afraid I stole that line from Robin Williams. But thanks for playing, you’re so naïve it’s adorable!”

He huffed and gave me a baleful chastening look.

“You’re mean, you know that! You’re going to become a mean cat lady.”

Henry told me and I shook my head wide and said, “No sweetheart, I’m going to be fitted for cement high-heels long before my hair turns grey.”

He rolled his eyes and Tomoki put in,” It might just be me, but I believe your level of grim realism is what it takes to survive in this city. You’ll manage to become a cat lady, but I see you with a shotgun strapped to your shoulder while you’re feeding those cats.”

As I turned to glare at Tomoki, I laughed dryly at him and quipped, “Did your boss bring those papers along? How about you go unload them, and be a good boy, yeah?!”

He grinned at me, and then he stepped out the front door wisely choosing the better part of valor to be discretion. Most wise guys learn this with me quickly, or they end up on my justified shooting list. Many of us with any type of badge and experience in a measure have a lengthy list. Guns here are a tool of the daily trade, as much as they are active crime prevention. Criminals will not respect the law, but they will be leery of a broad with a dead-eye and a kill count. This might sound very two centuries ago, but the world is still as much a brutal place as it always has been. This is a fact which never changes. The veneer which covers the violence of the world is merely more carefully constructed to obstruct the death-toll from the view of the herd.

“You know, I think I like that guy, just a lot more when I watch him walking away.”

Henry said, and I sniggered at him and swatted him playfully.

“Careful there, he’s not gay, if your gaydar is acting up, honey.”

He gave me a sullen look and said, “Hey, a boy is always free to dream! I mean, who is ever truly sure?”

He asked, and I laughed in earnest at his sincere question. This was a question we all find ourselves ask when we meet appealing straight people we are attracted to. Therefore, we develop our gaydar and keep our peace, so we don’t spook the other members of the herd.

“Ok, just don’t come complaining to me when he guts you.”

Henry dryly responded, “Thanks sweetie, so glad to know how far your love extends!”

I sniggered and Henry brooded, and then he prowled over to the office and I called to him, “If you’re thinking about that desk, forget it! I have dibs!”

He scathingly looked at me from behind and asked, “Why not?! It’s not like you’re going to use it for long. The second you find something to do in the field, you’re going to be off and at them.”

I huffed, and I looked away, it was a good point.

“Fine, but we’re sharing that nice desk until I do go off and at them.”

I said, tossing some of his statement back at him dryly. While I did spend most of my time in the field, I was a first-rate investigator behind a computer or file system as well. Henry simply managed this end more often because it was too interconnected to his business-savvy skill set. My skill set seemed to be more towards B&E and shooting at perps or, so I am told. Only in a truly completely savage city could that be a bread-winning skill. This was a place where crime and justice existed simultaneously in the darkness, not even truly grey. Right and wrong are interesting scholastic debates, but here when it comes down to it, the bullets start to fly.

“Fine, but you’re going to take a long bath before I share anything with you!”

Henry complained and he sniffed crossly as if to display the offensive odor coming from me like a vile waft of garbage.

“Thank God, you were not straight. You don’t know how to flatter a chick!”

I told Henry, and he waved limply at me and quipped, “Oh, I kiss bitch ass with the best of them, just not yours, sweaty girl.”

My eyes bequeathed upon Henry just how much murder I wished to impart to him. He seemed to wisely hover further out of my reach, not that I abused my gay man, I simply considered it, until I remembered that I could beat him with my toes, then I lose interest. I’ve yet to meet a single sane alpha-female type who enjoys beating on the weak.

“Where can we get a shower? And where do I sign up for that line?”

Sally Anne asked me, and I said, “You’re free to cut to the front of the line honey. I believe the bathroom is down this hall, follow me.”

I said, in a much more tender tone than anything I held while talking to Henry. We fought like true blood siblings, but we still adored each other, we just sucked at saying that verbally. He bought me gifts, and I protected him. We did for each other that which the other could not do for themselves.

“You sure?”
She asked, kindly sparing me a rehash of Henry’s observation, but my keen instincts told me she was thinking similarly.

“Sure, I’m sure. You need a nice hot bath to wash everything away for you. I’ll settle for one after that.”

I told her, not mentioning the possible lack of steaming hot water for a second bath, but a girl raised on military bases was not picky. She could bathe in frigid water if she needed to just to cleanse herself and keep moving on.

“Thank you, you’re so sweet.”

She said to me, and it sounded like she meant it too. Henry looked at her with surprise.

“Go on, cleanse thyself, Darlin.”

I said, amplifying my southern twang just shy of Penny’s normal level. She looked at me, clearly noticing the humorous application of deep southern accentuation. Penny was deeply observant, and absolutely a pain in my ass. She was sexy, and she was dogged in equal measure, which meant she was practically glued to my ass right now! Her cop instincts were screaming at her, yet she was still with me in this den of iniquity. Not that she had many viable options for survival right now. However, we were off the grid here. Shen had no real reason to out us to the Irish right now, so I could assume that he would keep his word as long as I kept mine. Not that I trusted him, because I knew he would see me in a shallow grave and pilled over with cement and an outlet mall build on my head. (Which for anyone who knew me, would find the deep and dark irony in that ending.)

“I’m back with the folders.”

Tomoki announced as he and three large bruisers came clamoring in the front door with boxes of law-folders and file-containers. Shen had a lot of records, and he seemed to keep a meticulous account of them. Considering the period of focus was only a year total, most shipping companies might produce a quarter of this paperwork filed away. I was assuming he was showing me the true books since I was getting so many boxes.

“He reminds me to tell you that this information is to remain here and not happen over to the police station.”

Tomoki looked at Penny in a silent accusation. She glared at him but kept her top on her head.

“Sugar, she’s not that stupid, besides, I promise, I will see they are burnt or returned before this case is resolved. If I ever do slap bracelets on your boss, it will not be over this matter.”

My tone was a matter of fact. The other skells seemed to take some mild offense at my statement, but Tomoki did not blink at my words.

“Shen san agrees to this, and he will forever enjoy the game in which you two engage each other.”

Tomoki said, and I realized now he had a Bluetooth device on his ear, and he was literally speaking for Shen right now. Shen was a deeply paranoid man, so much so that he was micro-managing the oversight of this case himself, which told me the profits from the docks were substantial to him and his business. There was a grudging portion of me that wished I could use this information against Shen, but my PI confidentiality clause was paramount to my survival. Mobsters always invite slips into their lives, mainly because they live so damn close to the ledge as it is. All I needed to do was wait long enough and I would spot another opening. Shen knew this, still, he was willing to employ me, which was bold and ballsy on his part. However, with Henry and Penny’s lives on the line, I was not going to mess over the mob boss being less violent to me presently. Even Officer Penny Ashton seemed to be able to bite down on her lip for the time being.

“Fellas let's leave them to their studies. Shen san said that I am to wait here to assist you as you may need. So, you two take the Range rover back. I’ll hang here with my own wheels.”

Tomoki said, and he sounded a lot less Japanese accented as he spoke to the other thugs. He was smart and capable of appearing more like the guys closer to his age when he was with them. He had extremely well-developed survival instincts.

“Sure, pull up a chair and help us comb through these files, and you’re welcome to stay.”

I told Tomoki, and the others seemed to think this was an insult, but Tomoki smiled slightly, and his eyes danced in excitement. He was a man who liked to have a mental challenge.

“Sure, just tell me what you want me to go over, and I will do my very best!”

He said, almost sounding like we were searching Playboy mags, and not finance reports.

“Calm your nuts kid, we’re first establishing the pattern of regular dock intakes, and then seeking out nay divergences or irregularities further down the road.”      

     Tomoki soaked up my words with bated breath and we began to dive into the customs forms and the dock records of intakes.