REWARD
“What do you know about a kidnapping?” I asked the girl named Impala.
“This guy named Kelvin’s been gettin’ with me for a minute,” said Impala. “He works with this other dude named Renardo. They run house scams on old people. Anyway, we been hookin’ up here and there, not for long periods of time, you know, because his boss don’t approve.”
“Ask her why,” said Jimmy excitedly.
I didn’t ask, I just gave Impala a look.
“That’s not important,” she said. “We have to sneak to get it in. That’s the only thing that’s—“
“She got a dick!” said Jimmy. “Can you believe that? Look at that ass on her, them legs. Ain’t a touch of man on her.”
“I’m in transition,” said Impala. “Like the universe.”
I took another look and I almost didn’t believe it. There was nothing masculine about the girl, not even her hands but I took Jimmy at his word. And yes, I was feeling a little uncomfortable because before Jimmy said this, I was digging her looks.
“Okay, so the boss don’t approve, I said. And?”
“Well, Kelvin, he just wants me to go down on him and go real quick. So, I ask why and he tells me he got to get back because his boss done gone crazy. I didn’t push for why. Always best to let a man take his time. Well, it didn’t take long. Kelvin said Renardo got pissed because some rich white dude screwed him on a deal, so he took his wife.”
“Was the woman a doctor?” I asked and I couldn’t help that my voice rose a little in anticipation.
“Yeah, yeah,” said Impala. “He said she was some big time doctor from rich people in GP.”
“Where are they holding her?” I asked.
“This old building over by Mound Road,” said Impala. “Kelvin said it used to be a canning plant or something.”
I promised Jimmy a reward of there was one. I bolted out of there as soon as I could. If Dr. Bell-Ross was still alive, she probably didn’t have long.
I got into my car and took the drive to case the place. I had to make sure this wasn’t all bullshit before I called in the troops. The only plant in that area was the old Tulling Canning building.
As far as I could figure, Dr. Bell-Ross met Ivory while she was stalking Bakersfield and somehow talked her into being a surrogate, paying her off the books.
Ivory used her pregnancy to leverage her then boyfriend, Dobbs Harson. They fought and she went to see him at the precinct and was killed. So if Dobbs didn’t do it, that meant one of the other cops was dirty. We missed something, some connection and it had cost us.
I arrived at the Tulling plant and staked it out. There was a car parked in the back of the place. From the front, it looked abandoned. This could definitely be it, I thought. I moved in closer on foot and managed to get a look inside.
I saw two black men sitting and watching a little TV. They each had guns on the table. They were having what looked to be a heated exchange.
There was a little back room. I assumed my victim was being kept there.
I pulled out my cell phone and called it in. I’d wait for the cavalry and hope they’d give up without a fight.
Suddenly, the two men started yelling at each other. This continued for a while and then one of them stood, grabbing a gun. I heard a noise, a car’s engine revved loudly and then a Range Rover crashed through the front of the place.
**********
“Don’t believe you did that,” said Kelvin. “A church, man.”
“I was pissed off,” said Renardo. “Man challenged me. What could I do?”
“Step off,” said Kelvin. “You coulda stepped off. News say, that reverend had a heart attack and died. That’s murder.”
“Well, it be that way in the city. He knew the game. He had no business playing.”
“Look, I ain’t no religious man but—“
“Then shut the fuck up,” said Renardo. “You ain’t got no thing on me. You do shit, too.”
“I’m just sayin’ kidnapping and now murder. You fell off your promise. You back to what you used to be.”
Renardo stopped playing the card game and looked at his friend. He was mad and that was just part of it.
“So what?” Renardo began. “Maybe this is who I am. My folks was decent, so I can’t claim no hard life as a kid. I never went to the joint all the time I was slinging dope. Never got caught. I had plenty of time to get out but I didn’t. I liked the life. I ain’t got no boss, don’t punch no clock and I get out what I put in. So if I put in kidnapping that bitch and murder, then maybe that’s the price of a good life.”
“Sorry but that don’t make no sense,” said Kelvin.
“What do you know about sense?” asked Renardo laughing. “You tried to hook up with a man.”
“She ain’t no man,” said Kelvin.
“She got a dick, fool. Even if she gets it chopped off, it’s still a man you fuckin.’”
“You prejudiced,” said Kelvin.
“No, I’m a man,” said Renardo. “I don't know what you are.”
“I’m me and who I do it with ain’t none of yo business.” Kelvin looked away from his boss as he said this.
“Hold up,” said Renardo noticing. “Did you… You been fucking around with that he/she, Impala?”
“None of yo business what I do off the clock, nigga.”
“Everything you do is my business,” said Renardo. “Did you suck his dick or did he fuck you in the ass with his lady cock?”
“Fuck off,” said Kelvin. “At least I ain’t going to hell for shooting a preacher.”
“No, you goin’ for sucking dick. Keep away from that thing. I don’t want that on my rep. I don’t roll with fags.”
“I ain’t no fag!” said Kelvin. He jumped up, grabbing his gun.
“Ain’t this a bitch,” said Renardo. “You better put that gun—“
A loud engine revved outside. In the instant, Renardo thought it must have creeped up with the lights off. A second later, a truck crashed through the boarded up front doors of the place.
**********
I pulled both guns and kicked open the back door. As I waded in, I saw two men get out of the Range Rover. One of them was Bill Wiznewski, an original suspect. That answered that question. The other man, I didn’t know.
The two men who had been arguing, had grabbed their guns and were raising them.
“Police!” I yelled without even thinking about it.
There was a second of confusion. In that instant, I fired the .45 at Wiznewski as he was the most dangerous. I hit him in the side and he fired his gun, missing me by a wide margin. He dropped the gun as he hit the ground.
I fired the Glock at the same time but it missed the two men who had been arguing. It didn’t matter, because of one of them shot the other in the gut.
The man who had gotten out of the Range Rover with Wiznewski yelled “Fuck me!” then ran out of the building.
I’d swung to my right as the arguing man who’d shot his friend fired at me just as I shot at him.
His shot hit me and knocked me off my feet. I shot at him with both guns and hit him in the chest and head. Couldn’t tell you which gun fired which shot.
Wiznewski got to his feet and moved back toward the Range Rover.
I hit the ground hard, the flack jacket I wore stopped the bullet but it hurt like shit. I got up and raised my guns, which I was shocked I had not dropped.
“Stop!” I managed to say to Wiznewski as I moved forward.
Wiznewski stopped moving. I moved over to him, while watching the other two fallen men. I kicked his gun away and removed the one I knew he was carrying in a leg holster. There was blood everywhere and Wiznewski was groaning.
“Move and I put one in your goddamned head,” I said.
I went over to the other men. One was alive, the one I’d shot was gone. The dead man was dressed in a suit and tie. The one still alive just held his wound and cried.
“Call an ambulance!” said Kelvin, breathing hard. “I’m hit, man!”
“Where is she?” I demanded.
“In that room back there,” said Kelvin breathing hard.
“She alive?”
“Yeah, I didn’t have nothing to do with that. That was all on Renardo.”
I collected their guns and waited. If I left, one of them might run off. The woman was still alive and she'd keep while the cops came.
I went to Wiznewski and put pressure on his wound. I didn’t want to lose him. He had the most sorrowful look on his face I had ever seen.
“Big, bad Danny Cavanaugh,” he said through his pain.
“Don’t talk,” I said.
“Do me a favor, put one right here in my head,” said Wiznewski.
“Can’t do that,” I said. “Just hold on.”
“All of this,” said Wiznewski, “is God’s Will.”
The police came in minutes later. One of them had Thom Ross. He was crying saying, his wife had been kidnapped and he had tried to save her.
The paramedics stabilized Bill Wiznewski and the man named Kelvin. Renardo Peoples was dead.
Kelvin, who had not stopped confessing, kept saying that it was divine retribution, that Renardo had killed a reverend.
I had a fractured rib from the gunshot and the doc got me wrapped up good. I knew Vinny was going to be pissed, but I was okay and so I was glad for that.
We collected Dr. Sandra Bell-Ross who was just fine. She was hungry, cramped and smelled pretty bad but she was alive.
The husband was hugging her and confessing love but I wasn’t buying it. He had rolled in with my killer and that meant he was involved. I had him arrested and he yelled all the way to the precinct.
I walked over to Dr. Bell-Ross whose hair was matted and makeup smudged on her face.
“Thank you, detective,” she said.
“No problem, ma’am,” I said. “I’m afraid your husband is not clean in this.”
“Yes,” she said. “None of us are.”