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EXCERPT
Tail Tell Heart
Laura E.
Reagan
Chapter
One
13th
Precinct. Midtown Manhattan
Detective Chuck Hollis’s
dark brows shot upwards as his deep train of thought
suddenly derailed. The white blur of a folded paper plane
sailed into his line of vision. It struck him in the chin
before falling to his desk. He peered up from his papers to
find his partner, Randy Wilkins, rising from behind his desk
and snatching his coat from his chair.
“What?”
“We
gotta go, Chuck.” Randy was already heading for the door.
“Are
you kidding me? It’s freezing out there!”
“Adillo was just identified as the shooter in last night’s
robbery. We got a location on him.”
“Adillo? Son of a bitch! What does this make, huh? The
second or third time he’s gotten out of jail free?” Chuck
climbed out of his chair, covering his long-sleeved t-shirt
and shoulder harness firearm with his brown tweed jacket. It
belonged with a pair of dress pants, but he had grabbed it
by mistake as he left his apartment that morning. He knew,
as he shrugged it on, it would not prevent him from freezing
his ass off.
The
two headed for their car. Wilkins, as usual, drove, giving
his partner time to light up.
“You
know,” Randy began as he started the engine and pulled out
into the street, “When I joined the force, I did it to help
people. Now, all I want to do is live to see retirement.”
The
42-year-old Chuck agreed. “I know what you mean. You got a
lot longer than I do. Odds say I’ll make it. If I don’t quit
first.”
“Not
you! Not the hero!”
“Cut
the crap.”
“You
are a hero, my friend!”
“Yeah?
Well, tell that to the store owner lying in his own body
fluids.”
“Look
Chuck, you got Adillo. What happened after that was not your
fault. Between the lawyer pleading him down and the judge
going along with it, hell, he was bound to get off with
hardly any time. We put them in and the lawyers get their
raggedy asses out. But, you got him.”
“Don’t
mean shit tonight.” Chuck stared out into the freezing rain.
The night felt sleazy, the city seemed to ooze and belch
nastiness, making the falling white snow just a part of the
gray slush once it hit the streets. From pure to poisoned.
Chuck continued to stare out into the shiny slick streets,
thinking of his small apartment and the puny little
Christmas tree waiting to welcome the hero home. No family,
no pets, just a bottle of Jack Daniels and a half a carton
of Chesterfields, and that poor little fake drug store tree
with its strand of multi-colored lights. It was amazing how
it cheered the place up. With all of the apartment lights
off, he could sit back, put his feet up, listen to Dean
Martin singing Christmas tunes, and for a while, almost
forget that he was alone. “Did I ever tell you about
Slivovitz?”
“Slivovitz,” Randy tried the name out. “Was that a bust?”
“No.
He was this cop from my old neighborhood. One day we were
all out playing in the yard, me and my buddies, and this
police cruiser pulls up across the street. Well, this little
old lady lived there and her cat had gotten up a tree and
she was having a damn fit. Well, Slivovitz came waddling up,
looked up the tree, and began to climb it. Me and the guys
were laughing our asses off, watching this fat ass cop
dragging his girth up this tree. Never occurred to us that
we could have climbed up there and gotten the cat. No. We
just stood there laughing at his fat ass. It was his job
after all.”
“What
happened?”
“Well,
he got the cat and he made it down. We were laughing,
talking about how lame he was, hoping he would split his
pants. It wasn’t pretty, but he made it down.”
“Good
for him.”
“Anyway, we were laughing and shit, and he hands that cat to
that old lady and the look on her face, man. I’ll never
forget it. She had tears streaming down her cheeks, hugging
her damn cat. It was pissed. It wanted down. Then she hugged
Slivovitz. And it hit me. I mean, he could have fallen out
of that damn tree and broken his damn neck. But, he climbed
up anyway. He did it and he made a difference in that old
lady’s life. And I never forgot the look on that little old
lady’s face. You would have thought he was Superman, you
know? He was a hero that day, and we laughed at him. He
retired a week after I joined.”
“Wow.
Break out the tissue box, will ya?”
“Screw
you.”
“What
made you think of Slivovitz?”
“I
don’t know. He made a difference that day.”
“I
thought maybe you wanted to go join the ASPCA or something.”
“Nah.
Hell no. I was just thinking.”
“Reminiscing is a sure sign of old age.”
“So is
dreaming of retirement. What’s your point?”
“Just
wondering what happened to your ten year plan. You told me
you were going to have it all by the time you reached forty.
Family, kids...”
“You’re my
family.”
“No, Chuck.
You were going to have a wife and kids. What happened? You
just give up on that dream?”
“I’ll get
around to it.”
“I’ll bet
that’s what you said ten years ago.”
“What are
you, my mother?” His gaze trained ahead towards a corner
convenient store.
His focus grew intense, fighting the almost blinding fluorescent red
words that blinked above a small group of men, advertising
cold beer. Three men stood huddled on the corner before the
store. The trio looked suspicious, but tonight, only one
held any interest for him. “Hey, over there. Mr. Corn Rolls.
Isn’t that our guy?”
“Adillo. That’s him. Another store.”
“Let’s
get this son of a bitch.”
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