GRAVE WALKER_A gripping noir thriller Read online

  “Get out,” the other officer said, his hand slowly falling to his sidearm.

  I raised my hands in mock surrender and stepped out of the cool van into the oppressive humidity once more. I tensed my muscles, ready to fight or run if I had to.

  I was outnumbered, and if I ran, there was only a dumpster and a few trash bags in sight, not enough cover if my captors decided to open fire. Maybe if I managed to grab one of the men as a hostage—

  Suddenly, my pulse jumped as I saw another man in the alleyway, waiting for me. He stood with one hand on his firearm and a face like thunder. Not tall at about 5’8” but stocky with a build that showed through his plain gray tee shirt. He wore a cap with dark, curly hair tucked beneath it, reflecting his Latino features. A police badge hung around his neck from a chain, and he regarded me like a kid might inspect an insect he’s about to smash underfoot.

  He looked pissed.

  “I’ll tell you something, Blume,” the man said, taking a step forward. “You sure do have a lot of balls showing up around here again.”

  “What can I say,” I shrugged. “I missed the New York hospitality.”

  He didn’t seem impressed by my comment, and I wracked my brain for the past wrongs I may have done to this man. He stepped forward, and I stood my ground as we locked eyes. I was suddenly aware that the other cops all around had frozen in place waiting to see what happened next.

  Time seemed to stand still—a stalemate. The duel at high noon. Both of us were waiting for the other to crack.

  In the end, it was the man in front.

  Rey Sanchez suddenly cracked a smile and broke into uncontrollable laughter. One that was echoed by all the cops around me.

  I realized I’d been had.

  “You son of a bitch,” I shook my head, a smile spreading across my own face.

  “You should have seen your face, man!” Rey howled with laughter before scooping two large breaths and pushing his giggles down.

  “Yeah, yeah.” I rolled my eyes at the prank. They had gotten me good.

  I stepped forward, as did he, and we gave each other the sort of hug old friends share after a long time apart.

  He was my friend, after all. And damn, it was good to see him. I hadn’t seen my old partner since I had left for London a year ago.

  “How you doing, Rey?” I asked as we broke the hug.

  “Me, I’m doing fine,” he said. “But I’m always good, as you can tell.”

  I turned to the two cops and the driver, gathered together at the hood of the van, and they all gave me a guilty-as-charged look.

  “Still an asshole, I see,” I said with a smile.

  “Oh, always,” Rey agreed. “But hey, man, I’m glad to see you back in town. It hasn’t been the same here without you. That’s why I arranged the little welcome committee—we couldn’t have you getting a cab now could we?”

  “No, that would be far too simple,” I quipped, and Rey struggled to fight off another laughing fit.

  “Anyway, welcome to the new HQ,” he managed, stretching an arm out to encompass the building next to us.

  I realized that the van had pulled into an alley on the other side of the street from the police precinct I had once known. This new building next to us was all red brick and glass. I’d been so wrapped up in my memories that I hadn’t even noticed.

  “So, let my buddies here take your bags to the station,” Rey said. “You and I have some catching up to do.”

  “Sure,” I said. “Thanks, guys.”

  The officer that had done all of the talking took my bags out of the van and started for the street entrance. I followed his direction and saw the old familiar station on the other side of the street. It looked exactly the same, except that it was clearly closed down in favor of the new building. I was expecting a bigger pang of nostalgia but didn’t get one.

  “Good flight?” Rey asked.

  “As far as flights go,” I said, “I might have had a few drinks.”

  “Blume, it’s not even noon yet.”

  “Yeah, but I’m still on London time. It’s after three o’ clock there.”

  “Right, right. It’s always happy hour somewhere, huh?”

  I shrugged. “So…other than scaring the hell out of old friends, what else have you been up to?”

  “Same shit, different days. You know how it is. Wrapped up a multiple homicide case last week and just started the leg work on what looks to be a serial rapist case.”

  “Ah, the glamorous life,” I joked.

  Police work was a little like sweeping the streets. No matter how much filth you cleaned up, there was always more.

  “How about you?” he asked.

  “Up and down,” I answered. “I was lucky to knock my first big job out of the park, and my name got some press. I’m booked solid, but it’s not always easy.”

  “Ah, the big shot P.I.,” Rey teased. “Better than stale donuts and paperwork, huh?”

  “Yeah, it’s a real breeze,” I said, rolling up my sleeve to show him the long scar on my forearm. “A souvenir from the big shot P.I. life.”

  “Ouch.” He frowned. “Should I ask?”

  “Probably not,” I replied.

  “So how are you finding the time to come to New York? What is this…like a vacation?”

  “Far from it,” I said.

  Rey was apparently waiting for a punchline. We used to joke about everything, but things were different now. I was different. When my face remained stone, he frowned. “Sounds serious. Come on, man. Let’s head inside, and you can tell me about it. Sound good?”

  “Sure,” I said as we headed down the alley and toward the streets I’d cut my cop teeth on. “But I really just need to speak to the Captain.”

  Rey glanced sideways at me as we pushed into the entrance. “Ah, there might be a problem with that.”

  FOUR

  Most of the faces I passed were familiar but at the same time strangers. Like a sense of déjà vu from a life that wasn’t mine, everything felt the same but different. I recognized a few cops and exchanged small talk with a couple whose names I could remember. I also saw many new faces that reminded me just how nervous and out of place I felt when I started as a beat cop almost twenty years ago.

  After making the trek through the new station and passing pleasantries with everyone, Rey finally led me to his office. It, like most of the station I had just walked through, looked new and unlived in. Boxes sat scattered around and crates of files were unopened in the corner.

  “Have a seat,” Rey said as he tossed his cap on a filing cabinet. I followed suit with my jacket, glad to be out of it.

  “You know,” I said as I slumped into a chair. “I have to ask. How did you know I was coming into town?”

  Rey smiled and said, “Man, a good detective never tells his secrets.”

  “It was Amir wasn’t it?”

  “Damn.” Rey looked disappointed that his ruse had been busted. My friend, landlord, and occasional informant, Amir had been involved in nearly all my cases back in London. He was a good guy who had made some bad decisions, and he was now desperately trying to make up for them, apparently by greasing the wheels before my arrival back in New York.

  “You know, you and Amir are kinda similar,” I joked. “You’re both family men, both dedicated to your work… and both complete assholes at times. You’d get along well.”

  “It’s great to see you too,” Rey replied. “So, do you want to tell me about this non-vacation you’re on, or shall we stand here and bust each other’s balls all day?”

  It felt good to be trading jabs with my old partner again. Like a familiar routine between two well-practiced performers.

  I got as comfortable as I could in the chair sitting in front of his desk as he took the larger one behind it. “It’s a long story.”

  I wanted to tell Rey everything. That I’d come back to America to make a man suffer, to force him to answer for his crimes and experience the same pain he had inflicted
on me, before most likely putting a bullet in his head.

  Instead I simply shrugged.

  “Hmm,” Rey looked at me with sympathy. “It’s Teach, isn’t it? By the way, thanks for that tip, bro. I was a rock star around here for a day or so after that bust. Not every day we cross paths with a professional killer.”

  “Happens to me all the time,” I mumbled.

  “What?” Rey asked.

  “Nothing,” I replied. “Look, Rey, I have to see Teach. You have to help me out. Whatever it takes.”

  Rey leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed and regarded me for a second. “You think Teach is the one that did it, don’t you?”

  “Five minutes, Rey, is all I need.”

  “And when you’ve beaten the guy to a bloody pulp or worse, what then? Ride off into the sunset back to London? Leave me to answer to the chief about why I let a psychotic ex-cop put a bullet into a man we had in custody?”

  Rey knew me well, it seemed, even after all this time.

  “He did it, Rey, I’m sure of it. And if he didn’t, he knows who did. I can’t let this go. You know—”

  “I know, Tom,” Rey spoke softly. “I know what this means to you, and I know what you lost. Sarah and your little Tommy. I miss them too.”

  “So you understand why I can’t drop this. Imagine if it were Connie.”

  Rey rubbed his temples and looked at the ceiling. It was a dick move bringing his wife into the argument, and I instantly felt bad, but it worked.

  “OK man, I’ll do what I can, but even I can’t authorize a civilian to get time with a perp charged with multiple homicides. It’s above my pay grade.”

  “So let’s see the Captain.”

  “Well, I have some good news and some not so good news on that front,” Rey said.

  “Good news first.”

  “Teach is here, in the building. It’s his second round on interrogations.”

  My heart jumped, and I felt the familiar embers of anger stirring. “Holy shit,” I snapped. “When can I talk to him?”

  “Well, that’s where the bad news comes in. It might not be that easy.”

  “Don’t bullshit me, Rey. Why not?”

  Rey rubbed his head again, as if a headache was building. “Do you remember Captain Parks?”

  “Yeah, of course. Is he going to have a problem with me talking to Teach?”

  “No,” Rey said with a nervous laugh. “I don’t think he’d care at all. But what he thinks won’t matter. Captain Parks had a heart attack a few months back. He survived, but it was bad. Parks retired about two years earlier than he’d planned and moved to Florida. Spends his days chasing Marlin and sipping Mojitos or whatever retired police captains do these days.”

  “So?”

  “So we’ve got a new captain now.”

  “Is he going to cause a problem?”

  Rey let out a sigh and got to his feet. “That’s not for me to say. But I think you should have a talk before you worry yourself about it. Come on…I’ll walk you to her office.”

  A female captain, I mused. Things really had changed around here.

  FIVE

  I followed Rey out of his office and further down the hallway. I could tell by his posture that he was expecting a tense situation. Somewhere overhead a drill sounded; construction on one of the floors above. Apparently the building wasn’t even finished yet. I tried not to let the noise bother me, but it did. With the turmoil of knowing that Roland Teach was somewhere in the building, my stomach felt like it had been tied in knots. The hum of the drill and the lingering effects of the booze only made it worse.

  As we made our way through the station, we stopped by one of the administrative offices where Rey hooked me up with a visitor’s pass that read Consultant along the bottom. I slung it around my neck, feeling foolish.

  Finally we came to the office that had once belonged to Captain Parks. His placard had been replaced with another one that read “CAPTAIN KINSEY.”

  I was a bit ashamed of myself when I stepped into the office and found myself still shocked that Captain Kinsey was a woman. She looked to be in her mid-fifties, and just from the paper-thin scowl on her face as we knocked on her already-open door, I could tell that she was the type of woman who would not take anyone’s shit. She looked hard as nails and had the grim appearance that might have fit equally as well on a principal at a very strict boarding school.

  “Hey, uh Captain,” Rey said. “Sorry to interrupt you, but this is Thomas Blume.”

  The thin scowl retreated from her face, but she didn’t look much more cheerful. Still, she set down the case file she had been scanning and politely got to her feet before offering her hand for a shake.

  “Mr. Blume. Sanchez told me you were coming into town. I’ve heard several stories about you.”

  “Good ones, I hope.”

  “Something like that,” Kinsey said, giving away nothing. She then looked down at the clutter on her desk and started rifling through for some unseen file. “I wish you’d visited on a less hectic day, though. It’s been very busy here the last two days, as you can see by the mound of files I’m collecting.”

  “We were already busy enough,” Rey explained to me, “but then we got news of a terror threat from the FBI.”

  “Potential terror threat, Detective Sanchez,” Kinsey chimed in. “At this point, unconfirmed. Although I do have the FBI breathing down my neck.”

  “Right, potential terror threat,” Rey continued. “Plus the fact that Captain Kinsey came into this illustrious station with about three weeks of reports to file…”

  “Ah,” I said. “The cornerstone of police work; bureaucracy.”

  Kinsey glanced up from her task with a scalding look but said nothing.

  “Captain,” Rey said, “Blume would very much like to get a chance to speak with Roland Teach. Can we make that happen?”

  The scowl seemed to intensify as she sat back down and regarded both of us with an icy stare. “We could…but it’s unlikely. You aren’t officially connected to this Teach case,” she told me flatly.

  “Technically, no, I’m not.”

  “There’s nothing technical about it,” she countered. “I am well aware of what you believe to be a personal connection to him, but the case he is currently being questioned for is of an entirely different matter.”

  I again saw how easily she might fit behind a principal’s desk. “I understand that,” I said. “But, Captain…I gave you the tip and came all the way from London for this.”

  She nodded and leaned forward. “Mr. Blume, I am very good at my job. I do my research. Oddly enough, I am one of those rare specimens that appreciates precise and organized information management. Bureaucracy you might call it. So when Sanchez told me he had a friend on the way into town that used to work here, I pulled your file. You have a stellar record. You also have all the reasons in the world to want to talk to Teach, particularly considering the crimes that were recently committed overseas that are linked to him. I understand all of this. But to let you speak with him, I’d be breaking rules. And as Captain, I tend not to break rules, or my department goes to hell.”

  The blowhard attitude from Kinsey was starting to grate.

  “I need to see Teach. Just five minutes.”

  “What you need doesn’t concern me, Mr. Blume. I have a job to do.”

  “He killed my goddam family!” I snapped.

  “That remains to be seen.”

  I felt the anger rising and forced it down.

  Sensing my frustration, Rey intervened. “Captain, there must be something you can do?”

  “I’m afraid police procedure is quite clear.”

  I turned for the door, ready to storm out of the goddam office and find a way to get to Teach myself. I had grabbed the handle when the Captain continued.

  “However,” Kinsey said, finally retrieving the file she had been searching for. “I simply can’t ignore your record. And, as such, I may be able offer you a barga
in.”

  I turned, hesitantly. “What bargain?”

  “Well, my officers are stretched thin, the station still isn’t at full capacity, and this “terror threat” is taking up more man hours than I can give out. I’d like to use your skills as a consultant to help us wrap up a case. A body we found.”

  I’m pretty sure I did a poor job of hiding my reaction, an incredulous rolling of my eyes.

  “With all due respect, I did not come all the way from London just to work for you.”

  “And with that same degree of respect,” Kinsey said, unflinching, “things don’t operate here now the way they did when Captain Parks was in charge. So that’s your choice, Mr. Blume; a you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours deal is the best I can do.”

  I knew her way was the easiest way to get what I wanted, one-on-one time with Teach. But I was not about to be bullied into what was essentially free labor.

  “Think it over,” she said icily. “But keep in mind that we have to allow Teach bail in 72 hours.”

  Stepping towards the door, I said: “I think I’ll be scratching my own back, thanks.”

  “Very well,” she said, looking to her desk and starting to work on the paperwork that had accumulated there. “But let me remind you that you are no longer an officer and that you have no jurisdiction in this city. Working on your own could be dangerous. I’d sure hate to have you arrested for acting as a vigilante.”

  The anger surged through me like a lightning bolt, and it took every ounce of will in my body to not lash out at her. Because after all…she had a point. Still, I wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

  “So in other words, the only way I can do anything about the man that murdered my family is to do you a favor?”

  “We all have difficult choices to make in life.”

  “Why me? You have plenty of detectives. You can dole out some overtime.”

  “Well, I think you might be the best fit for this case.”

  “Why?” I asked, starting to get irritated. “What possible reason could you need me for?”