'I can't believe I did that,' she said, laughing. 'It just happened. I guess it was reflex.'
We ate quietly after that, but it was comfortable quiet. I even realized I had stopped worrying at one point. Near the end, Tina showed me an uneasy smile.
'Joe, I don't know if you've been watching our broadcasts, but for the last couple of weeks we've been hitting you pretty hard.'
'That's okay. I deserve it.'
'I don't know if that's true anymore. What I saw today was incredible. For those things to be going on shows that the whole Bradley police force has to be dirty. It's no wonder you ended up the way you did. But what you did today was amazing. You're going to be single-handedly responsible for cleaning up this whole area.'
'I appreciate that,' I said. 'Not every cop on the Bradley force is dirty. Some are, but not all. I ended up the way I did because of my own mistakes. I have no one to blame.'
The way she looked at me right then almost stopped my heart. s
'Why don't we find someplace we can be alone, Joe?'
I wanted to. God did I want to. But she was almost twenty years younger than me. There was more to it than that. I didn't even know if I had a future past the next few hours. But there was still more. There was Charlotte. I know it's crazy, but I started feeling guilty. As nuts as Charlotte was, I knew that in some bizarre way we were meant for each other. That at some level we understood each other and that we could help each other. As beautiful and sane as Tina was, she didn't have a clue what was inside me.
'Tina,' I said. 'It's eight thirty and we got that news broadcast at ten.'
'We have enough time.'
'I've got to be honest,' I said. I want to more than you could ever imagine, but I'm feeling pretty beat up right now.’
‘I'll be gentle.'
'Why don't we give it a few days and see how we're feeling then?'
That just heated her up more. The desire flushing her face was almost too much for me. I almost weakened. But Jesus, I couldn't do that to her. Instead, I just sat back and looked into her eyes. She showed me a little smile, took a business card from her pocketbook, wrote on the back of it, and handed it to me.
'Don't wait too long, Joe,' she said, showing me probably the nicest smile I'd ever seen. I looked on the back of the card and saw that she had written her home number on it and had drawn a big heart next to it. I put the card away in my wallet.
We finished our dinner and headed back to the station. When we got there, I found out that things had gone as planned at the Blue Horn. One of the interns bought several hits of crystal meth and then the state police raided the place. They got almost forty thousand dollars' worth of drugs in the raid and the station shot video of it all. Eileen had one of her reporters over at the state police headquarters, but it sounded like none of the Blue Horn employees that were rounded up were willing to say who they worked for.
The station was able to condense the video they shot into a ninety-second clip. They opened with Tina reporting the story. After that I was brought on and interviewed live for about three minutes. It went better than I could've expected. Tina acted as if everything I was saying was a proven fact, even though there was nothing yet tying Manny and Junior to any of it.
After the broadcast Eileen came over and offered me her hand.
'I have to admit you did some good work here, Joe,' she said.
I thanked her. As I was getting ready to leave, Tina came over and kissed me on the cheek. When I turned to say something to her, she grabbed me around the neck and kissed me long and hard on the mouth. When we separated her eyes were sparkling.
'Don't wait too long to call me,' she said. I felt a lump in my throat as I watched her walk away.
My head was buzzing as I made my way to my car. I couldn't help thinking of Tina, of the way it felt when she kissed me, of how badly I realized I wanted her. I guess I was too caught up in my thoughts to notice them, at least until it was too late. At the last second I caught sight of Jamie's bandaged head out of the corner of my eye. Then I felt the blow to my damaged ribs. He must've used brass knuckles. The pain from the blow dropped me to my knees and brought hot tears to my eyes. It froze me. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move.
'We've been looking for you all day,' Jamie whispered in my ear. Then I took another shot to the ribs. The pain exploded in me. And then everything went black. I felt a sensation of being picked up and thrown. And then nothing.
Chapter 20
I couldn't have been out for more than a couple of minutes. At least, I don't think so. When I came to I was in the back seat. Duane was next to me, a hard smirk on his face as he stuck a nine-millimeter automatic into my side. Jamie was up front driving.
'Look who just woke up,' Duane said, his voice just above a whisper.
'Have a nice nap?' Jamie asked, chuckling to himself.
Duane shoved the gun harder into my side. 'It's not polite to ignore a civil question,' he said, his smirk tightening on his face.
Softly, because of the pain, I said, 'Yeah, I had a nice peaceful nap. Thanks. How's your head?'
A lot better than your ribs,' Jamie said. 'By the way, we're not here for any collections, but you probably know that.'
'You want to guess what we're here for?' Duane said, his mouth inches from my ear. His breath smelled like raw sewage.
'Did you watch the news tonight?' I asked.
'It don't matter,' Duane said in a soft whisper. 'It's not going to change what's going to happen tonight.'
Jamie chuckled to himself over some private joke. Then he said, 'Mr. Vassey's waiting for you. He bought himself a new butcher's apron for the occasion.'
I closed my eyes and tried to think. I knew Junior's order was to bring me back alive, and I knew Duane would be slow pulling the trigger. The gun was mostly for show, he'd use it only if he had to. I had nothing to lose so I took my chance.
I doubled over and grabbed my side. I think you broke my ribs,' I moaned.
'Ain't that a shame,' Jamie said, chuckling harder. Duane joined in, his body convulsing lightly with amusement. I had my elbow drawn in as I was clutching my side. I whipped it around as hard as I could and caught Duane under his chin. His head snapped back and I pushed the gun away with my bandaged hand while I punched him with my good one. The problem was because of my ribs I couldn't get a hard enough blow in, otherwise I would've knocked him out and had his gun. Instead he was able to fight back.
'Goddam it!' Jamie swore. Tires squealed and the car swerved to a stop. From the corner of my eye I saw Jamie's gun swinging towards my head. I moved, but not fast enough to avoid it. It ended up being more of a glancing blow. It didn't knock me out, but it slowed me down enough for Duane to pull his gun away from me. He hit me hard across the side of my face with its barrel, opening a gash under my cheek. He was breathing hard, his eyes blind with rage as he brought his gun back up again. But the orders were to bring me back alive. Reluctantly he got himself under control.
'You okay, Duane?' Jamie asked.
'Yeah, I'm okay. This goddam piece of shit.' Then to me, 'I'll be with you all night tonight, watching. I promise you that.'
I only had that one shot. That was all. There was nothing else left in me. My abdominal muscles were spasming so bad I couldn't breathe. For a moment I thought I was going to suffocate because of it. It seemed to take minutes before my muscles relaxed enough so I could gasp in air again. Then I fell back into my seat and closed my eyes. There was nothing else I could do. As I sat there I could feel blood dripping down the side of my face. Duane leaned over, his sour breath almost making me gag. During the rest of the trip he whispered in my ear, telling me in great detail everything they were going to do to me.