Nothing To Lose Part 10

Cleared of wrongdoing in the shooting, Jonas prepares to return to duty. Amanda has a secret that's putting her in the middle of things.

Part 10

Walking into The Montgomery Club, Jonas took a spot at the bar and ordered a double. The news that he was cleared still hadn’t set in yet. He ordered a double and a beer. As he waited for his drink, Cal Montgomery sat on the stool next to Jonas. He crossed his hands on the bar and told the bartender to give him the usual. Cal looked at Jonas, concern on his face.

“How are you holding up?”

“I’m doing alright,” said Jonas.

“And the review?”

“They cleared me a few hours ago,” explained Jonas.

Cal took the news and sat with it. He struggled to understand why Jonas wasn’t more enthusiastic. To him, this should have been a celebratory drink. But Jonas obviously wasn’t celebrating.

“It’s never easy, is it?”

“What’s that?” Jonas asked.

Cal was referring to killing a man. While Jonas had killed fifteen people in the line of duty, it didn’t get easier. Cal could sympathize. He may have found a better way to deal with having to kill someone, but he knew the weight it carried. For Cal, like Jonas, it came as part of the job they chose to do.

“Carrying the weight of the choice to kill someone,” answered Cal.

Jonas looked at him. The clarity in his statement was there. He wasn’t admitting to being a murderer, but he was empathizing from a place that only someone who’d killed before would understand. For the first time since they developed their relationship, Cal felt more familiar to Jonas than some of his fellow officers. It wasn’t a bond he looked to build, but he realized he was not that different from the reputed crime figure beside him.

“No,” he answered. “It doesn’t get any easier.”

Cal took his drink in his hand and stood; he put his hand on Jonas’s shoulder. Looking into the eyes of his friend, he understood the heavyheartedness.

“I know they offer you a shrink, you’ve got a partner, and then there’s Amanda. But if you need someone to talk to, I’m here,” he said before telling the bartender that Jonas’s tab was on the house tonight. Cal walked away, leaving Jonas to his thoughts.

It was a nice gesture, but it didn’t change anything. As much as Jonas respected Cal Montgomery, he wasn’t getting into bed with an ex-mobster. He had warned Cal years ago. If Cal jumped dirty in Bay City, he was going to take him down. That wasn’t something that could change. Talking to a mobster about his feelings wasn’t going to happen.

The bartender delivered his drinks. Jonas slammed the double. He drank a little of his beer and looked around the room. The game was on the flatscreen behind the bar. He told himself he’d finish his beer, watch a little of the game, and leave.

As he sipped his beer, Jonas didn’t notice how closely he was being watched. From across the room, he was the focus of attention.

The night at the bar ended, and Jonas passed out in his bed. He barely remembered getting home. As he opened his eyes, looking around the room, he realized he was still dressed. Jonas let out a moan. As he rolled over, staring at the ceiling, he heard someone asking if he was alright. It was Susan, and she was holding her key to his place.

“You never called,” she reminded him. “I got worried.”

Jonas moaned again, sitting up enough to talk. He looked over at his nightstand, hoping to find his cigarettes. After fumbling around for them, he found them in his drawer. Inhaling, Jonas sighed as the relief of the first morning puff set in. His head was pounding, but the sensation from that first drag helped.

“Sorry about that,” he told Susan. “I sort of got caught up in it all.”

Susan sat beside him, offering him a bottle of water. As he took a sip, she asked how things turned out. He hadn’t told her how the review board went. She’d been there for him every night over the past week. Jonas felt bad that he didn’t at least send her a message.

“The vote came in my favor. I’m back on duty later today,” he explained.

Susan smiled. While it wasn’t what she wanted- hoping that he’d get retired from the department and find a more peaceful life- she knew he didn’t want things to end that way. She hated what the job could do to him at times. But it wasn’t her decision. It had to be his.

“That’s great,” she said, faking a smile. “Now you can get back to hunting for Danica’s murderer.”

Yeah, thought Jonas. He hadn’t talked about the case for a few days. Danny was told not to share police information with him until his administrative leave was over. Jonas didn’t know where the investigation had taken them, or if they’d found the second body. In his mind, the river had swallowed their missing jogger.

“Well, as long as you’re alright,” sighed Susan. “Be careful, please?”

Jonas gave her a hug and promised to do his best. He sat on the edge of his bed and watched her leave, wondering why they couldn’t get past the differences that made her unwilling to commit. She was older, but she was also the most genuine person he knew. If only she could trust that he loved her. But in the end, that was her baggage to deal with. He couldn’t fix her.

Jonas showered, dressed, and grabbed his duty bag. He went out the front door and to his Suburban. The street in front of his house was flooded, and cars were cautiously pushing through. Jonas had been distracted and hadn’t been paying attention to the weather. It was still rainy, with no relief in sight.

He wondered what the city’s plan was if the strangely inclement weather continued. The riverfront area had to be a wreck. There had been so much rain that they were on a constant flood alert, and as he sat, reading through emails, the entire department was alerted to the possibility of evacuations along the river.

He pulled away from home, intent on heading to the station. As he turned, his cellphone rang, and his dashboard screen flashed to Danny. Jonas pressed the answer icon, saying, “Hello, Danny.”

“Boss. I hear you are officially back this morning,” said Danny.

“Yeah, partner, I’m in the car and headed into the office,” he told Danny.

Danny wanted Jonas to meet him away from the department. He had discovered something interesting. They agreed to meet at a diner on the outskirts of town. Jonas would be able to get them a table before Danny could get there, but he recommended a booth that was out of the way.

Danny knew the diner well. Jonas had gotten to it twenty minutes before Danny. The place was far enough out of the way that there were few people there. When he walked in, he was escorted to the booth he pointed to and ordered a cup of coffee. Jonas anxiously waited for Danny to arrive and explain.

Eventually, Danny found his way to their booth. He dropped a file in front of them as he sat across from Jonas. A waitress came, asking if he needed anything.

“Coffee, black,” he answered.

“So, what’s so imperative that we couldn’t meet at the station?”

Danny chuckled. It’d been a couple of days, and he hadn’t talked to Jonas. He’d been sitting on the information in the file on the table for two days. And while Jonas had been off limits, he knew Jonas would want to see the image. As he watched his superior opening the file, he anxiously awaited the older detective’s response.

And while Jonas sipped his cup of coffee, he looked at the main image in the file. He’d seen the man before. Just for a moment. It was an image of their strange observer from the Riverside Industries Complex. Where, he wondered, had Danny gotten the printout from?

“This is our guy,” admitted Jonas. “How’d you get this?”

“I had a hunch and sat through the last ten days of incoming flights. It took a while, but then yesterday, I saw the good father going through the airport. Jonas, he’s a priest,” explained Danny.

Jonas and Danny both paused. What was a priest doing out there at the crime scene? The churches in the area were as far from the Casino and the old industrial complex as anything they could imagine.

“Did you get a name?”

“Michael Saloria,” he answered, pointing to the second page.

Jonas was proud of Danny. He hadn’t been resting on his laurels while Jonas was on administrative leave. And he’d proven he could take initiative. Maybe this was the guy to replace him. Could Danny take the reins and rebuild the failed investigative division into something to be proud of?

“For your next trick,” Jonas said, staring at Danny. “I suppose you’ll now tell me where the priest can be found.”

He’d had time to track down the person they caught watching them, but tracking down a priest’s location was a tougher task. Without the Catholic Church’s help, they were going to have to go through each individual priest assigned to each church, and hope that one of them knew Father Michael.

“So, what’s your angle?”

“My angle?” Danny asked.

“Yes,” answered Jonas. “Are you looking at him as a witness, or a suspect?”

Danny chuckled. He couldn’t imagine the priest was a suspect. But had he been around that area long enough, he might have seen something. And it would give them a chance to question why the priest was so interested in their crime scene.

“How long before we hear from the bishop?”

“I left a message with his office to contact me,” explained Danny.

Amanda Hovind left her office and drove to the south side of town. She was alone, which was unusual for her. The chief usually traveled with at least one other officer, or her deputy chief. This was something she had to handle alone. As she turned off River Drive, she nervously checked her rear-view mirrors. If there was anyone following her, she’d have to abort the meeting she was planning.

Bringing her car to a stop, Amanda waited to see that nobody was watching. The building to her left was where she had to go. With anxious trepidation, Amanda drove toward the rear of the building.

The two cars already there were empty as she parked. Walking carefully to the large overhead door, Amanda’s eyes darted back and forth. As she scoped the area for onlookers or a sniper’s nest, she kept her hands in her pockets, one tightly wrapped around the nine-millimeter she kept.

“It’s about time, Chief Hovind,” a voice echoed through the open, empty shipping building.

A man walked out of the shadows, his hands as hidden as hers were. His curly, long, dark hair framed his face well, making him more attractive than not. The dark shirt and pants were expensive-looking, if not a bit Eurocentric. But overall, he was able to put her at ease despite his sudden appearance.

“I know that you were expecting someone else, but I wanted to meet you myself,” the man explained.

As he stood there, he raised his hand and motioned for someone to come forward. Two others stepped into the light. As the man told them to wait in the car, Amanda felt a cold shiver run down her spine. She could hear herself questioning why she was there. Her inner voice told her she’d gotten herself into something she couldn’t handle. As Amanda gripped her pistol tighter, standing there as the man circled her, even taking a whiff of her hair, she could feel her heart racing in her chest.

“Are you afraid?”

She heard the question. It wasn’t that simple. She felt as nervous now as the first time someone pulled a gun on her. It wasn’t just fear as she stood there. Part of her was angry, and another was ready to panic.

“I thought we agreed that you’d keep a low profile. You were supposed to pick off the least valuable in Bay City, not one of my friends!”

His laugh was ominous. It echoed throughout the old structure, spooking the pigeons out of the rafters. She hated the feeling of helplessness that swelled inside of her. But there was little she could do but cooperate.

“I’m afraid our original arrangement wasn’t working for me,” he told her. “All you should worry about is keeping things off the radar. Can you still do that, or do I need to have someone else fill your shoes?”

The man got right in Amanda’s face, flashing her his wicked smile and crazy looking eyes that were like pure black pits of nothingness. She jerked backwards, startled as he appeared so close to her. As he grabbed her by the upper arms, holding her in place, he repeated the question.

“Do I have to have you replaced?”

She stuttered, “No, you can trust me.”

“Good,” the low bass voice echoed. “And can you get your people under control?

Amanda choked back a slight whimper. She knew she couldn’t stop the investigation. Nor did she want to. Even now, as she was facing her friend’s killer, she was trying to figure out a way to escape from his hold. She wanted Jonas to find him. She knew what Jonas would do. And then, it would all be over. She’d finally be free.

“You killed a citizen, not just a homeless person, or an addict, but someone wanted in the world. There’s nothing I can do but let the investigation play out. If I interfered, there would be too many questions,” she explained.

As he walked around her, holding his hand to his chin with his arms crossed, the strange man smiled. This was all too familiar to him. And after seeing Jonas Quinn and Danny Stevens at the scene on the north end of town, he knew what Jonas was. Pointing his finger at Amanda, he questioned how the hunter was assigned to the case.

“It’s part of the regular rotation,” she lied. “There’s nothing I can do about that.”

He demanded to know if she had any connection with either officer. Amanda shook her head. She couldn’t admit anything. It would empower him to use it against her. He already had enough leverage on her.

“No, other than at work, I don’t have any ties to either detective.”

“Then,” he laughed, “You won’t mind if I am the one left standing. The game is afoot, and I’m just getting comfortable with my new surroundings. The weather is so beautiful, and the people, well, are just delightful.”

She denied it mattered to her. Amanda knew that Jonas could handle himself. He was a soldier and could get the job done. She didn’t know Danny Stevens well enough for him to matter.

“Good, then you’ll bring me everything you have on the hunters,” he told her.

“I can’t do that,” she said. “I can’t give you police intelligence. That’s going to far.”

“You’ll bring me what I want,” he laughed. “Or we’ll be coming to your place for dinner.”

As he said it, he suddenly turned; his face distorted as he rushed toward her. She jerked away, fearing the worst. Amanda pulled her weapon out, but in the blink of an eye, he vanished. As she turned around in circles, her gun in front of her, she heard the other two vehicles speeding away, rocks from the gravelly property hitting the building as they vanished.

To Be Continued…