Chapter 09: Blood Money

Warm hands wrapped around Gavin’s middle as he quietly worked in the garage. Taking a deep breath, he gently rubbed Alexa’s soft skin and felt her head rest against his shoulder. “You alright, Babe?” he asked stealing a glance behind him.

“Yeah,” she sighed before slipping around to look him in the eyes. “Sorry about last night.”

“Nah it’s ok. I sorta figured you fell asleep where I’d left you in Curt’s room. How’s he doing by the way?”

“Alright, I guess. The local police have agreed to put a full guard detail on him until he’s released.”

“And when is that?”

“Not sure. Maybe Tuesday? His doctor wants to give his wounds a little while to heal and to make sure he’s safe from clotting. He’s not taking their advice and staying in bed so it’s prolonging the process.” Alexa hopped up on the table beside Gavin’s workspace as he took a seat. “How was your evening?”

“Productive.”

“Yeah? What are you working on?”

“Detective Fuller’s case files. I found it a little off that a few of his last reports seemed to just end without a formal closing or signature line. And that’s when I realized some of the pages were missing.”

“Wait what?” Alexa asked in surprise.

“Oh yeah. It was one of the reasons I called last night. I got in touch with his widow. She emailed me copies of all of his personal files and case notes and I found something.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Here, take a look. I was going through his records for the past year to see if there were any red flags that would lead us back to my dad’s office or the mayor’s. Fuller was looking into departmental corruption that he thought may have been linked to Commissioner Knight’s death and that’s when I saw this: it’s a report filed by an independent auditor concerning the mayor’s attempts to block the release of personnel files and disciplinary records.”

“That’s not totally surprising. By the State’s Civil Rights Law, Section 50-A, Part 279.103, those records are supposed to remain confidential unless officially requested by said employee or under decree by a national body.” Gavin’s eyes narrowed on his wife’s face and Alexa shrugged. “You do remember I used to be a lawyer.”

“Yeah but, not a real one,” he remarked.

“Meh. I still studied the material and took the state exam. Couldn’t fake it to make it,” she asserted with a smile.

“Well anyway, according to this information, efforts were being made to overhaul the law as the city demanded complete transparency and public accountability. But get this: Commissioner Knight is the one who initiated the investigation. He somehow learned about the mayor’s involvement with the local gangs and was working to get her booted from office.”

“Wow. So, you’ve found the motive for his death. This is really great work.”

“Thank you, I know,” Gavin smirked.

“And who said you were only a great ass in a nice pair of jeans?”

“Obviously someone with an amazing eye for beauty,” he replied, wriggling his eyebrows. He paused and studied Alexa’s face as she read over the data he’d uncovered. “You know, none of this stuff is going to matter if we can’t prove any of it right?”

“Yeah, I know. I’m working on it,” she said, still focused on the folder in her hand.

“And?”

“And the only thing I keep coming back to, short of getting Mayor McLintock to confess, is destroying her cover story,” Alexa replied.

“And how do you plan on doing that?”

“Hmm…a field trip? Care to take a drive?”

Glancing at his cell, Gavin calculated how much time they had before Willow was out of school and nodded. “I’m game.”

Rockford State Penitentiary, an hour-long drive, was situated on the outskirts of New Hope. Ironic name as it signified the end for most of its residents. Surrounded on three sides by water and four 6” thick double-paneled reinforced concrete walls, there was nothing else to do but stare at them. The prison gate, too, was a sight to behold. Standing approximately fourteen feet high, it was a menacing, grey mass of steel beams and mesh, topped by razor wire. There was no beauty in the design—only brutal efficiency. The only color in sight was on the warning signage—all else was bleak.

Similarly, outside of its sizable frame the sun seemed brighter. Grass grew taller and appeared a different shade of green than that which ran beneath the enclosure, smiling contemptuously to those locked within. All life seemed to end once the heavy metal gate bolted shut behind them.

Alexa and Gavin waited in the dimly lit interview room for the guard to return. When the door again opened, Michael West was ushered inside and handcuffed to a secure, metal ring in the center of the table. “Ten minutes,” the guard announced before exiting.

The grey of the table’s metallic paint was diffuse and stippled, like sun on a storm cloud. Michael ran his hands over the surface, silent, face unreadable. Alexa and Gavin took seats in front of him, taking a gander over his outward appearance. He had changed quite a bit from the intake photo she had seen. He wasn’t the same gaunt, undersized man who had first been incarcerated. He was more filled out; brawny and rougher around the edges. It had only been a year.

“Thank you for agreeing to speak with us,” Alexa said, shattering the silence. “I am hoping…”

“What can you offer me?” Michael interrupted. His umber brown eyes moving up to hers.

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s not play games here, alright? I know you’re here for information. Information I have. Proof, I can provide. But I need to know what I’m getting out of this before I agree to anything.”

“You mean besides your freedom?”

Michael’s eyes glistened and he closed them briefly before resuming his glare. “What freedom? You think I’d be free after giving you what you want? We both know what’s going on here. We both know there is no freedom with these people. They take what they want. They do what they want and get away with treating others like garbage. I was set up. I’m not supposed to be here.”

“You took their money, Michael. All three million of it.”

“Yeah. AFTER they’d thrown me in here. They wanted to shut me up. To keep me from appealing this shitty sentence they’d handed me. I was a two-strike loser with no ambition for anything. My life was going nowhere, I’ll admit that. But they promised me that the judge would be lenient. That he’d give me a reduced sentence and I’d be out in two years. After the ink dried on the check, the sentence was handed down. Life. Without the possibility of parole for a murder I didn’t do!”

“I know. And I need your help proving that. The people responsible need to pay for this. Yours is not the only life that was ruined, Michael.”

“Ruined,” he scoffed. “That’s putting it mildly. After three months my wife stopped visiting, wouldn’t write me and refused my phone calls. I found out from my brother she ran off with my best friend, took the kids and the money! And I’m stuck in here with nothing!”

“So, tell me then, what do you want? What can I give you to gain your cooperation?” Alexa asked, leaning forward to peer deeper into the man’s eyes.

“Revenge,” he declared. Narrowing his gaze at Alexa, Michael spoke clearly, his conviction growing stronger with every word. “I want their lives ruined. I want them publicly humiliated and arrested. I want these people to suffer as much as I have. To lose EVERYTHING like I have.” 

“Done!”