Chapter Forty

chapter 40
word count: 653

"Bud, I got the background checks you wanted on Stan White and the others." Red's call interrupted Bud Kramer's turbulent daydream.

"I asked for checks? Must have been a mistake. Forget about it." Bud hung up before Red could respond. He might have been, wished he was, anywhere else. In fact, his old desktop looked oddly unfamiliar, as though it belonged to someone else. Was this the price of losing your honor? Detachment from what used to be familiar and loved.



In a storeroom on the other side of town, Janey shivered, not certain if it was from a draft or sheer terror. She'd been alone for a long time. They'd taken away the man who kidnapped her. Now she sat in the dark, bound by rough ropes and deathly afraid. Thoughts of Bud kept her will to survive alive. Surely they would give her some food soon. She could smell cooking aromas coming from somewhere...garlic, spices, bread baking, even coffee. Her mouth watered. If only they would at least turn on a light. Speaking of "they"--she had no idea who "they" were. Her heart pounded like a racing horse again. She'd had palpitations off and on for hours.

With a creak, the heavy door opened and a bundle dropped to the floor. She shrieked at the heap abandoned in the corner. With the dim light, it was nothing more than a gray mound. A gray mound that moved! And it moaned.

"Oh, goddamn!"

A head rose up from the mass. At least it resembled a head. Even in the dim, Jane could see the face nodded with pain to match the ungodly moans. Was it the man who kidnapped her?

"Are you all right?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"Jesus Christ! Do I look all right?"

"I was just asking..."

"A lot of good that does."

"What...what happened to you?" There went her heart again, racing, racing.

"The bastards beat the shit outta me, can't you see that?"

"I guess. It's dark in here."

"Sweetheart, you should be glad. You wouldn't want to see me in good light."

"I guess you're right. I never could stand the sight of blood."

He snorted in return.

Janey studied the sorrowful lump of a man. He certainly didn't seem as dangerous now as when he dragged her screaming from her home. Now he was small, wounded, defenseless, defenseless like her. She relaxed. "Could I ask you something? Why did you kidnap me?"

In the dim light his body went rigid. "It was all about your dear hubby, lady. I needed to control your dear hubby."

"Why?"

"He was getting too close. That's all. He was getting too close."

She and Bud never thought his work would put his family in danger. A medical examiner normally doesn't delve into the violent side of police work. But then, Bud was no normal medical examiner. "Did you commit a crime?"

"YEAH, I COMMITTED A CRIME! Now back off!"

"It must have been a terrible crime. I'm just saying, kidnapping me was an extreme act."

He bolted up. "Are you trying to make me insane?"

"No. Just trying to figure out how I got into this mess, that's all."

"Well, look, little Miss Sweetness and Light, you were nothing more than a pawn in other people's mind games, okay?"

"Okay...So who are the people holding both of us now?"

He was silent for a moment before answering in a husky whisper, "Mafioso."

Her heart took off on the most rambunctious arrhythmias yet. "What?"

"Lady, if I wasn't tied up, I'd get up and pop you one. Are you ever gonna shut up?"

"I'm just saying it looks to me like we are not enemies anymore. We're fellow victims."

"Well, whoopee! You wanna start a club or something?"

"Well, we could help each other. Give each other moral support at least."

"That we should, lady, that we should."