Purgatory Blues (2013), page 19
He got out a bunch of paper bags from the kitchen cupboard, filled one with four hundred thousand for Sharon, a hundred thousand each for Dennis, Eddie and himself…and lastly, put the remainder in a paper bag for Jack. He took five grand from his paper bag for use throughout the week and then placed everything into the gym bag along with one half kilo of uncut cocaine before preparing to leave for the day.
It was time to find transportation. He dug around in a little bowl next to the front door, looking for the keys to the second garage and Elsa’s Audi A3. The registration had probably expired and he didn’t even know if it was insured anymore, but he considered those problems to be secondary compared to the fact that there wasn’t a chance in hell that it would start after being left alone for so long.
When he found the keys he went down to the garage and found that it was full of cobwebs. The vehicle however, was under a custom fitted dust cover. He ripped off the cover and attempted to start the car. Just as he’d predicted, it was dead. He opened the hood and checked the battery model number.
Back upstairs in his apartment he found the number of a little store that sold car batteries. They were very near to him, just a little down the road. It was one of the benefits of living so close to the city. He could’ve walked there and back but not while carrying the battery. He called them and asked if they could deliver one in five minutes for an extra fifteen percent. They arrived in four.
Andy changed the battery by himself and the car started on the first try. His first stop would be the Stockton police station to report the theft of his BMW. He dropped his phone in to the dock, put on some “Neurosis” and began the drive.
It took him twenty minutes to reach his destination and when he got there he found the place to be a hive of activity. Officers were huddled in groups everywhere, all of them deep in conversation. Andy made his way through the crowd to the reception and came to another two officers behind their counter talking to one another.
“What’s going on?” Andy asked casually.
The officer didn’t say anything. Instead, he merely nodded towards the television behind Andy and went back to his discussion. Andy turned to see what all the fuss was about. The local news channel was on and they were replaying footage from earlier in the day. It was Lee and the rest of his unit being led out of their headquarters in handcuffs. The anchorman recounted a story that Lee’s elite, handpicked unit was being accused of operating a death squad and working outside the confines of the law.
The shock hit Andy like a bucket of cold water. He knew that none of it could be true. He’d known Lee for years and if there was one thing he could be certain of, it was that Lee had boundaries and he believed in the system. There were few men in the world that Andy spoke of as truly honorable and Lee was amongst them. Andy turned back to the two officers, “this is bullshit, where are they now? Are they out on bail?”
“We don’t know yet”, said the officer, irritated with the distraction and resuming his conversation. “You think you know somebody huh?” The second officer said as he watched the television. To Andy, it sounded like they’d already found Lee guilty. It didn’t surprise him anymore how people lower on the career ladder became rabid dogs when the chance to tear down those above them came along. “So much for loyalty”.
“I need to file a report, my car was stolen”, Andy said impatiently.
The first officer absently pointed in the general direction that Andy should go. It took a little longer than he’d expected to get the job done, owing to the constant interruptions from all the officers in disbelief of the news report and them all stopping each other to share gossip about it. He was able to get through the ordeal in under an hour, which was considerably longer than he’d anticipated.
Andy gleaned nothing useful from what he overheard in their exchanges. When the report was finally done he decided his next stop would be to see Sharon at the Sink. It wasn’t much of a drive from where he was and he’d arrived in just a few minutes. He grabbed the paper bag with her money in it and made his way to the entrance.
When he neared the door he heard the familiar buzz of the gate unlocking. Only Sharon was behind the counter. Andy surmised that Jen was probably attending lectures at the university. There was one solitary customer sitting at the bar, a fat, surly looking construction worker type. A beer and a shot waited for Andy on the counter by the time he walked up to it.
“Little early in the day for you isn’t it?” Sharon asked with a big smile, seeming energized by Andy’s appearance.
“Pretend I said something about birds and worms”, Andy replied.
“That’s not the kind of tequila that comes with a worm”, she said as Andy downed his shot.
“Agave worms, you know they’re said to be an aphrodisiac”, Andy said playfully.
“Maybe I’ll see if I can scare up a bottle”.
“I don’t know, you think we need it?”
“Hey, this jerk your boyfriend Liz?” The bar patron interrupted.
Andy turned to face him with his most penetrating stare, “what about it fat man?” he asked.
The bar patron smiled at Andy before Sharon jumped in, “don’t mind Colin”, she said, “he’s just teasing. Aren’t you Colin?”
“Colin Jones”, the bar patron said, offering Andy his hand.
“Andy Maureau”, Andy replied, shaking Colin’s hand.
Just then, Andy’s phone buzzed in his pocket, he pulled it out and saw that it was a message from Dennis. It said that Jack had returned and wanted to sit down with them. Andy replied that he’d be there within the hour.
“Hey”, Andy called to Sharon, “can I see you in the office for a minute? It’s business”, he said, tapping the paper bag.
“Sure”, she answered, opening the counter door. “You gonna be okay here for a minute?” She asked Colin.
“Yep”, Colin replied, raising his glass to her.
Andy followed Sharon into the office and as soon as the door closed behind him, she pushed him up against it and pulled in to him. It seemed like she was all hands, going at him like she hadn’t seen him in weeks. She’d just started to undo his belt when Andy managed to hold her firmly enough to move her off of him, “no”, he managed to say in between kisses.
“What?!” She asked, breathing heavily.
“I really did mean business”, he said, showing her the paper bag.
“You brought your lunch with you?” She looked confused and Andy could guess that she still had only one thing on her mind.
“Just open the bag”, he said with a smirk.
Sharon took the bag from him and set it down on the desk.
“Before you open that”, Andy said and stopped her, “there’s two things. You can’t ask where I got it, and you can never tell anyone who gave it to you”.
Sharon paused and looked at him suspiciously, “there’s not like, a severed head or anything in here right?”
“No. Did it feel like a severed head when you held it just now?” he asked impatiently.
“Well I don’t know”, she said, emphasizing each word. “I’ve never had one in a paper bag before!” She shook the bag before continuing. “Maybe you put it in a box and then put it in the bag!”
“Just open it already!” Andy said, raising his voice slightly.
“Okay!” She shouted back.
Sharon opened the bag and stood looking at it slack jawed for a few seconds before she began digging through it to see if the stack was real all the way down. “Oh my god! Oh my god! How much is in here?” She asked hurriedly.
“Should be exactly four hundred grand”, Andy said calmly.
“Where did you…”
Andy cut her off instantly, “I told you, you can’t ask where”.
“I can’t take this Andy”, she said nervously. “This thing with the bar is my problem. It’s got nothing to do with you, what happened yesterday…” Sharon faltered looking for the right words, “I didn’t mean that you should do this”.
“Hey”, Andy said as he took her hand, “your problems are my problems. They’re our problems”.
“I can’t just take this without knowing anything about it”.
“Well I can’t give it back so if you don’t use it, it’s really just going to go to waste”, Andy said candidly.
She stood there holding his hand, staring at the paper bag, and ever so slowly, she took a step back. She waited a moment…then using her free hand she reached over and pulled at the top of the bag, checking to see if the money was still there. Satisfied that it was, she let go of the bag and returned to her previous position. She tried to hold back the smile that was tearing at her lips.
“Trust me”, Andy said.
Sharon erupted into joyful laughter and began planting kisses all over Andy’s face as she squealed with glee. She jumped up on to Andy, wrapping her thighs around him. His back was against the door yet again and the kissing continued.
“Baby”, she said in between her heavy breathing.
“Mmhmm?” Andy answered.
“How can I show you how much I love you?”
Andy was about to answer but she had his lower lip between her teeth. He managed to pull free and replied, “believe me, I want to tell you, but I really have to go”.
“Right now?” She asked, sliding her hand down his pants.
“Uh huh, right now”, he said, wishing that he didn’t have to.
She pulled her hand out and was about to take off his shirt but Andy held both her hands, kissed her once more and said, “I really, really have to go. I’ve got to go to a meeting, but I’ll see you tonight okay?”
“You promise?” She asked before she went for his lips again.
“Promise”, Andy said and gave her one last kiss.
He opened the door and she followed him out holding his hand. He needed to shake off what had just happened or he knew he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything except his thoughts of Sharon…and all the things he wanted to do to her. He grabbed his beer from the bar and downed it in one go…something to cool down his blood.
He slammed the empty bottle down on the bar, gave Sharon a last kiss on the cheek and opened the counter door.
“I love you”, Sharon said to him as he let go of her hand.
“I know”, Andy said and winked at her. “I’ll see you tonight”.
“You’d better!” She called to him as she buzzed him out.
Once outside, Andy felt the tension of denying sexual release. He got in to the car and hoped some music would calm him down. He put on the “Shrinebuilder” album and began the short drive.
He wondered what Jack’s reaction would be to the entire episode. All he could hope for was that Jack would look at the bigger picture and consider the outcome a win. Unfortunately, when it came to Jack, Andy never had all the answers. Jack was unpredictable. There was a reason why he was the president of the club. He tended to look at things from a different perspective than Andy.
Along the way Andy stopped to give himself a little bump of cocaine before he reached the Reapers headquarters, more out of habit than any other reason. When he pulled in to the MC’s parking lot he saw Dennis and Eddie’s bikes outside, newly sprayed. He parked along side them and as he got out of the car, Dennis was there to greet him.
“The bikes look good”, Andy said and gave Dennis a pat on the shoulder.
“Yeah, they’re not too bad, Eddie’s inside having a drink with Jack. You ready to do this?” Dennis asked cautiously.
“Sure, let’s go”, said Andy, sounding a little too cavalier for Dennis.
They walked in to the clubhouse together and found Jack having a chat with Eddie which looked to be more serious than not. They were sitting at a table away from the bar, deep in conversation.
“Let’s give them a minute”, Dennis said to Andy.
Andy used the opportunity to pour himself a full glass of whiskey. He’d been without serious alcohol for too long and the cocaine made his brain cry out for it. He offered Dennis a glass but he declined with a scowl.
“How’s the arm feeling?” Andy asked.
“I got shot jerk-off, I feel fucking fantastic. How do you think it is?” Dennis answered with brute sarcasm. He was offended that Andy wasn’t taking the day seriously and was still drinking.
“I was just asking you Stacy. No need to get your panties in a bunch”, Andy replied with uncharacteristic flippancy.
“What the fuck’s wrong with you?” Dennis asked through squinty eyes and a frown.
“I was fucking your mom last night but she couldn’t get me off”. Andy finished his whiskey and slammed the glass on the counter. “I’ll be back in a second”, he said to Dennis and left.
Andy went outside and got what was left of the money from the car. When he came back inside he saw that Jack was finishing with Eddie. He had his arm on Eddie’s shoulder and Eddie was nodding to whatever Jack was telling him. Jack gave Eddie a fist bump and they both stood up together.
Jack looked over in Andy’s direction and motioned with his head towards the member’s council room. “Let’s go”, he said. Andy couldn’t read him at all and it would have made him more than a little nervous if not for his highly intoxicated state of mind. They all filed into the room and Jack took his place at the head of the table behind the gavel. Dennis and Eddie sat on either side of him and Andy sat to the right of Dennis.
“Okay”, Jack said, “last night, tell me”.
Andy proceeded to tell Jack the entire story, leaving nothing out. He started with his morning at the Firk and the two Nigerians that they’d tussled with. He went on to the young man at Sink that he’d caught with the brown powder and how he’d gotten the description of the man who’d sold it to him. He explained that he’d asked Lee to identify the substance and also mentioned Lee’s message to Jack.
After that he went on to how he’d spotted the buy and noticed the red cap on the dealer. He told Jack that he’d decided to follow him, enlisting Dennis and Eddie to help him purely out of circumstance.
Finally Andy told Jack why he’d decided that they should strike at precisely that moment. He recounted the event in precise detail, explaining his motivations and how he’d dealt with the two bodies as well as how he’d covered their tracks.
Jack simply nodded his understanding at each point of the story without interrupting. When Andy was done he pushed the respective paper bags to everyone at the table.
“That’s the whole story”, Andy said at last.
Jack nodded once more, stroking his light beard in thought. “Anybody want to add anything to that?” he asked, addressing everyone at the table.
“That’s exactly how it happened, nothing I can add is going to change the story”, Dennis said.
“Yeah”, Eddie added, “that’s how it happened”.
“Okay, give us the room boys”, said Jack, glaring at Andy.
Dennis and Eddie looked at each other…then stood and picked up their bags of money.
“The money stays”, Jack said calmly, “it goes in the pot and everyone takes a cut”.
Eddie and Dennis didn’t say a word. They left the bags on the table and walked out silently. When they’d closed the door behind them the room was as quiet as a tomb. Jack stared at Andy, still stroking his beard, burning a hole through Andy with his eyes.
“Can you tell me”, Jack said softly, “exactly what the FUCK you think you were doing last night?!” He exploded with rage as he finished the sentence, hurling the bag of money at Andy and hitting him in the face with it. It ripped open as he threw it, spilling money everywhere.
Andy stood immediately and pointed at Jack, “hey, I did what had to be done!” He shouted back.
Jack pounced at Andy, grabbing him by the collar with his left and cocking his right fist, “shut the fuck up!” He shouted back. He completely overpowered Andy and had him defenseless with his back against the table. He was fuming with anger and had to hold himself back twice from throwing the punch before he finally pulled Andy up from the table and shoved him back into his seat.
“You don’t even realize what you’ve done do you?” Jack asked as he walked away. He stood behind his chair holding his head, trying his best to calm down.
“Fine, tell me what I did”, Andy said, sounding like a stubborn child.
Jack took a deep breath and began explaining. “The cartel bribes government officials to run their operations, you know that already. Lee was heading up an independent unit outside official channels to weed out the corruption and take down the cartel. Obviously the people taking the bribes don’t like this. Every time he takes down a dealer, someone’s pocket gets lighter. That stunt of yours last night gave them the perfect setup to plant some fake evidence and pin the takedown on Lee and his team. It probably won’t stick because we know it’s not true, but that doesn’t matter. They’re going to be tied up in court for the next eight months or more. The pressure is off the dealers and the cartels, so now they’ve got enough time to regroup, consolidate and come back stronger. You fucked your own team you dumb bastard!”
“How the fuck was I supposed to know that!” Andy said defensively.
“You’re not supposed to know you stupid fuck! I’m supposed to know!”
Andy didn’t know what to say, he was wrong and there was nothing he could do to fix his mistake, they were both silent for a moment until finally he asked, “so what do we do now?”
“We don’t tell anyone for starters. I suppose if you didn’t fuck things up last night they’d have trumped up something else to pin on him. Just keep your head down and pretend it never happened”.
Andy paused for a second. It was like being disciplined by your older brother. “Fine, but what about that message that Lee sent? About getting the house in order?”
“Things have been slipping by us for a while. Lee thought that maybe somebody’s been bought inside the club. That’s why I took some of the boys on a road trip to visit our chapter to the north, to see if I could weed the fucker out. It’s not one of them”, Jack said, seeming a little calmer.
