Part 4 (1/2)

”Hey,” I said, ”Are we done here?”

Clarence and I walked out to my car in the Bon Secour Hospital parking lot. My hand had a small bandage, but unfortunately not so small that I'd be able to get it past my wife without her noticing. That would be another tussle where I'd end up on the losing end.

I insisted on driving, no way was I going to let a minor woodworking accident turn me into an invalid. After we got in and I pulled out onto Jefferson I thought for a moment before speaking. Clarence and I hadn't really had a chance to talk about what happened with my hand bleeding so badly. Now that I was okay, I needed to hear Clarence's side of it.

”So tell me what you saw,” I said.

”At first, nothing,” he said. ”I was fiddling with the radio a lot, trying to find some decent music, but all I kept getting was this synthesized Britney Spears kind of s.h.i.+t. Then I realized I wasn't listening to the radio, but one of your CDs.”

I could feel his eyes on me and I visibly squirmed. ”I was just making sure it was acceptable for my daughters.” G.o.d, I hated being busted.

Clarence ignored me and said, ”So I finally found a decent country station and laid back and closed my eyes, thought about Jesse.”

”Which explains why you didn't see or hear anything.”

”And then I don't know why, but I sat up and looked over and I thought I saw some shadows moving inside. I mean, it was still dark in there so I couldn't really tell. But even so, it seemed like there were two shadows.”

”So you came to investigate.”

”I turned off the radio and heard a saw. And I thought what the f.u.c.k is he doing? Building a coffee table in the dark? And it kind of p.i.s.sed me off, that you would feel like you could just turn on one of Jesse's saws. Those things are personal to a craftsman.”

”So you...”

”So I walked in thinking you had b.u.mped up against one of the machines and probably couldn't figure out how to turn it off.”

”Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

”Hey, no offense, but you don't seem like the handy type.”

I let that one go and said, ”So you turned on the light.”

”And the guy was already through the window because I guess he heard me come in through the door. I didn't see anything but blue jeans, a leather jacket and a ski mask.”

I nodded and waited.

”I would have called the cops right away, but I figured we weren't supposed to be there in the first place. I didn't want to get either one of us in trouble.”

He had a funny look on his face and I knew what was coming next before he even said it.

”It was Hornsby. I know it was him.”

”But you didn't get a good look,” I said.

”It was him. I've met him. Same build. Same movement.”

”Was he wearing a ski mask the last time you saw him?”

Clarence didn't say anything to that, but I knew he would claim it was Hornsby. My attacker could have been a black Parisian midget and Clarence would have somehow argued it was Horsnby.

We rode in silence as I drove toward Clarence's house. I wanted to believe him, but Jesus Christ. I practically get my hand turned into a dovetail joint and Clarence had no idea anything was going on? Pretty convenient that he had his eyes closed and the radio on. See no evil, hear no evil. I imagined a scenario in which Clarence made a call to someone to come and rough me up. But that was paranoia. Why would he do that? Why would he hire me and then have someone turn me into the standard shop teacher with a missing digit or two?

”What now?” Clarence said.

I pulled into his driveway to let him out.

”Well,” I said, ”A crime was committed and I guess I have to report it to the police.”

”And then what?”

”Then I talk to Nevada Hornsby.”

There are three main roads from Detroit that cross the Alter border into Grosse Pointe. They are Jefferson, Kercheval and Mack. There used to be a rumor that at those three main intersections a Grosse Pointe cop car could always be found, idling, waiting for any Detroiter, most likely with dark skin, to come across the line. At which point, the Grosse Pointe cops would spring into action.

If it ever was true, it certainly isn't any longer. However, the Grosse Pointe police station, for the part of Grosse Pointe known as the Park, is located just off of Alter on Jefferson, one of the main intersections between the two disparate communities. Certainly, a Detroiter would think twice about ambling across the city line on a path that would take him or her directly in front of the cop shop.

I'm sure the location of police headquarters is just a coincidence. Honestly.

Like just about everything else in Grosse Pointe, police headquarters is very clean. The building itself is made of brick that fits nicely into the surrounding architectural style. Inside, the carpet is immaculate, modern desks free of clutter, and a squad room that smells more like a bank than a home to cops.

Every time I came back, which was quite often, I couldn't help but think of my first day on the force so many years ago. The offices had changed a little, new carpet and paint, different desks, the layout of offices and cubicles had all been changed. But it was the same place. It wasn't as terrifying to me now as it was back then, when I was a rookie fresh from the Michigan Police Academy on his first a.s.signment. Back then, I was sweating beneath the dark blue uniform, my palms slick with nervousness as I shook hands with my new co-workers. My brothers in blue.

It's funny in retrospect. How, when you're nervous, you tell yourself that you're making too big a deal out of whatever's causing your anxiety. You imagine a worst-case scenario and then imagine that it will never get that bad.

It's funny and it's not. Because looking back, I had no idea just how right my fears would turn out to be. And in fact, I hadn't been exaggerating. The truth was that at the time I was grossly underestimating just how f.u.c.ked-up everything would become. I'd lowballed it in a way I could never have conceived.

Now, I walked to the front desk and saw Suzy Wilkins, the receptionist. She was in her mid-forties, a clear, strong face with hair that was shot through with gray. But the steel in her eyes had a way of discouraging any bulls.h.i.+t. Always a good trait in a police department receptionist.

”The Chief in?” I asked.

She nodded, the telephone headset emitting the sound of someone on the other end of the line. She fingered the buzzer beneath the top of her desk and a deep buzzing sounded as the main door into the squad room unlatched. I walked through the metal reinforced doorway and down the hall. There were framed pictures of the department's officers on the walls, most with commendations for public service, a few for awards. The Chief was pictured in many of the stories and articles, a look of proud stoicism that I knew very well. The Chief wasn't the Chief when I started on the force. That happened a few years after the murder of a certain young man.

I pa.s.sed a couple of patrol cops in the hallway. We nodded our h.e.l.los. It was always a tad awkward. I used to be one of them, but not anymore. They all knew me, knew my story. The most important being the fact that I had left the force in disgrace. Something they were embarra.s.sed about, and really didn't want to be a.s.sociated with. Hey, who could blame them? Certainly not me.

I got to the end of the hallway, in the southwest corner of the building, to the Chief's office. I peeked in, saw Grosse Pointe's top cop talking on the phone. The office was big and well ordered. A large oak desk sat along the far wall. A bookshelf ran below the windows facing Jefferson Avenue. Two visitor's chairs faced the desk. On the wall behind the desk were pictures of the Chief winning awards, honors and even a few marksmans.h.i.+p awards. There was also a picture of the family on a low shelf. Nice family. The happy husband and wife, two young sons and the youngest, a daughter. They were three, five and seven. All s.p.a.ced sequentially, all products of planned pa.s.sion. The Chief never did anything half-a.s.sed or unorganized. And that applied to procreating.

I sat in one of the chairs and watched the Chief talk on the phone. The voice was always cool and authoritative. Clipped words with precise questions. I had no idea if the conversation was with a convicted felon turned informant, or one of the kids. You could never tell.

Our eyes met, but as usual, the Chief was wearing a game face. No emotions conveyed, not even a recognition of my presence. It's how it worked in the big office. No quarter offered, none given.

Finally the Chief put down the phone and looked at me.

”What's up?” she asked.

”Does something have to be up for me to drop by?”