Chapter 4 #2
“All good,” he told her.
“Are you sure about that?” she replied. “Seemed something was up.”
“They’re doing research on one of the locals, somebody of interest.”
“So, who the heck is this mysterious they you’re always talking about?”
“Levi and his band of misfit geniuses.”
“Ah. That clears it up,” she flippantly responded. They were still just names to her.
“According to Anderson, this local is some politician, kind of a legend in these parts.”
“Oh, you’re talking about Colbert then,” she replied.
He frowned at her and slowly nodded. “Yes, I am talking about Colbert,” he confirmed.
“Yeah, the jury seems to be out on whether he’s good or bad,” she shared cheerfully, “and yet nobody seems to care that he’s just operating in the background.”
“Right?” he noted, shaking his head. “Have you ever had him in here?”
“Sure,” she replied. “Once or twice. He’s had”—she frowned—“I think he had some heart work done a while back.” She was quick to add, “I’m not sharing personal medical history here either. With him being a politician, he’s supposedly shared that to the public.”
“He’s not that old, is he?”
“Nope.” She frowned again. “I also seem to remember some Good Samaritan story where he came in with somebody who had been physically beaten or something, maybe an accident. I don’t remember,” she muttered.
“Anyway, he stayed at their side the whole time, but it was obvious he was really, really angry about something.”
“So, he wasn’t the patient then?”
“I can’t say for sure. I just remember that whatever it was, he was very angry, and that’s probably the only reason I remember it at all. Yeah, he was so very angry.”
“Interesting,” he muttered. “Makes you wonder.” He was already typing a text to someone.
“As far as I know, he’s not in any kind of trouble—unless you’re telling me that he is.”
“Nope, not telling you anything like that yet,” he told her, with a smile. “It’s just that his name keeps coming up all over the places we look. So I’ll have the research team look into these hospital visits as well.”
“Well, he was involved with all kinds of things at one time, at least according to all the rumors and the propaganda,” she clarified, with an eye roll, “considering he’s on a political kick.
There have always been stories about him, but more recently it’s been how he got to where he is and how hard he worked to turn around his life and all that good stuff.
I don’t know how much truth there is to any of it. ”
“Good point,” he noted. “I had heard something about him having a record.”
“Yeah, he was involved in some gang activity when he was young, if memory serves.” She shrugged. “I really try not to pay too much attention to that kind of crap. Personally, I would like to see people start being nice to each other and not ending up in the hospital.”
“You don’t work in the ER very often, do you?”
“Not anymore,” she stated, still with a smile. “I used to be there full-time, but I got burned out there. Now I’m only there if they need help because it’s so busy or they are short-handed.”
Burton watched as Sammy left yet again.
What she had shared matched up. Colbert was apparently pleasant, amiable, easy to get along with, and, in a way, that just made him even more dangerous because it gave him a persona that people in general would never worry about.
The potential for gang relations was also interesting, as to whether he was truly in or out.
Gangs were generally pretty unforgiving, but Roger Colbert was running around, playing out in the open. So, if he was so open in his dealings, without any thoughts for repercussions, then whose side was he really on?
Burton had to ponder that. Should he—or the next new guy coming in to help—go undercover? It was definitely a possibility, and that would provide them with all sorts of insider access.
Could Colbert have made an arrangement to stay in the gang but get himself involved with politics too?
That was also a plausible explanation. Burton figured it was probably quite doable.
Plus, the man was obviously smart and working very hard at being well-loved and respected.
That went a long way with the community.
And, if he kept up any kind of gang activities, he might be able to balance it out, but how?
It didn’t seem like Colbert could really be involved in local street gang activities. It seemed to be so much higher than that. Organized crime? That was just a step-up kind of thing, so maybe it was more about that than involving himself in anything at the local level.
Either way, if Colbert was involved in this, he had covered his tracks remarkably well, plus had a good system in place to keep himself looking clean.
Yet still keeping everything flowing in the direction he wanted it to go revealed an awful lot about how this Colbert guy worked.
Burton wondered if he could do something more in terms of getting that level of information, which could help too.
Yet, so far, everybody he’d talked to about Mr. Colbert had had the same kind of reaction as Sammy did, which was interesting.
He sat back down on the hallway chair. When a man in a black suit walked up to him and sat down beside him, Burton looked over at him.
The man watched Burton with a questioning gaze.
Burton asked, “Sorry, did you say something?”
The man replied, “Not yet, but I’m just trying to figure out why you’re here.” He continued to stare at him, but something was in that gaze.
Burton smiled. “I’m just here to visit. You?”
“Uh-huh, me too.”
“Sent by Mr. Colbert by any chance?” Burton asked, a smile on his face. He was sick of the long games, so sometimes he just wanted to see what would happen. This was one of those times, and, seeing this man’s face, Burton wanted to do something, anything, to move this thing along.
Immediately the other man stiffened and glared at him.
“Yeah, that’s what I wondered.” Burton nodded. “See? Takes a much smarter man to make sure this goes in the direction he wants,” he stated, staring at the stranger.
“What are you talking about? I am here visiting someone. And what’s this about Mr. Cobe? I don’t know any Cobert.”
Burton laughed. “It’s Colbert, with an L, but nice try.”
The other man stared at him for a long moment, then replied, “Some people get cocky and think that they know everything—actually assume that people give a shit about who they are and where they’re going in life.
Sometimes there is nothing at all to see.
Yet they think they know everything, but they don’t know jack. ”
“Then there are other people,” Burton countered, “who assume that just because the people around them don’t know what’s happening, … that no one else knows either. Smoke and mirrors, right? If that is how you want to play it, that’s fine. I’ve been known to play a bit myself from time to time.”
Silence came for a moment. Then the stranger looked him square in the face and nodded. “If you want your sister to stay alive, time for you to back off.”
“Is that a threat?” Burton asked.
“It’s a warning.”
“I get it. Someone’s getting nervous, and that’s totally understandable.”
“You are out of your depth.”
He smiled at him, nodding. “Meaning, too many questions about Colbert’s background?”
The other man’s face tensed. “This is your only warning. Remember that.” Then he got up and, moving quickly, headed down the stairwell.