Chapter 85
I WENT BACK to sleep but woke up early the next morning with an uneasy feeling.
I’d be lying if I said the call from the FBI hadn’t bothered me.
There was something about Arjan Marku’s erratic behavior that made the idea of him trying to pursue some kind of revenge plausible.
Still, I was grateful for the heads-up. I just hoped it wasn’t going to make me paranoid.
Most cops faced threats at some point in their career.
Not just the day-to-day threats of being shot on the job or knifed during a domestic dispute but threats of violence in retaliation for merely doing their job, which was something people in most other professions never had to contemplate.
Luckily, most of the criminals and lowlife types who made those kinds of threats didn’t have the wherewithal to follow through on them.
The tightrope we cops had to walk involved alerting our families to the potential threats without scaring them.
Especially younger kids. So that morning, in between doling out breakfast and helping the kids get their stuff together for school, I had a quick sit-down in the kitchen with Mary Catherine, Brian, and Juliana.
I would’ve also included Jane, who was very mature for her seventeen years, but she had already left for debate prep.
The four of us met like a secret cabal planning to overthrow a government. I texted each of them a photo of Marku and provided a quick description.
Mary Catherine said, “This is the man who was causing Rob Trilling’s family so much trouble in Montana, right?”
I nodded.
Juliana asked, “Is he a danger to Rob too?”
“I’d have to say he’s a danger to society in general. Rob has proven that he can take care of himself. The FBI tipped me off that Marku might be in New York, and they’re worried he’s coming here for only one reason. Now the question is, what do we want to do about it?”
Brian deftly stiff-armed the swinging door to the kitchen as one of the other kids tried to come in through it.
I heard Ricky say, “Hey!”
I raised my voice and said through the closed door, “We’ll be out in a minute, Ricky.” I turned back to the others and said, “What do you think? Do we want to place ourselves under government protection again?”
Mary Catherine didn’t hesitate. “Over one nebulous threat? No. I understand why we had to do it before, but the time we spent hiding in California is not the way I want to live my life.”
Both Brian and Juliana agreed, nodding their heads vigorously.
Brian said, “We’ll be careful, Dad. We’ll be alert. But we should stay in Manhattan. Keep things normal for the kids, keep them on their regular school schedule. Me on my work schedule. And Juliana on whatever the hell schedule she keeps.”
Juliana shot back, “I know it’s not as exciting as replacing thermostats, but I have a very busy life and a lot of responsibilities.”
The look she gave Brian reminded me of when they used to bicker as little children. Something about seeing that was both comforting and nostalgic for me. Decisions made, Juliana left to take the kids to school, and I moved on to my next assignment.
I went downstairs to the lobby and spoke to Rodney. I laid out my concerns to the doorman and gave him a photo of Arjan Marku.
“I don’t want you to be a hero or anything, Rodney. Just keep your eyes open.”
The former linebacker smiled and said, “I was once a bouncer at a fight club. No one from California is going to intimidate me.”
“Albania.”
“That either.”
Rodney’s confidence helped settle my nerves until I walked out the front door of our building just as someone dropped a box they were pulling from the back of a truck. I jumped at the sound. When I looked up, a young woman shrugged and said, “Sorry, mister.”
I realized this might be my new normal until we cleared up the whole situation.
I needed to get my head back on straight and focus on the bombing investigation.
We might not have a great lead at the moment, but I was confident that between Maggie Chin, Walter Jackson, and myself, we’d come up with something.