Chapter 33
The fact that she was giving her instructor a ride home should have acted on Odelia as a license to ask him any questions she liked, since the man was her main source on all things theoretical. One of the other students had actually called him a walking encyclopedia, and she was absolutely right.
And yet she felt oddly reticent and hadn’t even asked him a single question. Even though she was a reporter and a civilian consultant with the police department, and asking questions was what she did.
Instead, Zeke filled the time they had together with an endless string of comments on all things she wasn’t even remotely interested in. Like the best places to go clubbing in the state of New York. Where they served the best food, and what wines he loved to drink.
At some point, he started listing all the different food types that had a proven aphrodisiacal effect on people, and she knew that she probably wouldn’t get to ask a single question today. Not when he was clearly interested in other stuff.
“Do you and your partner go out a lot?” she asked instead, since he seemed to be more interested in discussing his private life than the course.
“I don’t have a partner,” he said. “Well, I used to, but I’ve been single for a while now.”
“And no kids?”
“Oh, I’ve got kids. You?”
“Yeah, Chase and I have a daughter. The most amazing little girl in the world. Very enterprising, very curious, and very adventurous.” She smiled. “In fact?—”
“My kid lives with his mother,” said Zeke.
He had placed his feet up on the dash, even though he shouldn’t, since it was dangerous, but since he was a police instructor and she was a mere recruit, she didn’t feel it was her place to comment.
“Got custody awarded to her by the judge, on account of the fact that she accused me of being a bad influence on the kid.”
“Bad influence?”
“Yeah, because I’m a cop. Can you believe it? The judge sided with my kid’s mom, just because his dad is a cop. You can’t make this up.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, and meant it. She couldn’t imagine not seeing Grace every day, or being in her life all the time. “Are you still in touch with your son?”
“Oh, yeah. I see him once a month. That’s the most that the judge would grant me.
And always under supervision from his mom, which is just plain weird.
” He shrugged. “Hey, I take what I can get. And maybe at some point I’ll try and get a different arrangement, but my lawyers tell me that I have to wait at least three years to give it another shot. So I wait.”
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. Suddenly, the topic of conversation had become a little less pleasant.
But then Zeke decided to lighten the mood by listing his favorite movies and asking her to list hers. Since she wasn’t all that interested in movies, she just mentioned the few that she could remember.
“Chase is more the movie buff in our family,” she said apologetically.
“I can imagine,” said her instructor. “Even back in New York, Chase loved to go to the movies. And a different girl every week. That guy was popular.”
Odelia swallowed a lump. She didn’t know all that much about her husband’s time in the NYPD and how he had spent it. And to be honest, she didn’t really want to know.
“Yeah, Chase Kingsley was hot shit,” said Zeke. “They say that sailors have a girl in every port. Well, Chase had a girl in every borough. More than one, probably. Especially back when he was still competing.”
“Competing?”
“He didn’t tell you? Yeah, Chase was a real contender as a bodybuilder.
Spent most of his free time working out and competing in bodybuilding competitions.
Won a lot of prizes, too. He was considering going pro at one point, but in the end he decided against it.
The lure of the badge was more powerful than that of pumping iron. ”
“I guess he made the right choice, as he’s a very good detective.”
“Oh, he would have been a great champion, too. And he probably would have made a lot more money. A whole lot more, especially with all the endorsement deals. If he’d stayed the course, he’d probably be a millionaire by now.
But I guess he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. You know that story, right?”
“Yeah, I know that story,” she said quietly. The story of Chase’s dad and how he was shot in the line of duty had been one of the defining moments in his life. The incident that had made him sign up for the force and try to become the best cop he could be.
“I guess after his dad died, Chase changed. Gone were the late-night parties, the training regimen, and the girls. He became a supercop. To make his daddy proud.”
Odelia didn’t respond. Seemed to her that a sarcastic streak had snuck into the conversation, and she wondered if Zeke wasn’t a little jealous of Chase.
And then, of course, there was that whole mess with the mayor’s wife, and he was out. Lucky for him, his godfather decided to throw him a lifeline, and he ended up washed ashore in Hampton Cove, of all places.”
“And we’re very lucky to have him,” she said. “Especially since the charges against him turned out to have been fabricated.”
“Oh, were they?” asked Zeke.
“Well, of course they were.”
“News to me,” said Zeke with a shrug. “I mean, I heard rumors.”
“What rumors?” she asked, even though she hated the direction the conversation was going.
“Oh, just rumors that Saint Kingsley wasn’t as saintly as he pretended to be.”
“You’re saying that my husband was a crooked cop?”
“I’m not saying anything,” said Zeke, holding up his hands. “Just that there were rumors, that’s all. But then I guess there always are. Especially when a guy as fun-loving and freewheeling as Chase suddenly turns into RoboCop.”
“The death of his father must have caused that, surely?”
“If that’s what you want to believe, then go ahead,” said Zeke. “I’ve heard a different story, but then, like I said, people talk.”
She swallowed. “What was the rumor?”
“Look, I don’t really want to get into all of that. The last thing I want is to cause trouble between yourself and your husband.”
“Just tell me, please.”
He was quiet for a moment, then sighed. “The word around the station was that Chase had been heavily into drugs. That was how he won all those prizes, how he could party all night and still show up for work, put in hours at the gym, and patrol the streets. Then, when his dad died, he decided to clean up his act and get sober. And that was when the people he’d been mixed up with decided to frame him for what happened with the mayor’s wife and get him thrown off the force. ”
“So… you’re saying that Chase used to do drugs?”
“I’m saying Chase used to deal drugs. Big difference. And when he decided he wanted out, he paid the price. He lost his career and ended up washed up in some hick town in the middle of nowhere—a complete and utter failure.”
Odelia would have said she didn’t see Chase as a failure. On the contrary, he had made a great life for himself since his arrival in town. But maybe he didn’t see it like that himself? Maybe he did indeed feel as if his life was a failure?
And if that was true, what did he really think of her? Did he blame her for what his life had become?
Did he feel as if he could have done better and had been forced to settle for second best?
She had to admit that she didn’t like the questions, and she had a feeling that she would like the answers even less.
After she had helped Zeke out of the car and up the stairs to his apartment, she deftly refused his invitation to have a drink at his favorite bar around the corner and left.
The last thing she needed was for her police academy instructor to get handsy with her, something she had a feeling might happen if she allowed the boundaries between their professional relationship and the personal to get blurred.
As she got back in the car, she saw that Zeke had dropped something on the floor of the car. As she picked it up, she saw that it was a badge of some kind. When she opened it, she saw that it was a membership card for the Turbo Heartthrob fan club.
She stared at the thing.
Looked like there was one part of his private life that Zeke hadn’t mentioned. The part where he was an avid fan of the same band Harley Glad had been a fan of.
The band that had gotten Harley killed.
With the killer presumably also being a fan.
Looked like she would have plenty to talk about with Chase that evening.