Chapter 18 #2
As he walked toward the front door, pulling it open, Edgar raced to grab it first. “You could at least let me do my job.”
“I could,” Simon conceded, “but I’m also perfectly capable of opening a door.”
“Hey, Simon,” a voice called out from the dusky light outside the door. He turned as Edgar was pushing the door open for him.
“Who are you?” Simon asked the stranger.
He stepped into the light, and Simon recognized the young wannabe welder.
That was no good. “Look at that,” Simon noted, his voice calm, even as his brain locked onto the fact that a handgun was pointed at him—and right behind him was Edgar, who may or may not have seen it.
“You brought an accessory. So nice of you to show up with presents, Stanley—or should I call you Allen?”
Simon also noticed his hands were firmly on the handgun.
“You’re the kid who tried to tell us how you were an experienced welder, but you didn’t even know how to hold the damn stick properly,” he declared, shaking his head.
“The gall of youth completely overcame you, and you wound up looking stupid. But then again, you’re looking pretty stupid now too, aren’t you? ”
“Hell no. My uncle believes in me.”
“Leonard might believe in you, but that doesn’t mean he’ll believe you. And you can bet that this stunt won’t go over very well either.”
“You’re the one who’s going down,” Stanley vowed. “We don’t need shits like you in this world,” he snapped, as he pointed the handgun at Simon and took a step closer. That step closer was his mistake because Simon just smiled and kept him talking.
“I’m afraid your uncle’s getting a rude awakening right now too.” Without warning, Simon lashed out, kicking out his long leg and hitting the handgun, sending it flying into the sky. “So, I would not in any way”—he followed up with a hard right punch to the kid’s jaw—“be talking like that.”
But the kid was no longer talking at all. He had dropped to the ground, completely out cold.
Edgar raced over to Simon, swearing a blue streak. “Oh my God!” he cried out. He checked on the kid who was breathing but obviously not going anywhere.
Simon walked over to the weapon, kicked it up toward Edgar.
“Uh, yeah, I’ve already got the cops coming. But, Jesus Christ, man, that was a hell of a kick.”
He nodded. “Remember how I got caught in a fight on one of Kate’s latest cases? And just as she is brushing up her skills, I decided it was time to brush up on mine,” he shared, turning to him. “So, yeah, good thing I did, huh?”
Edgar stared at him and shook his head. “You know, if that kid had any experience—”
“He would have shot first instead of shooting off his mouth.”
“Do you know why he’s angry at you?”
“Yeah, he’s been shooting his mouth off for a whole lot of reasons and none of them good or true,” he murmured.
“And he was taking a big fall at my hands. I’d already fired him from my company because he applied as a welder, but he didn’t know the first thing about the craft.
Then his uncle hired him at the same investment banking firm where I have a bunch of business loans.
Stanley, our gunman here, apparently recognized my name and started bad-mouthing me to his uncle, who happened to be chairman of the board for the bank, so all kinds of shit started to happen there.
“When I found out who was giving me a hard time, I contacted somebody else on the board—somebody with a whole lot more smarts. So now the kid has been fired from that job too. His uncle is still protesting, saying that his nephew is a good kid and innocent of any wrongdoing, but this should put an end to all that nonsense,” Simon declared, with a nod.
“Sometimes families just don’t want to believe what their relatives have been doing,” Edgar noted.
It took a few more minutes for the cops to arrive. When they did, they took statements from both Simon and Edgar, then quickly picked up the slowly awakening punk, handcuffed him, and took him down to the station.
As they left, one of the officers asked, “Are you okay? Do we need to get you any medical treatment?”
Simon shook his head. “No, I’m fine, but I might come down to the station after all.”
He frowned at him. “No need. We can handle it from here.”
“Oh no, that’s okay. That’s not what I meant. My partner is Kate, … Detective Kate Morgan,” he explained. “I know she’s caught up in a case right now, and I just want to check in with her and be there.”
He stared at him, and one of them even whistled. “Wow.” Then he shrugged. “She’s good people.”
And, with that, they left, but there was no doubt that Kate’s reputation as being a hard-ass would have earned a smile, maybe a chuckle.
Simon turned to Edgar, who nodded and added, “Glad to know she’s getting the respect she deserves.”
Simon shared, “She is good people though.”
Edgar snorted. “She’s still a hard-ass. And you know something?
You just had a really close call,” he pointed out.
“So, if you want to go down to the station and sit at her desk until she’s got a few minutes to spend with you, don’t even second-guess that shit.
Go on. You don’t know when you’ll face a gun again.
And, in this case,” he added, “that kid, he could have shot both of us.”
“I know,” Simon agreed, looking over at him. “You need hazard pay.”
Edgar snorted. “And you know as well as I do that they’ll blame you.”
“It wasn’t me,” Simon argued, with a smile, “but I can see how they might want to blame me.” He shrugged. “We could always move to another building. Sometimes I think about doing that.”
“Don’t do it on my account,” Edgar said. “Ain’t nothing here to chase me away. I’m happy.”
“If you’re happy, we’ll just keep it all quiet then.”
He laughed. “You can’t keep it too quiet. The police will be around, and, hell, management will probably throw a fit.”
“You’re right. I guess we can’t keep it quiet at all.
On the other hand, we also don’t have to make a big deal out of it,” he suggested.
“So, I’ll head down and see where Kate is at by now.
” He stopped and frowned. “I don’t even know that she has her wheels.
I think I dropped her off this morning, but I can’t remember.
” He yawned. “I’ll drive and, uh, we’ll let you know if I’m coming back tonight. ”
“Okay, sounds good. The question is whether you’ll need food.” Edgar laughed, then corrected himself. “What am I saying? Kate will need food. That gal can eat, and she needs it. She’s burning through a ton of calories, so you might want to pick up some sustenance and take it with you.”
He nodded, considering Edgar’s suggestion. “Do you mind putting in an order at the sandwich shop? Some of those hot rolls they have that are all stuffed with meat and veggies and whatnot?” he asked, “I could go for a couple of those myself. I’ll pick them up on my way.”
“How many do you want me to order?”
He thought about it, shrugged, and decided, “A full crew is probably at the station tonight. So, maybe three or four dozen?”
Edgar laughed. “Good enough. You can always bring home the leftovers.”
And, with that, Simon headed to his car, made a side stop, then had to wait a few minutes for the order to be ready. Once he collected it, he drove to the station. He’d spent more time here since he had hooked up with Kate, more than he’d ever spent at a police station in his life.
Maybe that was a good thing. He didn’t know. It just seemed as if so many things in his life had changed. And this was just another example.
As he walked into the station, Lilliana appeared ready to leave. She took one look at him, sniffed the air, then turned around and came back. “What’s the occasion?”
“I just faced another gunman,” he shared, “so I figured maybe I would come see Kate.”
She looked at him, surprised, then walked over and gave him a quick hug. “That’s really sweet. She probably hasn’t really had a moment for you, has she?”
“That’s okay,” he replied. “I figured that the smell would get her here eventually.”
Lilliana burst out laughing and grinned. “You’re right about that.” Then she sniffed the bag and asked, “What are these?”
“There’s a sandwich shop around the corner from me, and they have all kinds of interesting hot sandwiches,” he described.
“I didn’t know how many people would be working tonight.
But I figured that, with what Kate was doing, she wanted this thing solved tonight.
So, I guessed a bunch of people might be here. ”
She turned to eye him, incredulous. “Are you telling me that Kate’s got this thing wrapped up?”
“I didn’t say that,” he clarified. “I just feel she might have something on the case now,” he hedged, trying for some wiggle room.
She shook her head. “I don’t know how the hell she does it, but she is absolutely dynamite on these BS cases,” she muttered. She looked at him and pointed to the bags. “Are you saying you brought enough to share?”
“Absolutely. That’s why I brought dozens.” He walked over to one of the empty desks. “Can I put stuff out here?” Then he proceeded to do so without waiting for her to answer.
Lilliana told him, “I’ll go see where she’s at.”
“Yeah, if you can do that, it would be great. In the meantime, I’ll stop in and say hi to the captain, if he’s around.”
“He is. Go for it.” She gave a nod toward the captain’s office. “I’ll check in with Kate if I can, and I’ll get back to you.” She turned back to him and asked, “Where was the gunman?”
“He came to my apartment.”
“Ah, shit,” she muttered. “Was he after you, or was he after Kate?”
He gave her a ghost of a smile. “This time he was after me.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “Shit. You’re okay though, right?”
“I’m okay,” he confirmed. “And the kid is in the custody of your finest.”
“Good,” she muttered, “and we all need to hear that story.” She pointed toward the interview rooms. “But you just sit tight and relax for now.”
And that’s what he did. Grabbing a coffee from the sideboard, he opened up the bag so the aroma would hit the office. He hadn’t even gotten to the captain’s door when Colby stepped out, sniffing the air in confusion, then turned and saw Simon.
“Did you bring dinner?” Colby asked.
“I did,” Simon replied. “It’s been a bit of a rough day, so I figured maybe I wasn’t the only one who could use a little sustenance.”
And, with that, Colby reached out a hand to shake his. “You are always welcome here.”
Simon laughed.