Page 50 of Cosmo

He placed his hand on the table and said, “Sorry. I understand you not trusting me.”

“Why the fuck should I?”

“You shouldn’t. You’d be a fool to. I don’t expect your trust until I pass whatever tests you have to give me. But know this. I worked hard to get to where I am. I dreamed of being an agent. I am chancing throwing it all away because I can’t stand the thought of busting people that don’t deserve it.”

Murphy dropped his head while he laughed dryly. “Yeah, well, that’s pretty talk.”

“I know. My partner, he…he complained a lot the first month we were put together. He hated the laws that kept us from just rushing into a house and busting people who deserved it. The law isn’t always right. In fact, it rarely is. For the most part, rich men made the laws to combat the poor. To keep them separate and better than those that covet what they have. Theft, sure, it’s a pure concern, but when you have nothing and someone has too much, it’s also human nature. It’s animal instinct to steal. When it’s wrong is when the rich steal from the poor, and most laws set it up for exactly that.”

Murphy was staring at him in disbelief, but Liam saw the man’s eyes. He was being won over by Taran, too. It wouldn’t be that easy, of course. “More pretty words.”

Liam said, “I told you it will not make us confess to things that we may or may not have done, Taran.”

“Good.” He reached for something on the bench next to him and pulled up a stack of manilla folders as thick as Liam’s meaty biceps. “This is what we have on you and your crew. It’s all circumstantial for now, but it’s only going to take a little moresurveillance to bust you. My partner and I don’t want you. We want the other crews who do a hell of a lot worse. We want the guys that are plenty rich that go after the poor. We want the guys that prostitute young girls and boys, dragging them all over the city, the state, and the country. There are real bad guys out there, Murphy, and they hate you because you all are good, and you don’t have to resort to human or drug trafficking. You don’t hurt marginalized people. We can help each other.”

“Your partner, he’s in on this?”

Liam waited and Taran nodded slowly. “He’s not completely sure, but he’s tired of going through the correct channels that all the worst of the criminals know to avoid. It’s…getting harder and harder to catch the real scumbags. They’ve got a lot of money, and…you know that gives a lot of power.”

“I do. It’s why I want more of it. I have two little kids with a black father. You don’t think it keeps me up at night, thinking of them as teenagers, as adults in this fucking country?”

Taran didn’t flinch. He looked Murphy dead in the eye. “I, personally, am not after the money part of this. I have money. What I don’t have is a clean conscience.”

“And you can’t possibly clean it with good police work?”

Liam answered for him. “I doubt that would clean anyone’s conscience.”

Taran looked over at him with gratitude. “Thanks. It’s how I feel.” He turned his attention back to Murphy and whispered, “I romanticized it, being a federal agent, getting the criminals off the streets. When I discovered the real criminals were the ones in the offices, giving me my assignments and the ones making the laws they themselves don’t follow. Right for thee is not for me people.”

Murphy nodded and said, “Okay, then.” Murphy turned to Liam and said, “Take him with you on your errand tonight.”

Liam hadn’t said what the errand was, but Murphy had guessed it was stealing the cars Murphy had asked for. “So, your hands are clean.”

“You brought him in,” Murphy said. “I’m not blaming you, but you will be responsible for him and his partner. We get busted by these men, and…well, you can forget us helping you.”

Murphy grabbed the folders and left them. Just like that.

Liam looked at Taran. “If anything happens to his family, I will hurt you. I don’t care what happens to me after that. I may not care to be in a family, but I appreciate those that are good, solid, loving families, and they are.”

“I’ve seen that too. It’s like that old Christmas movie with the island of misfit toys. He collected misfits. I get it, Liam.”

“Call me Cosmo,” he said, and for the first time, he felt like the name was truly his.

“Okay, Cosmo. What’s next?”

His lips spread into a slick smile as he said, “We’re going to commit grand theft auto twice. That’s it.”

“That’s all, huh? Okay, I guess, let’s go.”

They left the park together, and Liam told Taran where to go. He took direction well, though he was scanning the streets with his eyes as he drove. Liam knew exactly what he was looking for.

Cops.

Cops, in general, didn’t do well in prison, and he was a special cop. Sure, they’re told no one will know, but in his experience, the cons always find out when a cop is in their midst.

He drove to a parking garage that wasn’t hosted by a guard of any kind. He knew it well. Those few cons inside that were there for the same thing he was. Well, they talked…a lot. Too much, really. But there was little more to do in prison than workout, talk, and read.

Sure enough, even the few cameras around were hanging off the walls, but with it being near downtown, there were still plenty of cars around to boost.

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