Page 29 of Fight for You
“Thought that was in June?”
What was this, an interrogation? “She … wanted to go for Christmas. Have you ever been to Venice at Christmas?”
“Nae.” He said, “I’ve seen the Eiffel Tower at Christmas, though.”
“See? Well, Venice is even better. A magical wonderland. Also, I couldn’t get my schedule to align with a summer stint. Always a hectic day and another challenge in law enforcement.”
“Huh.” Leith seemed to pause. “Glad you’ve escaped, for now, Uncle Nolan. I assume you’ll need to be back before December 25th? With your busy schedule and all?”
Three weeks sat between me and Yuletide. There was no way to make it look like I had the funds for that extensive holiday. “Aye.”You numpty nugget.
“Call me the moment your plane touches down in Los Angeles. It is about Jamie. When … he returned from captivity.”
Why would they want to discuss Jamie’s captivity now? “Will do.” I could hardly get the words out. The call went dead as I swung a left onto the 10 freeway. Ice poured through my veins.
How dare Leith call me? I’d spent years gaslighting Jamie. He got outta line? I reeled him in with a couple of words.Terranusually did the trick. If he still acted like anumpty, old Uncle Nolan would use the heartbroken act. “I saved you, and you treat me like this?” That shut him up right quick. Aye, left his mind in a big ol’ knot. Could he recall everything now? Every sordid detail?
Nae … if he did, Nutty-for-Nutty-Butters Jamie would’ve already flown off the handle. The kid remembered what I wanted him to remember.
I pressed a button and started another call. My fingers tappedon the steering wheel as I waited, my foot jamming onto the brake. Great. Traffic. LA was always good for it.
“Ledbetter, I need a BOLO on a Jamie MacKenzie.” It seemed a bit much. But I was desperate here. The clan wanted to discuss what happened after Jamie had come back from captivity. Why? After all these years. Had he started following some breadcrumbs? Maybe I could find Jamie first before the kid did anything rash. Like, get me killed.
Ledbetter grunted. “Can’t you do it when you get into the office?”
“No, I can’t.” I didn’t need my name on any paper trail, suggesting I made the request. Besides … “You owe me.” I spouted Jamie’s date of birth.
“Okay. What did this MacKenzie do?”
I snorted, happy to hear typing in the background as Ledbetter complied with my direct order. “What did he not do? I’m practically the kid’s godfather. When I worked down in Long Beach, I got him out of everything from murder to stalking. Get this. The kid went over to his brother’s girlfriend’s house in the middle of the night to build a playground. Children raising children. A teen pregnancy, and he thought he’d make a better father for the child than his brother.”
“Heh,” Ledbetter’s laugh seemed forced. The background commotion must have distracted him.
Should I tell him more? Of course, I had more. But I didn’t need to disclose that with Ledbetter. The detective—who wasn’t in Major Crimes, so not under my direct authority—knew my secrets.
Most of them.
The ones Ledbetter knew of would get him kicked out of the Gang and Narcos unit, get his pension snatched, and take him down too.
“Listen, Nolan, what should I put on this alert? Is this Jamieperson aggressive? Did he commit a 187, rob someone, home invasion? What has he done since being a teenager?”
I scrubbed the back of my neck, inching forward in traffic. “What do you mean, what has he done? The little—ahem. Let’s go with a home invasion. Jamie’s behavior is wildly erratic, never cuffed with a 459 charge, it’s consistent with his past criminal activity.” Except the kid was in the pregnant girl’s backyard, so he hadn’t technically broken into a residence. “But I don’t get what you were trying to say. You should’ve had your pick of the litter. He’s been 51’50’d enough. Psych hold after psych hold.”On account of that, I told the MacKenzies I couldn’t expunge his juvenile record. Sorry, not sorry.
“Well, get this, Nolan. I don’t see anything when it comes to the Mental Evaluation database. I’ve typed in variations of the last name even though you spelled it out. Nothing’s flagged in the system we use for casual traffic stops. No restraining orders. No firearm restrictions. I’ve looked up CLETS—and if you’ve forgotten about that since your promotion, it’s the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System. And even searched REDD, the?—”
“Records Evaluation and Decision Division,” I bite off. “I haven’t been Deputy Chief of Major Crimes that long, Ledbetter. What is eating you?”
“The wife’s breathing down my neck every day, sorry. Alls I’m saying is, I don’t have access to any past charges in the system. And I’m not seeing any altercations between him with any persons under the age of eighteen, or adults for that matter. The kid hasn’t unalived anyone. However, if you prefer to go with a home invasion. We’ll go with that. May I have his likeness for this alert? Eye color. Hair color.”
“Wot?”
“Like I said, none of that is available without past charges because your mark doesn’t have outstanding warrants or priorconvictions. No gang affiliations. He’s not even on the sex offender registry—which I checked seconds ago. I got my neck on the chopping block, inserting my credentials in all these programs to help you.”
A choked laugh came from deep in my throat. “I don’t understand. All of that should be there. His father, Brody MacKenzie Senior?—”
“What? Brody MacKenzie? And Little Brody, well, he ain’t so much little. I love those guys. Are you telling me they have a son who’s done—actually, I don’t know what you’re telling me. Nothing’s in the system. These MacKenzies are from the LBC?”
“Yeah. Long Beach. How-how do you know them?” A quiver edged its way into my throat.Relax. You have Ledbetter’s secrets too. You go down…he goes?—
