Page 37 of Rest In Pink

Chapter Sixteen

With Cash gone, I went to part two of our plan.

It wasn’t hard to find Thacker. He was sitting in the booth next to the front window in the Red Box where he could keep his eyes on the outside, talking to Bobby and Shelly, a couple from the tough side of Burney, what was called “Over-the-Hill”, where many had lost their livelihoods when the cardboard factory moved to Mexico. Parts of Burney were well into a second generation of despair.

I knew this pair well because I got called out on a domestic to their place off Short Hill Road every few weeks. They seemed to consider me some sort of marriage counselor with a gun and a badge. Fortunately, there hadn’t been any blood spilled during those arguments, yet, but it was a pain in the ass. I put up with it, because I had a feeling if someone else showed up, or if no one showed up, there might well be blood. Policing for me is more about prevention than cleaning up the mess.

They both had multiple dishes in front of them, wiped clean of food, which told me Thacker was trading food for information. It made me feel bad for them, but that fell away as I remembered how much beer they usually drank before I got called out there at night.

Bobby spotted me first. “Officer Cooper.”

I nodded. “Bobby. Shelly. Go order a couple of desserts now. To go. From the counter.”

Thacker gave that irritating smile. “A late good morning to you Officer Cooper. You must have had a busy night. I slept well since you didn’t ask.”

Bobby and Shelly were poor and uneducated but that didn’t mean they were stupid. I’ve found the poor usually have much better survival instincts than those who hadn’t been tested that way in life. They slid out of the booth and went to the counter where they did as I said, adding to Thacker’s tab as many pieces of Kitty’s wonderful pies as they could carry before scurrying out the door to Bobby’s old pickup truck.

“Catching up on the latest?” I asked Thacker as I pulled a chair over from a nearby table to sit at the end of the booth. I was not sitting with my back to the window facing the street or the door. That’s what did Wild Bill in.

“Trying to get the truth from all the denizens of Burney, not just the privileged ones. They mentioned you, by the way.”

“Did they call me dour?”

“They said you were the first reasonable cop they’ve met.”

“You going to write that in your next post?”

“Nice doesn’t sell.” He paused as Kitty came over.

“Hey, Vince. What can I get you?”

“Coffee. Put it on his tab.”

“Sure thing. I could probably rustle you up a filet if you’d like.”

“You don’t have filet on the menu.”

She glanced at Thacker. “We call it the online special. I can get Bill to run to the store. It’s slow so we don’t have much need for a busboy right now. It won’t be cheap. I could do two and you could take the other back to the station for George.”

She was having such a good time needling Thacker that I hated to disappoint her, not to mention I’d pay money to see Bill, the oldest, slowest busboy in southern Ohio, run, but I had work to do. “Coffee is fine. Thanks.”

She walked away without asking Thacker or refilling his empty mug.

“Bobby works construction,” Thacker said. “He told me his check bounced last month, but now the pay is going through. Interesting, considering Cash Porter is the one who signs the checks. Nice punch by the way. I guess Cash’s money from Lavender has come through. Bobby also says a lot of locals are getting replaced by workers from Cincinnati and some of his friends are upset by that.”

“Talk to Cash.” The information about outside workers was new. I wondered who was getting the kickbacks on those hires? Coming from New York City, I figured every big construction site had corrupt hiring practices. Cash might not have known about that when he was hiring locals, but I bet Senator Wilcox, or at the very least, Franco Meathead, did. Thus the outsiders from Cincy.

“How didyourtalk with him go?” Thacker asked.

“Are you going to press charges?” I asked.

“Of course not,” Thacker said. “I’m sure you’ve already had to release him, haven’t you?”

I didn’t reply.

“The mayor will cover for him,” Thacker said. “So will Senator Wilcox, if need be. You seem to be on the losing side here, Office Cooper.”

“I didn’t realize there were sides.”

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