“Dolinski’s deep cover mission for an internal investigation into pretty much the entirety of the Carnal Police Department with specific interest in Police Chief Arnold Fuller,” Peña answered.
Ty’s body went solid.
Holy f**k.
Peña continued. “This investigation centers around a variety of things including Fuller’s mishandling of a case when a serial killer was hunting his patch after which a complaint was lodged by a Special Agent Tambo of the FBI not only about Fuller’s department fumbling the case but also Fuller’s manner and professional approach, questioning his suitability to be in his job. Tambo’s complaint was added to complaints from Carnal’s citizen that were piling up and IA started sniffing around but could get nowhere seein’ as tracks were covered and nearly every cop in the department was dirty so they needed an inside man and, mud’s so deep at Carnal PD, they couldn’t see clear of it and find one. Dolinski’s coming forward as a whistleblower and willing undercover agent set the ball in motion for an intense investigation into the entire Department but centering on the aforementioned f**k up with the serial killer as well as the possible corroboration of local law enforcement officers in the cover up of the murder of a drug dealer in Los Angeles and the extradition of a Carnal citizen to stand trial for that crime. IA in LA, who are working joint with your local IA on that particular concern, apparently has some information that the dealer murdered was allegedly dealing blow to one Detective Gene Fuller, who happens to be Police Chief Arnie Fuller’s brother, and ole Gene reportedly likes his blow, enough to get in deep with a dealer and, on a cop’s salary, the only way to cover that debt was for the dealer to go away.”
Holy f**k.
Peña kept talking. “As you know, two dealers dead in California by the same gun, a .38 but what you don’t know is that Detective Chet Palmer has a .38 registered for personal use. But, when questions were asked, Detective Palmer was requested to produce this gun and couldn’t do so saying, when he went to get it, he noticed it was missing and, belatedly, reported it stolen and says that it’s been years since he’s touched that gun so it could have been years ago it was stolen. Two and two began to make four and the person making four in Carnal for IA is Officer Frank Dolinski.”
Holy f**k.
Peña wasn’t done. “See, the problem Dolinski has now is that there is a very clever Carnal ex-cop whose friend went down for a crime he didn’t commit and, if you don’t mind me sayin’, a very clever current cop in Dallas who’s got an interest in that man’s wife who are both nosin’ around. Makin’ matters worse, for some reason I’m sure you know nothin’ about, although some time has gone by, Special Agent Tambo and his superiors have suddenly started asking questions about the complaint Tambo lodged and they haven’t been real thrilled with the answers they’ve been receivin’ but instead of shruggin’ their shoulders and movin’ on, they’ve decided to start leaning and they got a lot of weight. All this and Dolinski’s already got his ass swinging way the f**k out there. It is not lost on all concerned that two black men in two states framed for murders they didn’t commit, one taking his life, one losing five years of his, if uncovered, will make national news. Dolinski says because of this things are in-tense at the Carnal Police Station and he wants me to be aware that if these outside factions keep up their activities, some twitchy people may get seriously f**kin’ twitchy and Officer Dolinski says he’s this close to askin’ his girl to take his hand in marriage and he’d actually like to get the chance to ask her not to mention marry her and make a family with her and not get his head blown off and some random black guy who’s unlucky enough to look at one of these ass**les funny servin’ time for that crime.”
Ty was silent and he was silenced by surprise.
Then he asked, “You backin’ off?”
To that, Peña was also silent for long moments before he said quietly, “Been chewin’ on that.” He paused then continued, “And, see, I wanna help Officer Dolinski out. Only got a very long phone call to get to know this guy but I got the feelin’ he’s a good man. Know, doin’ what he’s doin’, he’s a moral man and a brave one. Problem is, he shared with me that someone got the idea that all this started with you gettin’ out, it was all quiet before you came home so they felt the best course of action was to make a statement and get you back in. And seein’ as you weren’t helpin’ with that, not barrelin’ into Carnal, guns ablaze, metin’ out retribution, but instead enjoying your newlywed status, they felt it was necessary to draw you out. And they felt the best way to do that was to f**k with your wife. So, Officer Dolinski told me they put that plan into action and he promised me he’d do what he could for Lexie but I’m not feelin’ good about that promise or how long it’ll take for this shit to get done and if shit’s so buried that wrongs will never be righted. I’m not big on wrongs not bein’ righted, wrongs bein’ righted are kinda why I got in the cop business in the first f**kin’ place, so I still feel I gotta do what I can do to make that happen.”
Ty made no response.
So Peña asked, “You gonna talk to Mr. Jackson?”
To that, Ty answered, “Yeah, but we’re not backin’ down either. Frank’s a good man and I feel for him. He’s already taken Lexie’s back. The thing is, I don’t wanna go back in and Lexie and I wanna start a family and I want my kids to have a father who doesn’t have that kinda shadow hangin’ over his head. The mission is to stay free and clear my name and I trust Frank but one man against many isn’t gonna do shit. I cannot say I’m not smilin’ inside that these guys are feelin’ the heat enough to get twitchy so not sure I wanna turn down that heat. We’ll do what we can to have Frank’s back but it’s not only his future that’s ridin’ on this.”
Silence then Peña exposed he’d honed in on one thing in all that Ty said, “You and Lexie tryin’?”
Fuck.
Ty didn’t want to answer but he did. “Yeah.”
Then a surprised, “Already?”
“Angel, I lost five years. You think I’m big on pissin’ away anymore?”
“Got a point,” Peña muttered.
“Anyway, Lex wants four kids. She’s thirty-four, she wants that, we gotta get started.”
He listened to Peña roar of laughter before, “Madre de Dios, esé, you just cured me. Tu esposa es muy linda but four kids? That’s about three headaches and definitely three college tuitions I’m glad I’m gonna miss.”
Shit. That wasn’t something he’d thought about.
He was rethinking his vow never to sit a game of poker again, and definitely the coffee table shopping expedition when Peña finished it.
“All right, Ty, don’t expect an invitation to the baby shower but you got my number now, you need me, she needs me, I’m a phone call away. I’ll keep an eye on Martinez and give you a head’s up, I hear anything.”
“Thanks, Angel and a little payback, not for you but just in case Frank calls you, we haven’t been sittin’ on our hands. He needs to lean on someone to flip, he leans on Crabtree.”
“Crabtree?”
“As in Officer Rowdy Crabtree.”
“What you got for him to use on Officer Crabtree?”
“What I got is that Officer Crabtree visits Denver every other weekend and he does this because there’s a certain service he can get in Denver he can’t get out here in the mountains. And this service is provided by men who look like boys and it’s provided for a fee.”