Chapter 12:
November 24nd – New York – Evening
In between the hours of afternoon
and evening, Michael Morrow is sitting in the passenger seat of an NYPD police
cruiser belonging to Jane “Lil’ Deadly”
Brockbank. Jane is on duty, dressed in her police officer uniform with her red
hair rolled up to fit underneath her policemen’s cap. Michael is off duty
dressed in civilian clothes, just a simple light pattern long sleeve shirt and
some black pants. Michael spent the better part of the weekend trying to cover
his tracks and learn everything he could about the police officers who took it
upon themselves to kill Horizon members at the Harlem community center. Jane is
his last stop before returning to work Monday to meet up with Joseph Pierre,
Agent Mach, and Agent Kwok to see what they’ve learned about the Angel. It’s a
slow work night for Jane, she’s doing non-emergency calls at the moment and her
next stop is the Fox Tail.
“Everything is cleaned up?” Michael
asks, looking over to Jane to his left, her face doesn’t give any indication of
any emotion underneath her cap. Jane shakes her head as she drives the car
through the lower part of New York.
“So this is why you asked to come
along for the ride along? You know what’s a good idea when you’re trying to
cover up something? Not fucking talking about it Michael.” Jane says, raising
her voice almost like she is about to yell at the older and experience police
detective.
“I’m just checking Jane.” Michael
said in a lower voice, trying to lower Jane’s. Jane is frustrated Michael
caught them, not because of her getting in trouble but the way Michael reacts
when something worries him. Michael is OCD like that; he needs to be in control
of everything, which would explain his initial dislike of the FBI and RCMP
officers who came onto the case.
“I’m not you. I don’t do it all of the time like
you Michael, you think no one knows about the Gillis family you’ve conveniently
helped out? Everyone knows, there’s just no hard proof of it yet. That’s why
the internal affairs rats have been going around almost every precinct asking
about you.” Jane turns on 3rd street, she’s close to the Fox Tail
now.
“I…” Michael is speechless, he knew
that internal affairs may have an investigation open about him and his actions
but he didn’t think it is actually in process of investigation. He leans his
head against the cruiser’s window thinking about his chances. There’s a lot of
people on the force who dislike like him, including former commissioner Paul O’Healy.
“No one is going to know what
happened at the Harlem community center. Just stick to the story when you showed
up, everything was clean. You found no evidence of any foul play. Got that
Michael? You stick to that, we’re golden. The guys and I? We already have an
alibi.” She explains to Michael, she seems confident in what she has done and
that worries Michael, he was confident that he had everything under control and
now he learns there’s an open case against him.
“I’m just saying, it’s not that
easy. There are always cracks in stories. Despite the rumors said about me, I’m
clean. I’m just trying to help you.”
Jane pulls the police cruiser over
at the curb and stops the car. She turns her body to her right so she’s looking
at Michael. “Listen, if you’re going to be here holding my fucking hand and
coaching me on what I should do you can fuck off right now. I don’t need your
help, but if you want to stay here and talk to me until you realize I’m not
going to rat than fine.” Michael nodded and stayed in the cruiser. They were
only a few blocks away from the Fox Tail.
The police cruiser pulls up to the
Fox Tail, taking a parking spot near the front of the club. The large parking
lot seems empty, only a few cars parked and they belong to the employees
inside. The outside of the strip club looks
tacky with neon lights promoting live girls, the only issue is that
there’s very little walk-in traffic since it’s only warehouse workers who walk
in the district, and most of them have Sundays off. “You coming inside?” Jane asks, opening the
door. Michael nodded.
“Why not?” Michael and Jane leave
the car and they walk towards the entrance of the Fox Tail, there is no
security outside the door.
The doors to the club swing open and
people looked to see who entered. Fully dressed NYPD officer Jane and known cop
Michael walk into the strip club. The lights are low, the music is loud,
tobacco smoke fills the air, and from Michael’s perspective only 1 or 2 clients
are inside the strip club. Sundays is one of the worse days for the Fox Tail
because their main clientele the warehouse workers don’t usually work Sundays,
so they’re stuck to offer two for one dances to try and drive business on a
Sunday.
The large African American male who
is the club’s security greets the officers. “Hello, welcome to the Fox Tail, is
there something I can help you with officers?”
“Just looking for Naomi King? She
called a few hours ago on the non-emergency line saying that someone was
stalking her on the way to work, just want to grab a statement and see if we
can help her.” Jane speaks, giving the security enough information to let them
in. The security man nodded.
“Bout time you showed up, she’s been
scared to even come out of that little kitchen of hers. Go in and talk to her.”
Jane nods and proceeds into the back area where the kitchen is. Michael didn’t
follow her, instead he took a seat at an empty table facing the stage. He isn’t
on shift, he can enjoy himself. He ordered himself a drink from the bar while
he waits for Jane to finish up.
Jane walks into the kitchen, it’s a
small kitchen for one person, but two people makes it cramp. Naomi is washing
dishes when Jane walks in. Jane knocks on the nearby wall since there isn’t a
door to the kitchen. “Hey Naomi? It’s Jane from the NYPD just want to ask you a
few questions about your call.”
Naomi looks behind her and shuts off
the tap. She wipes her hand on her work t-shirt that says The Fox Tail: Best Tail in Town to dry them off and walks towards
the kitchen’s entrance to speak with the officer.
“Hey, I called a few hours ago. What
took so long?” Is Naomi’s first question, she seemed upset at the response time
which is a problem throughout all of New York.
“Busy day, also you seemed safe
since you’re at work. Sorry. We try and respond as soon as possible. But tell
me what happened…” Jane asked, trying to get the victim’s side of the story.
Naomi described what happened to her
that day to Jane. She talked about the guy meeting her at the Park, then on the
Subway, and again on the street on her way to work. Naomi also mentions seeing
the guy in her building a few times and both times she remembers seeing him he’s
a bit of a creep. Jane writes everything Naomi says into her little notebook.
After Naomi gets to the part of her calling police, Jane closes the notebook.
“Well he didn’t really do anything.
I would suggest getting a restraining order. But I’ll go and give him a visit
telling him not to bug you though ok? That should help you until you can get
that restraining order.” Jane mentions, she doesn’t have to visit the guy at
the apartment since he didn’t really do nothing wrong but she feels sorry for
Naomi and understands what she went through, men are creeps.
“Yeah… that’s fine. Thanks.” Naomi
says. She felt insulted. Not only did the NYPD take forever to come down and
take her statement but essentially there is nothing they can do until she gets
a restraining order. She sighs, at least the police are going to talk to the
creep first.
Michael had one or two beers by the time Jane
walked out of the kitchen. He got up, leaving his beer on the table and walked
towards the entrance. Jane rolled his eyes at him and he could only respond. “What,
it’s the weekend.” They both left the club, got into the police cruiser and
Jane pulled out of the parking spot heading towards Upper New York. They begin
talking again, not wanting to discuss anything outside of the car.
“Just a perverted young man trying
to get into her pants I think, but being social awkward about. We’re gonna
paying him a visit to make sure he isn’t dangerous, she gave me his apartment
number so it should be fine.” Jane fills Michael in after a few seconds of
driving, Michael nodded.
“Description of the guy? Is she sure
it’s the same guy?” Michael questions Jane.
“Not my first day. Young, white, and
handsome. I know how to do my job Michael. I’ll drop you off after we pay him a
visit ok?” Jane is looking forward to
getting rid of Michael, he’s been nothing but a pain for the whole ride along.
“Great, this sounds all nice and
easy. If only all cases were like this.” Michael said, looking at the city as
they drive by. Michael has a bit of a buzz going on from his visit at the Fox
Tail.
Jane and Michael continued to talk
while driving to Happy Hill Manor in the Upper New York area, most if it is
light talking about their plans for next weekend since they both didn’t get a
weekend off. Happy Hills Manor is an old New York apartment building with ten
floors. The outside of the apartment building looks clean with a private lane
providing access to the front of the apartment, and underground parking for
tenants. The garden at the front of the building brings life and colour to the
otherwise monotone grey structural presentation of most of New York’s
apartments.
Jane parks the police cruiser in the
front lane of the apartment building. Michael and Jane both leave the car, Jane
wanted Michael with him because the male suspect may not take her warning
seriously because she’s a policewoman instead of a policeman. Jane looks up the
list of names at the door to see who belongs to #214 on the second floor, the
apartment belongs to Thomas Worthington.
Jane and Michael take the elevator to the second floor
and hunt for the room #214. Jane knocked on the door and waited for an answer.
Michael stood against the opposite wall. Jane then orders, “Open up. NYPD,” she
speaks loudly meaning to cause a scene because the door isn’t being opened. She
knocks on it again, louder. People begin poking their heads out of their own
rooms and finally after a few more knocks, door #214 opens.
The door opens slightly. It was
enough for a blonde hair man with his blue eyes to stick his head through. He
sees the two police officers, a bit of confusion on his face mixed in with
worried in his voice. “Oh..umm.. What can I do for you officers?”
“Hey Thomas, do you know a girl
named Naomi King? Works at the Fox Tail, also lives upstairs?” Jane asks.
Thomas took a second to answer back.
“Yeah…”
“Mind if we come in then?” Jane asks
pulling out her badge to show Thomas that she is part of the NYPD. Thomas shuts
the door and a latch can be heard unlocking and opens the door letting the two
police officers inside his apartment.
Jane and Michael walk into Thomas’s
place, it was clean. Thomas leads them down through the long hallway that feeds
into the front room. Michael notices the bedroom door is shut as they walk pass
the hallway. The front room looks normal with a large television set up and a
leather couch, a man sized mirror is located near the hallway which is covered
in scratch marks. Besides the hallway the place looks clean and tidy.
“Please… take a seat.” Thomas
invites his guest to sit on his leather couch. Michael took the offer, Jane preferred
to stand between he television and table, so she can look at Thomas and sees
part of his kitchen. Thomas is white with blonde hair and blue eyes, has a
slight hunch to his back and is wearing a big hoody that barely fits his body
despite is facial features shows that he’s naturally skinny.
“Would you two like some coffee?” Thomas
offers, Jane shakes her head but Michael speaks up.
“Would love some thanks.”
Thomas goes into the kitchen. Jane
looks at Michael shaking her head. It was protocol for police officers to never
accept anything be it suspect or witness partially because it can be seen as a
bribe and partially that it could be dangerous. Jane turns around to look at
the rest of the room, she noticed no shelves displaying movies or books, it
looks like the bare essentials were put into this room. She made notes in her
head to ask about how long he’s been living here as it doesn’t seem too long.
She looks outside at the view of New York from Thomas’s patio window.
Michael looks up at the ceiling,
waiting for his coffee. He hears rustling in the kitchen of drawers being
opened. He closes his eyes for a second and when he re-opens them a blur of
motion appears before he has time to react, he feels a harp pain in his neck,
his hands raises up trying to reach his attacker. The knife in his neck is
wiggled, causing him gargle blood out of his mouth in pain. The knife is then
pulled out and reinserted into his neck, making a new hole. Warm blood begins
to flow staining his shirt and the couch he’s sitting on. Jane is slow to react
to Thomas’s attack to Michael.
Jane turns around to see Thomas
leaning over the kitchen counter with a knife inside of Michael’s neck. She sees
him leaning over and metallic wings sprouting from his back. Jane reacts
pulling her gun from the holster. Thomas pulls the knife again out of Michael’s
neck and throws it at Jane. Jane dives onto the ground dodging the knife throw.
Thomas runs into the front room, his wings folding backwards so he can enter through
the doorway. Jane gets up from the ground, gun in her hand and attempts to fire
but the safety is on. This gives Thomas enough time to run pass her, his metallic
wings smacking Jane’s arms which are shielding her face from the impact of the
metallic wings, Jane drops her gun to the ground. Thomas would turn around so
he’s behind her and swings his hips so his right lower part of the wing cuts
into Jane’s back. The wing tears Jane’s uniform apart like nothing and leaves a
deep gash into her back, blood begins to fall immediately.
Jane attempts to scramble from the
ground but Thomas’s body is too heavy as he jumps on her pushing her back to
the floor. His hands quickly meet Jane’s throats as he squeezes the life out of
her. Jane attempts to fight off Thomas, but his metallic wings made the man
heavier and she’s unable to wrestle out of this position. She turns looks to
the side trying to see if she can find her gun, but Thomas’s grip on her neck intensifies
and she passes out within seconds.
Michael is on the floor, seeing the
Angel on top of Jane. He crawls towards her gun which dropped seven feet away
from him. He didn’t make it three feet before the Angel spots Michael. A heavy
kick is delivered from the angel’s feet to Michael’s head causing his head to
snap back. Michael didn’t move as he tries to regain composure, his throat is
still bleeding and it’s almost impossible for him to scream. He can’t turn his
head to see where the Angel has gone so he continues moving, but within seconds
he feels another sharp pain to the back of his throat and another sharp pain to
the lower section of his head near his right ear. Michael’s body stops fighting
to grab the gun and succumbs to the darkness quickly clouding his vision.
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