women getting tattoos!”
“Or someone by the name of Sheila was getting a tattoo of a rose,” whispered Jack. He flipped through the calendar to August. He could feel the tension grip his heart and lungs. His eyes met Danny’s and he slowly shook his head. He turned the page to September.
“It’s here!” shouted Jack, jabbing at an entry with his finger. “Only two weeks after Maggie and Ben Junior were murdered! Take a look!”
Danny looked down at the notation on the calendar. The words Rolly-DD were printed above a brief narrative in brackets, conf Wiz.
“This is it!” Jack said. “Dirty Dog, confirmed by Wizard!” He grabbed Danny by the shoulder. “Remember? Our friend said a hit had to be verified and sanctioned!”
The intensity of Jack’s voice made Danny feel uneasy. He cleared his throat. “The timing seems right, but with the number of murders these guys do, we can’t be positive.”
Jack’s voice was laced with anger. “It’s them, all right. Explains why Rolly isn’t bragging about it. Not much respect for killing children. I bet Wizard was with him.”
“So what do you plan to do? We can’t use any of this as evidence. We’ve got no grounds to get a search warrant.”
“It’s evidence for me!” Jack paused for a moment, then said, “But you’re right, we can’t be positive. We’ll keep digging until we are.”
“Then what?”
Jack let the pages fall back to their original position and walked out the door.
Once inside the car, Jack looked intensely into Danny’s eyes and said, “I know it’s Wizard and Rolly. The timing is right. Rolly got his tattoo … it all falls into place. Our friend said a murder had to be confirmed and sanctioned. Maggie was shot through the door. Until then, they wouldn’t have known that Maggie and Ben Junior were there. Rolly would have never risked phoning anyone to sanction the hit. Wizard had to have been with him.”
“Or someone else who was executive. That’s if it was Rolly who did it.”
“Wizard arranged the original shipment and Rolly handled the delivery. The two of them killed Lenny and tried to kill me. I know it’s them. We’ll do their places tomorrow night.”
Jack hadn’t raised his voice, but there was no mistaking the cold look in his eyes and the venom in his voice.
Danny wondered if Jack would wait until tomorrow night to look for more evidence. He cleared his throat and said, “If it was Wizard and Rolly who were there, it’s still possible that they were with another dope dealer. Someone else might have murdered them as well.”
“When I get my hands on them, I’ll find out!”
Danny knew that the time had come. “Jack, let’s go to the seawall. We need to talk.”
“I don’t feel like drinking right now.”
“You might when you hear what I have to say.”
Jack jumped down from where he was sitting on the seawall and took a couple of angry steps in the sand before turning to confront Danny. “I should have known from the first time I worked with you! You stabbed someone in the back that night! Now you’re stabbing me!”
“I’m not stabbing you in the back! I’ve never told Wigmore anything, except for that first night about you going in the Black Water, and I covered for that later.”
“Well you sure as hell didn’t tell me anything, either! I thought we were partners! You’re supposed to talk with your partner! Why the hell are you telling me now? Do you expect me to forgive you? Tell you I’ll understand? What?”
“Jesus. You sound like Susan,” muttered Danny. “That’s what she said.” He then looked up to the sky, holding his hands to the heavens, and yelled, “I’m not asking for forgiveness!”
“Then what are you asking for?”
“I’m just telling you so you know what’s going on. You do anything rash and Wigmore will be all over the both of us. I’m trying to protect your ass as much as mine! I told you because you are my partner and I’m not ratting you out!”
“When did you tell Susan?”
“This afternoon.”
“You waited until now to tell her?”
“Yes, and now she’s scared. I knew she would be.”
“Worried about her family,” said Jack, his voice calming down.
Danny nodded and said, “Yeah. That and she’s really pissed at me.”
“So am I. You should have told me sooner.”
Jack walked back to the car and got in as Danny reached for the passenger door. It was locked. Jack gestured at Danny with his middle finger and then drove away.
Danny waved his fist and shouted, “You son of a bitch!”
It took Danny an hour to walk out of the park and find a taxi to the office. It was another forty-five minutes before he arrived home.
He was shocked to see Jack’s car blocking his garage door. He parked on the street and got out of his car as the front door to his house opened. He saw Jack putting on his coat. Susan, holding a glass of wine, laughed at something he said. She gave him a hug and kissed him on the cheek. Jack walked toward his car.
Danny stood in the driveway with his mouth hanging open. Susan looked at Danny and yelled, “Hi, honey! Glad you finally made it home!”
Jack unlocked his car and glanced across the roof at Danny. “See you at the office at ten tomorrow night. Let me know if you’re bringing an arrest team so I can get a lawyer.” He then drove away.
Danny went inside his house. “What’s going on? Do you know that the son of a bitch dumped me in a park tonight? I had to take a cab…”
“I know,” snickered Susan. “Want some wine? Oops! Guess there’s none left.”
“What’s going on? Why are you so happy all of a sudden?”
Susan turned to face Danny. Her voice became serious and she said, “Jack told me that he would always protect you and our family — even if you are a bone-head. He said I had his word on that.”
Danny didn’t respond.
“Do you think Jack’s word is good?”
“Jack’s word is good.”
“I thought so. I respect him. Trust him, too, to do what he says.”
Danny sighed, then said, “It all sounds nice, but how do you protect yourself from someone like Wigmore?”
“That bastard! You hadn’t mentioned that he accused me and you of having a threesome with Crystal!”
“Jack
