Waist Deep

31

The next morning at the Rocket, Cassie’s mysterious smile lifted my spirits a little. I smiled back, then settled into a corner seat to mull over my next move.The answer came immediately, like I knew it would.I was just tired of asking for help.

I sat with my coffee and waited for Adam.He almost always came by, even if it was just to get a cup to go.

When he arrived, I was only half a cup down. He gave me a quick grin and ordered before he sat down.Then he noticed the cut and the puffiness on my eye.

“That looks new,” he said, pointing.

“Didn’t your mother teach you it’s not polite to point?”

He dropped his index finger and snapped out his middle one.“Nope.”

Cassie brought his latte and he tipped her a dollar.She smiled and said thank you.Her smile was genuine, but not the same smile she gave me. I was almost sure of it.

“A little table generals?” Adam asked, motioning toward the chess board.

I shook my head.“Not this morning.”

Adam shrugged and sipped his drink.

I leaned forward.“Adam, I need some help with something.”

He wiped some white froth from his lips with a napkin.“Sure.I mean, it’s legal, right?”

I pressed my lips together and tried to grin.“Well, it’s like your guy sings in that song.”

“My guy?” Adam asked but he knew what I meant. Adam was a bona fide Bruce Springsteen nut.For the most part, I wasn’t much into the guy, but Adam was a rock solid fan.

“Yeah,” I said.“Your guy.From the tape you made me last summer.”

“You actually listened to it?”

I shrugged.The truth was, I’d let it sit for several weeks, but eventually I gave it a listen.Some of the songs were okay, which made sense, since Adam had compiled the tape to try and win me over.Or maybe convert me is a more accurate way to put it.But there was one song I’d liked in particular, a subtle one that resonated with me.

“It was nothing illegal,” I quoted, “Just a little bit funny.”

“The Big Muddy,” Adam said automatically.Then his face pinched and he looked at me for a long while.Finally, he said, “You know, if you’d spring for a CD player, I’d burn you a bunch more.Even some bootleg stuff.”

“Isn’t that illegal?”

Adam shrugged.“It’s only live shows.”

I shrugged back. “Either way, I’m good with the radio, you know?”

We sat quietly for a minute or two.This was uncharted territory for us both.I’d never asked Adam for anything before. A year or two after I left the job, he stopped offering.We picked up our own tabs at the Rocket.I didn’t talk about how light my pockets were after I made rent every month and he didn’t talk about the new toys he bought with the nice income he had.A few Christmases, he’d had me over, but we’d agreed in advance to keep the gifts modest.Adam had been a good friend.He’d never flaunted his own good fortune. He never blamed me for my mistakes.He also never tried to convince me that they weren’t mistakes or that I shouldn’t feel guilty.He didn’t judge.He was just there.And that’s why I never asked him for anything.

Until now.

“I can’t promise,” he finally said, his voice lower even though he and I were the onlypeople in the Rocket besides Cassie.“But I’ll listen.”

That’s what I told Matt Sinderling, I thought, and look where it got me. But I didn’t say it, only nodded my thanks.

Adam leaned in and I told him everything.Told him about the hockey game and Officer Glen Bates being a jerk (“no big surprise there,” he’d muttered) and Matt Sinderling’s request.He raised his eyebrows when I described Kris and again when I said I took the job, but said nothing.I related my trip to Fillmore, but when I got to Katie, I stumbled a bit.

“Was she okay with you calling her?” he asked.

“I think so,” I answered, my voice a little thick.I swallowed and went on, “I mean, she showed up.She helped me.”

Adam was watching me carefully.“But…?”

I shrugged.“There’s still some…hurt there.”

He nodded.“You know, you could have asked me for that information.The stuff on your complainant and the runaway.I use the database all the time.”

“I know,” I said.“I guess I just…”

“You wanted to see her.”

I nodded.

“Okay.Go on.”

I told him about the FI report in Katie’s file, how I contacted Tiffany and got Rolo’s name.Once I was past Katie’s part, it tumbled out in a rush, unedited.Adam listened, nodding sometimes, wincing when I mentioned Leon’s punting drill and waited for me to finish.

“You’re lucky you didn’t freeze to death or lose a finger or something,” he told me when I was done.“That security guy did you a solid.”

“Yes, he did.”

We were quiet again for a bit and Cassie re-filled my cup.Adam watched her go, then looked back at me.“How do you rate re-fills in an espresso bar?”

“Dude, it’s Americano.It’s basically drip coffee.It costs like, three cents.”

He shook his head.“You go ahead and believe that.”He pointed to his own cup.“See that?Two-thirds empty and likely to stay that way, unless I want to part with another two-fifty.”

I didn’t answer but smirked and blew on my coffee instead.

Adam watched me a moment, then leaned in.“Okay, I’ll say it.I’m glad you’re doing something.You’ve been spinning your wheels ever since-”

He stopped.I don’t know if he was going to say ever since I quit the job or ever since I got off the tranks and the booze, but either way, he was right. It had been a long time.

“Well, for a lot of years,” he finished.“It’s good to see you with a purpose.But, Jesus, Stef…couldn’t you have just gone back to school or something?This is some dangerous stuff you’re involved in here.You could’ve been killed out there at The Hole.”

“You think I can’t handle it?”

“That’s not it, and you know it.”

“Then what?”

“You shouldn’t have to handle it, that’s what.”He drummed his fingers on the table.

I knew he only believed part of what he was saying.And I think he knew that I needed this.That it was worth the stretch for me.Besides, I was involved now.I’d bled a little on this one.I was seeing it through.

“Like my grandmother used to say,” I said. “In for a penny, in for a pound.”

Adam heaved a sigh, looking over my shoulder at the selection of pastries listed on the wall.Then he said, “All right. What can I do?What’s not illegal, but just a little bit funny?”

It was my turn to lean in.I pulled out Kris’s photo and slid it across the table to him.

He picked it up.“This is her?The runaway?”

I nodded.

Adam gave a low whistle.“Trouble,” he muttered.“This one has trouble written all over her.”

“She’s sixteen,” I said, bristling a little.

“I know.You told me. That’s the problem.”

I couldn’t argue with that, so I pressed on.“Look, Rolo said that she was hooked up with a guy who makes sex movies here in River City.I want to find that guy.”

Adam shook his head.“That’s a crock.Unless he’s making hand-helds in a basement somewhere, there’s no professional porn filmmakers here in town.Plenty of sellers, but no filmmakers.”

“Rolo said he made them for the Internet.”

The word hung in the air.Adam looked at me and paled.“Oh, no.”

I didn’t respond, just looked at him.

“Hell, no,” he said, his voice pleading.

“Hell, yeah,” I said.“That’s what I need.I need to know about porn sites originating in River City and then I need to know which one is featuring Kris.And where to find the guy who runs the site.”

Adam plopped backward in his chair, his mouth hanging open.“That’s impossible.”

“Impossible?”

Adam sighed.“Well…very, very difficult.”

“But possible.”

Adam shook his head.“Not with my equipment.”

“Your stuff’s not good enough?”

“The hardware, sure.I can search faster than ninety-nine percent of the public.It’s software that’s the problem.And access.”

“Access?”

Adam sighed again.“Look, you’re asking me to run an Internet-wide search for ISPs that originate in River City.Then you want me to find one specific site out of those thousands of sites, maybe tens of thousands.And then you want to know who the owner of the site is and I’m sure you’ll want to know how to find that guy, too, right?”

I nodded.

He shook his head.“Even just looking for public information, that search is prohibitively broad, man.On top of that, a lot of sites and owner information is routed through other sites half a world away.And encrypted, too.Encryption is a bear.”

“Couldn’t you narrow the search?Look for only pornography sites?”

Adam considered.“Yeah, I could, but I’d run the risk of filtering out the very site you’re looking for.”

“She’ll be using a stage name,” I said.“I’m sure of it.”

“What name?”

“Star.”

He shrugged.“Okay, that helps a little, but we’re still talking about a huge project here.”

“Needle in a haystack?” I asked, a little sourly.

“A needle in a stack of needles,” Adam said, just as sourly.“A stack the size of Montana.”

It was my turn to sigh.

Adam stared at me for a long while, although it felt more like he was staring through me.He did that sometimes, when he was deep in thought and I was part of the thing he was thinking about.It wasn’t particularly subtle.

After a minute, he broke his gaze and scratched beneath his nose.“Okay,” he said.“Here’s the thing.I might have access to stronger searchware.”

“You might?”

“Yeah.Might.”

“What kind of access?”

He looked over his shoulder and around the Rocket.A pair of old women had wandered in and were at the counter, but other than that the place was empty.He motioned me to lean in and I did.

“The thing is, with this Homeland Security push since Nine-Eleven, the feds are partnering up with local law enforcement on some things.One of those things is computer technology.We got some money last year to upgrade all my systems. When we did that, the feds wired in the capability for me to tap into their network.”He looked around again, as if he expected FBI stormtroopers to charge our table.

“What for?”

“Homeland security.Terrorist stuff.”

“You can just use their network whenever you want?”Maybe this would be easy after all.

He shook his head.“No.No way.I have to call in and get a special password every time.And they don’t just give it to me.I have to give them a reason.Tell them what I’m investigating.”

“If you had their software, could you do this search?”

“It’s still my search software that links up with theirs.But it’s their access that’s the key.”He shrugged.“And I’d probably need to use their decrypter, too.”

“But could you find-”

“Yeah,” he said.“Probably.”

I leaned back.“Will you?”

Adam sat for a while again, staring at me and through me at the same time.

I waited.

When he sighed, I knew the answer was yes.

“I’ll tell them I got a tip that a local site was showing child pornography.That’s what it technically is, if she’s sixteen,” he said.“They’ll want a case number, but I can stall on that.I’ll tell them that I wanted to see if there was any merit to the tip before bringing in an investigator.I’ve done it before with a tip on a marijuana grow.”

“How’s that?”

“I did an account check.A guy on welfare was supposed to have over $80,000 in his account.I did a surreptitious check on his account.”

“Surreptitious?You mean illegal?”

He shrugged.“Just a little bit funny.”

“Like what you’re going to do for me?”

“No,” he said.“I suppose this is okay.But if I find the site and she’s there, I have to file a report.I’ll tell you what I find out, but I’ve got to file the report.”

I understood.If he didn’t file the report, it would look like he was just cruising under-age porn for his own purposes.

“That’s okay,” I said.“Hell, reference the runaway report on Kris when you file the porn report.I just want to know who the guy is.”

“I know.But with that information, the detective sergeant will assign the case. With that obvious of a lead, they’ll jump on it right away and do a search warrant on his place.”

He was right.The Sex Crimes Unit was aggressive, as they should be.But that aggressive stance was going to get in my way now.

“What if you didn’t write the report for a day?” I asked, looking at him pointedly.“Or if it sat in your out box for a couple of shifts?”

“What if I was a moron?” Adam shot back.He rubbed his hands together, thinking.Then he said, “I guess I’d probably have to run a confirmation check on the site identification before I wrote the report.And I could wait until the end of the day to write the report.”

“Thanks,” I said.

He shook his head ruefully.“I’m still going to look like a screw-up.”

“No, you won’t.You’ll look like a busy guy, that’s all.”

“Crawford will chew my ass.”

Lieutenant Crawford was the commander of the Major Crimes Unit, which the Sex Crimes Unit fell under.He was a bit of a bastard.

“Crawford has no right chewing your ass,” I told him.“He’ll bitch to your sergeant.Your sergeant will chew your ass.That’s the chain of command.”

“I’m glad to see civilian life hasn’t diminished your understanding of proper police procedure,” Adam said.“But Crawford believes the chain of command is a one-way street and only runs upward.He’ll be in my office, chewing my ass for being a moron and not getting the report in immediately.Then I’ll tell my sergeant about the ass-chewing.My sergeant will go bitch to everybody but Lieutenant Crawford about it. He’ll still hear about it, but won’t care a bit. And the world will continue to turn.That’s how the chain of command really works.”

I didn’t answer.He was right.I tried to see Adam’s sergeant in Crawford’s office barking at the fat balding jerk with his droopy cop mustache as he sat chewing on his unlit cigar.But I couldn’t.

I remembered Crawford very well.He’d been in Major Crimes when I was on the job.I’d worked under his command while on light duty after my shooting.He hadn’t exactly welcomed me with open arms.And when the Amy Dugger case broke…well, it got worse.

“I can’t believe he’s still got that command,” I said.“How long has he been there?Twelve, thirteen years?That many years in one command is too long.”

Adam nodded and shrugged at the same time.“He gets results.”

I snorted.“His detectives get results.He gets the credit.”

“And he doesn’t promote,” Adam said.“I heard that last go round, he turned down a promotion to captain.”

“That can’t be.”

“That’s the rumor.”

“That’s like a twenty percent pay raise,” I said.“At least.Plus, the power.”

Adam turns his palms up.“What can I say?The rumor is that he turned it down because he already makes that much in overtime, anyway.And he likes being on the TV news every time something terrible happens.”

“Who made captain instead?”

“No one.”

“How’s that?”

“It was Captain Reott who was going to retire that opened up the spot.When Crawford turned it down, someone went to Reott and convinced him not to retire until the promotional list expired.”

“Why?”

“Because Hart was next on the list to promote to captain.”

I understood then.Lieutenant Hart had been a prick when I was on the job and I doubted anything had changed.The difference between him and Crawford was like the difference between a bull and a snake.Crawford came right at you and you knew where you stood.Hart was always coiled in the grass, waiting.Even the brass didn’t want him to be a captain.They’d stuck him in Internal Affairs years ago, while I was still working, and he’d been there ever since.

I let the conversation die.It had only been a cushion anyway, a way of restoring a sense of normalcy between us.

“Call me a couple of times a day,” Adam said.“Since you don’t have a phone, I can’t call you.Once I get this thing figured out, I don’t want to let it sit any longer than I have to.”

“You got it.”

Adam slid his business card across the table to me.“Use a land-line.Ask me if I can meet you for lunch or dinner.Whatever’s appropriate.If I say yes, I’ve got something for you.”

I thought that was a little bit much in the cloak-and-dagger department, but he knew better than I did, so I nodded.“How long?”

Adam shrugged.“I have no clue.”

He finished his latte in one gulp and left without another word.