Waist Deep

58

I sat in the interrogation room and stared at the wall, rubbing my wrists.

The cops on scene had handcuffed me once I was proned out and they had my gun.That began what seemed like eight hours in handcuffs for me.My cheekbone had a nice little cherry on it from grinding into the pavement, the weight of some cop across the back of my neck.I knew it was all textbook. I’d been the “bad guy” hundreds of time on the mats out at the police academy gym. But when it was for real and on asphalt, it hurt like hell.

After a complete search of my body, they’d shoved me into the back of a patrol car without a word.All in all, I felt mildly grateful.No one had recognized me.

I’m sure it wouldn’t last.

I sat in the room with my back to the door.Every few minutes, I could sense a body at the door. I wasn’t sure if it were the same officers, a rookie named McLaren and an FTO that looked like a rookie himself. Maybe word had started to spread and other people were coming to check things out.

The interrogation room itself was bare.A table and three chairs.That was it.Not even a clock.I didn’t have a watch but I imagined it had been almost an hour from the time we arrived at the police station.

About twenty minutes in, I’d asked to go to the bathroom.The rookie had conferred with his FTO and initially refused.When I asked if the detectives would enjoy having to skirt a puddle of urine to get to their chairs to interrogate me, he reconsidered.He was smart, though.He did another complete search, turning out all my pockets, and stood two feet away from me while I used the urinal.

Time slipped by, maybe as much as another half hour.My wrists stopped hurting.My knee didn’t.The wheels in my head just kept spinning. The whole while, I sat there just wishing I’d taken Kris straight home to her dad.

The thing was, I was in a bind now. I’d made promises.I’d promised Rolo I wouldn’t tell the cops about his involvement.He might not have told me the whole arrangement he had with LeMond or Jackson, but he hadn’t out and out lied to me.He wasn’t, as he’d say, in breach of contract.And his information had help lead me to Jackson, eventually.

I’d also made a promise to LeMond that I wouldn’t tell anyone about Yvette.He’d pretty much invalidated that when he lied to me about Kris but then I’d made another promise at Kris’s apartment.I couldn’t break the first one without breaking the second.

Most importantly, I’d promised Kris.That was the promise that, if kept, might give her family a fighting chance.It might keep Kris from thinking that all she really was to anyone was damaged goods.I knew that right now, she still thought she was on her way to being a star. Something told me that could change very easily and it would be the damaged goods scenario that might take root.

The real question was, how hard of a hit would I have to take to keep all of those promises?

I sighed, and waited.