Payback

“Sure you do. You’ve been lying to yourself for years when you’ve been telling yourself that Frankie will change. Newsflash, he ain’t changing.”

“Shut up.”

“In a round-about way, we want the same thing—“

“I doubt that,” I cut in with a scowl. “I’d love to see you publicly flogged. Still think we want the same thing?”

“You’re fucking bloodthirsty,” he chuckled with approval as he rose. “That’ll work in your favor. I’ll come by your place tonight to discuss details.”

“You’re not invited to my place.”

“I’m not a vampire…I don’t need your permission. See you at nine.”

I watched with impotent fury as he walked out of the room. He could find out whatever he wanted about me. My address, my driving record, my work history.

He was the king of abusing power.

And there was nothing I could do about it.

Jameson knew he had me. I’d do anything to save Frankie.

Even work with the most wretched man on the planet.

Jameson

I awaited Frankie in the receiving area usually reserved for meetings with the inmates’ attorney or loved ones on visiting days.

Frankie, shackled and wearing the orange jumpsuit of shame, flopped into the hard plastic chair and scowled when he saw me.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“We have a common interest,” I said.

“Yeah and what would that be?” Frankie asked with a disbelieving sneer.

“Your sister.”

Frankie stilled, his sour gaze narrowing. “What the fuck are you talking about? Stay the hell away from my sister, you piece of shit cop.”

I ignored his posturing and leaned forward. “For reasons I can’t understand your sister seems to think you’re worth saving. Of course, I’ve tried to tell her otherwise but she’s stuck on some notion that you’re not a total waste of oxygen.”

“You touch her and I swear I’ll kill you.”

“Careful, our conversations are monitored and threatening to kill a cop is a felony. Maybe you might want to tone down your attitude and hear me out.” I smiled, adding with a shrug, “However, I give you props for acting the part of the indignant older brother looking out for his kid sister. If I didn’t already know that you were a drug addict loser, I’d say, I could’ve bought it.”

“You don’t know anything about my relationship with Ivy. Leave her out of this.”

“Didn’t you beg her to sell her car to bail you out? Doesn’t seem like you’re leaving her out, why should I?” I pointed out.

Frankie’s shackled hands clenched into tight fists. “What the fuck do you want? Get to the point.”

“How much do you love your sister?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“A simple one.”

Frankie glared, the bruising of the shiner I’d given him fading to a motley yellow and purple. “I love her,” he answered mulishly.

“Good. Then you’ll want to keep her safe.”

“That’s what I do, cop,” Frankie spat. “Why do you think I do what I do? Because I love the lifestyle? I keep her on the straight and narrow because she’s a good kid and deserves better than we got.”

“She’s not a kid,” I corrected him, rolling the pen idly back and forth across my notepad. “Ivy’s a full-grown woman.”

Maybe it was the way I said it but Frankie seemed to harden with rage. “You fucking stay away from her,” he said, straining against his shackles. “I swear to you, if you touch a hair on her head…”

“You’ll what?” I mocked. “Spread terrible rumors about me behind bars?”

Frankie rocked back in his chair with a snarl because he knew I had him over a barrel.

Maybe if I was a total bastard I’d tell Frankie how I’d fucked the shit out of his baby sister and obliterated her cherry.

But even I wasn’t that big of a dick.

Besides, my purpose wasn’t to simply torment Frankie Callen. I needed to put plays into motion if I was going to salvage this case.

“Calm down. I need answers and right now you’re more valuable to me on the outside than here so get ready to make yourself useful.”

Frankie settled with a glower but at least he seemed as if he were listening.

“Who knew we were cops? Someone blew our cover. Who was it?”

Frankie shrugged. “Why would I know?”

“Cut the shit. Who knew? Something went down, something tipped them off.”

“Maybe you’re just obvious.”

“Bullshit.”

Frankie smirked but held his cocky silence.

“All right. Here’s how this is going to play. Your sister seems to care more about you than she should. She mistakenly thinks that you’re worth saving — but you and I know different, don’t we?”

Frankie waited to see where I was going with this. I indulged him with a cruel smile, saying, “If you’re not interested in playing nice, then your sister will play in your place. She’s got the look that draws people — bad people — and I can guarantee you, after I put her to work on your behalf…she won’t stay a good girl.”

Frankie’s lip whitened with rage as his breathing became shallow. I had him. Ivy was his weakness. And I wasn’t above exploiting it, for, you know, the greater good and all that shit.

“What do you want me to do?” he finally bit out, the hatred in his eyes hard as cold steel. “I’ll be your bitch as long as you leave Ivy out of it.”

I regarded Frankie with curious interest. “Why do you care so much?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

He was right and it didn’t matter anyway. Frankie had agreed to play ball and that’s what I’d come for so I could stop digging into their personal life.

But I wanted to know what bond Frankie and Ivy shared that they were so loyal to one another.

I wasn’t loyal to anyone but myself.

I wasn’t an only child but my half siblings were spread from here to creation and I didn’t have a relationship with any of them.

It was better this way. Most of them were worthless anyway.

Except Katie.

My baby sister.

She seemed a half decent kid — through some miracle — but I hadn’t seen her in years. She was probably around seventeen by this time.

Yeah, what’s your point?

I shook off the tangent in my head and refocused on Frankie.

“I’ll arrange for your early release. If anyone asks, boast that we didn’t have enough evidence to build a case. That ought to keep people from digging too deep.”

Frankie nodded mulishly. “You know this is going to burn me,” he said.

“Yeah? My heart is breaking,” I returned with a healthy dose of sarcasm. “I’m doing you a favor — the people you call friends are shitbags.”

“And you’re one of the good guys,” Frankie countered with an equal tone. “Spare me.”

No sense in arguing that point.

I rose, satisfied with the exchange. I’d gotten what I wanted.

“I’ll be in touch. Be available.”

The look in Frankie’s eye said ‘fuck you’ but he remained silent. Maybe Frankie wasn’t so dumb after all.

Now to snare the pretty little kitten…

Ivy

Roxy brought me home, fluttered and fussed around me like a mother hen and then after insisting that she wouldn’t leave me along until I’d eaten something, I forced food down my throat.

I didn’t want Roxy there when Jameson showed up.

I wasn’t in the mood to explain why Jameson felt it was necessary to make house calls and I certainly didn’t want Roxy imagining that something was going on between me and the dirty cop.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to spend the night?” she asked, worried. “I’m sure Ricky wouldn’t mind. He likes you.”

The fact that Roxy had to ask permission to

be someplace other than home rubbed me wrong but I wasn’t going to pick at that argument.

Not tonight.

“I’m fine,” I assured her, just wanting some quiet time. “I’m probably just going to go to bed early. No sense in sacrificing your evening just to watch me snore.”

That seemed to mollify her a bit. “Well, if you think you’ll be okay…”

“Yes,” I nodded, relieved that she seemed ready to leave. “You’ve been amazing. Thank you so much for everything. I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me nothing, sweetheart. You’re a good kid. I hope they find that shithead gets serious time instead of a slap on the wrist for what he’d done.”