On the Streets for Alison

  Chapter Five

  Mac was on the street waiting. When I got outside it had warmed up to a cool fifty-five, according to the thermometer in Mac’s truck. I put my seatbelt on and Mac asked, "How did it go in there?"

  “Probably a lot better than it's going right now. Those are some good folks. Not once did they say anything about him lying or even give me a sign that they cared.”

  “Do you think they are letting him have it now?” Mac asked.

  “My guess is they are. They raised some good kids; they didn’t do that by letting crap like that slip by. Frank strikes me as a little like you. Doesn’t say much unless he knows what he’s talking about.”

  “What a great idea that is,” Mac said, showing me all his teeth.

  We were pulling out of the subdivision and I asked, “So what do you have?”

  “James called me and wants us to come by to look at what he has got.”

  “So he found something, I guess that’s a start.” I looked at the time. “Oh my god, it’s not ten-thirty yet.”

  “I’m already headed to Chick-fil-a, unless there is something else you are talking about?”

  “Um, NO! That is the only thought we need right now,” I said. After we picked up breakfast, we jumped on headed back toward the office, that usually can take some time, but since it wasn’t lunchtime, yet it took us less than an hour to get from Alpharetta to the Atlanta office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As long as I have known Mac, I still am sometimes amazed at some of the people he knows and how he meets them. James Steel was waiting for us in the parking lot of the building. He is a large black guy, not much taller than me, but wider. You could tell he has spent a little time in the gym or a lot of time using steroids. I looked over at Mac, “Man, where do you find some of these people?”

  He gave me the toothy grin again. “Facebook.”

  I just shook my head as we got out of the truck. Mac introduced us. We shook hands, his grip was everything I expected it to be. Had I not been a professional, I might have acted like a little girl. He looked very military, like he was produced instead of born. His movements were exact and precise. He reminds me of the Terminator. “So, did you find something on that sketch we sent?” They both looked at me as if I just asked his sister out. “Is that not what we are here for?”

  James just started laughing while Mac shook his head. Sort of made me feel better; James’ first sign of being human. He said. “No, it’s okay; I’m not much for small talk either.” He took a folder out and opened it on Mac’s truck hood. “So we matched that sketch to a Fredrick ‘Freddy’ Monroe. He’s a bouncer at a strip club on the west side of Atlanta. Now for the real story. That club has been suspected of being a front for sex trafficking.” He waited for the news to set in.

  This was something I had thought about, but was really hoping would not come up. This has to be in the top five things you don’t want to have happen to anyone. Mac and I just looked at each other and sighed. Mac said, “So is that why you brought this out here and didn’t bring us in to see it?”

  “You bet your ass. These are some serious folks and they have been doing this a long time and getting away with it. Mac, I am asking you as a friend to leave this alone. If you get involved with this, it just can’t go well for you,” James said.

  Mac is a little shorter and a lot smaller that James, but he got right in his face anyway. James was probably not used to it because you could see everything change about him. He is a big guy and that was probably enough for most folks to stand clear of him and he could probably handle himself, but one of my favorite things about Mac was he was not scared of anything. If it needed to be done, he would do it. “James, does that folder have everything I need to know about what all this is?” Mac’s tone was low but firm.

  “No man, you know I can’t give you everything,” James said. “I could lose my-”

  “James, do you really think I care what you could lose? You just told me that not only is it possible that this guy might have something to do with Alison missing, but you are saying that these people might have been doing this for a long time and are getting away with it. So God knows how many girls they have taken before, and you people have done nothing.” Mac was usually reserved, but you could almost hear him losing it.

  James looked down and back up at Mac. “Mac, there are only so many things we can do to work these kind of cases. There are rules we have to follow.”

  I wasn’t sure it was possible, but Mac stepped even closer to James. “Man, you better get me everything I need. You need to have it to me before I get back to the office this morning. We are going to work this. There is a friend’s sister missing and we will get answers. If we have to do all your legwork, again, you are going to see a side of me you only thought existed. You have rules, I only have things in my way. Please don’t be one of them.”

  “Hey, you know I’m a federal officer,” James said while Mac was getting back in his truck.

  I reached out for James’ hand and shook it while he wasn’t paying attention. “It was good meeting you James, I hope you make it to the end of this. You seem like a nice guy.”

  His head snapped my way. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Pretty sure you know,” I said as I walked over to the truck. “Have a nice day.” As I sat down, the truck lurched forward and he just missed James. I looked in the side view mirror, James looked like pig pen with a cloud of dust covering him. “I don’t think he is a big fan anymore.”

  Mac didn’t say anything. It was a long ride back to the office. Normally I don’t mind the silence, but the whole ride all I could think of was how to tell Sam what we just learned. This is the kind of thing you watch on a television that is in the background and you see it, but you’re not paying attention on purpose.

  Our office was back the way we came, in Alpharetta. On the south end of North Point Parkway. Most people thought the location was somewhat different because this town was mostly full of technology type of work, but crime was everywhere. We could make just about anywhere home.

  Mac put the truck in park, took a deep breath and said, “Can you give me a few minutes?”

  “Sure,” I said after giving him a longer look than usual. Then I got out and went into the office. I wasn’t worried about what he had done. I was worried about the argument that was going on in his head right now. He was the type of guy that thought about his choices way before he had to make them, so when the time came he wouldn’t have to think about it then. I’ve known him for over twenty years and things with him were right or wrong and with Mac not being the most upstanding citizen. If you were wrong in his eyes, that was really saying something. Most of the time we saw things eye to eye, which is probably why we got along so well. We didn’t have to worry about the greater good. Well, most of the time anyway. That was the responsibility of big agencies like the FBI. I always wondered home many people constituted “the greater good.” From what it sounds like, this has been going on for some time and they have no results. It was a little daunting to think they had been looking for so long and not found anything yet. This meant to me that they were not spending the time required on this that was needed. Something else I was glad not to have to worry about. We could work one case at a time if need be. We did not have to decide what resources went where. For us, it was all or nothing. We didn’t work every case together, but most of the time we did.

  Mac walked in and went straight to his computer. I said, “You know you have a phone that can be setup to receive your email?”

  “This is not the first time you told me that, it makes me feel a little old fashioned saying they have until I get back. It gives them a sense of urgency and yet a time limit.”

  I just looked at him and shrugged. Sometimes you could not argue with his logic.

  A minute or two went by and the printer started whirling. I looked over at him. “I guess it worked.”

  “You’d be right. James is a hard company man, but deep
down he does what is right,” Mac said. “Besides, he knows he can make a lot more outside if he needed to.”

  The printer was still going, I looked at it for a second. “So why does he not go to work outside?”

  “It’s not about the money for him, he feels like the work is more important than money. And in most cases it is, but I don’t see how this can go ignored for so long,” Mac said.

  “That is the case with most things they do. How long can they spend on a certain case? And how many people will work that case?” The printer was still spitting out sheets. “Hey, how big was that file? That thing has been printing for a while now.”

  “Don’t start with me. It’s quite a bit, I know you’re not a big fan of paper, but that’s me.” He grinned.

  I took a deep breath, “I’m just saying, you have a tablet you could read that on just as easy. I know you prefer to read a piece of paper, but the tablet has a white background. If you read it on the tablet it almost feels like you're reading a book.” I could tell it wouldn’t be long before he lost it again, so I just dropped it.

  Mac grabbed the first few pages and sat in one of my client chairs that was next to the printer. The file was finally finished printing. He grabbed it and went to work. About an hour later, he picked his head up. “So they think Marshall Jefferson is running the whole thing.” I was typing his name is a program we have to see what I could come up with. “SIX years!! They have been chasing this piece of work for six years.” He filled me in with a lot more details he found and I filled in some from my search. By two in the afternoon, we both had enough to kick off the rest of the afternoon and probably the evening. I ran down the street to grab us some salads while Mac took a shower in the office. We both kept clothes there for times like this. It was going to be a long day, better to start it clean and full. By the time I got back, he was dressed and ready to go.

  “Geez, how long was I gone?” I asked.

  “I don’t know fifteen minutes or so. Why?”

  “Never mind, just don’t eat my food.”

  When I got out and was dressed, I sat down to eat and Mac said, “I called Toni to let her know we would be late and that we couldn’t go out tonight.”

  “Oh man, I’m sorry I didn’t know you guys had plans.”

  “Don’t even think about it,” he said.

  “How did she take it?”

  “Raph, she is so great. I explained what was going on and she understands. Says she needs some sleep anyway.”

  I looked over at him for signs that thing were not as he described this morning, but you could never tell anything from just looking at him. Mac telling you was the only way to get anything from him. “I’m glad you two are getting along, but you think it is wise to tell her everything?”

  “I’m not giving away state secrets Raph, just telling her what we are looking into. I’m not going to start out lying to her.”

  “I’m not saying you need to lie, but maybe try telling her you can’t say anything. I mean, aren’t you worried she might worry about you and not want you to do something,” I asked.

  “We talked about it last night. I explained that every now and then we get into spots that are dangerous, but that we know what we are doing and we have been okay so far.”

  “Okay, I get it. It’s probably better to know than not knowing.” We were quiet for a minute. “You know my favorite part of that sentence was ‘so far’.”

  “I know, probably should have said something different.” We both chuckled.