Justice

"We didn't get a minute. Immediately, Tony Molteri comes storming outside demanding to know what I was up to.

"'What are you doing hassling my customers, Crowder?' he sneered at me as he edged dangerously close to invading my personal space. I placed my hand on the butt of my Smith & Wesson Model 19 holstered on my Sam Browne belt. I wanted to be ready if he exploded on me.

"Your 'customers' were manhandling this young lady. I'm about to find out whether she wants to file any charges on them." I explained.

"'This young 'lady' is an employee of Genero's and she ain't about to do any damn thing like that!' He laughed, 'That is, if she wants to keep her job!' He warned her looking directly at her to make sure his comments weren't mistaken.

"'No,' she immediately said, 'No, Officer, I don't want to press charges.' She clarified her choice. 'I just want to go home.' She clutched her bag and shivered from fear of being between the two of us.

She began walking down the street rapidly, her head down, trying to draw the least possible attention. I followed her, trying to catch up to make sure that some lowlife carnivore didn't intercept her flight to safety. When I got side by side with her. I startled her until she was reassured who I was.

"Miss, I'm going to escort you home," I said.

"'That isn't necessary, Officer,' she replied.

"It's too dangerous for you to be out alone by yourself," I told her. "I'd feel better if I knew you made it home without any problems.

"She shrugged off my comments and we walked in silence. Block after block we walked down the deserted, dilapidated buildings, dimly lit by streetlights. Finally, she stopped in front of a seedy brownstone apartment building. A cardboard sign in the window advertised rooms for rent. I could only imagine the rat-infested rooms in the slum.

"She looked up at me. 'Thank you, Officer...' I recognized she was fishing for a name.

"Tom Crowder, Miss..." as I looked eagerly to get some information from her.

"'My name is Dawn,' is all she said. I briefly thought how I could find out more about her. Then, I hesitated as the memory of Mary flashed in my brain. Taking advantage of the situation, Dawn said goodnight to me and quickly walked up the steps.

"The next night on my shift, I was making my first round by Genero's. I glanced up to the window and stopped dead in my tracks. There dancing before me was a literal angel that fell to Earth. She intentionally avoided eye contact with anyone. It was as though it would be a sinful grievance to gain her attention as she swayed to the music. I continued to watch, alongside the usual bums as we captured every possible angle of the nude temptress dancing in the window.

"I reluctantly broke away to continue my patrol. I made it a point to speed through my assigned checkpoints so I could make more laps that night. On each one that I was lucky enough to see Dawn dancing I would stop and just gawk and drool like the other Neanderthals waiting up at night.

"It wasn't by happenstance that at 3 AM when Genero's was closing, that I was waiting outside. As she came out the door, I walked to her side through the crowd interested in her. Without a word said, we began walking down the street.

"'Thank you again, Officer Crowder for escorting me,' she said in her delightful lilt.

"No problem, Miss..." I was hoping for her surname, but it wasn't forthcoming.

"'Just call me Dawn, Officer Crowder. Tell me, did you enjoy seeing me dance tonight?'

"I was busted and thrown for a loop at her enquiry. Had I insulted her by gazing at her while she danced enticingly before the large crowd. I did the only thing I could think of to deflect her question.

"I never knew that you could see out in the crowd from the stage." I commented.

She nodded as we continued to walk. 'You can see just for a few feet outside. Your uniform stands out in the crowd," she explained.

"I'm sorry, if I've offended you," I said in what I hoped she would take as a neutral tone.

"'Why would you think that I was offended, Officer? I mean, that's my job, to attract men and offer them a fantasy. Forget their lives and entice them. Offer them an opportunity that they will hope comes true,' she flatly intoned as we stopped at her apartment building.

"I could see the pain on her face as she closed her eyes and said, "It isn't real. It will never be real.' The hurt in her voice was evident as she tried to convince herself of her words. Then she went up the steps into her building. I finished the rest of the shift in an unsettled state of mind.

"Next evening, I made my rounds but I gave a wide berth of Genero's window. I could still observe and be uncomfortable at the growing attraction I had to this girl that I had just met. I was still conflicted with my relationship I had with Mary and my growing desires for Dawn.

"Again, I was outside when Dawn walked out at closing time. She gave me a brief smile as she maneuvered through her admirers towards me. I was pleased to see the frustrated looks on the wolves that I prevented from hassling her for the third consecutive night.

"As we walked side by side, she asked, 'I didn't see you tonight. Were you there watching me?'

"I could have lied, but I said, "Yes, I was watching you from a distance.

"We continued walking. She spoke up, 'That makes it somewhat bearable, Officer. Just allowing me the pretense helps,' she explained as we moved to her destination. She bade me goodnight once again as she entered her apartment.

"The next night I knew there would be trouble; Tony Molteri was outside gripping Dawn's arm tightly. She squirmed trying to ease the pain. The large crowd gathered to watch the showdown.

"'Hey Crowder, I'm telling you to stop hassling my employees. This bitch doesn't need you walking her home every night.'

"Molteri, what Dawn does once she's off the clock is none of your damn business. If Dawn doesn't need an escort home then she can tell me, but not you!"

"The tension ratchetted up as we glared at each other.

"'Well, then I'll just fire the bitch and then she can just fucking starve to death!' Molteri sneered as what he thought was a unsolvable problem for me. I caught the panic in Dawn eyes as she confronted the possibility of surviving with no job.

"Molteri, I guess I should let you know, there's a Supreme Court case, Terry v. Ohio. It allows a police officer to search a person for weapons whenever they think they have grounds for an arrest.

"Now, suppose what would happen if I stay planted in front of Genero's every shift and I suspect every one of your customers to be guilty of public intoxication and I search them. Wonder what kind of contraband I would find every night?" I wondered.

'An uneasy murmur rumbled through the crowd at my speculation of what I would find searching them. Molteri recognized the chilling effect my action would cause to his illegal business.

"'Fuck you, you fucking pig!' he screamed.

"Molteri, I've been called worse by better people than you," I replied as I geared for him attacking me.

"'No Officer, that's alright. No need to get upset. Of course, nobody is getting fired!' Sal Genero yelled as he weaseled through the crowd and confronted his business partner. 'Just an unfortunate misunderstanding, Officer. Dawn will have a job as long as she wants one.' Sal Genero assured me as he looked beseechingly at his partner, Molteri, to calm down.

"How we managed not to kill each other that night, I'll never know. Instead, once again I had the pleasure of walking Dawn home. I finally got her to call me Tom instead of Officer. She began to tell me of her unhappy childhood with her alcoholic mother and her abusive stepfather, and why she left home in her senior year of high school.

"Each night afterwards, we would slowly divulge information about ourselves. I told her about Vietnam, but couldn't bring myself to revealing my relationship with Mary. Things just started getting more comfortable around each other. Then came the night I slept with her."

"Oh My God, Dad! You cheated on Mom?" I suddenly broke out of my reverie from hearing my Dad's tale at the revelation that he wasn't faithful to my mother. "How could you, Dad? How could you ever do that to Mom?" I wondered at this man who sired me, gave me life, raised me. How could he just fall off his pedestal I had always had him on.

"Son, you don't understand how I felt about this girl. Once I gave her a goodnight kiss at her apartment, we both knew what was going to happen. She took my hand and led me upstairs. I called the precinct and told them I needed the night off and arranged for other officers to cover the remainder of my shift. When I woke up with her that morning in her arms, it was everything I ever wanted."

"Jesus, you fell in love with her? All the time you were dating Mom, you were two-timing her with this tramp?" I accused my Dad.

"It wasn't all the time, Son. My relationship with Mary was on life support. We hardly got to see each other and when we did, I never could convince her to take our relationship up a notch. She kept insisting on a ring!" Dad tried to explain away his rationale. I was disgusted with him.

"Anyway, it didn't last long," Dad settled back into reciting his story. "Dawn and I were at my apartment one morning after making love. She was parading around in just my t-shirt and I was chasing her around, ready to catch and ravish her. I heard a knock on my door and went to answer it."

"It was Mary, and the first thing she saw was Dawn in the background wearing my t-shirt. Mary called me a bastard and slapped the shit out of me. While I was trying to calm Mary down, Dawn quickly dressed, and as Mary scampered away, she slapped me on the opposite cheek. Then she cussed me for not telling her that I was dating another girl at the same time. She stormed out of my apartment."

"Serves you right, Dad," I commented, "You had no business doing that to Mom."

"You're right, Son, what I did to your Mom was inexcusable." Dad replied. "Now let me get back to my story."

"I was in a sad miserable shape. I couldn't get either Dawn or Mary to talk to me or listen to me try to explain things. I felt lower than whale shit that Dawn wouldn't let me apologize. Dawn refused to allow me to escort her home anymore, so I had to settle to trailing behind her in the shadows to make sure she didn't run into any trouble.

"Then came the night I heard gunshots in the next brownstone building from Dawn's. I raced by a frightened Dawn, unaware of my presence as I bounded up the stairs, I drew my gun and kicked in the door. There amongst the carnage was two opposing groups, killed by each other.

"The first group looked Hispanic as I kicked away the smoking guns from their lifeless corpses. The second group I recognized as being confederates of Tony Molteri that were always hanging around Genero's. On the coffee table was a large duffle bag of individually cellophane wrapped bags of a white substance. Near the Molteri's gang was a bag stacked with $100 dollars bills. It was plain to see that it was a drug deal that went bad. I called in for backup, a forensic team, and a narcotic detective and a homicide detective. Let them all sort it out.

"When the detectives were through questioning me I stepped outside. I looked up at Dawn's apartment while I was flanked by all the police units. She was staring down at me until she reluctantly backed away from the window. I wanted desperately to go up there and explain what she meant to me. Instead, I turned to walk home.

"For the next two weeks, I didn't have a single sighting of Dawn. It was like she had dropped off the face of the Earth. She wasn't on the dancer's rotation at Genero's. Her apartment manager said Dawn's clothes were still in her apartment, even though she hadn't seen or heard from her in two weeks.

"I started hearing vague, unsettling, rumors about Dawn and Tony Molteri. Some people were suggesting that Dawn had started doing drugs. I couldn't fathom Dawn falling that low into the abyss to doing drugs, so I resolved to discount those rumors, but I couldn't come up with any reasonable explanation for her disappearance.

"As I started my patrol that night, I got word that Sal Genero and Tony Molteri wanted to see me in Genero's office. When I got there, I knew it wasn't going to be good. I stood in front of the desk as the two gloated over me.

"'Officer Crowder, we have a little proposition for you.' The greasy smirk on Genero's face put me on notice as he leaned forward, eager to rattle my cage.

"No thanks, Genero, there isn't anything you've got that I'd be interested in," I replied.

"'Oh, but we do, Crowder,' Molteri crowed as he interjected himself into the conversation. 'We have a little bitch that I've spent the last two weeks shooting full of heroin. Now, she's just about ready to start earning her keep as a whore. "'Matter of fact, I'm going to give her a trial run tonight and make sure she'll satisfy all her customers.'

"I was ready to arrest Molteri, then and there, but I held off. It would just be my word against theirs. I was helpless at this point and they knew it. If I didn't do what they wanted, Dawn's degradation would be final and complete as she spiraled down, due solely because of my attraction to her.

"What do you want, Molteri?"

"The mere fact I asked signaled to them that they had won. Large grins appeared as I waited to find what pact with the devil did I make.

"'That drug shootout you worked three weeks ago,' Molteri reminded me.

"What about it," I asked.

"'There is a discrepancy from the money the police reported to have recovered and what we actually know was in the room. Our guys had a million dollars to make the drug deal. You were the first officer to respond, so it stands to reason that you took the money.' Genero explained.

"I didn't take any money, Genero." I thought, vainly, I could impart a convincing sincerity tone to my words. Genero just laughed at me.

"'Doesn't matter if you took the money, or the Columbians took the money, or somebody else took the money; you're the one on the hook. You're the one that better come up with one million dollars if you want your little girlfriend back,' Genero warned me. "You've got till closing time or else.'

"I knew what the ominous portent of 'or else' represented. Not only would Dawn face a lifetime of sexual slavery, the Calpera Family would get word that I had one million dollars of their money. My life would be snuffed out immediately.

"I went immediately to the brownstone apartment where the shootout occurred. The police tape announcing it to be a crime scene was still securing the door. I ripped the tape off and due to the shoddy state of the building had little trouble jimmying open the door.

"The power was off so I turned on my flashlight to scan the room. I looked in the obvious places, like the cabinets and such, even though I knew the forensic team would have checked them.

"The only chance I had was that the money was still there and that the forensic team had been less than thorough, since they had a visible amount of contraband and money at the bloodbath scene and the drug dog didn't alert to the presence of money as opposed to drugs.

"I searched for hours in vain, tapping at the walls and floors hoping to hear a difference in tone that would signal a solid object from the hollow spacing. I finally came to the last room, the bathroom.

"When I opened the door, the stench nearly knocked me down. As befits an unattended slum building, there was a disgusting pile of fecal matter clogging the toilet. It was so bad my eyes were watering as I rapidly looked through the room. I was running out of hope when I saw the twine cord lying on the stained tile floor. It didn't attract any more attention than any of the other debris scattered throughout the apartment.

"I traced the cord as its length went up the bowl of the commode and into the stinking mess inside the bowl. I gave it a preliminary tug, scared at what my action would result in unearthing some more disgusting matter. Instead, the cord move freely up stained with the toxic matter it slid through. Still it came up until I saw a mass erupting that disturbed the contents in the toilet. A large cylinder of plastic broke into view. Looking warily at the contents, I could make out a roll of $100 dollars bills.

"I continued to pull at the cord, which revealed consecutive rolls of bills into a long continuous snake of currency. I tugged harder and faster as the money piled on the floor until finally with a gurgle the last roll left the commode. I placed the mass into the bathtub praying the water was connected. For once, my luck was in as the water cleansed the plastic. I looked at my watch. I had just enough time to get back to Genero's.

"When I got there the place was closed and the lights were off. I tested the door; it was unlocked and I went inside. There at the bar sat Genero and Molteri. On the floor besides them was an unkempt mass. Lila, suffering from the kidnapping, sporting two weeks of needle tracks on her arm of the involuntary drug usage. I dropped the bundle of money still wrapped in plastic and ran to the semi-comatose woman.

"While trying to get her attention, I heard the unpleasant sound of a slide of a semi-automatic pistol jacking a round into its chamber. I looked behind me and Tony Molteri had a Colt .45 trained on me.

"'Lose the weapon, you fucking pig!' He sneered. As I slowly and cautiously complied with his command and dropped my pistol to the floor, I saw Sal Genero jump out of his seat, open the plastic and started piling the money rolls in a duffel bag. He was happily chortling as he worked at the task.

"'Now, I want you in the middle of the room,' Molteri ordered me and waved the gun to emphasize the comment. I walked sideways carefully to get Dawn out of the way of any line of trajectory. Now Molteri was between Dawn and myself. I was afraid of her fate.

"You got what you want, Molteri. Let Dawn go." I requested.

Molteri laughed without mercy, 'We didn't think you could do it. We had already told our boss at the Calpera Family that the Columbians had the money. That took the blame off us and on the Columbian Cartel. Now, you go and find the money and me and Sal got a million dollars, free and clear. Now, all we got to do is get rid of the witnesses. Too bad about Dawn, she'd have made us a lot of money as a hooker and would have been fun routinely fucking her, but that's how it goes.'

"Molteri was enjoying his triumph over me. I started thinking of anything that would prevent or forestall my fate. I realized that was what Molteri wanted. He wanted me begging him for mercy. He was hoping I would cry and plead for my life.

"Seeing that I wouldn't submit to his desire, Molteri played his last card of torment.

"'Well, at least before I kill the bitch, I'll fuck the shit out of her," he laughed. He motioned at me, "Get on your knees!'

"I stood still."

"'Get on your knees, pig, or, I'll have Sal cover you and I'll fuck the bitch in front of you and kill her before I waste you!' He screamed.

"I couldn't see any way out. I slowly sank to my knees and stared up at the cavernous hole of the Colt .45 barrel that would end my life. I took a last look at Dawn drifting in and out of her narcotic dream state. I prayed that when the end came to her, she wouldn't be coherent enough to realize what had happened.

"I looked up at the man who was going to kill me and stared into his victorious eyes. I felt helpless as I waited for the inevitable.

"The blast of the gun deafened the room and reverberated in its echoes. I flinched on the impact but something was wrong. I felt a hot, sticky, wetness spray on me and the figure of Tony Molteri, minus a face, drop lifeless to the floor. A stunned Sal Genero, similarly sprayed with blood, still hunched at the duffel bag looked in disbelief at the corpse of his partner.