“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.