The Birth of A Lantern
By
Shenandoah Douglass
Chapter One
The muffins' aroma caught John Stewart's attention when he sat in Earl's Dinner, a small eatery in North Freeland. Twenty-two-years-old and fresh out of the university, he joined the Freeland Police Department a year before he graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice, and his partner—Andy Roddick—was on his way to pick him up as he enjoyed the smell of the fresh muffins baking in the oven. He looked dapper and professional in his Freeland PD uniform. His faded haircut gave him a prestigious look, and the way he carried himself garnered the respect of anybody in his presence.
Doc Baker, a tall, tenebrous man owned the bakery, and he looked right at John, and said, "I know you're new on the force, but watch your back."
John looked up at him for a moment, and asked, "What do you mean, sir?"
Doc Baker sucked his top front teeth for a moment and then said, "That partner of yours is working his own game outside the legal realm."
John paused for a moment but didn't say anything right away. "Are you saying he's a crooked cop?"
"I don't need to say it," Doc Baker said, "You just watch your back."
When Andy pulled up in the black and white, he was the opposite of John in almost every way imaginable. Where John's waist tapered into his pants, Andy's didn't. He was a big man, an older man, and a man who wasted all of his careers as an ordinary patrolman. He didn't have the desire for detective work, and his monthly stipend was more than enough money to take care of his family. He had gray hairs peppered into his black ones, puffy, pallid cheeks, and an overbite.
"You ready, John?" He asked as he stuck his head through the front door.
"Yeah," John said, "Let's do this."
When John entered the patrol car, Andy's body odor hit him directly in the face, and after two months of riding with him, he hadn't grown used to it. He thought about what Doc Baker told him, and then when he thought about how Andy interacted with Lala, one of the lieutenants in the One Hundred, he wondered if they had something going on the side.
"Listen, Lala was found dead in his jail cell last night," Andy said, "There's going to be a media firestorm because he died in police custody."
"What was the cause of death?" John asked with a grimace.
"Possible suicide," he said, "But at the same time, he was in police custody, so somebody should have checked on him. By the time the night staff found him, he was cold to the touch."
John looked over to his partner for a moment, and then asked, "How will the One Hundred react to this?"
He laughed for a moment. "The One Hundred is focused on money," he said with a smile. "As long as their product moves through Freeman, I don't think they care about Lala."
John and Andy walked into the main headquarters, into the meeting room, and sat down on the back bench and waited for the daily briefing. Within five minutes of his arrival, the room had nearly sixty officers in it, and the entire meeting was over the death of Lala. Andy leaned against the far wall, drank a cup of coffee, and scowled like he didn't want to be in the briefing. It was always a big deal when a citizen died in police custody, but since he was part of the One Hundred, a vicious street gang, it was highly probable his death would cause a ripple effect in the community.
"Everybody needs to be on guard," Captain Ives said as he explained the duties of the day. The Captain stood in front of the classroom with his small, neatly combed hairdo. A large whiteboard stood behind him, and it had patrol routes on it. Captain Ives was a black man from France via Central Africa. His skin color was like a moonless night, but he looked much younger than he truly was. He looked about twenty-five-years-old, but he was well over forty-five. He had a thin mustache, black hair, and large eyes. He talked with an accent that revealed he was a foreigner. "When word of Lala's death hits the community, people will be upset."
After the briefing, Andy and John walked over to their patrol car, and then Andy said, "Lala was a serious money source. I'm going to have to find a new one."
John looked at him for a moment, and then asked, "You're on the take?"
Andy laughed. "Just a joke, John," he said. He stopped smiling for a moment, and then said, "If you're going to last on this job, you better have a sense of humor every now and again."
The young patrolman looked at his older supervisor, and then smiled, but at the same time, he felt he was not joking. In fact, he thought his boss tested him to see where he stood on corruption, and now John didn't trust the man at all. They patrolled around Freeland for a few hours, and it was warmer than usual. Most of the kids were in school, but every now and again, he saw a child roaming up and down the city streets. Suddenly, they received a call on the radio that Freeland National Bank was under siege.
They raced to the bank on the corner of Fifth and Douglass, and three men charged out of the bank with bags of money. John rolled out the patrol car, chased one of the men down, and clipped his back leg. The robber rolled on the ground, and then as he tried his best to control the suspect, one of the other robbers kicked him in the back, and he somersaulted through the air, and then when he landed back on his feet, he drew his Glock Nineteen. His partner chased after the other robber in the patrol car, but John placed the other two in custody.
When the bank retrieved the money that John retrieved, twenty-five thousand dollars was missing. It was understood that the third robber got away with the money, and the other two crooks weren't giving up any information on the guy. For hours, the detectives interrogated the robbers, but they never gave up their partner. In fact, they didn't give up his name or anything, but because they always ran together, the officers surmised the third robber was Derrick James, a petty criminal who grew up in South Freeland.
An all points bulletin went out on Derrick James, and the police raided his apartment, but they couldn't find the guy. They cleared every room in the flat but didn't detect the guy at all. When they went into his apartment, they didn't think he returned to his home after the robbery. The flat smelled like weed, and next to the couch was some GHB and other drugs.
"I don't think he's been here," John said as he looked over the apartment quickly.
"Probably not," Andy said.
The on-scene commander looked over at Andy and John, and said, "You two can leave. Stay close to your radios."
"Yes, sir," John said.
When noontime hit, John and Andy stopped at Joe's Diner, a hamburger-place frequented by cops. John had a small cheeseburger and fries, and his partner took off in the car for about forty-five minutes. The young patrolman sat at the eatery, ate his hamburger, and didn't understand what his partner was doing. He just sat at the booth, looked out the window, and noticed two, young gang members on the far corner selling drugs. The restaurant had over fifteen cops in it, and from what John knew, all the drug dealers were aware Joe's Diner was a cop hangout.
John paid his money, walked out the diner, and looked around for his partner. He looked down at his watch, and then when he looked back up, his partner pulled directly in front of him. He climbed into the passenger's seat, and then asked, "Where did you go?"
"I have some tail a few blocks away," he said, "Just wanted to rub out a quickie."
John laughed, and then said, "Oh. Never mind."