"You think I'm a bad man?" Constantino asked mockingly. "Good, bad. Right, wrong. That hasn't mattered to me in a long time." He trailed off, staring into space. "April 20th, 2004."
"I don't understand," Beck responded.
"That's the day my wife was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer."
Phil sat at his kitchen table, letters scattered across the table and envelopes littering the floor. The latest hospital bills had just arrived. Yesterday, the bad news was that Jo had been denied further insurance coverage. The day before that, the doctors had told them that treatment had been ineffective and they would need to try something else.
He read and reread his last bank statement, knowing the numbers weren't going to change but hoping that they would. They could only pay for a fraction of Jo's medical bills and the cost of the treatments was only going to go up from here. After 14 years as New Bern's sheriff, the balance in his savings account was pitiful. They'd never put much away—Jo had always insisted on charitable donations. She said it was good for his image. She'd volunteered anywhere and everywhere: after-school programs, the hospital, the library, the humane shelter. She was determined that the Constantinos were going to be the heart and soul of the New Bern community and she was convinced that one day, her efforts would pay off and Phil would be mayor.
Fat lot of good that'll do us now, Phil said to himself. I need money and I'm not going to beg for it. Show no weakness.
Sheriff Constantino spent the next few weeks pulling old arrest records and case files. He studied them carefully, taking extensive notes and working out connections between offenders. It didn't take him long to figure out whom he needed to talk to.
Beck shook his head. "You were the reason behind the sudden spike in drug traffic throughout Kansas?"
Constantino chuckled humorlessly. "Go big or go home. I got the money we needed." He interpreted Beck's frown easily. "Screw everyone else. I was taking care of my wife."
To Beck's surprise, the man across from him actually looked sad. "Funny, isn't it?" Constantino continued. "Jo was transferred to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota the day before the bombs. She would have lived longer if she'd stayed here."
Beck sighed as he sat down heavily at the desk he'd appropriated in the New Bern police station. His interview of Phil Constantino was finally over. The former sheriff had explained how soon after Ravenwood ransacked his town, he'd sent scouts and the trading post at Black Jack had been discovered. From there, it was simple for Constantino to get in touch with a few of his old suppliers. The demand for drugs had diminished, but there were plenty of other things that were valuable. New Bern began trading refugees who made it into town and people found stranded along the roads for supplies and weapons.
Though he wouldn't admit it, Beck almost wished that military order hadn't been established. It would have been so easy to 'lose' Constantino in transit and never hear from him again...
A/N: I found myself a little bit intrigued by Constantino's wedding ring. Here's what came of it. I imagine both he and his wife as ambitious and a little bloodthirsty from the get-go. He became a dirty cop to pay medical bills and after the bombs, he simply used those 'skills' and connections to turn New Bern into the scary place it was (though I think in fanfiction it's a lot scarier than on TV).