Chapter Two
Some money with both the victims' blood on it led to an arrest. Seever and Crews closed their first case quickly and efficiently making Tidwell happy. He was so happy he made the mistake of mention this to Reese over dinner.
"I have my problems with Crews, but he is a damned good detective," said Tidwell. "Seever and Crews make good partners."
Reese scowled at this comment and Tidwell immediately regretted making it. She took a sip of her mineral water with lime then played with her plate of Shrimp Alfredo. Tidwell dug into his lasagna with his fork, chewed, swallowed, and washed down with a sip of his red wine.
"How are you and Tanner doing?" asked Tidwell.
"He's an idiot," said Reese.
"Dani, honey, give him a chance. He's a better partner for you than Charlie Crews," Tidwell said.
"You're staying at your apartment tonight not my place," she growled.
"Oh, come on, honey," he pleaded.
"Don't call me honey, Captain," she hissed.
LIFE
Roman Nevikov said he killed Jack Reese, but Charlie Crews knew better. The ex-SWAT Team captain wasn't dead, but he was in hiding and Charlie Crews needed to know why. Knowing what or who had the big bad Captain Jack Reese in hiding. If he had that answer, it might move him closer to nailing Mickey Rayborn and his syndicate of former corrupt cops.
"Revenge is a poison that we end up swallowing ourselves," Charlie said to himself, as he stared at his wall of conspiracy.
The last whereabouts he had for Jack Reese was San Lucas, Mexico. From what Charlie could find out through hiring private investigators, someone was footing the bill for Jack Reese to live well in San Lucas. He needed to force Jack Reese's hand to come back to Los Angeles. Jack was married. He had a Persian wife Daria, a son Jack, Jr., and a daughter Dani. Maybe family could make Jack Reese come home. Yet, he didn't want Dani involved, so a visit to see Daria Reese seemed to be in his future.
It was going to be a dangerous game he was playing. If Dani Reese got wind of it then she'd come after him. She was as protective of her mother as she was disdainful of her father. Charlie didn't want Dani to come after him. He didn't want Dani involved in this mess. It was dangerous for everyone who touched it and his hands were now all over it.
In his walk-in closet, he had a filing cabinet with a lock on it. In one of the drawers were photos of Jack Reese enjoying life in San Lucas. Maybe Daria Reese would like to see photos of him enjoying San Lucas.
LIFE
Jack Reese's home was in the San Fernando Valley. It was a nice sized ranch-style home. Jack was gone but Daria Reese still lived there. Charlie pulled up his Maserati and got out wearing a blue Tom Ford suit with a handmade light blue shirt and a dark blue silk tie. His sunglasses were a brown Ray-Ban Wayfarer and his cologne was Bulgari Aqua. Clothes and accoutrements had become an expensive fetish for Charlie. Twelve years in prison wearing a jumpsuit, cheap sneakers, and being given a rock hard bristle toothbrush and cheap horrible tasting toothpaste had made him dream of the expensive, which he now indulged. It wasn't Zen, but neither were fast cars and the profession of police detective.
With a folder in his left hand, he walked up the path to the front door and rang the doorbell. As he waited, he started to look around the neighborhood. It was quiet cul-de-sac, a good place to raise children. Also, it was a good place to have weekend barbecues. The front door open and a shorter, older, and equally attractive version of Dani opened it.
"Hi, um, Daria Reese," Charlie started, "I'm Charlie Crews."
"I've heard that name before," she said with a slight foreign accent. "Dani's partner."
"Former partner," smiled Charlie.
"How can I help you, Detective Crews?" she asked.
"I want to talk to you about your husband Jack Reese," he said.
"I don't know where he is," she snapped.
"I do," Charlie replied and his smile grew.
Daria Reese stood there and stared at Charlie for a few moments. She nodded to herself then stood aside.
"Come in, Detective Crews," she said.
After Daria made them a cup of Arabic tea, which she served in the living room, then Charlie showed her the folder. She read through it and looked at the photos. When she was done, she neatly placed the folder down on the coffee table and looked at Charlie.
He took a moment to read her. Charlie could see the anger, which she was controlling, but also the concern for her husband. He had to admit for a man living in San Lucas that Jack Reese didn't look happy in the photos of him.
"Why do you have these?" she asked.
A cop's wife, Charlie smiled.
"Because I believe your husband can help me with something that is important to me," he answered.
"Why aren't you Dani's partner anymore?" she asked.
"Because what he can help me with is dangerous," he said.
"You are protecting my daughter, but you want my husband," she said.
Something like that," replied Charlie.
"Are you an honest man, Detective Crews?" she asked.
"I aspire to be one," he said.
"What do you want from me?" she asked.
"I want you to being your husband home," he said.
Daria took a sip of her tea as she considered her next question.
"How?" she asked.
Charlie took a piece of paper out of his pocket with a cellphone number on it. He handed it to her.
"Call him and tell him I've been to visit you. He'll come home," Charlie told her.
"You scare my husband that much?" she asked.
"Something about me does," said Charlie.
Charlie stood up. He smiled at Daria. It was a sincere, warm smile.
"My daughter trusts you," she said.
"I trust your daughter," he said.
"You saved her, didn't you?" she asked him.
He didn't answer her, but instead he smiled again.
"Thank you for the tea, Mrs. Reese," he said.
"Call me Daria," she said.
"Thank you for the Daria," he said then he left.
LIFE
Seever and Crews were called in on a simple murder suicide, which Charlie didn't find so simple. He noticed that the knot tied for the rope was tied by someone right handed and the man was left handed. The case was going to stay open as they continued to investigate for now.
It had been two weeks since his return and he still had spoken to her. Reese had gone from stubborn to infuriated by Charlie Crews. He was now purposely avoiding her and she wouldn't have it. As Mann filed their report, she decided she was going to Charlie's place to see him tonight.
After work, Charlie got into his Maserati and sped home. When he arrived, he saw that Rachel's car was gone, as was Ted's. He was alone again. As he got out of his car, he thought about the fact that Reese was probably with Tidwell tonight. His stomach crunched a little.
He opened his door to his mansion, his home, and stepped inside. After taking a couple of steps inside the door, Charlie felt the heavy thud of a baton crack the back of his skull. The pain sent an electric shock through his body, as his vision darkened. He willed himself from passing out. The next hit was across his lower back just hard enough to send him to his knees. Whoever was doing this knew what they were doing.
The man with the baton walked up beside Charlie then reached down and removed his sidearm. He then kicked Charlie in his side sending him sprawled on the cold marble floor. A moment later, the lights were turned on.
"You had my wife call me with a message, Crews. Well, this is my answer," said Jack Reese.
Charlie tried to get up, but Jack kicked him again in the side. From experience, Charlie knew that he had cracked two ribs. Jack went to kick him again, but Charlie willed himself through the pain and nausea and grabbed his leg. He twisted leg to the point that Jack Reese had two choices: fight it and have ligaments torn in his knee or go with it and fall to the floor. Jack chose to fall then crawl away.
Charlie had heard the baton hit the floor and roll. Jack got up and limped over to it giving Charlie time to grab his knife from his pocket. He slowly got up the unfolded the knife.
"A con weapon. You would choose a knife, Crews. You're nothing but a punk con," said Jack.
"And you're a corrupt cop, Jack," smiled Charlie. "You're one of Mickey Rayborn's bitches, are you? Was Mickey paying for your hiding spot in San Lucas, Jack?"
"You don't know me," growled Jack Reese.
"Bank of LA, Jack. What else did you do for Mickey?" Charlie asked.
"I was just thinking of beating you until you learned a lesson, but I can see that useless. You got beaten too much and too many times in prison to deal with pain, so now I'm going to have to kill you Crews to get you to stop your nosy shit," threatened Jack Reese.
"I'm right here, Jack," said Crews.
"Yeah, I know," he said as he came at Charlie.
Charlie stopped the baton with his left forearm at the expense of a great deal of pain then he ran his knife across Jack's ribs cutting him. In return, Jack Reese smacked Charlie's left knee sending reverberating pain through his body then with two hands, he jammed the baton into Charlie's stomach bending him over. Jack Reese raised his baton over his head to strike Charlie again when he heard the one voice he really didn't eat to hear.
"Stop or I'll shot," Dani warned her father.
While the two men fought, she had walked in on it. Seeing her father beating Charlie, her first instinct was to protect Charlie by shooting her father, but she fought it. Jack closed his eyes while Charlie tried not to get sick from the waves of pain going through his body.
"What the hell are you doing?" growled Dani.
"This is between me and him. Stay out of it," said Jack. "Go home!"
His tone of voice made her cringe. She didn't like being ordered, but especially didn't like it coming from her father.
"No, this isn't between you and Crews. I'm involved, too," she said, as she made her way slowly to Charlie.
She knelt slowly down beside him, while keeping her gun trained on her father.
"I'm leaving now, Crews. We are done for now," said Jack Reese.
"You are not going anywhere," Dani said.
"Let him go, Reese," Charlie mumbled. "Just let him go."
"What?" she said.
"Let him go. It's important. Trust me. We don't want the police involved in this," said Charlie.
"But we are all police here," she said starting to get angry.
"Dani, let him go," Charlie said softly.
Dani put her sidearm away and watched as her father walked out of the house. She turned her attention fully to Charlie. He was bleeding at the back of his head and had far too many bruises for her taste.
"Charlie, I've got to get you to a hospital," she said.
"No, I'll be fine," he said.
"No, you won't," she said.
"Broken ribs, cracked skull, bruised knee, and my forearm hurts, I've had worse. I'll be fine," he said.
He laid his head in her lap. As he looked up at her, she began to stroke his hair.
"Charlie, I'm taking you to the hospital. Don't argue," she said.
"I'll be alright. All I need to do is rest," he said.
"Jesus, Crews, what am I going to do with you?" she said.
"Stay away from me, honey," he said softly, as he started to close his eyes from nausea and exhaustion.
"Charlie, don't go to sleep," she said.
"I'll be fine and you stay away from me, Dani. Stay away from me. I'm no good for you," he almost whispered.
Ted and Olivia entered the house to see Charlie laying on the floor being taken care of by Dani Reese. Immediately, Ted became concerned.
"What's wrong with him?" he demanded.
Charlie was more than his only client; he was his friend and his hero.
"I came in and my father was beating him with a baton. He won't go to the hospital," she told him.
Ted nodded, "I know who to call. Don't worry I have someone to take care of him."
