Chapter 11: Cold Earth

Seven body bags were lined up in a row on the sidewalk in front of the Mercer house. Jack's body had already been taken by ambulance to the medical examiner's office. Police cars were parked at odd angles up and down the street. Bobby, Angel, Jerry, Jessie and Sofi all sat on the front steps, surrounded by the rubble torn up by the shooting.

"Victor Sweet did this," Bobby said to Green as the interview wrapped up.

"How do you know that?"

"His friend in the body bag over there told me," was Bobby's retort.

"Well, that does me a lot of good," barked Green. "I'll be sure to get a statement from him."

There was a strained silence for a moment and then Bobby asked the question. "Are you going to bury Sweet or are we?"

Green hesitated before he answered. He'd discovered, shortly before the shooting that Fowler had hidden a complaint Evelyn Mercer registered with the police before her death. A complaint that connected a lot of things to Victor Sweet.

"I've got something I've got to take care of first," said Green.

"Like what?" Bobby was tired of the cops not giving a shit.

"Like a dirty cop." Green dropped his voice so none of the other officers would hear him.

"Dirty cop?" asked Angel as he sat up a little straighter.

"It's your buddy Fowler, isn't it?" added Bobby. He hadn't liked Fowler from the second he'd met him.

"Fowler is MY problem. Leave it alone." Green snapped his notebook closed. "I'll keep you posted." He turned and started to walk away.

Bobby called after him. "Hey. Green. You didn't answer my question: are you going to bury Sweet or are we?"

A day later, while the Mercer brothers discussed Jack's funeral arrangements with the mortician, Victor Sweet was home holding court with several of his minions.

"Un-fucking-believable." Sweet shook his head. "I still don't believe it. Six shooters… Seven if you include the driver. One job: Shut Bobby Mercer up. All seven are dead and Mercer is still walking around. He's got nine God-damned lives just like a God-damned cat."

"Well, there's at least one less Mercer," said Tyrell. "And I hear Bobby's pretty broken up about little Jackie getting wasted."

Evan couldn't stay silent. "Don't get cocky, Tyrell. Bobby Mercer is one mean bastard and he's upset right now but the grief's going to go away. Then you're going to see a pissed-off Bobby Mercer. If you thought he was a fucking nightmare now, just wait until you see what's coming."

Victor scowled at Evan. He didn't like what Evan was saying but he knew it was true. Bobby might have been gone from the neighborhood for a long time, but he'd left a long shadow.

"Well, let's hit them again, Victor. I can take care of the job for you." Tyrell was eager to increase his esteem in Victor's eyes.

"No. No hit," said Victor. "There's too much attention on the Mercers right now. I got cops, but I don't got ALL the cops. Too many rumors could bring another hit back to my doorstep. No. We need to come up with another way to handle Bobby."

Later that night, Green confronted Fowler about his duplicity. Disgusted by his partner's craven behavior, Green stormed out into the alley and started to get into his car. Fowler, limping from where Green hit him with a pool cue, came after him. He shouted for his partner and when Green turned, Fowler shot him in the chest. Then he walked over and shot him a second time for good measure before calling the shooting in, claiming that Green had been gunned down by two black youths.

Three days after Green was murdered, two families buried loved ones in Our Lady of Hope cemetery. Hundreds attended Detective Green's funeral, and his loyal partner Fowler, stood right behind Green's wife to comfort her. On the other side of Our Lady, only a handful of people came to Jack Mercer's funeral. His brothers. Jessie and Sofi. His friends from the band and a few friends still in the area.

Bobby, Angel and Jerry all stayed after the priest finished and the mourners left. They stared for a long time at Jack's coffin, which would rest close to Evelyn's, but they left before the grave diggers lowered it into the cold earth.

Later that afternoon, Jessie went back to the cemetery. Jack's coffin had been buried and the temporary marker showed where his headstone would go. She paused and propped up the flowers that had fallen over. "Hey, Jackie," she whispered. "Your brothers miss you so much. We all do." She had brought a small bouquet of flowers and moved from Jack's grave to Evelyn's. She knelt down in the snow and put the flowers on top of Evelyn's grave. She looked at the stone in silence and then sighed.

"Hi Miss Evelyn," she finally said. "I'm so sorry this all happened. To you. To Jack. The boys miss him, and they miss you, too. They miss you so much. And they know that what happened to you wasn't an accident." For a moment she thought of Evelyn lecturing one of the boys about how violence wasn't always the answer. In the memory, all four of the brothers were interchangeable because each one had received that lecture from their mother – repeatedly.

"I know you didn't like it when they were violent, and that you always said that violence wasn't always the answer to every conflict. I'm sorry, Miss Evelyn, but in this case it is. Nothing but violence is going to put a stop to this… I don't know what I would have done if it had been Bobby who answered the door. If all that blood had been Bobby's…" Jessie's voice cracked. She wiped a few tears from her cheeks. "If Jackie can't be here, I'm really glad he's with you now. I know you'll take good care of him, Miss Evelyn. You always did."

-a-a-a-a-a-a-

Author's note: I'd like to thank everyone who has been reading this story. I appreciate you taking the time to read it (and review).

Disclaimer: the usual stuff – Jessie is my creation (as is Tyrell) but almost all of the other major characters are the brain child of the movie writers or others. Dialogue from the movie is paraphrased in many cases, but any matching dialogue is used for story continuity and character authenticity only.