Chapter 35 -Debriefing

Lee sat in on the interrogation of Lefty to try to get answers from him. At first Lefty wouldn't talk but when he realized that his wife was telling her side, he decided that he had better tell his. Lee had been told that Lefty had lost his right hand in a car accident but what he didn't know was that it shouldn't have happened. Lefty's real name was Martin Grant and he grew up in a poor section of South Carolina. His dad loved taking him new places so that they could go on bike rides and enjoy seeing beautiful, scenic places together. One day when he was 15, they had gone on a bike ride along Myrtle Beach when suddenly a Police Officer pulled up with his blue lights on and demanded that they stopped their bikes. They had simply been biking so they knew they hadn't done anything illegal but they stopped and asked what the problem was. The officer had told them not to get smart and had demanded that they get down on the ground with their hands above their heads. They were a little frustrated but they did as they were asked and the officer came over and handcuffed Lefty's father. It turned out that a father and son had just robbed a convenience store down the road and the officer thought they were the guilty ones. He was a young officer with a chip on his shoulder and wanted to prove that he was the best officer ever so he was thrilled to have caught the two suspects so easily. Lefty was really upset to see his father in cuffs and demanded to know what they had done. The officer roughly pulled Lefty's father to his feet and shoved him toward the car. When he turned around to ask again what they had done, the officer shot him 3 times which caused him to spin around and fall to the ground. The bullets hit him in the chest, leg and then nicked his aorta. He bled to death before the ambulance could get there. Lefty was devastated and upset and he swore revenge on the officer especially after the call came in that the real robbers had been caught about 5 miles away. He soon began stalking the officer and trying to make him nervous about what might happen to him. In the end, Lefty followed the officer one day while he was in a high speed car chase and Lefty lost control of his car and slammed into a wall which caused his car to flip in the air and land on its side. Lefty's right hand managed to fall out as the car was flying through the air and the car landed on it. The hand was so completely mangled that they had to amputate it. Lefty's hatred of the police grew immensely after that day and deep down, he knew he wanted revenge. He lost his job since he was a laborer and could no longer lift 50 pound warehouse items. All seemed lost and then one day he saw that the Korny Klowns were hiring so he went over and begged for the job. Jared felt bad for him and gave him a chance. His plans of revenge were put on hold until the day Carl Rogers showed up and wanted lessons on being a clown. He was a horrible clown but soon he and Lefty began talking and one night they went out for drinks. It didn't take long to realize they had a lot in common. Lefty had been approached by the League earlier but he didn't have the money to join and didn't know if he wanted to. When he found out that Carl was a member, he changed his mind. He soon found out that they planned this parade mission and if Lefty wanted to pay off his membership dues, he could volunteer to take charge of it; so he did. No one would believe that Lefty would do anything bad so he had almost gotten away with it.

Lee had him sign a paper stating that his testimony was true and agreed to work on getting him a lighter sentence if he would help put Eduardo away. They then led him away to put him back in his jail cell.

Lee got up and went to Billy's office where he found Amanda just finishing her debriefing. He quickly did his own while Amanda stayed to listen and she was sad to hear about Lefty's woes. He had seemed like such a nice guy and who could blame someone for being upset that their father was killed for no good reason. She hoped that Jamie and Phillip would never have to experience her being killed just because someone decided to do it. She knew her Mother would bring the boys up without her but she hoped she would never face the day when she would have to look death in the eyes.

After Lee finished, Billy told them both that their microphones had continued to work so they also had the whole thing on tape and even though that wasn't permissible in court, it worked wonders on getting people to talk so they would use it against all the other men and women who were involved. Lefty's wife had only agreed to be a driver but had been trying to get Lefty to let go of his anger for years. She truly loved him but was scared that eventually he would end up in jail. He had given her only the very basics of why she was driving the truck so she wasn't really aware of just how much trouble she was in until the officer who was questioning her explained it to her. At that point she told them everything she knew and it looked good that she would just get probation.

As they wrapped things up, Lee offered to walk Amanda out to her car.

"Thanks for your help in the case Amanda. I'm sorry I was so hard on you. I was just worried about your safety."

"Oh that's alright. I understand." Amanda said.

"Well I know this is a busy week for you since you are preparing for Thanksgiving Day so we shouldn't need you to come in at all the rest of the week."

"That would be great. There is so much to do before Thursday and then of course Thursday will be so busy. What are your plans for Thanksgiving?"

"I'm not sure yet. I am always on the duty roster for the day. I figure that since others have families, they should be home enjoying their family time so I always volunteer to take their places. If nothing is going on, I get to sleep in and then get up so I can watch the football games in the afternoon."

"Don't you watch the parades?" Amanda asked.

Lee smiled and said "No and I think after today, it will be awhile before I'm ready for another parade."

Amanda smiled back and said "Yeah, except my family would get suspicious if I didn't watch since I love them so much. Well anyway, I wish I could invite you over but I wouldn't know how to explain you. I could make up a left over plate though and bring it to your apartment."

"Amanda, that isn't necessary. I usually just have a pizza and some beer and am totally happy." They had arrived at Amanda's car so Lee opened her door and helped her inside. As he closed the door, he leaned over and said "Happy Thanksgiving Amanda. Enjoy your family." He smiled quickly and then turned and walked away. After all these years he still found it hard to deal with the holidays. His Uncle had probably ruined them forever for him. He was glad that Amanda loved them so much and really did hope she and her family had a great day. They all deserved it. He recalled fondly how Phillip had yelled at him during the parade about being stiffed out of his balloon. Yes, Amanda King wasn't the only one with spunk, she had passed that gene right along to her boys. They were going to be great young men someday. Lee couldn't help but smile as he got in his Porsche and headed for home.

TBC