Letting it All Out

After some time, Hildy had come back from the store and bought Jack some clothes, even some underwear and socks in case he needed them. He still needed to bathe, but he was in no condition to go back to his hideout at the moment because of the pain he was in.

"Here are some clothes for you to wear," Hildy said. "It's not much, but just some stuff that you might need."

She had pulled out a jacket that seemed rather familiar to him. It had red and beige patterns.

"Holy shit, I didn't think I would see something like this again," Jack said. "Not sure if this is the exact same jacket or something like it, but thanks."

"No problem, I was just picking out whatever I can find," Hildy said. "How are your shoulders? How's your back?"

"I'm hanging in there," Jack said. "It's been painful, but I should be back out there soon."

Hildy shot him a look of "I don't think you should do this." She then shook her head.

"Okay, I'll wait a bit until I'm ready," Jack said. "First I need to go take a shower."

Jack got up. Although he slowly got to his feet, he wasn't in as much pain as before. The punishment he took was painful, but the pain wasn't so severe that he couldn't help Eve defeat Antorcha on the way to Hildy's place.

"Jack, wait," Hildy said. Jack turned towards her.

"After you get out, maybe we should talk," Hildy said. "You said you wanted to know about the case your dad was working on before he died, I'm ready to tell you now."

"Okay, I'll be out in a bit."

While Jack was in the shower, Hildy sat there with Shadow by her side thinking about everything that had happened up to that point. First Frank Slate's death, then Jack was consumed by revenge that he went after one of Grant City's crime bosses, only for it to be the wrong guy. Although she let Jack know about how she felt about him, she wondered why she didn't do it sooner. Why didn't she tell him sometime before his execution? Hildy wondered that herself.

It didn't help that despite Jack being hurt that he was still determined to get the answers he wanted out of all of this. But in some ways, she felt that she should support his choice.

After some time, Jack had now gotten out of the shower, as well as put on some of the clothes Hildy brought him, including that jacket.

"How do I look?" Jack said.

Hildy paused for a few seconds. "You look fine to me."

There was some truth to it as Jack could now move better than he could that morning. Hildy looked on with amazement.

"Thank you, I even feel a bit better now," Jack said as he went to go sit on the couch next to Hildy. "Now I must ask, do you have any idea what Dad was working on when he died?"

"I know about some cases Frank was working on, but this was something big," Hildy said. "It seemed he was doing some muck-diving for Gloria Exner, well, mostly."

"Gloria Exner? The mayoral candidate?"

Just then it hit Jack that his father talked to that woman on the phone that day he went by his firm.

"Yeah," Hildy said. "She wanted him to scrounge up some dirt on the mayor to help her win the election. She's got a mad-on against this storm troop of a police squad."

"You mean GAC?"

"Yeah, and she thought that maybe Frank could prove that the funds were being misappropriated and misused."

"Well were they?"

"Beats me. Frank felt that this case was too big that he didn't give me much detail in the matter."

"You mentioned the mayor," Jack said. "I wondered why he needed to check out that subway that night. I know that Mayor Pinnacle owns some businesses in the city, including the construction company that was working on the subway, but do you think that Pinnacle has been using the city's money for funding that unit? I still wonder why my dad was doing at that subway at night."

"I couldn't tell you if I wanted to," Hildy said. "I know I worked for your dad for almost a year and he had me look at some reports from some of the cases, but this was something he mostly kept in the dark."

"I remember that night too well. Shadow and I met with Dad at that construction site. We split up. Shadow and I found something in one of the caves. It looked like gold, but I am not sure if that was the reason. As Shadow and I were looking, that was when we heard the gunshots."

Jack put his head down a bit. Hildy looked right towards and without any hesitation, she gave him a hug.

"Thank you, I needed that," Jack said.

"I want to help you, but I don't know what to do," Hildy said.

"I'll think of something," Jack said. "But I keep wondering, what exactly did Exner know that she wanted dirt on Pinnacle? What was at the subway?"

"You're asking the wrong person. The only person I think you should talk to is Gloria Exner."

"Like that's going to be easy to reach her."

"I'm just telling you what I think you should do."

A sudden jolt hit Jack in that moment when he remembered something.

"Hold up, I just remembered something," Jack said. "You said you work at The Oar House, right? That place is close to Cold Rock Creek, isn't it?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I was at Dock 765, which was where that shit went down. Do you think that any shady figures run that restaurant you work at? Are there any shady people who come by often?"

Hildy's eyes widen, like something had hit her as well.

"Now that you mention it, I think there might be some people like that who come by," Hildy said.

"Is there anything that seems a bit out of the ordinary going down?"

"Aside from the typical asshole who tries to hit on me or any of the other waitresses, there is this one guy who comes by and tries to get free food. In fact, he comes in all the time and hassles me and my friend Dominique."

"Who is this guy?"

"Rafshoon Diggs."

"The ex-boxer?"

"The same," Hildy said. "He would sometimes come in with some guys, probably security guys or some shit. He would be eyeballing me and Dominique for some reason. I knew those guys because they were regulars, but they would be close by working at the docks."

"I thought he worked as the mayor's bodyguard," Jack said.

"I'm just telling you what I know," Hildy said. "But it's starting to make me wonder now why those two Russian guys would come by the strip club often. Rafshoon would be eyeing me like that guy Boris would. That was when I quit last night."

"Why did you quit?"

"Because I had heard about Boris and Dimitri recruiting girls from different places to take part in porno videos, as well as a sex slave operation."

Jack quickly turned towards Hildy when he heard that.

"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

"I was going to tell you, but that was when I patched you up."

"Yeah, well, let me tell you what I found last night," Jack said. "Last night when I was at the docks, I saw Ruby with Rafshoon Diggs and the Volkoff brothers. Something tells me that she is working with them."

"Don't tell me you're trying to go back to her," Hildy said with a minor glare on her face.

"It's not like that, but it would explain some more stuff to me," Jack said. "There are so many questions out there. Part of me wonders if John Sanderville had anything to do with my dad getting killed."

"Why would you think that?" Hildy said.

"Think about it, the biggest crime lord in all of Grant City. It's likely he had sent one of his men after my dad."

"Why would he have anything to do with your dad?"

"I don't know, but for some reason he wants me dead so badly."

Jack turned his attention directly towards Hildy. "I understand you don't want me to do this, but I can't go on without finding out who had to do with my father's murder, and why this old gangster wants me dead so badly. It's something I have to do."

Hildy nodded. "I get it. I still want to help you in some way."

"Just keep your eyes open on those people at the restaurant," Jack said. "I got some stuff to handle on my own."

"I will," Hildy said.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! Suddenly a knock was heard at the door.

"What the hell?" Hildy said and got up and looked towards the window and it appeared that a police car was parked out in front.

"Oh fuck!" Hildy said. "Quick, go hide! I'll handle this."

Jack quickly got out of the living room and went towards Hildy's bedroom and got out a pistol just in case that he had with him. He went inside the closet, while Shadow stayed in the bedroom.

Meanwhile, Hildy opened the door and there stood two cops, Chris and Michelle.

"Chris Jones, what an amazing surprise," Hildy said.

"Hello, Hildy, this here is my partner, Michelle Powell," Chris said. "We were just in the neighborhood and wanted to ask you some questions."

"Come on in," Hildy said and let the two cops inside.

"So what brings you two over here?" Hildy said. "Did I do anything wrong?"

"No, we just needed to ask you something," Chris said.

Michelle, on the other hand, looked around her apartment at some stuff. All she could see were some photos on the wall, like her and Shadow, likely taken during the time Jack was in prison. There were even photos of Hildy when she was younger with her parents and also who seemed to be her brother.

"Hey, do you have a warrant?" Hildy said to Michelle.

"No, I'm just looking around," Michelle said.

"Well, if you don't have a warrant, I'd appreciate if you not try to snoop around my house, okay?" Hildy said.

Michelle nodded her head, but also shot her a look of suspicion.

Hildy turned towards Chris. "What's going on?"

"I want to know this, Hildy," Chris said. "Have you seen Jack at all? Has he contacted you?"

"No, I haven't seen him," Hildy said. "I haven't heard from him. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you're one of the few people who came to mind and it's likely that he would have come to you after breaking out of jail," Chris said. "Sources say that he is at large and on the run. I thought because you two know each other so well that he would have contacted you."

"I can't say I have," Hildy said. "I don't know where he is."

As Michelle stood by, she heard something coming from the bedroom, but what was it?

She walked towards the bedroom door.

"Hey, I told you not to go snooping around," Hildy said.

"Come on, Michelle, we just wanted to ask her some questions," Chris said.

"I think she is lying to both of us," Michelle said.

In the next room, Jack heard the voices and looked through the crack of the closet door, he saw Shadow right in front of the bedroom door. Jack drew his gun in case the cops were to come in. It didn't matter if one of them was his friend; he was not going back to jail, not like this.

But Michelle didn't comply with her partner's wishes, nor did she comply with Hildy's wishes. She opened the door and there was something she didn't expect.

"Shadow?" Chris said as he saw the dog crawling towards him and he barked in a friendly manner towards him.

"Yes, I've been taking care of Shadow," Hildy said.

"Well, it's a good thing you're doing that," Chris said as he pet the dog. "Jack would have wanted that. He could have come to me to do it as well, but Melissa's not a big dog person."

"Melissa? Is she your girlfriend?" Hildy said.

"Yeah, but she's more of a cat person," Chris said. "Anyway, I'm sorry I came by like this. I just wanted to know if you had heard from Jack in any way."

Chris leaned in towards Hildy and said, "I'm sorry about my partner as well."

"Don't worry about it," Hildy said under her breath.

"Well, if you see anything, let us know, okay?" Chris said.

"For sure," Hildy said.

The two cops left Hildy's apartment. Hildy went into the bedroom and said that the coast is clear.

The closet door slid open as Jack tumbled out onto the floor.

"Are you okay?" Hildy said.

"I'm fine, I'm just not used to doing that," Jack said. "What happened?"

"It was just Chris and his partner," Hildy said. "Chris was cool, and I covered for you, but his partner is a different story."

"Michelle Powell? Always feels that she has to do the right thing," Jack said.

"She tried to search the place, she thought I was lying," Hildy said.

"Well, technically, you did lie," Jack said.

"I was only covering for you, that's all," Hildy said. "But Chris was cool about it."

"I should check with him soon, see if he knows some shit," Jack said. "That reminds me, I should make a call. Where can I find a payphone?"

"You can use my landline if you want to," Hildy said. "Don't worry about it being tapped. It's more secure than using a cellphone."

"No," Jack said. "There are some things that I can't discuss here."

"You go out there, someone will make you out. Come on, I'll go into the other room if you want this to be private."

"Okay, sounds good," Jack said.

Hildy took Shadow into her bedroom while Jack got out Eve's business card. He dialed the numbers and the call went through.

"Hello, Eve, this is Jack. Listen, because of that job you did for Sanderville, I want to know if you know a number I can reach him at."

Jack went and got a piece of paper and a pen to write. He started writing numbers down.

"Okay, I will call you back after I make this call. I may need some help on this. Thanks, Eve."

Jack hung up the phone and once he heard the dial tone, he punched in one of the numbers he received from Eve.

Even with help from Eve as well as Blanjov's men, I figured I couldn't get to Sanderville at his manor.

I could only hope that he wouldn't pass a chance to hear me beg, to see that he's won.

"Hello."

"Mr. Sanderville, this is Jack Slate. I want to cut a deal."

A laugh was heard on the other line. "Slate, you're a dead man. You got a lot of fucking balls, kid."

Jack replied, "That's what everybody keeps telling me. I've got your ship and her cargo. I want to meet. You and I need to have a little talk, you understand?"

"You know where Sanderville Heights is?" Sanderville said.

"Yeah, I know where to find it."

"Meet me there tonight at around 8." Sanderville said.

"Bet on it," Jack said and hung up.