Four Leaf Clover – 21
Four Leaf Clover – Part 20
Summary: Started from Trinity's challenge of J/N engaging in an affair behind the Evangeline's back. John and Natalie have bought a condo together, Natalie has graduated college, she and Rex are going to start an as-yet-unnamed PI business together and James Moretti from Atlantic City has shown up in town, unnerving Natalie and infuriating John.
A/N: Sigh. I guess I'm not DH, I just can't drag this storyline out interminably as I had planned.
John dropped a thick file on Bo's desk. Bo reached out and pulled it towards him.
"What's this?" he asked.
"James Moretti. He's applied for a liquor license for a strip club he wants to open out on Route 94. Those are investigative files from the FBI, DEA and the Atlantic City PD."
"He's never been convicted," Bo commented as he read through them. "What do you know about this guy."
"I know that he's not here to open a legal business and Natalie is terrified of him."
"Natalie?" Bo looked up at John who was standing in front of his desk, too wired to sit down.
"He showed up at our place the other night and he was just threatening her at Rodi's."
Bo leaned back in his chair. "What's his connection to Natalie?" He glanced out the window to where his niece was working.
"She won't tell me, but…" John took a deep breath and sat down and leaned over Bo's desk. "I know this guy, Bo. Personally. We used to run together when we were kids. He was bad news then, he's worse news now." John put another sheet of paper on the desk.
"His father owned the Winking Pussycat, a club in AC where my mother used to sing. Where Roxy used to deposit Natalie when she was a little girl when she was out gambling and drinking. Natalie said she hung with this guy at the club."
Bo picked up the paper and frowned and then looked back up at John. "His work?" he asked.
"No one could pin it on him, but I know he raped and murdered that girl. I know other women he hurt. People respected his father in town, he was a good guy. It got his son out of a lot of trouble. A lot of consequences."
"What's he into now?"
"According to my contact at the Bureau they've been trying to nail him for drug running, hiring underage dancers, prostitution. He's rumored to have initiated himself with a local family by performing some low level hits."
"What does Natalie say?"
"She won't say a thing, but I know she's rattled. She's closing me out."
"Which means it must be bad."
John nodded.
Rex came walking in the side door and walked over to the window and closed the blinds.
"Do you ever knock?" Bo rolled his eyes.
"I've been asking around about that Moretti guy. He's badder shit than RJ ever was."
"Did you find out anything new?" John asked impatiently.
"Chill out. I'm getting to it." Rex bounced around and grabbed a chair and sat down next to John. "He's already setting dealers here and moving in on territory that doesn't belong to him."
"A turf war." Bo's voice was cold.
"Rumor has it he beat up some prostitute on the East End the other day."
"Did we have any case about that?" Bo looked at John who shook his head. A lot of those crimes went unreported so it wasn't surprising to any of the men.
Bo stood up and opened his door. "Natalie, come in here for a moment."
"Sure." Natalie gathered up a pen and pad and walked in. When she saw John and Rex she stiffened. "What's going on?"
Bo closed the door behind her and kicked Rex out of his seat and told her to sit down.
"This is the case file on Moretti. He's in my town to cause trouble and I'm not about to let that happen. I need to know what you know about him."
"I don't know why he's here. I've told John that already." Natalie started to stand up, but Bo motioned for her to sit down again. She slowly complied.
"Why do I feel like I'm being ganged up on here?"
"This is official police business," John said.
"Yeah right," Natalie scoffed.
"Damn it, Natalie," John started to exclaim.
"John." Bo held up a hand to silence his Chief of Detectives. "Natalie, no one here is trying to hurt you. We want to protect the people of this town and if you know anything that would help us do that we would appreciate it."
"I don't see how anything I know about a million years ago is going to help you. Isn't everything in your file?" Natalie's expression was mutinous.
John pulled the file over and dropped it in Natalie's lap. "Is there anything missing from here we should know?" He leaned closer. "A lot of people are going to get hurt. Innocent people. No one has ever been able to nail him, maybe you can change that." John was speaking from pure instinct, his instinct as a cop and his instinct as someone who knew Natalie as well as he knew himself.
"I can't tell you anything." Natalie stroked the file.
"Take a look inside that file," Bo urged, then glared at Rex who had opened his mouth to speak. Rex put his hand over his mouth.
Natalie put her pen and paper on the desk and opened the file. Minutes ticked past as she skimmed through pages and pages of reports. Tears threatened to fall as she looked at crime scene photos and read names of people who had gotten in the way of James Moretti's empire building. Her hand shook by the time she reached halfway in the file.
It was one report that made her gasp and the entire file fell to the floor as she jumped up and headed for the door.
Bo rushed after her, silently directing John and Rex to stand back. He grabbed her before she could open the door. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and held her up as she struggled to break free and to hold back her terror.
John hovered behind them, feeling impotent and angry.
"What did you see? What did you recognize?" Bo whispered in her ear.
Rex meanwhile was kneeling on the floor and picked up the file she had been looking at last. He looked at it, puzzled at it and then handed it to John. John read through it and then looked up at Bo, still trying to get through to Natalie with a dangerous expression on his face.