Last Call

It was almost 10 PM. Jack had left the Den of Iniquity along with Shadow. Earlier that night Jack's father had contacted him to meet with him at a subway that's under construction across town. The question was why. But nonetheless, Jack took Shadow along for this, even though Jack was going off the books in this as merely a favor for his father.

It was 9:57 PM, just three minutes before the exact hour. This area was close to Chinatown. Jack had pulled up and spotted a 1987 Ford LTD Crown Victoria with a man in a trench coat and a fedora hat. There were lights over the construction site and was able to pinpoint who the man was. It was Frank, his father. Jack parked his Malibu close to the car and got out, and then let Shadow out as well.

"Jack, you're here," Frank said.

"Hey, Dad," Jack said.

"I thought you would have been here earlier," Frank said.

"It's only a few minutes before 10," Jack said.

"Yes, but not cutting it this close," Frank said.

"I had to go check with my CI Ruby about something," Jack said.

"What did she want?" Frank said.

"Just my help with something, not a big deal," Jack said, to which Frank responded with a nod. It seemed like Frank had little to no knowledge that his son had been seeing his informant.

"Anyway, I hope you don't mind that I brought Shadow for this," Jack said.

"Not at all," Frank said. "Shadow may be of some help."

"So what are we looking at?" Jack said.

"Gloria Exner, the candidate for the next mayoral election came to me about something suspicious that she found around here," Frank said. "Come on, let's go in."

It was late at night. There were construction workers around, working on the subway, as well as the groundwork for the place. This project was being funded by Pinnacle Construction, a company owned by the city's current mayor, William Pinnacle. Some workers spotted the Slate family.

"Hey, hey, what are you guys doing here?" the foreman came down, along with some fellow workers.

"Relax, I'm a detective," Frank said and pulled out his badge to show them. "My son here is a Grant City police officer. We are just investigating something around here. We will just scope out the place and we'll be out of your hair."

The foreman looked at both men and Shadow. Jack pulled out his badge to verify his position and also told the foreman that Shadow is a police dog.

"Okay, you guys can check it out," the foreman said.

This whole project had been busy. Not a lot of progress was made in putting in the tracks and stuff, but some puddles were visible in the big canyon that was made with water coming out of the storm drains. The site had a lot of machinery around, even with tractors with Pinnacle's name scribed on them, as well as trailers for the workers. Even from a distance, there were billboards showing a picture of the mayor as an ad for his construction company, as well as a sign on top of a building reading "Hotel Pinnacle." This area had a lot of hotels, to be exact, so building a subway here may have been necessary for the nightlife in these parts of Grant City.

The site had all of the lights on for the workers so that they can work in the nighttime. However, Jack and Frank brought some flashlights just in case. They looked around the area to see if there was anything suspicious. They walked around. They couldn't find much of anything of note, but that didn't mean that there was nothing there. Jack told Shadow to go sniff around the area to find anything suspicious nearby.

"Dad, I was wondering," Jack said, breaking the silence as he wanted to make conversation. "Ever since you got kicked off the force, I wondered if I should have quit the force during that same time."

Frank went to a complete halt. "Now why would you think something like that?"

"You and I both know that you didn't do any of that shit that caused you to get fired," Jack said. "I'm still onto Augie Blatz for what he did, but I felt that if you get thrown off, then I should have walked."

"Jack, I have told you that you had nothing to do with it," Frank said. "This was my problem and mine alone. I love you for wanting to stick by me for this, but quitting your job because of all that bullshit with me and Blatz, that would not have been a smart move."

Jack sighed. "I told you yesterday that Hennessey has had it in for me because of you getting kicked off the force."

"That is Dick's own problem and I know you're a good cop in your own right," Frank said. "Besides, Hennessey had it in for me when I was on the force. I told myself to continue making a difference in this city. Ever since your mother died, I wondered if I should have continued being a cop, but I did. Then I got kicked off, but I didn't want to stop making a difference, especially with all of the corruption in the city and the police force."

Jack started to remember that his mother, Dolores Slate had died a few years prior. She was killed in an auto accident, as someone who was high on drugs crashed into her vehicle. But the other person lived and got off due to some corrupt lawyers and a corrupt judge and was issued to go into rehab, rather than jail. It saddened him and enraged him at the same time.

"I miss Mom," Jack said.

"So do I, Jack, every day," Frank said.

Frank looked around and saw a gate and then saw another opening, like a cave where there was tape that indicated that no one should cross it.

"Hey, Jack, let's split up a bit," Frank said. "How about you and Shadow go look over there? I will go check out this area over by the gate."

"Okay, we'll catch up to you in a bit," Jack said and looked at Shadow. "Come on, boy, let's go look over there."

Jack and Shadow went over to the cave to go scope out the place. If the mayoral candidate had enlisted the services of Frank Slate to look at this place and not the police, then it must be something big. Jack suspected that there was corruption in the department and wouldn't be surprised if any of his superiors and officers were bought by the likes of Augie Blatz. The previous day, Frank had mentioned Judge McGuffin, but Jack probably figured that his father threw out a name because that judge had been a friend to the Slate family for years.

As soon as they reached that cave with the caution tape across it, Jack told Shadow to go look inside. Jack reached for his flashlight that was close to his scanner. He may have been off duty, but in case he needed to make a call to any police in the area, he could reach them through their radios. Jack stood near the entrance to the cave.

BARK! BARK! BARK! Jack jumped and looked up as Shadow continued to bark. Jack quickly got out his flashlight and turned it on. He stepped in and went under the tape. The light was on and looked around. What could be in this cave? Jack continued to look on the ground and saw Shadow sitting and looked over at his master approaching and barked for his attention.

"What is it, boy?" Jack said. Shadow reached his paw out and leaned his head close to something that looked hard and shiny.

"What the hell…?" Jack said and approached his dog. One would suspect that the cave would hold some kind of drug stash, or even a stash of weapons that were buried that someone would want to sell to make a profit. But this was not the case, at all.

Jack knelt against the ground and got out some gloves from the pockets of his jacket. He remembered that he was going to help his father on this case. He didn't want his prints on this, either. He put his gloves on and picked it up and took a closer look at this.

What in the world is this? Is this what I think it is? Jack took a closer look at the thing. It was solid as a rock. It was shiny, as the glare from the flashlight caused the surrounding light to change color. It looked like gold. But why would there be gold here? Was this what the case was all about?

"Well, boy, I'm not sure if should keep this as evidence or take it for myself," Jack said. "What do you think?"

Shadow whimpered in response.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Gunshots were heard. Jack looked up, as did Shadow, who started to bark and growl once again.

"Shit, we got to check on Dad," Jack said. "Come on!"

Jack wasted no time in running out of the cave. Shadow was ahead of him and followed the trail of where the sound came from. Jack was frantic. He couldn't tell where the gunshots came from. He remembered that his dad went to check out a certain area. There was a gate with a roof being built over it, like if that was going to be the entrance to the subway. Jack ran right to the area. The gate was open and Shadow got in there before Jack did.

"Dad!" Jack yelled and went right to him.

They were too late. Jack saw his father lying there, bleeding, barely breathing, like it wasn't long until he was dead, if he wasn't already dead, that is. Jack quickly got out his transceiver.

"This is Officer Slate, I have a gunshot victim, barely a pulse, I need an ambulance immediately," Jack said. "The victim's named Frank Slate. He is down."

"Sending some reinforcements and paramedics," said the woman on dispatch. "Hang in there, Officer Slate, tell your father to hang tight."

"…Jack." A voice slowly said. Jack looked up at his dying father.

"Dad, help is on the way," Jack said. "Hang in there. Fight it, I know you can do it."

"I…don't…think…it really matters," Frank said. "I...must…tell you."

"What is it, Dad?" Jack said frantically.

"I don't…think…I will make it," Frank said. "But the gun…is over there…it will…"

"It will what?" Jack said. "Tell me, Dad! TELL ME! Come on, DON'T DIE ON ME!"

Jack's voice cracked a bit when he yelled that. His eye was a little moist from that.

"Dad, hang in there, help will be here soon!" Jack said. But in spite of it all, he knew his father was gone. There was nothing he could do. Jack knelt there over his father's bloody corpse, with his head down.

I've seen a hundred bodies sprawled ugly in dark allies and bright living rooms. Jack thought. But this one was different. This was my dad, the man who looked me in the eye one day and told me he was innocent of the bad things he'd been accused of, and I believed him, because he would never lie to me. But now he was dead, and somebody had to pay.

Time had passed, like approximately 20 minutes. There was no way Jack was going to leave his father's side, not like that. Frank had mentioned something about the gun that was on the ground. Jack wanted to pick it up to take it as evidence, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. All he could think about was who could have wanted Frank dead. In that time, several officers came and asked some construction workers and the foreman some questions. Hennessey had come to the crime scene and saw Jack and Shadow still tending to Frank, even though they knew he was dead.

"Slate, I'm sorry for your loss, but we got this scene covered," Hennessey said as he put his arm on Jack's back to help comfort him, but Jack wouldn't have any of it.

"I want this case," Jack said as he stood up.

"The hell you do, go home and get some rest," Hennessey said. "I know you want to know who killed your old man. Trust me, I know that Frank and I have had our differences and stuff, but I don't want you to do anything you'll regret. We'll keep you posted."

"My father was about to tell me something in his final breath," Jack said. "He even mentioned that gun that was left there."

"I'm serious, Slate," Hennessey said. "I'll have the CSU look at the gun and for any bullets. We're on it."

"Fuck that," Jack said. "I have every right to search for my dad's killer."

"You know your old man had only one enemy," Hennessey said. "Yeah, I know he had dealt with the worst of crooks, but there was only one who he couldn't put away and could never buy your old man."

"Augie Blatz," Jack said.

"One thing you should know, Slate," Hennessey said. "You might want to be careful with those kinds of accusations. Blatz owns a whole team of lawyers."

"Yeah, and thugs," Jack said.

"Don't do anything stupid, Slate," Hennessey said. "Blatz is well-connected and you're in over your fucking head if you try to pull some shit with him."

Jack turned around and faced his superior. "I'm a part of this whether you like it or not."

Hennessey sighed. "Look, Redwater and I will look for your father's killer. In the meantime, take some time off. Don't get into any shit, because I can see that rage in your eye. Chief Redwater and I will keep you posted."

Jack and Shadow walked away. Could Augie Blatz have had anything to do with Frank's murder? Jack wanted to know as soon as possible, but it wasn't the time. He needed to be ready for this.