VII. Served Cold
September 1963 Kansas City, Kansas
"Bye fellas, I'll see you tomorrow!" Yvonne yelled out waving as she watched the rest of the night staff head home for the night as she closed and locked the side door to her father's diner.
As she made her way down the side alley she couldn't help the smile on her face, wondering what Floyd had planned for the evening, he had asked her yesterday to come have dinner with him tonight and that he had something important he wanted to ask her.
"Well don't you look happy."
Yvonne froze mid step as she saw Ronald and his three stupid friends standing in front of her blocking the entrance to the street. She shouldered her purse tighter and continued walking, trying her best to ignore them.
"Aren't you a rude little Nigger, I was talking to you." Ronald held his arms out blocking her path.
"Get out of my way" Yvonne gritted out trying to push passed Ronald, only to be pushed back by his friends.
"What's the hurry, isn't your boy Floyd coming to get you?" Ronald asked grabbing at the hem of her dress.
"Leave me alone before I get the police," Yvonne replied yanking her dress hem out of Ronald's hand stepping backwards as he and his friends crowded around her.
"What's the matter, I thought you liked white men?" Ronald taunted with a laugh.
Yvonne huffed as she looked at Ronald and his friends "I don't see any men, just a bunch of scared angry little boys, who probably still wet the bed."
"What did you just say to me you little bitch!" Ronald fumed balling his hands into fists.
"You heard me. Now leave me alone and get out of my way!" Yvonne raised her voice as she tried to shoulder past them, only for Ronald to shove her backwards.
"Did I say you could go porch monkey!" Ronald sneered grabbing her by the collar and shoving her up against the brick wall.
"Hey, what the hell Ronnie!" Robert exclaimed as he looked panicked.
"Yeah man what gives? Floyds not here let's just go." Lucas interjected as he and James both stepped back nervously.
"No….I think I want to have a little taste of what Floyd gets" Ronald looked at her defiant eyes before gripping her jaw and forcing a brutal kiss.
Yvonne screamed as Ronald kissed her painfully, she quickly bit his lip and reared her knee into his groin and watched in satisfaction as he reared back in pain.
"Ahhhh…you fucking cunt!" Ronald cocked his fist back and struck the girl in the face her head snapping back into the wall before she dropped to the ground unmoving.
"Dear God!..." Robert gasped out as he looked at the limp body on the ground.
"What?" Ronald yelled wiping the blood from his split lip,"… the bitch bit me!"
"Is….is she…" Lucas swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked at the girls contorted unmoving body "…dead?"
"What?..." Ronald questioned as he shoved the girl over with his foot "Hey wake up!"
"I said wake up!..." Ronald bent down and grabbed the girl by her shoulders shaking her. He looked into her unblinking glossed over eyes, before quickly dropping her body to the ground and shuffling backwards.
"Oh my God, what did you just do Ronnie?" James shoved Ronald before running his hands through his hair.
"It was an accident I..it's…" Ronald looked around the deserted alleyway "…Its fine."
"Fine. Fine!..." Robert yelled "you just killed someone we need to get the police."
Ronald rushed at Robert grabbing his collar "No police you moron. Do you want to go to jail? Or worse get attacked by a bunch of Negros looking for revenge."
"What the hell are we going to do?" James yelled "…there's a dead fucking body, what if someone saw us!"
Ronald looked at the dead girl lying on the ground then back at the entrance of the alleyway. "Lucas there's a tarp…in my truck…go get it…we wrap her up in it and bury the body."
"What! Why can't we just leave her here?" James replied.
"Because, like you said what if someone saw us, if they can't find her body they can't prove anything…Lucas go get the fucking tarp…NOW!"
Ronald watched as Lucas ran out the alley to his truck, turning back to stare at the girls body as she lay contorted on the ground, her lifeless eyes staring up at the night sky.
*'They may take you from me, I'll miss your fond caress but though they take you from me, I'll still possess...the way you wear your hat, the way you sip your tea. The memory of all that…no they can't take that away from me'
Present Day New York City 8:35PM
Joss rubbed her sore eyes as she went over the case file that was faxed over. She had spent four and a half hours being bounced around different departments until she was able to get a hold of someone who could get her a copy of the cold case file.
She cut her eyes to her phone as it rang, not even looking at the caller ID she picked it up
"Carter!"
"Detective I see you're still in the prescient, how is the search into Ms. Coleman's death fairing?" Finch inquired.
"Not very good. The file is bone thin, she was declared a missing person in September of 1963. The police did a half ass investigation of her disappearance,.." Joss shuffled through the photos that had been in the file. "Her purse and an earring were found in the side alley of her father's diner, but since they didn't find any evidence to suggest foul play, they marked her as a missing person, her family never had her officially declared dead. I guess they still had hope of finding her. There was a claim that four white males were seen in a truck but no one followed up on the lead."
Finch sighed "Does Ms. Coleman having any family left."
Joss flipped through some more papers "Uh…the parents both passed away in the early 2000's…but she did have a younger brother…but it looks like her passed away in 1967 in Vietnam."
Joss set the files away "Have you heard from John yet Harold, I'm worried about him."
A small sentimental smile graced Harold's face, he wasn't oblivious to the clearly growing friendship and fondness that his friends displayed for each other. "As am I Detective but no, I have yet to hear from John."
Joss sighed hoping he was okay she hated when he would retreat into himself, it reminded her to much of Paul, and she certainly didn't want to see another good man fall down the hole of despair. "Okay keep me in the loop please."
"Of course Detective, in the meantime you should get some rest you look tired."
Joss straighten up in her chair looking at her phone before suspiciously looking around the precinct, wondering how Finch knew she looked tired.
East 79th street Upper East Side Manhattan 9:54PM
John raised his fist again and knocked four more times on Floyd's before he let himself in.
As he flicked on the hallway light he wasn't surprised to find the apartment unoccupied. He did a brief sweep of the empty loft before heading back towards the door, stopping as his eyes caught sight of an object on the table. As he looked closely, he realized it was the pocket watch Floyd had been trying to fix during him and Shaw's visit.
He picked it up admiring the design pattern on the front, turning the object over in his hand he noticed the engraving on the back "To Cinderella from his Prince Charming"
John couldn't help but crack a small smile at the odd little phrase. As he opened the watch he frowned at the cracked glass frame and the broken tiny clock hands that were no longer moving. As he opened it further, he noticed a circular picture imbedded into the other side. The black and white slightly faded photo displayed a younger looking Floyd smiling with his eyes squeezed shut as the young black girl next to him shoved what looked like cotton candy into his mouth.
He snapped his head towards the banister that separated the kitchen and the living room as the house phone rang. Without a second thought he marched over to the phone and picked it up. As he heard the silent breathing on the other line he knew it was Floyd.
"I…we know about Yvonne…I understand why you're doing what you're doing."
"Then you know the only way you're going to stop me is with a bullet...he killed her and they stood by and watched…..I need to find her, I have to find her…she deserves that…she…deserves a proper burial. Interfere again and you and you're friends will suffer the consequences."
"Floyd wait" John closed his eyes in frustration as he was met with a dial tone.
Brooklyn New York 1:24AM
Joss's eyes fluttered open as she heard a rustle, quickly reaching under her spare pillow, she fluidly flicked the safety off her gun and pointed it at her bedroom window.
"No need for that Detective."
"What the hell John I'm going to kill you…" Joss muttered flicking on her bedside lamp, tossing her covers back and hoping out of bed.
"We'll considering I just snuck in through your bedroom window you'd be well within your rights."
Joss inhaled a deep breath as she set her gun down onto her night stand. As she made her way over to the window "How the hell did you get up here theirs not even a fire escape out there?"
John smirk half heartily "I scaled the rain spout."
"Unbelievable…" Joss threw her hands up in frustration "What are you doing here? Have you talked to Harold, we were both worried about you?"
"I talked to Floyd…" John changed the subject brushing off her concern.
Joss straightened up "What did he say? Who's his next target?"
John gritted his teeth turning his head away from her.
Joss examined his defensive posture and his refusal to make eye contact with her, "You're not helping him John"
"They killed the woman he loved he deserves justice." John gritted out as he whipped his head around to glare at her.
"That's not justice John, that's vengeance and vengeance leads to a lot of innocent people getting hurt."
"I disagree."
"I wonder why that is?" Joss cocked an eyebrow "Is it because you lost Jess…"
"Don't." John interrupted her raising his voice slightly "This was a mistake coming here…I thought that you would understand because you're…" he left the rest of his sentence open ended.
Joss put her hands on her hips "…because….what?...I'm black and the perpetrators were racist."
Joss rubbed her forehead and sighed heavily "John I'm not going to lie to you this case does bother me and I do feel sympathy for Floyd but I'm an officer of the law. I am obligated to act in the best interest of the law and that means protecting and serving everyone, regardless of my personal views, feelings or beliefs."
"And when the law fails and the bad guys get away."
Joss gave a weak smile "It's an imperfect world John and sometimes things don't go according to plan, sometimes the wrong people get hurt and sometimes despite our best efforts the good guys don't always win.."
"So then what's the point?" John looked at her hopelessly.
"Change. It's slow but it happens, if it didn't, you and I wouldn't even be friends right now." Joss replied touching his arm.
John looked down at her, his eyes gazing into hers. He couldn't imagine being raised to hate her, to not be able to be around her just because of the color of her skin. He turned his head from her he didn't want to see the disappointment in her eyes.
"I'm sorry Joss but I won't stop him when he goes after the commissioner." John silently cursed himself as he gave away Floyd's next target.
"The…commison…he's going after the commissioner of police!" Joss quickly dropped her hand to her side "John what the hell?" she fumed as she marched toward her nightstand to grab her work phone dialing Fusco's number.
'What the hell Carter, do you know what time it is?'
"Yes Fusco I know, but we don't have time I need you to get dressed I'm coming to get you, we have a serious situation and I think we're going to need back up." Joss replied tossing a pair of jeans onto her bed as she went to her dresser and yanked out a bra and t-shirt.
'What kind of situation?'Fusco asked as he pulled a pair of pants on.
"Floyd's next target is police commissioner."
'Awee hell, and team fantastic didn't know about this?'
Joss turned to look at John only to find her room empty, "I think they did and when this is over I'm going to put my foot so far up their ass's they're going to choke on my shoe laces."
Westchester New York 3:38AM
Ronald threw back his glass of scotch as he touched the scar on his lip that never healed, he barely moved an inch when he heard his study door creak open.
"Finally come to kill me?"
Floyd lowered his gun as he looked around the room "Not yet."
Ronald swallowed as he felt something heavy fall into his lap.
"Put them on." Floyd demanded.
Ronald grabbed the hand cuffs and slowly shackled himself "Why not I thought you wanted me dead?"
Floyd sat down in the open arm chair in front of Ronald, looking over his aged face, his eyes falling onto the jagged scar on his lower lip, the scar that he knew was from where Yvonne bit him when he was attacking her.
"I know what you did that night, I know how you and your friends harassed her, how you got that scar on your lip.." Floyd bite out slowly trying to control the urge to empty his clip into Ronnie's skull.
Ronald swallowed the lump in his throat.
"…how you punched her so hard you cracked her head into the wall, how you killed her and instead of being a decent human being…. you wrapped her body up in a tarp and buried in the woods…"
Finally finding his voice Ronald spoke up "If you know what happened why don't you kill me already?"
"You see when I had that chat with Bobby back in '63, before he killed himself and I went to prison, he told me how he, James, and Lucas were too afraid to help you actually bury her body…so now,….you and I are going home and you're going to show me where she is and you're going to dig her up…and then you're going to take her place.
Ronald felt his heart pounding in his chest "…wwwhat if I don't remember where she is?"
Floyd stood up narrowing his eyes "You better pray to God that you do before we get there. Now get up!" he barked yanking Ronald up by the collar of his shirt and shoving him towards the door.
Westchester New York 3:58AM
Joss secured her vest as she and Fusco parked they're car on the side street outside the suburban house of the commissioner.
"How far out is back up?" Joss asked as she exited the car.
"About 7 minutes." Fusco replied securing his vest and grabbing the shotgun out of the back seat.
"Good, hopefully Vincent isn't here yet." Joss scanned the premises, noticing that some of the lights in the house were still on.
"I think we should wait until ESU gets here Carter." Fusco claimed as they moved closer to the drive way of the house.
"Yeah…we don't know…"Joss stopped mid-sentence as a familiar scent wafted through the air with the cool winter breeze, her eyes widened as she recognized the scent.
"Fusco get ba…"
The silence of the night was ruptured as a deafening bang echoed out into the calm silence of the night.
Joss felt the air leave her lungs when she landed hard on the pavement after being thrown backwards by the force of the explosion. As her ears rung out the last things she saw were flames, smoke, and debris falling from the sky before her vision turned black.
AN: BUM BUM BUM BUMMMMMM...cant wait to see how John reacts...til next time :) Thanks for reading and reviewing.
*Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong-1956 recording "They can't take that away from me"