Thanks so much for the kind notes and reviews. With things being fairly busy already, I plan on releasing a chapter per week, which I know is slow as molasses but unfortunately, it is it what it is right now. Enjoy!
"Joe…Joe...Joe, you gotta calm down…"
Painfully aware of Mike's prying eyes from inside the waiting Galaxie; Steve raised his free hand symbolically, hoping his friend would stop repeating the same words all over again.
"Who is this Warren?", he tried, when Joe stopped to take an overdue breath.
"He's the…ehm…Mississippi, remember, Steve? Remember Mississippi?"
"Of course, I remember Mississippi.", the young inspector replied, grateful to finally start a conversation after hearing nothing but desperate pleas from the other side of the line for the past few minutes.
"Then you remember Warren. The dude. The real bad dude."
"Joe, you're gonna have to help me out here. Remember, I got fourteen stitches where some of that memory was filed…"
The storm outside gained in strength, the gusty winds pulling on the telephone booth while the rain pounded mercilessly against the thick glass.
"Warren Thompson. He was one of the patrols that came after us, remember? He…he was the one that booked me, Steve. Told me that if he ever saw me again outside his uniform, I'd be in a world of hurt. That's the guy that called me."
"Joe, you're talking about some adrenaline-fueled punk who tried scare tactics…", Steve began soothingly, only to hear his friend on the other line scoff.
"Do you really think I would call you if I thought that this was all a joke? That it's some…some big misunderstanding, Steve? I have Corby in tears over here, ready to spend our retirement savings to hire a security firm to protect us. What am I supposed to do?"
Taking a moment to carefully gauge his response, Steve bit his lip, his eyes drifting back over to his partner who studied him intrigued.
"Listen Joe, you said that the caller identified himself as Warren. Was it his voice though? You know it's been a few years. And did you hear anything in the background, something that could help us locate the place he made the call from?"
"I didn't.", the other man replied in undisguised frustration, "I was caught by surprise. Once he said that he was Warren and that he would cash in the old debt now and come after me and my family…I just…I just freaked."
"And that's all he said before he hung up? No demands for money or anything like that?"
"Nothing. That's all he said. He knew exactly that it was me on the other line. He knows where I live. He knows about my family. What am I supposed to do, Steve?"
Hearing the man he had come to know as a fierce fighter for righteousness sob on the other end of the line was tearing on Steve's heartstrings and he nodded subconsciously, his free hand tracing the outside rim of the payphone casing.
"I just want you to relax right now, stay with Corby and the baby. We are…Mike and I are on the other side of town right now.", finishing a thirty-six-hour day he wanted to add but bit his lip instead, "How about we'll send a patrol unit over to take your statement and look around, see if anything strikes them as suspicious. I'll have them circle the block to just to be safe. And tomorrow morning, Mike and I will swing by and see what we can do."
Tomorrow morning, Steve mocked his own words, it was tomorrow morning.
3am to be precise.
"I'd appreciate it, Steve, I really would.", Joe said, sounding no less distraught.
"You bet. Just…just hang in there. We'll get this figured out. It'll just take a few minutes for the officers to arrive so hang in there and we will see you in a few hours. Take care, Joe."
Putting all the conviction he had left into his voice, Steve hung up the phone with a weary sigh.
Warren? Warren Thompson? Had there been anybody in that particular group that stood out from the rest? There hadn't been much time reserved in his tuck-and-roll routine that would allow for careful observation. Rough hands and nightsticks were the two things he remembered the most from that fateful day.
It seemed that no matter how hard Steve tried, the name rang no bells in his sleep-deprived mind.
Perhaps though, a precious three hours of peaceful slumber would change that.