Vendetta

Part 12

Harry arrived as promised, surveillance photos in hand. Cassy left the two men alone to go in search of Jeremy, promising to return as soon as she could.

"How you feeling, Thomas?" Harry asked his detective as he sat down in the chair across from the couch.

"I'm okay, Harry." Tom answered succinctly.

"You look tired. Are you getting enough sleep? I don't think you're getting enough sleep."

Tom sighed deeply, "I'm sleeping, Harry."

"Then you're not eating. . .you don't look like you're eating. I can have Frannie come over and cook a few meals for you."

"I'm eating, too, Harry."

"Ah. . .but that's where you're wrong. . .You were eating. Now you're with Cassy. With what I've heard about her cooking, you may not be eating again. You may need Frannie." Harry smiled.

Tom chuckled. Harry may have a point. Cassy never was as proficient in the kitchen as she was on the firing range. "That's okay, Harry. We can order out."

Harry laughed. He then dug into the envelope he held in his hand. "I want you to take a look at these pictures. See if anyone looks familiar."

Tom looked slowly at each picture. He hitched his breath on the second, "That's him. That's the guy who shot Fred. The one who they called 'Burt.'" He then looked at the next photo. It was of two other men standing next to an expensive Mercedes. "Those two were there, too."

"Yeah. The guy on the right is John Doe #1 in the morgue," Harry completed.

"Uh huh. The guy on the left. . .he's the one I shot. . .the one that must've escaped." Tom looked at the next photo. "I don't recognize any of them." He then flipped to the last one, "That's the guy who was hanging on to me. . .The one that Burt killed."

"Yep," Harry nodded. "That's what I thought too. Well, now we know for sure that our two John Does are employed by one, Emmanual Martinez. Mr. Martinez has decided to take up residence in Miami and supply our region with cocaine. Miami Narcotics has been watching him for the past few weeks. They didn't know how he was getting the drugs into the country. I think you may have just provided them with that method."

"They stick the drugs in the gas tanks of cars that he has brought into the country?" Tom guessed.

"Right. Narcotics said that he seemed to do a booming business in expensive foreign cars. Shipping them in for sale on a daily basis. My guess is that somehow, Maney Brandt found out that these cars were being imported by Martinez and decided that would be the easiest way to start filling his orders. He probably didn't know that Martinez was involved in the drug game," Harry reasoned.

"Sounds right to me." Tom nodded. "So what happens next?"

"I'm going to call a friend of mine at the Miami P.D. Let him know that we have ID's on the shooters. We're going to have to work out a joint operation on the arrests. I don't know if they have enough evidence to pin any drug trafficking charges on Martinez, and I certainly don't think we can charge him with your shooting or the murder of Fred."

"In other words, we might not be able to make an arrest."

"At least not for awhile. I may not be able to get authority to arrest this Burt or the other guy. Especially if Miami P.D. thinks it'll blow their surveillance operation."

Tom leaned back against the pillows, "Damn it. That's not fair. They murdered Fred in cold blood and they're just going to walk?"

"Not walk, Tom. We just may not be able to make an arrest right away." Harry explained.

"Well, that's just great. And in the meantime, I'm stuck living in Cassy's house because everyone here thinks I'm a walking target," Tom groaned.

"Look at it this way, Thomas. You aren't supposed to be doing anything else but recovering from your injury anyway. You just won't be doing it in your own bed," the look from Harry precluded any argument.

Tom closed his eyes. He had suddenly developed a headache. Harry shrugged his shoulders, "I'm sorry, Thomas. But it's the best I can do right now."

Cassy pulled her Porsche in front of the Millen house. Jeremy's car was parked in the driveway. The cop sighed in relief. She wanted to get back to Tom and didn't want to have to spend hours trying to locate his young friend.

She knocked on the door. Not expecting Jeremy to answer, she was surprised when the door opened and the young man peeked out. "Hi Jeremy. Can I come in?"

"Sure," he walked away from the door, turning his back on her, but leaving the door open.

She walked through the doorway and closed the door behind her. Jeremy had all of the drapes pulled and there were no lights on in the living room, making the house very dark. "I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

Jeremy shook his head. Cassy sighed, "Oh." She watched him walk back to the couch and sit, staring straight ahead. Perhaps a change of subject would help, "Tom's out of the hospital."

Jeremy looked her in the eyes, "Really? So soon?"

"Yeah. He's doing pretty well. I think he's still in some pain, though. He's going to stay with me for a few days if you want to stop by. Here's the address," she handed him a piece of paper. Without looking at it, he stuffed it in his pocket. Cassy continued, "He asked me to find you. He'd like to see you."

"I don't really want to see him. Not yet." Jeremy said quietly.

"That's what you said the other night. Why? What's going on, Jeremy?"

"Nothing, just leave me alone," Jeremy muttered.

"No, Jeremy. I'm not going to leave you alone. I want to help you. Tom wants to help you. But you won't let us. Why?" Jeremy was quiet. "What is it? Do you blame Tom? Do you think Tom is responsible for what happened to your father?" Cassy's voice suddenly changed from sympathetic to accusatory. "That's it, isn't it. You do blame him." The young man said nothing. "Why do you blame him, Jeremy?"

"I don't." Jeremy said angrily.

"Then why are you treating him like this after everything he has done for you? With all of the help and support and friendship that he has given. . .why would you treat him like this?" Cassy was trying to control her frustration, but was finding it was a losing battle.

Jeremy stood and turned his back on her, but said nothing. "Damn you, Jeremy. You are hurting the one person who cared enough about you to make sure that you had a future. No one else tried to do that for you. . .not even your father."

Jeremy suddenly turned towards the woman, eyes flaming, "What in the hell do you know about my father? I'll tell you what you know. . .Nothing. You don't know shit about me or my life. You don’t understand what my father meant to me. . ." Jeremy's words were enraged. His body shook with the anger that had built.

He took a step towards Cassy and at first, Cassy thought that he was going to hit her. She held her ground, however, knowing that if she needed to, and she prayed she wouldn't, she had her gun.

But Jeremy did not take another step. He only shook in anger. Tears welled up in his eyes and spilled onto his cheeks. He swiftly wiped them away. "It's Tom's fault. He drove my father from me. He sent him away," his voice quivered.

Cassy could feel her own tears building, "No Jeremy. Tom did not take your father from you. Your father did that. He made a choice to break the law. He was caught. On top of that, he was the one who pushed you away. After Fred was released, Tom tried to convince him to see you. But your father wouldn't do it. It was your father's fault, not Tom's." Jeremy was silent. "On top of that, Jeremy, it wasn't Tom who shot your father. Drug dealers did that. They were the ones responsible for his death. . .not Tom. If you want to blame anyone, blame them."

"Trust me, Cassy, I do. And I will make them pay for what they've done to me." Then he suddenly turned, grabbed his keys from the coffee table and walked out the front door, slamming it behind him, leaving Cassy in his wake. Cassy turned and ran after him, "Jeremy, come back here!" she shouted, but the man ignored her. She ran after him, but he climbed into the car and shut the door, locking it before she could stop him. "Jeremy, don't leave. We need to talk about this!" she shouted. Jeremy wouldn't look at her. Instead, he started the engine of the car and pulled out of the drive, leaving skid marks behind him.

End Part 12

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