The Man In Forest Hills Page 3

  Amy takes a step closer toward him. In her mind she understands where he’s coming from and wants to make him happy. She says, “I will try it just for you, only because I want to make you happy.”

  He takes a step closer towards her a gives her a quick kiss on the lips.

  He says, “Thanks babe.”

  He takes the book bag of his back and reaches into it.

  He pulls out a six shot revolver and a box of bullets. Amy gives him a surprised look. She isn’t used to seeing a gun all the time. She says, “That’s a lot of bullets right there. Are we gonna use all of them?”

  He squats down and grabs a handful of bullets.

  “Were not gonna use all these bullets that would be insane. Were just gonna go through a couple of rounds and let you get a feel for the gun.”

  He finishes loading the bullets into the gun and both of them proceed towards the targets. He walks over and picks up several tin cans and begins to place them on a tree. He walks back over to Amy and says.

  “Listen here babe. This is a six shot revolver. Which means it only can hold six bullets. Don’t let it fool you though; it has a lot of power and kickback.”

  He proceeds to demonstrate how the gun is supposed to be used. “Watch me for a second. See how my hand grips the butt of the gun? When you’re looking at your target don’t close one eye like they do in the movies. Just look at the target aim the gun and shoot. One thing you always have to remember is to grip the butt of the gun pretty tight. See the trigger is already loose so all you need to do is hit it with a quick tap.”

  He demonstrates on how to hit the target by taking a step forward. He looks at the tin and lifts the gun, aims and shoots it dead center. The can pops right off the tree and you can hear the echoes from the gunshot in the woods form miles away. Amy looks over at him with her hand over her ears.

  “That damn thing is loud.”

  He lowers the gun and looks at her.

  “It’s a gun babe every gun is loud. Now it’s your turn.”

  He walks over to her and hands her the gun. She puts her hand out and grabs the gun by the butt.

  “This thing is pretty heavy. Now which target am I my looking at?”

  He explains, “You’re looking at the can in the center.”

  She takes a step to her right and lifts the gun up. She closes her left eye like he told her not to. She pulls the trigger and hit the big tree.

  “Did I hit?”

  He looks over with a smile on his face and starts laughing hysterically.

  “Hahaha, not at all. Not even close. That might have been the worst shot I’ve ever seen.”

  She takes her left hand and places it on her hip.

  “Give me a break it’s my first time. I bet you were terrible your first time,” he says, “Yeah I was bad, but not that bad.”

  He continues to laugh then walks over to her. He grabs the gun out her hand to show her how to hold it. He stands behind and places the gun back in her hand. As he is breathing down her neck he is giving her instructions on where to place the gun and how to focus on the target.

  He says, “It’s easy honey. In time you will get better.” she looks at him with a smile and continues to listen to his instructions.

  4 - QUESTIONS

  Glenville State Prison houses some of the worst inmates in the region. Murderers, drug dealer, rapists are just a few that roam the halls of the prison. A man is escorted by a prison guard from his room and down a hallway. He walks into the visitor’s room and asks the guard.

  “Who is my visitor?”

  The guard looks back at him with a straight face. The inmate walks over to the phone booth and takes notice of the man on the other side of the glass.

  He smiles, “Officer Thomas Kent. What do I owe this pleasure?”

  Kent responds, “How are things going in here Cecil? They treating you well?”

  Cecil Chambers was the number one drug dealer in the City of Boston. A large man in stature, he stands about six foot six inches tall and is sculpted like a cartoon drawing. He was the most famous drug kingpin the city has ever seen. Not too long ago, Detective Kent made the biggest bust of his career, and convicted Cecil on drug kingpin charges. He was sentenced to thirty years in prison with a chance at parole. Not only did he get Cecil, but also Kent and Harper were able to discover and convict multiple associates in the Chambers drug trade. Kent has an inkling that Chambers might know something about this horrific act of violence leaving his wife and son dead. He felt like he had no other choice, but to come see the man himself.

  Chambers has the motive and quite frankly still the power, to orchestrate something like this, and if he didn’t do this himself, Kent believes he will know something to help him. He knows that he is the main reason Chambers will sit behind bars for thirty years, so retaliation is expected. But if he didn’t then he sure knows something about it. Being put away for thirty years might be enough fuel for Chambers to go ahead and put a hit on Kent’s family. Kent can’t prove this for sure but he decides to come visit him to see if he can get any information out of him.

  Chambers looks at him thru the glass with a slight, but noticeable smirk on his face.

  “So how are you detective?”

  “I’ve been better.”

  “I’m living a good life you know. Let’s just say, the guards look out for me and help me with whatever I need.”

  Chambers gives him a big smile and inches closer to the glass.

  “Word on the street is that you aren’t doing so well yourself. You know the streets do talk.”

  Kent has a really angry look on his face.

  “Yeah, the streets are talking Chambers. The streets tell me you’re making moves from the inside.”

  Chambers says, “Now what type of moves are we talking about Kent? I’m stuck in here for thirty long years thanks to you.”

  “Thanks to me? You got yourself in this situation. You corrupted this city for decades and everyone was scared to touch you. I just did what everyone wouldn’t do. I went after the man and the organization that destroyed this city.”

  Kent realizes that he is yelling at Chambers through the window. He looks around and knows he has to lower his voice.

  “Don’t blame me for the mistakes you made. You could have stopped at any time but you loved the rush, you loved killing your own people.”

  The look on Chambers face tells he doesn’t like anything that Kent is talking about.

  He quickly tries to state his case.

  “I created jobs in this city. I fed the homeless and started numerous charities. Does that make me a bad person?”

  “Putting poison in the streets makes you a bad person. You got what you deserved.”

  Chambers begins to inch his face closer to the glass to make sure Kent is focused on what he is about to say. Whatever he has to say has to be very important. He has a smile on his face that Kent questions.

  “By the looks of it I’m not the only person who got what they deserved.”

  Kent responds in an angry tone.

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

  Chambers says, “It means whatever bad luck is coming your way is well deserved. I mean, I’m sorry about what happened to your family but with all the people you put away something bad was bound to happen. There was no way you were going to protect your family with all the people that hate you.”

  Shocked and confused Kent screams.

  “What people?”

  “Do you really think you can come here and get some answers out of me?”

  Kent thinks about what Chambers says for a second and knows that it was a longshot for him to come here and get any information out of him.

  “I know the street code Chambers.”

  “You know I invented the code.”

  Kent continues to raise his voice at him.

  Chambers sits back and listens to him yell. He pauses to think about his ne
xt words carefully.

  “I’ll give you some assurance Kent.”

  Kent sits back and waits for him to talk.

  “I can assure you that I had nothing to do with it. You know in my organization that families are off limits.”

  Out of all the years he has known Chambers, Kent knows he would never stoop to this level.

  “As you know Kent you already took down my whole organization so nobody in my crew took out your family. I can’t say the same for the other people who were on my payroll,” he explains.

  “What?”

  “You guys fucked with me for years and all I did was play ball.”

  “Play ball?” Kent curiously asks.

  “What do you mean?” Kent says with an angry look.

  Chambers says, “I said I ain’t no damn snitch Kent.”

  Kent has worked himself up that sweat begins to drip down from his forehead. A chubby prison guard walks up to the window.

  “Chambers, you got two minutes left,” yells the prison guard.

  Kent looks at the prison guard as he walks away. Chambers put his head down and can’t stand to look at the pain in Kent’s face.

  “Who was it Chambers. Tell me. Who?”

  “I gotta go Detective. Good luck to you.”

  “Come on Chambers give me one fucking name.”

  The guard walks up and grabs Chambers by the arm and proceeds to pull him away from the window.

  Chambers listens as Kent continues to scream. He begins to say some final words to Kent.

  “Sorry about your family Kent. We’ve had our differences in the past but what’s wrong is wrong.”

  Kent gives him a serious look as he says his final words.

  “I hope you get whoever did this,” Chambers adds.

  “They will get what they deserve… and more.”

  The guard takes Chambers by his arm and escorts him toward to the door to go back to his cell. As he walks away he gives him a look of relief. He feels for Kent and his family and can see the pain and anger he has went through. Kent also gives him a look. It’s not quite a look saying thank you but a look thanking Chambers for not keeping his silence.

  He knows that after he was responsible for putting Chambers away the man could have organized the hit on him and his family but he knows he had nothing to do with it. He has to get back to the drawing board and knows that whoever was on Chambers payroll outside of his organization would have some answers for him. The first step to figuring this out would be to get answers from some of the detectives that he has always suspected were dirty.

  5- THE STAKEOUT

  The next evening Kent sits in his house and looks at a family photo of Amy and Ryan. On his left is a box of bullets and a revolver. He begins loading bullets into the same gun he taught Amy how to shoot with. He gets up, takes the gun and the box of bullets with him and leaves the house. He exits the door and walks to his car.

  A block down from his house is a black sedan with all the lights shut off but there is someone in the car. Several minutes later he pulls up to his precinct and sits outside. In his rearview mirror he can see that same black sedan parked a block away.

  Kent isn’t worried about the black sedan, as long as it keeps its distance, he is more concerned with when his person of interest will exit the precinct. The man who exits the front door and heads to his car is Detective Mark Craven.

  The department has suspected some corruption and some fingers have been pointed in Craven’s direction. Kent is not a stupid detective though. He knows that some of the rumors might be true and everyone knows that Craven is the dumbest detective in the building.

  The little answers that he needs can come from Craven because he will do anything to save his own ass. Kent has already decided to follow Craven home to hopefully get the answers he believes he has. Kent starts his car and in his rearview can see the all black sedan puts its lights on too and follow him.

  “Looks like we have a party here. Let’s see how this turns out.”

  Twenty minutes later detective Craven finally pulls up to his home. Craven gets out of his car. He hears a noise coming from the bushes and looks around.

  “Hey. Who the hell is that?”

  A squirrel comes out the bushes and it gives him a sigh of relief. He grabs his bag out the back seat.

  He turns around and a white rag quickly smothers his face. Craven tries to fight off this man, but is quickly taken over by the drug and falls to the ground. Kent quickly grabs Craven by the legs and drags him through the backyard toward the back door. He grabs his keys out his pocket.

  “Now let’s see. Which key is it?”

  He searches through all the keys and finally finds the right one.

  “Here we go. Looks like we got the right one. Let’s go get some answers.”

  An hour goes by before Craven finally wakes up. He attempts to get up, but quickly realizes his arms and legs are strapped down to a chair with duct tape. He tries to fight his way out of it. He begins to scream in this dark room with a lamp on in the corner.

  “What the fuck is going on? Get me outta here. Get me the fuck outta here.”

  He hears footstep coming from behind him.

  “Who’s that? Who’s there?”

  Kent walks around the chair and stands in front of him and still has the mask covering his face. Craven looks up at him.

  “Who the fuck are you and what do you want?” he says terrified by the man in the mask.

  Craven keeps attempting to get out the chair. The tape is too tight and it begins to hurt his hands. He pulls up a chair right in front of Craven and sits down.

  “Now, I need to know just a couple of things.”

  “A couple of things? What are you talking about?”

  “How long were you in bed with Chambers?”

  Craven looks at him with a look of confusion.

  “Chambers? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve never had any dealings with that piece of shit Chambers.”

  Kent takes out the revolver and hits him with the butt. Craven yells out in pain while Kent sits back down.

  He sits in silence for a couple of seconds, and then begins to lift his head up.

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes I swear,” Craven says while he tries to catch his breath.

  “I’m gonna give you another chance or this revolver is gonna see the other side of that face.”

  “No man,” he says while blood runs down the side of his face. “I told you I don’t know a Chambers.”

  Kent stands up and knocks him on the other side of his head.

  “I can do this all night.”

  Craven starts to scream.

  “Come on man give me a break!”

  “I’ll give you a break when you give me some information.”

  “Who are you?”

  “That’s none of your concern. I just want some answers.”

  Kent knows that this is a shot in the dark. If he doesn’t get any information out of Craven he knows that nothing bad can come out of this on his end.

  “You ready to give me some information?”

  Craven has blood running down his face now and stays quiet for a couple of seconds. Kent stands up and proceeds to lift the gun to his face but Craven decides to speak up.

  “We’ve been dealing with him for years,” he says with hard breaths.

  “We?”

  Craven knows he messed up with that choice of words.

  “Who’s we?”

  He remains quiet, so Kent decides to point the revolver at his knee.

  “Better believe I will do it.”

  “Come on man. Don’t make me do this.”

  Kent takes the revolver and presses it on the open wound on the left side of his head which causes Craven to crack.

  “Marven and Maddox,” he screams. “They call all the shots man.”

  Kent sits back down and takes a deep breat
he.

  “You’re all scumbag motherfuckers,” he mumbles.

  He watches the blood fall from Craven’s face.

  “I answered your question.”

  “I got one more.”

  “Who put the hit out on Kent’s family?”

  “You said one question.”

  “I hold all the cards here.”

  “I don’t know about that.”

  Kent stands up and punches him in the face two times.

  “You broke my fucking nose,” screams Craven.

  “Answer me or I’ll break something else.”

  Craven takes a deep breath before he answers. He has dealt with some bad people in his day, but he knows whoever is behind that mask is deadly.

  “It wasn’t my idea.”

  That is the answer Kent has been looking for. He now knows who was behind the killing of his family. It’s a shame that the people who took the same oath as him to protect and served, murdered his wife and kid. Kent takes it a step further and decides to unveil his identity. He removes the mask from his face. As he pulls it off his face Craven tries to figure out who it is but the blood in his eyes is blurring his vision. Kent walks closer to him to make sure he sees his face.

  “Kent?”

  Craven finally makes out his face.

  “Is that you?”

  “Yes it is.”

  “Please don’t do anything stupid Kent. You know I’m one of you,” Kent laughs.

  “No. We have never been the same, and never will be the same.”

  “You can’t do this Kent.”

  “Do what?”

  “You can’t kill me. They’re gonna be looking for you.”

  Kent laughs again.

  “Craven, I just have to ask you one thing,” says Kent as he begins to breathe hard.

  Kent says, “What did you do to stop them from killing my family?”

  Craven looks up at him with a surprised look.

  “Kent, I told them it was a bad idea, I begged them not to do this.”

  Kent says, “I know but what did you do to stop it? Did you grab the gun out of their hands? Call the police maybe?”