Lucidity

Chapter 16 - Friends of Friends

Sean Kelly was a six-four ex-linebacker with a nose that had been broken more times than he could count. His most remarkable possession was a pair of vivid hazel green eyes, inherited from his father. Otherwise, he looked like any other lumbering black man comfortable with his size and body who happened to be a cop.

Not just any kind of cop. Sean was one of a rare breed—he investigated crimes against children. The stuff of nightmares.

He’d come to the Juvenile Unit from Major Crimes, a step backwards, career-wise. But the hours were better, the pay and benefits the same, and most days he got to go home in time to coach his daughter’s soccer team.

Sean twisted his gold Rose Bowl ring around his right ring finger as he re-read his notes on the Silvestri case. He hated going to court. Not because he didn’t know his stuff cold, but because the lawyers would find ways to twist his words with their double negatives and “could it be possible” traps. And then the ADA would screw up on redirect and not ask the questions Sean needed asked in order to straighten everything back out.

It was all a game to them, he thought, his fingers brushing over the etched lion’s head on the side of the ring. There should have been a national championship ring to go with it, but thanks to Nebraska, Penn State’s undefeated season hadn’t been good enough.

JoePa had polished what Sean’s father had begun. Unfortunately, every man had to make his own way and his own mistakes before realizing how right those old guys were. A few years with the Cowboys, living the high life, then living with regrets after a torn Achilles ended his pro career, had done that for Sean. The man who returned to his hometown with a degree in criminal justice and a few dollars in the bank had been hungry for a change, for the chance to make his ex-coach and his dead father proud.

And right now it was his job to make sure the actor who had repeatedly raped his stepdaughter over the past three years didn’t walk. He’d told Anita Silvestri that he’d do everything he could, had assured her that even though she was only twelve that the jury would listen to her and all she had to do was tell the truth, had done everything short of promise her that the world wasn’t as bad as she thought it was and that some days the good guys won and justice prevailed.

In other words, he’d bullshitted the scared girl whose mother had denounced her as a “slut” in court yesterday. Sean sighed, the words in his notebook blurring in front of him. He was only thirty-six, but days like today he felt way too old for this crap.

A shadow crossed his desk and he looked up. Doc Emberek, what was he doing here? the detective wondered as he got to his feet and greeted the physician.

“Sean, do you have a few minutes?” Emberek slid into the seat across from Sean. It was a welcome change from the angry or grieving parents who usually sat there.

“Is this about a case?” Sean was going to Disney with the family next week, his partner was on rotation for any new cases.

“Not a new one. There’s patient at Three Rivers, a woman—” Emberek paused, seemed uncertain of himself.

Sean considered that. They’d worked together on several abuse cases and the doctor had always struck him as confident, cocky even—reminded Sean of himself back when he was single. Their time at Penn State had overlapped, and although they hadn’t known each other back then, being fellow Nittany Lions had provided an instant bond.

“A woman? Not a kid?” Sean asked, wondering where Emberek was heading with all this.

“No. She has a brain tumor and she’s gone AWOL.”

“From the hospital? You talk to the guys out at Zone Five, that’s the precinct Angels of Mercy is in.”

Emberek shook his head. “No. I thought maybe you could help me. It’s kind of a delicate matter.”