Page 148 of Savior
“Nope. Didn’t even bother calling her.”
“Alright. Well, we’ve got nothing to do with this. Especially not Vanna. Maybe you’ve got yourself another vigilante. Wouldn’t surprise me with the uptick in crime.”
“Ask me how I know it wasn’t you.”
I humor him and ask.
“For starters, the victim doesn’t smoke. But he was tied up and burned multiple times with a cigarette.” Jason replies. “Cut up pretty bad, too.”
“Yeah, that ain’t really my style, considering I don’t smoke either.”
“Sick fuck even cut out his right eye.” Jason adds.
“No shit?”
“Took it with him, too. Couldn’t locate it at the scene.”
“Well, damn.” Not that I feel bad, after his stunt with Vanna. Maybe that makes me a merciless prick, but I don’t care.
“Just to cover our asses on paper though, you mind telling me where you were, yesterday afternoon?”
“My shop. Working. Derek Wallace can confirm that. Then I brought Vanna to visit Rosita and Viper’s baby. They can confirm that, too.”
“No need.” Jason replies. He pauses to look me over for a moment, before handing me the file. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but when we began this arrangement, you were in a very different place in your life. You needed this as much as they needed justice.”
I stare back at him, waiting for him to finish his point.
“How much longer are you going to do this, now that you’ve got a future bride and a baby of your own on the way?”
I shift my focus towards the intercoastal. The waters are still, mirroring the purple and orange hues in the evening sky.
“It’s easier to think about giving this up, when I’m looking at Vanna.” I sigh, glancing down at the file in my hand. “But when it’s right here in front of me…”
Jason nods. “I hear you.”
“I’m not sure I want you to…”
Jason reaches out to take the file from me.
“No. I’ve got this one.” I insist. “There’s no way I’d be able to sleep at night. Knowing I had the opportunity to hand deliver a little justice, and maybe help a woman get away from her abuser. I can’t hand this file back to you, Jason, and wash my hands of the situation. Not when I’m aware of it.”
Jason studies me as he takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “None of us can save the world, Dean.”
I’ve told myself the same a million times over.
“No… but we can do, what we can do. And shouldn’t we? You’re still a cop, even though you’ve got a family.”
“And I draw the line where you dart across it.” He chuckles. “Don’t think for a second, I ain’t counting the years to retirement. Dean, you don’t have to feel guilty about putting your own family first. How long were you really going to keep this up? You gonna beat them with a cane when you’re eighty? Come on.” He gestures for me to hand him back the file. “You done good, brother. You still have the safehouses and the fundraising through your MC. You’re still fighting the fight. You’re still making a difference. Doing it all legal, too.”
“I hear you… But giving this back to you, knowing damn well the most he’s gonna get is a slap on the wrist… I can’t do that.” I can feel my body physically reeling against the mere thought of turning my back on this.
“Alright.” Jason drops his arm, abandoning his attempt to talk me out of it. “Do your thing, one last time.”
“One last time?”
“I’m not going to bring you any more. I know I’m your biggest source.”
My guts feel like they’re twisting up inside me. Jason is giving me an out, I’m not sure I’m ready to accept. He’s taking the choice away from me, to spare me the agony of making it for myself.
