Chapter Eighteen
Sloan eased off when he saw Les’s glare. It wouldn’t do any good putting both his and Roy’s backs up against the wall; they’d pull together and shut him out. He knew Les would always go along with Roy, protect him. As a boy, Sloan had seen it numerous times.
It was one thing for Les to taunt the other man, push him till he was furious, but they all knew his teasing behavior camouflaged an abiding loyalty; a fierce respect and affection.
No way could Sloan fight that. But he knew how to get to Les, and at this point, he’d use any weapon in his arsenal.
“Look, let’s go in the coffee room and take a break. I’ll lock the door so we won’t be disturbed, and you’ll both come and we’ll talk. I think it’s time for some explanations, right, Les? You know me. You know I couldn’t go on now that I’ve found out this much.”
Les looked at Roy, waiting. Roy walked toward Sloan. He stood in front of him, staring at him, pleading, a look of love in his eyes that brought tears to Sloan. He knew the old man was begging him to stop.
To pretend he hadn’t heard what they’d said was what was being asked, but he couldn’t do that. He never flinched, nor did his look waver. Finally, he sensed that his beseeching stare did the trick.
Roy’s shoulders slumped and his head dropped till his eyes only saw the floor. “You won’t let this go, boy, will you?”
“Not a chance.”
Again, Roy shot Sloan an imploring look. “Not even if I ask you to?”
“Sorry. I’d do most anything for you, Batman, you know I would. But not this. If you care about me at all, don’t ask me to.” Sloan used his nickname for Roy, one he’d started as a little boy when Les and Roy would play with him – Les was Superman, and of course, he’d play Superboy.
Roy looked at Les. “Go lock the door. I guess it’s time.”
A short while later, all three men had coffees and were sitting around the same table they used every day.
Sloan knew they were stalling, so he opened the discussion by saying, “Who wants to start?”
Les cleared his throat. “First, how about you tell us what you heard.”
“You know already. Roy listened in while Dad talked on the phone. That’s as good a place as any for you to begin, Roy. Tell me everything you remember about that conversation.”
“It’s a long time ago.”
“And yet it hasn’t left your mind. Quit stalling.”
“You know how proud Tommy felt about you being a cop? Well, when you switched over to the FBI training, his bragging went to a whole new level. He told everyone about his boy being one of the good guys.”
“Quit playing me, Roy. Tell me what you overheard.”
“I was getting to it. Either let me tell it in my own way or we’ll forget about it. I need to lay the groundwork.”
Sloan heard Les snort, but his glare shut the other man up before he could start riding Roy. “Fine. Just get to it.”
“That morning, sitting right here having morning coffee before we started work, Tommy told Les and me that you two had talked the night before. He said you’d shared a bit about a drug trafficking case you couldn’t crack. Your frustration had gotten to him and he didn’t know how you could work one file for months, slowly gathering evidence when you had no doubts about the perpetrator. It boggled his mind.”
Les broke in. “It’s because that dude never took his time at anything. He’d go full bore at whatever life put in his way, and never mind the consequences.”
“You’re right. Anyway… he’d planned to start working the Ashtons’ Cadillac that morning when suddenly, he cussed and jumped up. We’ve always wondered if it was something you’d said the night before that had light-bulbed and sent him muttering to check the car. By the time I’d cleaned away the coffee stuff and followed to see what was wrong, he’d ripped off the passenger door panel and found something.”
Roy held his hand toward Sloan to stop his question before he could form the words. “Don’t ask me what. I don’t know. But whatever it was, he became incensed. Then he checked in the glove compartment, and ran into the office to make a call. When I heard him yelling into the phone, I stopped to listen.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“He basically said, ‘Tadeo, you bastard, you’ve worked for Kroller for years. He’s always driven a blue Caddy just like the Ashtons’ vehicle that was brought into the garage recently. I found your stash in the car, same place you always keep your shit. Now you better come and get that effing car out of my garage and take Kroller’s business elsewhere, or I’ll tell my FBI son about his uncle and the gang he runs with.’Then he smashed down the receiver so hard I thought he’d broken it for sure.”
“What happened next?”
“A customer caught me and started yakking. Before I could get away, Tommy had taken off. It was the last time I ever saw him alive.”