The Night He Left the Syndicate, I Took His Chair novel · Chapter 16 of 32

Chapter 16: Badge

I didn't take the badge.

"Come inside," I said. "I'm not doing this on the sidewalk."

He came in and stood dripping by the counter.

I sat on a stool. He stayed standing.

"Say all of it," I said. "From the start. Don't leave anything out, because I'll know."

He put the badge on the counter between us.

"I've been with the state police eleven years," he said. "Organized crime, the last four. Last April they put me in the Table's car pool as Zeke Beck. Discharged Marine, bad paper, needs work."

"Were you ever a Marine?"

"No."

"The fishing boat?"

"That's true. My father's. Fall River."

"The task force had Orson's proffer coming. They needed somebody to back it up from inside. When Hesketh told me to drive you, my boss called it a gift."

"What were your orders?"

He didn't look away.

"Get close to the bookkeeper. Find the books. Make the case."

"The case against me."

"Against you."

"So the coffee," I said. "Black, one sugar."

"Mavis told me. That part's true."

"The quarry."

"Hesketh's order. Everybody at the Table carries."

"Your hands on mine."

His jaw moved.

"Not an order," he said.

"What did you report?"

"Where you went. Who you saw. The vote. The ferry office. That you had a private record and kept it somewhere I hadn't found."

"And the war memorial?"

He was quiet for a second too long.

"Word for word," he said.

I felt it go into me.

"You took what I said in your car and typed it up," I said.

"I typed all of it. Including that you said you didn't know. Including that I believed you."

"That's evidence, Zeke. You made it evidence."

"I know."

"Against me. For a fire Orson ordered."

"I know."

"What didn't you report?"

"The Petrel," he said. "The three boats this week. The dentist. The garage. The crib."

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