SACRIFICES (40 page)

              Brad leans back his head and takes a big gulp of his drink. “I’m better now.”
              Todd nods. “That’s good that’s real good. I read the letter on the counter in there. I hope you’re not mad?”

              Brad smiles while he sits there calmly. “Of course I’m not mad at you. You’re my best friend.”

              Todd takes a drink of his vodka and orange juice.               “Well.” Todd nods his head.             

              “Well.” Brad smiles.

              “So, what do you think?” Todd leans forward and places his elbows on his knees as he holds the drink in both hands.

              “Well I think the answers simple. Tomorrow I tell her how I feel. And what happens after that happens. At least then she’ll know how I feel and, and then she can decide if she really wants to be without me.” Brad nods his head with a smile.

              Todd can’t help but notice that Brad’s much calmer and relaxed then he sounded on the phone. So he asks wondering if he’s plastered. “How many of those have you had?” Todd points to his drink.

              “This is my first one.” Brad takes a sip of his drink acting almost catatonic.

              “Buddy, I think you misunderstood her letter. It didn’t say she was leaving you forever. The girl just needs some time. That’s what I took from the letter.”

              Brad leans up and says. “No, that’s exactly what it said, I read between the lines. She’s gone because she doesn’t think I love her. But I do. So all I have to do is go see her and tell her what I want to tell her. After that it’s up to her. I should have told her. Did you see in the letter? She even said we never used the word love. She didn’t know. So I have got to tell her how I feel.”

              Todd leans back and sits his drink on the coffee table in front of the couch. “I’m not sure if you should do that?”

              Brad asks quickly. “Why not?”

              Todd looks away. “Because she asks you not to and if there was
ever
any kind of hope for you two in her eyes if you do this it might make her more nervous,” Todd stands up and begins to walk around the room holding his drink. “…maybe she was speaking from her head and not her heart. Maybe, just maybe she needed a little time. Who knows, maybe this time next week she’ll be calling you telling you how much she misses you? You have to give her time,” Todd walks over in front of Brad and smiles. “…if you don’t give her some time...and you go see her or call her,” Todd looks away. “…maybe you’ll never know what could have been? You’ll be doing exactly what she
doesn‘t
want you to do. You might just scare her off. You could end up losing her buddy.”

              Brad clears his throat and looks toward the floor. “You think so?”

              Todd nods his head as he winks. “I know so. I think if you two were meant to be together then it will happen. I also think from the letter that she’s as nervous and scared as you were about getting involved and her feelings. She definitely has feelings for you. Jessica noticed that right off. Jessica also said she could tell how comfortable she acted around you. She feels that you two were in love. You know Jessica. She’s not wrong too often. Give it a little time bud. If you don’t hear from her in a week or so, I’ll personally go get her and drag her ass back to you. You
know
I’d do that for you.”

              Brad smiles. “I think maybe your right.”

              Todd grins and stands up. “Of course I’m right. So why don’t you go to bed? Get some sleep and get ready to be the new chief of police tomorrow after Jason leaves. It’s a big day for us both. Put this out of your mind and let’s get ready to take over Chicago.” Todd smiles and stands up.

              Brad walks over after he sits his drink down and gives Todd a hug. “Thanks buddy. You always make me see things the right way.”

              Todd softly taps the side of his face and says in an Italian accent.
“Forget about it.”

              Brad smiles and walks him to the door. They give each other another hug and Todd stresses. “If you start to feel sad in the middle of the night and you need someone to talk too. Don’t hesitate to call me. I’ll keep the phone right next to my bed. Or if you want a woman to talk to Jessica said you call her anytime you want.”

              Brad closes his eyes and smiles. “Tell her thanks and I just might do that. You’re a lucky man having that sweetheart as your wife...you do know that don’t you?”

              Todd pulls open the door and smiles. “Of course I know. She reminds me
everyday
,” He winks. “See you tomorrow.” Todd walks to his truck.

              Brad closes the door and locks it. He walks to the kitchen and turns off the lights. He thinks that Todd’s right and maybe a little sleep will be just the ticket to help him feel better about things.

              Brad knows down deep that everything Todd said tonight was true, Todd’s right about everything. So Brad decides to take his advice and just let whatever happens happen. He’s not going to force the issue by looking for her and he’s going to let time go by to see if Todd was right. If he wasn’t he’ll be the first one on his way to Peoria to find her. Todd will have to stand in line because Brad finally let himself move on. And now he wants to continue to move all the way back to her and hold her in his arms again.

BRAD WALKS UP TO HIS OFFICE AND SEES TAMMY IN HIS OFFICE

             
Brad walks in and can’t help but smile at her pretty face. “Hi there.” Brad walks to his desk while Tammy takes plagues and awards from the wall. She smiles but doesn’t talk. Brad sits down in his seat. “So how are you feeling this morning?”

              Tammy continues to get his office ready for the move so Todd can move in. She gets stuff ready for Brad to take over to the chief’s office. “I’m fine.” She continues to place articles into the box.

              Todd walks in and sees Tammy. “Good morning kids,” He looks at Brad and signals and whispers. “I’ll stop by later.” Todd walks out.

              Tammy looks toward Brad. “It seems that everyone knows now.” She folds her arms.

              “Honey,
Stacey
told Todd because she cares about you.
Todd
mentioned it to me because he cares about you. We all care about you. And that’s the reason that your request for a transfer has been denied.” Brad looks away slowly and casually.

              Tammy stops what’s she’s doing. “Why?”

              Brad stands up and walks to the front of his desk and sits on the edge. “Because I turned it down; you can’t think for one minute that I’m going to let one of my best people leave me. I’m going to be the chief in a few hours. And I’ll be
damned
if I’m going to watch you leave this office knowing how good you are at your job.” Brad smiles as she looks away.

              “It won’t work. People will talk about me behind my back and laugh at me.” Tammy puts her head down.

              “That’s not going to happen. I care about you a lot and if they do say anything remember I carry a gun. I’ll shoot em. I‘ll just shoot em in the leg.” Brad tries to make her smile.

              Tammy looks away and he can tell from her profile that she’s finally has a smile on her pretty face. “That’s not legal...I mean shooting people like that.”

              Brad stands up walks over toward her and sits down beside her. “Sure it is, I’m going to be the chief of police pretty soon and if you check the books it says so. I think it reads: if someone bothers a pretty young girl that just so happens to be a very good personal friend of Bradley S. Jostler that he has the right to shoot em in the leg. Go check, it says so.” Brad grins again watching her face closely hoping for a smile.

              “I wish I hadn’t told you how I felt.” Tammy stands up and walks to the filing cabinet. “I always felt so close to you and you always made me feel safe. Now every time you look at me or I look at you things will be different because I opened my big mouth,” She smiles and sits down a folder onto the chair shaking her head in disgust. “Stacey told me to never tell you, I should have listened.” Tammy shakes her head from side to side huffing still feeling embarrassed.

              Brad walks over, puts his arm around her. “I’m glad you told me. And I’m glad you’re a part of my job and my life. I don’t know how this is going to make you feel but I think it’s important for you to know. I think of you like a daughter, and I always will. I only have my one son Junior and if I did have a daughter I would be the luckiest man in the world if she was half as wonderful as you are.”

              Tammy smiles and gives him a hug. “Thank you.” Then she walks back to her office.

              Brad feels so horrible that he’s unknowingly hurt this little angel. But as much as he cares about her maybe before long she will be all right and go back to being his friend and his co-worker. He can only hope because she’s very special.

              Brad leaves the office to get some coffee. He sees Todd in the hallway. Todd approaches him whispering. “Is Tammy going to be all right?”

              Brad holds his cup. “Yeah, she’s going to be fine. What’s up and,” Brad leans closer and whispers.
“...Why are you whispering?”

              Todd pulls him to the side. “One of the boys was coming into the station this morning and they parked next to the chief’s car. They saw a note on the windshield under the wiper. So they brought the letter in and seen it was addressed to you. Lyle in the lab has been checking for prints and he said he’d be done with it in a few minutes.”

              Brad nods his head. “Did anyone see who put it on there?”

              Todd shakes his head. “The chief was here about five this morning. I guess he wanted to spend some time alone. You know, being his last day in charge. So no one was here besides him in the lot.”

              Brad looks away. “So we won’t know who left the note then?”

              “Not so fast. The lot has twenty-four hour a day video surveillance. The tech boys are right now viewing the tape to see if they can make out who left it there.”

              Brad smiles. “I bet our boy doesn’t know about the cameras.”

              Todd nods his head. “Lyle’s having one of the guys bring the note up in a few minutes when he‘s done doing his comparisons.”

              Brad remarks. “Tammy’s in my office. Why don’t you call down there and have them bring it to your office. That way we can read it in private.”

              Todd walks down the hall to tell the lab. Brad fills his coffee cup and walks to Todd’s office and sits down. He pats his foot against the floor nervously while he waits.

TODD COMES WALKING IN CARRYING THE NOTE FIVE MINUTES LATER

             
Brad springs up and asks. “Did you read it yet?”

              Todd shakes his head and says. “No, I thought it would only be right to let you read it first.
It was
addressed to you.”

              Brad grins and says with a smirk. “Thanks.” He takes the letter while he sits in front of Todd’s desk and Todd takes a seat behind his desk. He pulls it out and begins to read it:

Mr. Jostler

              I’m writing to you to tell you
thanks.
I thought that we would become enemies because you were trying to stop me from doing what I
had
to do. I am happy to inform you that it’s over. You no longer have to worry about me. With Mr. Stein taking his own life and Mr. Howard on his way to being convicted, I no longer have work to do. All debts have been settled. I’m sorry for the threats I made to you but it was necessary to do so. I had to let you know that I was serious and I wasn’t going to stop until I was done.

              I knew if I lit a fire under you, you’d hurry your investigation to stop me. You’re a great detective; you found my clues in the letters and put it together. My plan worked perfectly. By you working extra hard to find me, doing so and falling into my trap you finally solved the case I wanted you to solve. I figured if you started to piece this together you’d realize that this was about the husbands and not the wives. I knew that no one would care about the missing kids and their whereabouts until things about it got brought back up in the media. With this now solved I have no reason to kill again. The world now knows what these guys did and once Mr. Howard is put to death it will finally be over. There families and their legacies will be tarnished. Not much compensation for what they did. But it’s something.

              I heard transcripts from his confession on the news. It was pretty accurate with the exception that he and the other guys seen fit to join in. I guess he left that out and thought if he made himself look like they tried to help it would save his ass. He was
almost
right. But thanks to the press you brought to this case, and the media being all over it. He just cut his own throat. He was too stupid to see it at the time.