Up in Smoke (11 page)

A
rriving at the station, I made it there just as Cole, Micah, Kane and Brian were getting into Cole’s SUV. I parked and jumped in with them.

Closing the door, I sat back and said, “Thanks for waiting.”

“No problem. This is
your
rally, Alderman,” Cole said.

“Yeah. This whole thing was genius on your part,” Micah added.

“I don’t know about genius, but thanks anyway,” I replied, buckling my seat belt.

Kane looked at me with a strange look on his face as he looked at my side. Glancing at where my gun was, he said, “What’s in your pocket?”

“Nothing,” I replied.

Kane grabbed at my pocket and felt. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. “That’s a gun! Alderman has a gun!”

Cole shot a quick look back at me, “Why do you have a gun?”

“Protection. Why else?”

“You haven’t ever carried a gun,” Brian said.

“How would you know, Rookie?” I snapped. “You don’t know me.”

“Hey, now,” Micah said. “I know you. And I haven’t ever seen you carry.”

“Well, I am now. We’re all firemen. We know firsthand how crazy life can get. Can we just drop it?”

“Yes, that’s true, but none of us have ever packed. Anyway, I agree, let’s drop it,” Micah replied.

An awkward silence filled the air for a moment before Cole broke it. “So this rally is suspected to pull around thirty thousand people from around the Spokane area.”

“Wow . . . that’s a lot of people,” Brian said.

“Did we get word on if the Mayor is going to speak?” I asked, leaning up toward Micah and Cole in the front seat.

“They said she’ll probably step out and greet the crowd since it’s not a protest, just a showing of support for those who protect and serve the community.”

“It
is
a protest, though,” I replied.

Cole shrugged. “Guess they aren’t seeing it that way in her office.”

“Man, I sure hope this works,” Brian said. “I don’t want to get axed.”

“You would be the one to get axed,” I said. “I’m sure you can go back to flipping burgers or something real nice like that.”

“Don’t be rude,” Kane said. “Gomer has been here for a while, it’s time to relax on the blows I’d say.”

I scoffed. “Look at you, McCormick. Getting a soft spot for the rookie. That girl getting to you, or do you just remember the feeling of being a rookie? I’m leaning toward that girl’s sweet cakes messin’ with your head.”

“Shut it. Kristen isn’t the girl that worked in the bakery. You’re mis-remembering, ya old timer.”

“Hey now,” Micah said, turning to us from the front passenger seat. “I’m about the same age as Alderman.”

“Sorry,” Kane said, dipping his chin.

“I was just playing with Gomer anyway. He knows I like him.”

As we pulled up to city hall, we saw the guys we all chipped in to hire setting up the stage and microphone out on the grass that sat across the street in the park.

“You nervous about speaking, Cole?” I asked.

He shook his head as he shot a look back at me. “Jensen is doing it now.”

“Oh, yeah? I thought you were.”

“Nah . . . he thought it was best if it came from him.”

“I see,” I replied, looking out the window as I watched a couple of people walking through the park on their way over toward the stage. Seeing a homeless looking man sitting down at one of the trees near the stage, I said, “What’s up with the random homeless guy?”

Everyone looked out the window as we parked.

Kane said, “That’s Old Man Smiles, he’s cool.”

I asked, “Old Man Smiles? You know him?”

He nodded. “I’ll introduce you. He’s a nice guy.”

Piling out of the car, Kane and I headed over to the tree that had the homeless man at it. Looking up at us, the man smiled warmly. “Good day to the both of you, what can I do for you?”

Kane smiled and said, “I wanted to introduce my buddy to you. Do you remember me from the restaurant back a while ago?”

The man rose up to his feet and squinted as he looked at Kane. “Oh, yes. How could I forget such a kind man? I was hungry and you put a twenty in my hand.”

“You gave him twenty bucks?” I asked Kane, turning to him.

“Yeah,” he replied. Kane looked at the guy and asked, “Did you feed your friends?”

“Oh yes… We ate like royalty under the bridge that night, and for a moment of time, we had all forgotten we were without a home.”

Kane nodded as he listened with intrigue.

“McCormick, Alderman!” Cole shouted from near the stage.

“It was nice seeing you again,” Kane said, extending a hand to shake Old Man Smiles’ hand.

“Nice meeting you,” I said, shaking Old Man Smiles’s hand.

On the way over to the stage, I looked back at the man again. He was strange, but he possessed a poetic way with words. I liked that.

“I need you two to help with the cases of water,” Cole said as we approached him. “They’re over there in that silver van.” Cole pointed over to a van parked along side of the park that was a pretty good walking distance away.

Kane and I walked through the grass, headed for the vans. “That old guy was pretty cool, wasn’t he?” Kane asked.

“Interesting, that’s for sure. How’d he end up homeless?”

Kane shot a look over his shoulder back over to the tree where the old man was. “I don’t know—never asked. I don’t see him a whole lot other than when I see him walking the streets and waving to cars.”

“Mr. Taylor said he needed you over at the stage,” a kid said, approaching me.

“Okay.” I made my way over to Cole near the stage.

“Alderman,” Cole said, dropping his clipboard to his side.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“We need to talk,” he said, motioning me away from the growing crowd that was gathering in front of the stage.

“All right.” Following him over to a quiet spot away from the crowd, I stood idly waiting for him to speak. A few minutes went by and I raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“So . . . we had a threat on the rally,” he said.

My ears began ringing as my heart raced out of control. Cole kept talking, but all I could think about was the kid and his threat. “What was the threat?”

“Someone said they planted a bomb in the park,” Cole said. Noticing his eyes wander to my coat’s side, I knew what he was looking at. “I have to ask. Do you know something we need to know?”

Shifting my step, I moved my arm to block the gun he was staring at in my pocket. “No.”

“Just coincidence that you showed up with a gun today?” Cole knew something was up.

Stealing a glance of the crowd for a moment, I saw people. Residents, both young and old, and even a few children mixed in with the crowd. They were all there to support us.

Cole put his hand on my shoulder, “These people could be in danger, Alderman.”

Nodding, I looked him dead in the eye. I let a long sigh come out from my lips. It felt like weight was shifting off my body as the words came out. “I got mixed up with some bad people, I’m afraid.”

“What?” Cole scowled.

Shaking my head, I said, “He’s just a kid. I don’t think he’ll do anything.”

“Kid? How old?” Cole inquired.

“Like twenties? Maybe twenty-two or something,” I said.

Cole looked over his shoulder at city hall and then back at me. “Alderman. I’m calling this whole thing off.”

“Cole,” I said, grabbing his shoulder as he was about to leave.

He turned and shrugged my hand off my shoulder. His eyebrows furrowed. He said, “There isn’t a choice in the matter, Rick!”

He darted over to the rest of the coordinators and I began to fume with anger—not at Cole, but at the kid. He was messing with my life now.

Seeing Susan pull up to the park, I headed over to the car and got in.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

Looking over at her, I shook my head. “They called it off.”

“Why?”

She had no idea how loaded of a question that was. “Bomb scare.”

“That’s ridiculous! It’s probably just the mayor or her cronies messing with your rally! I’d still do it!” she demanded in all seriousness.

“It’s not that simple, Susan.” Reaching up, I pulled my seat belt down over my chest and latched it in.

“Yeah, it is.” She looked out the windshield and must have spotted Cole. “I’m going to talk to Cole.”

“No!” I shouted, grabbing her arm. “Just let it go, Susan. It’s not going to change anything.”

She shook her head and turned the car back on. “Just isn’t right . . .”

“I know,” I replied. When I looked out the window, I noticed there was a lot of work left to do with taking everything down. I said, “You can just go home. I’ll stay and help clean up.”

“I can help. There isn’t anything pressing at home.”

Having Susan involved with the cleanup and around Cole when he knew more truth than she did worried me. The risk of her finding everything out was greater now than ever. Looking at her, I said, “Just head home, dear, the guys got this.”

She frowned slightly and said, “You don’t want me here. I understand.”

Touching her arm softly, I leaned in and said, “It’s not that. I just feel it’s best if it’s just me and the guys. We are all pretty bummed, and I don’t think having women here will let us vent that in a healthy way.”

She pointed out Kristen and said, “Kane’s girlfriend is helping.”

“She’s probably leaving pretty quickly.”

“Okay,” she replied, defeated. It tore me to pieces that she felt so unwanted, but her knowing the truth or the kid trying something with her in the park didn’t sound good either. “Rick . . . can I at least go say ‘hi’ to Kristen? She’s the one that suggested that lemon cake recipe we had the other day.”

There wasn’t a reason I could come up with to shoot it down. Nodding, I said, “Yeah, go ahead, dear, it was a wonderful cake.”

Getting out of the car, we headed over to the stage. She veered off toward Kristen and I headed over to Cole. Interrupting his conversation with some of the workers, I said, “Hey man. Keep it quiet about my having the gun and knowing about the threat.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “What’s going on, Alderman?” he demanded as the workers walked away.

Susan and Kristen came over to us with Kane. I widened my eyes at Cole to push the fact I didn’t want him saying anything.

“That’s not right that this all got shut down because of a threat, Cole,” she said. “I was telling Rick I think it was probably the mayor’s cronies behind it all.”

Cole nodded slightly but didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned and started conversing with the stage workers that he had previously been talking to.

Looking over at me, Kristen asked, “Did you like the cake?”

“Yeah, it was good cake.” Looking over at Susan, I smiled.

“Well, I better get going,” Susan said, pulling her keys out from her purse.

“Okay. It was nice seeing you again. Thanks for letting me know about the cake!” Kristen said.

“You’re welcome. Thanks for the recipe!”

Going back over to the car, I shut the driver’s side door after Susan got in. Leaning down to her open window, I said, “I’ll be home in a few hours.”

She smiled up at me. “I love you, Rick. You did a great thing here. It’s too bad it didn’t happen.”

I leaned in and kissed her. “I love you too. Thank you.”

Susan turned the key over and pulled forward out of the spot she was parked in. Watching as she drove out of the park, I smiled. She was an amazing woman. I felt horrible about how much I had been hiding from her.

Cole came up to my side as I stood there and watched Susan pull forward out of the spot.

“You can’t run from your lie for long,” Cole said.

Turning to him, I said, “I’m trying to fix it.”

“How much trouble are you in?” Cole asked.

“I respect you, Taylor. But I do not want to have this conversation. Okay?”

“Okay, but I want you to know I’ll be praying for you.” He turned and walked away, leaving me with my thoughts.