The Truth of Yesterday (81 page)

     “I'm sorry, Micah,” I whispered, and let loose with a stream of pepper spray. Their reaction was immediate. They broke apart in a howl of feral pain that almost immediately gave way to coughing and gagging. The knife fell harmlessly to the floor as
Razi
and Micah both began to claw and rub at their streaming eyes, writhing about on the floor in apparent agony. I stood by helplessly, unsure of what to do next.

     “Somebody help!” I screamed, finally giving vent to my panic.  

      Just then, the door exploded inward with a sharp crack that sent me diving to the floor.

     
“Freeze!
Police!”
A voice shouted.

     I was much more relieved to hear that phrase this time than I had been the last time it had been shouted at me.

* * *

     It took a while to sort things out, but eventually I learned that after I'd talked to
Chris
, she'd become worried and talked to her father, Louis. He'd agreed that it sounded dangerous and he'd called Detective Evans. Together, they decided “unofficially” to drive over to
Razi's
apartment. When they showed up, in uniform, Tad had quickly approached them, concerned because I'd been gone so long. He had no idea they were there looking for us; he just thought they were two cops who happened to be in the neighborhood and acted. So they were forewarned before they went in. When they got to
Razi's
floor, they heard me scream for help and, of course, being cops, they burst in.

     Once they saw what was going on, I tried to explain who was who and what had happened. I'm not sure how coherent I was, but they got the gist of it. They quickly placed
Razi
under arrest and handcuffed him. Then they left him to cough and thrash on the floor while they attended to Micah. By this time, I was at his side and he was calmer but still in excruciating pain. Evans rushed into the kitchen and came back a minute later with bowl of soapy looking water.

     “It's just dish soap and water,” he explained, more to me than Micah, whose eyes were still squeezed shut in agony as tears streamed down his cheeks. He began carefully dabbing at Micah's red face. “Can you get me fresh water?” he asked me. “I need it to rinse his eyes and get this soap off his skin.”

     I ran from the room and filled a clean-looking glass in the draining board with tap water. “Will this stop the pain?” I asked as I handed it to the detective.

     “It won't stop it completely, but it'll help ease it some,” he said without looking up.

     Meanwhile, Louis had called an ambulance, which arrived in what I thought was a surprisingly fast response time. Micah was handed over to the paramedics for treatment for the pepper spray and the blow to the head, which I now noticed was bleeding slightly at his temple. They insisted I go too, since the inside of my mouth was still bleeding and the cut on my cheek looked pretty nasty. Someone suggested I might need stitches. Miraculously, Tad was still around at that point, arriving on the scene with the paramedics when they'd come up. I'd been half afraid he'd run, but he was determined to make sure we were ok. I told the officers that he was with me and insisted that he come to the hospital with us. It was allowed with a minimum of questions.

     “So what now?” he asked a few hours later as we sat in the waiting room of the hospital we'd been taken to. Appropriately enough, we were waiting; Micah was still in an examination room. The inside of my cheek hadn't required stitches; something for which I was very grateful, but they had bandaged the outside with some gauze and white surgical tape.  

     “I guess next I'll have to talk to the police,” I said wearily. “I'm sure they didn't get all their questions answered yet. I sure I wasn't very articulate at the apartment.”

     “That's not what I meant,” he said softly. “I mean what happens to me now? But since you brought it up, will I have to talk to the police again?”

     I looked over at him. He looked more like a lost little kid than I'd ever seen him.

     “What did you tell them before?”

     “Well, they were a little busy with everything else so they really weren't paying much attention to me. When they arrived, I just told them I knew you'd gone up to talk to
Razi
and you hadn't come back. They took off like a light. Later, this guy asked my name and my address and wrote it down and said they'd be in touch with me later.”

     “Did you tell them?”

     “My name and address you mean?
Not exactly.
I said I was Tad Young and gave them the address of another apartment in the building.”

     I raised an eyebrow.
“Probably not the smartest thing in the world.”

     He shrugged. “I was scared.”

     “I'll talk to Detective Evans and straighten it out.”

     “Will he make me go back to my dad?”

     “I don't know. I'll try to get him to let you go home with me.”

     I watched his eyes skitter towards the door and knew he was thinking about running.

     “Don't,” I said.

     “Don't what?”

     “Don't run. I'm not going to abandon you, I promise. No matter what happens, I'll be there with you.”

     He bit down on his lip and nodded.

     “So what's your real name?”

     For a several long seconds I thought he would refuse to answer. But then he drew a deep breath and told me.
“Tad Yoder.
Thaddeus.”

     I smiled at him and held out my hand. “Nice to meet you, Thaddeus Yoder,” I said.

     He gave me a small smile back and shook my hand. “Likewise I'm sure,” he responded.

     “Thank you,” I added, knowing how much trust it took for him to tell me that.

     He left his hand in mine and we waited a bit longer in companionable silence. Finally, Micah came out from the double doors, followed closely by an attractive woman in a white doctor's coat and a stethoscope around her neck. His face was still red and a little blotchy, his eyes bloodshot, and he wore a small bandage much like my own on his temple, but other than that, he looked little worse for wear.

     “They say I'll live,” he reported cheerfully. A bit too cheerfully for someone who been thwacked in the head and sprayed with pepper
spray
just a short time before, I thought.

     “Luckily, he has a hard head,” his doctor tacked on. She gave us all a warm smile.

     “I could have told you that,” I said dryly.

     Detective Evans walked into the waiting room just then, trailed by another young officer. “Good, I see you're all here,” he said to us. He turned to the doctor. “If you're all done with them, I think it's my turn.”

     “Their all yours,” she said and excused herself with a little half-bow.

     “Lucky me,” he muttered under his breath, and then louder, “Alright kids, we're moving this party down to the station. Officer Barnes here will escort you since your car remains parked at Mr.
Akiba's
apartment building. I'll meet you there.”

     “Wait,” I said and looked over at Tad. He nodded slightly. “Before we do, you need to know that Tad gave you a false name when he was questioned back at the building.”

     Evans gave me a surprised look. “Is that true?” he asked Tad.

     “Yes sir,” Tad answered in a low voice. “My real name is Thaddeus Yoder, not Young.”

     “Why would you lie about that?”

     Tad threw me a desperate look and I stepped in to explain. “His father abused him so he ran away.
Razi
took him in off the streets but he was abusing him too. He's scared you'll send him back to his father.”

     Evans frowned. “Well, by law we have to report this to social services. They'll step in and do an investigation to see if there was abuse. Then he'll be placed in foster care.”

     Tad took on a stricken expression.

     “Isn't there any way around that?” I asked. “He can stay with me.”

     “It's not that easy,” he said.

     “What if we talk to his dad and he gives permission.”

     The detective looked at me curiously. “And by-pass social services?”

     “Can we do that?” He looked unsure, so I threw in a final plea. “Please? He's already been through so much.”

     He sighed. “Let me think about it. For now, this will stay between us.” He gave Officer Barnes a meaningful look. “Let's go.”

     Officer Barnes chauffeured us to the police station and then led us to a holding room. One by one, he took us to an interrogation room where Detective Evans sat waiting. I was last. After I gave my statement, which took the better part of an hour with all his questions, the detective shut off the tape recorder.

     “Well,
Kendall
, I have to say, you did a top-notch job with this investigation. Not that you didn't screw up a few times along the way. Your visit to Fenton Black's estate and this mess with
Razi
Akiba
were both dangerous and risky. I hope you learned from your mistakes, but you can't argue with the results.”

     “So what's going to happen to
Razi
now?”

     He chuckled. “The bastard is going away for a long, long time. He's admitted to everything. Your statements are just icing on the cake.”

     “He's admitted to it?” I asked in disbelief.

     
“Singing like a canary.
He's hoping it'll make things go easier for him.”

     “Will it?”

     “Not a chance, but nobody's telling him that.”

     I laughed.

     “You've cleared up quite a few loose ends. Not only do we now have all the answers about the deaths of Paul Flynn, Fenton Black and his bodyguards, but we also can close the books on that nasty business from a few years ago. Of course, the man's family won't be notified of all the details, just that his killer was finally caught.”

     “What about his sources? It sounded to me like there was a leak in the police department.”

     His face darkened. “We're working on that,” was all he would say. I took the hint.

     
“And Tad?
Have you had a chance to think about that?”

     His expression lightened some. It was still burdened, but for a different reason now. “Yeah, I have. So far, he's flying under the radar. No one has paid any attention to him. That makes this a lot easier. After all you've done, I'm going to do you a big favor. I've decided to look the other way.”

     “What?” I gasped.

     “I'm taking a risk here, but I don't want to see the kid stuck in foster care. There are some good people out there who open their homes, but it's a rough life for a kid his age. He'll be better off with you. Just…make sure you handle things correctly, ok? Go through the right legal channels. Don't let this come back to bite me in the ass.”

     “I won't,” I promised. “I know a lawyer who specializes in situations like this, she does family law.”

     He nodded. “The father will need to be contacted.”

     “I know.”

     Evans shook his head. “You're a remarkable young man, Mr. Kendall. I said once before that I would be proud to have you on my force. The truth is, I'd be proud to have you as my son.” He stood up and held out his hand for me to shake. I jumped to my feet and took his rough hand in mine.