Chapter 19
“Hey.”
“Hi Liam, thanks for doing this by the way.”
Sam slides into the simple old brown sedan. It’s not much but at least Sam’s not catching several buses at the crack of dawn to get to the orphanage.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad for something exciting to do, something other than chasing purse snatchers and petty thieves,” shrugs Liam with a roll of his eyes that has Sam smirking.
Liam cranks up the stereo as he pulls away from the sidewalk and Sam’s content to listen to the radio.
They arrive at the orphanage an hour later, around 10 that morning. Pleased to stretch out, Sam glances assess the building while Liam makes his way over to her. It’s nice enough. 3 stores high along-well, 4 including the attic; the white paint is chipping and dulling but it’s not in bad condition. It’s no Oliver Twist situation that’s for sure. The front garden is a little small and littered with toys ranging from dolls to action figurines to a variety of different sized balls. They make their way to the front door where a proud plaque states ‘St Helena’s Children’s Home’.
Just as they’re about to ring the doorbell, the door swings open and they have to part to allow some moody teenager to storm through. Sam raises her eyebrows as she sees the hooded figure slouch away and smirks to herself, oh boy she’s glad she doesn’t have to deal with that. Speaking of that; the person who does, is running after with her face flushed red and blonde wisps flying from her ponytail. Upon seeing them, she stops suddenly and darts her gaze from them to the leaving teenager.
“Derek! I swear to God, young man!” she cries only to have him ignore her.
So with a frustrated sigh she mutters, “forget it. I so chose the wrong career.”
Then turning to Sam and Liam she forces on a smile and says, “can I help you folks? Looking to adopt?”
Sam’s eyes go wide as Liam snorts.
“Um, no...No. We’re actually...uh, we’re looking for someone called Mrs Nelson. Is she around?”
“Oh! Yeah, yeah, come on in.”
They’re lead down the long corridor filled with children’s paintings into a side room being used as an office.
“Just take a seat and I’ll go get here,” she chirps heading out.
Sam gazes around the room as they wait. Behind the wall of the desk is a large corkboard filled with photos of happy adoptions and letters from what looks like old kids of place as well as thank-you cards. A smile lifts as her lips as she realises that books have it all wrong. ‘Orphanages’ aren’t all awful. This one’s pretty nice; not the depressing, soul-sucking, black holes that there are such misconceptions about.
Glancing to her side she spots Liam trying to take out his badge. Slapping his arm lightly she frowns.
“What are you doing? We don’t need that. I got a cover story sorted,” she hisses at him. Maybe ‘sorted’ isn’t the right word but hopefully with some good lying and a lot of luck this Mrs Nelson will believe her.
“Oh, right. Cool. So...what is it?”
Sam’s nose wrinkle’s slightly in frustration. She can’t help but compare him to Adrian. Had it been Adrian that she’s hissed at and only just told him about her plan-he would have gone mental; however Liam-Liam’s so calm about it, as if it’s not Sam’s fault; and as strange as it sounds, Sam doesn’t like it. But maybe that’s because she enjoys hers and Adrian’s little tiffs. There is a certain rush to arguing that she weirdly has from it.
“Well-”
Just as she’s about to reveal her plan to Liam they hear the door knob twisting as the door creaks open. She gives him a look that she prays conveys the message ‘play along’ and smothers on a pleasant smile as Mrs Nelson approaches.
The woman is large to say the least. In fact, everything about her is large, from her physique to her personality. It’s quite nice actually; especially to think that such a woman is working with such lonely children really is reassuring. Her fashion sense is also slightly wild with her teaming a violet ankle-length skirt with a gypsy orange blouse and pink sandals. As a woman of colour her long braids seem to be the only thing that doesn’t appear so odd about her.
“Now then dearies, what can I do for you? Helen says you’re not looking to adopt, are you sure I can’t change your mind?” she asks, sinking into her heavily cushioned chair.
“Oh no, actually Mrs Nelson, I’m here to see you.”
“Me?!” asks the woman in surprise.
Sam nods before continuing, “yes. I believe you know someone that used to be here-his name’s Shawn Hanson.”
The woman’s face breaks out into a wide grin, “oh Shawn! He’s such an angel, always donating when he can. God bless him!”
“So you know him quite well?” questions Sam with genuine hope in her voice.
“Of course. He’s been with us from when he was 2 all the way up until 18....But what is it that you want to know about Shawn, sweatheart?”
Now comes the tricky part.
Making sure her smile falls into one of slight sympathy and worry Sam gulps slightly before continuing.
“I don’t know if you’ve talked to him recently but Shawn and I are...well, dating,” explains Sam.
Beside her Liam has to bite his tongue in order to prevent himself from saying something that could ruin Sam’s whole lie.
“Dating? Oh my Gosh...of course, it’s you!” cries the woman with Sam this time having to calm her expression to one of just a single eyebrow raise.
“Shawn’s one of those people who like to keep themselves to themselves but when I was last speaking to him, he was saying about some woman that had captured his eye. Said she was his Deputy or something. Gosh, he really did have it bad-claimed he would ‘make her his’.”
With great effort Sam manages to coo at that even though internally she’s gagging. Ew, as if she’d date someone like Hanson. Sure she likes arguing but arguing with Hanson is just...like banging your head against a brick wall. There’s no playfulness there, it’s just utter annoyance.
“So what is it that you need sweetie? And who’s this?”
“Oh this is my step-brother Liam. I just, well it’s like this...Shawn doesn’t like talking much of his childhood and I know that I should just wait for him to be ready to open up to me...but we’ve not been dating long and I just...I don’t want to say something that’s going to upset him without knowing and I-I’ve dated a few guys like him before-the ones from the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ and every-time it ended horribly. I don’t want that with Shawn; which is why I need to know of his childhood. I want to know completely what kind of guy I’m getting involved with and since he won’t tell me yet...”
“You thought you’d come to me?”
“Yes...Look, I know I’m being a horrible girlfriend by not trusting him. And I know I’m putting you in a hard place by asking you to go behind his back but...I really wouldn’t if I thought Shawn wasn’t worth it.”
It seems that paired with her words and her pleading expression the woman caves in since she sighs loudly and nods.
“Sweetie as long as you promise me you won’t give up on that boy, then sure...I guess I can speak about him since he’s no longer a child here and you are a senior officer.”
“Thank you so much Mrs Nelson, and of course I won’t give up on Shawn!” cries Sam. No, she won’t give up on him, not until she’s ruled him out as an accomplice for Santiago completely.
“Okay, well then I guess I should start with how Shawn ended up here....
He was born out of rape. His momma-bless her soul-was just a waitress at one of the downtown cafes and even on her salary she kept him and managed to make it work. But although the state had provided her therapy when the sessions ran out, the woman kept sinking in and out of depression, not that many people noticed. When Shawn was 2, the brother of the rapist had just been released from state prison and heard about his brother being sent away. Bent on revenge, he attacked Shawn’s momma and left her to bleed out in the streets. Since the cops couldn’t track any close relatives, Shawn was dropped off here.
We do the best we can for the kids here by trying to allocate them as quickly as possible into safe, loving, stable homes and Shawn was no exception to that; except he seemed to be unlucky since many of his potential adoptions fell through. By the time we had more people looking to adopt he’d outgrown his sweet toddler years, in which many people generally adopt in. Still, he seemed relatively happy here despite that and we were all fine with it.
He was a generally good kid. I know that many people look at this side of town and these neighbourhoods and think all the kids are hooligans but Shawn wasn’t like that. He was a smart boy, very smart and he was also quiet-not shouting and swearing like some of them. The only time he wasn’t reallyhimself was during his teenage years, which I guess is expected.”
“What do you mean ‘not really himself’?”
“Well...he got in with a bad crowd. He...joined some silly gang but it didn’t last long. I don’t know what those boys did to him but I do remember him coming back one day with his face bloody and bruised. That’s when I told him I wouldn’t allow that kind of behaviour under my roof and he told me he’d already left. Thankfully after that all the shenanigans were over and he returned to himself.”
“Oh my gosh!” gasps Sam laying it on a little thick with the hand gesture to her heart as well but thankfully the woman doesn’t seem to find it too strange.
“So how long was he in this gang? Was he okay?”
“Oh don’t worry honey, he was fine. He was in it a good few years-the rebellion stage and all. Thankfully it wasn’t a very well established or large gang, really just made up of kids actually-”
“Sorry, what was the name?” buts in Liam surprising both Sam and Mrs Nelson. Her thin black eyebrows dart up before the wrinkle trying in thought.
“Chains-the Chains, or something silly like that,” she replies before adding, “...why?”
“..Er...I work in the department this side of town and I wanna make sure he wasn’t part of one of those bigger gangs. Wouldn’t want my sister getting involved with them, even an ex-member.”
“Don’t worry sweetheart, the whole gang sort of...dispatched a few months after Shawn had left. Good thing he did by then because I heard some of those boys left, were involved in some kind fire and property damage...I’m not sure but I’m just glad Shawn was okay.”
“Me too. And I’m so glad it hasn’t scared Shawn...Just one more thing Mrs Nelson, if I may. Shawn, doesn’t have any pictures of himself as a child and I was wondering if you happened to have any lying around.”
“Really? He doesn’t have his old yearbooks? But he took those when he moved out.”
“Well, he does...somewhere around his apartment-so he claims. Either way, I’ve never seen them!” exasperates Sammie with a dramatic ‘huh-males’ kind of roll of her eyes. It works like a charm in deterring the questions and Mrs Nelson cooperating so finely.
She roots around in her desk drawer and pulls out a small, passport sized photo of a much younger Shawn Hanson. Handing it to Sam, she sits back down and awaits expectantly.
“Oh gee, thanks. This is brilliant. Aw, look how cute he looks! I can’t wait to embarrass Shawn with this!” coos Sam with what she hopes appears to be a cheeky grin. Internally though, even with only one look, she finds it creeps her out. Even as a child Shawn seems to have that creepy vibe. His blue eyes look dead and cold; blonde tufts of hair cut into a short style, parted down the side and swept to the side; his face would look cute too had he bothered to smile but with faint lips pressed into an uncaring smile; it all looks too....cold.
Mentally shuddering Sam pockets the photo and bids the woman a goodbye and thanks her.
As Sam and Liam slide into the car, Liam is stunned by her.
“That was awesome!” cries Liam slapping his hand against the steering wheel.
“Thanks. But it was hopeless. There’s no evidence to link him to Santiago-”
“Wait...you think he’s working with Santiago?” questions Liam in a low surprised tone.
Sammie sighs, “I think he’s got some kind of connection with Santiago. Whether they’re partners, associates, or even Santiago’s pressuring Hanson-I have no idea. All I know is that something tells me, he’s...off....But it doesn’t matter now because I have nothing.”
“Uh...not quite. That gang-The Chains, I remember them. The old leader or well...the one that was leader before they disbanded, just got out of jail. And I happen to know his address-or well, my GPS does,” beams Liam. Sam’s half tempted to tousle his hair and pat him on the back like she would to a dog...or little brother. Well, if he were her little brother he’d be a damn improvement to her actual one.
“Liam that’s great. Maybe this guy can tell us more about Shawn.”
“Thanks Sam,” he blushes to which Sam can’t help but snigger under her breath at-he really is adorable.
The whole of the west side of town is considered a ‘bad neighbourhood’ so to have a bad neighbourhood in a ‘bad neighbourhood’ really is something else and that’s exactly where they’ve ended up. They pull up to a small single floored house with its faded white walls and chipping paint; not to mention its atrocious yard that has dried wilting grass and various other things littered on there, including a broken down, beat up Fiesta and for some reason a section of a railed fence.
“Oh well, this looks promising,” mutters Sam in a sarcastic tone as she checks that her gun is hitched to the back of her trousers before pulling down her plaid shirt over it.
“We’re all about the glamour around here,” retorts Liam with a wide teasing grin causing Sam to smile back and roll her eyes.
“So what’s this guy’s name?”
“Antonio Russo. Or ‘Rooster’ as he’s known in the streets.”
“ ‘Rooster’? Seriously?” snorts Sam. Well that doesn’t sound promising; someone with a name like that must have an ego to match.
“Well you can ask him yourself then, if you don’t believe me,” teases back Liam knocking on the door.
They hear shuffling and rustling behind the door before it cracks open less than an inch.
“Whatch you want?” he asks in a gruff heavily accented voice.
“Open up Russo, we just need to ask you some questions,” declares Liam flashing his badge.
“Go fúck yourself. I ain’t answering no questions,” he spits trying to shut the door but Liam’s hand pushes against it and his foot wedges in the doorway.
“I think you will Russo,” retorts Liam pushing the door back with strength Sam never would have guessed him to have, judging by his slim frame.
As the door is busted open, Sam’s left to take in the ‘Rooster’. Who happens to be an overweight, balding guy in his thirties wearing a wife-beater and a pair of black slacks. The guy’s eyes fill with fury before he darts his gaze to Sam and confusion replaces the anger.
“Who the hell is she?!” he cries.
“I am the one with the questions,” pipes in Sam, “and if you don’t want me inspecting that ‘sugar’ still dusted on your nose, you are going to answer them.”
Russo, quickly swipes his hands at his nose and wipes away the faint white powder before swearing under his breath and stepping aside to let them in.
“Fine, but youse better not go bustin’ my balls,” he grumbles leading them into a dingy lounge that’s surprisingly clean.
Sam and Liam take a seat next to each other in the worn couch while he sits in the single recliner chair and pulls out a cigarette. Sam cringes at it but he just lights it up and inhales sharply.
“So whatch you want?”
“When you were in The Chains gang, did you know someone called Shawn Hanson?...Looked like this,” says Liam showing Antonio the picture Sam hands him.
“...Yeah, I knew this kid-used to call him Pipsqueak ‘cause he was a puny motherfúcker,” snorts Antonio in laughter.
“So what happened with him?”
Antonio takes another inhalation and slowly exhales the smoke with his eyes narrowed suspiciously on them but decides it better to just tell them about the gang rather than have his ass hauled in by the DEA again.
“The kid wanted to join and when he passed our...initiation tests-shall we say? We let him in. But damn brat always tried to convince us to go bigger. I mean, we were just some kiddie gang-we didn’t do much, just hijack a few cars, steal the odd thing here and there and some graffiti; nothing that would get in shit with the other bigger league guys. But Pipsqueak...he wanted more. That kid aimed high and I thought, ‘yeah that’s cool’-extra dough and all; up until some of the big leaguers started noticing and that’s when I knew we had to cool it; so the boys and I went back to our small stuff.”
“How’d he get kicked out?” asks Sam.
Antonio raises an eyebrow at her, “kid was getting too big for his boots-had to teach him a lesson. So I said to him, if he could fight-the Bull-we called him, then he could stay. Yeah, I knew Pipsqueak had no chance in hell but that was the point. He was kicked out and taught a lesson.”
“...So, how’d you guys disband?”
When the Rooster starts to hitch his white vest upwards, Sam almost does a double take to plead him not to. However amongst various tattoos on the hairy, pot belly there’s also a seriously nasty looking burn.
“See this burn? Got that the night we ‘disbanded’. Someone set our place on fire. Now I ain’t no bitch so ‘course I wanted to stay and show ‘em a thing or two but some of the others-they may have just been kids but they were still pússies. Even fúcking Santiago.”
“Wait...Santiago was in your gang?” asks Sam stunned. Holy crap! How could she not have known about this?! Well, they may have done research into Santiago’s background but it had just seemed to be that he’d grown quite suddenly overnight into an underworld boss. Everything else before that had seemed quiet. Sure there was the whole broken family that died and Sam doesn’t faintly remember something about a child street gang but...she hadn’t thought there would any connection with that and Hanson. However if Hanson and Santiago were in the same childhood street gang then...maybe that’s how they became friends.
“Oh yeah. I hears he’s some big-shot now. Well before that he was kinda quiet. Tough as nails that guy, but you know, all dark and brooding-didn’t talk much. He had a liking to Pipsqueak though,” Antonio barks in laughter, “think he made him his bitch. He sure was mad when we gave Pipsqueak the boot.”
“So...you don’t think it was Santiago that caused the fire?” asks Liam.
“Santiago? No way Santiago would do that. Let me tell you something about Santiago-he is loyal to the bone. And he was there when the fire happened- in fact, he was one of the few real men left willing to fight back. But he didn’t wanted to start his own gang-got tired of me being boss.”
Then stubbing the cigarette he faces them again with a closed off expression.
“Now are we done here? ‘Cause I got stuff to do.”
Liam gazes at Sam in questioning to which she nods back.
“Fine.”
Liam grits out the obligatory thank-you for his cooperation and time before both him and Sam head back inside the car.
“So where to next?” asks Liam but Sam just shakes her head.
“Back home, Liam. We’ve no more leads and beside, I need to try and wrap my head around this. And if Hanson is involved with Santiago, although it explains how he’s managed to always stay one step ahead, it doesn’t give me any clue as to where he is and how I can catch him,” sighs Sam. Sure now she knows that she should be more cautious of his information digging but whether he’s working with Santiago or not, she can’t do anything about it without any hard evidence.
“But...it’s helped right?” asks Liam with hesitation.
Sam can’t help but grin at him, “yeah, yeah it’s helped. Now let’s go. I don’t want to waste anymore of your Sunday.”
“Oh...Don’t worry about it. I didn’t...I didn’t have plans anyway,” blushes Liam causing Sam to once again, want to tousle his hair.
Meanwhile Ade couldn’t help but wake up that morning entertaining scenarios about his mate and her ‘friend’ gallivanting off into the sunrise in glee.
How long would it be before just ‘crime-fighting’ partners becomes ‘friend with benefits’ partners, which then becomes romantic partners? Soon before he knows it she’ll be rejecting a complete bastard like him and off living with Liam, in some small apartment, trying to make ends meet but still bursting with joy from their ‘it’s okay as long as we have love’ attitude.
A bitter taste fills his mouth and not from the morning cup of coffee.
Well, whatever. When she decides to fuck off, he’ll be fine. He’s always fine. If there are people in the world fighting for their next meal, then he sure as hell can survive being left by another woman. It’s not like he’s that attached to her....
Oh who’s he kidding?! He’s already drowning in the deep end. There’s no way he’ll be able to float back up if she leaves. The possessive instincts in him want to never let her go, never allow even a single person of the opposite sex to be alone with her, never allow her the chance to let someone else hold her heart, soul and body. However he quickly dismisses all these Neanderthal notions, knowing that he could never force someone to be with him if they didn’t want to. After all, it is why he required only a child from her initially not a relationship.
Now though, now that they have this relationship; he doesn’t want it to end. Perhaps it’s just the little boy in him speaking but he doesn’t want to let her go.
With such thoughts all vying for attention in his head, he pulls out his phone, finger hovering over the call icon for Sam’s contact.
Fortunately clarity hits him like a tidal wave and he quickly slides the gadget onto the table before exhaling deeply.
What is he doing? He should trust her.
But trust is built upon past experiences and solid facts; but then again, Sam hasn’t given him a reason otherwise not to trust her. Yet....No, no more thinking about it.
Hours later and Adrian’s flickering through his social media sites gazing with envy at the pictures of his brother’s and their mates. Truthfully, he’s always been envious of them. As kind and endearing as they are, they’ve always had a carefree, confident aura to them that Adrian can only mimic. And though he believes he does a good job with the mask, it unfortunately doesn’t run deep in him like it does for them. Their ability to love unconditionally, trust easily and be happy with being themselves makes him feel so jealous. And he hates that. He hates being envious and jealous of his baby brothers; after all he’s the one that’s baby-sat them on numerous occasions, the one that they turned to when dealing with a situation they didn’t want their parents finding out about, the ones that came to him for girl advice during their teenage years; he’s their big brother. He shouldn’t feel unsavoury things towards them and the fact that he does infuriates him beyond belief.
He knows it’s not fair to Sam to allow her to engage with him so intimately when he himself is not completely satisfied in his own skin. But then again, is anyone? Regardless, it’s selfish of him to allow her to have to deal with his imperfections that are far vaster than hers. Will that lead her to believe that he needs her more than she needs him? Perhaps. But he’s too far gone to stop now. He’s too accustomed now to a life with her which is far sweater than his previous lonely dwelling.
And that’s when Adrian decides, the present is just as (if not more) important as the future. So if he wants any future with his mate, he needs to be stronger just like the person she deserves.
As Sam reaches home, she checks her phone for any missed calls or texts and to her utter surprise there are none. From their argument yesterday she would have thought Adrian would be checking up on her at least every hour. A small smile tilts at her lips though as she feels herself being proud of him not to turn into some greed-eyed possessive monster. She grateful for that because insecurities, she can deal with, but a man who’s possessive and controlling is something that she’s promised herself she’d walk away from. She’s witnessed how bad those can get and she won’t allow herself to get like that. Even if the person is her mate. But since it’s not; Sam decides to call him and see what he’s been up to.
“Sam,” he breathes.
“Hey, I missed you today,” she instantly replies causing both herself and him to freeze momentarily. The endearing phrase had just slipped out of her; she didn’t mean for him to hear that, she only wanted to stop at ‘hey’.
Clearing his throat she can hear him mutter back, “I...missed you too.”
But even then a sense of awkwardness remains as Sam feels them stepping into unknown territory.
“So...what’ve you been up to today?” she asks trying to clear the alien atmosphere.
“Not much. TV, work, cooking. How did the investigation go? How was....working with Liam?” he tensely replies. Sam smiles; of course that’s what he wants to know. At least he lasted this long.
“It was strictly professional,” she teasingly replies before adding in a more sincere tone, “he was actually really helpful. I got a better grasp on the situation and my suspicions were more or less confirmed but...”
“But?”
“This case is...crazy, Ade. I’m working with next to nothing and a load of speculation and no real leads. Plus I only have a month remaining before they...evaluate the time and money spent on it,” sighs Sam. Even the camera’s they’d installed in the warehouse were useless, since nothing had happened; no shipments in, no shipments out-nada. Plus the tips they’d got during the week from moles about Santiago staying at various locations all turned out to be either bluffs or they were too late and he’d moved out already.
“Are you going to quit?” he asks her in a quiet tone.
“No,” she snorts back.
“Then have faith. All you can do is try your hardest and if you’re already doing that, then that’s all anybody can ask from you,” he reassures her. Sam has to grudgingly agree with those words as well, but still it is frustrating to try so hard and gain so little.
“You’re right,” she sighs.
“I usually am,” he retorts causing her to snigger.
“Um...no. This is a rare occasion, Ade and if I were you I would treasure it forever.”
Adrian rolls his eyes on the other end of the line.
“You just rolled your eyes didn’t you?” she teasingly insinuates.
“...No.”
“You are a terrible liar. Even through the phone,” she giggles causing him to mutter words under his breath that she doesn’t quite catch.
“Anyway, I just want to say thank you for trusting me and not acting like one of those horrible possessive assholes.”
All that worry that had plagued Adrian is instantly wiped clean by Sam’s gratitude and just like that he feels glad that he didn’t call her.
“Sure, you’re most welcome,” he mumbles.
Sam bites her lip, “you deserve a reward-positive reinforcement and all. So...what do you want?”
“Come over...and don’t bother with panties.”
A/n Exams not finished yet, but I managed to find some time to write this much. I don't know when the next update will be but please don't bother asking because I don't know. It all depends on when I can find time to write.
On a lighter note, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. And yes, next chapter will feature some 'alone time' ;P xx