Justice Lost (Darren Street #3)(42)

“The point is, let’s say you were able to make a case on the sheriff and perhaps some of his associates. If the sheriff doesn’t buckle and plead guilty, if he goes to trial, Mr. Street will face a vicious attack from the defense. They’ll go after him with both barrels blazing. His credibility will be destroyed, and that doesn’t make for much of a witness.”

“I can handle it,” I said. “Besides, that’s a long way off.”

“I think it’s a big waste of time,” Henshaw said. “Let’s say you manage to take this sheriff down. You think it’s going to stop gambling and prostitution and drugs? People have been doing those things since they’ve been walking upright. And what about the district attorney? You say he’s involved? How are you going to get to him if he’s no longer the district attorney?”

“He lives large,” I said. “Shouldn’t be much problem to prove that he couldn’t have financed his lifestyle on his salary.”

“You’re chasing your tail. As soon as you take the sheriff out of the picture, the vice trades you’re talking about will just open up. There will be competition. People will get hurt.”

“So you condone what he’s doing?” I said.

“I’m not condoning him taking money, but a lot of law enforcement officials allow select people to operate so they can keep some form of control over things. It’s less violent that way.”

“Fine,” I said, “but let’s at least get the corruption out of the sheriff’s office. And there’s another part to this that I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned. Gary Brewer?”

“Ah, yes, Gary Brewer,” Henshaw said. “The junkie gambler who took up bare-knuckle fighting to pay for his habits. Probably got himself killed in a fight. We’re supposed to feel sorry for him, though, because he was a marine and his family is wealthy.”

“Wow, you are one compassionate son of a bitch, aren’t you?” I said.

“Watch your mouth,” Henshaw said.

I stood up and looked at Claire. “Let’s go,” I said. “We don’t need these guys.”

The meeting reminded me of the one I had with Stephen Morris about Dr. Fraturra. Both Henshaw and Kurtz had made up their minds they weren’t going to help us before we’d walked into the room. The only reason they’d met with us at all was because of Roger Tate.

“Sit back down, Darren,” Claire said. “We can work this out.”

“Do what your master tells you,” Henshaw said to me. “I don’t like any of this, but I have bosses, and my bosses tell me I have to work with you. So sit down, shut your mouth, and let Mr. Kurtz, Ms. Tate, and me figure out how we’re going to go about it.”

“Tell your bosses I told you to go to hell,” I said. “I don’t want your help. I’ll take the sheriff and the rest of them down myself after I’m elected. Then I’ll go to the paper and tell them what a huge help you boys were.”

And with that, I walked out the door.





CHAPTER 22

Claire sounded furious over the phone, although I thought I detected a tone of reluctant respect in her voice.

“I don’t know whether I’ve ever met anyone as pigheaded as you are,” she said.

I was driving toward my apartment, and she’d just left Henshaw’s office.

“They’re not interested,” I said. “Don’t you understand? If they’re not interested, if they feel like they’re being forced to help us, they’ll screw it up. They won’t be committed. And if they screw up, there’s a good chance I wind up dead.”

“But you don’t just talk to a US attorney and the Special Agent in Charge of the Knoxville FBI the way you did,” she said.

“I didn’t start the insolence,” I said. “Both of them were disrespectful to you and to me, and I’m not wired to put up with that kind of crap. I don’t care who they think they are or what their titles are. To me, they’re just men in suits who have the power of the US government behind them. How they use that power is up to them, but I hold them to a higher standard than they obviously hold themselves.”

The thought crossed my mind that what I’d just said about holding them to a higher standard was pompous, considering what I’d done in the past, but I let it go quickly.

“So what are you going to do, Darren?” Claire said. “How are you going to get to Corker and these other people? Do you even know the full extent of what’s going on?”

“I have other friends who will help me.”

“Who? Ms. Tipton?”

“That’s a pretty good start. Those are solid people, Claire. They don’t have any political agenda. They’re reliable and do exactly what they say they’ll do. They don’t have bosses and they don’t judge. They’re not afraid. But I have some other ideas, too. I spent years tearing the government’s criminal cases apart. I can figure out how to build one.”

She paused for a few seconds. I heard her sigh.

“What?” I said.

“I’m just afraid you’re going to find yourself beating your head against the wall if you try to go after them the traditional way,” she said.

“Why? What makes you say that?”