BOOTLEG LOVE

15

“Evangeline!” Was someone calling her name? She looked around at the other ladies in the lockup. “Evangeline!” Someone was calling her name. She stood up and walked over to the small barred window on the back wall. She stepped up on the wooden bench to elevate herself enough to see out the window. She rose up on her toes and gripped the iron bars as she looked out the window. A few feet below in the alley, Evangeline saw Payton.

“Payton, what are you doing here?”

“Does a man need a reason to visit his wife?” Payton smiled up at her. “I am working hard at getting you out of here. Dad is calling in every favour he has and pulling every string he can to get you out.”

“Does he have those connections?”

Payton smiled again. “Not every politician is against what we do. A few have attended a couple of our clubs, and if they don’t wish to be exposed, they will throw their weight around for us for once.” She watched as Payton gathered a bunch of crates and stacked them beneath the high window, and carefully climbed up until he could reach the window. Payton placed both hands over Evangeline’s as she gripped the window. “Stay strong, Darling; I promise you won’t be here much longer. Even if I have to bust through this brick wall with a sledgehammer myself to assure it.”

Evangeline believed he would do just that. “Please don’t get yourself in trouble over this. I don’t want to see you in a cell anymore; then I want to be in one. So promise me you will not do anything stupid.”

“Like hit a cop?” He snickered.

“What can I say? You are a bad influence on me.”

“I have to admit when you slugged that oaf with a badge, I couldn’t have been more turned on. Very sexy.” He purred, leaning into the bars to give her a kiss. “I can’t wait to get you out of this cell and back in our bed.”

“You are a terrible tease.”

Payton chuckled and then sighed, the smile fading from his face. “I never meant for you to end up here. Do you regret marrying me?”

“No, not at all.” She said, reaching through the bars to caress his face. “Even if I were to spend the rest of my life in a cell, it would be so worth it to share name and your bed.” She smiled.

“I have loved you since we were kids.”

“So have I. You were my best friend when I was five, and you are still my best friend now.”

“I will get you out of here. I promise.”

“Hey, you!” An officer at the mouth of the alley hollered at Payton as he patrolled the area. “Get away from that window.”

“You should go before you get arrested as well,” Evangeline said. “Go.”

Obediently Payton kissed her through the bars and then jumped down and ran out of the alley in the opposite direction of the cop hassling him.

Evangeline watched as Payton vanished, and then she got down from the window and sat down on the bench she had been standing on. “Was that your old man?” The doxy next to her asked.

“Yes, my husband.”

“I wish someone would visit me when I was locked up. That one is a keeper.”

Yes, he was.

***

“As you can see, Mayor, my daughter-in-law, is a victim of police harassment. Detective Hamilton deliberately provoked her. It is entrapment.” Remington told the newly elected Mayor he had helped get elected. Mayor Russel had been a great customer for many years, and when Remington heard he was running for office, he had contributed a lot of money to his campaign. Discreetly, of course, so as not to publicly associate the man with Remington’s family business.

“I agree.” Mayor Russel said. “I’ll make a call and have her released immediately.”

“I want Hamilton brought up on charges too. He needs to be taught that the Constabulary is not a tool for him to wield in his own personal vendetta against my son, who, in case you did not know, had married Detective Hamilton’s fiancée right out from under him.”

“Did he now?” The Mayor said with interest. “That I did not know. Well, I will see that Detective Hamilton is thoroughly investigated.” Mayor Russel assured him.

“Thank you.”

“I promise Detective Hamilton will no longer be any trouble for you.” He said, tapping the side of his nose. “If you know what I mean.”

“Good, I’m tired of him buzzing around all the time. It’s time to swat that fly with a sledgehammer.” Detective Hamilton had messed with Remington’s family for the last time.

***

Quincy sat at his desk looking over his case files, trying to find something, anything he could on Payton Kingston. If Payton thought that he had been on his ass in the past, Payton’s world was about to get all the smaller, five by eight with a few from behind bars, to be specific. Quincy wasn’t going to stop until Payton Kingston was and the rest of his family were locked up and the key buried.

“Hamilton.” Chief Constable Wallace called to him from his office. Quincy looked up from his paperwork at the older man. “Get in here. I have a bone to pick with you.”

Quincy put down his paperwork and stood up. He followed Wallace into his office and closed the door. “What is the problem Chief?”

“I just got a call from the Mayor. He says you have been using your badge as a weapon in a personal vendetta with a man who stole your girl.”

“Sir, the man is a known criminal.”

“Not from where I sit. The entire Kingston family has never been arrested for anything.”

“Maybe so, Bert, but everyone knows the Kingston boys flood the streets with moonshine.”

“Well, it ain’t about what you know; it is about what you can prove. Can you prove they are bootleggers?”

“No, but my gut….”

“To hell with your gut. Courts want proof, and you do not have any. The only proof we have is that Payton Kingston stole your best girl, and you used your office to punish him and his wife. Now I can’t have shady constables working for me. So this vendetta against the Kingston boys ends right now, or your employment in this Constabulary will. Do you understand me?” The Chief snapped.

“Yeah, I understand. I understand the Kingston boys have you in their pocket.”

“Watch your tongue. Accusations have consciences. This order comes down from the Mayor.”

“I see, so Remington Kingston has you and the Mayor in his pocket.”

“That’s it; you are fired. Hand over your badge.” Chief Wallace barked.

Furious Quincy removed his badge and his gun and tossed both onto Chief Wallace’s desk. “You are corrupt, Bert and one day, the house is going to come down on your head.”

“Get out!” Chief Wallace yelled, pointing at the door.

Quincy stormed out of the office and grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair at the desk that was once his. He looked up to see Payton Kingston standing on the other end of the main counter in the lobby, watching him with a smug smile. Quincy glanced over and saw the door to the cells open, and a constable walked Evangeline out. She ran to Payton and hugged him. They kissed, and then Payton took his wife’s hand, and they both looked over at Quincy one last time before leaving the station.

If Payton thought this was over, he was wrong. Quincy hated him and wouldn’t stop until Payton and his wretched family were buried either in a cell or a grave.

***

Payton held open the door of his car for Evangeline to get in. “I thought I would never get out of there.”

“I told you I would get you out. So what would my little jailbird like for dinner this evening?”

Evangeline giggled. “Are you planning on cooking?”

“I certainly can’t expect you to cook after your ordeal.”

“You think you are so clever, don’t you?”

Payton turned to see Quincy exiting the station. “Detective… oh, I’m sorry, former Detective, what can I do for you?”

“You may have gotten me fired, but this isn’t over.”

“Oh yes, it is Quincy. I am not a violent man, but I will not hesitate to destroy you if you don’t back off me and my kin.”

“You don’t scare me. I will not stop until I see you behind bars.”

“You have been trying for years. What makes you think you can achieve that now that you don’t have the weight of the Constabulary behind you?”

“I’ll find a way,” Quincy said and leaned in, lowering his voice for Payton’s ears only, “if I have to kill you myself.”

Payton scoffed. “If you would excuse us. I am taking my wife home for supper… and a little love.” Payton looked at Evangeline, who had heard the entire exchange. She got in the car with Payton, and they drove away.

“You shouldn’t provoke him so.” She scolded.

“He isn’t going to do anything. That man lives and dies by the letter of the law. He’s all talk.”