Music City (6 page)

Shelly extended her hand, “It is so nice to finally meet both of you.” She put a lot of emphasis on the word,
finally
. “Tracy speaks so highly of you both. Welcome, welcome to our home, please, come in and make yourselves comfortable.”

As the day wore on, Derek and Alex were more and more comfortable, Shelly's meal was delicious, and they learned she did a lot of the cooking herself even though they d
id have a live in cook. Eventually they forgot where they were and just enjoyed the company.

Later that evening, Shelly pulled Derek and Alex to the side and through one of the never ending archways. Derek knew he would never remember where each lead to. “I really do appreciate that you gave Tracy a chance,” she said.

Alex shook his head, “Your gratitude should go to Derek alone, he had to talk me into it,” he said with a good-natured laugh.

Derek nodded and tried not to roll his eyes, “Best decision I've ever made, I don’t know what we would do without Tracy.”

Shelly smiled as she led them to a small seating area with a plush sofa and matching arm chairs. “Yes, he is quite something. I am very proud of him.”

Alex slightly surprised them both with a warm comment, “As you should be, he is a great guy and has become someone I consider a close friend.”

Shelly’s smile widened and she motioned to the sofa, “Please, sit down. You know that is about the best compliment anyone can give a mother, thank you.”

Her face took on a more serious look, “Since Tracy has been working for you, he's told us bits and pieces of his days. He comes home so excited, and I guess that excitement is infectious, because he’s got me to thinking.”

Derek nodded, “What have you been thinking about?”

Shelly shifted in her seat, “I don't know how much Tracy has told you, but I left home when I was barely fifteen.”

They both just nodded, knowing she would continue when she was ready.

“When I think back to it, I shudder. If Vani or Tracy would have left when they were fifteen and caught a ride with a stranger, I would have died.
I realize that it was a different time, but still, I was extremely fortunate that the truck driver who brought me to Nashville was a good and decent person. He could have so easily taken advantage of the naive child I was.”

Alex frowned and agreed, “Yes, you were very lucky.”

“Yes, I was. It’s incredible, really. If he hadn't been coming to Nashville, I don't know where I would have ended up, but I know I wouldn’t have the life I do now or my beautiful family and I’d like to thank him for his kindness.”

Derek understood now, “Makes sense to me. What do you know about him?” he asked.

Shelly shrugged, “Not much. He told me his name was Tom and he was from New York or Pennsylvania, I can’t really remember and I’ve been racking my brain. He was making a run from somewhere to Nashville. I think he must have been delivering things, because I remember he stopped a couple of times along the way and either loaded or unloaded from the back.”

“He took me to the diner where he got me my first job. He was a regular there, but after he dropped me off, as far as I know, he was never there again. I don’t know if something happened to him, or he got another job, or what.
I remember at the time, the other ladies who worked at the diner thought it was odd that they hadn’t seen him. I guess he was usually in there at least once or twice a month.”

“Do you remember what kind of a truck he drove?” Derek asked.

Shelly sighed as she shook her head, “Unfortunately no. The trailer was just plain silver like any you see running up and down I65. I do remember that the cab of the truck was green and it was a big double cab type thing with a small sleeping area in the back. The name of the trucking company was on the door, but I can’t remember anything except the word ‘transfer’ on the door. I can’t remember the name of the actual company. I’m sorry, I reckon that isn't a whole lot to go on, is it?”

Derek smiled back, “Oh, I’ve had cases before as a police detective where I had less information. Why don’t you write down any dates you remember for us, and we’ll see what we can do.”

Alex looked around Derek’s office. While his desk looked like a bomb had detonated right in the middle, the floors were spotless and his walls were organized. He had pictures of his friends, pictures of himself with political officials, usually shaking hands and smiling. There were awards; rookie of the year for the Lexington Police Department, the Chamber of Commerce Volunteer of the Year for coaching youth sports. He also kept his degrees hanging on the wall. One that always puzzled him was Derek’s law degree. Why would someone with a law degree spend his time and talent chasing ‘ghosts’ as a private detective, when he could be living the high life of an attorney or working for the justice department or the FBI as Alex had done with his own degree?

It also made Alex curious when Derek hired an attorney to file the paperwork for their business. Derek said it was because he wasn’t a contract lawyer, but he seemed a little evasive about the answer. Alex didn’t want to investigate his partner, but he did want to know the answer to satisfy his curiosity. ‘I suppose I’ll just have to ask him’, Alex thought.

Just then Derek walked into the outer office. “I think I may have a line on that ‘Tom’ fella Shelly wants to find.” Derek mentioned, in his smooth southern drawl.

“Hey Alex, are you here?”

Alex walked out of Derek’s office looking a little guilty. “I’m here.”

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Derek laughed.

“I was just looking at your pictures. When did you meet the President?”

“Oh that one... it was during his first campaign, a long time ago.”

“You know, Derek, I’ve wanted to ask you something for quite a while,” Alex fidgeted, “but I’m not sure exactly how to approach the question without sounding like a tool.”

“Just ask, I already know you’re a tool.” Derek laughed.

Alex grunted and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Well, okay—why did you quit being a lawyer?”

“I figured that’s what you wanted to know,” Derek said, rolling up his sleeves. “
It’s kind of a long story, let’s go sit down.”

Alex looked a little worried, but said, “Fine partner, let’s go into my office.”

“It was about twelve years ago, give or take,” Derek began. “I had just passed the bar and I thought I was going to right every wrong that came along. I didn’t have a job yet, but I couldn’t wait to do my part to change the world.”

Derek's gaze grew distant as he settled back against the overstuffed armchair. “Beth
was supporting us and I was determined that was going to stop. I looked into working for the District Attorney's office, but they didn’t have any openings. That’s when I decided I would open my own practice. I rented this tiny little hole-in-the-wall office right near the jail. I wasn’t making any money to speak of. I did get a few cases thrown my way as a court appointed attorney, but it wasn’t steady and they never paid very much. I had a friend in the Lexington police department that suggested that with my law degree, I may be able to get on with the detective division.”

“Beth and I talked about it and decided it might be the best course of action to take. She was never thrilled with me being a lawyer anyway, so I went back to school, actually the academy, I took the tests and the next thing I know, I’m working and solving cases as a detective.”

Alex grinned wickedly and leaned back in his chair, his hands resting behind his head. “There’s nothing wrong with that, there’s too many lawyers in the world anyway.”

Derek chuckled and continued, “We had this case, a series of burglaries actually, that we’d been working for several months.
It seemed to be the same burglar in each one. Each time, the homes were broken into while folks were on vacation, with no sign of forced entry.”

Derek stood and walked to the window, gazing out at the street scene below. “It reminded me of a client I’d had as a court appointed attorney. He worked for a big home security company, installing them, as I recall, and I had gotten him off on a technicality. The more I thought about it, the more he seemed the likely suspect. I told my Captain about him. The case started to hone in on this guy. I was taken off the case as a precaution, but it wasn’t enough.”

Alex flinched. “Ouch, I can see exactly where this is headed.”

Derek nodded, “Yeah, well, they did everything by the book, and the prosecutor didn’t see a real problem since I wasn’t on the case anymore, but after he was arrested, his defense attorney did.”

Derek returned to the chair across from Alex’s desk and sat. “When everything came out, even though it was what they called a 'gray area' since I was no longer practicing law—and was sworn to uphold the law, they said it still didn’t release me from client-attorney privilege. So they suspended my license for three years. I could have fought it, I suppose, but since I enjoyed being a detective, I didn’t really want to stir up another can of worms.”

Alex nodded sympathetically, “I get where you’re coming from, I did law school, but I never even took the bar. I didn’t need it to work for the feds, just the knowledge.”

“Yeah, there were a few in my class that just wanted or needed the degree, they didn’t have any intention of taking the bar. I could have applied for reinstatement several years ago, but everything was great with my job and I wasn’t so sure that was the direction I wanted to take with my life. So, I just never applied for reinstatement. I thought about becoming a prosecutor, but it’s hard to get into that office back home, it’s mostly a political job. I don’t care about politics so much as doing the right thing.”

Derek continued, “Because the District Attorney was a personal friend of mine and of the department, he helped to keep it quiet. It never made the news and the other cops that did know loved the fact that I was willing to lose my license to bust a bad guy. I never looked back. Like you, I still have all the knowledge of an attorney—I just don’t practice law.”

“Well, not quite like me, I never took the bar in the first place.” Alex said after a couple of minutes. “Are you sure you don’t want to try to get reinstated? I mean, it’s hard to pass the bar no matter how you cut it. You passed it, you deserve the title even if you don’t use it.”

“Honestly, I haven’t even thought about it.”

“Well, just for the record Derek, I think you did the right thing—stupid maybe, but the right thing, just the same. I wouldn’t give up on applying for reinstatement though. You don’t have to practice, you know.”

Derek shrugged. “Yeah, I know. And I will think about it. I guess it could come in handy every once in a while.”

Alex nodded and eyed him sharply. “Exactly. Now, what were you saying before I interrupted you? You think you found a lead on truck driver Tom?”

“Yes, actually, I think I do.” Derek replied, “I looked up business license records online from the early and middle 1980’s, from
Pennsylvania and New York, looking for trucking companies with the word ‘transfer’ in the name.”

Alex laughed. “Oh, I bet that narrowed it down a lot, didn’t it?”

Derek cracked a half of a smile, “Okay, so that wasn’t my most brilliant idea.” He admitted. “So, since that was obviously not working, I decided to cross reference companies that had bases in both Pennsylvania and New York. That helped a little bit. Then I started looking for logos and narrowed it down to the ones who primarily had green in their logo.”

Alex nodded, “Good idea.”

“I thought so. So, the ones that had green as their primary color, I took those names and started calling.”

“That will take some time,” Alex noted.

“Ordinarily, I would agree with you, but I think I got lucky.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, there’s a company, still operating that existed in the eighties in Pennsylvania. It’s called R & T Carriers.”

Alex thought for a moment “Hey, don’t they sponsor a race car?”

Derek shrugged, “I have no idea, but what I did find out is that they used to be called R & T Transfer.”

Alex finished for him, “And their trucks are green.”

Derek smiled, “Bingo. I’m waiting on a call from one of the owners. The lady I talked to said he would remember anyone that had ever worked for him.”

“Here’s hoping.” Alex smiled.

Derek decided he would call Shelly, she said she wanted to be updated on their progress. He knew that Tracy could have just as easily of passed the information along, but he believed the personal contact was better, he personally called all of his clients.

Shelly Shepard was always friendly and always appreciated that they took the time to let her know what they were doing. A couple of times, she had called, remembering a small bit of information, like the fact that he had mentioned his daughter was
close to her age at the time and her name was Noel.

Shelly was thrilled with the news Derek had for her and she told him so.

Derek smiled, “I just hope this lead pans out.” Derek could envision Shelly’s smile as she laughed on the other end of the line.