A night at the movies with Chris the Cop

Eight years ago tonight the blonde and I went to the movies with our friend, Chris the Cop.

Saw Shakespeare in Love tonight with Chris minus J. who was not feeling well.  Walking across the food court afterwards, heading downstairs to Mozarella's for some dinner, Chris was greeted by a young woman who passed by so quick I caught only a glimpse of her.  I had a sense of prettiness, long dark hair teased and sprayed, black clothes, an outgoing and flirtatious personality.  Chris said she works in the DA's office.

"She's not a prosecutor," I said with near Holmesian certainty.

"Nah.  Secretary," Chris said and added, "She's a wild one.  That one.  Caused her father a lot of gray hairs over the years."

The father, he went on, deserved to have a daughter like that.  A former state trooper.  Real jerk.

Seems that fathers who deserve to have daughters like that get them.  What a coincidence.

Nearing the restaurant, Chris spotted a guy going down the escalator he recognized.  Drug dealer named Macarthur D.  Shortish, dumpy black guy with pale cheeks and what might have been a long curved scar.  "Even drug dealers need a night on the town," I said, "Probably saw Shakespeare in Love." Chris doubted it, but did not doubt that Macarthur was armed.  He was a little surprised Macarthur didn't recognize him.  Decided his beard threw Macarthur off.  Back in the days when they had regular contact, Chris was in uniform.  He was in the TOPS trailer and Macarthur visited there a lot.  Not voluntarily.

After we ordered, I hurried down to the parking garage to move the car, because the garage was going to close at 10 and I didn't trust that the doors would open for us when we beeped as the signs promised.  Bumped into Macarthur and a few of his friends standing outside the sporting goods store, discussing items in the window they would like to own.  They were taking up a lot of space in the hallway and I had to walk between them to get to the door.  Couldn't help it.  I felt nervous.  Worried about doing something they might construe as a challenge.  Damn TV.    Macarthur himself isn't too intimidating, ignoring the fact that he was packing heat.  He had a friend, though, very tall, very broad across the shoulders, in a too small Army field jacket, Gulf War vintage with desert camouflage.  Suspect it was hard for him to find one big enough it wouldn't split up the back when he put it on.  They ignored me and everybody else.  Just guys out having a good time.  So they're carrying weapons?  They can't relax and enjoy themselves?

Drug Task Force arrested a guy recently Chris had to interrogate.  During the questioning a woman friend of the arrested guy got discussed.  Chris asked if she was a crack whore.  The guy was offended.

"No," he said, "she's a crack escort."

Chris' big drug bust back in Dec. has expanded, he said, "in interesting ways."  One of those ways is in the direction of a realtor.  The drug kingpin they took down had bought a house just before he was arrested. House is across from an elementary school and the kingpin dealt out of it, so he's in extra trouble for that.  He had tried to buy the house from its former owner directly, going behind the back of the owner's realtor.  The owner, who runs an appliance business, refused to screw his realtor.  So the transaction had to take place on the books.  The kingpin brought another realtor in on the deal.  Used him instead of a lawyer to handle the closing.  The kingpin was paying cash for the house, naturally.  Because there were no banks involved, the closing was held at the county clerk's office. The kingpin's realtor carried the money, 50 grand in cash, in a suitcase, into the courthouse.  Money was exchanged in the lobby across from the clerk's office.  Just spending money you've made dealing drugs is money laundering.  Helping the kingpin buy the house put the realtor in the middle of it. The task force brought him in for questioning this morning.  The realtor wanted to know if he should get a lawyer.  The detectives said that might be a good idea and he should do it quick.

"Tomorrow?" the realtor asked.

"Tomorrow morning," the detectives suggested helpfully. "Tomorrow afternoon won't be soon enough."

The realtor is a shady character. He owns a lot of property himself and rents are a big source of his income.  He's never been arrested.  But when his name was run through the computer his kids' names came up...and came up again...and came up a few times more. In trouble a lot, mostly for minor things, although cops have been called in to break up knife fights between them.

Last Chris story for tonight.  He was remembering how he'd once been called in on a domestic involving two gay men.  One was middle aged, his lover was 20.  The twenty year old was the one in a rage.  He was so angry that when Chris and his partner showed up he threw an electric clock at Chris.

That was it.

Kid was on his way to a night in jail.

Kid couldn't figure out why Chris was angry at him.  Got very upset.  Arrived at the station weeping.  Booking sergeant asked the standard questions, which include this one:  "Do you think the subject might do himself harm?"

"Look at him," Chris said.

The tears were streaming down the kid's face.

He was put under observation.

Comments

[daveminnj]

jesus, that was great, lance.
you should be his boswell.

[Rosy]

Love your Chris the Cop stories!

[Chris the Cop]

Always a pleasure reading about myself. Always amazed at how good your memory is. Always glad we're friends and that we've (finally)learned not to argue politics when we're in the same room.

Here's to hoping we'll be in the same room soon.