Read the Excerpt: Fall by Tracy Clark
CHAPTER 3
Alderman John “Cubby” Meehan commanded the back booth in his favorite steakhouse in the west Loop, far away from City Hall and the investigative reporters who prowled its corridors gunning for him. Dino’s was his place, the spot he came to when he wanted to hold a special meeting or do real business. He was partial to the tomahawk steak and garlic smashed potatoes and had already placed his order with his regular waitress, Lil.
Meehan had planted his prodigious frame into the rich burgundy banquette and now scanned the empty private dining room, the one Dino always had ready for him at a moment’s notice. He was a VIP in the City Council, one of the highest-ranking members, a wheeler-dealer, a suspected crook who’d never had a charge stick. Meehan was power itself, a man who could make things happen, or not happen, and everyone, including Meehan, knew it.
He ran his hand along the white tablecloth on the table, crisp, clean. Up front, there would be other diners having lunch unaware that the room in back was occupied by him, and that big things happened back here at the powerful man’s table. He eyed the back entrance that led out through the kitchen, the one he used so that prying eyes wouldn’t clock him, or whoever he was meeting with. There were quiet, out-of-the-way spots like this all over town where CEOs and politicians, mayors and cops met to discuss things of great import, yet not for public ears. No spot was better than Meehan’s spot, though, as far as he was concerned. He’d been cutting deals in the back of Dino’s for more than thirty years.
Meehan stared around the table at his fellow aldermen, Deanna Leonard, George Valdez, Sylissa Franklin, then checked the doors again just to confirm that private was private. The whiskey in front of him begged for that steak, but first things first. “She’s been out a couple weeks now. Somebody’s gotta make contact and see what she’s up to. I wanna know where her head’s at.”
“She’s been quiet,” Leonard said. “Hasn’t made a statement to anybody. Leave it at that.”
Alderman Valdez took a sip of his high ball, the ice tinkling in the glass as his hands shook. He was new to this side of Chicago politics. Greed and ambition had got him a seat at Meehan’s table, but now that he was here, he didn’t feel at all comfortable being included, though he was in too deep to walk away. He’d accepted the money in the white envelope. The hook was in. “If it was me, I’d be concentrating on getting my house back in order, not on us. I agree with Deanna. We leave her.. We’ve covered ourselves, haven’t we? Nothing sticks, right?” He looked around the table. “So, we’re good.”
There were shamed looks on Leonard’s and Franklin’s faces. They all knew what they’d done and at least had the decency to feel bad about it. Meehan? Not so much. Meehan had been born dirty. He started stealing a moment after he took his oath of office. What made it worse was that everybody in the city knew he was doing it, they just couldn’t catch him. He was that good at being bad.
Franklin adjusted her glasses, then ran a nervous hand through her dark cropped hair. “I’m with them. Haven’t we done enough damage?”
“I feel guilty for bringing her in.”. Leonard turned to Meehan.
“Yeah, you didn’t notice she had a little problem with the drink? That she might be a little iffy on account? You nearly ruined all of us here. If I hadn’t a pulled some strings, well … we might all be in her shoes right now.”
Leonard bristled. “We needed someone on the finance committee, and I had the connection. I promised her it would be a win-win for all of us.” She lowered her head, then picked up her glass of bourbon from the table and gulped what was left in it like it was the last she’d ever get, like it had been years since the last one. “I don’t know who screwed up, what we missed, but the feds went right for the weakest link, didn’t they?” She glared at Meehan. “And we closed ranks and left her to them. For what?”
Meehan sneered, leaned forward, his belly hitting the table and rocking it, the fat straining against his custom-made silk shirt with his initials engraved on the cuffs. The gold cufflinks were twenty-four karats from Cartier. His navy-blue suit cost more than a mortgage payment. “For what? Well, let’s see, Deanna. You drove up here in a nice Mercedes, didn’t you? And wasn’t that you who just plopped down a mint on that summer place in Grand Beach? The papers would love to get the details on that, I bet. I’m sure they’d really like to know how an alderman bringing in a hundred forty Ka year springs for beachfront property costing five times that?”
Valdez scoffed. “No honor among thieves, that it, Meehan?”
Meehan turned to him. “None. And make no mistake, Jorge, we are all of us thieves here.” Valdez’s eyes narrowed at Meehan’s use of his Latin name because he knew he meant it as a putdown. “You all ate at the table so you’re all a part of this. Neck deep. Marin Shaw was sloppy. She got drunk and she got careless.” His eyes narrowed. He stared at Leonard. “Poor choice on your part. A poor choice that could have sunk us.. Now we need her to stay the fuck quiet.”
Franklin shifted in her seat, uncomfortable with the conversation. “Hasn’t enough damage been done? I agree with George and Deanna. We leave her alone. We move on, more careful from here on out. Maybe we slow things down for a while, let things sit and cool. Then we reassess.”
“I don’t like loose ends,” Meehan said. “I don’t like not knowing where she’s at.” He leaned back again. “This will come as no shock to you, but I’m making a run for the fifth floor next election.”
“You can’t be serious,” Valdez said. “You really think you can run for mayor with the dirt you’ve got under your fingernails?”
Meehan’s predatory eyes met his. “I’ve got backing, quietly, the unions are behind me, and I have no intention of letting Marin Shaw screw things up. I called in a lot of markers skirting that Operation Takedown business, to make it look like it was just her and not us. Markers I now have to make good on. So, I’m not letting anything go.”
“And you’re just fine with that, aren’t you?” Deanna Leonard asked, shocked, but not really surprised by Meehan’s pragmatism. “I knew you were greedy. I knew you cut corners and skimmed off the top, but you have no actual sense of right or wrong, do you? The woman spent three years in prison. Three years away from her daughter, her home. We put her there. Enough is enough now.”
Meehan’s beady eyes fired. “I say when it’s enough.” His ruddy face bloomed red, the color spreading right up to his receding hairline and the thinning hair dyed an unnatural shade of black, the truth of youthfulness belied by the deep crevices in his jowly cheeks and the ropey sag of his hands and neck.
No. This is as far as I go. I’m stepping away from this mess.” Leonard stood, gathered her things.
Valdez stood, too. “Same for me. I’m out.” He buttoned his suit jacket, glanced down at Franklin. “If you’ve got any self-respect left, Sylissa, now might be the time to use it.” Franklin didn’t move a muscle. Valdez scoffed. “Right. The money’s a strong pull. Once you’ve fed at Meehan’s trough it’s hard to go back to scratching at the ground for scraps. That’s what he’s counting on.”
Franklin’s eyes blazed. “You don’t know me, Valdez.”
He smirked. “Yeah, I do. Last time it was Marin. Who’s next? Deanna? Me? You?” His eyes met those of Meehan, who appeared to be having a whale of a good time, his calculating grin wide. Like the devil. “I’ll have no part in doing anything with Marin Shaw.” He picked up his glass and finished his drink. “And if you even think of sewing me up like you did her, forget it. I know where the bodies are buried, and I won’t go down quiet.”
“Meaning?” Meehan asked, the playfulness gone.
Valdez took the fat man in, a distasteful sneer on his lips. “Meaning, I know who I got in bed with. I go down, everybody goes. No more Grand Beach. No mayor’s office.” He eyed Franklin. “And all that skimmed cash hidden in all those shell companies you set up, Sylissa, that goes too. I’m not Marin, remember that.”
“And you’d do well to remember that your extramarital … proclivities … with Marin, and others, are not as secretive as you believe them to be.” The two held a look. Franklin raised her glass, smiled. “The more you know.”
Meehan shook his head, smiled. “And just so’s I’m sure. You both do know you’re talking to your future mayor? And that I have a memory like an elephant?” His eyes hardened. “That no one walks away?” His eyes cut to Valdez. “I know where the bodies are buried, too, fella. And if I can stitch up Shaw, I can stitch you two up just as easy. How’s your mother doing in that swanky nursing home your greed pays for, huh, Jorge? And you, Deanna, with your special-needs grandkid getting all that extra therapy your city benefits don’t pay for? C’mon, guys. We all know what’s going on. What we’re in it for, and we all know there’s no out. So, relax. There’s no call for anybody to get all showy and start making dying declarations.”
Valdez and Leonard paled slightly as Meehan’s words sunk in. Deanna hoisted her bag on her shoulder, her lips twisted in disgust. “This conversation is turning my stomach.” She grabbed her coat from the back of her chair. “Nothing happens to Marin. Nothing happens to George or to me, either. I also have protections, John. I may have turned for the easy money, that’s on me, but I’m not a fool. You ever want to see your name on the door of the mayor’s office, you’ll think twice.”
Meehan’s face grew even redder. He wasn’t used to being challenged, and he didn’t like it. “Now that sounds like a threat, Deanna.”
Leonard smiled, drew toward him. “Then here’s another. Every reporter in this city is dying to know exactly how the sausage is made.” She looked around the dining room. “In rooms like this, by snakes like you. All it’d take is one phone call. Do not push me.”
“Death by circular firing squad, Meehan,” Valdez said. “It’s a terrible way to go.”
Alderman Franklin sat with her head lowered, eyes on her Manhattan. “There are worst ways.”
Valdez turned to her. “Firmly in his pocket where you’ve always been. He must have something really good on you. Have you ever been clean, Sylissa?”
She looked up. “Honestly? I can’t remember.”
As Valdez and Leonard left the table and walked out through the back, Franklin looked over at an angry Meehan, knowing the man far better than they did. Meehan hadn’t survived this long being this bad without going too far more than once.
“Shaw’s an unknown factor,” Meehan muttered. His eyes narrowed and plastered to the door Valdez and Leonard had just walked through. “Looks like I’ll have to take the bull by the horns and have a little talk with her. What do you think, Sylissa? You all right with me and Shaw having a little talk?”
Franklin took another slow sip before answering. “Nothing wrong with a little talk.”
“I can always count on you, huh?”
“I’ve made my bed, John. It’s nothing to do with you.”
This is an excerpt of FALL by Tracy Clark, available December 5, 2023, wherever books are sold. Visit TracyClarkBooks.com for more information.
The Chicago PD is on high alert when two city aldermen are found dead: one by apparent suicide, one brutally stabbed in his office, and both with thirty dimes left on their bodies–a betrayer’s payment. With no other clues, the question is, Who else has a debt to pay?Detective Harriet Foster is on the case before the killer can strike again. But even with the help of her partner, Detective Vera Li, and the rest of their team, Harriet has little to go on and a lot at risk. There’s no telling who the killer’s next target is or how many will come next. To stop another murder, Harriet and her officers will have to examine what the victims had going on behind the scenes to determine who could be tangled up in this web of betrayal…and who could be out for revenge.
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