Neon Cop's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

The note burned in Neon Cop's pocket all night. We know your mother keeps a tin. He could not walk into the station and ask who wrote it. The wrong question would send someone to his mother's church. He needed to know which badges served Bander before he trusted a single one. He needed proof he could hold. He remembered something Chief Parker had said. Corrupt officers get paid, and paid men leave a trail. Neon Cop drove to the snack stall where Bander fed the gulls. He parked far off and watched. Near dusk, an officer he knew from the day shift walked to Bander's bench. Bander slid a sealed white envelope across the wood. The officer tucked it under his jacket and left fast. Neon Cop had his trail. But one envelope named one man. He needed more. He followed the officer's car back toward the station and saw him hand the envelope to a second man in the lot. Two badges now. He photographed both with his phone, the red seal clear in the frame. He could not sit on this. If he waited, they would reach his mother first. He drove to her church. Mrs. Wilson was locking the donation box when he came through the door. She saw his face and set down her keys. "You found them," she said. She did not ask. She read him like she read the weather. "Two of them," he said. "They take money from Bander in envelopes. I have pictures. But they know about your tin, Mom. You can't stay here." She folded her hands. "Where would I go? This is my church." "Somewhere they don't know. Tonight." He gripped her shoulder. "I can't fight them and worry about you at the same time." She studied him a long moment. Then she nodded and picked up the cookie tin from beside the box. "Then the tin comes with me. If they search here, they find nothing." She pressed the lid tight. "You bring your pictures to Parker. Only Parker." Neon Cop drove her to a friend's house across town and waited until the door shut behind her. Then he went to the station and locked himself in Parker's office. He laid the phone on the desk. Parker leaned close and studied the two faces, the envelope, the red seal. "That's Bander paying my men," Parker said. His jaw went tight. "I can move on these two. Quiet arrests, tonight, before they warn the others." "There are more," Neon Cop said. "There are." Parker slid the phone back. "But now we know two. And two men in a cell will talk." By midnight, Parker booked both officers into the jail. The station felt different in the morning. Neon Cop knew two badges he could rule out. But one of the arrested men had made a call before his phone was taken. Somewhere across town, Bander now knew his mother had moved.