Chapter 164: Dwayne’s past.
After the meeting and registration of all children that were to learn how to use firearms, Sunshine went in search of Dwayne. She found him in the bar which was supposed to be closed during the day. He was sitting inside with Owen, nursing his second beer.
She slid onto the stool next to him and raised her hand. "One beer please."
Rudy, the bartender who was reading a book jumped up and went to the back room to bring Sunshine’s preferred beer brand.
He placed it in front of her along with a glass that had ice cubes.
"You know that ice does not belong in beer, right?" he asked her.
Sunshine smiled at Rudy. "And yet I still like it that way anyway. Iced beer is a thing, Rudy."
"Not in my bar Sunshine." He answered and walked off after flipping his unusually shiny long hair once.
She was used to Rudy and his hair. In fact, she was the one that told Hades to hire him and bring him to the base. He was once her classmate but due to financial restraints, dropped out of the school and started working in a bar close to the university.
That bar had become Sunshine’s favorite place to go when she needed to drink her sorrows away or complain about someone when Nimo was deployed.
She took one sip of the beer and turned her head to Dwayne. Her worried eyes took in his tense body language.
"Are you okay Dwayne?" she asked.
"What do you think?" he asked her.
She noticed a tick in his jaw and took another sip of beer. He was not just angry, he was furious. Got it!
Sunshine did not blame Dwayne for being angry. Frank Gadriel had poked his sore spot. She was one of the people that still remembered the tragedy which was Dwayne’s life.
Before he went to work for Hades, Dwayne was in law enforcement, a detective for Babel PD. His career was on the rise, and his family was thriving. He had a beautiful wife that owned a flower shop and two sons.
His wife Gwyneth Von came from money, she was the granddaughter of one of the wealthiest men in the city, Martin Von. She met Dwayne in a hospital when her grandfather was breathing his last.
He was there for her when Martin died. He was there when her father and his siblings sold off Von shipping.
She got a sizeable trust fund; married Dwayne and they lived happily until Mark Walden. That name was like a curse to Dwayne. Mark Walden was a governor. Wealthy, Untouchable.
The Walden family owned half of Babel city and most of its shadows. They had their hands in every pot from legal to illegal businesses. Money laundering, arms dealing, kidnapping and ransoms, arson. But nothing stuck. Every detective that looked into them was transferred, ended up in a hospital or let the case die. The stubborn ones were discredited and were fired or resigned willingly.
Dwayne was a hot head. Arrogant. Proud. He thought he could succeed where others failed, and he went after Mack Walden anyway.
He spent two years of his life building the case stealthily. He had control over everything. Surveillance, wiretaps, witnesses, informants.
He had been sure that bringing down Mark Walden was the golden ticket to a promotion. Maybe even politics if he was interested. Gwyneth had been proud. She called him a hero and carefully tended to the flowers that she would hand him on the day he accomplished his secret mission.
When his chief found out what he was up to, he reminded him to be careful because the Walden’s had eyes and ears everywhere. Mark Walden was protected. Too many people in the city and beyond owed him favors. He played poker with many judges. A good number of them wore watches with the Walden logo on the back.
But Dwayne had continued digging. On the day he got the warrant, he left his house at 5:00 a.m. He put a team together to search for the evidence and arrest Mack Walden.
The arrest was made at 8:00 a.m. in the evening. At 8:30, an armed thief walked into his home and shot his wife and children dead. He placed the congratulatory flowers in Gwyneth’s hands.
At 9:00 a.m., Mark Walden was released from police custody.
Then the case fell apart.
The evidence vanished. The judge who assigned the warrant claimed that he had been threatened by Dwayne. The police chief denied ever approving of any investigation into Mark Walden.
At 10:00 a.m., Dwayne who was cursing the chief and calling other cops cowards was forced to sit down and told about what had happened to his wife and children.
He rushed home and found the bodies being wheeled out of the house. There were no survivors. The murderer surrendered at the scene, voluntarily turning in the weapon.
Everyone knew who had done it and what the message was.
Mark Walden had showed up at the funeral. He smiled at Dwayne like he had won a game of chess which only the two of them knew was ongoing.
The next day, Mark flew out of the country for a vacation in an unknown destination.
Dwayne vanished.
A fortnight later, Mark returned to the country and continued to live. As for Dwayne, nothing was heard from or about him.
Three years passed and everyone forgot about him. But on the fourth anniversary of the death of Dwayne’s wife and children, Mark Walden was found dead in his car. He had been kidnapped in an underground parking lot, tortured and shot six times.
Everyone knew who had done it.
But when the police tracked down for questioning, Hades Quinn stepped up as his alibi. He had proof that he had been in a closed door meeting all night and Dwayne was guarding him.
There was no evidence to prove that Dwayne left the hotel and killed Mark.
A week later, the murderer committed suicide in prison.
The police did not dig hard into both cases. Justice for one of their own had been served.
Sunshine knew about the story from Cathy and Jill who overheard it from one of the bodyguards. Since she learned about it, she made it a point to give Dwayne flowers to place on the graves of his wife and children every month when he visited them.
He did the same for her when she visited her parent’s graves. They did not talk much, but they had bonded over the loss of their loved ones.
He was the one that taught her how to drink beer and throw a proper punch. He was an uncle of sorts to her.
Dwayne had not remarried or dated since their death. He was still mourning them to date, and he carried the guilt of their murder on his shoulders.
If he had listened to the chief’s warnings, they would still be alive.
So, Frank’s words had hit a sore spot. A very sore spot.
"What are the rules for fighting on the base?" Dwayne asked her as Rudy handed him another beer.
A tight smile formed on Sunshine’s face. "For you. In this case. None. Break his jaw, break his arm. I don’t care. You can even drive him and his annoying wife and throw them out or give them to Jon Kingsley. I don’t care. You are family Dwayne; you matter to me more than they do."