Free The System - A Detroit Story - by John Silver

to take any shit from you, you're sadly mistaken." Washington stood straight. "Now," he said. "Would you like to start over?"
    Peabody looked up at Washington and smiled.
    "You're still late. Come around and take a look," she said, swiping at the tablet. She brought up a report with Vlad's picture in the upper right corner. "Looks like our guy's flown to Athens," said Peabody, conjuring an image of a boarding pass. "My guess is that he'll pick up a flight to Tirana. Cheap. Costs about eighty eight euros," she said.
    Washington looked down at the tablet while Peabody swiped back to the Tiger's Den.
    "Let's go for a ride," she said.
     
    *  *
     
    Washington drove north on Woodward toward Eight Mile, the dividing line between Detroit and the suburbs.
    "You know there's a wall here, divides Detroit from the suburbs," said Washington. "Along Eight Mile. Black folk try and move in, every white person would sell and head farther away. All directions, but especially north. White folks finally had enough and put up a wall." He looked at Peabody. "It's a half mile long, intersection at Wyoming. Our own little Berlin wall, right here in Detroit." Washington looked at the road. "Insurance companies wouldn't cover houses in mixed neighborhoods."
    "I didn't know that," said Peabody.
    "So how did you wind up in Detroit?" said Washington.
    Peabody shrugged. "They move us around a lot," she said. "Standard rotation."
    Washington stopped at a red light just north of I-94. He stopped with enough distance between them and the car ahead so he could see the bottom of the rear tires. That way if he had to make a quick run for it there was plenty of room to maneuver. He'd been jacked once, and once was enough. Shot and killed the unarmed dude and got suspended for eight weeks pending the outcome of the investigation. Earned the rep as being trigger happy, and it cost him and the city. Now stopping short was SOP, Standard Operating Procedure.
    "I've been working on this case for awhile," said Peabody.
    "How long have you been DEA?" asked Washington.
    "Seven years," said Peabody. "Went to law school. Worked on Wall Street for awhile. Hated it, but it paid off my student loan."
    "Law school," said Washington. "Where at?"
    "Cornell," said Peabody. "Ithaca, New York. Hometown."
    Washington nodded. Cornell. The light turned green and Washington moved forward.
    "What about you?" 
    "Long story," said Washington. "Went to Wayne State, right here in Detroit. Political science, pre-law. Wanted to go to law school."
    "What happened?" said Peabody.
    Washington shrugged. "Got married, had a kid. Had a buddy who joined the DPD." He looked at Peabody. "Just followed him in and never looked back. We became partners after a couple years."
    Washington changed lanes. Peabody looked out the window at the large, once stately houses with large lots and ancient trees. "These must have been beautiful once," she said.
    "They were back in the day, I imagine," said Washington. "Detroit in the early twentieth century was the manufacturing equivalent of Silicon Valley. Innovation everywhere. Henry Ford, five dollars a day, all that."
    Washington braked for a stray dog crossing the street. "People came from all over the country to work," he said. "The world, for that matter. My father came up from Alabama."
    Peabody looked at a windowless, burned out home. "And the rest is history?"
    "Who knows?" said Washington. "Maybe this city is a victim of itself. The world changed, and we turned a blind eye to it," he said. "People started buying Japanese cars, 'cause they were better. We didn't wake up until it was too late."
    They passed the adult bookstores on the corner of Six Mile and Woodward, where the road expanded from two lanes to six.
    "A lot of hard working people here, though," said Washington. "My old man worked at the Rouge Plant. Thirty six years. Could have gone thirty and out, but stayed on another six to put us through school," he said. He looked at Peabody. "Never