“Fabien Dessi? Who have you been hanging around? You know he supposedly works with Marchi, right?” Jen asked.
“Yeah, I’ve heard as much.”
“Well, he owns quite a few betting parlors across Chicago. I don’t know anything particular about the one in Humboldt Park. His goons roughed up a few guys pretty bad last week for not paying out on some debts.” Jen frowned. “He’s been brought in on charges loads of times, but somehow always walks. There has been some suspicion that he has someone on the inside, but who knows. He’s bad company, Mal. I’d stay clear of him.”
“I wasn’t planning on dating him, Jen.” I grinned. “I just wanted some info on him.”
“Well, he’s typically at the track on race days. You could find him there if you’re looking for him. But I hope you aren’t.” Jen added, worry still evident on her face.
“I hope I don’t need to either. I just wanted to know what the word was on the street. I’ll be careful, Jen. You know me.” I said with a wink.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about,” Jen said, eyebrow raised.
I laughed, “I’ll be fine. Thanks for the info. We should catch up next week if you’re available. Lunch maybe?”
“Sounds good.” Jen replied. “You should drop by Hungry’s. I’m sure the guys would be happy to see you.”
Hungry Brain was the local cop hang out. A lot of the officers hung out there after shift, until 2am, that is. Then they’d move to Underbar. Both were within a couple of blocks from the cop shop.
“Uh, I don’t know. It’s been a while and…” I trailed off. I hadn’t been to Hungry’s in years.
“You still avoiding Rodriguez?” Jen asked.
“Well, I’m not avoiding, per se. But I’m not going out of my way to see him,” I hedged. “I’m not avoiding the precinct, am I? It’s a lot different running into someone on their off hours, after a couple of beers.”
Ben Rodriguez and I dated for a while when we were in the academy. Rodriguez had been attracted to my ballsy nature and we had a good time together. We were a good match physically and used to spar in our off time. It led to a passionate four month relationship.
But he had a wandering eye and a wandering penis. Not much to be done about that one, I thought, forced penis-ectomy still being illegal and all. Too bad.
“Fair enough,” Jen nodded. “See you soon, then. I’ll call you...and be careful!”
My next stop was PhishNett, Sam Mennon’s IT business. We had met at my office a couple of times and talked over the phone frequently, but I hadn’t actually been to PhishNett.
Sam and his team wrote software, created website marketing tools and wrote computer apps. When I walked up to the door, I snorted at the tagline painted on it, ‘Serving Binary Brilliance!’ Sam must have a hell of a sense of humor when he wasn’t torn up about his missing wife.
The place had a modern edgy feel with clean lines, bold colors and minimal furniture. There was a creative and fun vibe with movie posters and Star Wars cardboard cut-outs decorating the office.
I walked up to the smiling receptionist and explained that I was here to see Sam. I wasn’t sure what the team knew of his personal life. They may not know of his wife’s disappearance or that he’d hired a PI.
The receptionist asked for my name and buzzed Sam on his intercom. However, instead of a response on the intercom, Sam burst through office doors down the hall and speed-walked down the hallway. He definitely wasn’t worried about discretion.
“Any news?” Sam asked excitedly.
“Nothing big,” I said quickly, raising my hands in a pausing gesture. I didn’t want to give him false hope. “I’m just following up on a possible lead and wanted to ask you a few questions.”
Sam nodded, excited anyway and ushered me down the hall to his office.
I glanced around Sam’s office seeing the pictures of him and Suzy together on his desk and on his bookshelf. They did look like a happy couple, smiling and holding hands. They were just a bit older than me, in their mid-thirties and never had kids.
Sam’s smiling face in the picture, arm around Suzy’s equally sunny expression contrasted so much with the frazzled man in front of me. His brown eyes were rimmed red and puffy from lack of sleep. There even looked to be age lines from the constant worry on his brow. Sam had short, slightly curling brown hair with a medium frame and height.
His knit vest over button up shirt and slacks, combined with his Batman watch and Star Wars belt buckle cemented the Techy Geek look. The wrinkled clothes and strained face told a different story.
I knew it was possible that Sam was a fake, but it went against my instincts and observations. They had always served me well in the past, but I wasn’t going to be blinded by pride.
Sam walked to a group of chairs placed in a circle and gestured for me to sit. The chairs looked to be used for meetings. I wondered if it was to put everyone at equal importance. It raised my opinion of Sam to see him value his employees’ input.
We settled into our seats and Sam leaned forward, entirely engaged.
“I just wanted to ask a little about your hobbies,” I started. “Do you or Suzy have any interest in gambling, like betting on horse races? Or maybe go to the race track?”
“Well, no. Not that I know of,” Sam replied frowning. “I’ve never seen her interested in gambling of any kind. You said you had a lead?” Sam prodded.
“Well, maybe” I hedged. “I heard back from Jeremy Jones and have reason to think that he may have been lying about what he saw at the gas station. I’m still not sure why, but I wanted to know if you had ever seen him before or had any connections to betting parlors. I think he works for Fabian Dessi.”
I showed my phone to Sam. I had taken a picture of the laptop monitor last night when I pulled up Jeremy’s license.
Sam peered at the phone a minute, then sadly shook his head, “Doesn’t look familiar to me. I can’t think of any reason why he would have anything to do with Suzy.”
I shifted in my seat, disappointed there was no obvious connection. “I’m not sure there is a connection. He may have been lying for other reasons. But it’s the only lead we’ve had. I’ve got to pursue it.”
Sam’s eyes drooped. The energy that he had when I first arrived was draining from him. I could tell he was feeling the disappointment as well.
“Well, think about it. If something comes to you, give me a call. I’ll continue to work this lead, just to see if it goes anywhere” I said, standing up.
“Okay. Thanks for stopping by” Sam answered, shaking my hand. He stared off into the photo of him and Suzy smiling on a park bench.
“I’ll let myself out” I said, slipping out the door.
I felt a little bad for leaving Sam in such a depressed mood, but I needed to find out if he knew of any connections between Suzy and Jeremy. But then again, just because he didn’t know of any didn’t mean there weren’t any. I rubbed my forehead and slid my sunglasses back in place as I exited the building. The sun was bright today. It was good to see the sunlight after the dreary winter.
Driving back into town, my mind was focused on the case and my growling stomach. I swung into Mariano’s Fresh Market to pick up something for the latter. At least dinner was something I could accomplish. Right now, I needed that.
I grabbed a basket as I walked in the door and headed toward the salad bar first.
My biggest concern was that Suzy wasn’t alive. It had been well over the normal 48 hours for kidnapping for ransom. If Suzy had been taken for money or information, she would have been either released by now or killed. Sex or drug trafficking was another option. Those paths were dark and difficult to track. I gritted my teeth at the thought. Man, I really hoped Suzy hadn’t been kidnapped by traffickers.
With the lack of evidence, it was looking likelier that Suzy had gotten into something bad and gotten killed. If she got hurt and abandoned, she would have either been found by now and taken to the hospital or possibly died. My
mind swirled with possibilities and the probability scale just kept tipping in a dangerous direction.
Alternatively, it was possible Suzy had a gambling problem that Sam didn’t know about, I considered. If Suzy had been involved in gambling and owed a debt, same thing. They could have roughed her up or killed her. However, there was still no body. Chicago was a busy city, surely the body would have turned up by now. After 11 days, it seemed surprising something hadn’t materialized by now. The facts weren’t adding up, which generally meant that I didn’t have all the facts.
I headed to the back, picking up more heavy cream for my coffee and avocados, adding them next to the salad I selected. Then to the markdown meat section to see a broad male back leaning over the meat case. I raised my eyebrows in appreciation. He straightened up and turned around to reveal an equally wide chest, and the face of the firefighter from the day before. Rhodes.
Rhodes stopped, recognizing me. “Hi,” he said with a nod.
“Hi, yourself” I replied, breaking away from spiraling thoughts of the case. “Did everything turn out okay back there at the fire yesterday?”
“Uh, yeah,” Rhodes responded, nodding. “A couple of guys got burns, but nothing bad. They’ll recover.”
He was staring intently at me, with the same intense stare from yesterday. It looked like he was trying to figure me out.
“You were pretty quick on the response with that kid yesterday.” He said finally.
“Good instincts, I guess.” I said.
“I guess.” he repeated. “Captain Rhodes,” he said, extending his hand.
“Mal,” I replied, shaking his hand. “You’re a Captain? That was your crew?”
“Yes, two of the guys are. Truck 12, Bricktown.” He tilted his head, sizing me up. “So, what is it you do? Outside of taking down thieving kids, that is,” he added with a wink.
“I’m a Private Investigator,” I replied, raising an eyebrow at his question.
“A P.I., huh? Why P.I. and not a cop?” Rhodes tilted his head in question.
I was surprised at the personal question, but considering personal questions was my business, it didn’t offend me.
“I tried that route.” I glanced down, then back up to Rhodes with a smirk. “Let’s just say I don’t play well with others.”
Rhodes let out a deep, throaty laugh. I couldn’t help but responding in a wide smile. I liked his down-to-his-toes laugh. Few people laughed like that. It was attractive on him.
“Fair enough,” Rhodes said finally, still grinning. “I’m picking up pork chops for dinner at the station tonight, but,” he said pausing, intent look back on his face “how about joining me for dinner tomorrow night? I cook a mean steak. I can even bend my normal rules and give the steak last rites if you’re into well-done.”
My smile dropped a notch. I hadn’t expected a dinner invitation, not that it was entirely unwelcome. It was a knee-jerk reaction to back off. I didn’t exactly have a lot of personal time and hadn’t dated since Rodriguez.
Even when I didn’t have a serious case like Suzy’s disappearance, I didn’t take a lot of time for myself. I worked a lot, but I liked my work, so I was happy. I had some friends, just hadn’t had a man in my life in a while. A lot of people weren’t in serious relationships, I told myself.
I did enjoy Rhodes’ company, what little I’d been exposed to anyway. He was very confident, but not cocky. He was Intense and had an almost predatory way of looking at me, which I’ll admit I liked, but seemed to have a real fun, light-hearted side, too. The man had a lot of contradictions, and I surprised myself by wanting to know more about him.
I settled with a “sorry, but I’m in the middle of a big case right now. It’s kind of taking all my free time.” I honestly couldn’t spare the time, even if I wanted to.
Rhodes searched my gaze, as if deciding if I was blowing him off or not. “Well, then maybe some other time, when your case is over.”
“Yeah,” I replied “maybe.”
He gave me one last size-up, nodded and pulled out a notepad from his breast pocket. He jotted down his number and handed it over. “Just in case you find some time,” he said with a wink and sauntered off.
I glanced down at the number. It had his number and Marlon scrawled at the bottom. Marlon, huh? I considered the paper, then watched him walk away. He turned to glance back over his shoulder and caught me watching him. The grin on his face showed his pleasure at catching me in the act.
I couldn’t help grinning back. I shook my head as I tucked the number into my back pocket and turned back to the meat case to consider my dinner.
Chapter 4
Meanwhile, across town,
“I have it all laid out for you,” Suzy proclaimed, going over to the desk. “See, these ledgers show the bets. The next column shows the type of bet and then the odds.” She pointed to the ledger books. “I made some notes on how to figure out the odds for each type of wager. I can go over these with you each night until you’ve got it straight.”
“That’s great, Suzy,” he replied enthusiastically. “I really appreciate your help. You really are a whizz with math!” He walked around the table to peer at her numbers.
“Look, Suz. I really don’t want to kill you. I’ve put it off two weeks now and the boss is gonna get suspicious. He’s gonna wonder why your body hasn’t turned up yet.”
“I know, Jeremy, but what’s another couple of days?” asked Suzy with a shrug. “You need to be able to handle these numbers by yourself once I’m gone. I just want to make sure you have everything you need. It’s not like they gave you training on this job. You’re just doing what needs to be done. You’re resourceful. That’s what makes you smarter than them,” Suzy finished with a smile.
In reality, she was shaking inside, unsure how much longer she could keep up the charade. Suzy had hoped she would be able to break out when Jeremy was gone but hadn’t had any luck yet. The place was locked up tight, no phones, no windows. She had been trying to pick the lock from the inside. Suzy didn’t even remember how she got here. The last thing she remembered was leaving the gas station when it all went dark and she woke up in this tiny office.
A month ago, Suzy had seen something she shouldn’t have at the bank, something in the guest room for safety deposit box viewing. She had walked back into the room without warning because she had forgotten her phone. She had only been gone a minute and was running late for a dentist appointment, so she only briefly knocked and walked in to see the clients pulling passports and cash from his safety deposit box.
Honestly, she didn’t even give it a second thought. People have all sorts of odd things in safety deposit boxes. Suzy had thought the passports might have been a collection of sorts or possibly belonged to family members. She hadn’t put it together with the fact that one of the two men in the room was Pietro Marchi, known mafia criminal. However, she knew now…
She had spent that first day in a pure panic, mouth duct taped and tied to a chair at an office desk. From her chair, she could see a mini kitchenette in the corner and the door to a bathroom. Steel doors in front and back separated the office from what she assumed was a small-scale betting parlor up front and a back door. She assumed the betting parlor due to the marked up and scribbled on ledgers on the desk and large safe under the desk. There were no windows at all around her. She had faintly heard a few people up front but wasn’t able to make enough noise to notify anyone.
It was hours before Jeremy came in to kill her. She had time to think about the ledgers. She couldn’t tell if someone was trying to modify them badly or was too stupid to figure them out. She hedged a bet and hit the payload, convincing Jeremy to let her help him out for a few more days alive.
Suzy had been stalling now for a few days, trying to escape at night or talk him out of killing her. She had to be careful not to be too obvious. It was getting harder, though. Suzy’s single violet shirt was wrinkled and starting to smell, despite nightly rinsing in the bathroom sink. After the
first night and winning Jeremy over, he resigned to leaving her free to walk around, just locking her in the office.
The office was sound dampened from the bet shop in front. Suzy was worried screaming would only piss Jeremy off and the other employees were possibly in on her kidnapping. She ran her hand over her finger combed chocolate-colored hair, smoothed and held with a rubber band.
“You’re right, Suzy. They just don’t realize what an asset I am,” Jeremy replied. “I’m just worried I might make another mistake when you’re gone.”
“Damn straight you’re an asset,” Suzy said with a smile. “I can help teach you, but it might take some time.” She knew she couldn’t keep it up much longer, but she had to keep trying until she found a way to escape.
“We don’t have time. I appreciate you fixing the last week’s numbers and the one before, but I really gotta finish the job now. I can’t wait much longer.”
“Are you sure they’ll be waiting for my body to turn up?” Suzy asked. “I could just keep helping you out on the side...who would know?” She glanced up, afraid he’d see how nervous she was.
Jeremy frowned, “Now Suzy, we talked about this. You know I have to kill you. Don’t go getting any crazy ideas.” Jeremy shook his meaty finger at her. His stringy too-long hair bobbed with his movement. “It’s not like I want to.”
“Yeah, Jeremy. I get it. No problem. I was only thinking of you. They just ask so much of you.” Suzy hurried to fix his mood. She had to stay on his good side. “Now, let’s go over these numbers together. I have notes all written out for you. Then, I can tell you more about those crepes. They really are amazing!”
I sat in my green Jeep with a steamy cup of coffee and watched Jeremy come out of the betting shop. After an early dinner of pork chops from Mariano’s, I had done some online research on Jeremy and Dessi. The research was a waste of time, as Dessi apparently covered his tracks well. There were several police reports, but nothing ever charged, just like Jen had said. So, I had headed over to the betting shop in hopes to catch some movement.
Bad Company Page 3
