Blood and Roses

by Douglas Pratt

  “I’m sorry,” Mama said as she walked back into the parlor. “He doesn’t seem to be able to help, or maybe he doesn’t want to help.”

  “Great,” Leo muttered. “I don’t suppose you want to pay for a membership, Max.”

  “Uh, no,” I said, “I don’t even use my gym membership and it’s only ten dollars a month. We aren’t even sure it will lead us to Naomi. Could just be that Mitchell likes to get freaky.”

  “We could ask Manning,” Leo suggested. “He might be able to get us into the party.”

  Shaking my head, I said, “No. I am afraid that the next time we try to see Manning, his patience will have burned out.”

  “Sorry, boys,” Mama said. “I wish I could help you.”

  “At least you tried. We can always just sit out front and see who shows up.”

  “Like a stake-out?” Angela asked.

  Leo nodded.

  “That could be fun,” Angela said.

  “It’s never fun,” I said.

  “You know,” Leo pointed out. “We do have a membership card for Mitchell.”

  “Yeah?” I uttered with a stupefied grin. “I forgot about that.”

  “We could swing by,” he grinned. “See what I did there?”

  Mama rolled her eyes. “Sweetie, you need to stick to what you are good at and leave the jokes to the funny ones.”

  “You know what I’m good at,” he wagged his eyebrows at her.

  “Can you focus?” I said to him.

  “Right, I just mean we could try to use his card and get into the club. What’s the worst that could happen?”

  “The worst is that they know you aren’t Mitchell. They either kick you out, which is no big deal, or they kill you, which is ‘the worst that could happen.’”

  “I don’t think they’ll kill us. Not there at least. We have one of us watching if something goes wrong, and then intercede.”

  “Seems risky, sugar,” Mama said.

  “That would cover one of us,” I said.

  “I bet it can cover a guest, too,” Leo stated. “Then whoever is left outside would watch who comes and goes.”

  “Fine,” I said with resignation. “We’ll need to be there before they open their doors.”

  Leo lifted his hand. “Since you have run afoul of Bryant and Mitchell, it might be best if I am the one to go inside.”

  I looked at his grin, shook my head solemnly, and said, “You’re probably right.”

  Smugly, Leo turned to Mama. “You want to accompany me, Alice.”

  “No,” she stated. “I don’t want to. There’s a good chance that I might have clients there or at least potential clients. I don’t want to be associated with it.”

  Angela looked at me and said, “I can do it.”

  My eyes widened, and Angela noticed. She said, “Let’s be honest. He’ll look weird as a single guy going in there. Since no one knows him, he’ll be kept at arm’s length. He needs a woman to get anywhere.”

  Leo shrugged. “She has a point, Max.”

  Lifting my finger to Leo, I said, “Nothing. I mean, nothing happens to her.”

  He nodded.

  28

  Mama loaned me a Tahoe so that Leo and Angela could drive the rental car. The Tahoe was roomy and currently parked in a parking lot across from Trois. Not that an average person could even tell that any kind of action was happening there. The sex club was in a warehouse that looked, well, like a warehouse. The only big giveaway was the security.

  The plan was for me to get there early. Mama volunteered Malcolm to assist me. Although, he was willing to help as soon as he heard the plan. His Lexus was parked on the street behind the warehouse keeping an eye on the back entrance.

  The first few cars showed up about nine. I broke out my SLR camera with the telephoto lens. The poor camera hadn’t seen the light of day in quite a while. The goal was to get a picture of the license plate of each vehicle and the face of the owner to match. I could sort out who was who later. Right now, I just needed more puzzle pieces to get the picture to come into focus.

  The crowd started really arriving about ten. The next fifteen minutes were filled with my finger furiously snapping pictures. By then, I counted 22 cars, each with at least two people. Getting everyone’s face picture was difficult, and quite honestly a failure. Most of the drivers were a piece of cake. Nearly everyone did a double-take around the parking lot as if they were keeping an eye out for trouble. The passengers, though, tended to get out and head straight inside. There were now a lot of photos of the back of women’s heads.

  Don’t worry, I told myself. I’ll get them on the way out.

  A few more stragglers showed up between then and midnight, including Leo and Angela. They wanted to get there after the crowd showed up, in the hopes they would not stand out.

  The hours ticked by slowly. Billie Holiday was singing “You Don’t Know What Love Is” through the speakers. This album, Lady in Satin, was her penultimate work. The strain of her life flowed through the lyrics. The vinyl usually adds a hiss of pure sadness that gets lost on the digital copy. Still, Billie is Billie, and she’s an ideal companion in the dark of night.

  Leo texted that they had arrived, but since then it had been radio silence. I called Malcolm.

  “Anything happening back there?” I asked.

  “Two raccoons just stole a Burger King bag from the trash and ran off squeaking at each other.”

  “Wow, that’s exciting. Thanks for doing this.”

  He replied, “No problem. I brought an audiobook.”

  “I’ll let you get back to your book and raccoons.”

  He laughed. “The raccoons took their dinner to go.”

  We hung up. I watched for another 30 minutes before another car pulled up. A dark Toyota. I clicked a picture of the plate. Then, the driver got out.

  Lieutenant Bryant did the same double-take when he got out. His passenger did the same thing. I got his face, then a third guy got out of the back. Craig Mitchell.

  I cursed to myself. Then I took a breath. Mitchell had never seen Leo. Neither had Bryant. I didn’t think that Leo was going to be advertising that he was using Mitchell’s membership card. Leo could handle the situation. He did promise to protect Angela.

  My pulse was still racing as the three went inside. At least, I now had the proof that Bryant and Mitchell were working together. This might be the leverage I needed to push Bryant to give up Naomi.

  The front door opened as a man and two women walked out with Bryant. Lifting the camera, I caught the man’s face through the viewfinder. I recognized him. Mac Crowder.

  My focus turned to the two women. Clicking, I caught the first woman, a blond in her late 40’s.

  The second was younger. Much younger. Her hair was dark, but I knew her face. Naomi.

  Crowder and the woman got into a black Suburban. Naomi climbed into the back seat. Straightening the seat up, I was ready to follow them.

  When Crowder started the truck, Bryant went back inside. Crowder’s Suburban bounced quickly onto the street. Focusing on the rear of the Suburban, I shifted into drive and let off the brake as my phone buzzed.

  Malcolm.

  “Malcolm, I found her.”

  “Max, we got a problem,” he interrupted me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Two guys just carried Leo out the back. They’ve got Angela too.”

  My foot pressed the brake to the floor. My body pressed forward until the seat belt caught me.

  “Where are they?” I said.

  “They threw him in an SUV. I’m trying to catch up to them,” he said.

  My foot drove the accelerator to the floor causing the tires to squeal as the Tahoe jerked forward.

  “Wait. You said they threw him in?”

  “He looked like he was unconscious,” Malcolm said. Then he shouted, “Damn.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “They hit the interstate. Heading east.”

  The truck lean
ed to the left as I took a right much too fast. The freeway ramp was about a quarter-mile ahead. Ignoring the red light, I raced through the intersection.

  “Stay with them, Malcolm,” I urged him.

  “Trying,” he breathed.

  I never slowed as I hit the on-ramp for I-240, the interstate loop that goes around Memphis. When I reached the top of the ramp, the speedometer was pushing past 110 m.p.h.

  “Where are they?” I asked frantically.

  “Taking the Mount Moriah Road exit.”

  The traffic was light at almost one in the morning. The cars that were on the road were blurs as I zipped around them.

  “They are turning into an office park,” Malcolm said. Then I heard him curse before the phone went dead.

  Three cars sat at the light at the top of the exit ramp to Mount Moriah Road. The needle on the speedometer pushed deeper as I climbed the inclined ramp. Cutting right, the bumper of the Tahoe ripped the rear of what I thought was a Challenger.

  Glancing in my rearview mirror, I saw the Challenger was spun about 90 degrees. The driver’s door opened, and a figured got out of the car trying to make out my license plate.

  Malcolm’s Lexus was in the next intersection. A Jeep Cherokee had slammed into the passenger side. Malcolm must have tried to run a red light. He was getting out of his car when he saw me flying toward the intersection. He motioned toward an office park half a block away.

  The office park was dark. Not many people working at this time of the morning. I cut the headlights off on the Tahoe. No need to give anyone a target.

  When I saw the Four Runner at the rear of the lot, I shoved my foot to the floor. The right bumper was still in good shape, so I slammed the corner of the Four Runner at an angle. The truck was still moving as I jumped out of the Tahoe and ran behind it. The 9 mm I brought was in my hand as I came around the backside.

  Bryant crawled out of the front with a gun in his hand. He fired into the windshield thinking I was still in the car. My first shot hit him in the shoulder, sending him to the ground.

  The passenger door opened and the other guy came out firing in my direction. I was already turning to fire. I heard the plink of glass. I dropped and scrambled behind the Four Runner. Shots rang out again. He was still shooting in the direction where I had been.

  I waited.

  When I didn’t fire back, the crunching of his feet moving slowly sounded.

  I still waited.

  He came around the back of the Four Runner with his gun pointed behind the Tahoe.

  “Hey,” I said.

  He turned half a second late. The flash of the gun illuminated the dark night.

  Angela screamed, and I rose to my feet. My gun trained on Mitchell who was holding Angela by the neck.

  “Don’t shoot,” he ordered.

  “Let her go,” I said.

  “You?” he stammered. “Lee? I knew it. I knew you were a cop.”

  “Look, Craig,” I said. “You let her go and I’ll let you run for it.”

  “And shoot me in the back?”

  I shook my head. “I just want the girl. We can wait and you’ll still lose. This is your only chance.”

  He stared at me. The light of the moon illuminated the white of his eyes. He didn’t blink.

  He let her go and turned on his heels. His feet pounded the grass behind the parking lot until he vanished into the woods next to Nonconnah Creek.

  Angela rushed to me.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  She nodded. “They drugged him, I think.”

  A groan on the other side of the truck alerted me.

  “Get behind the truck,” I told her.

  My feet moved slowly as I stepped over the second man’s body. When I came around the front of the Toyota, I found Bryant. He had his gun in his hand again.

  “Lieutenant,” I said. “I don’t think you want to do this.”

  “Sawyer,” he said staring at me.

  “Are you willing to die to protect someone like Mac Crowder?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Max!” I heard Angela shout.

  Bryant’s eyes cut toward her, and I pulled the trigger.

  29

  “I don’t understand.” That was the third time I had said that.

  “Max,” Kristi said again.

  She didn’t want me to stir the coals too much. Angela, Malcolm, and I had been enduring hours of questioning. Detective Terry rolled in around four in the morning to sort things out.

  “Mr. Crowder’s attorney has documentation that the young girl that lives with him is his daughter. Not Naomi Clements.”

  “That can’t be true. I saw the girl. It was Naomi Clements.”

  Terry shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Sawyer. It appears that she is Taylor Crowder.”

  “Test her DNA,” I insisted.

  “Do you think Crowder is going to let us get near her? Brent Tangle will fight that tooth and nail, and you know what, there won’t be a judge or anyone that will go up against Crowder.”

  “Why would he take his daughter to a sex club?” I asked.

  “There’s no evidence of anything in the address you gave us. It’s an empty warehouse.”

  “They ghosted?” I mumbled. “That figures. What about the website?”

  “The website doesn’t say anything about the location. There is actually nothing tying anyone to any club, whether it’s Trois or something else.”

  “We have the membership card.”

  Terry nodded, “Yes, a card that you don’t really want to explain how you came by it.”

  “Detective, do you plan to charge any of my clients?” Kristi asked interrupting.

  “No, Ms. Laurent confirmed that Carlos…Lieutenant Bryant did take her by force. There will be an investigation, but right now, there will be no charges.”

  “What about Craig Mitchell?” I asked.

  “We haven’t found him yet.”

  “I think he’s the one that actually took Naomi,” I said.

  “Can you prove that?” Terry asked.

  I sighed.

  “Max,” Kristi urged. “Let’s go.”

  I stood and followed Kristi out. The others were sitting in separate rooms. Terry motioned for them to be released.

  “What time is it?” Malcolm moaned as he stepped out of his interrogation room.

  “6:34,” Kristi said.

  The police arrived shortly after I killed Bryant. Malcolm sent the officer responding to his accident into the office park. The consensus was that they were going to kill Leo and Angela in the woods near the creek.

  We didn’t have much time to talk, before being separated. With Leo still sleeping off what must have been a heavy roofie, I wasn’t able to get much out of him either before paramedics took him off.

  Angela started filling in the gaps when we got in Kristi’s car.

  “We were trying to mingle, but the things going on there..” She shivered visibly. “It was surreal. People were having sex everywhere. It was bizarre.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “No, no one really bothered me. We were both propositioned, but never really pressured. There were a few places that were closed off. We both tried to find out what was going on in there. That’s when I thought I saw the girl, Naomi. She went to one of those closed-off areas.

  “When I told Leo, I noticed he was slurring his words and starting to act a little goofy. I thought he had only had one beer, maybe two, but not enough to cause that. Then he just collapsed and these two guys swooped in to carry him out the back. That’s when the cop, Lieutenant Bryant, grabbed my arm and made me follow them.”

  “Bryant had just arrived when Malcolm saw you guys being taken out the back.”

  Malcolm nodded. “He was called in to clean up a mess.”

  “Kristi, can you take us to the hospital to check on Leo?”

  “It’s all part of the service,” she said.

  Leo was still in an emergency
room. The drugs he had been given were wearing off, and the man who never seems to get a hangover looked like he was run over by a herd of cattle. His face was ashen, and his eyes were bloodshot and swollen.