ROMANTIC SUSPENSE : DEATH WHISPERED SOFTLY

by Oliver Anderson

  Ricardo looked surprised for an instant. He hadn’t expected this question and it threw him off-guard for a moment; but he regained his composure quickly, his eyes transfixed at Steve, smiled and said “Good question Steve…my compliments. Gustav and I are buddies. There is nothing that he knows that I don’t. The man confides in me, and there is nothing that he asks me to do, that I don’t. I love the man Steve, he is like my brother. If anyone gets in his way, I will kill him” A vicious look traversed Ricardo’s face and it startled Steve, but he managed to keep his face unreadable. He knew this man was as lethal as a black Mamba and as brutal as a Pit-bull, which would go to any length to protect its master. Here was a man who was desperately loyal to his friend Gustav and would do anything his friend would ask him to do. In this case, murder.

  Steve also realized that if for some reason he should fail, this man would go after him with all he had. He knew Ricardo was a vicious, experienced and ruthless killer, and for a fleeting moment he considered backing out of this murder plan. But he calmed himself silently. “What the hell can this thug do, if I were to say buzz off and just vanish into thin air?” he asked himself. But he knew it was too late to back out now—he should have done that before listening to Ricardo’s diabolical plan. Plus backing out would also mean bidding goodbye to this golden opportunity of beating the life of crime and accomplishing his dream. It was ironic that it was this vicious killer who held the solution to escape his bitter and worthless life, and all that stood paramount to accomplishing his goal of becoming an owner of a chain of successful restaurants, and living a clean, wealthy, and respectable life. And if the price for realizing his goal was murder—then so be it!

  “Steve!” snarled Ricardo when he saw Steve had drifted into cavernous thoughts. “My buddy want’s this woman out of his way; and trust me, she is going out. I promised that to Gustav, and I keep my promises!” His voice lashed out and it shook Steve out of his deep thoughts, and he found Ricardo staring at him with his eyes steadfast and peering. Steve knew at that moment that the man staring at him through his bleak steely eyes would do anything for his friend. Anything!

  Although Steve was impressed by Ricardo’s loyalty for his friend, he wanted to know more before accepting his offer. He looked directly at Ricardo and said quietly “How much are you getting out of this Ricardo?”

  “That’s none of your concern Neal, but hell if you wanna know, I am getting a hundred grand, Ricardo lied glibly.

  “But more important than the hundred grand is the satisfaction of not letting my friend down. Know that if you fail, I will come after you amigo” warned Ricardo.

  Ricardo’s vicious and cold hearted ways would have fazed many, but they did not totally rattle Steve. Although he was taken aback initially by his brutal wickedness, he had recovered and was not scared of Ricardo’s cold ruthlessness; for he knew rather well the likes of Ricardo from his days on the streets with the gang.

  Although Ricardo was deadly dangerous, and would do exactly as he was promising, Steve felt he had no real reason to worry, for he had no intention of double-crossing Ricardo. He was as eager as Ricardo to lay hands on the money. And he could have the money only if he was successful in eliminating the Kingsbury girl.

  So he simply nodded and asked Ricardo, “How do I eliminate the Kingsbury girl Ricardo, have you figured a way out yet?”

  Steve’s cold and professional response seemed to have a calming effect on Ricardo and he suddenly relaxed. “Man, the moment I saw you at the airport, I knew my stupid cousin Carlo had made no mistake, for a change! I must confess that I had my doubts, but he sent the right dude to me”, Ricardo declared, thumping the table loudly, almost triumphantly, with his right hand.

  He looked straight into the eyes of Steve “You need the cash real bad, don’t you Steve?

  Steve didn’t say anything. He stared right back at Ricardo and nodded.

  “Steve you know what, we will both make lots out of this, Ricardo said in an affable tone of voice.

  “Here is the plan: Kingsbury’s daughter goes every single day to this isolated café on the outskirts of New York each day. I have been watching her the past six months. She sits there from ten p.m. to about two a.m. playing piano, sipping coffee and occasionally drinks a couple of shots of brandy, which she brings concealed in her fashionable flask, since the café doesn’t serve alcohol. It seems to take the edge off her nerves” Ricardo said with a wink. This daily routine of hers makes her an easy target, don’t you think Steve?” Ricardo asked puckishly. Steve, who was listening, just grunted.

  Ignoring Steve’s nonchalant response Ricardo continued: “I am sure the girl realizes that this routine can be treacherous for her, but either she is too foolish to disregard it, or too darned depressed to care. But either way she becomes an easy target for us, a sitting duck, doesn’t she Steve?

  Steve did not like the fact that Ricardo had now used “us” instead of “me”.

  It implied that this thug had presumed that he was going ahead with the job of assassinating Grace Kingsbury. Although he had quickly said “yes” to Ricardo’s plan, it bothered Steve that he was getting deeply entangled into a plot to assassinate the innocent daughter of a millionaire who had recently died. “What the hell am I doing with this lousy son of a bitch, who is planning to murder an unarmed innocent girl, struck by a monumental tragedy—the loss of her father?” Steve was agitated. And even as he pretended to hear Ricardo, he found his mind was spinning, as his thoughts raced by like a slide show—from his loving and upright parents being abruptly ripped from his life, the torment-filled life with his perfidious foster parents, and finally the streets, where his only refuge was the bad guys that swept him up, gave him a place to belong and taught him a life of crime.

  Steve was acutely aware of the depth, severity and the consequences of the crime he was being asked to commit, in order to get what he wanted. But the exciting thought of starting life all over again, getting the hell out of the gang life, and accomplishing his dream of becoming the owner of a chain of successful restaurants, was too great a motivation for Steve to bother about anything else—even taking an innocent person’s life. It masked any apprehensions or compunction he may have had of going through with this plan of murder.

  It also enabled Steve to wrench himself free from the whirlpool of thoughts. He looked up at Ricardo Lopez who was staring at him as if he knew what was going on in his mind, nodded and said “Yea she is an easy target Ricardo, but you must have more elaborate details to pull off the perfect murder, don’t you Ricardo?

  “You are smart aren’t you Neal?” Ricardo sneered “Yes I do have the finer details. On a decided day, around midnight, you will enter the café. The graveyard shift has only one on staff. So there will be just one person, a server, there apart from the Kingsbury girl. All the other staff leaves the café at eleven p.m. since the early morning hours yields hardly anyone till five a.m. when customers start coming again, for their pre-work cup of Joe’. This makes our job easier.”

  Steve, who was all attention, nodded in agreement.

  “But remember Steve, and this is extremely important, you won’t enter the café as a killer” Ricardo cautioned, an edge to his voice. “You will come in as a burglar, a random thief who wants to steal money and jewelry of customers, taking advantage of the dead of night. Now the Kingsbury girl wears an expensive ring on her hand. I have never seen her without it. It’s a solid rock and should be enough of an incentive for any robber to steal.”

  Steve absorbed all this. And although he hated the vicious cold-hearted thug sitting in front of him, giving him details about murdering an innocent girl, he acknowledged the fact that Ricardo had hatched a perfect murder plan. The bastard must have worked hours to perfect this devious plan! Keeping his face expressionless.

  “Remember Steve”, cautioned Ricardo, “We must make it look as if it were an attempted robbery, and not a preplanned murder. We don’t want the feds after us, do we amigo? It must look like a
robbery that went horribly wrong.”

  Steve noted Ricardo’s emphasis on ‘must’. It sounded more like a warning than advice. But he knew that Ricardo was right. The cops wouldn’t investigate too much if they thought it was a robbery which went badly wrong. But if they suspected it was a calculated murder of an heiress, all hell would break loose!

  Ricardo had finished revealing the details of his plan, and now looked searchingly at Steve. Now that he had given Steve every detail of the plot, it was important, that Steve approved and went ahead, and not tried to duck-out. For, if he did anything like that, he would have had no option but to kill Steve. He couldn’t afford to let Steve out, now that he knew the whole plan. And this tensed Ricardo.

  But his apprehensions quickly faded when he saw that Steve looked completely relaxed. Although Steve strongly disapproved of Ricardo for his cruel and callous ways, he conceded that he had come up with an excellent plan. The timing, the place, the approach—everything sounded perfect. He was impressed with Ricardo’s plan and couldn’t pick a hole in it. He extended his hand to seal the deal. The two men shook hands.

  The realization that he had found his hit man and that his plan would now be executed pleased Ricardo immensely and a wide crooked smile came to his lips. This dude was the right choice! The plan has begun!

  “Now listen carefully Steve. At about 12.30 a.m., a week from now, you will enter the cafe with a hood, wearing horn rimmed glasses—a week old stubble on your face. The hood, the glasses and the stubble should be enough to hide your face. And your gloves will help you from leaving your finger prints. Don’t forget the FBI has your fingerprints, from your arrests, Carlo has told me everything about you! If you leave even one damn finger print, you are doomed. Make sure to wear woolen gloves before you enter the café. The crisp cold autumn night will make the Kingsbury girl and the waiter think you are cold and douse their suspicions.

  Also, don’t forget there will be cameras the cops will be looking at, after it’s all done. So you enter the café with your hood on and you walk up to the counter, and in a soft and polite, but disguised voice, ask the waiter for a cappuccino. You talk to him while he prepares your coffee. Be blithe and cheery so that both, the waiter and the Kingsbury girl will relax and be unsuspecting. While you are sipping your coffee and the other two get busy with their things—the waiter will probably be cleaning the glasses and the girl will continue playing her piano—you will suddenly whip out your pistol and aim at the girl directly and bark that this is a hold up and you want the girl to take her rings off and hand them over to you along with her purse. The Kingsbury girl will be too stunned to do anything but obey you. And the waiter would freeze too, petrified by the gun. While she takes her rings off and looks for her purse, I want you to look around everywhere furtively Steve –as if you are nervous and anxious of the robbery. Remember the waiter will be watching you very closely, and it is the waiter’s testimony that will enforce the robbery story and keep the cops focused on it other than the real plan! You have to look nervous and look around everywhere and then you look at the girl while she takes her rings off, and before she can hand over the rings to you, you have to act like you lost your nerve and patience, and in a bout of annoyance and panic, you yell at her ‘Give them to me now!’ Then let her have it in her face, two times. And then you shout, ‘Oh my god! Oh my god! I did not want to kill you, I did not! Just wanted the diamonds damn it!’ You scream this looking back and forth from the waiter to Grace so that he doesn’t get a clear look at you but will be staring at you in horror, fearful for his own life. But he will remember (later) what you yelled and he will tell the cops exactly that. You will now pick up the rings and the purse and look once more in the direction of the waiter and run out of the café. My car will be parked a block away from the scene and I will be waiting for you there and we will get the hell out of there, for good! A cruel smug grin came on Ricardo Lopez’s face as he thought of executing his cleverly devised plan flawlessly.

  “But remember Steve, you will have to hang low and live with me for a few days, since everything will be red-hot after the shooting, and every cop and Good Samaritan will be looking for “the killer” who took the life of Grace Kingsbury. But no worries boy—nobody knows you, nobody has seen you. Remember the waiter will only remember a man in a hood with an unshaven face, wearing thick horn rimmed glasses. And by the time you shave, ditch the glasses and wear sporty clothes you will look like any other guy on the streets of New York City. There is no way in hell he would know it was you, even if he were to walk by you on the street” Ricardo winked fiendishly.

  “The cops will conclude this to be a robbery since you will be taking off with the purse and her precious rings. The purse and the rings will convince the cops that it was a robbery that went terribly wrong and the robber shot the victim in sheer panic. Even if they suspect otherwise, they won’t have much to go on. There would hardly be any physical evidence since you will touch nothing. You will be a nameless, faceless man. Nobody knows you and nobody will remember you, and we will have pulled off a great job, the perfect murder!” Ricardo declared triumphantly as if he had already accomplished his mission!

  “Once the job is done, you will have all that money you desired Steve. Carlo has told me everything. You can do much with it amigo”

  But if Ricardo Lopez was excited about his plan, Steve was guarded in his response. He was most certainly not as excited as Ricardo. No one knows me or will remember me, except YOU Ricardo! Steve thought. You will always know it was me who did it, and that it was no robbery, but a meticulously planned murder that could get me a death sentence or even worse, get me to spend the rest of my life in a sordid prison! The thought of going to prison for the rest of his life made Steve squirm, but he was too deeply committed and this man, who looked as happy as a kid who had just received a present from Santa Claus, would become vicious and dangerous if he were to back out now. Besides if he elected to back out, his hopes and aspirations of becoming wealthy and making something of his life would vanish into thin air.

  The one thing which gave him comfort was that Ricardo was as much into it as he was. There was no way Ricardo could blackmail him without risking his own skin. Steve knew he was safe as long as he did the job. But it would be an entirely different story should he elect to back out.

  As if reading what was going on in his mind Ricardo asked Steve quietly “What are you thinking amigo? Don’t tell me you think I will rat on you?” Ricardo sneered. “Or are you having second thoughts about going ahead with this?” Ricardo asked- a snap in his voice.

  But Steve shook his head, looked straight into Ricardo’s eyes and gave Ricardo a ghost of a smile “Don’t worry Ricardo, I will go ahead with it, but remember, you are as much in this as me and so is your rich friend Gustav Nilsson. If you decide to blow the whistle on me, be sure that I will blow it on both you and Nilsson” Steve told Ricardo—an unmistakable threat in his icy cold voice.

  Ricardo was surprised by Steve’s reaction. He knew this man was not joking and he could only nod. “Cool it amigo, I am not blowing no whistle”.

  In Ricardo’s black furtive eyes, void of emotion, Steve saw that they had come to an understanding, and he smiled mirthlessly.

  Both men recognized the fact that they were immersed deep in this plan and it would be hard pressed for either of them to turn on each other now. The ‘hit’ was now in place and Steve was committed and he knew there would be no turning back from here on without dire consequences.

  “Let’s drink to the success of our plan Steve. What would you like, Whiskey or Vodka? I keep both” Ricardo asked cheerfully.

  “Whiskey” replied Steve. And as Ricardo got up to walk across to the shabby bar across the room, Steve lapsed once again into thoughts. Although he looked calm and composed on the outside, he didn’t feel very serene or peaceful inwardly. He was interiorly trying his utmost to inhibit his mind from dwelling on the “hit”—for it was too troubling for Steve to evaluate why he wa
s prepared to murder a young lady who was grieving the tragic loss of her father. He wanted this dreadful incident to be over as quickly as possible so that he can get the money he desperately needed to accomplish his burning ambition of establishing a chain of restaurants in California. But netting money at the cost of taking someone’s life, a totally innocent girl’s life, was a highly tormenting thought. And it was already disturbing Steve profoundly. It was like a nightmare, being chased by a wicked monster, you find yourself standing at the edge of a lake peering into the deep abyss of cold dark water, to get to the other side and away from danger, and your only option is to swim across. Nervous about diving in, but once in the lake, all you can do is swim hard, get across and get away from what’s pursuing you! This is exactly how Steve felt, and he now wanted to get through with this as soon as he could and get the hell out of New York, to lay low in California, for a while until the case became cold and then he could begin a brand new life, with his restaurant!

  He didn’t know where he would go, Florida? Texas? California wouldn’t be safe he thought. “I still have a fortnight to go,” he reminded himself. “There is plenty of time to think about that!”

  But there was a hitch; he needed some money. The little money he carried from LA was now running out. He wondered if he should ask Ricardo for an advance. Even as he was contemplating whether to ask Ricardo for an advance or not, Ricardo returned with a bottle of scotch and two surprisingly clean glasses.

  He placed the glasses next to the bottle and fetched some water and ice from the fridge. “Let’s drink to our agreement Amigo” Ricardo announced.

  But he saw Steve hesitate. As if reading Steve’s mind, Ricardo opened the drawer of his desk, and fished out three wads of neatly stacked hundred dollar bills. “That’s thirty thousand in advance for you Steve. You will need clothes, a gun, a