by Faricy, Mike
“Now, if you don’t find out, well, you remember that guy who tried to fly out the window the other day, don’t you?”
Pinky Ackerman, I thought, but didn’t let on I knew.
“We already checked, he can’t fly,” one of the thugs giggled behind me.
Lola looked past me disapprovingly, then said,
“Oh, and if you have any thoughts about doing your usual something stupid, you know, like going to the police, here’s a little added incentive.” She nodded at Benton who stepped into a dark office and rolled out a desk chair.
The chair was gray, with armrests, and squeaked slightly. Jill’s arms and feet were taped to the chair. Her jeans were torn and bloodied on both knees, there were two dark bruises on her arms. She had duct tape covering her mouth. Benton grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head back. One of her eyes was blackened, swollen almost closed, the other looked scared to death.
“Just remember, you don’t come across and your little lover is liable to end up in bed with your new friends, here. And when they’re done, I’ll feed her to my dogs. I promise,” Lola said.
Benton smiled at me then bent over and ran his tongue up the side of Jill’s face.
“She’s gonna be a lot of fun,” he laughed.
“Now, get him the hell out of my sight, take him back to City Hall, where he feels safe,” Lola snarled.
Benton drove the van while the other two kept their guns on me. They stopped a block away from City Hall, the guy behind me slid the side door open. As I got out, he said,
“Hey, Haskell. She ain’t kidding, we’d love to have a go at that girlfriend of yours.” Then he made a licking motion with his tongue and they drove off laughing.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
People walking past were giving me a wide berth. I still felt groggy and held the blood-soaked towel against my nose. Blood was splattered down my shirt and onto my jeans. I phoned Dog.
“Where the hell are you, man? I’ve been looking all over for you,” he said.
“Things didn’t quite go according to plan. Can you come and get me?”
“You sound like shit, you okay?”
“Just come and get me,” I said, then told him where I was.
“Jesus, you’re gonna need a doctor,” Dog said ten minutes later when I climbed into the Crown Victoria.
“Just get me home.”
We were three and a half hours in emergency. I walked out with a nose splint, pain pills, and a splitting headache.
On the way home Dog said,
“Look, don’t be pissed off at me, Dev. But I’ve been here before, you feel like shit now but you’d feel even worse tomorrow if you didn’t get that splint and those pills. You’re gonna just have to take it easy for a couple of days.”
“There’s no time to take it easy. I gotta get a hundred grand to them,” I groaned.
“A hundred grand? Where’d that come from?”
“I guess from the other night, with the truck and Hummer and all.”
“First of all it wasn’t no hundred grand. Second of all, we found it, free and clear. Not like we went looking to score, it just sort of happened. Finders keepers, man. I told you we should have taken those guys…”
“They got Jill.”
“Jill?”
“Yeah, they got her. Unless I get the money to them they’re…”
“The money? Jesus, are you ready to stop playing around with these fucks and deal with the problem? It’s obvious they don’t take you as much of a threat, certainly nothing to worry about. They know about me?”
“No, I don’t think so, I never mentioned anything.”
“They’re about to find out, man.”
“Look, can we just go home? It’s been kind of a horseshit day, ya know. I gotta figure out what I’m gonna do.”
“Here’s the deal, Dev. They won’t do anything to her until you get the money to them. But, once they got the money, there’s nothing to stop them from killing both of you.”
Unfortunately I couldn’t argue with his logic.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
If two pain pills made me groggy, six knocked me out.
“Fuck, it’s already after ten,” I said jumping out of the recliner the next morning.
“Told you those pills would work,” Dog said sipping a mug of coffee.
“I gotta get that money to them or else…”
“Or else nothing. Look, I been thinking, man and you got a couple of things in your favor, maybe, sorta. But one thing that won’t help is giving them a hundred grand. That gets you nowhere. If they’re that hot for the money, they’re feeling pressure. I’m guessing they have to cover bets on that All Star game. So we can use that to our advantage.”
“Dog, they’re going to kill her.”
“No, they’re not, at least not yet, so stay cool.”
“I should call Aaron, he’ll…”
“Your cop pal? Look, I’m sure he’d help, but they’re gonna lock you up first and then sort it out. That’ll take a week. We got a little time, but we ain’t got a week, pal.”
“So, what do I do?”
“First thing, we need to go to the bank.”
Chapter Sixty
“See this is exactly the reason I don’t like to tidy up the place. Where would we be if you’d tossed all this shit out?” Dog asked as he opened a beer then went back to digging through a trash bag.
We were back from the bank, with three grand in cash, two grand in hundreds, the rest ones. Dog had me sorting the cash, wrapping the old bands with the handwritten $5000 in blue ballpoint around the bundles. I placed a hundred dollar bill on the top and bottom of each stack, the ones stuffed in the middle.
“Don’t you think they’re gonna fan through these things, see all ones?”
“No.” He took another sip of beer.
“You want to maybe give that a little more thought?”
“No. I already have. Look, they’ll be nervous, waiting for you to maybe try something. They need the cash. All they’re gonna see is hundreds, and not think beyond that. Plus, they’ll be planning to take you and the chick out…”
“Her name is Jill.”
“…soon as you deliver this dough.”
“You’re sure?”
“No,” he sipped. “But you start trying to play every option and you’ll drive yourself nuts.”
“Jesus, I don’t know if this is gonna work,” I said, looking at the stacks of cash.
“’Course it will, relax, stuff those in here,” Dog said, fishing an ice-cream box out of the trash bag and tossing it on the counter.
I arranged the dummy stacks of hundreds in the box.
“I gotta admit,” I said, “at least it looks like the stuff we grabbed. But now what?”
“Call ‘em and ask for more time.”
“More time?”
“They won’t give it to you, but if you were working this you wouldn’t have figured out what happened yet, would you? Hell, the news reported it as a car accident. If the cops knew we were involved, don’t you think you would have heard something? A phone call from your pal Alan or…”
“Aaron.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“Call that broad, ask her for more time, she’s gonna tell you no, but it’ll help convince her you’re actually trying to do something.”
As frightening as it sounded I couldn’t argue with Dog’s logic.
“Hi, Lola. Dev Haskell.”
“How’s the nose?”
It was swollen, hurt like hell, throbbed nonstop, I couldn’t breathe out of it and if I wore the splint it hurt even more.
“It’s fine.”
“What have you got for me, lover boy?”
“I want to know Jill’s all right, first off.”
“She’s sleeping.”
“Wake her.”
“Don’t you want to know with who?”
I was silent for a long moment.
“Ha, ha, ha, touchy, are w
e? I bet my old girlfriend is pretty good in the love department.”
“She had better be okay, if you so much as…”
“Save it, hero. She’s fine. For now. What have you got for me?”
“Well, from what I can learn that wasn’t a simple car accident the other night with that Hummer and your truck. Turns out…”
“Goddamn it, I don’t need a traffic report. I could have told you that yesterday. That’s all you have so far? I thought you were supposed to be some hot shot investigator?”
“It takes time, Lola. Look, I’m going to need a couple more days to find out what happened. There aren’t a lot of leads here for starters, and the cops aren’t talking. By the way, your uncle or whatever Softee was, his body in the trunk of my car doesn’t make it any easier for me to get police cooperation.”
“Then you had better figure something out and fast or plan on taking out a loan. I don’t see that cash here, your girlfriend is going to get one hell of a last night to remember. Got it?”
“I just need more time. Why is that so …”
“No,” she screamed and hung up.
“Sounded like that went pretty well, you want a beer?” Dog asked opening the cooler.
Chapter Sixty-One
Cleaning and reassembling my Glock a half dozen times did nothing to calm my nerves.
“Jesus, you’re even driving me nuts,” Dog said.
“I feel like I should be doing something,”
“You are doing something, Dev. You’re putting pressure on. If you’re going nuts, just think how crazy things probably are over at the Softee household right now.”
“Small consolation. God I hope Jill is okay.”
“Come on, let’s take a look,” he set his empty next to the others on the counter.
“Take a look?”
“Yeah, Softee’s. Not gonna hurt anything to just cruise by. What? You think they’re looking out the window waiting for you? Besides I need to check the joint out.”
“What do you expect to find?”
“Find? Nothing. But while you’re going in the front door tomorrow night, I’ll be in the back. Be nice to have a rough idea of what I’ll be dealing with.”
“Hey Dog, I don’t know if I’ve said thanks, but I can’t thank you enough for your help. You’ve been great.”
“Just remember, we’re even when this deal’s over.”
“Believe me, if we never mentioned any of this again that would be okay with me. But, really I mean it, thanks.”
We went to some burger bar named Charlie’s that Dog knew and oddly, I’d never heard of.
“Place was called Ted’s for about a thousand years. Then a guy named Charlie bought it. I don’t know that he changed the menu, but at least they wash their hands now before they cook the burgers.”
There was a couple shooting pool at a table about six feet away. I caught the woman staring at me a couple of different times. I guessed it was my nose. Eventually she said something to the guy she was with, he looked over at us a moment, shook his head. She rubbed his arm a few times and suddenly they were out the door and never finished their game.
Dog caught it, looked at me, said,
“She must know you.”
“Look, I know I’ve said this before, but, well shouldn’t we be doing something?” I dragged my last French fry through a ketchup slick.
“We are doing something, you want another?” he asked, signaling the bartender with his empty glass.
I shook my head no.
“We’re waitin’ till dark, then I’m gonna recon the place, maybe get a little head start. You’re gonna phone what’s-her-face…”
“Lola.”
“Tomorrow morning, you beg for more time, then agree to be there with the cash at ten tomorrow night.”
“Why ten?”
“You know, sometimes I wonder if there’s anyone home up there. ‘Cause the All Star game is tomorrow night, out on the West Coast. Ring any bells? They’re two hours behind us. Things will just be getting under way, and Softee’s little pal will be feeling the pressure.”
Dog lingered over his beer for fifteen minutes, a long linger for him.
“Come on, let’s get going, you drive,” he said tossing me the keys. “I want to get a good look as we go past.”
It was dark as we drove down Summit Avenue past Softee’s house.
“Jesus, and only one dude lives in that place? Joint is huge, man. Keep going a couple of blocks then take a left and park,” Dog instructed.
When I pulled over he said,
“Pop the trunk, you just sit here until I’m back. Okay?”
I nodded.
He closed the trunk, walked up to my window carrying a trash bag.
“I shouldn’t be more than thirty minutes. Stay put, got it?”
“What’s in the …”
His glare cut me off.
“Okay, I’ll be here.”
He returned about forty-five minutes later.
“I’ll tell you this, they got the joint more or less buttoned up.”
“Those damn dogs out?”
“Things work right I don’t think they’ll be much of a problem,” he said then looked over at me and smiled.
“If you shot those dogs Lola’s likely to snap. She’ll hurt Jill, maybe even kill her.”
“Relax, I just brought the puppies a little treat.”
“What was in the trash bag? You didn’t poison those things did you?”
“Not to worry, they’ll be fine, just out of the way for the next thirty-six hours or so.”
“What was in the trash bag?”
“A raccoon I shot earlier, mixed with some shit Noleen left behind.”
I shot a glance in his direction.
“Relax, they’ll just be a little psychotic for twenty-four hours. Look, by the time they get it all analyzed, if they even bother, we’re out of there or dead. Either way it don’t much matter now does it?”
I guess it didn’t.
Chapter Sixty-Two
Dog was still asleep when I phoned Lola the following morning.
“What?” she answered.
“Lola, Dev Haskell, I…”
“I can see that, I’m expecting a call back from my vet, so make it fast.”
“Look, I’m coming up with a couple of things but I need a little more time, can’t you just…”
“No, were you listening yesterday? I’m, I mean you’re out of time, do you hear? Now have that money here tonight or you can just forget about your little bedtime friend, got it?”
“Okay, okay. But I want to know she’s safe, and I’ll want to see her tonight, before I give you anything, is that clear?”
“You just be sure… oh, here’s my other call, bye,” she screamed and hung up.
“That your sweetheart?” Dog called from the bathroom.
“Yeah, and none too sweet.”
“Good, that just tells us she’s feeling the pressure.”
“God, I wish this shit was over,” I said.
“It will be,” he said, then I heard the toilet flush and he walked into the kitchen scratching himself.
“By the way, you sound a hell of a lot better, like that nose is beginning to heal up,” he said.
I suddenly realized I was able to breathe through my nose again.
The day crawled by at a snail’s pace until eventually around eight that night Dog came out of his room carrying a pile of tan padding.
“Here man, slip this shit on.”
“What the hell is this?”
“A vest, what’s it look like?”
“A vest?”
“MTV’s” he said. “You know, bullet-proof vest. Put it on, then put your shirt on over it.”
“They’ll see it, for Christ sake.”
“Let’s hope so. They’re also gonna see the pistol you’re carrying. I want the bastards paying attention to you, not looking closely at the cash, and not looking around for me.”
“They aren’t going to let me in the door carrying a gun. I was planning to exchange the cash for Jill in the open, out in the front yard.”
“They ain’t gonna let you in for long, I’ll take care of that. Look, if it was you, wouldn’t you worry if some guy rang your doorbell with a box of cash and just expected to get his girlfriend back. Who in the hell is that stupid?”
Me for one I guessed, then nodded, “I see your point, sort of.”
“Trust me, the good-guy shit don’t work. Look, you’re gonna be there at ten. Call that bitch and tell her you want to see your darling in the window as you drive by so you know she’s at least in the place.”
“What if they say no?”
“They won’t.”
I phoned Lola, she answered on the first ring.
“Are you on your way?”
“I’ll be there by ten o’clock, I…”
“You’ll have the money, right?”
“Yeah, I should have it, I want to make sure Jill is there and she’s okay.”
“She will be, as long as you bring the money.”
“I’m going to call you around ten. I want to see her in the window when I pull up. If I don’t see her, the deal is off.”
“And if she’s not here?”
“Like I said, no deal. She better be there and she better not be harmed.”
“Listen, you just make damn sure…”
This time it was my turn to hang up.
Chapter Sixty-Three
I dropped Dog off a couple blocks away, then waited ten minutes before I pulled in front and phoned.
Lola answered on the first ring.
“Haskell.”
“I’m in front, let me see Jill.”
“You have my money?”
“I want to see Jill.”
She mumbled something, and suddenly a light went on in an upstairs room. Jill was at the window, one of the thugs stood next to her.
“There, see her?” Lola asked.
“Have her wave.”
Another mumble and Jill gave a tentative wave just before the light went out.
“There, satisfied? Now get the hell in here.”
Just as I approached the front gate there was a buzz and then the audible click unlocking the thing. I stepped inside the yard. I held the Glock out on top of the ice-cream box. I planned to shoot the dogs if I even saw them. The front door opened as I approached and Benton stood in the darkened doorway. I could just make out the stupid grin on his face.
