The Death Business (A Noah Milano Novella)

by Jochem Vandersteen

  “Shit. That’s harder. Maybe I hid in another stall?”

  “Wouldn’t they have spotted you climbing from one stall to another?”

  “You have a point there. Maybe I could have gotten away in the confusion. Or I did hire a woman to do the job.”

  “Sounds like we haven’t cracked it yet,” Kane said. “Fuck it. Let’s get a drink.”

  “Sure. But I think you were on the right track wondering what Roddy thinks of this whole deal. I’ll have another talk with him.”

  “Sure. I’ll be at the bar, eyeing the ladies and downing some Jack,” Kane said.

  I made my way through the club, looking for Roddy. I found him a few minutes later. He was leaning against the rail of the stairs that led to the club’s second floor.

  He greeted me, I greeted him back.

  “You’re not stirring up trouble here again, are you?” It sounded like he was only half-joking.

  “Trying to avoid it,” I told him. “I need a word with you, though.”

  Roddy left the stairs and came closer to me. “Spill it, buddy.”

  “I’m still trying to figure out how the killer managed to give Carol that overdose without anyone seeing it. I was hoping you might have an idea?”

  “Huh? What do you mean? I’m pretty good as a security guy but not a detective. I haven’t even given it much thought.”

  “You know this place like no one else does. I figured you might know a way to get into the ladies room undetected.”

  Roddy shrugged. “There’s no way to get in there undetected when the place is open.”

  I turned a finger and thumb into a pistol and dropped the thumb like it was a hammer. “Bingo. That’s what I figured. So I think someone hid in there before the club was officially open.”

  “Someone breaking in?”

  “Or just someone with the key. Who has them?”

  “Not that many people. Me, the owner. That’s about it.”

  “That doesn’t sound good.”

  Roddy’s face got red. “What the fuck do you mean? You’re not accusing me are you?”

  I shrugged. “Or the owner. I don’t know who that is.”

  “Believe me, Mr. Pearson is an okay guy. But…I… I lost one of my keys just a few days before Carol got killed. I guess it’s possible someone used those to get in.”

  “And managed to get away in the confusion when the body was found,” I said. “But why didn’t you tell me about the key before?”

  “Hey, why would I? People lose shit. So do I. No big thing, right?”

  “In this case it might be a big deal. It might have gotten somebody killed. Do you know where or how you lost it?”

  “Not sure exactly. Well… I guess maybe I do. I think I lost it right after the last time I banged that redhead.”

  “Gina?”

  “Yeah. I tried to lock the doors that night but the keys were missing. I had some spare keys in my office, so I was able to lock up anyway.” He was blushing. Obviously he understood what this might mean.

  “She stole the fucking keys!” I said.

  “She might have, yeah. She might have grabbed them from my pants when she pulled them down to—“

  I held up my hands. “I get the picture. Sounds like she just went up a couple of notches on my lists of suspects.”

  Roddy shook his head. “Christ. Do you think she was just fucking me to get my keys?”

  “Maybe. But from meeting her, I got the impression she doesn’t need any particular reason to fuck someone.”

  “Yeah. I guess. Christ. I feel like such an asshole.”

  “I guess you learned a lesson. Don’t think with your dick when you’re in this business.”

  “Amen to that, dude!” Roddy said with a sigh.

  I punched his shoulder playfully. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get it sorted out.”

  “Noah… Could you try to leave me out of it? If the boss finds out, it could cost me my job and reputation.”

  “I’ll do my best, but I do want to get the killer behind bars. I can’t promise anything.”

  Roddy nodded. He looked like a child that had just gotten reprimanded by his teacher. “I guess that’s all I can ask for.”

  I left him standing there by the stair, probably thinking dark thoughts. I walked to the bar to pick up Kane.

  TWENTY-TWO

  We stopped at Minnie’s place to drop off Ketchum’s whiskey tumbler.

  “Great. I’ll get the prints off this thing and run it through IAFIS,” Minnie said and took the tumbler from me after she slipped on a latex glove. “I do need to go to the office for that, though.” IAFIS is the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System used by law enforcement agencies nationwide. If you’ve had your fingerprints taken for any reason, you’re in the system.

  I glanced at Tony.

  “No worries,” Tony said. “I’ll join you and bring my gun along. You’ll be safe.”

  “To be on the safe side, it might be a good idea if you joined us too, Kane. She is more vulnerable out there than in here,” I said.

  “Not sure about that,” Minnie said, putting the tumbler in a small carboard box. “People know this is my apartment. They won’t know I’ll be visiting my office today.”

  “Here I can keep a pretty good eye on the surroundings. Not too many places killers can pop up to surprise us. On the street, that gets a little harder,” Tony said.

  Minnie shook her head, arms crossed. “Maybe, maybe not. I still think Kane should stick with Noah. After all, we’re not sure they’re after me. We’re sure they’re after him.”

  I had to smile. “Nice heroic act, Minnie. But there’s no way I’ll be risking anything happening to you. I can take care of myself. Kane and Tony are going with you.”

  “Kane, please tell him he’s wrong,” Minnie said.

  “I’m going to play this the way the kid wants me to,” Kane said. “His life, his decision. You, I won’t let anything happen to. He’ll try to kill me if anything happens to you. That’ll end up with me having to kill him and then you’re both gone. Can’t have that.”

  Minnie’s arms went up in resignation. “No use bickering with you machos. I should know that by now.”

  I laughed. “You should, yeah. Besides, I’ve got a date with a hot woman. Can’t have anyone cramping my style.”

  “Yeah… Be careful with the redhead, kid. If she did kill Carol, she’s a dangerous little bitch,” Kane said.

  “Don’t worry. You know I have a way with the ladies.”

  TWENTY-THREE

  Gina seemed happy to see me. She was wearing a black blouse and jeans that looked sprayed on. She flashed me a sexy smile that almost made me forget she was a prime suspect, not my date for the evening.

  “Hello, shamus. Good to see you. What brings you to my doorstep? Feeling lonely?" She almost purred, and I noticed she’d unbuttoned a few of the top buttons on her blouse. Being a trained security specialist, I couldn’t help but notice. Sue me.

  “I just want to talk something over with you,” I told her.

  “Sure, come in!” She led the way, hips swiveling. I followed.

  As soon as we were all the way inside and the door was closed, she had all the buttons of her blouse undone. Her generous breasts were barely contained by the lacy number covering them. She came my way and put her hands on my fly. She was working the button a nanosecond later.

  I gripped her wrist. “Stop it. That’s not why I’m here.”

  Her eyes met mine. There was a sexy level of mischief there that was hard to resist. “Are you sure? I know what men think of me. If you’re not gay, you want me just like all of them do.”

  “Oh, you’re an attractive woman, that’s for sure. I also think you’re a killer, and mixing it up with you might be hazardous to my health or reputation. What’s left of it anyway.”

  She slapped me in the face with her free hand. It stung like hell. It was like I’d just transported into a soap opera. She
went for another whack, but this time I caught her wrist before her hand connected. Now I had both wrists in my hands.

  “You bastard! What are you accusing me of?”

  “Don’t play the innocent with me, baby. I know you stole Roddy’s key, locked yourself in the restrooms and shot Carol Dickinson full of H.”

  “But… but… that’s ridiculous,” she stammered.

  “Who are you working for? Calabrese? Or Ketchum?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  I gave her a push, landing her on the sofa, breasts almost spilling out of her bra.

  “Button up, so we can talk,” I said.

  She covered herself up. She seemed to be crying. Mascara ran down her face like rivulets of black blood.

  I sat down on the coffee table in front of the sofa. “Gina, I don’t know if you’re a professional or not. But I think you got involved in this one way or the other. I might be inclined to go easy on you if you just tell me everything you know.”

  “What would you do to me if you don’t go easy on me?” Her voice trembled. I wasn’t sure if her apparent fear was real or just an act.

  “I’m not crazy. I won’t torture you or kill you. What I will do is call Calabrese and tell him I unmasked you as the real killer and that you told me everything. He’ll have you dead in no time if my theory is right?”

  She wiped her tears. “Theory?”

  “It’s pretty clear to me Ketchum has a secret so dark it would ruin the movie Calabrese is funding. Carol found out so had to be silenced. It seems you did the dirty work for Calabrese or directly for Ketchum. I’m not sure. What I am sure of is that Calabrese will kill you to keep you quiet.”

  “I… I… I did it for Ketchum. I was so in love with him, I was willing to do anything for him. He told me he wanted to be with me too, and that he would make me a star along the way. He also told me there was a dangerous secret that couldn’t come out. A secret that would hurt his career so much it would be over. I wanted to help him…”

  “And if Ketchum went down, he’d have a hard time making you a star,” I said.

  She covered her face with her hands. “Yes, yes. That’s right. You just don’t understand. The only thing I have is my looks. I didn’t go to college. I don’t have any skills. Even I won’t do porn, so the only way to really make something of myself is to become a star.”

  “That’s a pretty twisted way of looking at yourself. There are billions of women doing their best every day to make an honest living without much of an education. And they do make something of their lives. With perseverance, honest hard work—“

  “Those are women who are satisfied with minimum wage and living in seedy, cheap neighborhoods. I’m not like that. I wanted out, and Ketchum was my ticket.”

  “Calm down and have a drink,” I told her. I walked over to the fridge and pulled out a Coors. I twisted off the cap and handed it to her. She took a long, unladylike pull from it. I could understand her need for it.

  “Thanks,” she said as she removed the bottle from her lips.

  I gave her my most reassuring smile, going from bad cop to good cop. I’d had to endure this routine several times by real cops in the past, I’m sorry to say. “Now just tell me everything that happened and we’ll see how we can work this out.”

  “Well, I met Ketchum at Peaches a few months ago. I was immediately drawn to him and managed to share a drink with him. We got in the sack that same night. He never…entered me. But I must admit he really knew how to lick my pussy. Never met a guy so good at it. He didn’t seem to be interested in coming himself. He only seemed to be after my pleasure. After a few nights together, he told me about Carol Dickinson and that she was about to uncover a secret that would ruin his career.”

  “Did he tell you what that secret was?”

  “No, no he didn’t. At that time it didn’t matter much to me anyway. I just wanted to help him. He’d set up something with Carol at Peaches. When she came over to talk to him, they got into a fight or something and she left for the restroom. I was waiting there, opened the stall when I got the call from Ketchum that she was coming. I had to make sure she took my stall, so when I saw her coming I opened my stall door. I stood all the way at the back so she wouldn’t see me right away. All the other stalls were occupied, so I knew she’d come to mine.” Gina closed her eyes as if reluctant to continue.

  “Go on,” I said.

  “She walked right in. When she saw my .38 Smith & Wesson she froze and I pulled her in and closed the door. I already had the needle ready. When she saw the syringe, she tried to go for the gun. I pushed her against the stall and put the .38 against her head. I forced her to shoot the heroin into her arm. I watched her die and left the stall. Then I did my little act that got security in there and later on the cops.”

  I nodded. I felt sad and empty. So much waste. “Danny-boy grateful?”

  “He paid me a lot of money to make sure I shut up. That was about it. Never heard much from him afterwards. Every now and then he stops by to pay me some more. He doesn’t want anything from me except my silence. Bastard.”

  “But the money is still just fine, right.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, it is.” Tears started to well up in her eyes. “Dammit, I really loved him! I loved him and he just used me as a fucking killer!”

  “Seems like it. I just can’t believe it was worth it for you.

  She cried even more and got up from the couch. “Wait a minute. Let me just get my composure. Get a tissue or something.”

  As stupid as it sounds, I almost felt a little sorry for her. She obviously had a lot of feelings for that asshole. I let her walk into the kitchen to get a tissue and maybe splash some water on her face.

  It wasn’t the first time a woman has made me stupid.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  When she came back from the kitchen the tears were gone. Instead of a tissue, she was holding a chrome plated .38 Smith & Wesson.

  “Shit,” was the only thing I could think to say.

  “Stupid asshole. Can’t believe you fell for that. I thought you were supposed to be some hardass ex-criminal?”

  “I’m just a pussycat when you get right down to it,” I said. I was still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I could have been so stupid. Kane was going to dig up my dead body just so he could kill me again for my stupidity.

  I thought about going for my Glock holstered at the small of my back. I’m a pretty fast draw, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to be faster than her trigger finger. In the movies the hero would probably have kicked the gun out of her hand, but she was too far away. That kind of move would probably just get me a bullet in the nuts and then one in the head. I’d rather she went straight to the head shot…skip the nuts.

  That’s when the door opened and Danny Ketchum and his trained gorilla walked in.

  “What the fuck?” Ketchum said.

  “Fuck, what are you doing here?” Gina said.

  That was all the distraction I needed. I dove and tackled Gina to the ground. She fell on her back and I was on top of her, straddling her, hands wrapped around her wrist. I twisted it until the .38 dropped to the floor.

  I felt a fist grab a handful of my hair. My hand went up, clawing at the hand. I got a knee in my back as a reward and was pulled off Gina and thrown across the room. I landed with my back against the coffee table. It hurt like hell.

  Mason stood over me, smiling like a victorious boxer, cracking his knuckles. “Payback time, asshole.”

  “You bet,” I told him and shot him three times, center mass, with my Glock that I’d snatched from its holster while he gloated. There’s a lesson there somewhere. He went down like a sack of potatoes.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Ketchum cursed and dove for the .38. He got his hands on it and pointed it at me.

  “Don’t,” I told him, on my knees, Glock steady as ancient stone.

  “I came here to pay the bitch off, but I guess killing you is a nice bonus. You’ve been s
uch a fucking pest. Maybe Gina and me can come up with a nice story. Maybe you tried to rape her and I came to her rescue. That might make me a fucking hero…good for my career.”

  “Son-of-a-bitch! Now you’re eager to work with me again?” Gina said.

  “Shut up, bitch! I paid you, didn’t I?”

  Gina slapped him hard. “You told me you loved me but treated me like a whore. You made me a murderer!”

  “Fuck, leave me alone!” Ketchum said and pushed Gina away from him.

  That’s when I slammed the butt of the Glock against his temple. He gave me a strange look, like he wasn’t sure what had just happened. He tried to get the .38 up and aimed at me. I kicked him across the room with the kind of roundhouse kick that he probably had his stuntman do in his movies. He crash-landed on top of the coffee table. Lights out.

  I walked to his unmoving body and checked his pulse. He was breathing, not that I cared. The .38 was on the floor next to him. I picked it up.

  “That was an incredible kick,” Gina said.

  “Thanks. Nice someone appreciates my talent,” I said. I pointed the .38 at her. “Time to call the cops. You have a lot to explain to them, sugar.”

  TWENTY-FIVE

  I was forced to spend way too much time in a police interrogation room again. Luckily Gina decided to do the smart thing and told the truth about everything, including the fact I’d killed Mason in self-defense.

  After that stuff was done, I paid Calabrese a visit in his strip club. Kane was flanking me. Calabrese was sitting at what seemed to be his regular table, a snifter of brandy close to him. Two bodyguards were with him.

  “You again?” Calabrese said like I was a turd floating by in the gutter.

  I was in luck. The same hot Asian stripper that was on stage last time had just started her act. I appreciated her limber body for a few seconds before I reacted to Calabrese’s words of disdain.

  “Yeah, in the flesh. And not just because I love the atmosphere.” I noticed Calabrese’s two henchmen’s hands going under their jackets.

  Kane noticed too. “Don’t, kids. I’ll have you both full of holes before you clear leather. I’m holding a big ass gun under my coat.”