Annie Seymour 01 - Sacred Cows

by Karen E. Olson

  As I watched him leave, the beers came. The waitress was going to take one away, but I told her to leave it. As I sipped, I realized that was the second warning in less than an hour about the same thing.

  Tom and Paula should both know I never listen.

  CHAPTER 19

  Since I didn’t have dinner, I stopped and picked up a powdered doughnut and a cup of coffee on the way to see Vinny. The doughnut was stale and the coffee was lukewarm and I spilled some on my crotch in the car so it looked like I’d pissed on myself.

  I drove down Wooster Street, noting the activity at Sally’s and Pepe’s and at Libby’s. I had an immediate craving for a cannoli, but it probably wouldn’t sit well on top of the doughnut. If I was lucky, Vinny could get me a slice of pepperoni pizza. My pants waist was a little tight anyway so it wouldn’t matter. With Tom breaking up with me, getting beat up, being way too confused about Vinny, and my job on the line, putting on a few pounds was the least of my worries.

  I eased into a parking spot in front of Vinny’s parents’ place, but before I was even out of the car, Vinny’s hand was under my elbow, helping me out.

  “Anyone follow you?”

  “Give me a break.” He led me around the back of the building, opening a back door. I stepped into the darkness and squinted, hoping my eyes would adjust quickly so I wouldn’t trip on anything.

  “I’m not kidding.” His voice was serious.

  “No, at least I don’t think I was followed.”

  I tried to shake off his hand, but it got tighter.

  “There’re stairs here.”

  No shit. I managed to keep myself upright while stumbling down three of them. I felt a strong arm around my waist and I regretted the doughnut.

  We went through another door and a light turned on, blinding me. “What the fuck . . .”

  I blinked a couple of times and when I focused, I saw the room was full of boxes, canned tomatoes, olives, all the wonderful stuff that makes pizza. My mouth started to water.

  “There’s no time to eat. Didn’t you get supper?” I hated it when Vinny read my mind. Or maybe he saw the saliva dripping out of the corner of my mouth.

  I shrugged. I wasn’t going to admit to my unhealthy meal. “What are we doing?”

  “I’ve got a meeting set up.”

  “Torrey?”

  “No.” Vinny stopped riffling through some papers on one of the boxes and stared at me. “Are you on drugs or something tonight?”

  “Tom just broke up with me.”

  His face changed for just a second before the grin was back. “His loss.”

  I sighed.

  “Hey, I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “Believe it or not,” Vinny said simply. “Let’s get to work. I need to find Torrey and fast.”

  “You mean you won’t get paid if you can’t get Torrey.”

  Vinny smiled that long, sexy smile that made my knees weak. “That’s what I like about you, Annie. You’ve got my number.”

  “And your fiancée doesn’t?”

  “I don’t want to talk about her. We don’t have time to get into it now.”

  “You screwed up my cow story.”

  “Stop changing the subject.”

  “I don’t know why I’m here. Why don’t you just let the feds find Torrey?”

  “Hickey’s waiting for us. We can’t be late.”

  “Hickey?”

  Vinny nodded. “Okay, quickly, this is what’s up. Hickey and Torrey go way back; they went to high school together.” He winked. “Kind of like you and me.”

  I didn’t want to think about it. “Okay,” I prompted.

  “After they both got out of college, different colleges, Hickey managed to start up a lucrative business for himself, and Torrey went off to law school. They hooked up again a few years ago at a school reunion. Hickey had one of his girls with him.” He paused. “Torrey went home with her.”

  “Torrey told me he never paid for the girls,” I said. “He’s kind of good-looking, if you like that type, he’s rich, he’s got a job.” I remembered how he’d sucked me in for that split second; I still couldn’t explain it.

  “He’s a control freak,” Vinny said. “He likes the young girls because he can control them.” He paused, and I wondered if there was something else to it. Something uglier. But Vinny just shrugged. “Anyway, you’re right, Torrey’s never paid for it, at least not in the way we’d normally think. He offered Hickey a business proposition in return for the girls, and, being Hickey and greedy, he went along with it. Hickey’s been laundering money through his business for Torrey, along with some of Torrey’s other buddies. The feds got one of them this afternoon, but they still don’t know where Torrey is.”

  “And you do? Come on, Vinny, he’s probably in South America by now.”

  “Actually, he’s in Italy.”

  I was impressed. It seemed like he really knew this for a fact. “Are we going to Italy? I’ve always wanted to go there.”

  “Not yet, maybe one of these days, but I’ve got a meeting set up with someone who can lead us to him.” Vinny picked up a set of keys. “Come on, we’re taking my dad’s car.”

  We went back up the stairs, the smell of pepperoni invading my nostrils. My stomach grumbled loudly.

  “Oh, Christ, you should’ve eaten before you came.” Vinny left me alone in the hall, disappearing toward a distant light. I stayed put. I didn’t want to run into his mother again. I had the distinct impression she didn’t like me too much. She was probably best friends with Rosie.

  Vinny’s silhouette filled the doorway and he opened the door. I followed him, not seeing the pizza box until he put it on top of an old Buick. I pulled the top open and felt hot steam hit my face.

  I grabbed a piece before he took the box and put it in the car. The tomato sauce moved down my throat and I groaned. I couldn’t help it. It just came out.

  “I didn’t realize a pizza could give you an orgasm.” He started the car.

  I couldn’t think of anything smart to say back, and anyway, my mouth was full of pizza. I didn’t see where we were going until I swallowed the last bite.

  “This isn’t the best neighborhood,” I thought out loud, moving my hand to lick the last of the sauce off.

  That’s when Vinny took my wrist and guided my fingers into his mouth.

  “Pretty good sauce,” he said when he was done. I gripped the armrest and tried to keep myself from lunging at him. Men think about baseball, but the only thing that came to mind was Dick Whitfield sitting at my desk, using my phone and my pens. It had the same effect.

  “We’re here,” Vinny said casually.

  I peered out into the darkness at a row of storefronts. “Here?” Grand Avenue is not known for its hospitality at night.

  I saw a shadow move and instinctively pulled back.

  “It’s Hickey.” Vinny was out of the car.

  I opened the door and stepped carefully onto the sidewalk. As a cop reporter, I spend a lot of time in dicey neighborhoods, but I’m always cautious. Hickey’s protruding stomach made me a little more relaxed.

  “You didn’t say she was coming along.” I noticed he didn’t seem too upset about it.

  “Might help.”

  “Might not.”

  They were worse than a Laurel and Hardy routine.

  “I am here,” I said. “You don’t have to talk about me like I’m not. And can someone please tell me what the game plan is?”

  Vinny and Hickey were walking, shall we say, briskly up the sidewalk. I was glad I was wearing my flat shoes. Pumps would’ve killed me. I wanted to whine a little more about how they were keeping me in the dark, but I was still a little hungry and very tired. I wished all this detective stuff could wait until morning.

  They turned into an alley, and I had no choice but to follow them. We went through a door and up some stairs. Hickey turned on a small light on a desk. There were five phones, notebooks full of pen marks scatte
red about.

  “Welcome to Come Together,” Hickey said proudly.

  “Nice digs,” I said, sitting down. We should’ve brought the rest of the pizza up.

  “We’re not staying long,” Vinny warned.

  Hickey picked up a phone, dialed and hung up. “She’s got a pager,” he told me.

  “Who?”

  Vinny shook his head. “For a smart person, you’re really being stupid.”

  “Can’t you give me a little clue about what the fuck we’re doing here?”

  “I love it when she talks dirty,” Vinny told Hickey, who made an obscene gesture just as the phone rang.

  “Twenty minutes. Twin Pines Diner.” That was the place I met Hickey for the first time. What was it he’d said? Something about meeting all his girls there. I wasn’t sure I was going to like this.

  Hickey turned off the light, throwing us back into darkness.

  “Couldn’t someone have brought along a flashlight?” I asked.

  They acted again as if I wasn’t there. If I was only good for a joke, they shouldn’t have brought me along.

  We got back to Vinny’s car, and he turned to Hickey. “Your car’s close by?”

  Hickey nodded. “You follow me.” He moved down the sidewalk to his car.

  I slid into the front seat of Vinny’s car, and Vinny started the engine. We watched Hickey pull out into the street.

  “Okay, here’s the story,” Vinny started as the car lurched forward, throwing me nearly into his lap. “Sorry,” he said.

  I took a deep breath, but didn’t say anything.

  “One of Hickey’s girls is with Torrey. She called her sister and told her where they are, said she needs some money, wants to get out of there before the feds come in after Torrey. I guess she’s gotten cold feet about the whole thing. She told her sister to call Hickey, she trusts him, and he’ll know what to do.”

  “Why doesn’t the sister just send them some money?”

  “She doesn’t have any. Apparently she’s just a kid in high school.”

  I thought for a second. “Why didn’t Torrey’s girlfriend call Hickey herself? Are you sure it’s on the up-and-up?”

  “Hickey says he hasn’t heard from her since the night you met Torrey on Orange Street. I did some checking and she flew under her own name to Rome that night on an Alitalia flight. When she called her sister, she said she didn’t want to risk Torrey finding out that she wants out. She must know Torrey’s guys have been watching Hickey.”

  “But Hickey told me that he can’t get at his money.”

  Vinny chuckled. “He tried that with me, too. But there seems to be another bank account, one the feds didn’t find.”

  I shook my head. “Jesus, I can’t keep this straight.” I paused, then asked, “So where do you and I come in?”

  “We’re Hickey’s beards.”

  “We’re what?”

  “He set this up to meet the sister, but we’re going to make it look like he’s meeting us. Torrey’s guys already know that we’ve been in contact with Hickey, so it won’t look out of the ordinary if we meet him. Then, while we’re in there with him, this girl can slip him the information and no one will be the wiser.”

  I shook my head. “I’m still a little confused how you and Hickey managed to hook up on this. And why you’re helping him.”

  “I talked to him after Melissa died, and he was scared. He’s pretty sure Torrey killed her, and he made the stupid mistake of telling Torrey he’d been taping their conversations and threatened to take the tapes to the cops.” Vinny paused. “So when I showed up, he offered to help me get Torrey, and in return, I’d do what I could to help get him off as easy as possible.”

  “Jesus,” I whispered.

  “He gave me the tapes, but I started noticing that I was being followed. That’s why I wanted to meet you at my office that day and give the tapes to you.”

  “Don’t do me any favors. I got a threatening note, was almost abducted, and I didn’t even have the tapes then.”

  Vinny scratched his head. “I don’t understand that, either. Torrey must have thought I’d told you all this before.” He reached over and touched my cheek. “I’m sorry.”

  “These tapes had better be worth all this.” I was trying not to notice that his fingers had sent electric shocks through my body.

  “He’s got Torrey on everything. I’m surprised Torrey didn’t figure out what Hickey was doing, but he probably thought he was stupid and wouldn’t risk his own business.”

  “So why did he?”

  “Why did he what?”

  “Why did Hickey risk his business to make the tapes?”

  “Why do you think?”

  Okay, I wasn’t too fast on the uptake. “To save his own ass.” I paused a minute. “But didn’t you say they were friends?”

  Vinny chuckled. “As only criminals can be. Hickey isn’t stupid, and he knew Torrey well enough to know he’s a slick son of a bitch and would sell him up the river without even thinking twice if the shit hit the fan. Hickey wanted to get him first.”

  “So what are you getting out of this tonight?”

  “Torrey’s location.”

  “And I’m here, why?”

  Vinny’s eyes glanced from the road to me, and I could feel his stare. He smiled. “I like your company.”

  “Give me a break.”

  He laughed, then grew quiet. “I wanted to keep an eye on you. Torrey’s getting antsy, he trashed my office, he did try to abduct you, who knows what he’ll try next. If you’re with me, then at least I feel like I can protect you.”

  “But I was alone after I left you at the cow hospital until I met you at your parents’ place,” I said.

  Vinny smiled. “Only some of the time.”

  Shit. He was following me again. I think he was trying to make me feel better, but it didn’t work.

  “Why didn’t you tell Hickey I was coming along?”

  Vinny shrugged. “Don’t worry about him. He’s cool about it.”

  I wasn’t sure I was “cool” about it, but my curiosity was getting the better of me. And the thought that I could maybe salvage my dying career with an exclusive story out of all this. I’d never done anything like this before. Some reporters lived at homeless shelters for a week to write stories about their experiences; some hung out with drug addicts to get inside their world. I started out as a town reporter, covering planning and zoning commissions, before moving into the city to cover the court beat, which is pretty cut-and-dried. I made the change to cop beat about four years ago, but I was always an observer, not a participant in any illicit incidents. The butterflies in my stomach seemed to have a double meaning: I was scared, but excited at the same time.

  We pulled into the diner’s parking lot behind Hickey. The lights in the lot were out, bathing us in darkness. There was only one other car, on the other side of a Dumpster in the back. We got out of the car, and I glanced at Route 1, which was about a hundred feet away. A couple of cars whizzed past, but it certainly wasn’t rush hour. They probably didn’t even see us tucked back here near the trees.

  Hickey was a few steps ahead of us.

  “Annie.” Vinny turned to me, but before he could say anything else, something whizzed past my ear, and Vinny pushed me to the ground. He reached behind him, and I saw a flash of silver in his hand.

  “What the fuck?” I managed to say just before I heard a popping sound nearby.

  “Christ, someone’s shooting at us,” Hickey muttered, the panic rising in his voice. He was on the ground, too.

  “Where the hell is the shooter?” I heard myself shout.

  More pops. They were coming from the back of the parking lot, near the Dumpster.

  Vinny’s gun exploded near my ear. “Stay down,” he said harshly. I wasn’t about to get up.

  Suddenly it was quiet. Vinny grabbed my arm. “Get back to the car. Now!” he shouted, and I pulled myself up. I don’t remember getting into the car, but I was sandwic
hed in the back on the floor between the front seat and Hickey’s stomach as he lay on the seat facing me. In seconds we were moving, Hickey’s flesh pillowlike against my back, Vinny’s neck tense as the car careened out onto Route 1.

  “So I guess Torrey wants us dead,” I said sarcastically once my voice came back. I climbed over the seat into the front. “They were waiting for us in the dark. It was a fucking setup.”

  Hickey drew in a breath. “She didn’t know you were coming. She thought it was only me and Vinny. So we’re the dead ones.”

  Vinny’s mouth was set in a hard line. “No one’s going to die.” He turned to me. “Are you all right?”

  I nodded. I didn’t even have time to think about what was happening, which is probably why I didn’t wet my pants.

  “Hickey, you okay?” Vinny asked. The car was pulling onto Interstate 95 over the Quinnipiac River bridge (how had we gotten this far so fast?) and we pulled off at Hamilton Street.

  “Yeah,” Hickey said quietly. “Sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Vinny said. “Obviously, she had us both going.”

  We watched the buildings move along beside us until Vinny turned onto Chapel Street, up toward Wooster Square. He pulled up in front of my building and all the doors opened at the same time. I waved them back. “Come on, guys, I think I can make it up to my apartment okay on my own.” I sounded brave, but I was thinking about the ambush and hoped they would insist on coming with me.

  I tried to act pissed off as they walked me up to the door. I saw Amber’s curtain move and Walter’s light flicker.

  I unlocked the door and the three of us rushed up the stairs, not caring if we made noise. I turned the key in my door and opened it. The light switch was just over to the right, and I flipped it.

  It was worse than Vinny’s office had been. The couch cushions were ripped, their insides strewn about the room. My books were in a heap on the floor, I could see bindings were broken. A favorite glass vase from my grandmother was in pieces next to my rocking chair, which seemed to be the only piece of furniture untouched. I felt a sob rise in my throat, and I forced it to change into “What the fuck?”