Rick Cantelli, PI: Into the Darkness (Rick Cantelli, P.I. Detectives Book 3)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “If you’re all done tickling each other’s balls, show me what you got sweetie, or go sit your pussy ass down.”

  I didn’t want a broken hand, so when homey launched, I nailed him with a beauty right in the sweet spot under his sternum. He dropped choking, gasping, and sobbing for breath. I kicked him in the face while smiling at his companion. “How about you, sweetpea? You want a little pain to go along with your disrespect for the elderly?”

  Sweetpea considered options amidst the laughter from the tank inhabitants who liked my style much more than the ‘bangers. I felt the meanness rising when he hesitated. I pointed at him. “Take this dolt into the corner, sit on the floor, and don’t make a sound. Otherwise, I end you, pussy, along with your hopes and dreams to hump someone else’s leg unexpectedly.”

  Sweetpea lost control of his better sense. When he bull rushed me, I slipped around, gripping his neck in a soon to be end to his pathetic life.

  “Don’t kill him, Rick!”

  I recognized Bill’s voice. I hesitated past the time of rage and hatred for petty fucks who drove regular citizens into insanity. I picked him up and slammed him into his curled cohort. Playtime was over for me. I was a family man with responsibilities. I planned on building death and destruction if I didn’t get out of incarceration. I bent down and slapped a full intensity bitch slap across the top goon’s face.

  “Best pray my policeman friend gets me out of here. Otherwise, I am going to kick the crap out of you two morons for the fun of it.” I warned him.

  I waved at Bill. “Hey… how’s it hangin’, Bill?”

  Bill shook his head from side to side in disapproval. “C’mon out, Rick. Two of the guys you killed were wanted for murder in other states. Ramos was the gift that keeps on giving across multiple law enforcement agencies. They’re releasing you, Rick.”

  More than a few of my mates expressed their happiness for me. I waved. “I’m going to miss you guys.” I pretended to sob in distress to loud laughs and hoots.

  When we were headed away from the tank, I expressed my gratitude. “Thanks, Bill. A release this quick could not have happened without your help.”

  “I hate to burst your bubble; but Lois had Cleaver raking facts, past arrests, and gangland connections within minutes of you arriving here. It blew the whole thing open with a neat little terrorist connection. Where the hell does she get this much clout?”

  “That’s need to know, Bill. Even I’m not on that know list. She has Cleaver on the pad for something, partner. I don’t know what, but that shark jumps when Lo indicates how high. I’ll at least harbor favorable thoughts you actually felt good about my release.”

  Bill stopped dead in his tracks, staring me in the face without flinching. “I’m on the pad too… it’s a never ending debt for rescuing my daughter from LA, Rick. A lot of bad guys have perished since you and Lo hit the outlaw trail because of Stacy. She’s been a catalyst even modern day science would find impossible to explain. I hope she doesn’t get you killed.”

  “Stacy’s the grandma of my grandson, Bill. Jim loves her. I’ve always loved her. Those facts dictate one course for me, and God help anyone threatening the three of us. I will explain all the extenuating circumstances to this latest crap in time, so you know where the puzzle pieces fit. That Ramos confronted me tonight at the restaurant with all those Casablanca Night fans, indicated he took it personally when his minions didn’t succeed in assassinating Stacy and I earlier. My guess is he kept pushing to see how far I’d go in allowing him to scoop Stacy away with the hopes he wouldn’t kill Jim. Did you recover the security videos of it?”

  “Yeah… they portrayed the scene close to the way you described it, but you goaded him, Rick.”

  “Actually… I was negotiating as Ramos had said he wanted. He went for his gun before I ever made a move for mine, and he had four soldiers backing his play. Did you get me out of lockup to play word games? Am I free to go or not? I didn’t gun down five men in cold blood, Bill. I’m not apologizing or doing penance for what I did tonight or earlier today.”

  We reached the collection point and Bill had my personal things returned to me. “Lo and Cleaver are waiting for you. Come in when you can and explain this to me, Rick.”

  “It’s a date.” I stuck out my hand. Only with the briefest of hesitation did Bill grip it in his own. “Thank you.”

  “I guess the new cliché between us will not be ‘no blood, no foul’. It will be ‘no innocents, no foul’. Honestly… I’m glad you’re free to go. I want to see where this new family takes you.”

  “You and me both, my friend. Will there be a service for Dane? I’ll want to pay my respects.” I left him laughing at least.

  * * *

  I waited until we were in Cleaver’s BMW before speaking. “Long time, no see, Cleave.”

  “You killed eight men today, Rick… eight men!”

  Lo leaned toward him. “One more sanctimonious word out of your mouth and I gut you like a trout! Rick’s done more in the service of his country, and the people he cares about, than you’ve ever done or could do if you lived to be a thousand years old, you ambulance chasing, needle dicked pinhead!”

  Cleaver waved Lo off gently with his right hand. “Easy, Lo. I know I’d be in jail or worse without you two. Sometimes it takes a moment to wrap my head around who you two are, and what you’re capable of. With the help of those security videos, the DA saw he had no chance of ever bringing Rick to trial, especially with the records of those men. Four were wanted men, and two were on the FBI’s watch list for terrorism. The others had already served time for armed robbery and assault.”

  Lo nodded and relaxed in her seat. “It’s good you understand reality. If I have to remind you of it one more time, I’m going to make it my duty to give you a new reality – a reality without BMW’s, mansion type houses, and country club memberships. You feel me?”

  Cleaver nodded enthusiastically. “Sure, Lo. I’ll have a course of action on the Arizona case by Monday too. We’ll need to let the media paint today’s happenings in a positive light. I’ll leak every bad thing those eight criminals have ever done since they came out of the womb. If you can get Bone to help me spread the word, that would be great.”

  “He’s already on it, shylock, but you have the right procedure outlined,” Lo replied. “Stay on it this weekend.”

  “Sure, Lo.”

  I saw we were heading toward my house. “Is everything okay otherwise?”

  “Yep. Stacy and Jim are at the house now with Bone and Trish. Frank’s there too, so we’ll have a little snort together and call it a night. How’s that sound?”

  “Like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.” I meant every word of it. “I think getting ripped away from my Casablanca Night party stole away my sense of humor. I nearly added two more lost souls to the tally in lockup.”

  “Damn, Rick… you think maybe a little of the Sana’a thing followed you back from overseas?”

  “Possibly. With gangsters coming out of the woodwork, and threatening the glimmer of light in the Cantelli-land shadows, I’m a little on edge. Is it okay to talk in front of the Shark.”

  “It better be or I’ll give him a Tijuana Haircut in the dark one late night.”

  “No need to get nasty, Lo,” Cleaver cautioned. “Everything you and Rick say in front of me is under client privilege. Whatever Rick has may help me to plot a course of action in the future dealing with these present happenings.”

  “Good enough.” I explained the whole thing to Lo, tying in Stacy’s involvement with Ramos, the subsequent witnessing of murder, and the fact it had been Ramos’s idea to send Trish after Stacy and Al Baylor, acting as Teddy Alvarez’s second in command.

  “That’s a dangerous power vacuum someone will fill shortly. You may have erased Stacy from the picture though. I can imagine what kind of action you were considering before Ramos decided to commit suicide.”

  “I hadn’t thought of anything as good as it played ou
t. I’m glad no one caught a stray bullet from the side shootin’ gangstas. Is it too much to dream once we adjust Jim’s child predator foster parents we may actually be able to do something mundane? After the last couple days, I’m beginning to miss installs. You have a good point about the power vacuum Ramos is leaving open. I wish there were some way we could help Bill break the stupid cycle, but it would involve martial law.”

  “You have it right,” Lo replied. “Best to enjoy the small victories and prepare for the worst. I wonder why Ramos didn’t have Stacy killed in prison.”

  “I thought about that. It may be he wanted to find out for certain if she had told anyone else where the drug dealer’s body was buried. That could explain why they didn’t start shooting in Jadie’s parking lot instead of trying to collect Stacy.”

  “You’ve filled in a lot of blanks for me, Rick. Why don’t we have a beach party tomorrow? You can stay in hiding there for the weekend until we take the first steps on the Byers’ child predator ring.”

  “Great idea, partner, but it will have to wait. Believe it or not, Stacy wants to keep her job at Godfather’s Cell. She works weekends. I’ll keep Jim safe by taking him in with his G-ma, and letting him pick out a cell-phone. I don’t want to chill out Stacy’s recovery. I’ll find out what days she has off. We’ll have an office party then at the beach house.”

  “It’s funny how that little boy has done what nothing else could. I’m actually starting to believe. What do you think, Rick?”

  “I’m living one day at a time on the Stacy front. The most promising was she didn’t want to quit her job. She knows I can get Jim anywhere he needs to be. I think she knows even with Jim and me helping here, she’ll need to stay occupied with something challenging. Finishing a prison stretch has helped her attitude. That’s for sure. With all the cons, crimes, and drugs, it’s amazing she’s still alive.”

  “I’ll second that,” Lo replied. “Well, here we are at your humble abode. Stay in touch, shylock, or picture me by your bed with a big razor sharp knife.”

  “That’s mean, Lo. Goodnight, Rick. I hope things work out for you and your family.”

  “Thanks, Cleave.”

  We walked together past my wounded palms in their concrete planter where they saved my ass when I had to kill Neil Garabaldi, Cheech’s whacko brother. While we stepped along in the past footsteps of gangbangers and contract killers, who tried to take me on the last roundup, I began to see where maybe Stacy and I were indeed joined in some odd violent manner.

  “I see you dredging past memories to mind on your walkway, Hooterville. This place has seen a lot of action since little Stacy rolled into town.”

  “It sure has. You don’t think they’ll stop trying to shoot me, and nuke the place from orbit, do you?”

  Lo was amused by that thought. “The gangsters don’t have an air force yet, but they could send someone to blow the homestead up old school with a few sticks of dynamite. I doubt it though. We’ll investigate the Ramos family tree, and make sure he doesn’t have any blood thirsty relatives we may have to eliminate.”

  I put my arm around Lois. “It’s a blessing to have a partner who knows some folks just need killin’.”

  “If you have Jim ambush me again at the workouts, it’ll be you worrying about the killin’. He got me good. That name, rank, and serial number was an ace, you prick.”

  “You should have seen him when we were practicing the gig. I thought I’d split a gut laughing. He had Stacy begging us to stop.”

  “He’s a treasure, Rick. We have to tone things down a bit with our Company crap, especially since they tried to Benghazi our asses.”

  “The only reason we’re both alive now is we never toned down anything when we were active. We’re active. Those connections we’ve won back will be hard to lose. I figure Stacy and I are on borrowed time anyway. Add in Jim’s misfortunes, and we make a pretty good case for playing out the string with our faces in the wind.”

  “Let it be so then, partner. If it all goes wrong,” Lo stated. “It’ll be a damn bloody accounting.”

  “Amen to that.”

  My front door popped open, and Jim shot through to grip me around the waist. “I’m glad you’re here!”

  I hugged him to me. Sometimes in life, no matter what kind of reprobate you are, the good Lord shines a pencil thin beam down upon your head, waiting for your reaction. With free will, we can immediately hold a hand up blocking the ray of hope, squinting our eyes against the light – or we can tilt our faces into the bright light for as long as it lasts. That’s what I did here. Lo wrapped her arms around both of us like a tuning fork.

  “We’re going to have some pretty good times ahead, I think,” Lo said. “C’mon inside, and your Pa and I will have a taste of the good stuff, while you explain to him how you bedeviled the poor young Temple until she was immersed in immoral thoughts of young boys.”

  “Huh?!” Jim burst away from us as the group at the door howled in laughter.

  Jim took one look at the doorway gang, and straightened with his hands at his sides, head down. “The Harpy got me, Pa. I’m so ashamed.”

  “It’s a process, young Jedi. She is a crafty beast I have fallen prey to many times.”

  “Aunt Lo… there will be blood!” Jim’s statement brought more hilarity. Lo put a guiding arm on his shoulders.

  “I expect nothing less. Let’s get inside and wind down this deadly day. You need to tone down your Pa. He nearly killed two more innocent gangbangers in lockup.”

  “Did not. What the hell happened to partner confidentiality?”

  “Jim needs to know what he’s facing in keeping you out of prison, you backslider.”

  Stacy hugged me as we finally passed the entrance. She didn’t speak, which was a very telling plus. I could feel her warmth, and heartfelt acceptance of being with us. Blurting out a lot of verbal crap meant for other ears was not the way to go. “It looks like we made it through another day, babe. Tomorrow, Jim and I will take you to work, and browse the store for his cell-phone much like any other citizens. We’ll have lunch with you, and figure out some other ways to stay out of trouble.”

  “That sounds wonderful, Rick.” She hugged me tighter. “God almighty! I thought they’d kill you right in front of my eyes earlier in Jadie’s parking lot. Jim was on top of me, protecting his useless piece of shit grandma the whole time until Trish hustled us away toward the building. Then those five tonight, led by Dane Ramos, show up at the restaurant, and it was all I could do to drag Jim into cover. He doesn’t only look like you… he is you.”

  Stacy backed away, rubbing at her eyes, while the laughter turned to quiet absorption around us. “C’mon in. You and Lo deserve a drink. I know without her help, you’d be facing murder charges instead of here with us now.”

  I thought about rebutting that statement, and then shrugged. “By all means, let’s sit down together. We’ve come a long way in the space of a couple days.”

  “Amen to that, my brother.” Frank shook my hand. “I doubted whether even Lo could get you out of lockup. I need to reassess my parameters regarding the woman I’ve loved for over four decades. It just goes to show - you learn something new every day.”

  “Yeah… I have to admit… she surprised me tonight, and I plan to take full advantage of it.” We all moved into my living room where the blessed elixir of the day stood full and proud with my shot-glass delivery system near it. I poured a shot for Lo and I. I clinked glasses with her. “Thanks, partner. You saved me from myself again.”

  “That’s what partners are for, especially after the decades we’ve put into this,” Lo replied. “It’s good to see you here with us.”

  The two of us threw down our celebratory shot, and poured more… for everyone… except Stacy. She hung onto Jim, using him as an anchor. It worked, and Stace seemed pleased as all of us toasted. I own no rose colored glasses. Stacy understood the tenuous thread she hung by with the others. With me, we had miles to go before we slee
p. She didn’t expect my trust or any favors. Those were given freely as the years of her recovery stretched on. She and I knew our positions with Jim in this intricate game of life. If we weren’t careful… we’d lose him.

  “Bone and I double checked all your security protocols,” Trish told me. “He says everything looks good on your monitors. I set your motion detectors to give you a buzz if anything crosses your property boundary, front or rear. It may wake you a few extra times, but it’ll be worth it until we sort through the aftermath.”

  “You can all stay with us,” Sam stated. “You’ve seen our place, Rick. We could go for days without crossing paths.”

  Damn… Trish’s guy is one standup dude. I could tell in his face he meant it. “I appreciate the offer. If things change for the worse, I’ll accept your offer gratefully for Stacy and Jim. Thanks, Sam.”

  “I think we should hit the child predator/lawyer tomorrow too, Rick,” Bone said. “I have enough on that clown to turn him a second after I show the goods. We’ll own him. He’ll help us with the Byers couple or his ass is goin’ to prison!”

  “Calm down, Timothy,” Carlene said soothingly, covering Timothy T-bone Griffin’s clenched left fist in both hers.

  “Excellent idea, brother.” I could tell Bone was all in on that child predator ring. It would be my place to make sure he didn’t rip the lawyer apart. “Let’s do it at three tomorrow afternoon. I’ll drop Jim off with Lo and Frank while we lean on him. We’re not paying those shitheads off. We’re going to end that ring.”

  “That’s what I wanted to hear, Rick!” Bone tried to relax his hands with Carlene’s help. “I hate to say this, but killin’ eight guys is going to be a tough case in child custody court. I sure hope your man Cleaver can fix things in court.”

  “Cleaver’s a lot of things,” Lo replied with a grin, “but in a courtroom, he’s damn impressive. We haven’t lost our otherworldly contacts with Homeland Security and the Company either. They had to scramble covering Rick’s unorthodox escape from Sana’a, but since they hung us out to dry, they’ll be real helpful. I have so much shit on the Company in regards to the Sana’a debacle, I could probably authorize an unsanctioned hit on the recently deceased Ramos’s cartel he was running.”