by Bill Bernico
“But I don’t want to pay protection money to those thugs.”
“You won’t,” Matt explained. “Just let them think that you will until I can get a line on both of them. Go on. I’ll be right here if either of them starts anything.” He opened his jacket to let Tony see the .38 revolver that hung from a shoulder rig under his arm.
Tony let himself out of the back office and walked to the front counter. He looked at Sal and told him to go back into the stock room for a minute while he talked to the men at the counter.
Matt turned to the woman and said, “I guess Tony’s a little busy now or he would have introduced us. My name’s Matt Cooper.” He offered his hand and Jessica shook it.
“Jessica Bard,” she said, smiling at Matt. “You really think you can help Tony with this problem?”
“I’m going to give it my best shot,” Matt said, stepping over to the curtain to watch the events at the front counter as they unfolded. He cocked one ear toward the front and could just make out what was being said.
“So, Mr. Navarro,” one of the men began. “Have you given any thought to my offer to provide protection for your lovely store?”
Tony just stared at the man but said nothing.
“Did you happen to notice the surf shop a few doors down?” the thug said. “Now there’s a guy who could have used our services. Poor bastard turned us down and now look what he’s got.” He turned to his partner and said sarcastically, “You think he’ll be more receptive today?” The partner smiled a maniacal smile.
“Look,” Tony said. “I’m just barely making a living as it is. I can’t afford what you’re asking.”
“You can’t afford not to pay it,” the man said. “Could you afford four sheets of plywood?”
Tony let out and exasperated breath. “How much do you charge for your services?”
The man laid a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Now you’re being smart,” he said. “I can give you our bargain rate of, oh let’s say, a c-note a week.”
“A hundred dollars a week?” Tony said. “That’s insane.”
The man grabbed Tony’s collar and yanked it toward him. “What’s that you say?”
From behind them the second man could hear a cylinder rotating and a hammer being cocked. Apparently the first man heard it, too, because he turned toward the source of the sound. Matt had the second man by the collar and had the barrel of his .38 stuck in the man’s ear. The second man didn’t move a muscle. The first man glowered at Matt.
“Let him go,” Matt told the first man, gesturing toward Tony.
The thug didn’t move.
“I said let him go—right now,” Matt repeated, removing the gun from the second man’s ear and pointing it at the first man.
The first man let go of Tony’s collar without looking at him. Tony stumbled backwards and hit the display rack behind the counter.
“Both of you, on the floor and spread your arms out,” Matt said.
Neither man moved so Matt tapped the second man on the back of his head with the barrel of his gun. The second man hit the floor and lay spread-eagle. Matt pointed his gun at the first man. “Come on, Leonard, you too.”
Leonard gave Matt a curious look. How could this stranger know his name? Leonard paused for a second before complying. Matt bent over and frisked both men, taking a revolver from the second man and an automatic from Leonard. He handed both guns to Tony. “Put those someplace safe.” Matt took wallets from each of the men, removed the licenses and tossed the wallets back on the floor. Matt stood back to read the names from the driver’s licenses.
“Leonard Romero,” Matt said, reading the first license. “Says here you’re twenty-three, Leonard. You want my advice? If you want to see twenty-four you’ll stay out of this store and leave Tony alone from now on.” Matt looked at the license again. “It also tells me where you live and you will never know when I might pay you a visit. Could be tonight, could be next month, but let me tell you, Leonard, when I do it won’t be for coffee, cookies and gossip.” Matt stepped on Leonard’s back and pressed. “Am I getting through to you, Leonard?” He tossed Leonard’s driver’s license back at the prone man and looked at the second man’s license.
“Gilbert Cobb, twenty-two, and what do you know; same address.” Matt tapped Leonard in his ribs with his shoe. “Is this your boyfriend, Leonard? He sure as hell ain’t your brother. Did he get you some nice flowers for Valentine’s Day?”
Leonard tried to get up but Matt stepped on his back again, pushing him to the floor with a thud as the air was forced out of Leonard’s lungs.
“Look, Len,” Matt said casually. “You and Gil there seem to be in the wrong business. The protection racket is out of your league. I’d say you’ve have bitten off more than you could possibly chew so why don’t you two just go find some other line of work that suits your personalities better because this one sure doesn’t.”
Neither man said anything so Matt bent down and tapped the back of Leonard’s head with his gun barrel. “Are you idiots listening to me? Come on; get up, both of you.”
Both men got to their feet but neither of them looked at Matt. Matt grabbed Leonard’s collar and pulled the man toward him. “If I hear that either of you has been back here bothering Mr. Navarro, I’ll nail plywood to both of your faces, and pricks like you will bleed. You got it?”
Still neither man said anything.
“Tell me you understand,” Matt said in a firmer voice. “I want to hear you say it.”
Both men said, “I understand,” almost in unison in a low, weak voice.
“Now get out of here and don’t come back, or I will exact my pound of flesh on both of you,” Matt ordered.
Leonard and Gilbert turned slowly toward the door. Matt took the opportunity to kick Leonard in the ass, sending him sprawling onto the sidewalk. Leonard got up, looked once more at Matt and then hurried away around the corner, Gilbert close on his heels.
Tony looked at Matt with wide-eyed admiration. “You think they’ll do what you told them?” he said.
“If they don’t, you’ve got two guns behind the counter now,” Matt said.
Jessica and Sal, who had been watching from behind the curtain, came up to the front counter. Jessica wrapped her arms around Tony’s neck and began to cry. Tony stroked her hair and told her not to worry. Tony turned to Matt. “I can’t thank you enough, Mr. Cooper.”
“I learned early on that if you’re not firm with certain people that they’ll take it as a sign of weakness and never stop bothering you. You just have to show them you mean business and they’ll leave you alone. Kind of like when a new guy goes to prison. The first day there he has to find the biggest, toughest, meanest guy there and beat the crap out of him in front of the other inmates. Once he does that, no one else will bother him.”
“But what if that biggest, toughest, meanest guy beats him up instead?” Jessica said.
Matt shrugged and spread his hands. “Well, then...”
“I get the picture,” Tony said. “I’ll just have to stay tough and keep those guns handy.” He retrieved the two handguns from behind the counter, stuffed the automatic in his belt and handed the revolver to Sal. “Keep that with you, Sal, just in case.”
All three of them were silent for a moment, not sure what to say next. Matt broke the silence. “You know,” he said. “I’ve lived in the Los Angeles area all my life and this is the first time I’ve been to Venice. I don’t know why I never got down here before. I mean, I’ve heard all about it since I was a kid but just never got around to visiting. Tell me, do they still have the canals here?”
Tony nodded. “Not as many as most people think,” he said, “but, yeah, the canals are still here. In that one neighborhood the canals take the place of streets. Most people who live on the canals have some sort of little boat to get around, but it’s not like it was in the old days with the gondolas and all. This city was supposed to have been modeled after Venice, Italy.” Tony walked to his front door an
d motioned for Matt to have a look outside. He pointed up the street. “See that building? Charlie Chaplin first did his ‘Little Tramp’ character in a movie they made there back in 1914.”
“No kidding,” Matt said. “I saw that one on TV just the other night. To think that movie’s more than a hundred years old.”
Tony pointed up toward the other end of the street. “Down there,” he started to say when the shot rang out. In less than a second a chunk of cement from the sidewalk splintered and bounced up, cutting into Jessica’s leg. She screamed, grabbed her leg and limped back into the shop, taking cover behind the counter. Sal was already crouching there, the revolver in his hand. Matt and Tony ducked back into Tony’s store, taking cover below the front window. Tony grabbed the automatic from his belt and knelt next to Matt.
“So much for the quality of mercy,” Tony said. “I should have shot those two when I had the chance.”
“Then you’d be the one going to prison,” Matt said.
Another shot drilled a clean hole through the front window, shattering two bottles of water on the shelf further into the store. Matt figured the shooter, whoever he was, had to be using a high-powered rifle. A handgun would have shattered the window to shards. Matt fished his cell phone from his pocket and flipped it open. Before he could dial he heard the sound of sirens in the distance getting closer. The shooting from outside suddenly stopped. There must have been a patrol car in the area.
Matt shot a quick glance at Tony, gesturing at the gun in Tony’s hand. “You’d better turn that one and the one Sal has over to the police when they get here. You don’t want to give them a reason to run you both in for possession of illegal firearms.”
Tony shook his head and handed the automatic to Sal. “Nothing doing, Mr. Cooper. I don’t want to be caught with my pants down again.”
“You’re making a big mistake, Tony,” Matt said. “But that’s up to you. I won’t say anything about the guns when they get here.”
Tony turned to Sal. “Stick ‘em both in the back room for now, Sal.” Sal took the weapon and disappeared behind the curtain in the back of the room. By the time he returned, the black and white cruiser was just pulling to a stop in front of Tony’s store.
Two cops that Matt didn’t know got out of the patrol car, their guns drawn. They cautiously made their way into the store, sweeping with their gun hands as they approached. As soon as they got inside, they saw Matt and Tony crouched on the floor. A second later Sal and Jessica stood up from behind the counter. The cops swung around and aimed their weapons at the two.
“Not them,” Tony said. “They work here. The shots came from somewhere out there.” He stood up and pointed to the neat little hole in the front window before turning around to show both cops the additional damage the bullet had done to the shelved water bottles.
“What happened here?” the first cop, an officer named Pettik said.
Matt stood now but had neglected to zip up his jacket. His underarm weapon was clearly visible now and the second cop, a man named Lawson caught a quick glimpse of it. He trained his .38 on Matt and said to his partner, “This one’s got a gun, Sarge.” He reached into Matt’s jacket and relieved Matt of his .38 revolver.
Sergeant Pettik turned to Matt and gestured at the gun his partner was holding. “Do you have a permit for that?”
Matt nodded, holding both hands up near his head. He pointed down at his hip and said, “I’m getting my wallet out so don’t get nervous.” Matt pulled his wallet out of his hip pocket using his index finger and thumb. The cops breathed easier when they saw the wallet. Matt opened it, pulled his carry permit out and handed it to the sergeant.
Pettik looked briefly at the permit and handed it back to Matt at about the same time Matt was handing over his P.I. license. With his wallet open now, the two cops could see his badge as well. Sergeant Pettik handed the P.I. license back to Matt and then gestured to his partner to return Matt’s gun to him. He turned to Tony, Sal and Jessica. “Now suppose you three break out some I.D. for me.”
Tony and Sal pulled their driver’s licenses from their wallets and handed them over to the cop. Jessica held up her index finger. “Mine’s in my purse behind the counter. She reached down under the counter and came back up holding her purse by the strap. He handed her license to the sergeant and he looked over all three, noting the names and birthdates on his notepad before handing them back.
“Now, suppose you tell me what happened here?” Pettik repeated.
Matt gestured toward Tony. “Maybe you should ask him. It’s his store. I’m just visiting.”
Pettik turned to Tony. “Okay, you tell me. What’s going on here?”
Before Tony could even open his mouth, Jessica jumped in and said, “There were two men here a few minutes ago. They were threatening Tony and Mr. Cooper there, threw them both out of the store. A few minutes later someone shot at us.”
Pettik switched his gaze from Jessica to Tony, waiting for input from him.
Tony nodded. “That’s exactly what happened all right. And at the risk of possibly talking to some of their comrades, I’ll tell you something else.”
“Their comrades?” Pettik said. “Just what are you implying?”
Tony looked over at Matt, who held up both palms in resignation. Tony turned back to Pettik. “Those two men that Matt threw out of here,” Tony began. “They said they came to offer me protection for my store.”
“Protection?” Pettik said. “From what?”
“Obviously from them,” Tony said, “But they said it in such a way as to not come right out and say they were talking about themselves. Did either of you see the surf shop three doors down? It’s the shop with the plywood nailed up over the windows. The owner’s name is Stephen and he told them to get out, that he wasn’t interested. That’s what happened to him.”
“Extortion,” Officer Lawson said offhandedly. “That racket’s as old as time.”
Pettik made a note of it and turned to Matt. “And just how do you fit into all of this. Mr. Cooper?”
Matt glanced at Tony and waited until Tony nodded once before answering. “Mr. Navarro there called me and asked if I could meet with him regarding his problem.”
Pettik looked at Tony. “And why didn’t you call the police when they first approached you?”
Tony explained what the two thugs had said about having someone inside the police department and that they would know if he talked to the police.
“That ruse is just as old as the protection racket itself,” Pettik explained. “Of course they’re going to tell you that. They’re counting on you believing them and that gives them the leverage they need. I can assure you that they do not have anyone on the inside of the Venice Police Department; not now, not ever.”
Tony exhaled deeply. “That’s a relief,” he said. “So can you help me and the other merchants around here?”
Sergeant Pettik grabbed the shoulder mic on his uniform and called in to the station, requesting a backup and a shooting team. He turned back to Tony. “We’ll find these guys,” he assured the merchant. “And when we do I intend to have a stern talk with them about the accusation of having a mole in the department.” He rested his hand on the butt of his revolver and then gestured to his partner. “Tape the area off and don’t let anybody near the place. The shooting team will be here shortly.”
Pettik laid a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Now suppose we go see your friend with the plywood window.”
Tony turned back to Matt. “I’m sorry, Mr. Cooper,” he said. “But the way this thing is turning out, it doesn’t look like we’re going to have that meeting with the other merchants. In fact, I’m not sure there’s even anything more for you to do. Would you just send me a bill for what I owe you and I’ll cut a check and get it out to you in the mail.” He reached out and shook Matt’s hand. “And thank you for everything.” He winked.
Matt looked at Sergeant Pettik. “Can I go now?”
Pettik tucked his notepad
back into his pocket and nodded. “We’ll call you if we have any further questions, Mr. Cooper.”
Officer Lawson stayed with Jessica and Sal while Sergeant Pettik walked Tony to the surf shop to have a talk with Stephen about his problem.
It took Matt the better part of an hour to get back to his office. It was a few minutes past one when Matt let himself into the office and hung up his jacket. Elliott was gone and Matt decided to use this time to relax after a stressful morning. He had just settled into his chair when he heard the first moan. He looked up, wondering where the sound was coming from. He got up, padded over to the window and looked down onto Hollywood Boulevard, thinking that the sound must have come from outside. There didn’t seem to be anything going on out there to warrant a sound like that. Matt returned to his desk and turned his attentions back to the bill he was making out for the time he’d spent with Tony Navarro.
A few seconds later he heard a similar moan and bolted out of his chair. This time he could tell where the sound was coming from. It was coming from behind Elliott’s desk. Matt hurried over to the source of the sound and found Elliott lying on the floor, moaning. His face was awash with pain and he was holding onto his hip. Next to him, Matt could see a brown liquid puddle on the floor. Next to that Matt saw the overturned cup with a little chocolate milk still in it.
“Dad, what happened?” Matt knelt next to his father, who was having trouble breathing. Every time he tried to move, his face contorted again and he made an effort to lie still. “It’s my hip,” Elliott said. “I think I broke it.”
“How?” Matt said.
“I dropped my cup and the chocolate milk spilled on the floor,” Elliott explained. “I slipped in it.”
“Good grief,” Matt said. “When did this happen?”
“I don’t know,” Elliott said. “I think it was eleven-thirty or so.”
Matt looked at his watch. It was one-fifteen. He turned his attention back to Elliott. “You’ve been lying here for more than an hour and a half? Why didn’t you call 9-1-1?”
