Graves took a long look at me before answering. “He got perforated at his pad by a chopper squad. From all reports it looked like Moe Flacco’s crew did the deed. Earlier this evening they took a major hit by an unidentified synoid killing machine. Word out is that Pike was responsible.”
“So what goes around comes around. What does that gotta do with me?”
Graves paced back and forth, frowning. “I know that Pike was the one who set up the hit on the Luzzattis. His unexpected death is mighty convenient… for you.”
I shrugged. “Someone just saved me the trouble, that’s all.”
Graves glared. “Then there’s the hit on Big Louie, who was the handler for the Luzzatti murder. Seems he was toasted at his pad earlier as well. You wanna tell me where you were around that time?”
“Not really. But I’m sure I was nowhere near Big Louie’s joint. I was in a bit of a bind with a young lady who needed protection, remember? Didn’t have time to knock off any marks. I’ve been tied up looking for the Red-Eyed Killer. Unless you got any surveillance or eyewitnesses…?”
Graves seemed ready to explode. “The only witness was a bruno named Joey. He barely made it out of the building alive. We asked if you were the one who did the hit.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And…?”
He exhaled heavily. “He said there was a gas leak. Swore it on his mother’s grave. As if a lowlife skel like him has a mother.”
“Well it sounds to me like it’s an open and shut case, Captain. So why am I in bracelets?” I held up my bound hands.
Graves jabbed a finger at me. “You just murdered a woman in cold blood. No way you’re beating that charge.”
“I defended myself against a cold-blooded assassin who was gunning for me. Surveillance will show that clearly, as I’m sure you’ve already seen.”
Graves finally lost it and let me have it with a right cross to the jaw. I wish I could say it was a love tap, but I’d be lying. The room flickered like someone messed with the lights. But it was just my consciousness trying to figure out if I was knocked out or not. Somehow I managed not to topple out of the chair.
Because that would have been embarrassing.
Graves leaned down, breathing coffee and tobacco in my face. “That feel familiar, Mick? Sort of like the shot you gave my man at your door, remember? You assaulted my men tonight. Made fools out of them to boot. You think you can get away with embarrassing the shield? Think again. I don’t care what other charges I have to bring against you. I’ll lock you up until I can create some. But you’re going down. Count on that.”
I shook my head to clear some of the fuzziness. “You really wanna go that route, Graves? The way I see it, the shield would be better off with letting me walk.”
“I’m really not concerned with the way that you see it, Mick. But say that I do. Why would I even consider handing you your walking papers?”
“Call it a favor. You let me walk and I tell all the newsies that are crowding around outside that I was working with you boys on the case. That with your help we were able to put down one of New Haven’s most notorious hitmen. You get to smile and get some positive public relations for a change. This town needs some good news right about now. With decent folks like the Luzzattis being slaughtered and the Mob at the boiling point, this might help cool things down a bit. Tip the scales in your favor, if you catch my drift.”
Graves rubbed his chin. “And I take it that if I stomp on your little con and lock you away that…”
“…I got a few friends around town. People who will make sure to leak the news to the press. Something about how you knew who was behind the Luzzatti’s murder and you did nothing but cool your heels. That might make a few folks scratch their heads a bit. Might be just the incentive for someone to do a little digging and find out why the Captain was personally involved in overseeing the scene. I’m not suggesting any shady business was going on, but you never know how the press might wanna flip a story.”
Graves’ expression was dark as thunderclouds, but the cold gleam in his eye told me all that I needed to know. He looked around. “All right boys, take a hike. Give me a little time alone with Mr. Trubble.”
After they cleared out, he tapped a sequence on his holoband. The cuffs unlocked and levitated back to his waiting hand. “You’re a lot smarter than I took you for, Mick. I don’t know how you pulled this off, but I’ll be watching you a lot closer from now on. You better get out of here before I lose my cool. If I ever clap eyes on you again, you’d best believe it’ll be because you’re behind bars.”
I placed my Bogart on my head and tilted it just the way I like it. “Understood, Captain. I’d say it’s been a pleasure… but it hasn’t.”
“Where’s the girl, Mick?”
“Safe. That’s all I can tell you.”
He nodded. “Good. You may not believe this Mick, but I didn’t have a part in any of what went down. I have a job to do, and that’s to control the damage when something like that happens. And that’s not easy when you have someone throwing a monkey wrench in your plans.”
“You’re right, Cap. I don’t believe it.” I gave him a final nod and turned to the door, where shouting voices and flashing cameras waited.
“Mick.”
I paused, hoping I hadn’t pressed my luck too far. But when I turned, Graves just looked at me somberly.
“How in the hell did you get over on the Red-Eyed Killer? Everyone who’s tried before has ended up catching a case of the New Haven Blues. How’d you get that shot off?”
“Luck of the draw, Captain. Just plain and simple luck of the draw.”
Chapter 11: Case Closed
Once I laid it on thick with the newsies, I finally made it back to my new best friend in the world. Maxine gleamed like polished onyx and opened her door to welcome me. I slid in and exhaled. I was wasted, barely able to lift my legs and pull them into the ride.
“Much obliged, Maxine. You’re a lifesaver, you know that?”
“Just performing my functions as programmed, Mr. Trubble. It is a pleasure.”
“All the same, I’m grateful. Now how’s about taking me over to La Lupanar. I got a very special lady friend that I need to meet up with.”
“As you wish, Mr. Trubble.”
We were only on the road for a few minutes before a call rang in.
“Go ahead, Hunter.”
His expressionless face appeared on the dash screen. “I take it that your mission was successful.”
“Thanks in large part to you. I owe you one for taking out Flacco’s crew. Normally I don’t put out hits like that, but the Black Company are the worst type of animals.” I thought about the Red-Eyed Killer. “Well, close to the worst, anyhow. Multiple rapists, murderers, and psychos. The world’s a better place without ‘em.”
“The justification for the targeting of marks is of no consequence to me. I do the job that I’m programmed for. For that, you owe me nothing.”
“Well, I guess I’ll see you around, Hunter.”
“Yes. You definitely will.” He flickered out.
I didn’t particularly like the ominous tone of his words, but I had to be grateful for him just the same. When it comes to unstable assassin synoids, it’s a lot better to have one on your side instead of the alternative.
It wasn’t more than a few minutes before another call patched through. Frankie Newman’s amused face flickered on the screen.
“Mick Trubble.” He said my name like it was a secret joke between us. “I must say that I underestimated you. You’re just as efficient as… as someone else that I knew once. Anyway, I’m just dying to know how you managed to put her down.”
“You knew the Red-Eyed Killer was a dame?”
“I know a lot of things, Mick. Except how you did it. You owe me that much, at least.”
Well, he was right about that. Without his info I might have still been running around New Haven with the brass on my tail.
“You’re familiar with the
remote trigger?”
“Of course. Used by assassins and triggermen everywhere. But it requires that one actually be synched to the trigger in order to activate it. I hacked the Black Dahlia’s surveillance, but from what I saw you didn’t make a move when the Red-Eyed Killer went for her key gun. But your piece under the table fired a perfect shot, even compensating for having to penetrate the table’s surface. Hit her right between the eyes. So how’d you pull that one off?”
“I had the trigger synched to Maxine.”
“Maxine…?”
“My brand new set of wheels, courtesy of the late Mr. Pickens. Say hello to Frankie, Maxine.”
“Hello Mr. Newman.”
“Um… hello.” Frankie grinned as the understanding sank in. “Mick, you sly dog. Maxine is programmed with an auto defense system, isn’t she?”
“You called it right, Newman. With that system synched to the remote trigger, it was duck soup for Maxine to fire the shot when she sensed that I was in danger. I didn’t have to lift a finger. I warned the Red-Eyed Killer. Really didn’t wanna have to put her down, once I found out she was a dame.”
Frankie’s brow furrowed. “You have a problem with killing a woman that would have gladly torn your heart out and handed it to you? I don’t understand.”
“Soft spot. It’ll probably be the death of me one of these days.”
“Well luckily today wasn’t the day.” Frankie gave me one of those calculating looks of his. “So through all of this did you have any… breakthroughs with your memory? Anything come back to you about your missing past?”
“Nope. Why would it?”
“Just a theory, Mick. I figured that you lost your memory in an obvious moment of extreme trauma. So if you experienced another type of extreme trauma like say the murder of your only friends, then you might possibly get your memory back. Or at least parts of it.”
“What? How would you be able to prove something like that unless…?”
“Like I said, Mick. Just a theory. Obviously an incorrect one at that. I offer you my congratulations. Stop by the Gaiden sometime. Your drinks are on my tab.”
He winked and signed off, leaving me with a few alarming thoughts that I didn’t wanna give credit to. There was no way Frankie could have been involved. He was just a stoolie. Just a nightclub crooner with an ear to the wind. Manipulating an entire murderous scheme just to jolt my memory was way beyond his means. He didn’t have the means or motive to orchestrate a high stakes grift like that.
It just wasn’t possible.
“Haven’t seen you in a while.”
Desiree was one of those dames that you see in advertisements or on the picture screen. She had one of those flawless faces that you never expect to see in real life, and a taut, curvy figure that turned heads from men and women alike. With looks like that I’d figure a dame could go anywhere she pleased with some rich chump bent over her wrist and worshipping the ground she walked on.
But Desiree was a working girl. Specifically at La Lupanar, where I’d gotten to know her quite well in the months after waking up on the riverbank. Something went wrong on her way to furs and feathers, something tragic that she hid behind her perfect features and night-colored eyes. Beauty can attract in various ways, and if a dame isn’t aware of that early on, a lot of men will take possession of all that beauty and grind out everything innocent and decent about a lady before dumping her in their past.
“I’ve been busy, sweetheart. I’m sure you barely noticed I was gone.”
“I noticed.” Her eyes glanced downward to hide her sudden vulnerability. “I… heard that you brought a girl here. You coming back for her?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I guess I won’t be seeing you anymore.” Her eyes met mine, searing with scorn and tiny slivers of regret. You’d thought I’d have learned by then, but somehow I always managed to hurt a moll even when I went out of my way to keep things as detached as possible.
But she was right. I’d changed somehow. Natasha had crept up on me and invaded the walls of my solitude. Even though I knew that I could never have her, she was still that jewel that shined in the darkness somewhere, safe so long as I never touched it.
“I guess so. I’m sorry, doll.”
Desiree tossed her head back. “For what? It was only business, right Mick? Just a transaction to you.”
“Desiree.” Madam Esmeralda’s face was stern as she looked from the doorway of the private quarters. Desiree’s face flushed, and she turned away without another word. I watched her go. It was like watching a dream fade away in the sunlight.
“You must excuse her.” Esmeralda gestured for me to follow her. “Being devoid of attached feelings is the hardest thing for women in this profession to master.”
“I don’t blame her. I understand how she must feel.”
“Do you? It appears to me that you do not understand, or you would never habit a place such as this. You think that you’re paying for the company of a lady. The reality is that you pay for the opportunity to leave. No fuss, no emotional mess to trouble your already calloused conscience.”
I winced. “You must think of men like me as the lowest of the low.”
Esmeralda’s eyebrows rose. “You nearly set this city on fire to avenge a friend and protect a woman that you care about, Mr. Trubble. So what does that say about you?”
“That it’s safer not to get on my bad side.”
“Or that there is more to you than you allow yourself to believe.” Esmeralda studied my face. “You are dangerous, Mr. Trubble. Dangerous and complicated. But at the same time you live by a personal code of honor. Your heart is not yet so cold that you do not care about others. That’s hard to find in a city like this, so far be it for me to judge you. We all have virtue and vice in our character. The degree to which we indulge either makes us who we are.”
We stopped at the end of the hallway. Esmeralda gestured at the door. “Your lady friend is inside. She hasn’t spoken about the incident since you left. I don’t know what she remembers about it. But I do know that it has damaged her deeply, and I am not sure if she will ever be as you knew her before.”
I nodded. “Takes time. Maybe she’ll come around.” I placed my hand on the doorknob.
Esmeralda stepped closer. “You know that you can never have her so long as your life remains as it is, Mr. Trubble. She doesn’t need to experience any more pain than she has already endured.”
“I know. She won’t get any grief from me, I promise.”
Esmeralda tilted her head and studied my face. “What will you do?”
“Whatever I can. Thanks for looking out for her. I owe you one.”
“See that she is cared for and you owe me nothing. Farewell, Mr. Trubble.” Her hair and the tiny fringes on her dress sashayed in time with her swaying strides as she sauntered back down the hallway.
I opened the door and stepped inside. Natasha had all the lights at their brightest. She sat in a chair in front of a painting canvas that someone had set up on a stand for her. She had changed into a dress obviously loaned to her from one of the working girls. Meant to be seductive and enticing, on Natasha it was almost innocent with the exposure of her pale legs and bare shoulders. Her eyes were lost, her fingers on their own as they applied broad strokes of paint to the abstract work of angry blacks and reds.
She spoke without looking up from her work. “Case closed, Mick Trubble?”
I exhaled a sigh as I sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her. It was a relief to hear her voice. To know that she wasn’t so far gone as I had feared.
“That’s right, sweetheart. Case closed.” I paused, because I didn’t know what to tell her. She was safe, and the people responsible were taken care of, but that couldn’t heal the scars that would be forever branded on her consciousness.
“I’m glad it’s over. It’s been awful lonely over here. Are you taking me back home soon?” Her voice was distracted as she determinably focused on the painting.
> “I don’t know, Natasha. I’m not sure that home will be good for you right now.”
“I know I won’t be going back to the apartment. It’s… ruined.” Her paintbrush flicked red spatters across the darkened surface of the canvas. “But I can move into another apartment, Mick Trubble. The one across from yours is vacant.”
She never mentioned her parents. It was as though the Red-Eyed Killer had erased them from Natasha’s memory.
“Not fair.” I removed my Bogart and scrubbed my fingers through my hair. “It’s just not fair. I’m sorry, Natasha. I’m so sorry…”
I remembered the way Mrs. Luzzatti’s eyes would light up as she laughed at something that Luzzatti said. The quiet moments that Luzzatti and I spent on his terrace outside, drinking and watching the air traffic go by. The inquisitiveness of a young lady just blooming into the woman that she’d become. All of that taken away… by what? Greed and bad business.
I winced and massaged my temples with my hand.
Big Louie was toast. Pike got his. And the Red-Eyed Killer? I could still see the shocked expression on her face when she died. Everyone who’d been in on the Luzzatti hit was rubbed out. I should have felt some kind of satisfaction in that. It wasn’t fair that all I felt was emptiness.
That’s when it really hit me. In all that had happened, I had been so caught up in the fallout that I’d avoided the impact of the Luzzatti’s murder. My actions had changed nothing. Whether I went after the killers or left them alone –it didn’t matter. The Luzzattis were dead, and their daughter in a state of mental shock. Nothing that I could do would ever change that. Nothing I could do for Natasha would ever fill that emptiness that she’d experience for the rest of her life.
The whole thing was pointless. And there was nothing that I could do about it.
The Troubleshooter: Red-Eyed Killer Page 7
