Damn… that was good. I watched my old time partner grinding Frank’s words into grist within the harpy mill of consideration for the love of her life. These two had been together so long, and under such adverse conditions, other relationships paled in comparison… at least in my mind. Lois broke into a nodding smile, grasping her soul mate’s hand. She looked up around the table at her companions and shrugged.
“Frank’s right. I’ve been on edge with that idiot judge who has it in for Rick and me, allowing Rocha to be released. She’s a perversion of justice rather than a guardian or interpreter of it. She gave no thought as to what the release of a cold blooded killer like Rocha could mean to innocent civilians, and even us less than innocent ones. I’ve let her actions ruin what was a terrific night of music and dinner with friends.” Lois grinned at Frank. “Sorry, baby.”
Frank didn’t say anything. He kissed her, with his hands framing her face. Apology accepted I concluded. Like I’ve always said, Lo can take it as well as dish it out. Karen and Jadie arrived at the table, Jadie looking much more in tune with reality. Lois was the first to speak as Jadie and Karen sat down.
“I deduce feelings and weaknesses in people with unerring ease. I went way overboard with the Trish Rocha thing. I should not have even mentioned it tonight, Jadie. Rick’s interactions with Rocha have always been geared to our survival. Bill here can tell you how dangerous she is. He already explained the requests he made for Rick to keep in contact with her. We’re at a loss since that moron in black robes is set to release her. Information, nuances of mood, stray indications of intent – they’re all vital when dealing with the release of this killer. Rick is our only connection to anything that might be going on in Rocha’s warped mind. That’s why he has to meet with her tomorrow in Victorville. In one way, I was way out of line for messing with you, because I knew how you would react to Rick’s meeting with Rocha. I’m sorry.”
Jadie stepped up. “I am a complete idiot. The bunch of us at this table have been through a hell of a lot together. It’s a blessing Captain Staley even shows up with all the goofball crap we have going amongst us. What Rick does is none of my business on so many levels, it’s goofy to even talk about it. I hope you can find out something that will help tomorrow, Rick.”
That’s a start in the right direction. “I’ll get a clue if I can. I plan on starting off with my Pernel apprehension fiasco, and night in the tank. I know what makes her laugh, so I’m sure she’ll be howling at my rendition. I’ll try and work in an agenda of what she wants to do after that. It will be complete guesswork and profiling, because she’s a stone cold killer, and a very intelligent one. No way am I going to get some admission of intent. We hit some rough interaction patches tonight. Let’s forgive and forget. Shit happens. It’s the pits that because of a personal vendetta this so called judge, Alexis Setteridge, has against Lo and I, she seems determined to free a proven killer. We’re left with dealing with the consequences. Believe me… I know most of this is too much information, but it had to be said.”
“You should think of some way to end this evening on a positive note, Rick,” our smartass Detective Captain decided to proclaim.
“Okay… I didn’t have to shoot anyone in the head.”
“Wow, Pop,” Temple said as the others laughed. “This is a very strange bunch if they think that was funny.”
I leaned over closer to Temple. “Haven’t you ever heard of ‘gallows humor’, kid?”
Temple shook her head no.
I smiled at her open mouthed, hanging on every word, furrowed brow concentration. “An illustration of ‘gallows humor’ would be my knowing I’ll be working with Lois all day, and smiling, thinking what a fabulous day I’m going to have.”
“Cantelli!”
* * *
Here I am at Victorville Federal Penitentiary. Trish and I have our own little table. She was never put on Death Row, or she would have been on the row at Chowchilla. We’ve always had an extra guard nearby, but they didn’t make her wear handcuffs and leg restraints. They should have, but nowadays, even treating contract killers with proper restraint is cruel and unusual punishment.
We hold hands when she sits, because Trish wants to. She told me the visit seemed intimate if she could hold my hand. When the visit ended, Trish always kissed me, and patted my cheek. Yeah, I kill people – in the past, in the relative present, and probably before I draw my last breath. I don’t put on some moral mask, believing I was better than Trish. She’s said more than once that we’re the same. No, we’re not. The fact Trish doesn’t understand the difference is what makes that goodbye kiss and pat on the cheek so chillingly spellbinding for me.
Trish is escorted in past the other prisoners and visitors to our corner. She grins at me, before walking up and kissing me in an against the rules, body melding, hands groping, passionate party I had no defense for. The female guards moved in when it became obvious we were about to get biblical without some outside restraint. When they pulled Trish away, I saw shock in her eyes as she touched her lips absently. For myself, I was glad I had worn a suit jacket that covered the front of me.
“One more stunt like that, Rocha, and you’ll spend your time until release in solitary… understand?” The tall, stocky brown haired guard shook her as she spoke.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Trish said, her hands clasped in front of her, head down.
The other guard guided Trish into her seat. “Do not move from that position.”
“May I hold his hand, Ma’am?”
I watched the guard who guided Trish into her seat shrug at the other guard before answering. “One hand only, Rocha, and no more surprises.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
I sat down, and Trish reached out with her right hand. I grasped it in my left. “What the hell was that all about, Trish?”
She shrugged. The grim killer looked out at me, with that very tight smile I noticed the first time I met with her. “I know they’re going to let me go, and I know you’re already aware of it. You were a little late coming to see me. The news of my getting out prompted some of your cohorts to send you in for what I have planned after prison. I decided to rattle your cage a little. Instead, you rattled mine. I figure you still owe me.”
Yep, the real Trish is sitting with me now. “You were right on all counts except my owing you. I notice you’re letting your hair grow. It looks nice. Getting all set for the outside world again, huh?”
“I hope you didn’t come for a visit to talk about my hair. I’ve been looking forward to seeing you. You already knew I was attracted to you, so that kiss shouldn’t have been a big surprise. You must feel a little something for me too. I felt you get up in my grill without a pill.”
That was funny. “Okay… yeah, I’m attracted to you. We’ve had a good exchange most visits. I have a very funny one for you, so it’s a good thing I didn’t visit a week back.”
I did my night out getting Pernel, and winding up in the tank, only to nearly kill a kid, and then hire him. I continued with me ending up smelling like roses, because the guy I bounced around in the bar turned out to be a killer. Then I finished her off with the Jadie and Ken hijinks, including her trying out her martial arts skills on me instead of Ken. I did pretty well, because even the guards were laughing, and real tears were streaming down Trish’s face. Maybe I needed to go into comedy.
“Oh… oh my God… you did not disappoint this trip, Rick.” Trish took a couple deep breaths, wiping absently at her eyes. “So, this partner of yours in the restaurant business wants you bad, but you ain’t having any?”
“She has an obsession that I can’t figure out, and she sure turned Ken inside out. When Lois decided to let her in on the fact I’d been writing and coming to see you, she went mental. You’re too young for me too, but no one listens. Ever since Stacy invaded my life I’m the old geezer chick magnet. Go figure.”
Trish squeezed my hand. She peered into my eyes with those icy blue ones of hers. “I’m about a thousan
d years old in my head, Rick. Thinking Jadie and I are the same because we’re somewhat close in age is absurd.”
“I didn’t say you were the same. She doesn’t scare me. You do.”
Trish laughed. “A bad ass ex-Navy Seal like you, afraid of me?”
“Even I sleep sometimes.”
She laughed even harder at that line. Trish leaned forward. “We’ve never talked about it, but I read what happened to Teddy Alvarez and his minions. I knew the moment I read how it happened, and who did it. I bet you had a tough time with your cop friend.”
Great, another damn mind reader. No wonder Lois likes Trish. “Staley liked me for it too. He found out I was at Lois’s house that night and had to let it go.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet you were with Lois… getting into position. I’m just trying to tell you women are attracted to dangerous guys. Now, let’s talk about my life after prison. I want to work for you and Lois.”
Shit, what the hell? This mind meld is getting… weird. “We don’t kill people for a living, Trish.”
“I figure you two will be able to keep an eye on me that way, and keep me from drifting into bad habits again. I know you two. Either you planned to kill me, or you were going to hire me. I know all about that judge my defense team rolled. You and Lois take too much responsibility for things beyond your control. I’m one of them. I’ll agree to work for you under one condition.”
Oh boy. “I’ll bite. What would that be?”
“I live with you.”
It was my turn to laugh. I pointed at her. “Good one.”
Trish frowned. “What, you never had a roommate before? Think about it. You could be the canary in the coal mine, Rick – the early warning alarm for if I go off the rails.”
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. “C’mon, Trish, you can’t be serious. I’m an old man. If I took you on as a roommate, my whole life would turn into a joke. No way, no how.”
“Listen, you’re going to do it, and that’s final. You know why?”
“I’m not doing it, and I know why I’m not. It’s nuts.”
“You’re going to do it because it will drive Lois nuts.”
Damn… she’s good. “When do you get out?”
“Tomorrow, and I need a ride to my new residence.”
“How the hell old are you anyway? You look early to mid-thirties. Your records show thirty-six. I have a feeling that isn’t right.”
Trish smiled. “It’s wrong in the wrong direction from what you’re thinking. I’ll be forty next April.”
Big whoop that does me. Sometimes in a life filled with everything under the sun, we get old, used up, and vow to live out the rest of our time quietly, with dignity. Yeah… that’s me all right.
Chapter Five
New Hire
“Cantelli!”
The pounding on the door was not my first inkling I had a visitor Monday morning. I’d been waiting for her to arrive in all her harpy glory. For my own sanity, I’d stayed out of communication completely, turning off all devices related to the modern age. I had figured Lo would have laid siege to my house Sunday night, but she surprised me, and held off for a one woman dawn patrol blitzkrieg. I continued to sip my coffee. Cantelli Land had indeed lapsed into darkness and shadow once again.
“Damn it, Rick! I know you’re standing there! You might as well open up and take your medicine, you old wanker!”
I smiled, imagining the torture my info whore partner went through, anxiously awaiting contact throughout the weekend. Yep, this might be a little payback for her Friday night antics. I was working without a safety net. The thought my good deed with the kid in jail might derail the bad karma train seemed only wishful thinking. I went to the door and opened it. Lois looked ready for anything. Her beady little eyes darted everywhere, scanning in all directions, her fists clenched. Wow, was she revved up.
“Good morning.”
“You’re lucky I was so pissed off I forgot to bring my Taser.”
“Too bad, Lo. This morning, you’ll probably need it. C’mon in. There is coffee.” I walked toward the kitchen like a doomsday advocate with the arrival of the apocalypse a dead bang certainty.
My low key reply stunned her. Lo followed me without another word. She secured her own mug of coffee. By then I was seated at the kitchen table. Lo sat opposite me. We sipped our beverages almost like old friends should.
“Jesus, Rick, I’m sorry. What the hell’s happened? Just give it to me straight. You should have called and told me you needed help.”
I heard my new roommate’s approach, but Lo was so intent on her outreach of compassion, she missed it… at least for a moment. Trish strode around to the coffee pot in a blue silk nightgown of mid-thigh length. At least it wasn’t see-through. Some moments live forever. Although I probably won’t be on the planet all that much longer, this one was special. Lois watched Trish with open mouthed, absolute shock. She didn’t budge until Trish sat next to me and waved at her.
“Hi, Lo.”
Oh my God, there could be recorded moments more incredible… but not for me. It was only minutes, but it seemed like hours before Lois responded in true Lois form. She started laughing. It peaked into the undiscovered territory of amusement. My brain hummed along with hers, picturing the acceptance of it all in her mind as she deduced every single facet of what was before her eyes. Lois yipped, yelped, spilled some of her coffee, and bounced in her chair, actually clapping hands.
“Oh… oh God, Rick!” She lapsed into a howling reversion into hilarity for another moment. “This… this is the best!”
Trish had been smiling through it all, taking in everything. I’m not sure how I got here in a metaphysical sense, but it was damned good. You know what made the moment, crowning my perverted need to make Lois mental? When Trish looked over at me, she blushed. I wasn’t young. I wasn’t top dog in anything, especially looks, but I made a stone cold killer blush like a sixteen year old prom date.
Lo took a few deep breaths, collecting her harpy mind, and dealing with reality. “Good Lord, Rick, why didn’t you tell me you wanted to commit suicide? I would have done you… just for old time’s sake.”
That remark set Trish off. Yeah, she and Lo are two peas out of the same moldy pod.
I decided it was a good time to deal with the obvious. “Well, here we are in Cantelli Land, the birthplace of darkness and shadow. Shall we deal with it in civilized fashion?”
“I’m going to hold onto the old geezer here forever. If you have a problem with that, you and I better get to the cuttin’, Lo.” Trish put her hands out flat on the kitchen table. “Some things just can’t be explained.”
Lois smiled. “Who gets to kill Stacy if she ever gets out of prison?”
Trish leaned over the table. “I’ll flip you for it.”
Lois reached over and clasped Trish’s right hand. “Welcome aboard, little Sis.”
I took a few moments to bring Lois up to date. She was like a changed person around Trish. Lo pointed at Trish. “I liked you. Never in all my imaginings did I figure to see you free. I’ve lived long enough to know when you think something is too unbelievable to exist, it exists. I don’t give a shit whether you dump him, or otherwise annoy the hell out of him. If you hurt him, come for me first, girlfriend, because as God is my witness, I will make your passing a memorable one.”
“That will never happen. I’m out, Lo - no more of my old life ever. I’m not sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. It’s good to be in a comfortable place where I don’t have to pretend. I… I don’t know about how Rick felt about our weekend, but… well… I sure wouldn’t hurt him: ever.”
Lois took a big sip of her coffee, chuckling as she thought new harpy type thoughts. “Oh, good God, this is just like I imagined. You don’t know it yet, kid, but people write you off the moment you pass a certain age… depending on what you do for a living. Every once in a while the tides don’t roll in and out like nature plans. They call it moon madness. That’s what the hell you two are:
moon madness.”
“I guess that’s as close an explanation as anyone can come up with. Trish wants to come along for Temple’s agent meeting. She has some experience.”
Lo grinned diabolically. “What, you’ve killed a few Hollywood agents? I’m not sure that counts as experience. Now, if you tortured them too, that would be different… and helpful.”
Trish laughed over that one. “No… a onetime employer of mine dealt with the seamier side of Hollywood. Agents, producers, directors, actors, actresses, and all their backdrop people do the same stupid things regular people do. Drugs, gambling debts, bad investments, bad romances, and every other vice or screw up imaginable happens daily in Hollywood just like the rest of the world. Sometimes, one of them will need a nudge in the right direction when they don’t pay up on time, or deliver something as promised. For a time, I used to remind those sinners of their penance. It was a good gig, but the exposure was too high. Anyway, I learned a lot about behind the scenes crap.”
Lois and I exchanged looks of enlightenment. “Would you recognize if something was going on behind the scenes with this studio trying to get Temple to be with her co-star like they’re together in real life?”
“I don’t know, Rick. That’s a pretty common ploy. They always want to hint at something going on behind the scenes in reality too. I can tell you the way you’ll know in most cases. If we show up, and there’s only one guy or woman meeting with Temple, that’s a red flag. If a studio wants to pressure a star, they show up in force with smiling faces and cold hearted facts. When one rep shows, it’s usually one person getting leaned on by someone, like me.”
“Someone famous wants a favor. An agent promises to get it done, and finds another person in a position to do it. They usually ask straight up first, but if that doesn’t work, they get leverage. They find some bigwig with a secret they can blackmail into adding pressure. Drugs and gambling debts are big. Most of the Hollywood crowd with any notoriety know they can sell influence if they need to get a loan shark off their back. If they refuse the favor asked, then I show up in the dark somewhere to remind them of their debt.”
Rick Cantelli, P.I. Deadly Liaisons (Rick Cantelli, P.I. Detectives Book 2) Page 6
