Three Shot Burst

by Phillip DePoy

  ‘You can’t be serious,’ she objected, ‘you bust in on me when I’m asleep, along with two huge men with guns, and you want me to trust you?’

  ‘What’s different now?’ he wanted to know.

  ‘Foggy told me I could trust you.’

  I wanted to see where she was going, so I nodded.

  ‘What is it you have to say to David’s father?’ he asked quietly. ‘Tell me, and I’ll tell him.’

  She shook her head. ‘Not the deal. David made me promise. And whatever else I may be, I’m true to my word.’

  Redhawk glanced my way. ‘Are we absolutely certain that this person is a fourteen-year-old kid and not some sort of thirty-year-old dwarf?’

  ‘Jury’s still out, I’d say,’ I answered.

  ‘Serious as a crutch, Mister Redhawk,’ she told him earnestly. ‘I have to talk to David’s dad today. You can come with if you want to. You may remember that last night I said this would be mutually beneficial.’

  ‘Of course, I’ll be accompanying her,’ I said quickly. ‘She’s legally my ward at the moment. I have to stick with her.’

  Redhawk sighed. ‘Wouldn’t have it any other way.’

  ‘I guess I’d like to ride along too,’ Philip piped up. ‘Now I’m all curious. David Waters hated his father. I have to wonder what his last words to the old man would be.’

  Redhawk closed his eyes.

  ‘He’s thinking,’ Philip whispered in my direction.

  ‘I’m actually trying to will myself backward in time,’ Redhawk said, eyes still closed, ‘so that I could leave town before any of this happened.’

  ‘That never works,’ I told him. ‘I’ve tried it myself. If it worked, I’d still be living in Brooklyn.’

  Lena gave me a look. ‘Bet there’s a story there.’

  ‘Would everyone mind shutting up and coming with me?’ Redhawk asked us all politely.

  Philip abandoned his barstool. Lena headed for the door. I followed her.

  Ten minutes later we were past the edge of town. Redhawk’s Mercedes limo was roomy, but two bodyguards in the front seat and the four of us in back was a full load. The day was shaping up nicely, but the swamp made me nervous, and we were headed through the swamp and Seminole land. My opinion was that there were bad animals in the swamp, and every single one wanted to kill me. Still, there we were, rumbling down a dirt road in a packed car, bumping over ditches, and skidding in the occasional mud as the landscape turned all forest primeval.

  Then Philip nudged my elbow with his.

  ‘Ironstone Waters lives just up there,’ he whispered.

  I looked. A mansion the size of a baseball stadium loomed just off the road. It looked familiar, but I knew I’d never seen it.

  ‘You’re staring, Foggy,’ Redhawk said. ‘Never seen a palace before?’

  ‘That’s just it,’ I told him. ‘I feel like I have seen this joint before.’

  Redhawk sat back and smiled.

  ‘That’s because it’s modeled after the guy’s house in Citizen Kane,’ he told me. ‘It’s the owner’s favorite movie.’

  ‘Christ,’ Lena mumbled.

  I couldn’t tell if she was impressed or disgusted. Maybe a little of both.

  When we pulled up in front of the house, several conspicuously armed Seminole guards appeared.

  ‘Everyone sit tight,’ Redhawk told us.

  He got out slowly.

  ‘Hello, Thomas,’ he said to one of the guards. ‘This is very important. I have the girl who killed David. She’s right here in my car. But I want everyone to understand that, for the moment, she’s entirely under my protection. Do you understand that?’

  The guard didn’t respond. He seemed stupefied.

  ‘If you’re uncertain,’ Redhawk said carefully, ‘go inside, speak with Ironstone, tell him exactly what I said.’

  The guard still didn’t move.

  Philip patted my forearm. ‘Excuse me, Foggy.’

  Without further ado he climbed over me and shoved himself out of the car and into the guard’s face.

  ‘Mister Redhawk wants you to go inside, Thomas,’ Philip said sweetly, ‘and tell Ironstone what he just said. If you don’t, I’ll break you in half, OK?’

  Despite the fact that Thomas had a machine gun and two other guards at his side, he seemed pretty rattled by Philip’s proposal.

  ‘Sorry, Philip. Right. Sorry, Mister Redhawk.’

  He turned immediately and went inside the house.

  ‘That wasn’t really necessary,’ Redhawk said softly.

  ‘You’re welcome,’ Philip answered.

  After a tense couple of minutes, Ironstone Waters appeared in the doorway of the mansion.

  I’d never seen him before, but the imposing figure frozen on the top step couldn’t have been anyone else. He looked like he’d been carved out of granite, painted with berries, and baked in the sun. His grey hair was in two braids that ran down the sides of his face. He was dressed in a floor-length silk bathrobe and opera loafers. He had a pistol in his hand.

  ‘Ironstone Waters,’ Redhawk said, ‘do you understand that this girl is under my protection for the time being?’

  The old man’s grip on the pistol tightened.

  ‘She killed my boy,’ he growled.

  ‘She did,’ Redhawk affirmed, ‘but she also has a message for you. From him. You don’t want to kill her before you hear your son’s final words, do you?’

  Ironstone squinted.

  ‘You’ve heard the details of the event,’ Redhawk went on.

  Ironstone nodded.

  ‘So you know that David said something to the girl before she shot him. She hasn’t told anyone exactly what he said, yet. But she’s here to tell you.’

  ‘Who’s that with you in the car?’ he snarled. ‘That skinny Jew who’s supposed to protect children?’

  ‘You know who he is,’ Redhawk answered calmly. ‘And you know that he does his job very well.’

  ‘Is he under your protection too?’ Ironstone wanted to know.

  Before I could holler out that I didn’t need protecting, Philip spoke up.

  ‘Actually, he’s a friend of mine, Uncle,’ Philip said plainly.

  Ironstone seemed to consider a multitude of options before pocketing his pistol and turning to go back into the house.

  ‘Come on in, then,’ he said over his shoulder.

  Redhawk turned to the car.

  ‘Foggy,’ he said, ‘you and the girl come with me. Everyone else will wait in the car.’

  ‘I’d like to have a few more words with my uncle,’ Philip said.

  ‘Philip, please don’t be difficult. You know this is a volatile situation.’

  ‘You don’t think I can stay calm?’ Philip asked.

  ‘I know you can stay calm,’ Redhawk answered impatiently, ‘but I need you out here. Do you see that?’

  Philip looked around at the house and the remaining guards, and then he nodded.

  ‘I see that,’ he said softly.

  I had no idea what was going on, but it was obvious that half of Redhawk’s conversation – with both Ironstone and Philip – had been unspoken. There was more at work than I could understand, and it made me nervous. But I assumed Redhawk wanted Philip to wait outside in case we had to make a quick getaway. That assumption only made my nerves worse.

  Redhawk leaned down and looked at me through the window. ‘You don’t have a gun on you, do you, Foggy?’

  ‘Me? Never. I don’t care for guns.’

  I decided not to remind him that Lena was probably packing the same gun he’d seen the night before.

  He stood back up. ‘Let’s go then.’

  FOUR

  The inside of the mansion was even more impressive than the outside. I couldn’t speak for the rest of the place, but the great room was a dead ringer for the one in the movie, huge fireplace and all. The house was a little cold, but there was a fire blazing. It might have been the only heat in the house.

 
‘Sit,’ Ironstone commanded, his back to the fire.

  Lena and I took a small sofa; Redhawk chose a very nice leather club chair.

  Ironstone stared at Lena so hard I thought he might be trying to kill her with his mind.

  At length he said, ‘You’re the monster who killed my son?’

  Lena smiled. ‘Let’s not go throwing names around. Your son liked to go to the park and sit little girls on his lap, I assume you’ve heard that.’

  It was bold. It could have made Ironstone back down or it just as easily might have exacerbated his ire.

  All it actually did was stop him from talking for a second or two.

  Lena used that to her advantage.

  ‘That’s why you disinherited him,’ she said. ‘He was a bad drunk and a child molester, and everybody knows it. Am I right?’

  Ironstone’s eyes flickered. ‘What makes you say that I disinherited him?’

  ‘Do you want to hear my story or not?’ she fired back. ‘Because I know a lot more than that about David Waters. A lot more.’

  Anyone could tell from the sound of her voice that she meant what she said.

  ‘You think you know more about my son than I do?’ the old man asked, menace edging every syllable.

  ‘No,’ she answered calmly, ‘but I do know more about his recent activities than you do.’

  I couldn’t see where the kid was going. What she was saying, and the way she was saying it, didn’t add up, at least not to her moment of shock and murder in Mary’s Shallow Grave. It added up to a more extended relationship with David Waters than she’d let on. It was increasingly obvious to me that she wasn’t bluffing. She really had something to say, although I could not, in a million years, have guessed what it would be.

  ‘Well?’ the old man asked. ‘Go on.’

  ‘David left this very nice home about three years ago,’ Lena said, leaning forward, ‘something to do with a woman named Ellen Greenberg. She was a florist in Fry’s Bay, I think.’

  ‘I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, but—’ the old guy began.

  ‘Bullshit!’ she snapped. ‘You got rid of the girl. I don’t know how, but they say Mr Moscowitz here is pretty good at finding things out. He’ll figure out if you shipped her out of town against her will – or had her killed.’

  ‘Wait just a minute,’ Ironstone said. ‘I didn’t get rid of—’

  ‘That also doesn’t matter at the moment,’ Lena interrupted. ‘I’m just laying out the background. David thought the girl ran off. He was drinking. He was going to the park and playing with children. He disgraced you. You knew all about what he was doing because you were having him watched. Like a hawk. Two guys on him all the time.’

  ‘No,’ Ironstone protested.

  ‘Stop it,’ Lena said. ‘I saw them. They weren’t exactly subtle. David saw them too; he just didn’t care.’

  ‘Look,’ the old guy interjected.

  ‘That’s when David got in touch with me.’ Lena sat back.

  Everyone looked at her. Redhawk tried three times to say something. I was probably the most confused.

  ‘You talked to David before last night?’ I asked her.

  ‘What are you saying?’ Ironstone asked at the same time.

  ‘Mr Waters,’ Lena answered, very formally, ‘I am what some people refer to as a hit man. As you can see, the title really doesn’t fit me, but it’s a quick way for me to go on with my story.’

  ‘Lena,’ I said to her slowly, ‘I have no idea why you’re saying this, but as your current custodian I’m telling you to shut up now, and we should go.’

  ‘Here’s what happened,’ she went on, ignoring me. ‘David took out a life insurance policy a while ago, a big one, several million. I got the notification at – doesn’t matter how I got it, but I have a copy of the policy.’

  ‘No, you don’t,’ the old man mumbled. ‘I’d know about it.’

  ‘The policy was purchased in Miami. Didn’t go local. Anyway, I found out about the policy – let’s say through a mutual friend. I was perfect for his purposes, since his recent reputation as a pervert was so well established and I am, well, who I am. We talked on the phone. He made the arrangements. It was all set up in advance.’

  I felt a little sick.

  ‘You’re saying that David took out a life insurance policy,’ I interrupted, ‘and then hired you to kill him?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why would he do that?’ Redhawk asked, in spite of himself.

  ‘What you didn’t know,’ Lena raced, on fire, ‘is that this Ellen Greenberg was pregnant – with David’s baby. A little girl, I’m told.’

  ‘No.’ Ironstone shook his head in disbelief. ‘You’re just saying all this to keep me from killing you right now. I would have known if David was having a child.’

  ‘It’s all documented,’ Lena said casually. ‘I have files in a safe deposit box. Foggy will get the key after I’ve gone. Because the thing is: last I heard, Ellen and the kid were still hiding out somewhere around here. Don’t know why, but I think it’s true.’

  ‘The beneficiary of this life insurance policy,’ I mumbled to myself, ‘is David’s daughter.’

  Lena smiled. ‘Nice work, Sherlock.’

  Ironstone crumpled a little, and his face sagged.

  ‘I would know if my son had a child,’ the old man repeated, but most of the steam was gone.

  ‘I’m guessing that Ellen Greenberg was terrified of you, terrified you’d find out about her relationship with David,’ Lena said to Ironstone, no mercy in her voice. ‘And about the baby.’

  ‘That policy he took out – the money goes to that child.’ Ironstone squinted, struggling to understand what was going on.

  ‘Yes, to that child, you bastard,’ Lena whispered.

  Before I realized what was happening, Lena stood up, took out her Beretta, and pointed it right where Ironstone’s heart ought to have been.

  ‘David didn’t pay me for this one.’ Her voice sounded like she was gargling staples. ‘I’m doing this one all on my own.’

  Redhawk was out of his seat, though it wasn’t clear what he was going to do. Ironstone produced his own gun from the pocket of that silk robe and aimed right back at Lena.

  Then, without a single thought, my most ridiculous instinct kicked in: I jumped in front of Lena.

  Both guns went off – and I went out, down to the bottom of a very dark well.

  FIVE

  When I woke up in the hospital, the first thing I saw was Philip, gun in hand. Before I could panic, Lena shoved him out of the way and put her hand on my shoulder.

  ‘You’re awake,’ she said.

  ‘Maybe I am,’ I responded.

  ‘You took a bullet for me.’ She seemed stunned.

  ‘Yeah,’ I acknowledged, ‘but to be fair, if you’d gotten killed in my custody, I might have lost my job.’

  ‘Nobody ever did that for me.’ She looked away. ‘And several people have had the opportunity, believe me.’

  ‘I don’t know what to believe about you,’ I confessed. ‘Is anything you said at the Waters manse true?’

  ‘All of it,’ she insisted.

  ‘You’re a hit man.’

  ‘That’s not the term I use.’

  ‘You’ve done this before,’ I pressed. ‘Killed guys.’

  ‘Since I was eleven. Mostly they were guys like David Waters: people who needed killing. Euthanasia deals. I figure I’ve got about three more years of that kind of business before it gets to be annoying and I’ll have to change my tune. But by then I’ll have enough money to go to college.’

  ‘You’re either the spookiest kid I ever heard of,’ I told her, ‘or the biggest liar.’

  She smiled. ‘Why couldn’t I be both?’

  ‘You’re going to skip town before I can get out of this bed.’

  She nodded.

  ‘I figured. So I have about eight hundred and thirty-four questions for you.’

  ‘How ab
out three?’ she said. ‘I don’t have much time. Philip’s going to stay here and watch over you, though, so you’re in safe hands.’

  ‘Thanks, Philip,’ I managed to say.

  ‘I wanted to do it,’ he told me, grinning, ‘and Mister Redhawk’s paying me. So …’

  I turned back to Lena. ‘So what happened after I went down?’

  ‘Ironstone’s goons were on me like monkeys on a banana,’ she said, ‘but Redhawk, he fixed everything. He’s all right.’

  ‘Agreed,’ I said. ‘Go on.’

  ‘Ironstone’s bullet hit you, mine went wild because you knocked my arm. I shouldn’t have tried to kill the old man. I lost my head for a minute there. Very unprofessional of me. Anyway, Redhawk called the police and told them that a government employee had been shot in Ironstone’s house. Ironstone didn’t know what to do. I backed away. Philip brought you to Redhawk’s car, stopped the bleeding, and here you are in this nice clean bed. The end.’

  ‘No,’ I insisted. ‘Not the end. You said I could ask three questions.’

  ‘All right.’

  ‘What the hell did David Waters say to you that made you shoot him?’ I had to know.

  ‘Simple. You heard my story, right? He hired me to do it. But all the arrangements were over the phone. He told me to meet him at Mary’s Shallow Grave, but I’d never met the guy in person. So when he came over to me and leaned in, all he said was, “I’m David Waters. Do it quick before I lose my nerve.” So I obliged.’

  I let go a pretty hefty sigh.

  ‘The important point is,’ she went on, ‘some little kid around here stands to inherit some pretty substantial cash – the kid’s mother, too. If they ever find her.’

  ‘I’ll find Ellen Greenberg, if she’s alive,’ I promised. ‘And her kid.’

  ‘I was pretty sure you’d feel that way,’ she said softly. ‘Last question. I really do have to go.’

  ‘Where?’ I asked. ‘Where are you going?’

  She patted my shoulder. ‘Got a job. So long, Foggy. I’ll be in touch.’

  She headed for the door of my hospital room.

  ‘You’ll be in touch?’ I called after her.

  She stopped but didn’t turn around.

  ‘I might have figured something out about you and Ellen Greenberg, by the way,’ I went on. ‘Something that stirs up more questions than it answers.’