“It looks like someone called in for a tow truck,” I said.
“I don’t know who could have done that,” she said.
Two men in overalls got out of the truck and began to walk towards us.
“It was probably a passerby who noticed you needed help. Some of these wrecker people have radio dispatchers. That means they can get to you quick.”
I turned towards the driver and his partner.
“You guys got here just in time,” I said. “The lady could use a tow into town.”
Both of the men were big guys with dark hair. The driver had on a ball cap and had his hands in his pockets.
“We’re here to help,” he said. “You Randall?”
It took me a moment to process what he said and then I felt cold all over. I was just realizing what an isolated spot this was. Kimberly was frozen beside me.
“Who wants to know?’ I asked.
“Yeah, he’s Randall,” said the other one.
The driver pulled his hands out of his pocket and one of them held a .38 revolver.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Randall,” he said, pointing the gun at me in a casual manner. “Someone wants to talk to you. Now, turn around and grab some air.”
I raised my hands and turned around. The other one came up behind me and in a moment I was handcuffed.
“Now, don’t panic, Randall,” said the man with the gun. “Sal here is going to put a hood over your head, but no ones gonna hurt you. You just don’t need to know where you’re going.”
Sal pulled a black hood out of one of his overall pockets and everything went black. I heard another car pull up and stop. Sal half carried me to the car and pushed me roughly into the back seat. It was all ruthlessly efficient. Sal shoved me over and climbed in the car seat next to me.
“Just keep quiet, Randall. We don’t have any orders to hurt you, unless you make trouble,” he said.
I nodded, but since he sounded serious about keeping quiet I said nothing. The window of the car was open and I could hear the girl and the man with the gun arguing.
“Tommy, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. He promised me,” said the girl.
“Well, he changed his mind, Carla. Just be glad that’s all he changed his mind about. If it wasn’t for your old boyfriend we wouldn’t be going through this,” said Tommy. “Just get going and remember to keep your mouth shut.”
Apparently my dream girl Kimberly, was actually Carla.
“I didn’t sign up for any killings,” she said. “Anything you can beat out of him I would have gotten over dinner, you big ape.”
“Don’t go too far, baby. Your guy ain’t here to protect you anymore,” said Tommy, with an undercurrent of viciousness.
Carla said something else I couldn’t make out, and then I heard the sound of a hard slap.
“Now, get going and don’t give me anymore lip and remember, if he needs a favor you owe him,” said Tommy.
Inside of a minute I heard a car burn rubber down the highway. In another minute I heard the front door open, someone slide in, and the engine turned over and started.
“Any trouble with our boy, Sal?” asked the voice from the front seat.
“Nah, he’s been a good boy.”
“We’re gonna take a little ride now, Randall. Just sit tight. Too bad you can’t enjoy the scenery.”
Both of the men barked a laugh at that joke and the car took off. We rode for at least half an hour, but it was difficult to tell in the darkness. I could sense after a while we left the highway and slowed down to city speeds. I didn’t hear any other traffic and soon we slowed almost to a stop. I heard a garage door open, we pulled in, and it closed behind us. Sal opened the door and then I felt hands on both of my arms as I was led through a series of doors. Finally, they knocked at a door. I heard a voice tell us to come in. They shoved me through.
“Here he is, boss.”
Chapter Seven
When the blindfold came off, I found myself in a sumptuous, formal dining room. In addition to Sal and Tommy, I counted four more men who looked like obvious pugs. There was an arched ceiling and huge windows bathed the room in sunlight. Over to my right I saw the fairway and green of a golf course, with French doors leading to a patio. To my left was a man I already knew by reputation. It was Rico Ravello. Ravello was the local mob capo that Banner had mentioned, and by all accounts was a very dangerous man. It was easy to guess why he wanted to see me.
Ravello was seated in front of a plate of spaghetti. I would have laughed at the cultural stereotype if I hadn’t been so scared. Ravello was a big man and he had a fork and a spoon in either meaty paw and was wrangling a huge mouthful down his gullet as I watched. He wiped his mouth with a towel and looked up at me for the first time.
“So you’re Randall. I have been wanting to meet you, Mr. Randall,” he said with no accent.
“Ever since yesterday, Mr. Ravello?” I returned.
“I heard you were a funny guy, Mr. Randall. Sit down. Would you like a plate of spaghetti?”
“I could eat,” I said. It seemed a good idea to go along with my host.
Ravello waved at one of my keepers and he disappeared into what I took to be the kitchen area and returned with a steaming plate of pasta covered in sauce. Ravello had returned to his plate and was greedily making short work of it. I wanted to be a good guest and I began to eat as well. A plate of bread and some grated cheese appeared in due course. Making use of both, I found myself finishing as Rico was wiping his plate with a heel piece of bread.
He pushed his plate towards the center of the table and gave me his full attention.
“Would you like to be friends with me, Mr. Randall?” he asked with no menace.
I paused long enough to see if he was smiling or making a joke. He wasn’t.
“Certainly, Mr. Ravello. You can’t have too many friends.”
“That is a true statement. You say you want to be my friend. My friends are easy to find. They are prominent people, Mr. Randall; high government officials, captains of industry, and many entertainment personalities. My enemies, well, they are harder to find.”
Again, the statement was made without malice. It was a simple statement of fact.
“Fine, then we’re friends,” he continued. “Now, what can you tell me about the whereabouts of a man calling himself Tony Peterson?”
I knew it was coming, but the question did startle being put so baldly.
“Mr. Ravello, I get it that the word is out that Mrs. Peterson has hired me. My congratulations to your network, but any information I uncover goes to my client. I may not have the cleanest folder in the business, but I have to protect clients.”
I kept my mouth shut about the fact that I now knew who Peterson was. I might be able to use that to deal my way out of this room with my legs unbroken. I hoped I hadn’t sounded as scared as I felt.
“Listen, Randall, I know you’re an eye and I know you gotta work,” he said, as if considering it for the first time. “But I want you to hear this, and hear it good. I want your man.”
This time there was menace in the voice.
“I’ll tell you what, Randall,” he continued. “I’ll hire you too. Then you’ll be working for me”
He snapped his fingers at one of his thugs and the man pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket and thrust it under my nose. I could smell paprika on his hands.
“There is a thousand dollars in there, Randall. Call it a retainer. I don’t need to know the nuts and bolts of your investigation, but if you find this Peterson I want to be your first call, capisce?”
“Maybe you can help me find him, Mr. Ravello. What do you know about him?”
“Who said I know anything about him?”
“Mr. Ravello, people almost never try to find people they know nothing about. That just doesn’t add up,” I said.
“I didn’t ask you here to give me a math lesson, Randall.”
I skipped over the part about being asked. Kidna
pped at gunpoint was not my idea of an invitation. I glanced around the room and saw grim faces, except for Tommy. He had a grin on his face. He looked like a man who enjoyed his work.
“Mr. Ravello, I want to try and make you see this my way. I am a small operator and the big boys can give clients more than I can in almost everything, except discretion. If I don’t have that, I don’t have anything. Can you understand where I’m coming from?”
Ravello considered it and smothered a burp.
“What I can see is that you want to do this the hard way. You can have it that way, Randall. I’m gonna get what I want either way, but my policy is to give guys the option when I first meet them. Maybe I’ve been too nice with you, and maybe you think I’m a cream puff.”
This meeting was going sideways and I was looking for a way out, when one of the doors from the terrace opened and an elderly woman with white hair entered.
“Enrico,” she said as she walked in. “The children are waiting. You promised you would play catch with them.”
The elderly lady walked towards him and then stopped when she saw me. As I was probably the only stranger to her in the room, she stopped and smiled at me.
“Oh, Enrico, I did not realize that you had company. Are you going to be long?”
“Not long, Madre. I will join you and the children in a few minutes. Please excuse us though, for now.”
“Of course, Enrico, but are you not going to introduce your mother to the gentleman?”
“Oh course, Madre,” he said. “This is Mr. Henderson. He is in the insurance business and dropped by for a quick meeting.” Turning to me he continued, “Mr. Henderson this is my exalted Madre Agnostina Ravello.”
The mother nodded sweetly at me and smiled. I rose and gave a small bow.
“My pleasure, signora Ravello,” I said.
“You know our language, Mr. Henderson,” she beamed.
“Only a few words, ma’am,” I said. “And my name is actually Randall. Frank Randall. I am a new associate of your sons and doubtless an important man such as himself cannot remember everyone’s name. It is a pleasure, ma’am.”
“And a pleasure meeting you, senor Randall. Such a polite man. I hope we will be seeing more of you. Perhaps dinner this week?” she glanced at Rico as she said this, looking for approval.”
Of course, Madre,” Rico said with a tight smile. “I am certain something can be arranged. Now, if you’ll excuse us we still have some business.”
With that, the mother waved goodbye to everyone and left the room. One of Rico’s thugs escorted her to the door and then stood guard at the door to make certain we were not interrupted again. Rico turned his attention to me once more.
“I’ll bet you think that was pretty cute don’t you, Randall?” he rasped. “If you think that would keep me from whacking you, then you aren’t as smart as you seem to think you are. More than that, smart guy, I could make you wish you were dead.”
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I doubted Rico brought me here to kill me, and maybe I had overstepped with the mother. Still if he had brought me in for something permanent, I didn’t think he would do it after his mother made special note of my name.
“Randall,” Rico continued, “I brought you here to have a man to man talk, and see if we could do business. Do we have deal or not?”
“Mr. Ravello, I said playing for time, “I can only have one client at a time, but after I give Mrs. Henderson first crack at anything I find I’ll ask her if I can share it with the authorities. You, of course, being the authorities. It’s the best I can do. Is that enough between friends?”
Rico mulled it over and motioned for Sal to come to him. Sal leaned over Rico, and they whispered back and forth for a few seconds.
“All right Randall,” he said. “You have a deal. You see? I knew we could be friends about this thing. There is never any reason to let business become ugly. Now, Sal and Tommy are going to take you back to your car. Do your little investigation, and we’ll be checking in on you periodically.”
I rose in anticipation of leaving.
“Thank you, Mr. Ravello. It’s been an interesting visit.”
Ravello nodded and picked up a newspaper and began reading it. I took this to mean the meeting was over. Sal and Tommy each took one arm and began walking me back to the door through which we had entered.
“One more thing, Randall,” said Rico.
Sal and Tommy’s grip would not let me turn around, but I looked over my shoulder.
“Now we have a deal, we have broken bread together, and you even met some of my family. So you know what it is like to be my friend. Now the boys are going to give you a little idea of what its like to be my enemy.”
As he said this Tommy struck me in the kidney with his left arm, while never releasing my arm with his right. I groaned and would have fallen to the floor, but Rico’s henchmen were holding me up. Sal followed up Tommy’s blow with one to my gut, and this time I did go down gasping for breath.
“Now, I’m going to find my family,” said Rico. “I’ll leave it to the boys to show you out. Remember boys, nothing lethal. Just show Mr. Randall that we are men of respect.”
I heard a door open and close as blows and kicks rained down on my midsection. I tried to curl into a tight ball, but it didn’t help. After a few seconds a rabbit punch to the back of my neck turned out the lights and ended the abuse. I dreamed I was in a fun house with garish clowns and mirrors. I looked into one of the mirrors expecting to see a grotesque reflection of myself. I was startled that I looked exactly the same as always.
Chapter Eight
When I came to, I was in the front seat of my car on the passenger side. The car was now pointed in the direction back towards town and I was just outside the city limits. Ravello’s men must have either driven my car or towed it there. It was close to dusk. I wondered how long I had been out. I checked my watch and found it was missing.
My head was splitting and my midsection felt like it had been used as a heavy bag. I felt warm and I opened the door and staggered out of the car onto the shoulder of the highway. I was bent over at the waist, but I made an effort to straighten up. I did so and took several deep breaths. My head began to spin and I threw up. I had my hands on my knees retching, when I heard a car grind to a halt behind my car. The cars headlights were on. I heard a door open and slam shut. I could hear gravel crunching under boots coming closer, but I couldn’t stop what I was doing to look.
“Hey buddy, have you had a little too much to drink?” asked a voice. “You know driving under the influence is against the law.”
I finally stopped dry heaving and looked up. The man was a uniformed police officer of medium height, with blue eyes, blonde hair, and fair skin. I judged him to be about thirty years old. As he was staring down at me I saw his partner walking up to join him. The partner was about the same age and build, but with olive skin, dark hair, and brown eyes.
“I ran the plates, Murphy, and guess what we got here? We got us a Frank Randall; famous private dick,” said the dark cop.
Officer Murphy turned for a better look at me.
“Well, that ain’t exactly a surprise, now is it?” he said to me as much as to his partner. “We were kind of on the look out for you, Randall. You look white as a ghost, Randall. You sick or something? Maybe a touch of brown bottle flu?”
The two cops had a laugh at my expense. My head was clearing and, now that my stomach was empty, I felt better.
“No drinking, guys. Just had a lot of driving today and I think the sun got the best of me.” I didn’t see how sharing my experience would help, so I let it slide. Besides, something in the attitude of these two guys didn’t lead me to believe they were there to help me.
“Well, I think we should do this by the book anyway. Don’t you agree, Officer Scarpeli?” asked Murphy.
“That’s right, Murph. I’m a by the book cop myself,” he said with a smile.
After ten minutes of blowing into a ball
oon, walking a straight line, and touching my nose, I finally convinced them I was sober.
“Sorry, Randall,” said Murphy. “You did seem to be intoxicated, and I have heard a rumor that you left the force because of a drinking problem.”
That hadn’t been the case, but they both obviously knew who I was and that I was an ex cop.
“So do I know either of you two fellas? I don’t recall the pleasure.”
“We never actually met, Randall, but I remember when you were a hot shot detective. Way above my station, of course, that was before you crashed and burned,” said Scarpeli. “Officer Murphy wasn’t on the force yet, but he knows about you too.”
Murphy was nodding as Scarpeli talked.
“I was still in the service when you were on the force,” he said. “But that was a long time ago wasn’t it?”
I was tired and didn’t feel like dancing.
“Fellas, I’d like to go home now, unless there’s something you want to talk about with me.”
Murphy whispered something to Scarpeli and Scarpeli went back to the car. I could see him calling in on the radio. Murphy turned to me.
“Here it is in a nutshell, Randall. The word went out at roll call this morning that you were working the Peterson disappearance case for the rich old lady.”
Yeah. So what?” I asked.
“Well just this, Randall, Chet and I,” he jerked a thumb towards his partner, “are interested in the Peterson too. We want to help you, if you’ll let us.”
I had never had a case where so many people wanted to help me.
“You have a personal interest in this case, the two of you?”
“Yeah, we do, Randall. You see, we heard a rumor right before Peterson disappeared, that he was someone we used to know.”
“That’s it? Just someone you used to know?”
“Randall, this guy is a bad apple. You heard about the two cops who drove into the river a couple of years ago without their swim trunks? Well, they were friends of ours and we think Peterson had something to do with it.”
The Visible Suspect (A Frank Randall Mystery) Page 4
