“Well, I’m not going to tell them.”
“And the escape! Was it planned or was some of it luck?”
“It was mostly planned. Rolling the wrecker down the ramp at the posse was impromptu; but it worked.”
“I’ll say it worked. The passenger in the car was trying to get out of it after he saw the wrecker coming backwards at him. When the wrecker hit he was outside the car and the open door hit him, knocked him down, and then the front tire ran over his damn foot.”
“The foot was luck, his bad luck.”
“Not much of it was luck. You’re good kid, real good. And if you ever catch me giving your little sister the eye, just warn me before you whack me.”
Clay reached over and punched Tony on the shoulder, “Leave my sister alone you big Sicilian Casanova or I’ll start chasing your old lady.”
“Kid, my old Anna is more woman than a kid like you could handle, trust me, I know.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right, Anna would end up giggling and laughing at me and then I’d have to shoot her too.”
They both laughed, and then Tony invited Clay to a football game he had been given tickets for on the following Sunday afternoon.
Clay said his good byes and left the bar thinking it was a damn good thing Tony didn’t know about the night Anna spent with him or Tony might tear him apart; and he wasn’t sure he could shoot Tony to prevent it. But, just as Greg and Charlie could attest to, no piece of ass is worth dying for.
At home he ate a small serving of food at supper time with his mom and dad, during which he was grilled by Margaret about where he had been all night again. He put her off by saying he had met up with an old high school friend and had ended up at his apartment instead of coming home late.
“I don’t mean to pry into your personal life, but I worry about you when you stay out all night and I don’t know if you’re hurt or something.”
“Mom, Gary and I met in a bar and started dancing with a couple of girls and it just kind of got later and later. When we left he invited me to stay over with him instead of waking you up at two in the morning. And then this morning I went to the club and spent the day there.”
Walter chimed in then, “Well it certainly isn’t safe being out on the streets in this town anymore. There were four more killings last night. One was a family dispute, another involved a knifing between two friends who got drunk and started arguing outside a tavern. But the other two are more bothersome and the police don’t have a clue about them. One young man was run over by a truck and another young man was gunned down on his way to work this morning. He was shot in the back and then executed after he was injured. By God I don’t know what the hell is happening in this town. We need more policemen and stricter judges to get these killers off the streets.”
“Calm down Walter, those people were probably involved in something criminal; drugs, gambling, prostitution or something. I don’t think just because they were killed it follows they were honest law abiding citizens.”
“Clayton!” Margaret was surprised at his opinion and retorted with, “How can you say that? No matter what they did it is the job of the police and the courts to punish them, not some killer lurking on the street.”
“I won’t argue the point. But if you wait for the police to catch them we’ll all die of old age. And as long as they’re killing each other I’m not as concerned as if innocent citizens were being killed.”
“Well, I don’t agree with your kind of thinking, killing is killing and it’s wrong.”
“Walt, we had better change the subject before I get kicked out of the house.” Clay grinned at both of his parents and got up from the table and went to the living room. He was finding living at home more and more difficult. His attitudes and ideals were constantly slipping out, and they were so radical in the eyes of his parents he knew with out a doubt the time for him to move out and be on his own had past. He made up his mind to be in a house of his own within a year. He would take as many jobs as possible and be on his own by the following October.
The evening paper was on the coffee table where Walter had placed it before supper. Clay read the sports page first and then picked up the “A” section where he read two separate articles about the two deaths he was interested in. Gregory Robert Alcott had died in a hit and run accident the police were still investigating and would only classify as suspicious. Details of the chase by witnesses at the scene of the accident were described, including the first car being rammed and disabled on the highway, and the injury of the passenger in the car at the parking garage. Clay flipped to the obituary columns and learned the man was divorced and had no children, but was survived by parents, one brother and two sisters. “I wonder if the bastard abused them too,” Clay thought as he read.
Flipping back to page three he read the article about Charles Elva Rhinholt. The police had classified the death as a professional style killing. The unarmed man had been shot in the back and then murdered with shots to the head at point blank range. Investigators were looking into the man’s background for ties to organized crime, but had no leads or suspects. No one had seen the man arrive in the parking lot, and his body was discovered by an employee of a nearby business when she arrived for work at ten minutes after seven. Rhinholt was survived by his mother, a wife and a two year old daughter. As Clay finished reading the obituary a thought went through his mind, I hope the recently widowed Mrs. Rhinholt does better picking a new father for her daughter than she did the first time; not many women get a second chance without having a crummy ex to deal with.
Chapter 19
With the money donated by Tony’s peers and the bank roll he had been able to save over the previous year, Clay moved ahead with plans to open an antique shop.
A real estate agent familiar with the area he wanted to locate in began the search for a suitable business location in November 1973. While this process was going on Clay found a small building to serve as a temporary warehouse and began buying antiques in earnest, especially furniture. He also purchased a five year old delivery truck with a twenty foot long cargo bed. The truck had a power lift gate on the back for loading and unloading, and boasted a diesel engine for extra power and longevity. Walter and Margaret tried to be supportive of his plans, but Clay knew their support was shallow.
At the end of January an office and warehouse combo came on the market in the upscale Elmhurst area, on the West side of Chicago. His agent had been searching the listings for almost three months and it was the first location he had seriously considered. The property was an older brick structure and had initially started out as just a warehouse. Later, a single story addition had been built onto the front for a retail business. The building was much larger than Clay actually thought he needed, but he greatly appreciated the layout and the location. Not having enough money to purchase the building outright, Clay called on Tony for help with financing. Tony was a majority shareholder in a small legitimate savings and loan business. He was instrumental in getting Clay a mortgage with only five per cent down and at a whole percentage point below the prevailing rate.
Before the deal had even closed Clay hired an interior designer to assist with selecting the colors to be used, and the procurement of additional decorating accessories. Another role she assumed was coordination of the remodeling effort. Since the building was empty the closing could be expedited to as soon as the title search was completed; and Tony leaned on the title search company he owned to get it done.
She suggested flat black paint on the twenty one foot high ceilings, along with several contrasting wall shades in various areas. The showroom was large enough to exhibit different moods and periods, and she took advantage of the abundant space. The designer also had working ties to a lighting designer who suggested scrapping the original hanging industrial lights to install numerous small high intensity lights; they could be quickly and easily directed to specific locations for accent lighting as well as general illumination. However, his lead designer
rejected scrapping the industrial lighting, and instead suggested using both systems to complement each other.
Finally, after a month of intense work, the shop was ready to open the first week of March 1974. The shops name had been painted on the plate glass windows on each side of the front entrance; Clayton & Associates was spelled out in fancy multi colored script, filling both windows and large enough to be visible from the busy street. The antiques in storage were moved to the newly remodeled store for the grand opening. Clay’s family and friends couldn’t believe he was starting a business, especially to “buy and sell used furniture”, as several of them stated it.
Margaret was now his primary supporter, saying “I’m sure what ever he chooses to do, he’ll do well.” Since she only dealt with the fact her son was starting his own business and never mentioned her opinion of its real chance for success, her pandering didn’t cause much of an impact with anyone, including Clay. He understood how and why his family felt the way they did. Hell, he wasn't positive the business would ever pay for itself; but then, only he knew it wasn’t a requirement.
Walter was more skeptical, “Looks to me like you could find a business where there’s a real need, like a grocery store, gas station or a barber shop. Sell some product or service people need on a regular basis. Even if customers will buy this old stuff, how much of it can one family use; and will they buy this over groceries when times get rough?”
Lizzy thought the whole idea was intriguing and said to Margaret several times, “Mom, I can’t believe it. My brother has his own business. Clayton and Associates. This is so neat. I’m so proud of him.”
Finding good help had been the hardest task of the whole endeavor. His mother had suggested several women she knew who might be willing to work part time, but he wanted to stay away from family ties of any sort to his business. He had placed ads in the newspaper and interviewed over eighty applicants before settling on seven who might work out for both full time and part time clerks. The most important requirements were for them to be honest and dependable; and for them to be totally unattractive to him. One thing he didn’t need was to start having affairs with his clerks and end up loosing good help, or having a messy and costly separation.
He had located a delivery service which, if the usage amounted to enough business for them, would give a hefty discount for transporting items to the store and to customer’s homes.
The number of people he barely knew who had braved the cold twenty five mile an hour winds on opening day to offer support amazed him. A lot of his friends from the bar had come to the opening too; Tony with Anna; Joey and his wife and quite a few others. Dan and some of the assistants from the club had stopped in also. He was impressed at how many items had been sold during the opening and knew he would be spending all of his free time on purchasing new stock.
He had responded to Tony’s summons once while setting up the antique business, leaving for a week on a job assignment. The windfall had been unexpected, but very welcome, as it provided extra cash to let the designer incorporate some additional features he originally didn’t feel he could afford.
Chapter 20
On the third Wednesday in May Clay took a call at the shop on his private line from Mickey, asking him to stop by the bar as soon as he had time. Since it was just after one he decided to drive over to the bar for lunch.
As soon as he got into the main room of the bar and got a beer and a sandwich from Mickey, Tony motioned for him to follow and headed upstairs.
Once they were in the office with the door closed Tony laid out the reason for the summons. “There’s a problem in New York City people want addressed. You might have read about it or heard on TV, a lieutenant from one of the families there was in a shoot out with a bunch of cops, killed two of them and then got shot and caught before he could get away. In exchange for escaping the death penalty and getting into the witness protection program he’s agreed to testify against his bosses. The top of the family structures of at least two, and possibly three of the most powerful families in the state are at risk. Needless to say, they want the bastard taken out.” Clay had followed the story in the national news and motioned for Tony to continue.
“There are three problems. One is they’ve expedited the trial process and have already started jury selection. They expect it to finish up next week and then the opening statements will be heard. They want the guy hit before the lawyers start making those opening statements. You've got ten days max.”
“Then there’s problem number two; the big one. The Feds are running the show. They’ve taken over the entire top two floors of a fourteen story motel and have the guy hid out there. They move him to a different room on the top floor daily. Rumor has it sometimes he moves twice a day. Nobody gets access to those two floors except federal agents. They have a small army of agents around the clock and they even prepare all of his food and carry it to him from the kitchen. Even the legitimate registered guests are screened before they can stay in rooms on the other twelve floors. The drapes on all of the windows on both floors are kept closed twenty four hours a day, and there’s no other tall building close enough to hit him from, even if you could see him, which you can’t. You can’t get to the roof, and window cleaning has been suspended. Short of blowing up the whole damn building and killing hundreds of people, I don’t see how this guy can be hit while he's in the motel.”
Clay sat silently thinking, and then said to Tony, “Are they certain the target is even in there?”
“Yeah, they’ve enlisted several of the staff and cleaning people and are positive the guy is still being held there.”
Tony continued with his original summation, “And problem number three. They’ve selected three hitters to get this bastard because of the time constraint, and who ever gets to the guy first gets the fee. The problem is one or two of them could get killed if they get in the way of the better hitter. And, if one of the three is found dead, seen in the area or caught, the Feds will move the guy in a heart beat."
Clay sat quietly thinking for several minutes and then asked, “What’s it worth?”
“You ain’t gonna believe this; the fee is three hundred thousand; a hundred grand from each family.”
“Damn, a hundred grand is a lot, even for an impossible job.”
“Then, you’re not going to attempt it? Good, declining is the sensible thing to do.”
“I didn't say I wouldn't do it Tony. The job sounds very difficult, but challenging. The families involved are only putting up big money because THEY think it’s impossible. Did they send a package?”
“Kid, this is big league. Are you sure you’re ready for this? You won’t just be going up against the Feds. Two of the top hitters in the country will be watching for you also. And for this much money they’d whack their own mothers.”
“Tony I’m ready for it. I’ll think of some way to get to this guy. Where’s the package?”
“It came this morning: I put it in my desk. There ain’t much.”
“I need a ham sandwich and another beer. I’ll be right back. You want a beer?”
After Tony had gone back downstairs Clay removed the information from the envelope and read while he ate. There were three items. Dominick Michael Trezzini, age 52 was written at the bottom of a 5” x 7” black and white photograph. Next, he read a single typed page with most of the same information Tony had told him earlier. The third item was a New York City map with a red circle showing the location of the Allegheny Inn in the borough of Yonkers, on the north side of the city. Before leaving the bar he asked Tony to make a couple of calls to line up equipment he might possibly need. Then he asked Tony to call his contact in New York City and request two legitimate cars to be at his disposal once he got to the city. And he wanted to know how long the Feds had been holding the snitch at the hotel.
After supper and a trip back by the bar for the items he had requested, he was on the road driving in the dark to Tony’s farm. He had told his mother he was going to r
oam the area between Illinois and Pennsylvania for a couple of weeks to buy antiques for the shop. Walter again reminded him he thought a twenty five year old man should have a steady and permanent job, instead of trying to peddle junk furniture. He knew his step father meant well and was justified in his way of thinking, but he’d had enough lecturing and replied louder and harsher than probably was necessary.
At the farm he spent the next morning putting targets in a field across the river from a fifty foot high bluff on Tony’s property. He had set a makeshift flag by the targets to gage wind speed and direction. Using the techniques he had been taught he set about adjusting the scope for approximately a eight hundred yard distance. After thirty five shots with the Military XM21 sniper rifle he felt he was ready and left the ART 3X-9X adjustable range setting scope where he finished. Before dark he was on his way to New York City.
On Thursday June 6, 1974 Clay arrived in New York City for the first time in his life. He had taken highway 80 all the way from Chicago and got on route 95 just before crossing the George Washington Bridge into New York. Past the bridge he watched for highway 87 north and took it all the way to Yonkers, getting off at Memorial.
Before looking for a motel he searched for and located the Allegheny Inn. Sure enough, the tallest structure within at least a mile was a six story building being constructed on a corner across the street north and west of the motel. The framework was up, the exterior skin had been installed and the doors and windows were almost completely set in place. It appeared, as he drove by, work to finish the interior was in progress.
Clay drove back the way he had come to an area he had passed through earlier, about a mile and a half from the Allegheny Inn, where he had seen motels of several medium priced nationally advertised chains. Selecting one, he checked in, found a place to eat, went back to his room, and fell asleep.
Reverse Metamorphosis book one of the Irrevocable Change trilogy Page 23
