Hooked

by Polly Iyer

  “Benny, the Lord’s name?” Eileen said. “Remember?”

  Linc caught Harry’s gaze out of the corner of his eye, then said, “What room was Tawny in tonight, Cooper?”

  His gaze narrowed. “How should I know?”

  “Because you were getting ready to bang her when we broke in,” Eileen said. “That’s how you should know.” She turned to Linc. “He set himself up with her tonight, the horny pervert. Imagine, having me for a wife and going after inferior pussy.”

  “Imagine,” Harry said under his breath.

  “Shut up, Eileen,” Cooper said.

  Linc wanted to put his fist through Cooper’s expensive bonded teeth, but he felt Harry’s hand on his arm.

  “Don’t. He’d file battery charges, and you’d be on suspension.” Harry whispered in Linc’s ear. “Besides, too many witnesses here.”

  Eileen started laughing hysterically. “Benny has a blister on the head of his pecker the size of a grape. He couldn’t do anything if he wanted to. Not without pain. You should’ve seen him jumping around in agony when he hit the bedside table. It was a sight. That’s why he’s walking funny, poor stupid bastard.”

  Cooper’s face turned the color of a ripe tomato. Spittle spewed from his mouth when he spoke. “I said, shut the fuck up.”

  “Tawny was the only one who would tend to it,” Eileen said. “Rubbed the poor baby with Vaseline. Yuck.”

  “She was the only one kind enough,” Benny said.

  “Oh, yeah, news flash, Benny. All the while she was trying to put you in jail.”

  Benny shut up but mumbled something about a traitor under his breath.

  “Found this upstairs, Linc,” one of the detectives said, waving a purse. “It was in the closet.”

  “That’s Tawny Dell’s,” Linc said.

  “You sure?” Harry asked.

  “Positive.”

  “I’ve seen her with it, too,” Dennis said. “It’s hers.”

  “Champagne and a nice setup of munchies up there. Oh, and I found these.” He swung the nipple clamps by the chain. “Got Cooper’s initials on them in rhinestones.”

  “Those are diamonds, you moron,” Cooper said. “Do you think Benny Cooper would have rhinestones?”

  Jesus. “Where’s the doorman?” Linc asked.

  “Probably hiding in his apartment,” Cooper said.

  “Where?” Dennis asked. Cooper told him to go outside and down the stairs to the basement. Linc nodded, and Dennis left.

  “After forensics leaves, I want the office emptied. Computers, papers, everything you can find, and get them downtown. If the cupboards are locked, break them open. There are tapes. I want them.” He walked over to Cooper. “What’s Mario Russo got to do with you, Cooper?”

  “I barely know the man. Eileen knows him better than I do, don’t you, sweetheart?”

  “Fuck you, Benny,” Eileen spat back. “That was a long time ago.”

  “What was he doing here?”

  Cooper shook his head. “That’s where I draw the line, Walsh. I wouldn’t live twenty-four hours if I cross Russo.”

  Linc couldn’t argue.

  “All I’m saying now is I didn’t kill anyone, didn’t order anyone killed. And that’s it. I’m not saying another word until I speak to my lawyer. Cooper, over and out.”

  With that, Cooper pinched his lips tight.

  Linc couldn’t listen to another word anyway. The Coopers’ vitriol wouldn’t help find Tawny. He walked out of the apartment.

  Harry followed. “We’ll find her,” he said.

  “Probably not before it’s too late. Reggie and Colin have nothing to lose by killing her, unless they’re too stupid to figure out the Coopers will trade them out to save themselves. If we find them alive.”

  “If we find them at all, they’ll be dead,” Harry said. “Russo doesn’t leave loose ends.”

  “No, and he’s too smart to stash her in a building that’s on the books, but I don’t know where else to start.”

  “We’ve had forensic accountants trying to untangle his holdings for years,” Harry said. “If Russo wanted to hide something, Martell made it go away. He was smart. Very smart.”

  “What about construction sites?” Linc said.

  “That’s a lot of territory. Russo’s company has jobs in three states. New Jersey’s one of them.”

  Linc felt his stomach muscles tighten. Harry was right. Too much territory to clear in one night. If Tawny was somewhere in New Jersey, they were fucked.

  Dennis came back into the building. “Doorman heard Colin say New Jersey as they were taking Tawny out the back door. That’s all he heard, he said. He might know more, but he asked for a lawyer. I had one of the cops from the 19th take him in.”

  “Not so dumb after all,” Linc said.

  Linc, Dennis, and Harry walked out of Upper Eighties while the cops were loading the Coopers into two squad cars. “Talk about nothing to lose,” Linc said. “Russo’s fighting for his life. I thought he was going to collapse when I saw him earlier. He mentioned chemo treatments. Even if he shows up at the hospital tomorrow morning, it’ll be too late for Tawny. He’ll get rid of her tonight.”

  “In New Jersey,” Dennis said.

  “Yeah.” Linc turned to Harry. “He’s too smart to use his cell, but Reggie and Colin aren’t.”

  Dennis said, “Nor were they prepared for this. I’ll put a track on their cells.”

  Mario Russo had spent his life besting the authorities. He wouldn’t let a woman dethrone him at the end of a long, successful career. And he wouldn’t let two fuckups do it either. He’d kill them and kill Tawny too. Leave no witnesses. No loose threads.

  “I’ve got phone calls to make,” Linc said. “It’s our only chance to save Tawny.”

  Chapter Forty

  The End of the Line

  Tawny crouched in the back seat, blind, bound, and silenced. She offered little resistance, knowing it was useless. All she had were her ears.

  Colin drove for about forty-five minutes. After a while, he drove fast. Highway driving, though she couldn’t guess which direction. No heavy traffic sounds, but then it was the wee hours of the morning, and even in New York, life slowed at that hour. The two men spoke little on the way until they began to argue about turns and streets. The only thing she learned was wherever they were looked like a ghost town. That sounded hopeless. Who would hunt for her in a ghost town? Fear spread through her like wildfire. She needed to get away from these bozos or she was cooked.

  The car stopped after a short distance on bumpy road. Tawny could hear the dirt spatter off the wheels into the mudguards. Ghost town, dirt roads, pitch black night. Her heart sank. Even if by some miracle she managed to escape, she was on her own in nowheresville.

  Reggie yanked her out by the upper arm and pulled her along; Colin shuffled beside her. Her high heels sank in the dirt, forcing her to trot along on the balls of her feet.

  “Where’s the key?” Colin asked.

  Tawny heard Reggie mumble and fumble, then a key turned in a lock. They walked inside an area that smelled dank and musty, as if it had been shut up for months, maybe years.

  “Over there,” Reggie said. “The fluorescent lantern Mr. Russo said would be inside the door.”

  Which means there are no lights or they’ve been turned off. Given that awful smell, this is an abandoned building. She almost laughed at the empty theories. What possible difference could it make if she was right? This was the end of the line.

  “Got it,” Colin said. “There, better. We can see.”

  The tap-tap of their shoes echoed in the space as Reggie gripped her arm and dragged her, tripping, up two sets of stairs. He pushed her along for a few steps, brushing against a doorframe, and into a room. The moldy odor gave way to the scent of fresh air, even in the warm night. What did that mean? An old building? Would they push her out of a window? Would a fall from the third floor be fatal? Reggie removed the blindfold, and after her eyes focuse
d, the scene was nothing like she imagined.

  The lantern cast a dim light on a room striped to its core except for a radiator. Why hadn’t they removed that for scrap metal? Was it left on Mario’s orders? Even the window frames had been removed, exposing the vast blackness outside. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered now.

  Reggie pushed her onto the floor against the solid steel, wrenching her shoulder and forcing a muffled sound from her throat. She thrust her jaw forward, hoping he’d remove the tape.

  “Okay, I’ll take it off,” Colin said. “Scream all you want. No one will hear you. We’re in the middle of fucking nowhere.” With a swift flick of his wrist, he ripped the tape from her mouth.

  “Ow.” Tawny felt like her skin had been peeled off.

  “Don’t complain, or I’ll put it back on.”

  “I’m not. Thank you.” After another scan of the room, she asked, “Where are we?”

  “City renovation project, looks like. This will all come down, I’m told.”

  “When?”

  “I don’t know. Soon, I imagine. Enough questions. Your friend will be here soon to explain everything.

  “Friend?”

  “Mr. Russo. He’s your friend, isn’t he?”

  Colin’s sarcastic tone clearly indicated the opposite. No, Mario wasn’t her friend any more, or else she wouldn’t be in this death trap. “You won’t get away with this. The Coopers will sell you out to save their own necks. You know that, don’t you?”

  “Yeah,” Colin said. “Benny’s a survivor. Survivors do whatever it takes. And all because Serena heard me on the phone.”

  “That was a careless mistake for someone so smart, Colin,” Reggie said, putting his big arm around the smaller man. “But we’re partners. We’ll be fine.”

  Dream on. Too bad she wouldn’t be around to see the end result. Then she remembered Mario was coming. Maybe she could talk him out of killing her, for old times’ sake. “So you notch one more murder on your belt, then what?”

  Reggie answered, his tone one of awe. “Mr. Russo said he’d give us lots of money to do this one last job, then he’d take care of us, get us out of the country.”

  Tawny laughed. “And you believe that? You’re bigger fools than I thought. Mario Russo can’t let you live. You know too much.”

  “He’ll take care of us,” Colin said. “He said he would.”

  Yeah, he’ll take care of you, all right. She had thought Colin was the smarter of the two, but now she realized they were both dumb as rocks. No arguing with rocks. Still, she had to give it her best shot.

  “You think he’s going to let you walk away after he contracted you to kill Martell? Think again. You’re both loose ends. Mario doesn’t leave loose ends.” The two men exchanged glances, and Tawny thought she might have penetrated their thick skulls. But then they smiled.

  “You’re trying to make us let you go,” Reggie said. “Ain’t gonna happen. Mr. Russo’s a man of his word. Everyone knows that.”

  Then it dawned on Tawny what Mario planned. Of course. Perfect. “Listen to me. This building is going to come down, all right. Probably tomorrow or the next day, with the three of us in it. Mario will kill you both, and he’ll make it look like you killed me before they blow up this building. Are you both so dumb you don’t see that?”

  “Who you calling dumb?” Reggie pulled back his arm to strike Tawny, but Colin grabbed his wrist.

  “Mr. Russo said no bruising. One swipe of your mitt and she’d be black and blue.”

  “You hear what she called us?”

  “Reggie, to be honest,” Colin said, “I don’t think we’ve done things as smart as we thought. We’re involved in four murders, and we’re running from the cops. How smart is that?”

  “Yeah, but in a couple of days we’ll be in Rio, lying on the beach, with tons of muscle men all around.”

  Colin reached up and touched a finger to Reggie’s cheek. “You can look, sweetie, but you can’t touch.”

  “I wouldn’t touch, Colin. Why would I when I have you?”

  The two were into each other. This was a good time to make a break. With nothing to lose, Tawny had to try. She’d purposely avoided the light to accustom her eyes to the dark. Slowly, she slipped off one high-heeled shoe, then the other. Both men had forgotten her for the moment, and she didn’t want to capture their attention. Pulling up her knees to gain traction, she finagled her bound hands against the radiator, and coordinating the thrust of her legs with the force of her arms, levered herself off the floor and ran for the door like an Olympic sprinter. Surprise was on her side. It took them too long to realize what she’d done.

  The place was dark as pitch, but her eyes had adjusted enough to find her way to the stairs. Don’t look back. Just keep going.

  Maybe big Reggie was as slow as his brain, but after seeing the speed with which he attacked the FBI agent in the alley, she doubted he’d be far behind. Ignoring the refuse littered on the stairs cutting into her bare feet, Tawny hustled down the first flight. She heard the two men jockeying for position, swearing at each other for being inattentive.

  Good, swear and argue and blame each other. I’m getting the hell out of here.

  She got to the first floor and saw the glass door, hoping the two geniuses forgot to lock it when they entered. Because her hands were bound behind her, she turned around to open the door, allowing herself a glance backward. Reggie and Colin were squeezing down the stairs, side by side, impeding their own descent. If this were a movie, she’d be laughing at the Two Stooges, but it wasn’t, and she didn’t have time to find the humor. She pulled the door, swiveled around, and scooted through the exit before it slammed again. Now it was a matter of speed. She ran as fast as she could but not as far as she’d hoped, before a light flashed in her face.

  Tawny crashed headlong into Mario Russo. He teetered, but he caught himself and grabbed her with strength she didn’t know his frail body still possessed.

  “Going somewhere, Tawny?” he said.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Time’s Running Out

  Linc hovered over his desk and checked his watch. Two a.m. Too damn bad. This was a matter of life and death. Tawny’s life, and if he couldn’t track her down, her death. Dennis was in for the long haul. Harry tagged along too.

  Linc punched in the number of one of Mario Russo’s sons, Dennis phoned the other. Neither was happy at being awakened. At first reluctant to give out any information, both men conceded and listed their construction company’s current projects. Two were in New Jersey, but both were a long way from the city. Their two lists tallied.

  “I doubt Russo would involve his sons,” Harry said. “He’s meticulously kept them clean.”

  “I know. I’m grabbing at straws. I have to find her. It’s my fault she’s in danger.”

  “Nothing’s your fault, son. Tawny insisted on this one last night. Could you have dissuaded her?”

  “I tried, but maybe I didn’t try hard enough.”

  “Whether Russo lives long enough or not, if Cooper and his wife roll on him, they’ll never go to trial. Mario’s famous for payback. Screw him, and one day when you least expect it, your life will be over. He’ll make sure someone in his organization pays the check. As for the two assholes who took the Dell woman, neither of them will see the inside of a courtroom either.”

  “I don’t give a shit about any of them. I’d kill them myself if I could get away with it.”

  Linc felt Harry’s hand on his shoulder. “I know. We’re not giving up here. Colin’s plates are on the airwaves. Russo’s, too, although we’re not sure which car he’s driving. The whole city’s on alert. Something will break.”

  “Right now I feel as useless as I’ve ever felt. It’s the middle of the night, and I have no idea where to look for her. Don’t even know if she’s still alive.”

  * * * * *

  Mario smiled weakly as Tawny stood frozen outside the door, her heavy breathing audible in a night as soundless a
s a forgotten graveyard. The sky, dark and foreboding, matched Mario’s expression―the one she had seen for the first time tonight. It confirmed he was everything the media claimed. Then his countenance changed and became fatherly again, and she saw the man she had known all those years.

  “I can’t let you go, Tawny,” he said with a short, ragged breath. He looked tired and sick, but he squared his shoulders as Reggie flung open the door so hard, he almost unhinged it. Colin, right behind him, stopped short at Reggie’s back.

  “Can’t you two do anything right?” Mario said. He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. “Can’t hold on to a woman for more than an hour without her getting away?” He rubbed his index finger down the side of her cheek. “I have no doubt she would have lost you two idiots and found a way back to the city. Even with her hands secured behind her back, the first car that came by would have stopped for a prize like Tawny.”

  “Sorry, Mr. Russo,” Colin said. “She took us by surprise.”

  “That’s why she’s smart and you two are stupid. A smart man never lets down his guard.”

  “It won’t happen again,” Reggie said.

  Mario said something under his breath Tawny couldn’t make out, but from the tone, she figured Mario agreed with Reggie. It wouldn’t happen again.

  “You, Reggie, wait outside for now; and Colin,”―he said the name with distaste―“go upstairs. We’ll be there in a minute.” The two men followed Mario’s directions like obedient children.

  He guided Tawny inside and up to the musty room. They were alone. She felt sure she had minutes to live. “You can’t kill everyone, Mario. Cooper will talk like a parrot on speed.”

  “Most of what he knows is hearsay, except for the night with Rick. And that only matters if he’s around when the case gets to court. He won’t be. Neither will that whore wife of his. I almost fell over when I learned Eileen was the one calling the shots in their operation. She put out the hit on Sarah Marshall and that pretty-boy, Hansen. And those two did the dirty work. Who’d have thought?”

  Tawny tilted her head, scowled. “Is that what you called me, too? Whore?”