Train to Anywhere
Page 15
***
McBride was sitting in his favorite chair in the living room of his home, reading the paper. In the next room, he could hear the radio playing a comedy, with the audience laughter coming through from time to time. He could hear the voices and guessed this was that new show, Amos 'n' Andy. McBride put the paper down, went into the other room, and found Rita face down on the couch with her face buried in a pillow.
"Rita?" he said, crossing the simply decorated room and sitting on the couch beside her. "Are you okay, dear?"
She lifted her head, and tears were running down her face. Her mouth worked, but no sound came out.
"Easy. What's wrong?" he said, smoothing her hair back and wiping a few of the tears away with a handkerchief.
Rita pointed at the radio console sitting in the corner of the room and struggled to catch her breath. "Andy was on a bus, and the Kingfish was driving up beside them, yelling out the window, and—and—" The rest was a mumbled blur as she fell into another fit of laughter.
McBride was relieved, having thought there was seriously something wrong with her when he came in. He went over to the other chair in the room to listen to the show and to watch Rita as she struggled for composure but failed numerous times. Her reactions were as amusing as the show itself, and he found himself smiling at her attempts. After a few minutes, the phone rang and he had to leave the room.
"Yes?" he said when he recognized the voice of one of his men. He described to McBride what had happened and went on to talk about the bank robberies. There had been an identification on Nelson, and Eddie was clearly seen. McBride listened but decided to not ask any questions. Though upset with Eddie getting away, he knew that he had a bigger problem on his hands with those two running around in the countryside. He wanted to get control of Eddie back, which meant killing him. McBride knew who Nelson was and had met him several times. The man was a lunatic who liked to wave a big gun around. Numerous times, Nelson had called his office to offer his services. Though McBride had not taken him up on the offers, he thought Nelson might come in handy some day and told him to call back occasionally. He thanked the caller and then dialed another number. Mike answered on the third ring.
McBride relayed what he had heard. "Mike, you have to take Nelson and Eddie. Take them out." Eddie had served his purpose by putting heat on Harris, and McBride knew that Harris was about out of office. He had talked to Mayor Porter enough times to know that this robbery would put him over the edge, and that Harris would either resign or be humiliated. However that played out, keeping Eddie around had worked, and now it was time to end this.
"I'm not sure where they are. We went over this," Mike said.
"You're smarter than that. Go out there and ask around. Nelson's an idiot and loudmouth. He won't be hidden for long."
"Clarence, I would just be driving around the countryside. If you hear where he is, let me know," Mike said.
McBride knew Mike was right. Eddie could stay alive and out of sight. The Feds might find him, and if they did not shoot him, they could make him talk and cause trouble for McBride's operation. Trouble McBride could fix, but he would rather not deal with it. "Nelson's regular price. Double for Eddie."
"That sounds good, but where are they?" Mike asked.
McBride thought that there had to be a way to track these two down. "They'll be moving quick. That'll make them hard to find."
"My point exactly," Mike said.
"Drive out to that area where they were seen. Call in three times a day. If I hear anything, I'll let you know," McBride said. He heard the groan on the other side of the phone. "I'll pay you half your fee just for driving out there and waiting. If we don't hear anything in a week, come home and you can keep the fee."
"Put the money in my account tomorrow, and you have a deal."
"It'll be there," McBride said. He hung up and started arranging for the payment.