5 Tutti Frutti (2 page)

“I might need you to do a li
ttle bit of checking for me on the D’Angelo brothers.”

“Define checking,” I said
, returning my gaze to Louie.

“I’
m not sure, to tell you the truth. I told you Joey Cazzo was in this morning. There’s just something fishy whenever he’s involved. I have to file some motions with the court for him. Everything looks okay, but I just want to be sure. I dodged that disbarment a while back and I just don’t need the state board folks taking a closer look at me, that’s all.”

“So
, I’m still not clear what you want me to do. What am I supposed to look for?”

“Just get the feel for the place is all, the clientele, any sense of the
gambling deal they’re always rumored to be running.”

“You mean if I see a room with a sign that says
, ‘Illegal Gambling Here.’ I’ll know something’s up? Look, if they’re involved they’ve been somewhat subtle about the operation for a while, years now that I think of it. It’s always been rumored, but they’ve never been charged, have they?”

Louie shook his head no.

“Besides, isn’t one of those guys locked up? I thought he got sent away a couple of years ago.”

“Yeah
, that’s Tommy, or is it Gino? I always get them mixed up. Anyway the one who’s not quite right, he’s out on an appeal right now.”

“Not quite right?”

“The guy played football as a high school kid. I think he forgot to wear his helmet. Did some boxing, I’m guessing as a middleweight. He was wounded in the service. Had a stroke a few years back that left him with some short term memory loss.”

“He s
ounds like a medical case. He got sent to prison?”

“That’s part of what Cazzo wanted to talk about. I’m gonna file an appeal on medical grounds.”

“
I don’t know, seems like those guys have gotten away with murder, literally, for years.”

“Maybe, but
we’re supposed to have a little tougher burden of proof than “seems like” in our system.”

“When it works,” I said.

“Anyway, they got this appeal going to court.”

“So what’s the worry?”

“Just a feeling I’ve got. If Joey Cazzo’s involved, there’s a good chance it ain’t quite right. And then of course there’s his clients, the D’Angelos.”

“Okay, so why take the work
in the first place?”

“Thirty-five hundred cash
up front,” Louie said and patted the wallet in his pocket.

“Something ain’t right,
” I said.

“Most likely
. I just want to find out what it is before it hits me over the head, that’s all.”

Our waitress was suddenly there
with our order. “Bourbon bacon chicken sandwich?”

I nodded
and she placed the basket in front of me.

“And the Nook burger with a double order of fries,” she said, sliding a large
r basket in front of Louie. “Anything else, gentlemen?”

“We better have two more beers
,” Louie said.

Chapter Four

I didn’t think Linh
would take my phone call but decided to try her anyway. That turned out to be a waste of time. Macey’s phone transferred the call to an official recording that informed me my number had been blocked. I phoned Heidi. She was still talking to me.

“
Heidi, Dev.”

“Long time no talk. N
o offense Dev honey, but I meant what I said before; if you need bail money, I’m not in the mood to help out.”

“Gee
, sorry to disappoint, but I was just calling to ask you out for a fun-filled evening.”

“What’s the catch?”

“Come on, Miss Cynical, why does there have to be a catch? I just heard of a club I wanted to go to and you were the first name that popped into my head,” I lied. “Thought it might be a fun date, you don’t want to go that’s okay. I can just…”

“I was just kidding
about the catch,” she said. “What’s the name of this club?”

“The Tutti Frutti C
lub, it’s …”

“Oh God, I love t
hat place. Didn’t know you were into that stuff, wow you learn something new everyday. Yes, yes, when were you thinking of going?”

“
Thursday night?”

“Tomorrow?
Great, that gives me time to get a new outfit. Okay, let me make a call and rearrange something, this will be a lot more fun. Pick me up at eight-thirty, you mind if I call and reserve a table?”

“Reserve a table?”

“Of course that figures, clueless. Okay, I’ll set it up, don’t worry. See you tomorrow at eight-thirty.”

I hung up the phone and began to worry.

***

I
arrived at Heidi’s stylishly late. She tore open the front door just before I rang the doorbell.

“You were supposed to
be here twenty-five minutes ago. God, I’ll have to call them from your car and make sure they hold the table. Come on,” she said and rushed passed me.

I stood on the steps and stared for a moment then
regained my composure. “What the hell are you wearing, and what in God’s name did you do to your hair?”

“Like it? It’s just a wig I got
this morning,” she said, standing at the curb waiting for me to open the car door.

The
wig was fire-engine-red with a purple stripe running down the center of her skull. She looked like some sort of freaked-out skunk. She had on a revealing top, at least I think it was on. It had two large swirls of black sequins illuminating her chest. She had squeezed into a tight, black skirt about the width of my belt. A garter belt extended three inches below what served as a hem and was clipped to black stockings. The stockings had a seam that ran up the back of her leg. She had some sort of silver-studded thing wrapped three or four times around her waist.

“Is that the new outfit you were going to get? Y
ou look like Betty Page on an acid trip. Planning to pole dance in that?”

“Shut up.”

“What’s with the costume? Is that nose ring real?”

“No
stupid, just open the door okay. God, we’re late. By the way, what happened to the side of your car? It looks like someone sprayed graffiti on it. ”

I could have stood there and explain
ed how Rose went ballistic after a slight misunderstanding a few weeks back and sprayed painted “asshole” along the passenger side, but why get into it? Instead I said, “Just some kids being jerks, I had a pal buff it out.”

“You might want to have him give it a
second shot, I can still read it.”

By the time I got
behind the wheel she was on her phone. She glanced over at me as I turned the ignition. “I’m just going… Oh, hi, let me talk to Biker. Just tell him Heidi with the licorice ropes, yeah, right.”

“Who
are you calling?”

“Just drive will you
, Dev, God, we’re late as it is.”

“What’s with the…”

“Hello, Biker? Woof, woof, woof, grrrr. Yeah it is, thanks for remembering. Oh, yeah, right. Bad puppy. Hey, listen, we’re running late. What? No, I wish. But get this, I’m bringing a virgin.”

“Virgin?”
I said and glanced over at her.

S
he frantically waved her hand to indicate I should start driving. “Yeah, I thought you’d like that. Hey, I reserved the table up front in the fire base for the first show, but like I said we’re running late.” She shot me a glance as I pulled from the curb.

“
What? No, don’t worry he’ll make it worth your while. Yeah, right, I might just hold you to that. See you in fifteen. Bye, bye, bye,” she said then stuffed the phone back into her purse; a little black leather thing with studs that matched whatever was wrapped round her waist.

“What in the hell is going on?” I asked
. Ten minutes later we were on the exit ramp off I-94 heading into downtown St. Paul. I turned to look at her again just as we blew through the yellow traffic light. I couldn’t help but stare at her barely covered chest. “Heidi, did you pierce your boobs?”

“You like?”
she giggled and pushed her chest out.

“You’ve gone off the deep end. W
hen did you get so, so I don’t know…”

“O
h will you relax, they’re clip-ons. Where’s your sense of adventure, Mister Dull and Boring?”

“Clip-on
s? What’s with you? I didn’t know there was a Halloween party at this place tonight.”

She turned in the seat
to face me. “Dev, are you dense? The Tutti Frutti, don’t you know?”

“Know?”

“It’s a bondage Dom club.”

“Bondage? Y
ou mean like tying you up and spanking?”

“Well
, among other things. Turn here; we can park in the back and go in the employee entrance, it’s faster.”

“How often do you come here?”

“Just pull in here. Yeah, great, see there’s a spot right there. No, there next to the dumpster.”

“I don’t want to park next to the dumpster.”

“Oh yeah right, I forgot you wouldn’t want to ruin that special flat black spray paint on this side of your car. Classy, Dev, really classy. Now pull in, we’re late and Biker isn’t going to hold that table forever.”

The noise assaulted m
e about three feet from the back door. I thought someone might be screaming. “What the hell is that?”

“Don’t be silly
that just sets the mood,” Heidi said and pushed open the door marked “Employees Only”.

Chapter Five

We entered
a dark
hallway and walked down toward a light hanging above a jail cell door. A big guy with a shaved head wearing a prison guard uniform and combat boots sat on a stool just in front of the door. He had a woven, black leather belt strapped around his waist with a night stick and a pair of hand cuffs. Strobe lights were flashing from inside the place.

“Hey
, Heidi, how’s it going, Nasty Cat,” he said.

Heidi smiled and
half turned to point her rear at the guy exposing a bit more than the back of her upper thigh in the process. She squealed as he spanked her somewhat forcefully. Then he looked over at me. “I’ll need to see your ID, sir. We check everyone.”

I pulled out my
wallet and flipped it open to my driver’s license.

“Could y
ou remove your license, please?”

I was going to say something
, but thought better of it and just pulled my license out. I was already getting a headache from the strobe lights, and we weren’t even officially in the place. He looked up at me, back down to my photo, back up at me and studied my face. Eventually he handed my license back to me and then opened the jail cell door that led into the Tutti Frutti Club. “I guess you’re okay. Ten dollars cover.”

I hate cover charges. I don’t like to
pay money so I can then pay for a drink. I pulled out a five, counted another five ones, and handed it to him.

“That’s apiece, twenty total,” he said dead pan. He wasn’t joking.

“He’s a virgin,” Heidi yelled by way of explanation. As we stepped into the club there was a pulsating base beat coming from the sound system in the cavernous room. The beat assaulted my body with vibrations; boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom.

“I don’t think I’m g
oing to like this joint,” I yelled to Heidi. But she was already making her way toward the front of the room and some sort of stage. I stood there watching her weave her way through a crowd of turning heads up toward an area with a half dozen tables slightly elevated and surrounded by what looked like sand bags and concertina wire. I definitely wasn’t going to like this place.

By the time I caught up to
her, Heidi was talking to a large, furry-looking guy. Biker. I knew it was him, not from the hairy bare chest, not from the black leather gang vest emblazoned, “Bad Boys,” nor from his black leather motorcycle chaps. No, it was his name that gave him away. “Biker”, was tattooed across the top of his chest, which I guess complemented the rest of his artwork. He had some sort of crucifixion scene covering his entire right arm and gold fish or trout covering the entire left arm. I thought it might have been a holdover from the days when Catholics were supposed to just eat fish on Friday, but kept that thought to myself.

He had just finished giving Heidi the gratuitous spanking
, which apparently served as a greeting in this place, when I caught up. She was leaning against a hand-painted sign that read “Fire Base”, standing on one of the three steps leading up to the tables surrounded by concertina wire. She leaned down and yelled in my ear, “Give Biker twenty bucks,” she shouted.

“What?”

“Biker, give him twenty bucks, he held our table.”