5 Tutti Frutti (22 page)

“The
D’Angelos and…”

“Oh shit.”

“And I can’t take her back there. She holds the key. Whoever photographed her holding that riding crop is most likely the same person that murdered Dudley Rockett and maybe even the same person that ran over Gary Ruggles.”

“She might
have held the key at one time, but believe me she’s lost the thing by now. It’s impossible for her to remember. It’s hidden in her alcohol and drug-induced haze. Hell, she can barely remember her name let alone getting photographed. Dev, she’s just damaged goods.”

I couldn’t argue but that still didn’t provide any new options for me.

“What about your pal LaZelle?” Louie asked.

“Yeah,
great idea since obviously it worked so well when I spoke to him just a couple of hours ago. Man, now why didn’t I think of calling him?”

“Can it hurt?” Louie asked.

Just then Swindle staggered into Louie’s front hall with her kimono wide open. She clumsily brushed her hair back causing her to stagger a half step. “Hey, fella’s how ‘bout it, you wanna party? I’ll give the two of you a discount. Maybe get this little lady another drink.”

“Get her into Detox
,” Louie said under his breath.

I h
ad to wait about ten minutes until Aaron finally came on the line.

“Yeah, Dev, now what?”

“Look Aaron, Swindle Lawless…”

“We’re looking for her, there’s a warrant out for her arrest.”

“A warrant?”

“We got the
initial test results on her car back from the BCA lab. They found bits of Gary Ruggles on her front bumper and right front quarter panel. The paint is an exact match to samples taken from his body. At this point any help you can give would be advantageous to your situation.”

Swin
dle was standing in Louie’s front hall whining as she begged him for a drink.

“I think I might know where she is, but if I bring her in she should probably go into Detox.”

“Tell me where she is. I think it might be better if I sent a squad.”

“I can
get her to Detox in less time. Besides the squad may present other problems. Let me give it a shot.”

“Okay, y
ou got ninety minutes to get her down there. After that all deals are off.”

“
Look, I’ll get her down there. Can you alert them we’ll be coming in? I don’t want to give her a chance to flee the scene.”

“
You gonna show up with her?”

“I’m almost a hundred percent sure I can do that.”

“Call me when you’re on your way, Dev, and don’t let me down I’m counting on you.”

By now
Swindle was leaning against the wall in Louie’s front hall. She’d crossed her arms tightly over her chest like she was holding herself. She was swaying back and forth as Louie continued to try to reason with her.

“Thanks,” I said, but
Aaron had already hung up.

“Come on
, you’ll have a good time. You can ask anyone. I’m really good, please, please, please,” Swindle pleaded to Louie.

He
looked at me for help as I stepped in the front door.

“
Go ahead, Louie, give her some vodka. Swindle, close that thing and tie it shut,” I said.

Swindle pulled
her kimono together. She gathered the belt around her waist and cinched it closed. Louie stepped back into the hallway and handed her a glass with a couple of shots of vodka in it. She immediately downed the glass then closed her eyes, titled her head back, and seemed to visibly relax.

“Look
, Louie, we’d like to stay, but I found a party so we’re going to go. You up for a party, Swindle?”

She opened her eyes and nodded vigorously.

“Sorry we can’t stay,” I said. I had Swindle by the arm and began to lead her to my car.

“The party with
your pal LaZelle?” Louie asked.

I
didn’t want to halt our progress toward my car so I just nodded and kept moving with Swindle in tow. “Yeah, I’ll keep you posted,” I called over my shoulder.

I phoned Aaron about ten minutes later to tell him we were just a few minutes out from the Detox center.

“They’re waiting for you. A doc named Maxine Washington is your point of contact. She’s got the paperwork already started. Dev, you know once she’s in there we’re going to have to place her under arrest.”

“I know. Tell you the truth
Aaron, it’s probably the safest thing for her.” I glanced over at Swindle slunked down in the passenger seat on the verge of passing out.

“We almost there?” S
he moaned but kept her eyes closed.

“I’ll call you after we’re checked in,” I said to Aaron and hung up.

“Is the party at a hotel?” Swindle asked a couple of minutes later.

“Yeah, everyone is waiting for us, it’ll be a lot of fun,” I said
as I put my blinker on and turned into the entrance to the Detox unit.

The
Ramsey County Chemical Dependency Unit is a modern structure of three stories with separate dorms for men and women. The entrance is a one story double door affair jutting out from the center of the building. The double doors sit beneath a curved red roof, which seemed to serve as the only nod to any architectural inspiration on the entire building. In a way I suppose the place did sort of look like a no-frills hotel.

“And they got a
bar here, right?” Swindle asked. She was attempting to rally and come awake.

As we pulled up two large me
n stepped out of the entrance rolling a gurney. They were dressed in white and were followed by a short black woman in a blue lab coat holding a clip board. I couldn’t read her name tag, but I assumed she was Doctor Washington.

I pulled to a stop
and Swindle stared at the gurney for a moment then looked at me. “What the hell is this?”

“Just a little kinky
thing they like to do, but it’s good, Swindle, very good. You’ll have fun.”

Her sun
burned face stared at me for a long moment then she seemed to accept my explanation and slowly climbed out of my car.

Chapter Forty-Three

“You
’re still a person
of interest,” Manning said.

“Yes sir
, I’m aware of that,” I said, trying hard to act like I was on my best behavior.

We were parked next to my Fleetwood in the Detox parking lot.
Aaron was sitting in the passenger seat. He watched me in the rearview mirror, but I couldn’t read his look. Manning sat behind the wheel and stared straight ahead like I wasn’t worth the effort of a backward glance. I was sitting in the middle of the back seat of their unmarked car, groveling.

“She’ll be here for at least seventy-two hours
. Depending on what we learn, she’ll either go to county or a rehab facility after that,” Aaron said.

“I think she’s probably been drunk for
so long I don’t see how she could be capable of doing any of this,” I said.

“
Well, her car is definitely the vehicle that struck and killed Gary Ruggles. Whether she was driving or not is another matter, although her life style doesn’t do much to plead her case. And by the way, don’t forget your DNA was found on the wheel, too.”

“
And she was definitely a player in your little bronco busting event. We’re waiting for DNA results on the riding crop and handcuffs,” Manning said sounding just a little too cheerful.

I think
I caught the hint of a smile from Aaron.

“Actually
, about all those cell phone images prove is that someone photographed her, it’s really not conclusive evidence.” I said.

“No, but it helps build a case one image at a time,” Manning said
. He was still staring out the windshield acting like this was a big waste of his precious time. I had the feeling he was commenting more on the images of me rather than the two featuring Swindle.

“I’m telling you
, guys, the D’Angelos are mixed up in this.”

“So you say, Haskell
, but we’ve got Gino hooked up to a monitor and he hasn’t been anywhere in the past week. He’s never left the house even once. Tommy might be one of the bigger crooks in town, but he doesn’t like to get his hands dirty. I was there when they slipped that bracelet around Gino D’Angelo’s ankle. If either of those two idiots even thinks of screwing with the monitor we’re alerted immediately,” Manning said.

“Yeah, I’ve had the pleasur
e of wearing one before,” I replied absently.

“Any other ideas?” Aaron asked.

“None that make any sense,” I said.

“
Okay for now. Keep us posted, Dev, and thanks for bringing Swindle Lawless in. It’s for the best.”

“Yeah, hopefully she’s hit bottom and she can begin t
o put things back together. Now if we could just figure out why she’s been set up.”

“How ‘bout
if
she’s been set up,” Manning scoffed.

I phoned Louie after
Aaron and Manning drove off.

“Hey, Louie.”

“Dev, guess who I just got off the line with?”

“The IRS, they said it was all a mistake and I can forget
about the fines?”

“Don’t get your hopes up
. No, Joey Cazzo.”

“What’d that jerk want?”

“Swindle.”

“Swindle?”

“Yeah, he was looking for her. He said she hadn’t answered her phone and they wondered if you or I had seen her.”

“Why didn’t he call me?”

“Maybe because he doesn’t like you. Besides, based on what I saw she was incapable of answering her phone. You get her into Detox?”

“Yeah, she’s
safe and sound for at least the next seventy-two hours. If Cazzo called her phone it was ringing in the evidence room at police headquarters. I think it’s in custody with all those photos on it. Remember? They grabbed the thing off Rockett’s body or from his house or something.”

“Yeah
it all seems just a little too convenient.”

“You think?
I’m telling you the D’Angelos and probably Cazzo are all involved, Louie. I just can’t quite figure out how or why?”

“Look Dev,
if you’re thinking Swindle can help forget it. It would be like looking into a very deep, black hole.”

“She’s involved
somehow, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know it. Anyway, she’s just a distraction. I’m missing something.”

“Probably common sense for starters,” Louie said.

“Let me ask you something. You saw Swindle this afternoon and she was totally out of it.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Louie said.

“That’s close to the condition she was in when I left her at my house and we went down to view Manning’s little picture show at the police station.”

“Yeah?”

“How does someone who forgets her shoes at my place and is that screwed up ever find her way back to Tommy D’Angelos?”

“Maybe she called a taxi?”

“She doesn’t have her phone. She doesn’t even have her purse.”

“Hitchhike?”

“Possibly, but it’s pretty slim. I don’t think she could tell them her name let alone where she wanted to go. So is it possible the same person who left flowers at Candi’s and Heidi’s house broke into my place and stole Swindle?”

“Anything’s possible
, but why? Well, and then who?”

“Tommy and Gino
are my guess I just can’t figure out why?”

“Except that they have that
monitor bracelet on or at least Gino does. The police can track them all day long,” Louie said.

“And Gino
never goes anywhere without Tommy. Yeah I keep running into that. It’s gotta be Cazzo,” I said.

“I
just don’t figure him. Like I said before it’s too low even for a weasel like Cazzo.”

Chapter Forty-Four

I phoned Aaron the
following morning and left a message. I left another message around noon. Manning called me back around mid-afternoon.

“I’m returning your call, Haskell.”

“I never called you.”

“Yes
, well shit rolls down hill and you’re pretty much at the bottom. So what did you want to bother the good Lieutenant about?”

“I just had a question about the
D’Angelos.”

“
Gee, that line is long. I’m sure you do have a question and if I recall, the Lieutenant’s response is something along the lines of getting your own shit cleaned up before you get concerned with the D’Angelos, right?”

“Look, here’s the deal. W
hile I was being interrogated by you and Officer Friendly, that blonde who doesn’t know how to smile…”