5 Tutti Frutti (25 page)

“You
dumb fuck, you got no idea what you’re up against here. You know what’s good for you you’ll cut me loose right now. We can make it worth your while. Think about it, pal. Think about it,” Cazzo yelled. He coughed and spit more blood onto my basement floor.

“Yeah, I ha
ve thought about it,” I said. I fished my cell phone out of my pocket and pushed a couple of buttons.

“Don’t be stupid, just think for a minute, don’t…”

“Lieutenant Aaron LaZelle,” I said into the phone and stared at Cazzo. He sat on the floor and slowly shook his head back and forth.

“It’s an emergency, assault in progress, shots fired
,” I said, then looked down again at Cazzo. He half coughed and spit more blood.

“No, I’m not joking. G
et me Lieutenant LaZelle, please. If he isn’t available I’ll even talk to that prick Manning. What? Oh, Haskell. Dev Haskell. I’m holding one of them at gun point right now. Yeah, no, I want to talk with LaZelle or Manning, please, tell them it’s an emergency. I’m holding this guy at gunpoint, an intruder. What? No, I’m not kidding,” I half yelled.

Manning w
as on the line about ninety seconds later.

“
This had better be good, Haskell,” he said then made a noise that sounded like he had just bit into an apple.

“Manning, I got Joey Cazzo in my basement. He broke in here, was going to shotgun me and I disarmed him. I’ve got him tied up.”

There was a long pause before Manning said, “So help me, Haskell, if you’re doing some sort of comedy routine on this I will lock you up and throw away the key.”

“What the hell does it take to get you guys to come here
? I guess I’ll just have to,” and I lowered the shotgun at Cazzo down on the floor. “Count to three, Cazzo,” I said and pretended to sight down the barrel.

“Jesus, God
, don’t shoot,” Cazzo screamed. “Please, please, don’t shoot, please don’t.”

“Manning?”

“We’re on our way,” Manning said, suddenly sounding breathless like he may have been running. “Don’t shoot him, Haskell. Please don’t. We’re there in about four minutes, you hear? Just stay calm, stay calm.”

“Then hurry up,”
I giggled. I hung up and looked down at Cazzo. “You are about to be placed under arrest, my friend. Anything I can come up with I plan to use against you. You have the right to remain silent, but I wouldn’t if I were you. I intend to do everything I can to see you hang.”

Chapter Forty-Eight

Manning was pretty close
with his time estimate. It took the first squad about four and a half minutes before I heard the siren. Aaron and Manning arrived just a minute or two after that. A number of units followed close behind them. I figured it was all one big welcoming party for Joey Cazzo.

“Dev?” Aaron called fro
m the top of the basement stairs. “All right to come down?”

“Yeah, come on, get down here and haul this p
iece of garbage out of my house,” I said. I still wasn’t going to take any chances, so I held the shotgun on Cazzo.

“Okay
, I’m coming down, Dev. All right?”

“Yeah, of course
, get down here and quit screwing around, Aaron.” Through the grime of my basement windows I could see a number of uniformed legs running past. They were in black SWAT Team gear. I heard heavy footsteps overhead tromping through my first floor, lots of heavy footsteps.

Aaron cautiously descended the stairs, Manning was
right behind him. Aaron wore a protective vest and had both his hands held open at about waist height. Manning remained too close behind him for me to see much. I could tell he had on a protective vest and I guessed he most likely held a gun in his hands.

They were coming down slowly, very slowly. “Just calm down, Dev. No need to do anything crazy right now. Nice work here, glad you got him,” Aaron said softly.

“Oh, for God’s sake, will you two quit screwing around and get down here. I’m calm, damn it. Come on. Take this thing before it goes off,” I said and extended the shotgun in Aaron’s direction. I held on to the barrel and handed it to him stock first.

I think I heard Manning exhale as Aaron quickly ste
pped off the stairs and took the stock of the shotgun.

“Maybe keep your hands where we can see them, Dev, just till we’re sure everyone is safe.”

“Yeah, sure, no problem. Look, Cazzo here and two other fools, I think it was the D’Angelos. Anyway, they had me tied up down here and I think they were going to kill me.”

At that
Cazzo, still lying on the floor, began to sob uncontrollably. “Thank God you finally got here. This maniac was going to kill me. Please don’t let him near me. Better be careful, I think he’s got another gun on him, keep him away, keep him away from me,” Cazzo sobbed.

Aaron and Manning looked momentarily confused.

“Oh, Jesus, I don’t have a gun on me, honest, here search me,” I said then took a step forward.

“Freeze,”
Manning shouted then pointed what looked like a nine millimeter automatic at me over Aaron’s shoulder.

“Oh
, for God’s sake,” I said and shook my head.

“Just hold still for
a moment Dev, it’s just procedure, okay. But we have to be careful.”

I struck what I thought was a funny pose
like I was about to leap toward them then held very still. I was aware of more footsteps hurrying down the basement stairs. Someone from behind pushed me none to gently down on my knees, uniformed figures rushed past me toward Cazzo.

“Get that tape off him,” someone said.

“Don’t let him near me. Keep him away from me do you hear? Keep that maniac away from me, he’s crazy,” Cazzo cried.

Aaron was on
some sort of phone or radio saying, “We’re clear. Stand down, repeat stand down.”

“Okay
, see, look no other weapons,” I said just before a uniform forced me into a prone position on my basement floor. He pulled my arms behind my back and began to handcuff me.

“Hey, are you
kidding me? What the hell are you doing? God damn it, I’m one of the good guys. I’m with you. What the hell…”

“Dev, just calm down until we get this sorted out, okay. We just want to keep everyone safe, including you,” Aaron said.

“Oh, thank God you stopped him. I thought he was going to kill me, he’s crazy. You are fucking crazy, Haskell, you nut case,” Cazzo screamed at me. He was standing now with the help of a paramedic and shaking uncontrollably. My duct tape had been cut from his wrists and ankles. He suddenly wrapped his arms around himself tightly and began to sway back and forth moaning. Another paramedic came down the stairs then rushed over to where Cazzo seemed to be going off the deep end. He half whispered to his partner.

They gently sat
Cazzo on the basement floor then leaned him back against the large timber support. They opened what looked like a plastic tool box and took out some sort of wipe, which one of them used to gently clean his face. The other paramedic pulled a syringe out of a tray, squirted a drop or two into the air, and then gave him an injection in his arm.

“
This is just to help you relax, sir, you’re doing fine, just fine.”

“Crazy, crazy, I’m tell
ing you. Thank God you got here. I thought he was going to kill me. He wanted more money from me,” Cazzo whimpered.

“Dev, we’re going to take
you downtown to the station and get all this sorted out,” Aaron said. “You can ride with me, okay?”

“Do
I have to go like this, cuffed? I mean come on Aaron. If I was going to kill anyone do you think I would be crazy enough to call you so you could come over and watch?”

Manning shot Aaron a quick glance.

“Look, let’s just get you out of here and get this cleared up, okay?”

I nodded.

“Soon as it’s safe to move him get him checked out at Regions Hospital. Make sure you take a statement,” Aaron said to a uniform standing behind Cazzo. “This is a crime scene, I want it processed and no one in here unless absolutely necessary. Dev, come on, let’s get you out of here.”

I foll
owed Aaron up the basement stairs. Manning guided me from behind as we walked out to their car. They were parked directly behind my car in the driveway and blocking the sidewalk. A uniform fell along either side of me. I looked at my car but didn’t say anything. One of the uniforms opened the rear door of the police car for me then placed a hand on my head as I cautiously slid into the back seat.

“Wat
ch your head there, sir.”

My car sat
just beyond the sidewalk in a place I never leave it. I always pull all the way up the driveway, either directly in front of or actually inside my garage. I didn’t mention it to Aaron.

We had a quiet
drive down to police headquarters while I tried to figure out exactly what was going on, but I was unable to come up with any answers.

Chapter Forty-Nine

“He’s filing charges! Against
me? You gotta be kidding.” Once again I was in my favorite interrogation room. Louie had arrived a few minutes earlier and was seated next to me. Manning and unsmiling Clara sat across from us. She seemed to be busily taking notes and never looked up once. In defense of Manning, he seemed to be unconvinced by Cazzo’s claims, but none the less he was going through the motions.

“No,
in fact he claims you forced him into your basement at gunpoint.”

“I told y
ou. I was at Candi’s house. She gave me something to drink and the next thing I knew I was duct taped to a chair in my basement.”

“Yeah, that would be the chair Mister Cazzo claims you used to assault him with, correct?”

“Correct, and I can support that claim one hundred percent. I was drugged, taped to that chair, and was in the process of escaping from my own basement when Cazzo returned with two guys and a shotgun to finish me off.”

Humorless Clara kept her head dow
n, but she stopped writing for a moment like she couldn’t believe her ears.

“The
shotgun you refer to is the weapon you were carrying when we arrived, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And I believe that shotgun is registered to you.”

“Yeah
, exactly,” I nodded and glanced over at Louie who was shaking his head ever so slightly like I was telling some sort of unbelievable tale.

“And you had returned to y
our home from the Tutti Frutti Club is that correct?”

“
Yes, I mean, well no. Look, we’ve already been over this a number of times. I went there to meet Candi, to the Tutti Frutti Club that is.”

“And you had been dr
inking rather heavily,” Manning flipped a couple of pages in the file in front of him and looked up at me.

“I guess it depends on what you consider heavy.”

“We have a statement from one of the bartenders at the Tutti Frutti. He said you became belligerent when your credit card was declined.”

“I don’t know that belligerent is correct. Yeah, I was upset, who wouldn’t be
, but belligerent? I don’t think so.”

“You were b
elligerent to the point where another employee felt compelled to pay your bill.”

“Not belligerent and
, actually, Candi paid my bill.”

“And
she is employed by the Tutti Frutti Club. So then you departed with her and?”

“And I’m not sure. I had a beer, no two beers
, and I think a late dinner or an early breakfast and another drink and that’s all I remember.”

“You did this where
?”

“At her place. I
n her home.”

“
And you left her home sometime prior to sunrise before she was awake?”

I had a hazy memory of
Candi driving home and some vague conversation about her parking in the garage. This wasn’t making any sense to me.

“I think she drove me from the Tutti Fr
utti Club to her home. We took her car. I had been overserved and having her drive seemed to be the wisest choice.”

“And
so your car got to her house how?”

“I have no idea. I have no memory of leaving her house. The last thing I remember is her wearing a
smile and pair of these black knee high boots. She handed me a drink. I don’t know what the drink was. I just know that it burned when it went down. I remember that. Oh, and she said she got the stuff in Mexico.”

“Tequila?”

“I don’t know what it was.”

“Are you in t
he habit of drinking drinks that you don’t know what they are?”

“Sometimes.”

“Then you woke sometime before Miss Slaughter and left her home?”

“I’m not sure.
All I know is I woke and found myself duct tapped to a chair in the basement of my house.”