5 Tutti Frutti (30 page)

“And you grabbed Swindle for yourself,” Tommy shouted then slapped the two clamps together causing them to arc viciously.

“Oh, God, don’t, I didn’t take Swindle, honest. I’ll tell you anything you want…”

“That’s just what Rockett said,” Tommy laughed then slapped the clamps together a couple of
times causing them to arc and scare the living daylights out of me.

I scooted down the bench
as best I could to get away from him.

“This is gonna hurt you a lot more than me. Don’t let him get away, Gino, hit him if he tries,”
Tommy chuckled.

Gino took two steps toward me and took up a fighter
’s stance rolling his fists back and forth smiling an idiotic sort of grin.

Tommy
laughed then slapped the clamps together a couple times causing them to arc some more.

I tried to
slide away on the bench, but Gino stepped in and clubbed me hard on the back of the head with a heavy left hand.

I
suddenly drew my right leg up and kicked him with all the force I had just at the knee then leapt off the bench and jumped over him as he crumpled to the ground.

“God damn it,
come here you,” Tommy yelled, and tried to grab for me, dropping the jumper cables on Gino in the process.

Gino gave a high pitched scream as
the cables arced. I hobbled off into the darkness. I had no idea where I was going other than away from those two. I heard footsteps behind me, so I picked up speed and kept going until I was aware of a wall looming in front of me. I took a sharp turn to the left and didn’t hear anyone following.

Just then the Mercedes fir
ed up and I heard the car door slam closed. The tires screeched as the car accelerated and sped toward me. My arms were still wrapped tightly in the coil of orange electrical cord. I took off running parallel with the brick wall toward the front of the building. The car raced alongside the brick wall and bore down on me scraping the wall in the process. I faked a couple steps to the left then jumped back against the wall just as the Mercedes shot past me. The side mirror clipped the coil wrapped around me, knocking me down to the concrete floor. I looked up as the brake lights flashed and the car screeched to a stop.

I was
up and running across the middle of the floor back toward the bench as the Mercedes shot back in reverse slamming into the brick wall. I headed toward Gino sitting on the floor in front of the bench. His knee was bent at an odd right angle, although he didn’t seem to be in any pain.

Tommy floored the Mercedes in my direction then screeched to a stop just a foot or two in fr
ont of Gino. I faced him on the other side of the bench and rocked back and forth, dodging left and right. He glared at me from behind the wheel then backed up and made a large loop to come behind the bench.

I took off into the darkness and headed for the garage door thinking maybe I could
somehow raise the thing and roll under it out of the building. I made it to the door just as the headlights illuminated me again. There was maybe just an inch or two of space at the bottom of the fiberglass door. Just large enough so I could slip my foot underneath and attempt to raise the thing.

As I raised the door with my foot
I heard the Mercedes pick up speed. I wasn’t going to make it and tumbled to the side just as Tommy sailed past me and through the garage door.

The
re were flashing lights outside’ three sets with a fourth coming across a large parking lot. Squad cars, St. Paul’s finest. One of them threw a spot light on the Mercedes as it skidded to a stop. Tommy backed up and attempted an end run off to the side. The squad car coming across the lot flicked on a siren and cut him off. Tommy jumped out of his car and ran half a dozen steps before a voice on the loud speaker shouted, “Stop. Stay where you are. Keep your hands where we can see them.”

He took a
few more steps then stopped, turned to face the spotlight, and said, “I caught that guy breaking into the warehouse, thank goodness you got here. He assaulted me and my handicapped brother when we tried to stop him.”

I was kneeling on the warehouse floor where the garage door used to be
. I was still wrapped up with the extension cord. Gino was somewhere behind me in the dark singing the theme to Sesame Street.

Chapter Fifty-Eight

“The nine one
one call came through on a phone registered to Swindle Lawless,” Aaron explained.

“We’
ve had her under lock and key in the psyche ward of the treatment facility ever since she was released from Detox,” Manning added.

They
were both seated in neon-pink, hard plastic chairs that had been dragged from the hallway into my hospital room. Louie sat in the corner in the cushioned visitor’s chair.

“So
what are you saying? That Swindle didn’t place the call?”

“I don’t see how she could,” Aaron said.

“And the gambling club or whatever the hell was going on there?” I asked.

“Based on the list your attorney gave us,” Aaron shot a glance at Louie who smiled politely. “The property was one of a number in foreclosure that
at one time all belonged to Lester Dalton.”

“The developer?”

“Yeah, they’d reverted back to the bank some time ago, but he still had access. You know how the banks are,” Aaron said.

I nodded.

“We’ve discovered traces that suggest they worked Rockett over at that warehouse location then transported him to the address where he was found. They drowned the poor bastard in the bathtub just to finish him off. Another Lester Dalton place, by the way.”

“So how come they got away with this stuff. You kept telling me they were monit
ored, or at least Gino was. You guys said they never left the house.”

“Well
, that’s pretty much the case,” Manning said, looking more than a little uneasy.

“Pretty much the case?” I said and looked at Louie.

“Go ahead, Detective, be my guest, enlighten my client,” Louie said.

“Well
, you see it seems that Mister D’Angelo, as a result of his war injury, lost a part of his leg and we seem to have inadvertently attached the monitor around his prosthesis.”

The room was quiet for a long moment.

“You put the monitor on the guy’s fake leg?” I spoke slowly and very deliberately.

“It would appear that was the case,” Manning said not looking directly at me. His bald head was shifting from pink to a deep crimson.

“So as long as the leg was left in the house you guys didn’t know the difference, that right? He probably just strapped on a spare wooden peg he had laying around, went out, and painted the town, right?

“Well, that might be a little far fetched.”

“I’m not so sure. Really great job, Detective. Very well done. Can’t tell you how safe that makes me feel. And I end up being accused of murder because you guys can’t figure out the difference. You gotta be kidding me. My life has been hell, I almost get killed, I…”

“You weren’t officially
charged,” Aaron said.

“Thanks for that,”
I replied.

“Yeah, well
, it’s all coming together. Look, you might as well hear it from me,” Aaron said. “Your gal Candi, seems she and your buddy Joey Cazzo might have had a thing for one another.”

“
What? Cazzo? When did that happen?” I asked.

“Oh, I’d
say up until about early this morning when Tommy D’Angelo fingered Cazzo for the hit and run on Ruggles. Apparently, the guy called Candi a name or something. Cazzo took offense and they used Swindle Lawless’s car to run Ruggles down.”

“Cazzo ran the guy down in Swindle
’s car?” I asked.

“No,
it was most likely Gino D’Angelo, not that he’s able to remember,” Manning said.

“
Small world isn’t it? You meet someone at a concert and it just goes downhill from there. Look, Dev, at least we’re beginning to get things all cleared up. We’ll get two murders off the books and we broke up this gambling ring. You rest up,” Aaron smiled and stood.

“No hard feelings then, Haskell?
” Manning said and extended his hand.

“Get the hell out of here,” I said.

Aaron and Manning left. Louie hung around for a bit until I drifted off to sleep. I woke up when someone gave me a kiss and slid her hand under the bedcover. My first thought was the nurses here were really nice. I blinked my eyes open.

“Did I wake you, bad boy?”
Candi said softly.

“
Candi. Am I dreaming?”

“No, it’s really me. Miss me?”

“I saw you at that house. What in the hell is going on? They almost killed me last night,” I whispered.

“But you’re okay, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, I mean I’ll live, but where have you been? Why did you disappear?”

“I’ve been in
Las Vegas, Dev. I just needed some time off. I came back this morning as soon as I heard.”

This morning? I saw you last night, when they carried me out of there. They were going to kill me,
Candi. Did you know that? They were going to kill me damn it and all you did was wave good-bye.”

“But they didn’t, did they?”

“Jesus Christ, do know what almost happened? They were gonna shock me. That God damned maniac Tommy and his crazy ass brother tried to run me down, kill me.”

“But they didn’t, Dev. The police got ther
e just in time and stopped them, didn’t they? And now you’re safe.”

“You and Joey Cazzo
, you were playing me.”

“Dev
, where did you ever get that idea?”

“Because the cops told me a
nd because I saw his clothes in your place, the sport coats and the golf shirts and it was you and Cazzo all along, wasn’t it?” I said, suddenly figuring things out.

“You’re sounding crazy, baby.”

“Besides, Tommy D’Angelo fingered Cazzo on the hit and run,” I gambled.

“
That bastard called me fat,” she shot back.

“I knew it.”

“What are you talking about?” she said, suddenly sounding nervous.

“You and Cazzo, you took those photos when you drugged me. You two took tho
se photos of Swindle, planted that phone on Rockett. You were in on it, Candi. You set me up. You drugged me for fucks sake. They were gonna kill me, Candi.”

“You seemed to enjoy yourself. I didn’t hear any
complaints from you at the time. Anyway, you can forget all that it’s over.” She smiled then kissed me.

“
Candi, damn it, that jerk Joey Cazzo?”

“Don’t worry
about him,” she said then leaned down very close, nibbled my ear, and whispered, “besides, he’s out of the picture now forever, Dev.”

“
Candi,” I said and sat up in the bed. “You can’t do this.”

“Oh
, really? Gee, Dev, sorry but it’s already done and I’ve been out in Vegas for a few days,” she laughed. “See, check it out I’ve even got airline tickets and credit card receipts from the Biaggio.” She laughed then reached into her purse and pulled out a couple of Delta boarding cards and what looked like a bunch of credit card receipts.

“That’s all fake
and you know it. You might fool the cops but I know. It’s all bullshit. You just sent someone out there using your name.”

“
Well, sometimes a girl’s just got to do certain things to get ahead.”

I shook my head but couldn’t think of anything to say.

She smiled, shrugged, and looked at me for a long moment, waiting.

After a while I turned and stared out the window. “They
were gonna kill me, Candi,” I mumbled.

I heard he
r exhale heavily then after a bit she said, “Last chance, bad boy.”

I continued to stare out of the window.

“Okay, suit yourself,” she said then picked up her purse and took a couple of steps toward the door before she turned. “Oh, something for you,” she said. There was an edge to her voice I’d never heard before. She reached into her purse and pulled out an iPhone housed in a sequined leopard skin case. She tossed it onto my bed then walked out of the room without saying another word.

Chapter Fifty-Nine

“Wh
ere did you say you got this?” Manning asked me. We were standing in a lobby on the fourth floor of the police department. Just outside homicide.

“I was on my way to work,
I opened the front door and there it was. I thought I should drop it off down here,” I said.

“Some
one just left an iPhone on your door step?” he said, turning the phone over and examining the sleazy leopard skin case.

“I guess.
I think it might be registered to Swindle.”