Curtis (15 page)

He moved to the couch to lie down again.
His head, where the wall had hit him, was still throbbing. And what did he have
to show for it? Nothing, not a fucking thing.

“They’re fucking with me, I just know
it.” He covered his eyes with his arm as he contemplated what he needed to do
next. “First the old man and now his fucking building.”

“You should have hired someone to go in
and do the grunt work.”

He nearly squealed when Mary spoke. He’d
been so pissed he’d forgotten he’d asked her to come and see to his arm.

“My old beau used to use a jack when he was
a younger man. I could ask him to come and see what he could show you.”

“It’s too late now. The cocksucker
probably already hocked the shit I had to leave behind.” She moved the first
aid kit to the coffee table and pulled out the scissors. “I don’t suppose you
have anything for pain in that kit, do you? My head is killing me.”

She handed him a bottle of pain reliever
and cut away his shirt sleeve. He was going to have to get a whole new wardrobe
if this kept up. She tisked at his wound and he felt himself flush. It wasn’t
more than a scratch. He was about to pull his arm from her when she turned it
over. Now there was a wound that deserved to be pissed about.

“It more than likely could use a few
stitches. I can do them, but you’re not going to like it overly much.”

He nodded and reached for the bejeweled
box by the couch and decided that a hit might relax him a bit too.

“You go on doing that shit and you won’t
be worth a plugged nickel in a few years.”

“You stick to what you know and I’ll do
what I do best. I know just when I’ve hit my limit.” He grinned when he thought
of that. His dad had said nearly the same thing when it came to his alcohol. He
did three lines of coke before he leaned back on the couch. When she touched
his arm, he knew that whatever she did to him now would be nothing but pure
pleasure.

When he opened his eyes, there was a
large piece of gauze on his arm and the side lamp was burning softly. Mary was
nowhere to be seen and he was feeling the pain from his arm. Looking down at
the coke and the mess he’d made, he thought about doing another line just to
make it so he’d be able to sleep. As soon as he did it, he laid back.

“Gotta figure out what to do about the
building and my money.” Yes, he thought, now he could think too. “I’ve got things
that require me to have cash. If I don’t then I’m so fucked.”

He had two shipments coming in on
Friday, then another one on Saturday. He tried to think what day of the week it
was and lifted his arm to check his watch. He was distracted by the way his
fingers seemed to be moving and nearly forgot what he’d been looking for. It
was Tuesday.

“So, I have three days, give or take to
get the money I need. That’s not a great deal of time.” He pondered that for
several minutes then got up to pace. He nearly fell over from dizziness. “When
did you eat last?”

There were no plates on the table he sat
at, nor were there any take out bags in the trash. He tried to remember if he’d
even eaten today and wasn’t sure if he’d eaten yesterday either. He picked up
the phone to call Mary and found her note.

“I’ve been thinking on the ‘M’ you asked
me about. I found your sisters’ names. The older one is Martha and the younger
one is Malinda. I know that doesn’t help you much.”

Not really, but right now he was feeling
too good to let it bother him overly much. He looked around the book shelves
until he found the album. There were places where the pictures had been removed
and he wondered who had done it. He suspected Mary for no other reason than she
was the only one there. Grinning, he pulled the album to the desk and started
looking through it.

By the time he’d gone through it three
times, he realized something. His sisters were as ugly as sin and he was a fat
baby. Tossing it across the room he watched as a few more pictures fell out. Next
time he burned a fire, he was going to use this thing as kindling.

Taking out a sheet of note paper, he
started writing down things he needed to look into. First was his mother. She
was alive and well somewhere and he wanted to find the bitch and see what she
was made of. Then his long-lost sisters. Where were they and how much of his
money were they going to want once he found it? None, as a matter of fact. Then
there was the missing ‘M.’ Who the hell was she and how the fuck did she figure
in all this? And what organization? Was it the family or some other family?

His phone ringing irritated him and he
picked it up without looking at the ID. He was writing his mother’s name when
he froze at the sound of the voice on the other end.

“You haven’t made this week’s payment
yet. You want I should come and collect it with interest?”

He slowly laid the pen down and looked
around the room.

“You been a bad boy there, Vaughny. You
showing up in the police station ain’t gonna make the boss happy with you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I’ve never been to the police station in my entire life.” If one didn’t count
being arrested, but he doubted that’s what the man on the other end was talking
about. “Your sources have it all wrong. I’ve been trying to collect the money
that I owe you so we can be square.”

“Square?” The man, he never knew his
name, laughed. “You know’d we ain’t never gonna be square, Vaughny. We be
partners. When you got that next load coming in? Soon, I’m thinking.”

“Yeah, soon.” He rubbed his forehead,
forgetting for a moment the bump on the back of his head when he ran his
fingers through his hair. “I’m having a big shipment coming in on Sunday.”

Eric did have one coming in on Sunday,
but it was really tiny compared to the ones he had coming in a few days
earlier. He nearly swallowed his tongue when the man on the other end laughed.

“You wouldn’t be lying to me, would you,
Vaughny? I’m thinking you have something coming in on Friday night. Would my
sources be wrong about that?”

His sources. He didn’t have a clue who
was feeding him information, but he planned to find out. He looked up when Mary
walked in. She was the only one that knew besides the morons he had at the
docks waiting for it for him. He pulled out his gun and set it across his lap
while half listening to the man go on about what happened to liars. He knew
what happened and he planned to take care of that problem right fucking now. He
turned his back on Mary when he nearly missed what he’d been saying.

“…tomorrow night. And if you don’t show
then there will be parts, important parts of little Vaughny missing.”

He nearly asked what the hell he was
talking about when he repeated what he’d apparently missed.

“The dock, number one twenty-five at midnight. Understand?”

“Yes. I’ll be there. Midnight.” He looked around the room. There were suddenly eyes in every corner. He reached for his
stash and opened the chest. “Midnight.” He put down the phone and looked up at
Mary. She had the most bemused look on her face as she held a gun to him. He
simply lifted the gun and pointed it at her as well.

“You might want to think that over
before you pull that trigger. I’ve got some answers for you that’ll make
finding the money and those bonds worth it.” She grinned at him. “Besides, you
don’t want to go on and shoot your granny, do you?”

He nearly put the gun down, but waited. She
still had hers pointed directly at him. There was something about what she said
that made him think she might be telling him the truth. He motioned for her to
move over to the table and she did, never lowering her own weapon.

“Why should I believe you when you say
you’re my grandmother? All this time and suddenly you come out of the closet? I
don’t buy it.” He moved to the chair and sat down. “What’s your angle?”

“No angle. Been waiting for you to show
some balls. Or to grow up. Didn’t seem to me that you were going to do either.”
She laid her gun on the table between them and put her hands in her lap. “Of
course your daddy and your grandda didn’t have the sense God gave a turnip, but
there you have it. At least you’re trying to make something of yourself.”

He nodded, picked up his napkin, and
laid his gun near hers. If they were going to kill one another, he figured they’d
have done it by now. Instead, he picked up his fork and took a bite of mashed
potatoes to his mouth.

When the phone rang again, he ignored
it. He was suddenly hungry and sat at the table to enjoy his meal. That struck
him as funny and he was still laughing when the voicemail sound on his cell
sounded. Whoever it was could fucking call back. Vaughn Erick LaMancusa was
back and he wasn’t fucking around any longer.

~~~

Daniel looked at the woman across from
them. She wasn’t as worn as he’d been led to believe. Nor did he think she was
as spaced out as she was putting on. He leaned on the table and let his brother
Jesse continue asking her questions. Michelle LaMancusa, also known as Dawn
Stein, was not giving them dick.

“He’s alive, you know.”

She looked at him then away.

“Your son. I’m pretty sure that by now
he has a pretty good idea that you’re alive as well.”

“Nope. They told him I was dead. No
reason for him to look for his mommy. I’m as good as dead to him.” She smiled
that far away smile that Daniel knew she had practiced for a very long time. “He’s
thinking I died while birthing him.”

“And Mary Phyllis? She knew, right?” She
looked at him sharply then away. He saw it in a second, fear. “She’s been
around, we know, but not where they are. Probably told him all about you and
that girl of yours.”

“He won’t touch my girl. She’s hiding so
far from them that nobody will find her.” He slid the folder over at her and
watched as she tried to ignore it. “What’s that? You trying to tell me you know
where she is?”

“She’s changed her name to Elizabeth
Margaret Samuels. She lives in Devil’s Island, Washington and has for nearly
ten years. Her foster parents died a few years back and she was left enough
money to start new. She’s just been in to visit you last month.” Daniel moved
the folder closer to her. “You should see what she’s done to the house. It’s
very nice.”

The act fell away. In that second she
went from defiant bitch to concerned mother. Daniel wanted to keep leading her
on, but time was running out for them. She took the folder and opened it to the
pictures that had been taken just yesterday. And the house was very lovely.

“She doesn’t know about the family that
I married her into. I tried to keep her out of it for as much as I could. But
Vaughn was trying to get me to pull her in so that he could marry her off to
one of the other families. When my husband died, that’s when I started talking
to the Feds. They hid her away for me and nobody never could find her.” She
snorted as she closed the file. “Fat lot of good they did me. The fucking prick
still hurt me.”

“How?” Jesse asked before Curtis could.
“How did he hurt you? By putting you away and out of the reach of the money?”

“Money? He didn’t have shit. His daddy
had it all back then and wasn’t too keen on giving any to his son. When he came
to Vaughn about the bank robbery, I told him it was a trap. Never would listen
to a thing I said. Then when he was arrested I had to make ends meet. I had a
kid I had to raise.”

“So it wasn’t your husband’s idea to rob
the bank?”

She shook her head.

“Then Vaughn senior ran it all.”

“No. It was his wife. Mary Salinas
LaMancusa was her name. She had them all wrapped around her finger back then.
Then when she told Vaughn that I was talking to the Feds, it was all I could do
to make sure my little girl wasn’t touched. His bastard was gonna turn out like
him anyway so I didn’t care. But him being his baby, they told him what they
wanted and I was fucked. You know that the people who stashed me away still
send the bitch cards all the time?”

Daniel looked at her as he sat back in
his chair. He looked at Jesse and decided that it was now or never. She lit
another cigarette with trembling hands. They needed information she might have.

“The bank robbery? Do you know where the
money is?” She looked at him then sat down her smoke and picked up her drink.
He let her take a large swallow before continuing. “There have been several
break-ins at the building on Biloxi Street. It is rumored that the money is in
the building somewhere.”

Laughing, she picked up the cigarette again.
“Yeah, it’s there. I know just where too. I worked there at the time and it was
my job to make sure when they come to hide it that everything was all neat and
tidy for the cops to see.”

Daniel was stunned. They all figured
that the money
might
have been there, but now they knew. He started to
ask her where when she pulled a sheet of paper from a stack next to the table. As
she started drawing, she told them what had happened that day.

“Vaughn decided that we was going to
take what we felt was his. He said he didn’t believe the rumors that were going
around about me and the Feds, or so he said, but Mary had proof. ‘Course she
probably had it all. I wasn’t very smart back then. I’d meet them at the
fucking FBI building whenever they asked me to come by.” She looked up at them
suddenly. “There’s this book. You should find it. It’s got all sorts of names
in it. Some of the families are still alive and you might find it helpful to
solve a few hundred murders.”