Dead Money Run (12 page)

Whe
n
we got to the car, I unlocked the door with the keyless entry button. Then I pushed the button that started the engine. I waited for Hilary to get in before I said anything. She talked first.

“Would you have shot him?”

“Definitely,” I said.

“Do you think
he’s for real?”

“No and yes
,” I said.

“I know the
‘no’ part, what’s the ‘yes’ part?”

“He didn’t figure
out what he said to us on his own. Someone had to tell him. That’s the first thing. Secondly, he overplayed his role. If he was as bad as he thought he was or as bad as he wanted us to think he was, he’d have taken a shot at me and turned me in for the reward from whoever has the contract out on me or I should say, us. Lastly, I don’t know who Puncher is, but the Crusher I know is white and he is about twice Puncher’s size. Besides, Crusher would have fought me pretty even. The one I knocked down was so muscle bound he probably couldn’t tie his shoes without falling over. Still, Roseman’s probably an in for us to some higher ups. Finding the person who killed my sister is going to be like looking for a snake in a hay stack.”

“I think you mean needle,” said Hilary.

“No, I stand by what I said.”

I put the car in gear and drove out of the parking are
a. As we exited the lot, a white rice burner fell in behind us.

“How much do you think I’m worth
,” said Hilary.

“Excuse me?”

“You know, what do you think I’m worth as far as a contract hit?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because my Dad always said I was never going to be worth anything.”

I had nothing to add to that. At least Hilary had parents
with a sense of humor. I wasn’t sure who or where mine were. Over the years I convinced myself it never mattered, but it did, especially as I got older. A good family life is like an anchor. Some have it and some don’t.

I
wondered about my brother. He was either dead or living large somewhere in California. The last time I ever saw Sam Malloy he had a cardboard suitcase and was walking out my bedroom door heading to the bus station in the town we lived in. He said he was going to California and never coming back. I was seventeen years old and I remembered crying. I wanted to go with him. He said he was going to make his fortune. I bet he’d know what to do with fifteen million dollars.

Looking at our gas ga
uge, we were almost on empty. I looked for one of those places where you could get breakfast, coffee and gas all in one. I pulled in and walked inside to hand the clerk a ten dollar bill. There were signs everywhere that said you had to stay by your car when getting gas. I wondered about that. Then I saw the sign that said, ‘High Crime Area. Station Not Responsible Items left In Your Car After Six O’clock’. I wondered what happened after six o’clock? I guess as long as you got gas before six on any given day, you were good to go.

After
the gas cut off, I waited by the car while, Hilary went to the ladies room. The driver of the white rice burner was still with us. When Hilary got back, I asked her if she was hungry.

“Little early for dinner, don’t you think?”

“Never too early to go to the Varsity,” I said.

“What’s
a Varsity? Sounds like a football team.”

“Wait and you’ll see for yourself.”

I had not been to the Varsity since entering prison and I wanted to see if there were any changes. I told Hilary that she hadn’t been eating right and that I was going to get her a Red Dog, and F.O., Ring One, and for myself I ordered a V.O. and a naked steak. She wanted to know what they were.

“I just ordered you a hot dog with ketchup, a frosted o
range shake and an order of fried onion rings. For myself, I ordered an orange drink and a plain hamburger.”

“I thought that’s what you ordered.”

After placing our order, the tail from Roseman’s pulled in about three stations down from us and rolled down his window. I heard him order a cup of coffee and a hamburger. It was probably just a coincidence that he was four cars down from us. Then again, I didn’t believe in coincidences.

“Hilary, I
’m going to step out of the car and visit our new friend a few cars down from us. When my food gets here, make it to go. We may be leaving here in about ten minutes.”

“God, don’t sho
ot him. I’ve got troubles enough without throwing up my food in the car.”

“Don’t worry.
I just want to know why he’s following us. He probably won’t tell me, but I’ll try and reason with him. Pulling here like he did, he can’t be all that bright.”

“I’ve seen your efforts at reasoning. Just don’t kill him in this place.”

Opening my car door, I stepped out like I was going to stretch. I looked over at our friend and he was talking on a cellphone. I walked behind the four cars between us to where our new friend had parked. Walking up along the passenger side of his car, I opened the passenger door and got in. As I did, I shoved the suppressor end of the Glock into his right side and said, “What’s your name, Bud?”

“Huh…I don’t…”

I wasn’t in the mood to spend a lot of time jawing on what he wanted to know. So I told him he had a few choices.

“One, you can say you are not telling me anything, then I’m going to blow your
guts all over your dashboard. Going to be messy, but probably not as messy as some of the burgers you get in this place. Or, my next option is to give you a chance to tell the truth and save your life. Your choice.”

“I don’t think you are going to shoot me, so let’s go with the second option and I can wait as long as you can.”

“Bad idea,” I said and pointed the Glock at his toes and fired. Since I had the silencer on, the sound was barely audible. However, no name was doubled over trying to get to his foot.

“You shot me.”

“No I didn’t. I shot your car. Next time I shoot you. Now I need your name or I’m going to put one in your ankle. You got three seconds.”

“Carl. Carl Willis.”

“Who you work for, Carl?”

“Trust me, I don’t know.”

“Why should I trust you?”

Carl was a throwaway. I was betting
he was private and didn’t really know what he was into.

“I heard about you man. You never leave loose ends
,” he said.

“
Your news is good, Carl, but if I needed news, I’d watch CNN. Who you working for and if I don’t get an answer soon, you are going to become a statistic.” I waited out a ten count and then I pointed the Glock at Carl’s right knee.” “Knees can be important, Carl. How important is your right knee?”

“Okay, okay. Roseman. I work for Roseman.”

“Now you’re being smart. Start your car and drive out of this place.”

“Where we going? You’re not going to kill me are you? I heard people call you the Reaper.”

“Just drive, Carl. Names in this game are not that important.”

“I di
dn’t get my food yet.”

“You don’t really need to eat where
we’re going Carl. Now put this bucket of shit in gear and get out of here.”

At this point Carl
was probably thinking he had nothing to lose. I didn’t want to give him the idea that he had no hope. People will do a lot of crazy things when they think they have no choice, so I gave Carl one.

“Look
, Carl. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want some information. You tell me what Roseman said after we left and you can let me out at the next corner. I’m gone.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” I said.

I listened
as Carl drove and watched for any signs that might tell me he was lying. I was right. He was private and had been hired by Roseman to follow us. Carl’s only problem was that he couldn’t follow his nose if he had to. If Roseman had been as bad as he claimed to be, then I would probably be having a different conversation with Carl.

Carl told me that
Roseman was trying to be a player. He had another business. When he wasn’t running the gym, he had an accounting gig somewhere on the north side of town. Roseman had gotten control of the gym by way of default. Someone owed him a lot of money and gave him the gym in payment.

“So what
else did Roseman tell you? And Carl, I don’t want to put pressure on you, but your life may depend on it.”

“Said that if I found
out why you were here and where you were staying to let him know and I would get a bonus.”

I asked Carl
what was the bonus and he said a thousand dollars. Well, there you have it. Root of all evil. But, what was good for the goose was good for the gander.

“Carl, you have a
cellphone?”

“Yeah.”

“Give it to me.”

Carl had a confused look on his face as he drove
east down Ponce de León Boulevard. When he handed me his cellphone, I pushed the star key and hit the set up button and got his number. Then I put in the number of the prepaid phone I was using and handed him back his phone.

“Pull over
, Carl.”

“I’m in the middle of the road here.”

“Pull over.”

When Carl pulled over,
I reached in my pocket and peeled off five hundred dollars and gave it to him.

“What’s this for?”

“You’re working for me now, Carl. Whenever you call me with some new information and it’s good, you get another five hundred.”

“How do I get it?”

“You familiar with the Regency Hyatt on Peachtree?”

“Yeah.”

“I will leave it with the concierge in your name. You can pick it up the next day. Just like that. And Carl, I need all the information you can get me on a guy named Sonny Cap.”

I saw Carl’s eyes cloud over. “I don’t know any Sonny Cap.”

“Sure you do. There isn’t anyone in this town who works the edge of life that doesn’t know Sonny Cap. Now here’s what you’re going to do.”

Then I told Carl I wanted him to ask around about Son
ny and when Sonny came to the surface, mention to him that he could deliver Lou Malloy on a platter. I told him to say nothing to Roseman. When he expressed concern about Roseman and what he could do, I told him that I would take care of Roseman.

“Look
, Carl. When you find Sonny or he finds you and he bites, you will get a two thousand dollar kicker and then you’re done.

“Now doesn’t that sound a whole lot better than a bullet in the knee?”

I got out of the car and I told Carl goodbye. I waited for Hilary to pick me up. I didn’t have to wait long.

When I got in the car, Hilary handed me a bag.

“What’s this? I said.

“Lunch. I already ate mine. So who’s the nooch?”

“Name’s Carl Willis.”

“And what is Carl Willis to us?”

“He works for us now.”

“Doing what?”

“He’s sort of on a freelance contract.”

Opening the bag I inspected what was inside. A drink, onion rings and a hamburger.

“I didn’t order the onion rings,” I said, “But I’ll take them.

Taking the hamburger out, I unwrapped it and bit into it.
Grease, meat and bread. I loved it.

“You got to be kidding me?”
she said.

When I told her what I had planned
on doing she just laughed.

“You think this Sonny
dude is going to fall for this?” she said.

“L
ike a ton of bricks,” I said, and took another bite out of my hamburger.

“Zek
e
, have you heard from those two assholes we sent to South Carolina to get Malloy?”

“No Boss. I’ve been waiting for the call
, but so far, nothing.”

“When you hear from them, get with me right away. Be
tter yet, put the call into to me. You have a time when they’re supposed to call?”

“Ah
...No, Boss. Just to call when they got done.”

Rolling the pencil between his fingers, Angel didn’t want his anxiety
to get the best of him. Things were not supposed to work out like this. He had put two of his best men on the job to catch Malloy. Now Malloy had some broad working for him or with him and Angel could not figure out why this was so hard. Sonny had made it plain as day. If Angel did not get Malloy soon Angel was going to do the job himself, which was just another way of saying that he was going to piece off the deal to someone else.

After growing up with Sonny
, handling all the jobs Sonny didn’t want his hands on, Angel was giving some thought to getting out. Maybe he was just getting too old for this shit. Angel’s take on the operation was over a million a year. At a meeting in Sonny’s office, Sonny had made it clear. Either Angel delivered or Sonny was going to get someone else and that didn’t mean just a new man to head up the clubs. Angel’s days breathing air would be over.

The real problem, however, wasn’t So
nny, but his old man, Big Nick. He played the role of the grandfatherly type, but he would eat his young to stay in power. Angel had been thinking about getting out for some time. He had enough money salted away. The question was how long he could stay off the radar before they found him. No one ever left the Outfit and lived to see another day. They always found you.

Angel hadn’t noticed at first, but his message waiting light was
blinking on his telephone. Picking up the hand set, he hit the play back button.

“Mister Garcia. My name is Stuart Roseman and I have some information that I think you will find interesting.”

Angel was tired of talking to these types. Ever since Sonny had put out the word on the reward for the return of the insurance money, the crazies had been coming out of the woodwork. At first he was going to erase the message and forget it, but if this was the real deal, Sonny would have a shit fit if he heard Angel had not done anything about it. The caller had left his phone number. Taking a pen, Angel wrote it down and erased the message. After dialing the number he put the telephone receiver to his ear and waited. Finally someone answered.

“Hello.”

“I’m looking for someone named Roseman.”

“Can I tell him who is calling?”

“Tell him it is the Easter Bunny and I need to make a delivery. Just get him to the phone, asshole.”

“This is Roseman. Who the hell is this?”

“Name is Garcia, Roseman. What have you got for me?”

“Ah…Mister Garcia, nice to talk with you. I have heard a lot about you.”

“Roseman, let’s skip the Chamber of Commerce good humor crap. What am I supposed to find as being so interesting?”

“Yes, well
, I would really like to do this in person.”

“What, you think I picked you out of the phonebook to call?”

“No. What I have to say concerns a Mister Malloy and the woman that is with him. He just left my office not an hour ago.”

Sitting upright in his desk chair, he said “You saying
he’s here in Atlanta?”

“That’s right.”

“Where are you?”

“I am at a gym that I own over on Northside Drive, but I can a
ssure you it would be easier for me to come to your place on Howell Mill.”

“I’ll be waiting for you,” said Angel.

After hanging up the telephone, Angel called down to Bones to be on the lookout for Roseman and to show him to his office when he arrived.

The fact that Malloy was in Atlanta was reason enough to meet with Roseman. He had tried every avenue he could think of and if the stiff knew where to find this Malloy, it was time well spent talking to him. Learning the name of the woman that was with Malloy would be an added bonus. Maybe Sonny would calm down when Angel told him the news and get off his ass about some of the fuckups so far. Messing with Sonny was like messing with a snake. You never knew when he was going to bite. After about thirty minutes there was a knock on Angel’s office door.

“Yeah?”

“Boss, it’s me, Bones. I got Roseman out here. You want me to let him in.”

Getting up from his desk, Angel walked over to his office door and opened it. Standing there next to Bones, who was bigger than a
pickup truck, stood a guy who looked better suited to work in a library.

“You Roseman?”

“Is there another,” Roseman said and stuck out his hand. Angel ignored it and walked back to his desk chair and sat down.

“What have you got for me
, Roseman. This better be good.”

Sitting down in a chair across from Garcia, Roseman
took a file from under his arm and laid it on Garcia’s desk.

“First we have to talk some business
,” said Roseman. “It’s my understanding that there is a reward for information leading to the discovery of the whereabouts of fifteen million dollars.”

“That may be,” said Garcia. “But that don’t have an
ything to do with me.”

“I see,” said Roseman
, picking up his file and getting up to leave.

“Where
you going’? We haven’t had our talk yet, Roseman.”

“Mister Garcia. You look like a practical man. I not only have information, but I am in a position to deliver to you both Malloy and the money. If you’re not interested, I am sure
Nick Cappoleto will be.”

Garcia blinked at the
mention of Big Nick’s name. How in the hell did Roseman get that information.

“Also, if you are thinking about doing me harm to get the information
in my file here, I left a recording of our call and copy of my file with my lawyer instructing him to deliver this to certain parties of interest who will probably put you in jail and close down your operation.”

A smile appeared on his face.
Garcia liked a guy with smarts and balls too.

“Look, Roseman
, I can be reasonable. Sit down and let’s talk this all over. There may be something we can work out.”