Dead Money Run (15 page)

“Detectiv
e
Ramiro, how long have you been working for the Jacksonville Beach Police Department?”

“Three years
, Sir.”

“Well, to be exact, three years
, two months and twenty-three days.”

“Yes
, sir.”

Captain
Branson Calloway was giving Ramiro his monthly case review. Calloway served in the military as an M.P. and ran the department like he was still in the Army. He liked everything buttoned up. So far Ramiro had nine open murder cases and nothing to show for it.

“What have you in the way of leads on these files
, Detective Ramiro?”

“I…ah…have been working with that Indian officer named
, Sergeant Two-Tree from the Timucua Tribal Police Department. He has a theory that these killings are somehow related to a robbery that happened at another casino operated by his tribe in Georgia, a place called the Golden Slipper on Cumberland Island...”

“And?”

“Yes, well, he thinks that the same person who pulled off that robbery is involved with these killings somehow.”

“
Does this person have a name, Detective?”

“Malloy, Sir. Name is Lou Malloy.”

“What’s the Indian police officer’s reasoning?”

Ramiro was getting uncomfortable because he didn’t
agree with Two-Tree’s line of reasoning and wanted to say so

“Well, one of the murdered people happened to be the man’s sister.”

“
You think this Malloy killed his sister for something he did fifteen years ago Detective?”

“Ah
…well, Sir, I just was telling you what the Indian thought.”

“Detective, I’m not interested in what
the Indian thinks. I’m interested in what you think.

“In reading this report, it appears that Malloy was in prison at the time of his sister’s death. You care to fill me in on how he might have killed her while in jail?”

Ramiro had nothing to say to his Boss’s observation since he had not thought of that angle.

“You know what I think Ramiro?”

“No, Sir. I mean, yes, Sir.”

“I think
you are a lost ball in the tall weeds. You know what I’m saying, Officer Ramiro?”

“Lost ball, Sir?”

Calloway sat without saying a word. Ramiro knew he had to say something. Anything would be better than nothing.

“Well
, Sir, I think this case has, in my opinion, all the signs of some government agency’s footprints. I can’t seem to get to first base on figuring out which one.”

“I’m not surprised Officer Ramiro.

“Well, let me give you a little push. Call this Indian friend of yours and get up to that Casino on Cumberland Island. Learn what you can in the way of a connection. Then after you have done that, get back to me with your findings.”

“Yes Sir,” said Ramiro.

“One more thing, Ramiro.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“I’ll be waiting to hear from you soon.”

When Ramiro got back to his desk, he
felt the steam coming out of his ears. What the hell did Calloway think was going to happen by going to the other casino? The murders were all committed here. If he started down that road he was going to have to take orders from Two-Tree and he’d be burned in hell before he took orders from an Indian.

Ramiro
no sooner sat down and his intercom buzzer went off. Picking up the handset, he said, “Detective Ramiro speaking.”

“Ramiro, this is Captain Calloway. What are
you doing sitting at your desk? You’re not going to shoot any hostiles sitting there. I don’t want to get the same SNAFU from you the next time we sit down. You get my meaning?”

“Yes
, Sir.”

What the hell, thought Ramiro. I didn’t retire to do this.

“Hey, Ramiro.”

Turning toward the voice, Ramiro saw Stan Goodnight standing there.

“There is an Indian policeman in the lobby says he’s looking for you. Said something about needing a scout. You know what he’s talking about?”

Getting up, Ramiro reached for his handcuffs and wea
pon and said, “Unfortunately I do.”

I
didn’t bother giving Hilary any more directions to Jasper. After being up and down the road enough times, she said she could find the place blindfolded. When she asked about Baker, I told her he was as good as he was going to get.

“I take it you shot him
?”

“
As a matter of fact I did,” I said, “but did not kill him.”

“That’s got to be a first,” Hilary said.

“He tried to pin me to the wall with a butcher knife. For a fat man he moves fast,” I said.

“Would the term, ‘Close shave’, apply here?”

“Real close,” I said.

After
a few minutes of silence, I said, “Things are about to change.”

“How so?” she said.

“When I got that call from Carl, he told me that he had
been in a meeting with Garcia and another hood at Roseman’s. At the meeting, Garcia kept mentioning Sonny Cap and told Roseman he had better deliver us up in a day or so or else.”

“He say how
Roseman was supposed to do that?”

“No,” I said.

“Carl mention what the ‘or else’ was?”

“Roseman probably didn’t want to know,” I said.

“What’s Crusher going to do for us?” said Hilary.

“Not me, you. You’re going to
try and go to work at the Starlight. Get close to Garcia. Maybe he will take us to Sonny.”

“What am I supposed to be doing, parking cars?”

“I figure our man Roseman will get you hooked up as a hostess.”

“You know something
, Lou?”

“I know a lot of things,” I said.

“I wasn’t planning on inflating your ego. What I wanted to say before, and didn’t get it all out when you brought up this undercover crap, was that you’re full of shit.”

“
Well,” I said. “I suspect we all have a little bit of that problem.

“Take a left up here at the light. Crusher’s home is hal
fway down on the left.”

“Been here before?”

“No,” I said. I held up the piece of paper Baker had written the address on. “I can read.”

Jasper
was not much larger than Ellijay. The main square was like a lot of old southern towns built on the growth of the textile industry. There were a few abandoned textile plants developers had turned into condos with stores and restaurants on the bottom. The town square was called Tate Square named after Sam Tate, who started a marble company called Georgia Marble. I told Hilary the story was a story unto itself.

Finding Crusher’s house was easier than I thought
. From the outside, the house was surprisingly neat. The grass looked like a putting green and the flower beds were free of weeds and full of calla lilies, azaleas and daylilies.

“Looks like someone here has a green thumb,” said

Hilary.

“I’m hoping it isn’t Crusher
. If it is, we may be in the wrong place.”

The house
was the same style as Baker’s, but in a lot better shape. Someone had added on a front porch and a two car garage attached to a sunroom and breezeway on the side. In the sunroom there was a hammock that looked well used.

The
sunroom was all glass and in one corner of the room there was a small bar with an ice bucket.

Walking
up to the front door, I smelled bread baking giving the place a country smell you couldn’t wait to taste. Stepping up on the porch, Hilary pushed a small button next to the front doorknob. We heard the chimes sound off inside and a voice behind the door.

“Coming, coming. Don’t go away.”

Suddenly the door opened and there was a woman standing there with her hair up in sort of a French twist in a red plaid dress with a white apron on that had little bunnies all over it. Her face looked like carved alabaster, and she had blue eyes that were almost turquoise. Other than some nuns I had known, she was the most angelic looking person I had ever seen.

“May I help you?” She said.

I was a bit lost for words.

“My name is Lou, Lou Malloy and this is a friend of mine. Her name is Hilary Kelly.” Pointing
a finger my way, Hilary said, “He’s a friend of Crusher’s.”

The bunny keeper turned toward me and said,
“Do you work with Harold?”

Then I heard a voice from the back, “Who is it
, Bunny? If it’s those bible people again, tell them we already have one.”

After I introduced myself and Hilary, Bunny turned and said, “Harold, someone
here looking for Crusher.” Then with a sweep of her hand, Bunny ushered us into her home.

“Do you wrestle with Harold?”
she asked as Hilary and I walked into the house.

“No
, ma’am. I served with Harold.” I didn’t add anything more to that.

Bunny seemed surprised at the suggestion of Harold serving anyone.

“I don’t recall Harold ever mentioning to me that he was in the Army.”

“Prison, Ma’am. We were in prison together for a time.”

“Well, that’s sort of like the Army, isn’t it?”

I liked her attitude.
She must have known all about Crusher’s experiences.

I heard a deep voice say,
“Lou, Lou Malloy. What the hell?”

At the mention of my name
, I looked up and saw Crusher coming toward us. He was even bigger than when I last saw him. He looked like he weighed at least three hundred pounds and stood six feet eight inches in his socks with a fat to body weight of less than three percent. Stepping into his front hallway, Crusher wrapped me in a body hug and lifted me off the ground.

“Lou, it’s good to see you. I never thought I would see you again. Man we had some good times.

“Bunny, this is the guy I was telling you about. Hit the system for fifteen million onions. Not many people can do that and still live to talk about it.”

“I try not to
bring that up, Crush,” I said.

Turning towards Hilary, he noticed her for the first time. “And you’re not alone. Brought the little woman I see.” After putting me back on the ground, Crusher stuck out a paw and
said, “I thought I married a pretty woman, but you are a real Kewpie doll.

“
What’s your name?”

“Hilary
Kelly,” said Hilary. “Please to meet you, Crusher. Lou has told me a lot about you too.”

“I bet. Come on in. Bunny set the table for two more.”

Crusher turned and motioned us to follow him. When we got to the back of the house there was a Rottweiler sitting by the door to the sunroom, wagging his stubby tail. He looked like a miniature Crusher, only on four legs.

“Folks
, meet Brutus. When I’m not around he’s the master of the house.”

Crusher stopped to pet the dog’s head. I was
n’t sure what I should do, so I did the same thing. Brutus wagged his tail as I patted him on the head and gave my hand a lick before I pulled it back. I guess that meant I was in.

I followed Crusher into the Sunroom. I still didn’t know what his last name was. I felt stupid calling him Crusher.

There was a large oriental rug on the floor of the sunroom and the furniture was early American.

As he walked into the room,
Crusher pointed to a chair and told me to have a seat. Hilary excused herself saying she would go and see if she could help Bunny.

“So
, Lou, you’re here for a reason. What’s the reason?”

“You always had a way
with words Crusher. I guess you know about the money,” I said.

“Lou, everyone knows abou
t the money. There isn’t a bone breaker from Miami to New York who doesn’t know about the money. You’re famous. But, I can tell, that’s not why you’re here.”

“No,
” I said. “I’m looking for my sister’s killer.”

“Yeah, I heard about that
too. Happened about a year ago didn’t it?”

“
Six months ago,” I said. “I think I have got an idea who might have done the killing, I just don’t know why yet.”

“Maybe there isn’t a why. You
r sister was hooking wasn’t she?”

“Something like that
, Crusher, but I think she was killed for another reason. It may have been to send me a message to give up the money.”

“Maybe it was not
just about the money. I heard that a company paid off on a policy that insured that casino against the loss. I also heard that the insurance company was mobbed up. Maybe that money wasn’t supposed to leave the Casino? Know what I mean, Lou?”

Crusher was looking at me like I had
something to add, but I didn’t say a word. I wondered if he knew how close he was to guessing the answer. I suspected that might have been the reason for my sister’s killing, but she had been tortured and that meant whoever killed her thought she knew something unrelated. Still, the money had to be part of the reason.

I decided to tell Crusher about my idea of putting Hilary into the Starlight Club and
him providing protection for her.

“What are you going to be doing
, Lou? How many people you killed so far?” he said.

I told him that I wasn’
t keeping score and that I didn’t kill anyone that didn’t need it.

“I’m going to be looking for Sonny Cap.”

“Sonny Cap. Lou, he’s a player. You think you can take Sonny?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

“You know Sonny is just a front for his old man-Nick Cappoleto. Bad news, the both of them.”

“I can’t help what the cards look like. I just have to play the
m,” I said.

“Just like old times
, Lou. You hit’m and I clean up. Is that the idea?”

“Yeah,
that’s sort of what I had in mind,” I said.

“Any money in this for me?” he said.

“I’ll pay two thousand a week and a bonus of fifty when I get the killer.”

“What i
f they kill you?”

“Then Hilary will know what to do. You will get your money and the bonus
. At that point I won’t matter.”

“So
what’s your plan and how can I help?” he said.

I told him what I had in mind and that he should meet me in the morning at the Northside Gym
. From there I planned to wing it.

Reaching into my front coat pocket, I took out an env
elope with ten thousand dollars in it and gave it to Crusher.

“What’s this for?” Crusher asked.

“Start-up,” I said.

It was almost
nine in the evening by the time we left Crusher’s house.

“They
’re really nice people,” said Hilary.

“Yeah, I had forgotten what a standup guy Crusher
is. Seeing him again brought back a lot of memories, some good and some bad. Crusher bailed me out of a lot of trouble while I was in prison. I don’t think I would be alive today if it wasn’t for him.”

“Where to now?”

“Atlanta and Sonny Cap.”