The Taxman Killeth (19 page)

“Thank you,” she said, extending
her hand.

Morgan sighed and accepted,
sliding his palm into her smaller one.

“Didn’t think it would end like
this. I thought you’d get disgusted and choose me over some shiftless bum. He
means a lot to you, doesn’t he?”

“He means more to me each day.”

Amy left Morgan at the entrance
of her building, then proceeded to her apartment. When she got in, she
immediately noticed the blinking light on the answering machine. Without
removing her blazer, she rushed to see who had called.

“Dammit, Amy, where the hell are
you?” Todd’s growl ended in a loud click. She noted from the time stamp that
they had just missed each other.

***

Todd slammed the receiver back
on the cradle and cursed loudly, attracting the attention of a meaty-looking
male with tattoos scattered across his biceps.

“You got some problem, man?”

Todd was about to retort. He was
eager to expend some of his anger. However, he was halted by a tug at his
sleeve. He recognized the chirpy voice of the young lady he had spent the past
two hours seducing. But it was seduction by rote, without the requisite desire.

“Want to take me home?” The
young woman’s tone was breathy, fake.

“Listen, I’m too old for you.
Why don’t you go back and join your friends?”

“Can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because they left five minutes
ago.”

“Why the hell didn’t you leave
with them?”

“I was waiting for you,” she
said indignantly.

“Come on, I’ll call you a cab,”
he said, turning to the pay phone.

“I’m broke,” she said, opening
an empty change purse.

He knew she probably would have
emergency money tucked away someplace safe, but he offered to pay anyway; after
all, he had wasted her time.

Twenty minutes later Todd opened
the door of a cab.

“Aren’t you going to see me
safely home?”

The young woman refused to enter
the cab.

“No, I can’t. Here, this should
be enough.” He handed her two twenty dollar bills, which she took readily.

“I live with a roommate, who’s
away in Europe for a month.”

“Good for you. I don’t think the
driver’s going to wait much longer.”

The young woman leaned into his
body and tousled his hair with her right hand while skimming the surface of his
tee shirt with the other hand. Todd was about to walk away from her when from
the corner of his eye he saw movement.

Damn, he thought, he couldn’t
leave her standing by herself in the middle of the street.

“Where did you say you lived?”
he asked.

She told him her exact address.

“Fine,” he said. “Get in.” He
made a movement intended to make her think he was going to follow, but when she
finally seated herself he slammed the door and gave quick directions to the
driver. He slapped the back of the vehicle, then turned to face Morgan.

Chapter 20

Goodnight, Mr. Coleman

“We’re even,” Morgan said.

“What are you talking about?”

“The little chickie that got
away in the cab.”

“No hard feelings,” Todd
muttered. “I’ve been searching for you all evening. Heard you got lucky, didn’t
think you’d be back.”

“Yeah, ran into Amy.”

Todd’s fists clenched. “You’ve
been with her all this time?”

“Hey, don’t blow a fuse, man. We’ve
been wandering around trying to hunt you down. She thought you might be rooming
at a local dive. I walked over a few blocks with her...”

“You what?”

“We didn’t stay long. Are they
still open?” Morgan peered through the dirty window of the bar. “Looks like
there’s still some life in there. I’ll buy you one.”

Todd knew Morgan would talk at
his own snail-like pace, so he followed the man back into the bar. Once settled
with a couple of beers and a shot of whiskey for Morgan, they got down to
business.

“I got Amy to go home. Saw her
home, as a matter of fact. Drink your beer and cool off. I was a gentleman. She
was too obsessed with finding you to be useful to any other male. Told her I’d
find you and pass on her message.” Morgan slugged back the shot and drowned it
in tap beer. “She wants to set up a meeting here with you. You name the date
and time, and I’ll pass it on.”

“In this bar? I don’t want her
coming back here.”

“Doubt she’ll care about whether
or not you’re in agreement with the location. Doesn’t seem to think it’s a good
idea to come around her place. Doesn’t even want you to call. You in trouble
with the police?”

Todd was hit in the face with
his jacket.

“Getting ready to close up.
Finish the beers and out.”

“Walt, you’re not as friendly as
your predecessor,” Morgan said, shaking his head.

The bartender made a face and
continued cleaning up.

“I don’t want her coming here.”

“Come on, I doubt you want her
visiting the place where you’re staying. Besides, if you don’t see her soon,
like within the next two days, she’s gonna go looking for you again. I’d offer
my place, but it’s no more conducive to a meeting with Amy than this place.
Although I would guess it’s a hair’s breadth better than where you live.”

“The Hilton.”

“You’re staying at the Hilton?”
Morgan whistled and rubbed the back of his neck with the palm of his hand. “God,
you could have fooled me. Nobody ever stops you?”

“Amy sees to that. Tell her to
meet me in the same spot I waited for her before. Or, better yet tell her to
meet me at Kay’s house. Yeah, at Kay’s, at ten o’clock.”

“Come on guys, drink up,” the
bartender interrupted.

“Yeah. Yeah. Okay, I’ll tell her
when she calls me.”

“I’ve got a few questions for
you about the woman you saw with Joey Landis.”

“The dark-haired woman. Yeah.”
Morgan was staring in the mirror at Todd’s reflection. Todd realized that
Morgan was piecing it all together. “You know, Joey’s murder seemed too pat to
me. I mean, they’re saying that his partner did it over a sour drug deal.”

Todd stiffened.

“Hey, I’m not going to tell
anybody. I think Amy’s got better taste than to fall in love with a murderer.”

Todd immediately checked out
Morgan’s expression. He wondered whether Morgan’s insight about Amy was
correct.

“Besides, I never liked the babe
Joey hung around with. She was good-looking but bitchy. Cheap but haughty.
Thought she was better than us all. I think they met here so’s nobody’d know
what they were up to. They never snuggled up like lovers but were always
intently talking.”

“Remember anything about the way
she looked?”

“Naw, I’m not good at
descriptions. But wait a sec. The old bartender kind of threw a farewell party
for himself a couple of weeks before he left. He brought in food, party hats.
Hell, you should have seen where some of the people were wearing those hats.
Anyway, he’d brought in his Polaroid camera to take photographs to remember us
all by.”

“Was she here that night?”

“Sure was. She tried to duck the
photo shoot several times, finally got pissed and walked out with Joey running
a foot or two behind her. Shit, we got a good laugh out of that one, with her
dodging and running and the old bartender chasing her like one of those... What
they call them fancy photographers that take celebrity pictures?”

“Paparazzi.”

“Yeah, yeah. She even tried to
take a swing at him.” Morgan chuckled.

“What’s the bartender’s name,
and where can I find him?”

“Geez, we had a good time that
night. I don’t know.”

“You don’t know the bartender’s
name or where he lives?”

“Neither.”

“What did people call him?”

“Melonhead. Totally bald.”

“He let people call him that?”

“He had a sense of humor. But
don’t look so frustrated. I know where he works out. Been thinking I could use
a little of the lifting of the weights myself. I’ll drop in...”

“Where’s the place?”

“They wouldn’t let you in the
way you look. Besides, Melonhead wouldn’t trust you enough to give you any
photographs. Leave it to me.”

“Let’s go, guys,” Walt
interrupted.

“I miss Melonhead,” Morgan spat
out at Walt, and he chugged down the last of his beer. “Tomorrow night at ten
at Kay’s. Got it. Have sweet dreams...” Morgan rose, leaned close to Todd and
whispered, “Mr. Coleman.”

Todd closed his eyes and shook
his head. What had Amy gotten him into? Here he was, trusting a complete
stranger. He’d have a long talk with her.

***

“He’s beating your sister,” Amy
blurted out as soon as she entered Kay’s Victorian house.

“Who?”

“Michael.”

“No. Michael’s slime, but he isn’t
that low.”

Amy held up his envelope.

“I waited at the library on
Saturday. Jennie never showed. I was worried, so I went over to her apartment
and was roughly greeted by Michael.”

“Did he hurt you?” Todd grabbed
her arms, causing considerable pain himself.

“Gave me a bad headache for a
day or so but I thrust my knee in a place where I knew it would hurt him a lot
more. But briefly I saw Jennie. Her face was bruised and swollen.”

“The bastard!”

Todd headed for the front door.
Amy grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

“Wait! I didn’t tell you this to
set you off half-cocked. Do you have any relatives she can go to?”

“Relatives?”

“I’m going to try to reach her
and talk her into leaving with the children before he does serious damage. But
I need to know how to approach her. Is there someone she trusts besides you?”

“She’s never going to want to
admit her mistake to the family. She’ll refuse to beg at anyone’s door.”

“What about a woman’s shelter?
Do you think I could talk her into going to one of those?”

“I can settle this...”

“No, you can’t. If you’re thrown
into jail, she’ll have no one. Michael will go back to dealing drugs without
having to worry about you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Jennie told me that you were
going to report Michael until she talked you out of it. She warned Michael
that, with your government contacts, he could be in great trouble.”

“I told you, she doesn’t know
what kind of work I do.”

“Joey definitely told her.”

Todd’s chiseled face blanched. “He
wouldn’t do that.”

“From listening to Jennie, I got
the impression that he spent a good deal of time at her apartment. She liked
him. He made her laugh and was a relief from the doldrums of her days.”

“He wasn’t supposed to tell her.
It could have put her in jeopardy.”

“She had been balking about
taking your money, and Joey wanted to make it easier for her.”

Todd punched his fist into the
wall. Plaster and paint fell away. His knuckles bled.

He had fought so many years to
protect his sister. He had failed to prevent her marriage, but he thought that
at least she was untouched by the kind of work he did. What the hell was Joey
up to, hanging out with a questionable woman and spilling his guts to Jennie as
if their work were common knowledge?

“Todd, where’s the bathroom? You
have to wash that hand.”

Amy gripped his wrist, but he
effortlessly pulled away from her.

“Leave, Amy.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Damn it! Get the hell out of
here.” His words seemed to resound around the large parlor room in which they
stood.

“No. I’m not going to walk out
as easily as the last time. I care about you, Todd, and I refuse to allow you
to cut me off as if I were some fluffy dumb broad. We’ll talk this out, and
together we’ll figure out who’s fingering you. I know you’re alone except for
me.”

“And Morgan,” he bit out.

“He doesn’t know anything.”

“Morgan may be down-and-out, but
he’s not stupid. He called me by name the last time we met.”

Her mouth opened wide.

“I know you didn’t tell him who
I was. You didn’t have to. I guess both of us were careless. I’m at greater
fault, since I was too eager for answers.”

“He won’t talk.” Amy paused. “Will
he?”

“I have to trust that he won’t.”

Amy drew closer to Todd. She saw
a new wrinkle on his brow. The sleepless nights were wearing him out. The blood
on his knuckles was coagulating into hardened rivulets.

“Let’s wash this off,” she said
in a calm voice.

Todd didn’t refuse, instead he
showed her the way to the first floor powder room. Dotted Swiss frilly curtains
hung on the window. There was a small pedestal stand, the basin of which was
decorated with painted flowers. A white towel hung to the side just below a
tinted photograph of two toddlers carrying little pails. The room smelled of
lavender.

“This is a charming house,” Amy
said while splashing water on Todd’s hand.

“Kay has good taste, although
sometimes she’s a bit too grand for me. My taste runs toward the simple. I don’t
have a single picture hanging on the wall of my bathroom.”

“Neither do I.”

“Your apartment felt more like
home. Especially when I saw all that laundry piled up in the bedroom. Ow! Be
careful. You wouldn’t want me to break.” Todd lowered his head so that he could
take in the scent of her hair while she patted his knuckles dry.

“Does she have any antiseptic?”
Amy bit her bottom lip. She could feel him move into her and wasn’t sure what
she should do. Making love was her immediate reaction; moving away to check the
medicine cabinet was her safety precaution.

“I don’t need an antiseptic,”
Todd said, pulling her back against his chest.

“Yes, you do.” Amy twisted out
of his arms and continued her search. “Here.”

“It’s just going to sting and—”