Whistler's Angel (42 page)

“What proof?”

“I don’t know. I have to think.”

“Explain to me, though. The point of this is…?”

“To get Felix Aubrey off his ass, is the point. This could do it. This could just maybe do it.”

“Vern…you gotta trust me. This is too fucking dumb.”

“Arnold…you never had your balls cut off, did you? It does things to your cogitative faculties.”

Your what?”

“It fucks you up, Arnold. Read a book, for Christ’s sake.”

Lockwood opened the overnight bag that he’d brought. On top was a pistol that he’d wrapped in a towel, along with spare clips and a silencer. Underneath were several cellular phones. He selected the one that was marked with an “A.” It was specially coded. It reached only one party. He flipped it open and pressed the redial button.

“Vern…who are you calling?”

“Aubrey said to check in; I’m checking in.”

“Hey, do me a favor. Leave me out of this, okay?”

“You kidding? It’s you who gave me the idea.”

“Take credit. With my blessing. You got my permission.”

“You want to quit whining?”

“Take that nap first, okay?”

Lockwood raised a hand, telling Kaplan to shut up as he heard Aubrey’s voice saying, “Speak.”

“Mr. Aubrey? It’s me. Are you sitting down? You’re not going to believe what I found out here.”

“No, no, no, Mr. Lockwood. Put all that aside.”

Felix Aubrey had listened with growing dismay to the drone of Vern the Burn’s recitation. The mother coming, maybe. The father coming, maybe. Adam Whistler and his out-of-thin-air co-conspirators meeting for breakfast to plan their next move. The proof? They were seen with sheets of paper. The boat is at the dock, now an easier target. We finish them all when they get here…and a bonus. Jill the Ripper has at last been unmasked. She is revealed to be some cocktail waitress who has honed her skills in an island saloon by sectioning lemons and limes.

The man’s a marvel, thought Aubrey. Never fails to astonish.

“Mr. Lockwood…now, listen. There is more urgent business. I want you to put Whistler out of your mind.”

“You don’t care we know who cut you? I got sources. It’s her.”

“And of course I believe you.” You damned fool, thought Felix Aubrey. “But even she can wait. This is much more immediate. Do you have a street map? Look up Lagoon Road. Yes, I’ll wait. You want number 22.”

Aubrey drummed his fingers until Lockwood came back on. Lockwood said, “Yeah, I got it. What’s there?”

“Not a what; it’s a who. A very dangerous man, his name is Joshua Crow. He is one of the two who tried to kill Mr. Ragland. As we speak, he is waiting for you and your associate. Listen carefully now. Are you listening?”

“I’m listening, but how did you know this?”

“He was identified this morning. It’s been on the news. I need you to see that he harms no one else. Am I clear in my meaning, Mr. Lockwood?”

“Yeah, but wait a second. What’s this guy to us?”

“You need only know that we don’t want him found. I am giving you that task, Mr. Lockwood.”

“This…phone we’re on. You’re sure this is private?”

“Mr. Lockwood, you have just proposed a mass murder. Only now do you ask if this phone is secure? If you’re speaking to me on the phone that you were issued, yes, I assure you, it’s secure.”

“Yeah, okay, then what’s this ‘Am I clear in my meaning?’ You’re so sure, let’s hear you say it in plain English.”

“I suppose I’d best,” said Aubrey. “There must be no mistake. Mr. Crow is to vanish, never more to be seen.”

“That’s not plain English. That’s like ‘Get him out of town.’”

Aubrey sighed. “Never mind then. The reward will go elsewhere. It is double the amount that you’re accustomed to, Vernon. Tell you what…let me speak to your associate.”

“What for?”

“You said he’s a man who does what needs to be done. Perhaps I don’t need you, Mr. Lockwood.”

“Yeah, well, he works for me. You want to deal, deal through me. What he’d get, though…it’s extra? Not out of my end.”

“It is extra. In this case, twenty thousand.”

“And all we got to do is…”

“Kill the man, Mr. Lockwood. See that he is no more. End his life. Do away with him. Rub the man out. Have I covered every nuance, Mr. Lockwood?”

“Yeah, I get you.”

“Make him vanish, Mr. Lockwood. Do it now; do it thoroughly. You’re to leave no trace that a man such as this ever blemished the bosom of mankind.”

“That he what?”

“No trace, Mr. Lockwood. Not so much as a footprint. Especially any papers, communications devices, any diary, if he has one. Every trace.”

“Hang on a sec, okay? I gotta confer.”

Aubrey heard a tiny blip as Lockwood pressed his mute button so that he could speak privately with his man. Typical of Lockwood, thought Aubrey. The man sees a mute button on a phone that he’s been issued and assumes that the mute function actually mutes. He’s never wondered why anyone would issue a phone that is capable of excluding the issuer. Aubrey’s own did work, of course. Lockwood couldn’t hear him. But he could hear Lockwood’s every word.

“Did you know they made the shooters?” Lockwood asked his man, Kaplan.

“Yeah, a little while ago. Guy named Breen’s the one who took the knife in his head. Guy named Crow is the leader. He’s still on the loose.”

“Nice that you told me. Next time tell me these things.”

“Okay, but so what? What are these guys to you?”

“I’ll tell you what they are.” Lockwood gestured toward his cell phone. “You know what this sounds like, what Aubrey is saying? This sounds like Aubrey sent these guys after Ragland. They fucked up; now Aubrey doesn’t want them caught and questioned. He wants us to pop the one named Crow.”

Kaplan said, “Did I tell you? I
thought
it was us. You remember I said why I didn’t hang around is because I thought that maybe it was us.”

“Wait a minute,” said Lockwood. “It could not have been Aubrey. Aubrey
didn’t know about any of this until I told him myself.”

“Maybe that was an act.”

“Nah, he didn’t know. He asked all kinds of questions. If he knew, he’d have just made some faggy little crack like, ‘We have it well in hand, Mr. Lockwood.’”

“But it’s him who wants him whacked. He didn’t tell you how come?”

Aubrey almost could hear Lockwood’s primitive brain struggling to achieve a synapsis. Success came more quickly than Aubrey would have thought. Lockwood asked, “Hey, wait, what did you say the guy yelled? I mean the one who walked in and shot Ragland.”

“I said I couldn’t make it out, but it sounded like a curse. On the news, though, they say he yelled, ‘God is not mocked.’”

“A religious nut?”

“Yeah, they’re both religious nuts. All this has been on the news.”

Aubrey listened as Lockwood thought for a moment. Lockwood said, “Wait a second.” He pressed the mute button. He said, “Mr. Aubrey? Give us one more minute. We’re strategizing, okay?”

“Take your time, Mr. Lockwood. Think it through, by all means.” Lockwood pressed his useless mute button once more.

Lockwood said to Kaplan, “That’s the answer. Religious. It had to be Poole who sent these two after Ragland. Aubrey knows this and now he has to cover for Poole.”

“Poole’s the same kind of nut?”

“I used to think he just talks it, but, yeah, I think it finally messed with his head. Whatever he is, he controls all the money. If Aubrey’s doing this to cover for Poole, Aubrey’s getting a bundle for doing it.”

“So?”

“Maybe we have an opportunity here. I gotta think about this.”

“Speaking of which,” said Kaplan, “you were talking about my end. How much is my end if I help you with this?”

“Five grand. That’s on top of what I pay you.”

“Make it ten.”

“It’s ten,” Lockwood answered, “if I like what you do. See that? I take care of you, right? After this…well, we’ll see, but I’m getting some ideas. After this, you could make a lot more.”

“After this comes Whistler?”

“I don’t know yet. Let me think. Right now, let me get rid of Aubrey.”

Felix Aubrey could barely restrain himself from screaming into the phone. He wanted to say, “Mr. Lockwood, you ass, did you hear me when I told you not to think? You’re not equipped for it. Your neurons fire blanks. The reason why you’re always outsmarting yourself is that yourself is even denser than you are.”

But he didn’t.

Aubrey waited until he heard the mute button’s blip. He asked, “Are you

there, Mr. Lockwood?”

“Yeah, we’re done.”

“And your strategy, no doubt, is reduced to the following. You knock on Crow’s door, you identify yourself. He will let you in because he expects you; he thinks that you’ve come to assist him. Without further ado, you will shoot him. You will gather up everything belonging to him and you’ll put in a bag to take with you. You put the bag and Mr. Crow in the trunk of your car. Not his, your own; they’ll be looking for his.”

“Hey, I know how to do this, Mr. Aubrey.”

“You will find a quiet spot; it will be well off that island, and you will dismember his body. You’ll dispose of those parts that would aid the authorities
in identifying the corpse. Ideally, the body should be totally consumed along with the contents of that bag. Is this your plan in essence, Mr. Lockwood?”

“Yeah, like that.”

“And of course you wouldn’t go back to that island. There would be no need because…listen to me closely...I have plans of my own for Adam Whistler. He’s to be left in peace for the moment.”

“Left in peace? When we
have
him? I need twelve hours, tops. Then we’ll have every one of them all in one place.”

“Mr. Lockwood…reflect. By no means do you have them. What you have is a hope that they might be assembling. Further, you hope that they’ll gather on that boat showing reckless disregard toward a foe of your caliber. You envision…what? A frontal attack in a busy marina? Or perhaps you see yourself rigging a bomb and blowing them out of the water.”