“No offense, but that’s not just coming from you is it? You’re with Sabatini?”
“Yes, he’s here and we both agree you have earned a walkway.”
“Good.” I hung up and dialed Agent Sanders’ cell.
“I’m a little busy right now McGuire, some perp blew holes in a couple of mobsters and ran off.” Sanders said when I reached him.
“What a shame.”
“You’ve got some real issues with anger, that boy’s head looked like so many pounds of ground chuck.”
“Fuck him, how’s the fat one?”
“He’ll probably lose a leg, but he’ll live to see trial. “
“Then you should be happy. Now you owe me a cup of coffee.”
“I should put an APB out on you.”
“But you won’t, not until you know what I’m holding. And trust me you don’t want to find out in a room full of your brother cops.” He tried to play it tough, keep control but I knew he’d meet me. After a bit of arguing we settled on a coffee shop down in the Mission district. He said he could be there in twenty minutes. So we headed over.
Ten years ago, Mission had been home to heroin, jazz, street kids, pimps and whores. Dot com money had driven most of them out of one end, moved the poor and beat down onto a reservation of two city blocks while they gentrified the rest. Eddie’s Cafe was a lone hold out, it still had the original grease on the walls. I took a booth that was upholstered more in duct tape than vinyl and told Gregor to sit at the counter. I had the recorder in my pocket ready and waiting. Gregor was well into his second stack of pancakes when Sanders walked in.
“What is keeping me from arresting you for murder?” he said as a greeting.
I set the digital recorder on the table and pushed play. Sanders went a lighter shade of pale when he heard his voice agreeing to the setup. “You know I have copies of this, so why don’t you stop hyperventilating and tell me about Torelli.”
“You son of a bitch.”
“Yes I am, but let’s leave her out of this. Torelli?”
“Alfred ‘the Animal’ Stolloti,” he said in a defeated drone. “Two years ago he turned state’s evidence against the Chicago mob. Since then he’s been living in witness protection. Three months ago he fell off the map.”
“He was Gino?”
“Yes.”
“And you think Sabatini had him clipped.”
“That’s the working theory.”
“And you figured Kelly saw it go down?”
“No, Bette, her sister.”
“Bette?”
“You know her as Cass.”
“You got it wrong, Kelly was dating Gino, she’s your witness and she’s dead. If the punk I gave you doesn’t roll over you’re just going to have to make your case another way.”
“That’s not the way we see it. No, it was Bette and we’ll find her sooner or later. If the mob doesn’t find her first.” His courage was coming back as he saw a way to spin it on me. “What do you think their response might be if it slipped that you set up their men? If I was you, I’d go home, pull the blankets over my head and say my prayers. Bring me the girl, or tomorrow I call them. “
“I don’t know where she is.”
“So you said. I’ll see you around McGuire.” As he walked out he stopped at the counter, leaned over and said something to Gregor, then left without looking back.
“What’d he say to you?” I asked Gregor as we were driving back to the hotel.
“Said I should leave town before we both wound up in a box.”
“So what do you think?”
“About what?”
“Leaving town.”
“And miss all this fun?” The corners of his mouth almost curled into a smile.
“Tonight’s going to get ugly, a lot of bad craziness is going to have to go down before it’s over. Are you sure you’re up for the ride? You’ve been paid, there’s no honor lost if you want to walk.” He looked at me and then out the window. We climbed a steep hill lined with gingerbread Victorians, it was hard to believe anything bad could happen in this city.
“Yeah, I’m in,” he said. “Will you drop me off at that church?” He pointed to the spires of a Catholic Church looming ahead of us.
“What?”
“The church. I’ll meet you at the hotel in an hour.” I pulled to the curb without asking any more questions. He slipped his 9 mm under the seat and walked up the stone steps, his great coat flapping behind him like huge black wings.
Parking the Crown Vic at the Best Western I checked for messages. Nothing. I took the elevator to the parking lot and slipped out the side door. I headed towards my hotel, the flashing neon of the Barbary Coast called to me, beckoning with its cool gin and willing girls. One drink wouldn’t kill me. I was standing at the mouth of an alley next to my hotel, about to cross the street when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I spun around swinging out a left haymaker that would have taken Cass’ head off if she had been six inches taller, instead the blow sailed over her head grazing her hair.
“I’m glad to see you too, Moses.” She smiled up at me.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I didn’t know if I wanted to hit Cass or lift her into my arms.
“I was losing my mind waiting, wondering if you were dead. I’m your girl.” She moved in close placing those soft full lips on mine. One kiss and I was lost. Linking her arm in mine we went up to the room.
“I’m taking down Sabatini tonight,” I told her as we sat on the bed holding hands.
“Then I’m going with you.”
“No, you are not. Look, I don’t care about much in this life. I don’t think I could stand to see you die.”
“Then you know how I feel. Mo, these scum bags killed my only sister, I am going to be there when they go down.” I looked at her set jaw and knew she spoke the truth. Pulling her hand up to my mouth, I nodded and kissed her. Our bargain was struck, there was no turning back now. Pulling her face to mine, I kissed her, her lips parted letting my tongue dart in. There was a hungry look in her eyes, we kissed and ripped at each other’s clothes with no regard for buttons or zippers. She hiked up her skirt and I made love to her standing up with my pants down around my ankles. I could taste blood on my lip from where she bit me but I didn’t care. We were tossed in a passion driven storm. The dresser I pushed her against fell with a crash but we kept our rhythm, moving to the closet door I slammed her against the mirror. Grabbing her ass in my big hand I looked into the mirror. There on her ass cheek was a fairy sprinkling pixie dust. The room spun out of focus for a moment, but my lust was boiling so I pushed away the meaning of her tattoo. She was screaming wild war cries as we collapsed onto the floor.
In a post-coital lump we lay tangled on the floor. I gently traced the fairy tattooed on her backside. It was the same mark as the girl in the porn video. I never had the pleasure of seeing Kelly’s ass but I now doubted she was tattooed.
“Did Kell have any tattoos?” I said as casually as I could.
“Why do you want to talk about Kelly? Do you wish you had just fucked her?”
“No, I was…”
“I’m not Kelly, hell, Kelly wasn’t even Kelly. I’m here, I’m alive and I’m the best you’re ever going to get.” To prove it she started kissing my neck and moved slowly down my belly. My desire to question her dissolved when she took me into her mouth.
We woke to the sound of a knock at the door. I pulled my pants up and righted the dresser. Cass gave me a wink and slid into the bathroom. Gregor came in, looked around the room but asked no questions. Cass came out of the bathroom looking fresh as a new picked flower. “She’ll be riding with us tonight,” I told Gregor.
“It’s your party boss.”
“Then let’s roll.”
