They Called Her Indigo

by Sam Lee Jackson

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I just wanted to go.”

  “There wasn’t room,” Blackhawk said. He yawned. “I’m going to go in and snuggle with my little woman. Help yourself to whatever you find.”

  “You hungry?” I said to Indigo.

  “Does the pope shit in the woods?”

  40

  Ashley took great delight in telling her mother about our houseboat trip and swimming in our diapers, and especially about me being the poopy head. I felt like I was beginning to smell, so I decided to make the trek out to the boat.

  Again, there were no lurkers. I expected them this time, thinking they might decide we would bring Lindy back here after her escape. But nope. No lurkers. I showered, took a nap, took a swim, made a giant sandwich and headed back to the El Patron. I needed to talk to Lindy. I needed more information on Don Newman. And I wanted to know about the guy that brought the girls to Newman’s parties.

  It was about six when I pulled into the parking lot. The bar was open, with a sizable number of downtown business types enjoying their happy hour. I waved at Jimmy and went upstairs. I knocked at the apartment door.

  Ashley opened the door, with Lindy trying to get to it first.

  “Ashley, honey. Mommy doesn’t want you to open the doors,” Lindy said, looking flustered.

  “Hey kiddo,” I said. “Can I come in?”

  “Hey, Jackson. You want to play checkers?”

  Lindy smiled at me. “Honey, Jackson just got here. Let him relax a minute.”

  She pulled Ashley back, so I could enter. There was a tantalizing odor coming from the kitchen. Blackhawk came into the room. “You want a drink?”

  “Sure,” I said. Blackhawk went to the bar and started fixing drinks without asking what I wanted. He already knew.

  Elena looked around the corner from the kitchen, “Oh, it’s you,” she said. “As usual, right on time for supper.”

  “It’s a gift,” I said, taking my drink from Blackhawk.

  “You want to play checkers?” Ashley said.

  “I need to talk to your mamma, honey. Maybe later.”

  “Come on Hon,” Lindy said. “Let’s get something on TV for you.” She led the girl into the bedroom.

  Blackhawk took his drink and sat on the Victorian chair. In a minute Lindy came back in.

  “You want a drink?” Blackhawk said.

  She shook her head. She came over and sat beside me. I took a small bite of the drink. She was looking at me.

  “I don’t really know who you are,” she said. She looked at Blackhawk. “I don’t know who any of you are.” She looked back to me. “I was talking to that other woman.”

  “Indigo,” I said.

  “Yes. She is very unusual. I mean, look at her name. She seems very, uh, tough. She frightens me a little bit.”

  “She’s on your side.”

  “And I’m glad of it, but I started asking her questions, and she told me things that are too fantastical to be true. She talks like you two are supermen. She says you were all on the same team. But she really wouldn’t tell me what kind of team. She told me you worked for the government, and you had special skills. She also told me you didn’t lose your foot in an industrial accident. It was blown off by one of those IED bomb things while you were on some kind of mission.”

  “You are safe with us,” Blackhawk said.

  “I know that,” she said. “I don’t know why I know that, but I know that. I know you all took care of Ashley.” She looked at me. “I was thinking about what you asked me. About that guy that brought girls to Don’s parties. I think Don called him Bill.”

  I looked at Blackhawk. “So we look for someone associated with Sussex named Bill.” I looked back to Lindy. “How did Newman get his hands on you?” I said. “After you left us.”

  She put her face in her hands. She shook her head. She looked up at me. Her eyes were wet. “I was a fool. When I went off to do that shopping, I decided that Don would be reasonable. So I called him. He was very receptive. We talked in a way we hadn’t talked before. He just wanted to help Ashley. He promised to take care of us. Somehow, he figured out where I was, so while I was on the phone with him, his men came and grabbed me. Literally picked me up and threw me into the backseat of a car.” She rubbed her face. “They took the money you gave me, so I guess I owe you.”

  I shrugged. “Tell me about some things I’ve been wondering. Like, how do you know he’s Ashley’s father. You said you didn’t have a DNA test done.”

  She shook her head. “He doesn’t care about her, not really. I don’t know why he’s doing this.” She sat staring at the rug for a long time. It’s a nice rug, but probably not worth that kind of scrutiny. She looked up and took a deep breath, “And it’s quite probable he’s not the father. I was his party girl, but I was mostly his arm candy. We didn’t have relations but maybe twice. And I was on birth control.”

  “Did you have relations with other men?” Blackhawk said.

  She nodded. “I was an adult. The real estate scene was happening. Lots of us would go to the bars, the really nice ones, on our expense accounts, and drink and dance, and sometimes hook up.”

  “So Ashley could be any number of men’s daughter.”

  She flushed again. “Oh my God. That sounds so awful.”

  “Why didn’t you have a DNA test done? Prove he wasn’t the father. I’m thinking that if you had proven Ashley wasn’t his, he’d leave you alone. If she was his, you could go to court and solidify custody and get support from him.”

  She was silent. For a moment, I didn’t think she was going to answer. Then she looked at me. “I thought I could control him. I thought I could use her as leverage. I underestimated him.” She took a long shaky breath. “I tossed it up into his face. That she might not be his. I stupidly threw a name at him, of a realtor I had dated.”

  She was silent again. She buried her face in her hands and she began to cry. Blackhawk and I waited.

  After a while she looked up, her face red and bloated. “A week later, the guy’s boss called me, asking if I’d seen him. He’d not been to work for a week. No one knew where he was, he just disappeared.” She shook her head. “Don had him killed. They never found him, but I know Don had him killed. I killed him.”

  I looked at Blackhawk He was looking at me.

  Finally, I said, “You aren’t telling us everything.”

  “What aren’t you telling us?” Blackhawk said.

  Again, she was silent. Thinking it through. Finally, she said, “When I heard Don’s wife had cancer I thought I could push him to give me some money.”

  “In return for what?”

  “In return for me not telling his wife about Ashley.”

  “Even though Ashley might not be his?”

  “I told him she was.”

  I took a deep breath, took a big drink and leaned back. Blackhawk and I looked at each other.

  All righty then.

  41

  I borrowed Nacho and Indigo. I knew that Tiger Lily and I were the only clues Newman had as to where Lindy and Ashley were. I knew they would show up sometime. We were all inside Thirteen Episodes. Pete handed out bottles of beer. Nacho sat on the couch with Indigo snuggled under his massive arm. Made me a little queasy. Like seeing your sister with a boyfriend. But we’d proven Indigo wasn’t my sister. That didn’t count, that was just curiosity on both sides, so the sister thing maybe seemed more appropriate now.

  I had finished my explanation and Pete said, “So, you think they’ll come back out here?”

  Indigo took a drink and said “Duh.”

  “Be polite,” Nacho said.

  “Sorry, it’s a habit of mine,” Pete said. “Sometimes I’ll repeat things out loud to give me an opportunity to think about it.” He looked at me. “You’ve embarrassed them pretty good. They’ll want their revenge.”

  “Counting on it,” I said. “So, we wait. I’ve got Eddie up at the bar. Maureen is keeping an eye out also. They bot
h have my number.” I looked at Pete. “I’d like to have Nacho and Indigo stay here, if that’s okay.”

  “Sure,” he said.

  “And,” I continued, “since they are the two horniest people on the planet, you might want to come down and bunk with me.”

  Nacho just grinned.

  I stood up. I unzipped the duffel bag and pulled the two Mossbergs out. I set out four boxes of shells. Indigo still had her Beretta, I just couldn’t tell where. I zipped the duffle and picked it up. Pete followed me out the door onto the bow.

  I leaned back in. “The decent thing to do, will be to wash the sheets before you leave.”

  Indigo gave me the finger.

  I stepped aboard the Lily and went through the sliding bow doors. I set the duffle on my long yellow couch and unpacked the rest of the weapons onto my coffee table. I slipped a holster onto my belt and situated it on my right hip. I checked the loads on the Kahr .45, and slipped it into the holster. I was wearing a chambray shirt over my tee shirt, untucked to hide the pistol.

  “What should I use?” Pete said.

  I shook my head. “You’re the lawyer. I don’t expect I’ll have to use any firearm, I expect to intimidate. If it comes to gun play, which I will do everything in my power to prevent, but if it does, you duck in here and get as low as possible. You said you had business cards?”

  “Yeah,” he said. He pulled his wallet from his khaki trousers and fished a card out. It read Ahern, Duffey and Dunn with a California P.O. Box address. I handed it back.

  “These guys still practice law?”

  He smiled. “Ahern died ten years ago, Duffey is retired and living someplace in Montana and I’m here.”

  “You never did tell me how that Western went.”

  “Too many chefs spoil the pot. Or, in this case, plot.”

  I didn’t have any idea how long we would have to wait, so I took my toolbox up top to put on a new brass plate in the cockpit. Pete found a Jeff Shaara he hadn’t read yet and settled on the couch. As it turned out, we didn’t have to wait long. I was setting the screws when my phone startled me by vibrating in my pocket. I keep forgetting I have the damn thing.

  I pulled it out. It was Eddie.

  “Hi ho,” he said. “You have company.”

  “Thanks,” I said. I moved around toward the bow. They were coming through the gate onto the dock. There were three of them. One was older, heavier with silver white hair. Must be Newman. Then I saw the fourth one hustling along, over on Dock B. He was carrying a long blue duffel bag. I didn’t have to guess what was in it.

  I disconnected Eddie and thumbed the speed dial for Indigo. She answered, sounding out of breath.

  “Yeah?”

  “They are here. I have a bogy over on B Dock. He’s carrying.”

  “Shit, right now? Really?”

  I disconnected.

  I stood on the top and watched them come. Halfway down the dock I saw them notice me. The big florid guy I’d dumped in the drink was beside Newman. He said something, and I watched Newman look up toward me.

  I went down the winding stairs, through the stateroom and into the galley. I opened a cabinet and snagged a small Tupperware container. Pete looked up. “They’re here,” I said. “Stay in here until I call for you.” Placing the container into my pocket, I stepped out on the bow, then onto the dock. I stood easily, waiting.

  They walked by Thirteen Episodes. Nacho had battened it down. The curtains were drawn. I knew Nacho and his Mossberg were watching them parade by. Down the dock toward the gate, Indigo had boat hopped, and now stepped into sight, off of a Starliner, and onto the dock. She went through the gate and headed for Dock B.

  Newman’s face was impassive. The big guy had a scowl. It didn’t make him any better looking.

  They came to a halt in front of me. The big guy pulled his jacket back to show me his gun. Newman was studying me.

  “I appreciate a good Seventh Day Adventist,” I said. “You can leave your pamphlets if you wish.”

  “I don’t need your lip,” Newman said. “I want my girl.”

  I looked at him for a ten count. I wanted him to know I wasn’t intimidated. “If you mean Ashley, she’s not here.”

  “Tell me where she is, or you are going to get fucked up real bad.”

  “Really bad,” I said. “I think it should be ‘really bad’.”

  The big guy moved to bring his pistol out. I held up a finger, “Uh, before you do that, I’d look back there.” I looked behind him.

  “Bullshit,” he said, pulling the gun.

  Nacho pumped a shell into the Mossberg. The guy froze, and Newman turned to look. Newman then looked across to B Dock. His guy was standing in the sunlight, his hands behind his head. Indigo had her Beretta pointed at his head.

  The big guy followed Newman’s eyes. “Jesus,” he said under his breath.

  Newman looked back at me. “You don’t know who you are fucking with.”

  I smiled. “No sir. It’s the other way around. You don’t know who you are fucking with.” I nodded toward Indigo. “That woman over there is one of the most highly trained operatives our government ever had. You think you have connections? You think you and your mob buddies are tough because you think you can shoot us any time you wish. Ambush us from a dark alley. Take us down to the river and dump our bodies?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I think,” Newman said.

  “Let me give you an idea of what you are up against. We have the ability to take over your life. We can destroy any business you are a part of. Avalon? Sussex. Any business. We can make you disappear. Not just your body, which we can dump in the river bottom any time we want, but we can destroy any evidence that you were even on this planet. You think you are safe in Vegas? You think your mob buddies will protect you? We can be in your house and up your ass anytime we want. Guards, alarms, it doesn’t matter. Or, if we want to be nice, and leave you alive, we can just ruin your reputation. You ever been a child molester? We can put it on the internet, or on the local TV. Yeah, everyone in Vegas will see your face, with the words ‘Child Molester’ plastered all over it.”

  He was watching me, his eyes were narrowed, but he didn’t say anything. I stared at him for a very long moment.

  I turned my head toward the boat, “Mr. Dunn.”

  Pete stepped out.

  “Mr. Newman meet Mr. Dunn. Mr. Dunn is Ashley’s attorney. Here’s the way it is going to go. You have no evidence that Ashley is your daughter, except Lindy told you she was. Well, Lindy told Mr. Dunn and me that you aren’t the father. But she has no evidence. So what Mr. Dunn wants is a sample to be tested for a match with Ashley’s DNA.”

  I fished the Tupperware from my pocket and held it out to him. He looked at it. “What the fuck is that?”

  “I need you to pee in that,” Pete said. “To go to the lab.”

  “You are out of your fucking mind,” he said, his face reddening.

  “Are you saying you refuse to allow a DNA test?” I said.

  “I ain’t pissing in that damn thing,” he said.

  I punched him in the nose. A straight smack with a twist at the end. It was a good one. He staggered back, then went to one knee. Blood ran down his chin. The big guy was not quick, and Nacho had the barrel of the shotgun against the back of his neck before he could move. The other guy was frozen. I leaned forward and grabbed Newman by the hair. I placed the Tupperware under his nose and caught a few drops of blood. Enough.

  “I don’t need piss. Blood will do.”

  I stepped back and put the lid back onto the container and handed it to Pete. Newman was struggling to his feet. I pulled a handkerchief from my back pocket and handed it to him. He took it and wadded it against his nose. I’m guessing he’d not been punched in a long time. Maybe never.

  “You broke my nose,” he said. It was muffled against the cloth and sounded like, “You oke my node.”

  “I didn’t really want to watch you piss in the cup. You take your amateur hour
thugs back to Vegas, Mr. Newman, and we will be in touch. If Ashley is yours, Mr. Dunn will meet with your attorneys and work out what arrangements are appropriate. If Ashley isn’t yours, you will never be in contact with her or her mother again. We will be watching. If you try to retaliate in any way, toward me or toward the girl, or toward the girl’s mother, the first thing we’ll do is smear Vegas with your picture and fact that you are a child molester. If you persist, I will have you killed.”

  “Child molester? I ain’t no child molester.”

  “You will be if I say you are.”

  I turned and waved at Indigo. She began marching her guy back down the dock.

  “Go now,” I said.

  Without a word, Newman turned, and they went past Nacho and back down the dock.

  Pete and I watched them until they went through the gate. The big guy turned to look back at me, but he didn’t stop walking. Pete said, “Jesus, Jackson. Aren’t you afraid of anything?”

  “Commitment,” I said.

  42

  It was two days later. Lindy and Ashley were still at Blackhawk and Elena’s apartment. Ashley had fallen head over heels for Elena, and vice versa. Blackhawk and I were sitting in his office, standing at the two-way window watching the happy hour crowd below.

  “You think you’ve scared that Newman guy off?” Blackhawk said.

  “No,” I said.

  “Me neither,” he said.

  We stood watching some more. Nacho was helping Jimmy behind the bar and Indigo sat in Nacho’s regular stool, reading.

  “I like to watch people read,” I said.

  “You are one weird dude. But, it’s like I heard you say.”

  “What?”

  “People that don’t read only experience one lonely life.”

  I smiled. “I would never know what it would be like to be a one-legged sea captain sailing the high seas if I hadn’t read Moby Dick. What have you read lately?”

  “I read those Steinbeck books you put me onto. Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday.”

  “What’d you think?”

  “Things were simpler then. But I could see us with Mack and the boys.”