Streeter Box Set

by Michael Stone

  The name drew blood as Spangler quickly cleared his throat twice and blushed. Glancing at Streeter’s huge forearms, he asked in an almost reverential tone, “You’re Grover?”

  “No. But I’m sure one phone call would get him down here. My bet is he’d like to talk to you.” Streeter looked slowly around the room. “Nice office.”

  Eddie frowned deeply and a trace of the cockiness crawled back into his voice. “I know it’s not all that classy, but you should see the kind of mouth-breathers I deal with out here. It pays the bills.” He studied his guest’s face. “We know who you’re not. Mind telling me who you are?”

  “I’m a friend of a friend and I need to find that friend. I was told maybe you could help me.”

  “That’s a lot of friends to keep track of there, hoss. A name or two might help.” Eddy’s voice was now back up to full-schmooze, salesman strength.

  Streeter wanted to get to the point and leave, so he put heavy steam into his voice. “First of all, little fella, my name’s not hoss. Save that for those mouth-breathers you mentioned. Second, you knowing who Grover is and being that scared of him is very interesting.”

  “Just who the hell are you?” Eddy’s eyes narrowed and his voice deepened.

  “I’m someone who’s going to save you and our mutual friends a lot of trouble. And I’m the guy standing between you and Grover Royals. It’s very important for you that someone does that because if Grover knew how tight you are with our friends, he’d drop by here. I’m sure you don’t want that.” He straightened up, keeping hard eye contact with Eddy. “My name’s Streeter and I’m looking for Richie Moats and Tina Gillis. Apparently they have something that belongs to Mr. Royals. He wants it back so badly that he’s threatening certain people about it. As you know, Richie and Tina have been missing for a while. There was talk that they might have been killed in Mexico. But Mr. Royals is of a different opinion. So am I. We believe they’re making themselves scarce on purpose.” He nodded. “You’re tight with Richie and if anyone in Denver knows where he is, it’d be you. I want you to tell me where he and Tina are, along with anything you might know about why Mr. Royals is so interested in finding them.”

  Spangler opened his mouth to speak, but Streeter held up both hands, palms toward him, and shook his head. “Before you answer, Eddy, I want to say a couple of other things. I know that you’re a bullshit artist. I’ve heard that and it’s written all over your face.” His voice stayed low and firm, but not angry. “Also, I know that if Richie and Tina are on the run, they’re in deep trouble, because Royals’ll catch them sooner or later. That’s how he is. And he’ll stomp them real good along with anyone who helped them. So think real hard before you tell me what you know. If all you’re going to give me is some I-have-no-idea-where-they-are crap, then save it. I don’t even want to hear it. I’ll just call Grover and you can discuss it with him.”

  “But it’s the truth,” Eddy blurted out, his voice hoarse with concern. All of the cockiness was drained from it by now. “I haven’t seen or heard from them in a month or more. I don’t have a clue where they are.”

  Streeter winced and shook his head. “I told you not to tell me that, Eddy. You’re not a very good listener.” He reached into his shirt pocket, pulled out Frank’s card, and tossed it on the desk. “How’s this? You obviously need some time to think over what I said. You might even want to confer with our friends. I’ll give you a day or so, and if you haven’t called me with a better recollection of what’s going on, then I’ll personally arrange it so that Grover Royals comes by and asks you the same questions. That sound like a plan, Eddy? I don’t see how I can be more fair.”

  “Jesus Christ, you’re putting me in a barrel here.” His features looked more delicate than before, almost frail.

  “The name’s not hoss and it’s not Jesus Christ, either. It’s Streeter.” He leaned forward, his palms now on the desk. “You think you might be remembering more about Richie yet?”

  Eddy slumped down. Streeter’s arms looked thick as logs from where he sat and he could see that the guy wasn’t joking around. Still, Eddy needed time to think. “Let me check around. Two days. I’ll call you Wednesday.” He shook his head. “Just don’t go talking to Grover. Okay? Give me until Wednesday.”

  “Tomorrow night, Eddy.” Streeter straightened up again and took a step backward. “Give me a holler by about eight tomorrow night. I don’t want to waste too much of anyone’s time on this. And while you’re checking around, keep in mind that Grover’s already talked to Richie’s uncle. He made some very ugly suggestions about what might happen to him and Aunt Marlene if Richie doesn’t turn up soon. I don’t think your friend wants his aunt to deal with that maniac. Have Richie phone home. And fast.”

  “I’ll do what I can.” Eddy’s voice was sad and resigned by now. “Just don’t go running to Royals. I’ll do my best to help all our friends.”

  “That’s all we can ask, right? That you do your best.”

  Eddy sat up a bit. “It was Uncle Marty that hired you. Right?”

  “I’ll talk to you by tomorrow, Eddy,” was all Streeter said before he turned and walked out of the room.

  Eddy sat in silence for a long time afterward, nursing his Big Gulp. The room seemed more quiet than usual. Finally, he made a long-distance call to Naples, Florida. Tina Gillis answered on the third ring.

  “Hello.” She sounded tentative. Not her usual style, but then hiding out in south Florida wasn’t, either.

  “That was one hell of a plan you guys came up with,” Eddy yelled, standing up from his desk. “First, you don’t fool anyone with your stupid Mexican ploy. Dropping off the Blazer down there, smearing a little blood on it, and then taking a bus out. About the only people you conned were the reporters. Which leaves the rest of Denver looking for you. Guess who just visited my office?”

  There was a pause. Tina cleared her throat and spoke softly into the phone. “A guy named Grover Royals?”

  Eddy held the receiver away from his face and frowned at it for a moment. Then he pulled it back to his ear. “Sort of. I mean, how’d you know about him?”

  “Last week, Richie and I finally went over every page of those files I took from Rudy’s office. It turns out that I was very mistaken about what was going on there. Rudy Fontana was just a token figurehead.” Her voice picked up clarity and force as she spoke. “Grover Royals is really in charge. He owns everything and runs the whole operation. It looks like there might be a silent partner somewhere in the background, but Grover’s the immediate man in charge. That means it was his money Richie took from those two clowns in the alley.” She paused and glanced around the living room of their rented mobile home. “If we had thought Grover was connected in any way, we never would have made the move. He won’t let this slide no matter where we run.”

  “No shit, Sherlock! I’d say you were very mistaken about all that stuff!” Eddy walked from behind his desk and started moving aimlessly around his office. “I’ve heard about Grover Royals, myself. Who hasn’t? He’s got a big rep in this town and he’s nothing like that Fontana guy you told me about. Nothing at all. This is one major screwup, Tina. Royals kills people, from what I’ve heard. That’s his rep.” His voice was getting high-pitched, so he paused for a moment to calm down.

  Tina jumped into the void. “What did Grover say when he came by?”

  Eddy frowned in confusion. “He didn’t say…I mean it wasn’t actually him. It was some PI or whatever by the name of Streeter. He wouldn’t tell me for sure, but my hunch is that Uncle Marty hired him to find you two. The guy was probably as big as Royals and about as convincing, too. He just left my office. Told me that if I don’t come up with you two bozos real fast, he’ll sic Grover on me. See, Grover’s talked to Streeter and Uncle Marty already. Like I said, nobody bought that Mexican trick. And he’s putting heat on Marty and the aunt. Threatened them, according to Streeter. This whole thing’s unraveling fast, and seeing as how shit generally rolls downhill, ev
eryone’s coming after me.”

  “You say none of them think we’re dead?”

  “No one. Except those idiots with the local news. According to both papers and all the TV stations, you two died down there. That should tell you about the quality of information the average citizen gets nowadays.” He was picking up momentum again and his voice was rising. “All that crap in Mexico was just a waste of time and money. Not to mention a little of Richie’s blood. Grover knows you’re alive, which means you’re not even close to safe in that little hometown of yours.”

  “No kidding. Exactly what do you think he wants from us?”

  “Who knows? I would guess that he’d like his money back. He might want a couple of pounds of your skin while he’s at it. Streeter just wants to know where you are and to have Richie call his uncle and aunt.” Eddy paused. “You’re no match for either of them. What the hell are you going to do now?”

  “Well, for starters I’m not going to panic. You might chill out a little yourself.” Her voice was totally calm by now. “When Richie gets back from the store later, he and I’ll figure out our options. We’ve still got some insurance. Those files I took from Rudy. They’ll work as well against Grover as against Rudy. Based on these financial records and his ledgers, Grover’s implicated in half the vice in Colorado. Not to mention the pictures from his sex parties. A lot of high rollers there. The kind of men who won’t tolerate bad publicity. My hunch is Grover Royals wants this stuff back as much as he wants his money. More, maybe.”

  “Great!” Eddy felt himself getting hyper again. “Another one of your hunches. What am I supposed to do back here? Between Grover and Streeter, I’m right in the line of fire. I’m giving some serious thought to just getting out of town for a couple of decades.”

  Tina paused before answering. “You can start by taking a few deep breaths. Richie and I’ll sort it all out this afternoon and we’ll get back to you tonight. No one’s going to hurt you. When Richie hears that his aunt’s been threatened, he’ll want to take care of her. Where will you be later?”

  “My place.”

  “Okay. We’ll take care of Grover and make things right. You’re going to be just fine, Eddy.”

  “Knowing how on the mark you’ve been up to now, that’s not all that comforting.”

  NINE

  Grover and Sid were not amused, but Doggy Styles cracked Rudy up to no end. When they saw it that Monday afternoon, it was the first time any one of them had smiled in days. All weekend they’d been hounding people who knew Richie and Tina. Despite Grover’s hard-assed threats, no one had any idea where they were. Finally, late Sunday afternoon, one of Richie’s old girlfriends mentioned a bogus slacker named Eddy Spangler who Moats had hooked up with a few years earlier. They started a fly-by-night telemarketing company together. It went under, and now Spangler was just scrambling to make a living. She had only his name and description, so it took Grover almost a full day to track Eddy to his office in the run-down Lakewood shopette.

  “What a hoot,” Rudy said, shaking his head in amazement as they stood outside the pet store. “Doggy Styles! Like the position. You know, for shtupping. Don’t you guys get it?”

  It was unseasonably warm. The sun had pushed the temperature into the upper eighties, turning the parking lot into a skillet. Typical moody Colorado springtime: from snow to near ninety in four days.

  Sid Wahl, being the kind of guy who broke into a grin maybe once every couple of years, didn’t respond. Grover studied Rudy, who was wearing silver sunglasses and a white sport coat with the sleeves at least an inch too short. “No, it’s way the hell over my head,” Grover deadpanned. “Why don’t you explain it to us, Moe?”

  “That doesn’t crack you up?” Fontana pressed on. “Straight from behind like a dog. Hysterical.” He grinned like an idiot.

  “Yeah, well, if we don’t find Tina and Richie you’ll get to know all about what that feels like.” There wasn’t a hint of amusement in Grover’s voice.

  Fontana changed the subject. “His office is supposed to be right behind the pet store,” he said and glanced toward a metal outer door next to the Styles window. “What a dump.” He took a few steps toward the door and winced in concentration. “Here it is, all right. Executive Search Preparation.”

  Grover moved past Rudy and stared at the small metal sign. Then he turned back to Sid and grabbed the door handle. “This better be worth it,” the big man said.

  Sid nodded. The three walked down the hall, which smelled like animal piss and cleaning fluid, with a strong hint of birdseed. When they got to Eddy’s door, Sid grabbed the handle and found that it was locked. He turned to Grover and shrugged. Royals pushed him to the side and grunted. Then he squared up on the door and shifted his shoulders once. He grabbed the handle, leaned back, and burst forward, with his right shoulder hitting the door a couple of feet above the handle. The thin oak veneer of the door popped through the narrow wooden strip on the other side like it was made out of potato chips and swung inward and open. Grover nodded and walked in with the other two right behind him. The fluorescent overhead light was on but no one was there. Grover looked around and muttered “Shit” under his breath. Then he turned to Sid off to his left. “There has to be a home address or a phone number around here somewhere. Some way to get ahold of this jerk. Let’s find it.”

  With that, the three descended on the desk and file cabinet. It only took about ten minutes before Rudy found a spiral notebook on the bottom of the lowest file drawer. A power-blue book with the words PHONE NO’S scrawled in what appeared to be the same Magic Marker that had made the door sign.

  “This should do ’er, Grover,” Rudy said, holding up the worn notebook and smiling like he just discovered a cure for cancer.

  Grover didn’t say a word but just grabbed it from Rudy’s hand. Then he dropped into the chair behind the desk and started leafing silently through the book. “I don’t think his address is in here but there’s a pager number inside the back cover,” he finally said without looking up. “A few other numbers and addresses in here that might help us out, too.” Then he glanced at the phone in front of him and, picking up the receiver, pressed in the pager number.

  Eddy was going through his back closet trying to decide what to take with him. Following his conversation with Tina, he’d decided that his best move was to leave Colorado for a month or so. Maybe for good. He had a cousin in southern California who’d let him crash at his place and he still had more than half of the money Richie had given him. Hell with Richie, Tina, Streeter, Grover, and the whole mess. He was reaching into a dresser drawer for a sweater when his pager went off. Eddy frowned and grabbed his belt on the side and pulled out the tiny beeper. His frown deepened when he saw that the call was from his own office. He was the only one who had a key to the door, other than the building maintenance people. Eddy walked to the bathroom just outside his bedroom, where a black portable phone sat on the sink counter. He pulled the toilet seat down and sat on it, thoroughly confused. Should he answer? Why? Hell, why not? Slowly, he picked up the receiver and punched in his office number. The phone was picked up before the first ring was finished, causing Eddy’s head to snap back slightly.

  “Yeah?” Grover put as much friendliness into it as he could muster, which wasn’t much.

  Eddy winced in curiosity. “Who is this?”

  “Eddy, baby,” he answered with more mock charm. “So good of you to call back.” He paused for a beat. “My name is Grover Royals and I’m in kind of a hurry here. Patience never was what you’d call one of my stronger points. Same thing can be said about compassion, too.” He paused to let that sink in. “You have any idea who I am?”

  “Everyone knows who Grover Royals is.” Eddy suddenly sounded very sad.

  “And you know about my connection to Richie Moats?”

  Silence for a long time. Then, “I got some idea.”

  “Then you probably know why I’m calling. And you should be able to help me out. Let’s cu
t right to it, Eddy. I hear anything that sounds like bullshit and I might make a few visits.” He glanced down at the notebook in his hands. “We’ve got your address book and I bet I could get ahold of your mother, your sister, and a whole bunch of your friends if I had to. I’m sure you don’t want me buggin’ all those people. Makin’ their lives miserable just because you won’t cooperate. Now, I assume it was Richie Moats or Tina Gillis that told you I might be contacting you.”

  Spangler tried to figure his play. Since Streeter had left six hours earlier, he had spoken to Tina and then spent a couple of hours pacing his office and taking quick hits from the bottle of blended whiskey he kept in his bottom drawer. Even had a bump or two of the flake he kept in the file cabinet. And he’d seriously reevaluated his position. Richie and Tina had given him three thousand in cash the night they had split for Mexico. The money was for Eddy to keep an eye on the fallout from the robbery. But that wasn’t nearly enough to compensate him for his having to deal with Grover Royals or now maybe having him come down on his mother and the rest of those folks. All he wanted to do was get out of town with his body intact and make sure Grover left him and his family alone. No point trying to con this guy.

  “Among other people,” he finally said. “There was some kind of PI or bounty hunter came to see me late this morning. I think he’s working for Marty Moats. Richie’s uncle. He told me if I didn’t cooperate with him and rat out Richie, he’d give you a call. That was a few hours ago.” He frowned. “Was he the one who told you how to find my place?”

  Grover ignored the question. “His name wasn’t Streeter, by any chance?”

  “That’s the man.”

  Grover spun hard to his left and punched at the air. Then he glanced at Sid. “At least we know that our little fire Friday night got to the old man.” Then he turned his attention back to the phone. “Listen, Eddy. I assume I got your attention now.”