“That’s damned straight, hoss,” Eddy responded. He just wanted to end the conversation and get going. “You got my undivided attention. Ask me what it is you need and I’ll see that you get it.”
“I assume that Richie and Tina are still alive.”
“Right.”
“And they would be hanging out where, right about now?” Grover asked slowly, deliberately pronouncing each syllable of every word.
“They would be hanging out in Naples, Florida.” Eddy sat up. “They’re staying in some rattrap trailer park down there. See, Tina was born in Naples and she knows a few people in town.”
Grover turned to Fontana and cocked his head. “Did you know she was from south Florida, Rudy?”
Rudy shifted his weight from one foot to another and glanced off to the side. “She might have mentioned it to me at some point.”
“Yeah?” Grover’s voice grew lower and the edge got harder. “Terrific. And when were you thinking of mentioning it to me? That’s something we should have been working on.”
“I forgot, okay?” Rudy looked back.
Grover said nothing and instead refocused on the phone. “Eddy? You got a phone number where we can call them?”
Eddy nodded and said, “I talked to Tina at about one. She said Richie was out but he’d be back later. Their number should be written down on my notepad there on top of the desk. It’s a couple of pages in and the area code is 813. You see it?”
Grover looked down at the pad in front of him and worked his way through five pages before he came to the phone number. “Yeah,” he answered. “I might want to just give those two crazy kids a call. I gather that whole Mexican trip was just a dodge.”
“From the word go.” Eddy stood up from the toilet. “That was Tina’s brainstorm. She thought it would throw everyone off the track. ’Course, she didn’t know she’d be dealing with you.” He paused for a moment wondering if he should go on. Why not? “From what she tells me now, they had no idea you were involved until they went through some files she took from the office.” He knew he was answering questions Grover hadn’t even asked yet, but he felt like getting everything out. Like it made him safer. “Who knows what they were thinking, huh? They were nuts.”
“Yeah, they were,” Grover said. “So, they still have those files?”
“That they do, hoss,” Eddy said. “Tina called it their life insurance.”
Grover stood up, a scowl on his face. “Did she tell you what’s in them?”
Eddy shook his head. “No sir. And I didn’t ask, either. Look, they fucked up. Everyone’s willing to acknowledge that. And now, especially with Richie’s uncle and aunt in trouble, I’m sure they’ll do whatever it takes to make things right. That’s all any of us want.”
Grover glanced at Rudy and Sid before talking to Eddy again. “Well, hoss. I’ll be going now. I want to call down there to Naples.” There was a long pause. “I tell you what. Don’t get any ideas about leaving town. And give me your home number, too. Might be I’ll need to talk to you in the near future.” His voice lowered. “I’m not joking around here, either. If you should talk to those two, let them know how serious I am about getting my money back and that I know how to get in touch with their families. Yours, too, for that matter.”
By the time Grover finished, Eddy’s head was bobbing up and down like one of those little football-player statues with a spring in the neck. “You’re absolutely right, Grover. No one wants this thing to go any further. We’ll just make things right and get you happy again. Like I said, that’s all any of us want.”
“You better make that your number-one priority from now on,” Grover said. “As far as you and Tina and Richie are concerned, my happiness is a matter of life and death.” He looked around. “By the way, nice office.” With that, he hung up. Then he quickly grabbed the receiver and dialed the Naples number. When no one answered after about a dozen rings, he put the receiver down and looked at Sid and Rudy. “No one’s home. Let’s get back to the Cheetah.”
Eddy sat quietly on the toilet for a long time. Leaving town was now out of the question. Better try to persuade Richie to get his sorry ass back to Denver. All this for a crummy three grand. Finally, he rose and went back to the bedroom to have a hit from the tiny bindle of cocaine that was supposed to get him to California.
TEN
To Tina, Eddy Spangler was nothing but a lying, two-faced pretty boy. Any fool could see that. Any fool, apparently, except for Richie, and that always bothered her. The little résumé writer was trouble and always out for himself. Listening to his message now on the answering machine drove that point squarely home. Once again. She and Richie had just gotten back from dinner and they were standing in the long, narrow living room of her father’s mobile home. The place was done up in conflicting yard-sale furniture, but kept as tidy and uncluttered as a hospital.
“I did all I could to protect you guys,” Eddy was saying. “Grover Royals himself stopped by the office. Brought a couple of guys with him, too.” Eddy decided not to tell them he wasn’t there personally for the visit. Let them draw their own conclusions. “A guy he called Rudy, I’m guessing Fontana, and some other guy. They called you before but you must not have had your machine on. Anyhow, there was no point trying to con them. He threatened my family, for chrissakes. I leave town, Royals’ll go deal with my family. Richie, he said he’ll hurt your uncle and your aunt, too. I know Marlene’s like a mother to you. They already fucked with your uncle somehow.” There was a pause. “It’s all over, you guys. Royals is on to you. He’ll probably be calling you later or else you’re supposed to call him. While you’re at it, I’d suggest you drop a dime on Marty and tell him what’s going on. Him and Marlene must be scared shitless.”
There was a long pause on the tape. Richie’s forehead was pleated in concern as he stared at the machine. Then he glanced at Tina, who was watching him. His eyebrows shot up for a second and he opened his mouth to speak. But before he could, Eddy came back on the recorder.
“Look, I’m sorry it has to go down like this. But you gotta understand the position you put me in. Come back and settle up with these guys. There’s no other way.”
When the message ended, Richie leaned over and turned off the machine. Tina fumbled through her purse and pulled out a Camel Light and matches. “I just bet that worm put up a fight,” she said, striking a match. “They probably asked him once and he folded like a cheap card table.” She looked off and took a puff. It was almost dark but they hadn’t turned any lights on yet. “Where’d you dig that guy up, Richard?” That was the only name she ever called him.
Richie looked at her and slowly ran the fingertips of one hand over his thick mustache. Standing there in his plaid shorts, he suddenly felt vulnerable and stupid. “I now you always said he’s pretty much of a dink, but he’s right about this one, Teen. No way I’m going to let Aunt Marlene get hurt. Or Marty, for that matter. He’s no day at the beach, but I can’t get him killed.”
Tina considered that but didn’t respond. Instead, she let out another long blast of smoke and then stubbed her cigarette in the ashtray on a cocktail table. Where does that blind spot for Eddy come from? She walked over and turned on the kitchen wall light. Glancing around the front of her father’s mobile home put her in a worse mood. The place reminded her of him and how she wouldn’t be able to help him now. Stan Gillis owned a small convenience store and bait-and-tackle shop on the bay in north Naples. He’d had the place for almost twenty years and it was on the verge of going under. Strapped with debt and needing almost a hundred thousand dollars for Health Department upgrades and other overdue improvements, Stan had asked his daughter a few months ago if she had any ideas on how to dig out. Tina adored him. Fifty-one and a decorated Vietnam veteran, he had treated his only child like gold since his wife’s death years earlier.
Stealing from Rudy seemed like a reasonable plan. But when she talked to Stan about it, she made it sound as though she and Richie were more or less
borrowing the money. Nothing was said about armed robbery and Stan didn’t ask too many questions. Take the money from Rudy, she figured, bail Stan out with about half of it, and then go to work for him at his store while they invested the rest. Richie went for it in a heartbeat. Hell, he’d take a whack at swimming up Niagara Falls if it made Tina happy. Plus, being a rabid fisherman since he was ten, he liked the idea of working near the water. But now, Tina realized as she looked around the trailer, it wouldn’t happen. She knew they had to go back to Denver and make things right with Grover.
“I don’t want to give them the money back any more than you do, honey,” Richie continued in a gentle tone. He took a step toward Tina. To him, she was irresistible. That light drift of freckles across her nose. What a face. He loved everything about Tina. The way she walked, the way she slept, the way she ate, the way she made love. But especially the freckles. Gave her a little-girl innocence to go with her high cheekbones and cat-like green eyes. Sometimes Richie didn’t like being in love so deeply. If anything happened to break them up, he’d be so lost. It made him act like a hungry puppy around her. Still, when they were together he wouldn’t trade it for the world. And the sex. Forget it. Both in quantity and quality, Tina Gillis had simply spoiled him for any other woman. Just look at her there in that yellow halter top and those tight white shorts. “But I can’t leave Aunt Marlene hanging like this.”
Staring at the middle of his chest, Tina shook her head. Finally, she looked at his face. Richard had incredibly intense eyes. He might be a bit slow on the uptake, but he had a way of looking at her with so much feeling it let her know how much he cared. It’s nice being adored. And that open, friendly face of his. Amazing that a scammy mind like Richard’s sat behind such a trusting face.
“You’re right, of course,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about that ever since Shit-for-brains called the first time. You and I covered it over dinner tonight. It’s just that I hate to throw in the towel with an idiot like Rudy, not to mention what it’s going to mean to Dad.”
Richie’s voice was really soft now and he put the back of his hand on her cheek and stroked it lightly. “I know how you feel about that, but at least we’ll be alive and we’ll be together. Maybe we can think of some other way to get Stan back on his feet.” He paused. “We gave it a shot, and now the party’s over. Might as well call Fontana.”
She nodded. “But if Grover answers, I’m hanging up. I don’t want to talk to him yet. Rudy’ll tell me how bad it is.” She shook her head. “Damned Grover. I pride myself on knowing the score but I didn’t have a clue that he ran things. He’d come around from time to time, but I thought he just had a slice of the strip joints. How could I have been so wrong?”
“A lot of people keep two sets of books, and you weren’t Rudy’s accountant, Teen. Just let him know we’re coming back with the money. I’ll talk to Marty when you’re done.”
Tina went to the phone on the salmon-colored Formica counter between the kitchen and the living room. The whining of the window air conditioner was so loud she turned it off. “Richard, get me a Rolling Rock, please?” She looked at him, pulling an ashtray toward her. Then she lit another cigarette. The clock next to the phone showed it was almost eight, which meant it would be six in Denver. He moved toward the refrigerator as she worked the phone. Rudy picked up on the second ring.
“Yeah,” he answered. “Yeah!” he repeated louder.
That’s our Rudy, Tina thought. Class up the gazoo. Richie sat the Rolling Rock bottle in front of her. She blinked once as she spoke. “Rudy?”
A pause was followed by an explosion of sound that made her pull the receiver from her ear. “Gillis, you…Jesus!” He paused. “You got your nerve, you know that?”
Tina rolled her eyes at Richie. “Rudy, calm down.”
“Calm down my ass. You’re not the one with Grover Royals in your face all day long.” He lowered his voice a shade. “At least not yet.”
“Believe me, Rudy, we had no idea the money belonged to him.”
“That supposed to make me feel better?” His voice rose again. “Thinking you were stealing from me is hardly a consolation here, Tina. After all I did for you. The good pay, the trust, for God’s sake. Then you turn around and screw me over like this!”
“Spare me, Rudy. I worked long and hard for you. Then I made one mistake. What’s done is done. The question now is: How can I put things right?”
“Yeah, that does seem to be the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. Grover’d like to run you and Richie through a drill press right about now.” His breathing sounded wheezy. A binge smoker, he’d been lighting up like a foundry since the robbery. “And that crazy fuckin’ dwarf Sid Wahl wouldn’t mind a shot at you, either.” He chuckled. “That was really something, Richie puking on him like that. You should of seen him and Dexter when they got out of that trunk. The smell, for God’s sake.” He paused. “You still got the money?”
“Yes.”
“And all that stuff from my file cabinet? You still got that?”
She nodded and answered, “Damned right I do.”
“You know, that’s the real pisser here, Tina. My own files.” He didn’t say anything for a moment. “Listen, just stay near the phone. I’m seeing Grover later and he’ll probably want to talk to you tonight. Tomorrow for sure. He’ll lay down the terms and don’t kid yourself. It won’t be much of a negotiation. You’re going to pay big-time.”
Tina blew smoke from her nostrils. “I understand, Rudy. But you and Grover better understand that there has to be a safe way out of this for Richard and myself. No more leaning on his family. This is between us and Grover, and it can be taken care of without people getting hurt. If not, those files go to the police and the media. We’ve got enough copies of them to paper a courtroom. Are we clear on that?”
Rudy didn’t answer for a while, so Tina sipped her beer. Finally he came back in a soft voice. “I don’t know what this maniac’ll do next, Tina. Just plan on getting back here fast. And don’t try to shovel any manure at the guy. You have no idea what Royals is capable of. No idea.” With that, he hung up.
Richie, who had been sitting across the table from her during the conversation, stood up. “You did good, Teen. Just the right tone.”
She glanced at him. “We’ll be hearing from Grover soon and it won’t be fun. Speaking of no fun, you better call your uncle.”
He nodded and reached for the phone while still standing. Normally jumpy as an overbred terrier, Richie sure as hell couldn’t sit still for this conversation. He pressed in Marty’s home number, biting on his lower lip and playing with the end of his mustache all the while.
“Hello,” Marty’s familiar voice boomed through after several rings.
Without hesitation, Richie said. “Uncle Marty?”
There was a long pause on the other end. “Is that you, Richie? How are you, boy?” His voice was more sad than angry.
“I’m good. Really, I’m fine.” Richie glanced at Tina and his eyebrows shot up.
“Where are you?” The voice picked up slightly.
“We’re down in Florida.” He nodded across the table. “Me and Tina. Do you remember her?”
“Yes, I believe I do.” Another pause and then in a more agitated tone, “You really stepped in it all the way this time. What the hell were you thinking, son?”
He shrugged. “What else? I was thinking about money. And don’t worry. I’m going to make everything good.”
“For chrissakes!” Marty yelled suddenly. “Make everything good? You worried your aunt sick and got me threatened by some gangster or whatever the hell he is. The police in two countries are looking for you, and a couple of my delivery trucks got torched. Now what? You’re going to snap your fingers and make everything okay?” He was silent. “To be honest, son, I didn’t think you had enough ambition or smarts to try something this far over the top. But I damn well knew that whatever it was you were trying, you’d muck it up somehow. That’s gene
rally how you operate.”
Richie’s face tightened. Just like Marty to treat him like a dim-witted child. Ever since he went to live with his aunt and uncle after his parents died, old Marty’d been riding him like a mule. Pointing out his shortcomings. If it hadn’t been for Aunt Marlene, Richie figured, he would have cut bait with that guy years ago. “Look, I understand that you’re mad and I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused. But we’re coming back to Denver to make good. You and Aunt Marlene are safe and I don’t need a lecture.”
When Marty spoke again, his voice was softer. “Well, at least your aunt’ll sleep better knowing you’re alive. She’s not here right now or I’d let you talk to her.”
Richie toyed with his mustache again. “I would have called her eventually. Exactly how much do you know about what’s going on?”
“I know you stole from Royals and Tina’s boss, and they want everything back. I know you staged that bullshit in Mexico to cover your tracks. And I know it’s all rolling back this way, toward your aunt and me. I also know we want to keep everything under wraps and away from the public eye. Sound like I got a handle on it, son?”
“Yes. Just let me work with these guys and get it straightened out. We’ll think of something to tell the cops and reporters later to explain why I’m back in town.”
“You do that, Richie. And don’t get cute with these folks. Give them what they want and hope they forget the whole thing. First thing tomorrow, give your aunt a call. She’s worried half to death. I’ll explain it to her later, but you talk to her in the morning.”
Richie frowned. “Yeah.” Then his voice softened. “And tell her I’m sorry. Okay?”
When he hung up, Richie stared silently at the table. Tina reached over to him and put her hand on his. “Two brutal calls and we came out all right, Richard.” He nodded and she continued. “Dad’s staying with his girlfriend tonight and I think you and I should relax and enjoy ourselves.” She smiled and nodded toward the back of the mobile home, where the bedrooms were. Richie flushed and she twitched her shoulders for dramatic effect. “It feels like a latex-and-body-oil kind of night.”
Streeter Box Set Page 53