by Rick Polad
I nodded.
“Walters had told me to work out the details with Meyers.”
“But you’re not paid yet.”
“I gave her till Friday to walk in my door with ten grand and change.”
“Or what?”
“Joey Mineo doesn’t need an or what, Manning. I have an excellent track record.”
I didn’t doubt that. But I knew that whatever had preceded the excellent track record hadn’t been pretty. Joey didn’t make threats… he foretold the future.
“One thing doesn’t make sense, Joey.”
“Only one? Ya hear that Marty? This guy has life all figured out except for one thing.”
Marty still didn’t care.
“Which one would that be, Manning?”
“I like Walters for killing Benny. The only reason I figure Walters takes the note is that Benny is worth something to him. Why kill a guy worth ten grand to you?”
Joey shrugged. “Maybe Benny welched. And maybe Walters got his ten grand worth and then Benny became expendable. And maybe you’re all wrong about Walters. But after I get my check I could care less about all the maybes.”
I nodded again and asked, since I was a regular visitor, if I should get the password. He told me the passwords weren’t for guests.
“Thanks for dropping in, Manning. Always a pleasure. Get a cone on the way out… on me.”
I did. Butter pecan. The woman was gone.
I liked being right about my hunches, but this one got me nowhere. I could explain a lot of things that would get me nowhere. I was getting lots of pieces, but they didn’t seem to fit together.
***
Stosh and I went out for pizza. The drizzle had stopped but the sky was still gray. He filled me in on the car. It and the apartment had been wiped clean.
“No other place her prints could be?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Nope.”
When the beer came, he asked, “So how’s your relationship with your buddy Harvey?”
I about choked on a mouthful of beer. “Where the hell did that come from?”
“Trying to make a point. What’s the answer? You still seeing him for breakfast?”
“Not since Saturday. But since I’ve been banned from the park there’s nothing to talk about.”
He took a long drink. “You trusted him, right?”
I got his point. “Yes.”
“Based on nothing but a gut feeling, right?”
“Right.”
“And you trusted Samantha enough to hire her and give her a key to the castle. Right?”
“Right. I get it. But the castle had nothing in it worth anything.”
“Not the point.”
“I know. If it makes you feel better, I stopped sharing with Harvey. Some new information came to light.”
Garlic bread arrived and we each took a piece.
“And that would be?”
“Harvey is Belva’s cousin.”
It was his turn to choke on the beer. Once he got it down he started laughing.
“How did you find out?”
“Barbara.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t trust him.”
I put down my glass. “I don’t trust him, I do trust him… which side are you on here?”
“No side. That’s my point… hard to know, so be careful who you trust. It ain’t easy.”
We finished the pizza talking about the Cubs. Stosh was sure we’d still be watching them when the World Series rolled around.
The day ended with no phone call. I figured if Walters had some use for Sadie it would be during park hours, so I relaxed and fell asleep to Johnny Carson talking with George Burns, a great example of why Hollywood people changed their names. Nathan Birnbaum would never have made it big.
Chapter 38
I went to Molly’s for breakfast Wednesday morning. I wanted to see if I could manage to eat alone. I did fine. I detoured to see if the office was still there. It was. So were all the windows.
I had just picked up Sherlock Holmes when the phone rang.
“Hi, Spencer, it’s Sadie.”
I froze for a brief few seconds. “Hi, Sadie. You okay?”
“I am, and I have an assignment.”
I waited.
“He wants me to bring a boy, Vincent Prather, to the shack under the Bobs. He works in one of the hot dog stands. Walters says he has a better job for him.”
I took a deep breath. Exactly what Barbara had said.
“Do you believe him?”
“Not at all,” she said with hate in her voice. “What do you want me to do?”
“When is this happening?”
“Nine tonight.”
The park would be emptying and the rides and stands would be getting ready to close.
“I wish we could arrest him for what we think, but we have to catch him at it.”
“Okay, so…?”
“So, if you’re willing, go ahead. I’ll be there with help. We’ll be right behind you.”
“What if they see you?”
“They won’t.”
“They have before.”
“Yes, they have. But they were looking for me. I’m betting they think they’ve taken care of me.” I told her about the restraining order. “I’ll be more careful.”
“I don’t want Vincent to get hurt, Spencer. We’re taking a chance here.”
I moved the phone to my other ear. “If you weren’t talking to me what would you do?”
“I’d do what Walters said. Next time he’ll kill me.”
“Okay. So we’re several steps ahead. We’ll get him.”
“What are you going to do?”
“First, make sure Vincent and you are okay. Then we’ll deal with Walters. How? I won’t know until it happens. But I’m good at improvising. And if at any time you feel in danger, take Vincent somewhere else and call the police.”
“Okay. I hope you’re right.”
“Me too, Sadie. Tell me about the shack.”
“What do you mean?”
“What’s inside? From the front it looked bigger than the others. Just one room? Layout? Furniture?”
“There are two rooms. You walk into the main room and there is a door to the left in the middle of the wall that leads into a storage room that’s about half the size. There are a few boxes in there, but at the back of that room are the stairs down to the tunnels. There are boxes along the wall of the main room and open shelves as you come in the door before you get to the desk. And there’s one desk that Meyers uses against the back wall in the right corner.”
“Any windows?”
“No. None of the shacks have any.”
“Thanks, Sadie. Remember, take Vincent somewhere else if you feel in danger.”
“I will.”
We hung up. I sat on the couch and wondered what Sherlock would do. He was a master at disguise and setting traps. I needed a disguise, and some help.
I was at the crossroads of calling Stosh or not. Once I had decided to show up at the park, that meant I wouldn’t call Stosh. I felt pretty bad about that… he wasn’t going to be happy. But I had done things in the past that hadn’t made him happy, and they had turned out okay because in one way I was like Walters—I didn’t exactly do things by the book, but I got things done. In this case the potential reward was well worth the risk.
But I did need help. I wasn’t going into this alone. There was only one person I could count on and he had been willing to help me bend the rules in the past. I called the station and asked for Steele.
Chapter 39
I met Steele outside the park by the motorcycles. I fit in well with my leather jacket sporting a skull and crossbones on the back, a bandana on my head, a bushy moustache, and dark shades, all of which I had picked up at the costume shop beneath Carol’s apartment. Steele walked past me and looked around. I tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped.
“You gotta be kidding,” he said with a grin.
&nbs
p; “Worked, didn’t it?”
He admitted he had no clue it was me even though he was looking for me.
We were an hour early, so we went over the plan. It would have been nice to know who would be in the shack, but we had no way of knowing. We were going to take up spots on either side of the Bobs and wait for Sadie and the boy. Walters or Meyers would either be inside or would show up right after Sadie. We would watch and see if anyone showed up, and agreed to wait fifteen seconds before going in. If no one had shown by then, they were probably already inside. I hoped fifteen seconds wasn’t long enough to do whatever they were planning on doing. We sat in the Mustang to pass some time.
“Something about this isn’t right, Spencer. If these guys are involved in something, why would they continue when they know the heat’s on?”
I rolled the window down halfway. “Because they don’t think the heat’s on. You guys certainly aren’t putting any pressure on them. The only one they’re worried about is me, and they think they’ve taken care of me with the restraining order.”
He nodded. “Maybe. But it’s not too smart.”
“Nobody said criminals are smart.”
“Thank goodness… makes them easier to catch.”
I agreed. “How many bank robbers do you think you’d catch if they just robbed one bank? There are many cases where some guy was caught after the tenth robbery. Quit after one and spend your money.”
We were both silent for a few minutes.
“Hard to wait for time to pass, isn’t it?” Steele said.
“Yeah, each minute takes forever.”
“You nervous?”
“Not really nervous… more like excited. You?”
“Nope. It’s just a job… and I’m good at it. If you’re good at something you just get it done and move on.”
I nodded. When I had decided to call Steele I thought hard about it, given the history with his son. I knew Stosh had told me Steele assured him he’d have no problem if the cases overlapped, but people tend to tell their bosses what they want to hear. My conversation with Steele on the phone, and what he just said, left me with no qualms about him being able to think clearly.
I used the rest of the time to fill Steele in on the layout of the shack and give him a description of Sadie. At twenty to nine we paid the admission and entered the park under the sign that told us to Laugh Your Troubles Away. Neither one of us was laughing.
***
The shack was under the first drop of the Bobs. I left Steele fifty feet before the shack, then walked past it and stood in the group of people at the ticket booth for the roller coaster. Steele looked relaxed. I was aware of everything that was going on around me as I watched for Sadie. It was two minutes past nine when I saw her coming with a sandy-haired boy a little taller than her. The kid looked very excited. They were walking quickly.
Sadie was looking around, perhaps looking for me, perhaps looking for Walters or Meyers. I didn’t see either of them, and if Steele didn’t notice me I knew she didn’t either.
Steele saw them coming and started walking leisurely toward the shack. Sadie held the door for Vincent and they disappeared inside. I wondered about Riverview, where very little was as it seemed, and thought about the screen doors in the Fun House that had no handles. This door had a handle, but what was inside was just as mysterious.
By the time I had counted to fifteen both of us were near the door with our guns out and pointing down. Steele nodded at me and I opened the door as a coaster started its descent on the first drop, covering the sound of the door opening.
The room was dark with only one dim lamp on a desk, but I could see Belva sitting at the desk looking down at some papers. Walters had ahold of the boy by the collar and was pushing him toward the desk with his right hand. He held a rag in his left. Sadie was standing with her back to me. The kid almost fell as he was pushed roughly to the front of the desk. The screech of the roller coaster was deafening, so Walters didn’t hear me approaching as I made my way slowly along the shelves that were four-foot-wide units open on both sides. Walters blocked Belva’s view of me. I knew Steele was behind me and prayed Sadie wouldn’t see us and give us away.
Still next to the shelves, I inched closer to Walters as the coaster reached the turn at the bottom of the drop and the noise built to a roar. I had no idea how these people stood the noise, but it was a blessing to me.
Walters bent over the desk, wrote something with one hand, and held the kid by the collar with the other. The white rag was in his pocket. The kid was shaking.
Sadie saw me and her mouth opened slightly. I put my finger to my lips. Both Walters and Belva were looking down and didn’t see her reaction. I inched my way behind the shelf until I was only three feet from the desk.
Steele must have bumped into the shelf because something fell off and hit the floor with a thud. Walters looked up, saw me, and reached into his jacket.
I hit him on the head with the butt of my .38. He went down and crumpled against the desk. His eyes were open, arms at his sides. The side of his head where I had hit him was turning red.
Belva grabbed the boy and moved back toward the wall with her arms around him. She didn’t have a weapon.
“Belva, move away from the boy.”
“I’m just protecting him,” she pleaded.
She very well may have been, but I needed to be sure. “Move away, Belva… now!”
She dropped her arms and the boy ran over to Sadie. Walters was still lying on the floor.
With a determined look, Steele stepped up and raised his gun.
“He’s done, Steele. Put your gun down.”
Steele just stared at the man on the floor without responding.
“Steele!”
He moved closer to Walters, his gun aimed at his chest.
“Steele. I know how you feel. He deserves to die, but he’s our link to the kids.”
Steele moved closer and placed the barrel of his gun against Walters’ forehead, probably thinking about his son.
“Steele. Remember when I wanted to shoot that bastard Vitale? You told me he wasn’t worth it and that one day I would feel guilty about it from a jail cell.”
He didn’t answer. His gun didn’t move.
“Put it down, Ronnie. It might make you feel better for a minute, but tomorrow won’t be so pretty.”
He didn’t move a muscle. I wanted to take his arm but was afraid that he would twitch his finger.
“Ronnie. It’s cold-blooded murder. You’ll get a death sentence.”
Steele just stared at Walters. And more surprisingly, Walters was just staring back with a slight smirk. I couldn’t imagine that eyes could look so empty. There was no fear, no pleading, nothing human. He was on the edge of dying and had no reaction besides arrogance.
I tried once more and softly said, “Ronnie, I’d have to testify at your trial, and I can’t lie.”
In a calm voice, he said, “You won’t have to.”
I relaxed and took a deep breath. As I was letting it out slowly, the tiny room was filled with the explosion. The hole in Walters’ forehead was neat and round, but the floor under his head was covered with pieces of his skull and a spreading pool of blood and brains. Walters’ eyes were still staring at Steele, but the smirk was gone.
Sadie stood with one hand over her mouth and the other arm around the boy.
I lowered my gun and sighed as I wondered if Belva was on our side. If she was, our only lead was gone.
Steele’s look hadn’t changed. His face showed no emotion—only determination.
I stepped toward the body as Steele moved away. “Jesus, Steele. You just shot the guy who knows where the kids are.”
As he glanced at me, Belva said, “I know where they are.”
Steele gave me a two-finger salute and walked into the adjoining room.
I turned to Belva. “Whose side are you on? And if you’re on my side, how do you know where the kids are?”
She just stood ag
ainst the wall as I heard the sound of the next coaster clanking up to the top of the first hill. I got ready for the deafening screech. But before the clanking stopped, another explosion filled the tiny shack. It came from the other room, and it was all I could do to keep my knees from buckling. As the coaster screech faded, I started to move toward the back room and heard, “Drop the gun, Manning.”
I turned toward the voice and saw Marcel, the Freak Show barker, standing next to the shelving. I also thought I saw a flicker of a shadow move at the end of the shelves, but it was hard to be sure in the dark room.
“Drop it, Manning. Last time I ask.” He was pointing a gun at my chest, and at ten feet away I didn’t think he’d miss.
I dropped my gun.
“Kick it to me.”
As I did, I thought I saw something move on the other side of the shelves. In some places there were spaces on the shelves and I could see the wall on the other side. A part of me hoped it was Steele, but I knew it wasn’t. I didn’t want to go in the back room.
“Put down the gun, Marcel. You can’t kill everybody.” Belva had moved over to Sadie and Vincent.
“I’d be happy just killing you, Manning. If it wasn’t for you none of this would have happened.”
I wanted to keep him talking to buy time. “And kids would just keep disappearing?”
“Hey, nobody cared about those kids. You had to go and butt in.”
I heard the clanking of the next coaster. As the screech started to build, one of the shelving units fell into the room. Marcel turned and wildly fired a shot into the shelf. A second shot exploded and Marcel staggered back with a surprised look, his free hand on his chest. As he fell to the floor, the shadow stepped out from behind the shelves. It had been two weeks since I had last seen Rosie.
We both walked over to Marcel. He was dead. We just looked at each other—I had no words.
“Where’s Steele, Spencer?”
“In the other room, but I don’t think you want to go in there. I heard a shot just before Marcel came in.” I picked up my gun. Vincent and the women were still standing frozen against the wall.