by Robert Swetz
Crosby nodded his head. “Okay. Who did the shooting?”
“Three guys wearing fancy suits paid a visit to the Scorpions last night. They were interested in that box too,” he said as he pointed his finger at the box. “Although actually, they were interested in just one driver’s license that was in it. Some lady I never heard of.”
This time Rockford moved in. “They actually asked about the woman?”
“Didn’t I just say that?”
“Do you remember the woman’s name?”
“I already told you I never heard of her.”
“Was it Francesca Bianchi?”
Brian was surprised. Now that the name had been said, he remembered it. “Yeah. That was it.”
Rockford looked at the agents with him, all of them had moved closer now. He addressed the boy. “What did they ask about her?”
“They wanted Frank to find her. Since the Scorpions ripped off her driver’s license, then they figured that the Scorpions should be the one to search the city. But that’s incredibly stupid because none of the Scorpions would have a clue who they stole all that stuff from. Frank even pointed it out to them.”
“How do you know this?”
“I heard them.”
“You heard them, or you saw them?”
“Both.”
“So you are one of the gang members.”
“I know I already said, hell no.”
“Then how could you see and hear them?”
Brian smiled. “I’ve got my ways, and trust me, I’m not telling.”
Crosby asked the next question. “You actually saw these men shoot Little Paul and Cougar?”
“I saw one of them shoot Little Paul. I knew Cougar was about where the other one was, but I couldn’t see who else was shot. He was too far away.”
“His name was Billy Devereaux,” Crosby told him.
“Oh. Beast.”
“Beast?”
“That’s what everyone called him.”
“Tell me more about the men that were there last night. The ones who were asking about the woman.”
“What can I say? There were three of them, although only one did all the talking. They all wore nice expensive suits, although I don’t know why. Nobody wears nice suits like that, especially in the summer. It was hot!”
Rockford answered that one. “It’s possible they wanted to make an impression.”
“I think they did that,” Brian replied. “Especially since the other two guys didn’t even hesitate to start shooting.”
“How did that happen?” Crosby asked.
“The guy that did the talking was starting to piss the Scorpions off. All of them.”
“How?”
“Mostly by telling them what a bunch of little jerks they all were. You’ve got to know the Scorpions. It doesn’t take much for them to be offended. Little Paul finally pulled out his gun and pointed it at the guy. That didn’t last long since one of the men immediately shot him in the head. The other shots came right after that.”
“What happened next?”
“I don’t know after that. The next thing I know is that the police showed up for once. The strangest thing about that though was that the police sent so many cars. They don’t usually do that.”
“So you don’t know what else happened?”
“Nope. Now can I have my box?”
Crosby thought of something else. “Since you seem to know so much about the Scorpions, who shot Frederick Willow last month?”
“That was Badass Jimmy. He’s with the Dragons. There was another dispute over who owned the liquor store on the edge of their territory. They’re always fighting over that place. Frank sent The Whip…that’s Willow, to straighten it out. The Whip got shot. Right after that, Frank sent Big Paul out to kill Badass.”
“So Big Paul shot Badass Jimmy?”
“Didn’t I just tell you that?”
“Damn. How many homicides could I solve just by talking to you?”
“None, because I’m not talking anymore. Now give me that box.”
Crosby looked up at Rockford. Rockford nodded and Crosby passed the box over to him.
Brian didn’t wait, he opened the box and began pulling out the contents and looking at everything one at a time. The further into the box he got, the more upset he got. Finally, he looked at the last card. “It’s not here,” he said disappointedly. “But it had to be here!”
Rockford pulled Francesca Bianchi’s old driver’s license from his pocket. “Is this what you’re looking for?”
“Brian looked at it and read the name. “No,” he said as he shook his head. “It must have been in that junk pile. But it’s gone now.”
“What junk pile?”
“The Scorpions had a pile of old purses and stuff that they ripped off. Every time they got another one, they dumped it out in the pile. The credit cards and stuff went into that box though. The rest of the junk was in that pile.”
“Where’s the pile?”
“That’s just it, it’s gone. After Frank found out that box was missing, he had Raven clean it up and get rid of it all.” He sighed disappointedly. “My Mom wanted it back. I wanted to get it for her.” He pushed the box back toward Detective Crosby. “Sorry,” he said. “It was a wasted effort. It’s not here.” He got up out of the chair. “I’m not talking anymore,” he told them. “Thanks for letting me look through the box.” He half expected one of them to stop him as he walked out, but they didn’t. Disappointed, he walked home.
“Whatever he was looking for, wasn’t there,” Rockford noted.
“Nope,” Crosby replied.
“Did your people remove anything else that maybe didn’t get put back in the box?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Whatever it was,” Casper said, “it had to have been in that pile of lost junk then.”
“I wonder what they did with it when they cleaned it up,” Sargetti said.
“I guess we can try and find Raven and see if she’ll tell us,” Crosby told them. “But I wouldn’t count on it. “If I remember correctly, she’s Frank the Shank’s girlfriend. And like the rest of them, they don’t tell the police anything. Ever!”
“It’s not whatever the boy was looking for that worries me,” Rockford said. “It’s obviously not related at all. What concerns me is those three men in the suits. They asked specifically about Francesca. And worse, they already knew about not only the box, but her driver’s license.
“Men like that don’t go through the ghettos much.” Crosby noted. “Any idea who they were?”
“I’m not sure,” Rockford replied. “But I’m very worried about it. Come on,” he said. “We need to get to FBI headquarters here in New York. We’ll drop you at the police station on the way.”
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
Special Agent Rockford was in his own little world ignoring everyone around him. After the interview with the boy who had found the box, one thing was perfectly clear to him – there was a mole, an informant in the FBI. And it had to be one of the few people who knew about the license for Francesca Bianchi. He knew for a fact that there was a mole, because the mafia had gotten to the Scorpions before he could.
The mole was going to make things even more difficult for him, because now he not only needed to worry about what other information might be passed on, but he had to find some way of figuring out who was doing it. No mole hunt in the FBI was ever pretty, and he knew this one wouldn’t be either. Now he had to figure out where Francesca Bianchi was, and on top of that, how he could catch a mole.
Chapter 8
“Hi Pop.”
“Michael!” his father said with a smile.
“You wanted to see me?”
“Yes,” his father replied as his voice turned more serious.
“I got a call last night from our informant in the FBI. You were seen when you paid your little visit downtown to the Scorpions.”
“By who?”
&
nbsp; “Just a kid. Evidently, he was the kid who originally found the box that Francesca Bianchi’s license was in. The FBI talked to him, but he refused to give them his name. It sounds like they didn’t press the issue too much. The kid was only interested in getting his hands on that box again.”
“What did he say about us?”
“He told them you shot three of the gang members, but the only other information he could give them was that he liked your suits.”
Michael laughed. “If he saw us, then he had to be one of the kids in that gang.”
“Even if he was, it doesn’t sound like he could identify any of you, so you’ve got nothing to worry about. It’s just a shame we couldn’t find out more about Francesca.”
“Yeah Pop. Sorry. Listen, I’ve got an idea I want to run with about that.”
“What?”
“I’m sure that stupid gang doesn’t have a clue what they’re doing when they mug someone. But from what I understand, Francesca’s license had to be near the top of the box when they found it. I want to have another talk with some of the Scorpions, this time, on a more intimate level. I want to see if we can work backwards to figure out at least where that robbery took place. That might give us a better idea of where in the city she was.”
“Michael, there are a hundred and twenty million reasons for you to do whatever you want to figure that out.”
Michael smiled. “I’ll call one of our contacts with the police. See if she can give me a better line on where to find some…Scorpions.”
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
The knock on the door was polite, which told them it wasn’t the police calling. “Who the hell is that?” Raven asked as she sleepily rolled over in the bed.
“Who the hell cares?” Frank replied. “They can go away for a while.”
The knock came again, but a bit louder.
“Shit!” Raven said as she swung her legs out from under the covers. “I’ll get it.”
“Just send whoever it is away.”
Raven threw a long t-shirt over her naked body and padded her way to the door as another knock came. “Yeah, yeah,” she said to the empty air. She opened the door, but she didn’t get time to see much as a man rushed her, grabbed her, and threw her down to the floor. She screamed, but her scream didn’t do her any good.
Frank bolted out of bed, only to find another man standing over him with a gun pointed at his head. He recognized the man. Glancing around his cheap apartment, he recognized all three men. They were the same three men who had been at the Scorpion’s hangout. The same ones who had shot three of his best people. “What do you want?” Frank asked.
“Another talk,” Michael told him.
“Umph!” Raven grunted as the man holding her to the floor rolled her over and began tying her hands behind her back. “Stop!” Unfortunately for her, the man didn’t stop.
Michael motioned toward Frank with his gun, indicating that he wanted him to move away from the bed. With three men holding guns on him and Raven tied up now, he had little choice. “What did you want to talk about?”
Michael didn’t answer. Instead, he waved his gun again and had Frank move toward the kitchen table. “Tie him to a chair,” he told his men. “His girlfriend too.” Once the two of them were secure, he pulled a silencer from his pocket and slowly screwed it to the barrel of his gun.
“What do you want?” Frank asked again, the sight of the silencer adding far more concern than he had already been feeling.
Michael finished with the silencer and inspected his work as he answered. “We’re going to have a little talk about muggings,” he replied.
“What do you care?” Frank asked.
“I don’t. Except for one.”
“Let me guess, that woman you were asking about the other night.”
Michael looked over at one of his friends. “I knew he was smart.” He looked back at Frank. “I just want to have a little conversation about your latest accomplishments.” He pressed the muzzle of the silenced gun against Frank’s knee. “We’re going to work backwards and see what you can remember.”
“What do you want to know?” Frank asked, very worried about the gun pressed against the top of his knee.
“Oh…let’s start with your latest adventure. Who was the last person your people mugged?”
“I don’t know,” Frank told him. “Believe me. I don’t do that kind of stuff. I’ve got other people who do it for me.”
Michael nodded. “Very smart. I wondered if that might be the case. “Who did the last one then?”
“Uh…I don’t know. I’m not sure.”
“Legs!” Raven said quickly. “She did the last one.
“Legs?” Michael said with a smile as he raised his gun to look at the woman. “What an interesting name.”
“I remember her bragging about grabbing some woman’s purse and about the fact that she was a block away before the woman even knew it was gone.” Raven told him.
“Legs,” Michael repeated again. “Does she steal a lot of purses?”
“She’s one of our best,” Raven replied.
“Do you know where she stole that one?”
“No. She didn’t say.”
“But after she stole the purse, you took the credit cards from it and put them in the box.”
“No, not that one.”
Michael was finding Frank’s girlfriend to be a fountain of information. “Not that one?”
“No. That’s when we found out that the box was gone. We didn’t know before that.”
“Michael smiled. “Then we can forget about that one. See how easy this is. Nobody has to get hurt. We just need to talk about it sensibly.”
“Don’t tell him anymore!” Frank said quickly. “He’s just…” The sudden spitting sound from Michael’s gun brought so much intense pain to his knee it made him scream. It made Raven scream too. Just that fast, Frank had tears falling from his eyes…Raven as well.
Michael moved over and pressed the muzzle of his gun against Raven’s knee. “We were having such a nice conversation,” he told her. “See what happens when you stop?”
“Don’t! Please!” Raven cried.
“I won’t if I don’t have to,” Michael told her. “Now think back. Who stole someone’s purse before that last one? Was it Legs again?”
“Probably. Her and Little Paul most likely. They usually work together.”
“Little Paul?”
“You killed him two nights ago.”
“Oh. That’s unfortunate,” Michael replied. “I hope we didn’t kill Legs as well.”
“No. You didn’t.”
“Very good. It sounds to me like you’re not the one I need to be talking to. I need to be talking to this…Legs person instead.”
Raven laughed. “You’ll never catch her. We don’t call her Legs for nothing.”
“What do you mean?”
“Legs can run. She’s got to be the fastest girl in the city.”
“Hm! I’m even more interested in meeting her. Just one last question…for now. How do you get in touch with her?”
“Get in touch with her?”
“Yes. Do you call her, or go and visit?”
“Legs has a phone. I can call.”
“Don’t do it!” Frank told her, his pain evident in his voice.
Michael quickly pistol-whipped Frank across the face. “Gag him!” he ordered his men. He turned back to Raven. “Where’s your phone?”
Raven was even more frightened now. After seeing what they were doing to Frank, she was even more worried about what they might do to her.
“Where’s your phone?” Michael demanded.
“In my jeans pocket.” She nodded in the direction of the bed. “Over there.”
At a nod from Michael, one of his men searched for the phone and brought it back. Michael watched as his friend went through the phone contacts and then grunted a laugh. “There’s a contact number right here for Legs.”
“Call
it,” Michael told him. Then he turned his attention to Raven again. He pressed the muzzle of his gun against her knee like he did before. “You’re going to get her here right now. You’re not going to give her any indication at all that you and your boyfriend aren’t alone. Just get her here, or we start putting holes in both you and your boyfriend. And as you know, he’s already got a head start in the hole department. Or would you like to catch up first?”
Raven just looked at him. The man with her phone held it out in front of her face. She could hear it ringing. She heard her girlfriend answer. “Legs, it’s me,” she said.
“What’s up?” Legs asked.
“Can you come up to Frank’s place? Right away?”
“Frank’s place? Sure, why not? Are we meeting there instead of our building now?”
“Something like that,” Raven told her. “We just need to see you right away.”
“Be there in a minute,” Legs told them.
“That was good,” Michael told her once the call ended. “Very good.”
“Don’t kill her, please!” Raven pleaded.
Michael shook his head. “I don’t intend on killing any of you, but I will if I have to. All I need is information. Nothing more.”
Three minutes later, there was a knock at the door.
“That was fast,” Michael noted as he nodded toward one of his men.
“I told you she was fast,” Raven replied.
The door was opened to reveal a tall thin girl standing there. Before she could fully grasp what was happening, the man who had opened the door reached out, grabbed her arm, and pulled her roughly into the apartment. She let out a small scream as the door was closed behind her.
“A chair for our guest,” Michael ordered.
“What’s going on?” Legs asked, clearly frightened.
“We’re having a very interesting discussion about stealing women’s purses,” Michael told her as the new girl was forced down into a chair by one of his men while the other began tying her to it.
“This lovely lady here,” Michael said, indicating Raven, “told us that you’re so fast, you can steal a purse and be long gone before anyone knows it. Is that true?”