Hiding Tom Hawk

by Robert Neil Baker

  Tom wondered how many Christmas cards this woman got each year. He found his voice and said, “I turned in here by mistake. I really have to go right away. Please, maybe you can back up and let me out?”

  “Let you out? Why did you come in, that’s what I want to know. If I hadn’t forgotten my credit card and come back I suppose you’d be rummaging through my house. Did that firebug nephew Gary send you?”

  He gave up. The Suburban and the Firebird were long gone. Maybe it hadn’t been the same Suburban. Maybe it hadn’t been Wyatt’s Firebird. Lots of people graduated from Michigan State. He realized he had little certainty whether or not the screwed-up kid had died in a fire. But somebody had died. Who?

  Mildred was glaring at him. “Will you, for pity’s sake, stop daydreaming and answer my questions? And what the hell have you done to your hair? Good Lord, you’re one of those fancy boys. I knew they would start coming here if Tech started offering those liberal arts majors. But I would never have guessed you were one.”

  Amazing. Gary was right, Aunt Mildred did like him, cared enough to fret about his sexual orientation. “I brought an offer on your property, the whole property.”

  It calmed her. “That’s better, especially if it’s true. So since you’re bringing the offer I assume that little weasel, Gary, is afraid to come out here himself. He should be.”

  “Can we go to the house?”

  “I’m not making coffee for you.”

  Minutes later, after motioning him into her least comfortable-looking armchair, she said, “Well, give it to me.”

  He did, giving her the low-end numbers first as Gary had instructed him.

  When he finished she snorted. “Gary has to be kidding, offering me a piece of a crackpot if-come gambling deal. And it saddens me that you’re dumb enough to bring that offer out here.” She was probably formulating her next insult when the telephone on the table next to her recliner rang. She picked it up with a sharp “Yes?”

  Tom welcomed the interruption. He wasn’t going to be able to cut any deal for Gary today. He didn’t dare go back to California with Wyatt, Harv, and Marv running around New Range. What was he going to do? Where had the Suburban and the Firebird gone?

  “Are you daydreaming again, Robert? I said it’s for you.”

  “Pardon me?”

  “It’s Beth, my grandniece, your landlady.” She motioned for him to come and take the telephone that was on a long cord, but not long enough for privacy.

  “Hello,” he answered guardedly.

  “Tom, Gary told me where you are. We need you back here right away.”

  “Oh, God, is Wyatt there?”

  “What? No, of course not, what’s wrong with you? I can’t talk about it on the telephone. Just come back now, Tom, now.”

  “Okay, sure, I’m on my way.” He hung up and told Mildred, “I’m sorry. But I have to go.”

  “You mean you’ve given me Gary’s full, final offer?” She looked astonished. “Tell that blockhead to go to hell.”

  “I’ll try to reach him, talk to him some more. It’s, ah, too late for that today.”

  “Too late, you got that part right. The man is a jerk. And you, if you want to dye your hair and grow some fairy beard, you stay away from my grandniece.”

  It was too late for that as well.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Harold sat uncomfortably inside Wyatt Stone’s camping tent, waiting. Finally he heard footsteps. Wyatt pulled back his tent flap and froze in surprise. Harold waved him in. “Come in, keep your voice down and close that flap.”

  “Is it you, sir? I mean, are you Mr. Harold?”

  “You got it. Sit down.”

  He did. “Sir, is Harold your first name or your last name?”

  “You don’t need to know that, Wyatt. Did you find a cassette tape?”

  “No, nothing.”

  “What’s the latest on Hawk?”

  “The whole town still believes he died in the fire. But it had to be that white-haired thug. I bet Hawk is snug in Beth’s B&B while I’m in this rented camping tent.”

  “Who is Beth?”

  “The beautiful landlady I told you about, Mr. Harold. They all go after the bad boys like Hawk. I could make her…well, never mind. Here I sit in a little tent.”

  “Yeah, I see. This tent won’t pass as a base of operations. Can’t you get something better?”

  “I can get an apartment in three days. A student, he’s some Mideast gulf state prince or sultan or whatever, is going home to take over his father’s job as their Supreme Court justice. The apartment is decorated pretty odd but it’s the best I’ve been able to do. For now, we’ll have to sleep here.”

  Harold looked at the tent and shook his head. “The boarding house you had to leave, the one where Hawk was, I’ll stay there and learn what I can. Wyatt, we must get our hands on Hawk before Tony Sartorelli kills him. He’s hot for this Beth woman, right?”

  “Yeah, the conceited son of a bitch thinks she’s interested.”

  “Then we have to take her, and let him know we’ve got her. That’ll bring him to us.”

  “Take her? Where?”

  “At the airport I saw an ad for a houseboat for sale or rent. I need you to go and get it for us. We’ll keep her there.” He handed the tear-off ad from the airport bulletin board to Wyatt.

  The boy squinted at the ad. Perhaps he was not wearing his glasses so as to look tough for his first meeting with his employer. “Can you do this, Wyatt?”

  “I don’t know. Isn’t this illegal? Wouldn’t we be kidnapping her?”

  “No. We’d be rescuing her so she doesn’t get hurt by Tony’s people. It’s the same for Hawk.”

  “I don’t think we can control her. Beth is resourceful and tough. I think she’s German.”

  “Yes, and I know from your uncle Lester that your family is part Swedish. I am too. We’re tougher than Germans.”

  “You’re part Swedish?”

  The kid didn’t believe him, but it was gospel truth. “Yes. My mother and aunt came from Sweden to Hollywood in the twenties to get discovered. My father is half Swede too.” Harold saw no need to explain that his aunt had not married a full-blooded Swede, but rather Tony Sartorelli’s father, who was half or quarter Italian. They had named their eldest child Olaf, but in a tough town like L.A. nobody was afraid of an Olaf. So his cousin had changed his name to Tony when he heard the siren call of organized crime.

  “I may not be as tough as Beth.” Wyatt’s tone indicated to Harold that his resistance was weakening.

  “Germans are just Swedes with a pushy attitude. Trust me; this thing will work great if we play it right. You’ll have time alone with her on the boat to get a good relationship started.”

  “Oh, alone with Beth, I see. I wonder if the blond man I locked in the meat cooler was Swedish.”

  “You got to get over that. Only you can save Beth Kessler. Of course, our job is still to keep Hawk alive, but now, I see that even more important is the safety of this beautiful and innocent woman. She’ll see that you saved her. She’ll be so grateful to you.”

  “You think so?” Wyatt stroked his chin.

  “Absolutely. Now go rent me a houseboat.”

  “How will we stay in touch?”

  “Call this California number. There will be an answering machine.”

  “Call long distance to California when you’re right here? Isn’t that expensive?”

  “I can afford it. Just think of you and Beth and all alone on that secluded boat. Wyatt, you must do everything possible to get the cassette for me. Lives depend on it, do you understand?”

  “Lives.” His eyes widened. “Oh dear. Yes, I understand.”

  “Do not listen to any tape you obtain. Just bring it to me. Now go.”

  The boy nodded and left. Harold waited three minutes and headed for his rented car. Boats had big advantages. They were easy to defend. It was easy to keep people out of sight and politely inquire about a cassette tape
. And the Sartorelli brothers were terrified of water.

  ****

  As Tom parked the Nash, Gary rushed to it. He was limping badly, and his pant leg was torn.

  Tom said, “Beth called me home. What happened to you?”

  Gary pushed up a fat lip and adjusted the position of an upper tooth. “The elders stopped by for a progress report on the casino, but that isn’t why we called you. How did you do? Have we got a deal?”

  “No, Gary, Mildred’s a bit miffed. Right now, if she were offered the hundred grand, a week of passion with the Chief in Las Vegas and your nuts in a pickle jar, I think she’d turn it down.”

  “Oh. So we’ll have to give her a few more hours, then.”

  “Yeah, it’ll take something like that.”

  Beth ran up to join them. Whatever else was wrong, she was uninjured. She gasped, “Tom, I found a dead body, behind the house.”

  Was the drinking causing memory lapses? “Yes, Saturday night, Angelo. I was here, remember?”

  “No, Tom, there’s another one. Someone tried to get in the basement door but Robert did something wrong with his alarm. We think this man was electrocuted when he tried to pick the lock.”

  “My God. It’s not Wyatt, is it? Because I’ve just seen what looked like his car.”

  “No.” Beth shook her head.

  Relief flooded Gary’s face. “Wow, you saw Wyatt? Then I didn’t kill him in the fire after all!”

  Tom said, “I saw the car, not necessarily Wyatt. Who is dead here?”

  “We’re pretty sure it’s one of Tony Sartorelli’s brothers.”

  “Oh. Worse things could happen. Let’s go have a look.”

  As they began to walk to the back of the house Gary stopped in front of the others. “Tom, did you see Wyatt’s car before or after you showed Mildred my offer?”

  “It was before. Why?”

  “Well, there you go then. You were probably not at your negotiating best after finding one of your assassins is still alive and all. Aunt Mildred may not have even understood everything. I say we go back out to her place, sweeten the original offer a little.”

  “Gary, forget mining rights. We have a dead body behind my house!” Beth shrieked.

  Her eyes looked wild, unfocused. Tom wanted to smell for scotch, but didn’t dare. He took her arm. “Right, let’s go look,” he said, just as Dani pulled into the parking lot.

  She made her usual slinky feline exit, and then spoiled the effect by jerking to a halt. She crinkled her nose and exclaimed, “Wow. You three look like you crawled out of a car crash through the trunk. What’s happening?”

  “Mildred is giving me a hard time about the mineral rights,” complained Gary.

  “Someone’s dead on the cellar steps, electrocuted by Robert’s alarm,” Beth added.

  “Wyatt may be alive,” cautioned Tom. “I saw his car. Maybe it wasn’t him that got caught in the fire.”

  “Then I didn’t kill Wyatt?” Dani grinned from ear to ear, face flooded with relief.

  “Neither did I,” enthused Gary.

  “So who got electrocuted? Who’s dead here this time?”

  “We think it’s one of Tony’s brothers. Come on,” Beth ordered. The four of them trooped to the back of the house. Beth and Gary showed Tom and Dani a crumpled body face down at the bottom of the exterior stairwell: a stocky, swarthy man in a summer suit, lightweight, and Italianate.

  “Ohmigod,” wailed Dani. She stepped gingerly down the steps.

  Beth warned, “I think I’ve got the power turned off at the breakers, but don’t touch the door.”

  Dani seemed not to hear her. “Ah, crap,” she muttered.

  Gary moved a little closer. “It’s Harvey or Marvin Sartorelli, right?”

  Dani nodded dumbly.

  “Which one?” Beth asked.

  Dani undid the fly of the dead man’s pants, pulled the back of the pants and boxer shorts away from the body, and peered at the buttocks. “No tattoo, so this is Harvey. He was the nice one, you know.”

  Nice one? Tom imagined it was all relative.

  Gary had a revelation. “Hey, wait a minute. If Wyatt is alive, if someone really did free him from my locker, then whose body did the fire department take out of my store? It had to be this guy’s brother, didn’t it? Sure. Marv went in the store and unlocked Wyatt. When the fire started, Wyatt made it out but Marv didn’t, see? Guys, we may have a two-fer.” He clapped his hands.

  “I knew these men. Show a little respect.” Dani frowned.

  “I forgot that. Sorry.”

  Tom sighed. “We’d better get Robert to disable his alarm before it fries one of us. Where is he?”

  “We don’t know. He and Renada have disappeared. We can’t tell him he killed someone. He’s already close to losing it,” Gary said.

  It was Tom’s turn to frown. “You told the cops I got burned up at the store. The skeleton of a twin to this guy wouldn’t look much like mine.”

  Gary reassured him. “Marv is just a pile of blackened male bones now. It’s not like he was some elderly female dwarf or something. It’ll be close enough.”

  Tom was not convinced. Beth was on still another wavelength. “I suppose we have to report this.”

  Dani was appalled. “No way, Beth, honey, if we report a stiff in your back yard, so soon after Angelo turned up dead near here and your cousin had a celebrated fire, your B&B starts to smell rank. Robert could be up for manslaughter. Tom’s cover could be blown. If Horst can read a newspaper, it will bring him back on us.

  “But we’re all in pretty good shape, because Tony is out of people to send here. Marv was the most dangerous of them, and now all three are dead. We’re in the clear.”

  Tom considered telling them about the green Suburban and rejected the idea. It wasn’t like Wyatt’s Firebird. It didn’t have to be the Sartorelli vehicle. He thought Dani had made an overly optimistic summary of their situation but it was calming them down.

  Beth was unsold. “There’s still Wyatt.”

  Dani dismissed this. “He has to be a local twerp the twins recruited. He’s certainly not one of Tony’s guys. Wyatt will bug out when he can’t find Harv. And if not, there’re four of us, six with Robert and Renada, to handle him, right?”

  “Yes,” said Beth. “I guess it’s not so bad. But what do we do with Harv?”

  “I suppose we could put him in the river like Angelo,” Dani mused.

  Tom held up a hand. “No, we can’t have anybody finding this one.”

  “Well I’m not burying him in my garden,” warned Beth.

  Gary spoke. “He can’t be anywhere on this property, little cousin. We’ll take him to my mine property out by Mildred’s place once it’s dark. There’s plenty of room for eternal rest out there.”

  Tom remembered stumbling upon the site. “Can we get a car in there other than going up Mildred’s driveway and down the path?”

  “You’ve been to the mine?” asked Gary, surprised.

  “Yeah, while looking for Robert after the Chief spooked him.”

  “Oh, that. Well, you’re right, Tomahawk. The mine driveway is too overgrown for a car and it will be a bear to carry a guy this size in. Plus, there’s actually quite a bit of traffic on that road and our car will be seen if we park it on the shoulder. We’ll have to go up Mildred’s driveway, have someone distract her, and carry him in on the path. But even then, we can only do it after dark.”

  “What do we do with him until then? Don’t these things sort of stiffen up?” questioned Beth, indicating Harvey’s corpse.

  Gary nodded agreement. “Good point, we’ll get him in the station wagon right now. Beth, you get a tarp or some drop cloths in case he leaks or something. The three of us can get him to the garage.”

  They got Harvey as far as the rose garden when the mail lady came up the drive in her truck. They dropped him rudely and crouched behind a hedge. The postal carrier had Beth sign for a package, briefed her on the county gossip, and departed.
Soon thereafter, Harv was resting peacefully in the station wagon. His rattled funeral party retired to the dining room for a supper of frozen pot pies and beer.

  “We can’t tell Robert about this electrocution, it will flip him out,” advised Gary.

  “We can’t tell anybody,” Tom warned the others.

  Dani said, “This aunt that we have to distract and slip the body past, what’s she like?”

  “You met her in the alley by Gary’s store,” Tom told her.

  “The feisty one with the ball bat? She won’t be easy to fool.”

  “She does have a singleness of purpose, the evil-minded old hen,” agreed Gary.

  Beth scowled at her cousin. “Gary, that’s enough. She’s your grandmother’s sister.”

  Dani’s expression scrunched into a puzzled frown. “How are we to get Harv past her? What’s the distraction?”

  “Bears,” said Beth.

  “Where do we get a bear?”

  “We don’t need one. For a long time she’s had trouble with one rummaging in her garbage. All we have to do is have someone make bear noise and bang the garbage cans around in their chain-link cage. She’ll go to the back of the house when she hears the noise.”

  Gary sat back in his seat. “We need to move Harvey past the house quickly. Beth is the smallest of us four. So she turns over garbage cans while the other three of us handle the body.”

  Tom didn’t like it. His own recent experience with a bear had not been a happy one. “Mildred has a shotgun. She could shoot Beth.”

  His concern for her safety just seemed to make her angry again. “Give me some credit. By the time she’s out the back door I’ll be out if sight. It’s a good plan.”

  Gary nodded agreement. Tom felt he might well have offered to be the target bear instead of his cousin, but this was Gary, after all. Gary taught Beth what he claimed was a bear growl. It didn’t sound like the bear that chased Tom, and he saw that her eyebrows were up during this tutorial.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Beth had started the day thinking things couldn’t get worse. She wouldn’t make that mistake again. At dusk they joined Harvey’s corpse in the old station wagon. She was scrunched in the middle of the front seat with Gary at the wheel and Dani in the right-hand spot. To keep Tom out of sight, he was recumbent in the back with an odoriferous Harvey. They were partway down the drive when Gary swore.