by Sposs, Mike
"I am proud of you too, Pat. That took a lot of courage. You did it with so much grace and dignity. Do you realize what you may have just done for that man?" Kevin asked.
"I better call my mom. I don't want her to be shocked to death if she gets a call from him," said Pat. Then she proceeded to call her mother and have another long conversation. Kevin backed away from that one and let them talk. He went in the bedroom and watched TV.
Later that night, as Pat packed for her trip to Houston, they talked. Pat speculated that her mother and dad still loved each other. "You could just tell by the way they almost instantly asked about the other. It's hard to think about your parents that way. I think it's sweet how they did that," she said.
Pat confessed to being nervous about the trip. She was not an experienced traveler, so Kevin helped her out as best he could. He told her a little about how Houston was laid out. He told her not to be too awed, to just settle down and play the audition pieces the way she knew how. It was all pretty trite advice, but Pat received it well.
The next morning, Kevin gave Pat a ride to the airport. She mailed the pictures to her dad with a little note in them, right from the airport. Pat was ready. She had been preparing for this for a long time. They held hands and sipped coffee before she made the journey down the concourse. She wondered aloud what her dad would think when he discovered her boyfriend was a white dude. Finally, they said their goodbyes and she was off. Kevin watched her walk down the concourse. She looked as terrific from the back as she did from the front, Kevin thought as he watched her. Later on, he stopped to call Pat's mom and let her know her daughter was on her way. Hannah was kind of touched that Kevin was thoughtful enough to call her. They chatted a little about the other news. Hannah choked up a little when Kevin told her how magical it was watching Pat talk to her father. He told Hannah he had a 10 speed bicycle he wanted to drop off later that day. He was giving it to Pat since he didn't want to move it and wanted to get a newer, lighter one eventually, anyway. Hannah said she was going to work but would leave the service door to the garage unlocked; he could put it in there.
Kevin went back to his apartment. On the way, he stopped at a U Haul place and bought some tape and packing supplies. When he got there, he stopped at the rental office and advised them he was not going to renew his lease, which was ending a little over a month. He went up to the apartment and started to set up some boxes and pack. Kevin figured that if he worked at it a little at a time, his move out would be easy.
He had a class to go to that day and a midterm to take in finance the next day. Then, on Tuesday night, he would pick Pat up at the airport. As he worked, the phone rang. It was Tom Perkins. Perkins wanted Kevin to come down to answer a few more questions. Kevin explained about his class and they set the time for that afternoon. Kevin loaded the bike in the pickup, made his class, and then headed downtown to meet Perkins.
Perkins had some more questions about how things were laid out back then. He had a large map laid out and had positioned the funeral home, the grocery store, and everything surrounding it. He was checking sight lines and was asking about the positioning of the dumpsters. Kevin's memory was uncanny. He easily lined everything up and made a few corrections in the placement of things. Perkins also warned Kevin that the McCanns each had a separate attorney and that one or both of them had hired a private investigator to aid them in gathering information and preparing a defense for the charges.
Questions were being asked of some of the police officers involved in the investigation. They had referred the questions to Perkins. He wasn't going to give them anything if he could help it. "I don't know if they are legitimate investigators or thugs posing as investigators. I don't like the questions being asked or the way they are being asked. So, be on your toes if you get approached. Don't give them anything," he said.
Kevin asked Perkins about the thug part of it. Perkins just shrugged and said, "They have a version of good cop and bad cop they play. You have a legitimate investigator, and a side kick who is a punk. The punk will not be above intimidating you. He can do that covertly or overtly. Sometimes, they just ask questions like is that your sister, or is that your girlfriend in a way that scares you. The straight guy will be there to intervene after you have been scared and gather vital information from you. Sometimes, the bad investigator may threaten you, or your friends."
"Should I fight back if they start to threaten me?" Kevin asked feigning fear at the thought.
"I ain't advising you to do that. Just refer them to me. Do what you need to do to stay safe is the way I am going to leave it with you. You may even pick up a tail when you leave here," Perkins said.
Kevin wondered if he was being set up by Perkins. Maybe, he was using Kevin as bait to get more charges on the McCanns. He left Perkin's office and a guy came out of the restroom down the hall to wait with Kevin for the elevator. Kevin didn't think too much about it. When Kevin got to the main floor, his silent companion went off in a different direction. Someone else fell in step behind him, though. Kevin wondered if he had been handed off to the other party. He continued on to his car which was parked on the street.
Kevin got in the car and headed up to the old neighborhood. It wasn't long before he spotted a car behind him driving rather irresponsibly trying to catch up with him. The driver of the car ran the red light and sped up to keep Kevin in sight and make certain to make the same lights Kevin would make. Kevin just continued on his way seemingly oblivious to what was going on around him.
34. Andre McCann
When he got to the old neighborhood, he parked the old pickup at the far end of the lot, next to the only surviving business left from the old days. That was the liquor store. They always seemed to survive. He grabbed an old trucker's tire thumper from under the seat of the truck and a huge screwdriver. The thumper was like a mini baseball bat with a leaded tip on the thumping end and a lanyard on the handle end. He stuck that up past the knit cuff of his hooded sweatshirt with the lanyard sticking out the cuff. The screwdriver went into his back jeans pocket. He also put on a black stocking hat that could be pulled down over his face to make a cold weather mask.
His tail had pulled in on the diagonal end of the lot and was parked just watching and waiting. Kevin hopped out of the pickup, locked it and went around to the back of the truck. He jerked the bicycle out of the back of the truck, got on it and started to ride off through the alley. Now, Kevin definitely had the advantage. He was in his old stomping grounds.
He was off down the alley that formed the back border of the lot. He made a sharp left turn into the bisecting alley about half a block down, betting that the following car hadn't turned around and followed yet. Two buildings down, there was a narrow space between buildings that Kevin knew from his paperboy days. You could just make it between the two buildings, with the bike. It was a short cut Kevin had used more than a 1000 times over the years. It seemed to be a tighter fit than it had been in those days but he was through it in a matter of seconds. He came back out by the old, now abandoned appliance store. He left the bike lying on the sidewalk by the curb.
Kevin doubled back on foot to the front of the liquor store. He walked into the liquor store and loitered there for about five minutes. He slowly worked his way through the aisles past the coolers in the back. Then, he slipped into the back room of the store and out the back door to the back parking area. Kevin took cover to watch his truck from behind a parked delivery van in the back. It appeared that his tail was off looking for him. Kevin waited and debated. He had just about decided to go to his truck and head off when the tail car suddenly showed up in the lot again.
The driver pulled up next to the pickup. His front end was about even with Kevin's driver side door. He hopped out of the car leaving it idling. He had a slim jim in his hand and went to work opening up Kevin's door. Kevin figured it was time to make his move. He pulled the hat into its mask configuration and ran rapidly up to the man working the slim jim. Kevin whipped a roundhouse swing w
ith the thumper onto the man’s locked knee. Kevin knew to never let up after one blow. He was on his man with the thumper until he went down. Kevin thumped him some more as he covered his head to protect himself from the reign of blows coming down on him. Kevin suddenly dropped onto the man and put the thumper crosswise across his neck and started to choke the man. He ordered the man not to move.
The man froze with a look of horror. Kevin looked him in the eye, his eyes black with rage. He held the position for about two seconds. Then he slowly got off the man, cocked back his arm with the thumper in it and demanded the man's wallet. Kevin took the wallet without even looking at it and tossed it in on the seat of his truck through the now opened driver's side door. He took the screwdriver out and punched holes in the idling car's radiator. Then he got in the truck and drove off rapidly.
Kevin drove to a quiet residential area, pulled over for a second and went through the wallet. The wallet belonged to Andre McCann, age 21. Kevin figured him to be one of Sam or Donny's kids. They sent a boy to do a man's job, Kevin smiled to himself as he looked through the rest of the wallet. Kevin tossed the wallet back on the seat of his pickup.
He drove back downtown to the county hospital, parked and sauntered down to the entrance to the emergency ward. This time, he left the thumper and screwdriver in the truck and packed his unloaded .357. When an ambulance came in, Kevin skipped across the street and followed the gurney in from a short distance. The emergency area was such a chaotic place that nobody paid much attention to Kevin. He took a seat in a waiting area and noted which set of curtains Andre was positioned behind.
After about five minutes, the ER doctor and a nurse went in to look at him. They came out shortly after that. Kevin heard them talking about getting him some X-rays. Figuring that he had a little time, Kevin waited until nobody seemed to be paying attention and slipped back behind the curtained exam space where Andre was. He pulled down his mask. Then he loomed over Andre and stuck the gun in his mouth. He cocked it onto an empty chamber. "I came to return the wallet you lost,” he said with an evil grin. Andre's face was puffy and he had bruises all over. A wild eyed look of terror came over the young man.
"If I ever see you again, you are in deep shit. I know where you live, I know who you are, and I know where you work. Don't go to the cops. Stay out of your dad or uncle's business, or I will find you. Then Kevin pulled the trigger on the gun. It made a big click. Kevin swore then backed away from the gurney. He stuffed the gun in his waistband and pulled his mask up into the stocking hat position. With that parting admonition, Kevin was gone. Andre never noticed the gun wasn't loaded.
Kevin went back up to the liquor store. He cruised in with an alley approach. The car was still sitting there. In the interest of total intimidation, he stopped and quickly broke all the windows of the car. Then, he drove to the address on Andre's wallet and quickly doused the garage in the back with gasoline and set it afire.
Kevin thought of it as giving Sam or Donny a little taste of street justice. He slowly idled down the alley away from the garage which would soon be flaming wildly. When he got further away, he donated the empty gas can to a Salvation Army drop box. Then, he drove to Pat's house and put the bike in her garage and drove home.
Kevin hadn't been back in his the apartment long before the phone rang. It was Perkins. Kevin just played stupid. He didn't know anything about anything. He had been sitting in the apartment studying since he got home from seeing Perkins, he said. Perkins asked him if he knew Andre McCann. Kevin said he never heard of him. Then, Perkins told him he had been assaulted in a liquor store parking lot in the old neighborhood and brought in by ambulance to the county hospital. He had been treated for a broken collarbone, broke in two places. He had soiled himself at some point and wasn't cooperating with the police.
His car had been towed to the impound lot and was totaled out. Someone had punched holes in the radiator while it was running and the engine had overheated and seized up. Then Perkins told Kevin that someone had set fire to Donny McCann's garage.
Kevin told Perkins he didn't know anything about any of it. He pointed out that these guys had plenty of enemies and now that it looked like they were going away for a long time, their enemies were probably coming out of the woodwork. By the time Kevin got done talking to Perkins, he had him pointed in several different directions. Perkins as much as admitted that he did not have a witness and had no description of anyone they could finger for the crimes committed. After Kevin hung up, he reflected on what he had done.
35. Donny Dies
Once Kevin got into his role, he couldn't easily shake it. He wondered if he had done enough and decided he hadn't. He made some more plans. That evening, Kevin did a little shopping. Later, he parked a few blocks away and walked to McCann's strip joint Somewhere Else. He had his .357 with him and a backpack full of some tools and goodies. The building was a big old stand-alone surrounded by parking in all directions. He hid behind a dumpster next to the building and watched the girls leave. The closer was with them carrying the money bags from the night's earnings. He made sure the girls got to their cars okay and then drove off himself. Right after it closed, Kevin opened the back entrance door to the place with a screwdriver and pry bar. He marveled that it wasn't alarmed even though they followed the time honored tradition of emptying the till every night.
Once inside, he moved to the basement and disconnected the gas line to the furnace. The gas started to pour out and fill the basement. Then, Kevin went to the main floor and lit a couple of small propane plumber's torches he had brought with him in the backpack. He headed out after that and closed the door behind him. The next morning, Kevin awoke and turned on the news to see that the place had suffered a gas explosion and fire had gutted the building. They knew it was caused by a gas leak. Nobody was saying anything about arson, yet.
The story detailed who the owners were and that they were currently being held in the county jail. The story ran with the opening line of "More bad news for two local businessmen currently being held in the county jail." Kevin liked the idea of them waking up to hear that their business was a total loss. In the course of two days, so much had happened to these two that they must have been going crazy trying to figure out who was after them. The trouble was that they had crossed so many people over the years. The list of people seeking retribution was simply too big to easily sift through. Then there were the people they had crossed that they didn't even know they had crossed, Kevin included.
Kevin spent most of the day brutally going through his belongings and throwing things out. He loaded the pickup several times with furniture and stuff that he carted to the local thrift shop that took donations. By the end of the day, he had emptied out the apartment except for the few things he would take with him to store someplace down in Hilton Head.
Finally, Pat called at about 3pm. "Hi Kevin, this went great down here. I played the best I ever did. I can't believe it!" she said excitedly. They had not finished all the auditions yet, but she knew she had definitely impressed the reviewers. They talked some more. Pat was on an adrenaline high. Kevin couldn't help but catch the fever from her.
"Maybe that little call on Sunday helped kick loose the element you needed to play to your full potential," he said. Pat agreed that something had happened to loosen her spirit. She said her virtuosity just seemed to amp up out of nowhere when she needed it for the pieces she was playing.
Kevin listened to her talk about the audition process and some of the questions she had been asked. Kevin didn't know it, but Pat's violin teacher was very highly regarded. They were impressed by her recommendation and by the fact she had trained Pat for the last several years. Things were really looking good for her. He decided not to say anything about what had transpired at home the last several days. Pat gave Kevin her flight information and Kevin said he would pick her up at the prescribed time.
Kevin finished his work and cleaned up. He was looking forward to being with Pat. He drove to the airport an
d cruised through the baggage claim lane looking for Pat. After cruising through several times, he saw her come out with her bag. Kevin was on it in two seconds time. He pulled to the curb beside her, hopped out, grabbed her bag and put it in the bed of the truck. He opened the door for her and ran around to the other side to climb back in the truck. After that was accomplished, he slid over to Pat and gave her a long kiss. "Welcome back. I cried every night for you, baby," he said with a grin. Pat loved it. "I missed you too darling," she said.
As Kevin pulled out, he turned on the radio. The 6pm news was just coming on. Kevin was shocked by what was being reported as the lead local story. Donny McCann had been shot to death while trying to escape from the jail. They were moving him to a more secure holding area the county had and he had tried to overpower the deputies transporting him and grab one of their guns. Kevin and Pat looked at each other in shock. They were both thinking Willie was the jailer.
"Maybe, we better go to Sheila right now. She must be worried sick," Pat said. Kevin came up the ramp to the freeway and started to fly in the direction of Willie's house. As they drove, Kevin updated her a little on what else had happened. He told her he thought he had been followed from Perkin's office. Then, he told her how he assaulted Andre McCann using his tire thumper. He told her that Perkins called him shortly after that to ask if he knew Andre.
"What did you tell him?” Pat asked.
"I told him I never heard of the guy before," Kevin said. "Then Perkins told me his collarbone was broken in two places and he had soiled himself."
Pat looked concerned. "Did you really have to hurt him that much?" she asked.
"Probably not. It ain't like I beat someone with a tire thumper every day and know just the right amount of force to use. I wanted to intimidate the shit out of him. I guess I literally did that. I wanted to make the point that I just might be crazier than him and he better leave me the fuck alone," Kevin said emphatically. Then, he went on to say that Donnie's garage had been burned down and that Somewhere Else had burned to the ground.