Mick nodded and began tapping his nails on the desk in thought. Then he said, “If she makes that a proviso, I’ll tell her I’ll bring half of it. She’ll get the rest when she answers a few questions, and I won’t ask them on the phone. I’ll tell her we have to meet face to face.”
“What kinda questions?” Shorty asked.
“For starters, who left me in the alley to die?”
Richard grinned. “She’ll rat them out in a heartbeat.”
“That’s what I’m hoping, and I’ll record it on my…Fuck, I don’t have a phone and the guy who broke into the house has yours, Richard.”
“You can pick one up almost anywhere, including the local convenience store. But…” He paused before nodding. “We get three of them.”
“Why three?” Mick asked.
“One that we hide somewhere on you, one that you put in your pocket, and one for me so I can record, too. Right before you meet her, you call me on the hidden one. We leave the line open and hope to hell, if she searches you, she only takes the obvious one.”
“This is beginning to sound like a bad spy movie,” Shorty said with a grin.
“Feels like it, too,” Mick admitted seconds before the office phone rang. “We may have lift-off,” he said. Putting a finger to his lips, he pushed the ‘speaker’ button before answering. “Mick here.”
“Michael, dearest,” a woman’s voice cooed. “I understand you want us to meet.”
“I think you’re the one who wants a meeting, Celeste, dearest.”
“I do. You have something of mine that I’d like back. It’s almost seven-thirty. I’m sure you’ll need time to get it from wherever you hid it, so shall we meet in an hour?”
Mick glanced at Richard, who was shaking his head as he reached for a pencil and paper on the desk. ‘Ten. You can’t get out of here until nine,’ he wrote.
“No can do,” Mick told her. “I’m stuck here until at least nine.”
“Why? Oh, never mind. We’ll make it ten, but no later.”
“Where?”
“The boat house at Wash Park.”
“Which is where?”
She sighed. “I forgot. You don’t remember anything. Ask Richard, he knows. Come alone, Mick.”
“As long as you do, too,” Mick replied. “I don’t want to end up in another alley, with a hole in my head this time.”
She chuckled. “Now would I do that to you?”
“I think you know the answer to that. By the way, to insure you don’t, I’ll only bring part of the money. If you answer some questions I have, you’ll get the rest.”
Celeste hissed in a breath. “Games, Mick?”
“As I said…insurance. I’ll see you at ten.” With that, he hung up. “Now we hope this works.”
He was about to ask about Wash Park when Richard said, “Are we biting off more than we can chew?”
“What do you mean?” Mick replied, although he had a good idea what the answer would be.
“We’re amateurs. We should have brought the police into this from the beginning and let them handle it.”
“No.” Mick shook his head in denial. “Like I told Andy when he asked, I don’t remember the attack so what could I tell them that would make them take me seriously?”
“You own two prestigious clubs for starters and are relatively well-known, so maybe they’d listen.”
“I think it’s a bit late for that,” Mick retorted. “Besides which, if they talked to Celeste she’d deny everything and say I was trying to frame her because she and I don’t get along, right? We don’t have any proof, Richard. Just speculation. You know that. It would be her word against mine.”
“Shorty’s a witness. He can tell them about finding you.”
“Finding me, yes. But he didn’t see the attack. The cops would ask why I was in the alley to begin with, and I couldn’t tell them because I don’t know. I could tell them what I think is going on, but damn it, I can’t prove it. Right now, all I have is a lot of cash, buried in the back yard. I’m sure the box it was in is long gone.”
“People saw you leave the club with it,” Shorty pointed out.
“What does that prove when they don’t know what was in it?” Mick asked.
Richard sighed in obvious frustration. “I still think we should bring in the police.”
“It’s almost eight. We’re supposed to meet her at ten. Do you really think we could convince the police to believe me between now and then?”
“No,” Richard admitted. “I guess we go with what we’ve planned. But damn it, Mick, if anything happens to you…”
Taking Richard’s hand, Mick replied quietly, “Nothing will. I have you and Shorty watching my back. Once we have her on tape…Okay, once we’ve recorded her admitting responsibility, then we can bring in the cops.”
“I suppose that’s the best we can do at this point, and hope she’s egotistical enough to brag about everything to show you how clever she’s been.”
“If not, we’re up shit creek,” Shorty said, getting nods of agreement from the others.
“All right.” Mick got up. “We should get moving. We need to buy phones and pick up the money. How far is it from home to the park?”
“About a fifteen-minute drive.”
“Good.” Mick smiled briefly. “I had visions of it being halfway to the mountains, if not in them.”
Richard snorted. “I doubt her majesty would want to drive that far. It might leave wrinkles in her skirt.”
That got an honest laugh from Mick as he and the others left the office—and moments later the club, by the back door.
* * * *
Buying the phones didn’t take long, and as they decided on inexpensive prepaid ones, it didn’t break Mick’s bank account.
They got home by eight-forty-five, and spent several minutes trying to decide where Mick could conceal one of the phones so that Celeste wouldn’t know he was carrying it. At first they considered taping it into his crotch, in case she had the gall to pat him down. When they tested it, they quickly discovered that wouldn’t work because anything they said was so muffled it was barely intelligible.
“Won’t that be the case no matter where you carry it?” Shorty asked.
It turned out it was, to one degree or another, until they hit on the idea of putting it in the lining of his jacket’s sleeve. That meant calling Richard’s phone, and leaving them on, before stitching the slit closed. As Mick pointed out when Shorty worried about them dying, “They’ve got brand new batteries. That shouldn’t happen in the next couple of hours.”
By then it was almost nine-thirty. Mick went to get the spade from the garage so that they could retrieve one of the containers of cash they’d buried in the back yard. Richard and Shorty were waiting for him by the bushes, holding them back so that he could start digging.
“Clever.”
They turned quickly to see a woman Mick knew had to be Celeste coming into the yard from the side of the house. Andy was with her, and they both had guns pointed at him and the others.
“I believed you,” Mick said angrily to Andy.
“You were supposed to,” Celeste said before Andy could reply. She smirked. “It’s why I brought him in on this to begin with. He’s an excellent actor, or should I say liar. Either way, it doesn’t matter.” She took a quick look at Andy. “He’s good at everything he does, in bed and out of it.”
“That was supposed to be our secret,” Andy muttered.
“So you tried to kill me because your whore told you to?” Mick spat out.
“Watch your language,” Celeste ordered, frowning.
“The grammar maven strikes again,” Richard said derisively.
At the same time, Andy shrugged. “Money, Mick. I get a quarter of everything when Trenton takes over ownership of the clubs. And then Celeste and I live happily ever after.”
“Are you planning on killing Trenton, too?” Mick asked, staring dead at Celeste.
“Too?” She lifted
an eyebrow. “No. He’s going to take the fall for your unfortunate demise.”
“How will you explain that Shorty and I died, as well?” Richard wanted to know. “You can hardly dump all our bodies in an alley and claim the three of us were the unfortunate victims of a mugging. Even the stupidest cops wouldn’t buy that.”
“A house fire, Richard. So sad. The three of you were sleeping and you weren’t able to escape. Of course the bullets in your heads made that impossible, which the cops will figure out after they find your charred bodies. The neighbors saw a man fleeing soon after the fire began. A man who stupidly dropped his wallet when he was trying to get his car keys out of his pocket.”
“You have everything planned down to the last detail,” Mick said at the same time that he began sidling away from Richard and Shorty, hoping she wouldn’t notice. As he did, he thought he saw a brief movement in the shadows at the side of the house. He didn’t know if someone was there, or if it was his imagination, but prayed it was a person. “But then you thought you did when you had Andy and…whoever…dump me in the alley. You were wrong.”
“The idiot fucked up,” she replied.
“Watch your language,” Richard muttered, getting a brief grin from Mick.
“So did you,” Trenton said tightly, appearing behind her, holding a gun. “I suggest you and Andy drop your weapons, now, because I’ll have no qualms about shooting you if you don’t. I heard everything, my dear wife.” When she hesitated, he stepped closer, pressing his gun to her back. “Now drop them, both of you.”
Andy did, immediately. It was apparent from Celeste’s hesitation that she was trying to figure a way out of her predicament. Moments later, with an exasperated sigh, she did as Trenton commanded before turning her head to glare at him. “You’ll never prove I had anything to do with what happened to Mick.”
“Yes, we will,” Mick told her. “Everything you said has been recorded. Shorty, could you get their guns…carefully.”
Shorty nodded, easing close enough to pick them up from the ground while keeping well away from their feet. “Don’t want you kicking me,” he told them with a smirk before he returned to Mick’s side.
“Now what?” Richard asked.
“Now, we wait for the police,” Trenton replied as he took out his phone. As soon as he’d made the call, explaining in brief why they were needed, he hung up. Then, with his gun still trained on Celeste and Andy, he suggested they all go inside to wait.
“Make me,” Celeste said defiantly. “I know you won’t really shoot me.”
“Do not bet on it,” Trenton said with quiet intensity. “Right now I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do. It’s bad enough you were fucking him—” he scowled at Andy, “—behind my back, but trying to murder Mick…twice…and planning on framing me for it? Yes, Celeste, it would make my day to see you lying on the ground, wounded or dead, either-or. So do as you’re told before I forget I’m supposed to be one of the good guys here.”
“I was only trying to help you get control of both the clubs,” Celeste protested. “Mick doesn’t deserve them. You’ve said so more than once, sweetheart.”
Trenton nodded. “I have, but I was wrong.” He looked at his brother in what Mick thought might be admiration. “After what she put you through and you’re still here and doing the best you can in spite of it? You’re a better man than I ever will be, Mick.”
“I’m not sure about that,” Mick replied. “However, before we continue this discussion we probably should get inside. The neighbors must be wondering what the hell’s going on, and maybe calling 911, too.” He gestured toward the windows of the house next door, and the man looking out at them.
“Move it, Celeste,” Trenton ordered his wife, gripping her arm to steer her toward the house.
Shorty trained one of the guns he’d picked up on Andy, gesturing for him to follow suit, while Richard hurried to the back door, opening it to let everyone in.
When they got to the living room, Trenton told Celeste to sit in one of the armchairs and then stood beside her, holding his gun by his side, his finger still on the trigger. Shorty put the two guns he’d picked up on the shelf behind the sofa—within easy reach if necessary, Mick figured.
Andy took the other chair, his head bowed in defeat. Mick asked him the first question that came to mind, which was, “Why did you leave your driver’s license with me?”
“Her idea,” Andy mumbled. “If it looked like someone was trying to frame me, I’d be in the clear, she said.”
“It worked, too. You bought his story, hook, line, and sinker.” Celeste sneered. “You were so gullible.”
“Who was the second man?” Mick asked.
She shrugged. “A dealer I was acquainted with through a friend. He was more than willing to sell me some drugs, no questions asked. Since I was going to hide them at The Rainbow, I arranged for him to meet me there. I thought you’d left for the night.”
“Too bad for you, you didn’t make certain,” Richard said. He turned to Andy. “Are you the one who knocked Mick out?”
Andy nodded. “I was in the storage room. I was supposed to make certain the guy didn’t try to pull anything. I saw him—” He looked at Mick. “I saw you coming down the hallway and hoped you’d keep going. When you opened your office door, instead, I did what I had to.”
“Then decided to kill me,” Mick said.
“No! That was the Celeste’s idea. Hers and the dealer’s, because they didn’t know how much you saw. I didn’t want to, until she pointed out I was as guilty as she was, and that eliminating you would only speed things up.” Andy shot an angry look at Celeste. “You used me. You seduced me and then used me to help you get your hands on the clubs.”
“He’s lying,” Celeste spat out. “It was all his idea. He hated Trenton.”
The doorbell rang at that moment. Richard went to answer, letting in two police officers.
“Which one of you called us?” one of the officers asked, looking at the group. He frowned, his hand going to his holstered revolver, as he added, “Please give me your weapon, sir, butt first,” to Trenton.
“Gladly,” Trenton replied. He did before introducing himself to the officers. “I’m the one who called. I followed my wife—” he spat out ‘wife’ in disgust, “—and her lover, Andy Loman, and witnessed them telling my brother and his friends how they were going to kill them and frame me for the murder.”
“Your brother would be?” the officer asked.
“Me,” Mick replied.
“Why did they want you dead?” the second officer asked.
Mick sighed. “It’s a long story.”
“Are you willing to press charges against her and Mr. Loman, Mr. Hawk?”
Mick and Trenton replied at the same time, “I am.”
“They’re crazy,” Celeste said, glaring at them. “I told Trenton I was divorcing him and he and his bastard brother came up with…with this insane idea to get back at me and Andy.”
“Don’t say it,” Mick whispered to Richard, meaning ‘Watch your language’.
“Me? Never,” Richard whispered back with a brief grin before telling the officers, “We have proof that she threatened our lives, and that she and Andy were responsible for an attack on Mick last Wednesday that almost killed him.”
The first officer replied, “Before we go any further, let’s take this down to the station house. Mrs. Hawk, Mr. Loman, please stand and put your hands behind your back.”
“You’re arresting us?” Celeste asked in shock.
“We’re taking you into custody. After we hear what you husband and his brother have to say, a decision will be made on what happens next.”
When Celeste and Andy stood, the officers cuffed them. Turning to Mick and the others, one of them said, “Please meet us at the station.”
“We will,” Mick replied. Then he watched as the officers left with their prisoners.
“Now comes the fun part,” Shorty said. “Convincing the c
ops we’re the good guys.”
Mick took off his jacket, turned the sleeve inside-out, and waited for Richard to get some scissors so they could remove the phone. “With what’s on here, and on Richard’s phone, we should be able to.”
“Clever,” Trenton said, adding bleakly, “I knew she married me more for my money than anything else, but damn it. Trying to murder you to get it, Mick?”
“I’m sorry,” Mick replied, impulsively hugging his brother. “If I could change things…”
“It was my fault.” Trenton sighed. “If I hadn’t been such an ass and had accepted that Dad knew what he was doing, instead of complaining about it to her every chance I got.”
“I hate to say it,” Richard said, “But even if you had accepted it, she would have done exactly what she did. She wanted it all, and you and Mick stood in her way.”
With a sad nod, Trenton replied, “I know you’re right, but it still hurts.”
“Of course it does,” Mick told him. “Clichéd, but give it time, okay?”
“I will. Right now, though, we’d better go down to the station and get everything straightened out before she convinces the cops she’s pure as the driven snow.”
Mick snorted out a laugh and they did as Trenton said.
Chapter 9
It was after one A.M. Tuesday morning when Mick, Richard, and Shorty returned home. Because he’d asked if he could and they’d agreed, Trenton joined them there a few minutes later.
Richard made coffee while the others settled in the living room. When it was ready, he poured cups for everyone, bringing them out on a tray, and then sat next to Mick on the sofa.
“Don’t shoot me,” Richard said after taking a sip of his coffee. “I have a couple of questions the cops didn’t ask.”
“You mean they missed something?” Mick replied tiredly. “I feel like I’ve been through the wringer. At least the detective finally believed me when I said the only thing I remembered before the attack was overhearing Celeste and the dealer, and seeing the box changing hands. Without you two to back me up, she might be walking free now.”
“No,” Richard replied. “Without the recording of what she said before Trenton showed up, she would be, which is one of my questions, Trenton. Why were you there?”
Hawk and Wolfe: A Life Interrupted Page 10