by J. L. Abramo
“Have you called the police?”
“No.”
“We have to call, Angel, and tell them what you saw,” said Carlos, moving to the telephone.
“No,” she screamed.
He turned back to her, she was trembling again.
“It was the police,” Angel said, choking on the words. “The man Ricky shot and the man who shot Ricky. They were the police.”
When Jimmy came into Murphy’s Saloon, the first thing he had done was order a double shot of Jim Beam. He drank it quickly, called for another and asked Murphy for the bar telephone. He phoned Good Samaritan Hospital to check with Vinnie Strings.
“Meg came by,” Vinnie said, “and brought the book. I started reading it, but I’m fading. It’s the painkillers. They want to keep me another day and stop the drugs, to see if I can handle it. So I should be able to get through the book with a clear head tomorrow, I’ll have plenty of time.”
“Do what you can, Vinnie,” Jimmy had said. “I’ll call back tomorrow.”
Two hours later, Jimmy was still at the bar, calling for another drink.
“You may have had enough, Jimmy,” Murphy said. “That stuff will cook your brain. You know what they say, about the reason God created whiskey.”
“What do they say, Murphy?”
“God didn’t want the Irish to rule the world.”
“I’m not Irish and I’m not interested in ruling the world,” Jimmy said. “So let me have one more for the road. Make it a double.”
It was nearly midnight when Jimmy Pigeon stumbled up the stairs to his apartment. When he reached the door he found it unlocked and he could see the light spilling out from the front room. He pulled the gun from his shoulder holster and he pushed the door open.
ARCHER AND PIGEON
Jimmy stepped slowly into his apartment, leading with his handgun. The intruder sat in the easy chair facing the door. Jimmy quickly checked the man’s hands and saw he was unarmed, unless he planned to use the Victor Hugo paperback as a weapon. Jimmy looked up to the stranger’s face and he clearly saw the resemblance.
“Good reading,” the visitor said, indicating the worn copy of Les Misérables.
“What’s the proper greeting for someone who breaks into your home?” asked Jimmy.
“Well, you could shake my hand or not. Either way, I wish you wouldn’t point the Smith and Wesson at me.”
Jimmy lowered his arm.
“How did you get in?” Pigeon asked.
“It’s my specialty.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Have you?”
“Angelo Ricci praised your skills.”
“How is Angelo?”
“Colorful. Angelo got me thinking it was you who went through the office last night,” Jimmy said.
“We need to talk about what happened to Lenny.”
“You look a lot like your brother.”
“Not anymore,” Nate Archer said.
Jimmy placed the gun on the sofa, took off his jacket and shoulder holster and laid them down over the weapon.
“Let’s move to the kitchen,” Jimmy said. “If I don’t get coffee into me, I won’t be able to stay conscious long enough to talk.”
Archer rose from the chair and extended his arm. Jimmy accepted the handshake.
With further introductions unnecessary, Nathan Archer followed Jimmy Pigeon to the kitchen.
Boyle and Stephens brought coffee back for everyone. Billings and his partner, Randall, Detectives Williamson and Cole, Harriman and the second evidence investigator.
It was after midnight. Boyle had been on the job since eight that morning. He gathered them all together in front of the building.
“Cole, Williamson, why don’t you call it a night, it’s late. Pick it up again in the morning where you left off. If you’re not available, ask your captain to find a couple of replacements from your station to continue the canvassing and bring them up to speed.”
“We can be here,” said Cole.
“Good. And I want all of your notes from this evening. Make photocopies and send them over to me at Parker Center in the morning.”
“By the way, the woman who was seen running out back wasn’t wearing headphones,” Williamson said.
“Did you get a better description?” asked Boyle.
“Not really.”
“Put whatever you have into the report. And when you get here tomorrow, go out in the direction she was running. Maybe someone saw her, saw which way she was going. Follow it as far as you can. Harriman, where are you guys at?”
“Just about done. We think there may have been someone else in the condo tonight.”
“Oh?”
“The toilet,” he said. “The seat was down and someone had urinated and not flushed. And there was toilet tissue in the bowl. It suggests a woman used it last. And there were fresh scuffmarks on the kitchen floor, near the door out to the patio. Rubber sole, probably running or tennis shoes, small. The marks didn’t come from any of the shoes worn by Raft, Tully or Diaz.”
“Our jogger?” said Stephens.
“Put it in your report, Harriman,” said Boyle. “And speaking of shoes, I want to know about Tully’s shoe, the tooth and the blue gravel, anything you can tell me. Also, get with the SMPD and LASD, find out who has the slugs that killed Edward Richards and Lenny Archer and have them sent over to you. I want them compared to the ones that killed Detective Tully. While you’re at it, I want copies of everything they have on both those cases; evidence reports, medical reports, testimony, everything, all sent over to me at Parker as soon as possible. What about the suitcase at the kitchen door?”
“Packed and ready to go,” said Cole. “I would say Diaz was planning to travel.”
“Randall,” Boyle said, turning to Billings’ partner.
“Yes?”
“I want you to list all the vehicles parked back there in the lot. Makes, models, tag numbers. Billings.”
“Yes?”
“I need you and your partner to remain here until the evidence team is done. Front and back. I want to know if anyone comes by, anything even slightly suspicious.”
“There was a car that passed through here, drove in back and came out only a minute later,” said Billings.
“The blue Mustang?” asked Randall.
“Yes,” Billings said. “Male driver, female passenger.”
“I saw it also. It rolled by me and didn’t stop.”
“I have the license plate number,” said Billings.
“Have the tags run,” said Boyle, “and put it into your report. I want all of your reports on my desk, first thing in the morning. Harriman, Cole, let me know what you find as you find it. Detective Stephens and I are leaving now. I’ll be at Parker Center by eight.”
“So?” said Stephens as he walked Boyle to his car.
“So, we may have an eyewitness, if we can find her.”
“If our jogger was Hispanic,” said Stephens, “and if she was in the condo, she may be a girlfriend of Ricky’s. I’ll check into it tomorrow. Unless you’re looking to get in a little more overtime tonight.”
“I’m looking to get in bed,” said Boyle. “Thanks for coming down, I won’t forget it. See you in the morning.”
Archer and Jimmy sat at the kitchen table each working on a second cup of coffee.
The two men agreed it was very doubtful Lenny’s death had something to do with a narcotics investigation; but neither man had the faintest idea about how his death could have anything at all to do with Charlie Chan.
“What was it you said you found in the office?” Jimmy asked.
“Fine blue gravel, like aquarium bedding,” Nate said.
“And you found this near Lenny’s desk?”
“Yes.”
“There were two crime scene investigators working the room, why didn’t they find it?”
“I can think of three possibilities. They missed it or they found traces and only collected what they needed.
If they did get a sample, it will show up in the evidence report. If we could get our hands on it.”
“And the third possibility?” Jimmy asked.
“The gravel may have been left after the investigators were done with that area of the room,” said Archer. “Who else has been in the office between the time Lenny was discovered and the time I went in last night?”
“Only me, my associate Vinnie and the building super. As far as I know.”
“Have you stepped into a fish tank lately?”
“No. Not lately.”
“And if we could eliminate Vinnie and the super?”
“What you found could have been there before Lenny was killed,” said Jimmy. “It could be in the report.”
“That’s true,” Archer agreed. “I would still like to know who left it there. Who else was in the office Monday morning, with the evidence team?”
“Two LASD detectives, Raft and Tully.”
“It’s possible it came from one of them and it’s nothing, but I would sleep much better if we could confirm it somehow; particularly if the police missed it entirely. Can we get hold of their evidence report?”
“Maybe, but it won’t be easy.”
“So we’ll try hard. And I want to get into Richards’ place.”
“So do I. There may be a laptop there that could tell us something.”
“How about tomorrow night, after dark?”
“Sure, why not. I was wondering what you did with Lenny’s body.”
“Bando’s Funeral Home on Main Street, Sal Bando is an old friend.”
“I spoke to the Navy. They’ll give Lenny a military funeral.”
“I’ll take care of it. Lenny hated the Navy. All the Navy ever gave him was a drinking problem. We talked about it once, back when we were talking. Lenny wanted to be cremated. Sal Bando is making preparations.”
“What happened between you and your brother?” Jimmy asked.
“Is that important?”
“I don’t know. Is it?”
“Do you have anything to drink stronger than this coffee?”
“Sure.”
Jimmy walked to the kitchen cabinet for the bottle of Jim Beam and two glasses.
Jimmy poured. Nate knocked his drink down in one shot and began his story as Jimmy poured him another.
It happened four years earlier. Lenny was drinking a lot. He had gone through bad periods on and off since his Navy service.
Lenny entered the Navy in 1968 and he was schooled in surveillance. He was shipped to the Tonkin Gulf, off South Vietnam, six months later. He was assigned to a cargo boat carrying mail, food, medical and military supplies up river to Dong Ha, near the demilitarized zone. He returned home a year later with a Navy Cross and an addiction to opium.
Lenny eventually kicked the drug habit, using liquor as a cure. Staying off the alcohol was a constant battle, a battle Lenny was losing badly when he and Nathan parted ways.
At the time, he was drinking heavily after three sober years. He had been living with a woman named Annie for two years and she didn’t know him drunk. Nathan never learned why his brother fell off the wagon, but Lenny fell hard.
Late one night, Nathan’s sleep was interrupted by loud pounding at his apartment door. He found Annie standing in the hall. She was trembling and the left side of her face was battered and swollen.
It was a chilling vision for Nate. He had seen his mother this way, when he and Lenny were boys, before she found the courage to take her two sons and flee from her husband’s alcoholic violence.
Nate took Annie’s elbow, gently guided her into the apartment and sat her on the couch. He gave her a moment or two to calm down before asking.
“Was it Lenny?”
“He’s like a stranger, Nathan,” Annie said, trying to slow her breathing. “The past four days he’s been drinking every night and not coming home until two or three in the morning.”
“I wondered why Lenny didn’t show up at the office today. Why didn’t you call me?”
“I was confused. I didn’t know what was happening. I thought it was something I’d done, but he wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. Things had been going so well between us. We had been talking about taking a trip together, maybe a honeymoon trip. He came home drunk again tonight. I told him it had to stop, that he had to talk to me or else seek outside help. Then he hit me. He hit me hard, Nate, and he left me there hurt. I didn’t want to be there when he gets back. I can’t believe I would ever feel this way, but I’m afraid of him. He really scared me tonight. I’m not sure if I can ever feel safe with Lenny again.”
“You’ll be safe here, Annie,” Nate said. “I’ll get you something cold to drink and some ice for the swelling. The sofa opens into a bed. There are sheets and a pillow in the hall closet. I’ll see Lenny in the morning and try to find out what happened to set him off.”
Annie was awake when Nate came out of his bedroom in the morning. She had closed the sofa bed and had cleared the sheets and pillow. The swelling on her face was still evident and her eye was ringed in purple and black.
“How did you sleep?” Nate asked.
“Not very well,” she admitted.
Nathan felt compelled to call Lenny. Despite Lenny’s actions the night before, Nate knew his brother loved Annie and would be worried about her being gone over night. Seeing Annie’s bruised eye changed his mind. He decided he needed to see Lenny face to face.
“Can I use your shower?” Annie asked.
“Sure. There are clean towels in the hall closet,” Nate said. “I’ll make coffee.”
Fifteen minutes later someone was rapping at the door. Nate moved from the kitchen to answer it. Lenny rushed in, extremely agitated.
“Annie’s gone,” he said. “I waited up all night and she never came home.”
Nate could see Lenny had been up all night with a bottle; he was still very drunk. Before Nathan could say a word, Annie was calling from the bedroom.
“Nathan, do you have sweat pants and a t-shirt that I can borrow,” Annie said as she walked into the front room wearing Nate’s robe.
Nathan saw the terror in Annie’s eyes as she spotted Lenny. He turned to Lenny and opened his mouth to explain, but before he could speak Lenny hit him in the face and he went down. And then Lenny was on top of him, punching him once, and then again, and Nate blacked out.
When Nate came to, Annie had his head in her lap and a wet towel across his forehead. Lenny was on the floor near them, a broken table lamp lying at his shoulder.
Lenny began to regain consciousness.
“I hit him, I thought he was going to kill you,” Annie said. “I called the police.”
Nate moved quickly to his brother. There was blood on the back of Lenny’s head. Nate tried to help Lenny up, but Lenny shoved him away and tried to hit him again. A moment later, two uniformed officers came in from the hall. Lenny fought as they pulled him to his feet. One of them, Nolan, cuffed Lenny’s hands behind his back. They each took hold of an arm and began to lead Lenny out.
“Where are you taking him?” Nate asked.
“We’ll have a doctor look at him and then we need to take him to the station. You might want to see a doctor also, both of you,” said Nolan.
“Leave him. I’ll take care of him. I’m not pressing charges.”
“It doesn’t matter, we have to take him in and we need to write up an incident report,” Nolan said. “You’ll both need to come down to the police station to give statements. At that time, we can talk about charges.”
Nate looked at Lenny; all he could see was hate in his brother’s eyes.
And then the uniforms took Lenny away.
“That was the last time I saw my brother,” Nate said. He poured another shot of Beam and he held the bottle out to Jimmy.
“I’m good,” Jimmy said.
“When we arrived at the police station, they wouldn’t let us see Lenny, so I asked to see Detective Barnum. John is an old friend of mine.”
/> “I know Barnum,” Jimmy said.
“We told John we weren’t pressing charges, it was a misunderstanding and we didn’t want to jeopardize Lenny’s investigator’s license. John said my brother was out of control. They had to sedate him at the hospital before they could patch up his head. John told us he would clear the arrest record only if Lenny went into an alcohol detox program. Thirty days, minimum. John said if Lenny wouldn’t comply, I could commit him as next of kin. So, that’s what I did. Lenny was in for sixty days. I tried to visit him a number of times the first month. He refused to see me. Finally I gave up. I thought it would be best for his recovery if I wasn’t around when he got out. So, I packed up the apartment, and what I had in our office, and I moved down to San Diego. I started up my own business and I’ve been down there ever since. I tried more than a few times to reach out to my brother over the years, but he never responded. I guess Lenny got back on his feet and must have had the PI concern going well, at least well enough to take on a new partner.”
“If it’s any consolation, in the three years I worked with Lenny, I never knew him to take a drink,” Jimmy said.
“The last thing I remember is that look of hate in his eyes. Consolation might come if I find out who did this to him. I have to go. I need to phone my wife, tell her I’ll be up here a while longer,” Nate said, finishing his drink. “I’ll be staying at Lenny’s place if you need me. Otherwise meet me at the office, nine tomorrow evening. We’ll try to get into Richard’s place without earning a B&E arrest.”
Jimmy walked Nate to the door.
“What happened to Annie?” Jimmy asked.
“Annie wound up in San Diego also. Before Lenny was released from the rehab clinic she went down to stay with her sister.”
“Did you ever run into her again?”
“She found out I was working there and she popped into my office one afternoon. We had lunch together. Five months later we were married,” Archer said. “And I have to get out of here and telephone her. I’ll see you tomorrow at nine. Thanks for the hospitality, next time I’ll wait for you to invite me in. And, Jimmy.”