‘You had plenty of time to hide the gun and the money; we haven’t finished searching the whole area yet. And you Stone, you have his blood on your sleeve.’
‘Stone hadn’t realized they’d seen it, he lifted his arm and checked his shirt, the officers had noticed the blood at the scene.’
‘You have opportunity and you certainly have motive. You disposed of the means, but we’ll find it.’
‘You’re wasting your time Ramirez,’ said Mac.
There was silence. Stone thought it was useless to try to justify their position. He decided to let the police prove their case. He was close to walking out.
Ramirez’s confidence was growing; he thought it was just a matter of time before they found the weapon that was used to shoot Bloom. He left the interview to call Maloof, he was desperate to stop him carrying out his threats.
Chapter 40
Ramirez closed his cell phone. He let out a yell and hit the corridor wall in anger. He had had trouble persuading Maloof that he really had Stone this time, he pleaded with him to give him just a little more time. Maloof relented and gave him twenty four hours to wrap up the new murder charge or... Ramirez couldn't listen to what he said next.
He was sweating, his hands were shaking, the pressure was becoming unbearable, he had to close this case out, he had no alternative. Ramirez had seen firsthand how Maloof had exacted revenge on anyone who crossed him, even his own men. Ramirez’s professionalism had all but gone and his judgment was askew, he went back into the interview room to finish the job.
As soon as Ramirez entered the room Stone stood up and told Mac that they were leaving.
‘We’ve heard enough. We’re out of here,’ said Stone.
‘Sit down. There’s been a development.’ Ramirez was still sweating. Sweating because he knew he was lying. Finch looked at him with incredulity; he knew they were innocent, yet again.
‘Officers have found the murder weapon at the crime scene.’ Ramirez still hadn’t sat down. ‘Brad Stone. Ewen McLeish. You’re under arrest for the murder of Anthony John Bloom on or about 4.45 pm this evening. You will remain in custody. Read them their rights Finch.’
Stone decided he would play his trump card, ‘This charade has gone on long enough. You shouldn’t be here at all on police business, you’re suspended.’ Stone moved as if to leave the room. Ramirez stood in front of him and put his hand on his chest to stop him. ‘Who are you working for Ramirez? It can’t be the police you don’t even have a badge.’
Ramirez looked rattled. He had to keep going, for the sake of his wife and daughter. ‘You don't know what you’re talking about. Read them their rights Finch.’ Ramirez was shouting at Finch, he was close to losing control.
‘He won’t. He’s a proper cop. He does things the right way. No get out of my way’
The officer on guard had his gun half out of his holster as the situation grew tense, he was confused to hear that Ramirez had been suspended, but until advised differently, would support him to the hilt.
Finch protested at last and shouted back at Ramirez, ‘Senior Detective Ramirez, I’m ordering you to leave the room.’
Ramirez was visibly shaking, he still had his hand up trying to hold Stone back, he wouldn’t give way, there was too much at stake for him personally.
‘What’s going on here?’ A voice bellowed out from the open door. No one had heard or noticed it had opened. Lt. Grolnick was waiting for an answer; Finch hoped that Ramirez would offer an explanation as to why he was conducting an interview with suspected felons whilst on suspension. Ramirez was stupefied at the sudden appearance of Grolnick.
He dropped his hand and started to speak, ‘Sir I can expl...’
‘Ramirez outside now. Finch, you come too. Officer, stay where you are. I’ll be back in two minutes. The officer remained in position on guard by the door.
Stone and Mac sat back down.
There were raised voices coming from the corridor just audible through the interview room door, Grolnick’s was the loudest, Ramirez tried to stand his ground and only served to make matters worse. No one could understand why. He was escorted out of the precinct, Grolnick upgraded the suspension. He was now on a charge of gross misconduct.
Grolnick came back into the room and apologized to Stone and Mac. For reasons he couldn't go into, Ramirez was out of line, he said, and he asked them to excuse his error of judgment. It seemed like Grolnik was trying to avert a possible claim for improper conduct and the inappropriate questioning about the murder charge.
Stone looked at Mac and they made another one of their telepathic agreements by an almost imperceptible nod between each other and a twitch of their mouths. ‘No problem Lieutenant. So. Where do we stand now?’
‘You’re free to go. You’ve got Finch to thank for calling me in when he did. He also had your cell phone call logs examined and your story checks out. In the short time between the witnesses call to 911...’
‘The guy at the window?’ asked Mac.
‘Yes. The witness heard a shot and called 911 at 4.40pm and your call with Bloom which lasted...’ Grolnick read from a piece of paper that he brought with him into the interview room, ‘...two minutes and twenty three seconds, was triangulated, putting you two miles away at the time.’
Stone sat back and relaxed for the first time during the interview. ‘Thank you Finch,’ said Stone.
‘Furthermore when the witness was questioned by officer Ortiz, who went back to see him, he said that right after hearing the shot, a single shot, he looked out of the window and saw three men. One was lying on the ground, and two were standing a few yards away. One was...’ he started reading again, ‘a medium height guy who he thought could have been oriental...’
‘Chang,’ said Mac.
‘...and the other...’ Grolnick continued but Stone interrupted.
‘Was a tall, thickset black guy, Shadow.’
‘Shadow?’ asked Grolnick as he looked up from the paper.
‘Chad Loman Sir,’ said Finch. I’ve seen them both in action already.
‘Lieutenant, perhaps I can just say that, you now have two murders to solve. Guy Randall and Anthony Bloom. They were killed by the same man. Shadow. He needs to be found, and quick, before he kills again.’
‘That’s our job Stone. Finch is on the case now full time.’
Grolnick stood up and offered to shake hands with Stone and Mac and said they were free to leave. He told them that their car had been towed into the precinct; he said he would get it brought out front.
They all shook hands and they left the station.
‘We’ve failed Mac.’
‘How d’ya mean Brad?’
‘We didn’t get Mrs. Randall’s money.’
They were driving back to the Delicatessen apartment. The roads were quiet. It was the lull between the afternoon exodus of workers leaving the city and the early evening invasion of theatre goers and restaurant diners flooding into the center looking for a good time. They’d both been quiet, hardly talked at all for most of the journey since leaving the precinct. Stone had been deep in thought. He was sick of the gangster Shadow interfering with his life. It was only a matter of time, he thought until their paths would cross again and an alarming thought flashed into Stone’s mind, he was astonished that it hadn’t occurred to him before.
‘He won’t stop till he gets what he wants,’
‘But he has mate. He’s got his money.’
‘No. I mean yeah, he finally has it, after all the dirty work in Trinidad and today’s callous rubbing out of Bloom. He knew we were going to the bank. He must have been tipped off by someone. The only people who were in on the plan were at Mrs. R’s yesterday. Me, you and Bloom. Bloom must have told someone. Someone who knows Shadow.’
‘Rachel.’
‘Exactly. Let’s concentrate on Shadow first. He’s the one to be worried about. He threatened us as he left Trinidad. He knows we were a witness to Guy’s murder. He tried to kill me at the funeral
. And now...he must have seen us at the bank with Bloom.’
‘What do we do?’
‘You got his address right?’
‘Yeah. We pay him a visit?’
‘I want to keep our end of the bargain with Mrs. R. She’s been through enough. We’ll get the money back and track Shadow’s movements. Then we let Finch take over and nail him.’
‘Sounds like another plan.’
‘Tomorrow’s Saturday. It will be quiet. We’ll check out his office.’
Chapter 41
‘I need to see you.’ She wasn’t interested in having a conversation. She had only one thing on her mind.
‘Sure babe. Hey thanks again for the heads up, I got the money.’
‘Where?’
‘Where what? Oh. Best we meet at my office – you know where it is?’
She fingered the card in her pocket, brought it out and stared at the address. ‘I got your call card, remember?’
‘Yeah you do. I’ll be there ‘bout eleven, okay? Maybe we can get some lunch or...’
‘Just be there at eleven.’
The line went dead and Shadow realized that he was listening to the dial tone.
Stone and Mac left the deli apartment through the back entrance. Alfredo was busy in the kitchen and discussing something with his sous-chef so they both waved hands and Stone mouthed ‘See you later.’
‘Who’s driving?’
‘We’ll take it in turns, you drove over here last night so I’ll get this,’ said Mac. He punched the address into the SatNav and pointed the car towards the Queens, Shadow’s office had to be over in that direction somewhere.
She made a last check in the mirror before leaving the apartment; the limousine was waiting for her downstairs. Her hair was brushed and loose and curly down around her shoulders. She had picked out a pair of designers jeans, and a pink cashmere jumper which she wore over a white collarless blouse. She pulled on a knee length winter coat to shield against the cold weather and wrapped a black woolen scarf around her neck.
‘Good morning ma’am. Where to today ma’am?’ said the driver holding open the door of the limousine for her as she strode across the forecourt to the car.
‘Queens,’ is all she said. The driver was wondering what business she could possibly have in Queens, but his job wasn’t to question his employer.
The snow had almost gone from the sidewalks along Central Park West. The temperature overnight had risen a degree or two and the sun’s early morning rays were warming up the roofs and canopies. Drops of glistening water dripped from the gutters and awnings at the entrance to the apartment. Across the road, in central park, there were still piles of dirty snow strewn around at random from where the park workers had scraped and shoveled the footpaths clear, but these too were melting and becoming smaller by the hour.
On the drive over, which took about an hour, she could think of nothing else but the pain and sorrow that the man had brought her and her family. Memories of her mother’s touch, her mother’s smile crowded her thoughts. There were tears streaming down her face, she turned and dabbed her eyes with a tissue so that the driver couldn't see her in the mirror. Then she recalled her beloved sister’s words and what she had said, they echoed over and over like sound bites from a movie.
She knew what she had to do.
Mac figured that they were no more than five minutes away from Shadow’s office so they ran through the MO.
‘It’s Saturday, there should be no one around, if there is, I’m looking for the owner of Loman’s Import Export ‘cos he said he’d meet me here at eleven-ish, okay?’
‘Once you're inside it’s too late, check to see if he’s in before you break into his office.’
‘Obviously,’ said Stone.
‘You're looking for the money, a bag or perhaps another attaché case, that’s all you’re there for, got it.’
Stone decided to give Mac an ‘of course stupid’ face rather than another ‘obviously’.
‘We’re here Ma’am; we’re at the address you gave me.’
She looked around and hadn’t realized they’d arrived. She told the driver not to wait. She would call him when she was ready.
He left her standing in the car park, looking up at the building name on a sign board just below the first floor office windows. At ground floor there were shops and cafes with people scurrying around in and out of the stores. She started to cross to the sidewalk and heard a horn blasting out, a large grey van slammed on its brakes and screeched to a halt a few yards from her feet. ‘Watch it lady I almost killed ya.’ shouted the driver. She was still in a trance. People stopped and stared, she felt embarrassed and walked on, keeping her head down, saying nothing. The entrance to the office was on the left of the building, next to a book store. She reached the lobby and tried the main doors. They were locked. On the wall to the right was a set of names and buzzers, she scanned down from the top with her finger until she saw ‘LOMAN’S IMPORT EXPORT’. She closed her eyes, drew in a breath and said ‘this is it,’ to herself and pressed the buzzer. She turned around to see if anyone was watching.
Nobody took any notice of her at all.
They were too busy flitting from store to store dragging their kids around with them. The sound of a voice jolted her back to look at the speaker in the center of the entry panel.
‘Is that you?’ said the deep gravelly voice. It was exactly as she remembered it. It made her flesh crawl.
‘Who else?’ she said.
‘Take the elevator to the eighth; turn right, it’s the fifth door on your left.’
The latch clicked and she pushed the door and stepped into the inner lobby. The lobby was dark; the grimy magnolia walls were bare and looked as if they hadn’t been painted for years. The steel doors of the elevator were scratched and rusting from graffiti and the call button was so worn and dented. She tentatively stretched out a finger to press it. A bell dinged and the doors squeaked and rattled open. Could she trust it not to break down? She thought about taking the stairs but relented and walked inside. The overhead light flickered on and off and the stench of urine seeped from the peeling and cracked linoleum floor. It was so strong she could taste it.
She found the eighth floor button and touched it as quickly as she could. The elevator jerked into action and took forever to climb from floor to floor. She watched the lights jump from button to button and was relieved when it eventually reached the eighth level. For a split second she though the lift car was stuck but suddenly the doors sprang open and she ran out before they could close again.
Mac parked the rental in a space facing the building. They both looked at the name sign and Stone got out of the car. Mac told him to be careful and not to take any chances, Stone told him not to worry, the first sign of Shadow and he’d clear straight out, he said.
When Stone reached the lobby doors he found them open, just an inch, and looked around nervously expecting someone to stop him. His luck was in and he continued to the elevator.
She remembered to turn right. Light was emanating from a doorway roughly halfway down the corridor. All the other offices were dark; they appeared to be closed up for the weekend. As she walked the only sound she heard was her own footsteps on the tiled floor but as she grew nearer, she heard hip-hop music through an open door. That must be his office, she thought.
The beat of her heart seemed to fill her whole chest and she could feel it throbbing in her neck. The voices inside her head pushed her on towards the open door; she kept her right hand in her pocket, her sweaty fingers clutching, twitching and ready.
The music stopped. She had arrived at the door and Shadow called out. ‘Rachel? Rachel is that you?’
She didn’t answer, her mouth was too dry. She knocked on the door out of reflex but walked straight in.
Shadow was sitting behind a desk looking directly at her, she had never seen Shadow without his shades, his eyes were smiling, he was talking to her but the words were muffled, they didn’t register
.
She was in an unreachable zone.
As she pulled out the Berretta Tomcat from her pocket, faces appeared before her eyes, her mother’s, her sister’s and they faded as she squeezed the trigger. She’d never fired a gun before, her hands were shaking. She raised her left hand to steady her aim and pointed the barrel at Shadow’s chest. He stood up and was shouting something and he held out his hands but it didn’t matter, nothing mattered. She heard a loud bang and her hands were pushed back.
Shadow’s body was thrown backwards the he dropped down into his chair, his cries were the first sounds she heard clearly.
‘Rachel...whyyyyy.’
The job was done.
Chapter 42
Stone boarded the elevator, one hand pushed the floor indicator button, his other covered his nose and mouth against the foul air which nearly made him retch. The lift bumped into life and he watched the lights as they ascended from one to eight.
Heat and pain ripped through Shadow’s body, his lungs exploded and he could taste blood rising in his throat, he couldn't breathe or speak anymore. He stretched out his right hand towards his desk drawer. He always kept his Glock there, loaded and ready.
She had already turned to walk towards the door and as she reached it she glanced back to take one more look at him, but what she saw was Shadow’s outstretched arm aiming a gun directly at her. It was over before she knew, the bullet hit her in the back with the force of a sledge hammer, her legs felt paralyzed, she held onto the door. Blood splattered onto the frame and dripped onto the floor. From the moment he’d been shot to pulling the trigger to shoot her, was no more than five seconds.
His return shot was pure reflex, the gun fell out of his hand, he slumped forward into a heap, a pool of blood spread across his desk.
DEAD MAN'S JUSTICE - A Place of Evil (Stone & McLeish Thriller Series of Stories Book 2) Page 16