Silver Lining - A Carpelli Adventure: Sequel To The Bestselling Thriller Fatal Mistake

by Cliff Roberts

  I picked a spot two blocks away from the first guy I spotted and settled in to watch evening show. I was using night vision binoculars, so as to be sure I got a good view of everything happening. It was a safe place to watch from but I needed to get a whole lot closer, if I was going to talk to the guy. The first half hour, I saw at least thirty people walk up, shake hands, and buy drugs.

  I sat watching for more than an hour, before his guardian angel gave himself away. The guardian was three doors down, from the dealer, just inside an abandoned building. He had been hidden deep in the shadows, completely out of sight, until he had to have a smoke. He stepped from the shadows inside the building and out onto the sidewalk. He even waved at his cohort and walked down the street towards him.

  I took this as my cue to move in closer. I made great time slipping out my car, trotting the two blocks between myself and where the guardian had been. I slipped inside the building, where he had been hidden in the shadows, in less than three minutes. I found a shadow of my own to hide in and leaned against the wall to wait for the guardian to return.

  I watched as the guardian, collected all but a small amount of cash from the dealer and stuffed it in his pockets. I had no idea how much money they taken in tonight, but as the guardian drew closer I could see his pockets were bulging. Yes, business was good, making it all the better for my message to stick.

  I waited for the guardian to step back inside the building and out of view of his partner, before I made my move. In the deep darkness of the abandoned building, all I could see was a silhouette against the light created by the street light on the corner. When the silhouette stepped passed me, I acted. I’d made sure I had my retractable night stick with me now, quickly popping it up and bring it down in a tight arc, bashing the guardian on the back of his head. He crumpled to the floor and I quickly rifled his pockets for the cash, drugs or any weapons. I checked his pulse ‘cause I may have hit him a little hard. His pulse was strong so I assumed he would live. I rolled him over and rifled the rest of his pockets, discovering additional cash. All told, I took from him a big wad of cash, maybe ten grand, two hand guns, his lighter, which he used to signal the dealer on the corner besides light his smokes. Plus a nasty six inch switch blade and about three dozen small plastic bags of what appeared to be crack. I tucked it all in my pants pockets and snuck out the back of the building.

  I stayed in the alley and walked past the spot the dealer was working out front, in favor of using the smaller pedestrian access alley that ran from the street to thbetween the two buildings just east of him, so I could sneak up behind him. My luck was holding as the dealer was busy watching this couple that had just pulled up in a Mercedes and were slowly dragging themselves out of it. It was a comedy of errors as the woman in the passenger seat opened her door and fell right out of the car. The driver turned to the window and puked without rolling down the window. I was sure that would make for one hell of a putrid odor in the morning. The dealer chose to heckle them rather than help them, which was fine by me, coming into this neck of woods in their condition deserved whatever they got, short of raped or killed.

  “Shit, you just ruined your ride, mother. How’d that taste a second time?” The dealer called out. Then when he saw the woman passenger was struggling to get up after having fallen out of the car, he yelled “Hey, walk much?” Neither the driver nor the passenger seemed to be able to respond, but the dealer kept it up apparently because he was bored. “Hey bitch, what you do for me, it I help you up?”

  Finally, the dealer decided to go over to them to make the sale, because it didn’t appear they’d be able to walk that far, once they got up.

  “Mr. Mercedes, what’s you doing here?” The dealer inquired, as he slowly stepped over to the pair.

  “Say man!” The male driver yelled loudly, as he dragged himself to his feet using the fender of his car as a prop. “Man, I want some…I…a…you know man blow, crack, rock candy, coke.”

  “You got any money, Dude?” The dealer asked as he checked out the woman now leaning on the car’s rear fender and puking on the trunk lid. She wasn’t half bad. As the driver fumbled with his money, couldn’t seem to get his hand out of his pocket, the dealer asked, “You’s sick or something?” Then he turned to the driver and said, “She’s really puking hard back there, all over your car.”

  “Bitch! You’re gonna wash that off, Bitch.” The driver yelled, as he stood weaving in the middle of the road. “If the damn paint peels, you’re gonna pay to fix it, bitch!” the guy screamed at her and she in responded by flipping him the finger. “You bitch. Stop puking on my car. Can’t you see I’m buying crack here?”

  “Hey, Mr. Mercedes, get the fuck out of here. I ain’t got no dope.”

  “Oh, hey man, I got’s money, lots of money. Here, here’s a hundred. Come on man, I just need some blow.”

  “You a cop, Mr. Mercedes?” The dealer asked.

  “Where’s the cop? I ain’t no cop. Bitch, get back in the car and stop puking. I don’t want no puke, inside my car. Oh hey, come on man, what do you say? I got five hundred.”

  “Get in your car, Mr. Mercedes. I’ll walk by and give you some coke and you give me the five hundred.” The dealer barked at him and the guy struggled to comply.

  After a minute or so, the guy and the bitch, had managed to get back in the car. The guy rolled down the window and held five hundred dollar bills out for the dealer. He glanced at the building where his guardian was supposed to be and he looked at the building hard. When his guardian didn’t come out he foolishly assumed he was okay with proposed deal.

  I was still just around the corner of the building he was standing in front of, so when he glanced around he saw no one and wrongly assumed it was safe to move. He quickly stepped around the car and grabbed the money, then dropped four small bags in the drivers lap.

  “Now get the hell out of here,” the dealer ordered, “while pulling his gun in an effort to intimidate, Mr. Mercedes.

  It apparently worked as the Mercedes squealed its tires as it raced away. The dealer stood in the street for a moment looking at the building his guardian was supposed to be in, but nothing happened. When he had finally had enough of the guardian ignoring him, he turned to come back to his corner. I was standing in his spot and I was pointing my gun at him.

  “Who the hell are you?” The dealer snarled as he reached for his gun.

  “Really? Are you that stupid?” I yelled. The dealer looked at me again and realized I had him dead to right and slowly pulled his hand away. “Take it out nice and slow, and you just may live through this.” I informed him. He glanced at the building where the guardian was supposed to be, as he slowly pulled his gun from his belt. “Hold it by the very end of the butt with two fingers and drop it to the ground, then kick it away.” I instructed him. Despite the contemptuous look on his face, he did as he was told.

  “What happened to your face?” The dealer asked.

  “Rough sex.” I snapped. “Now walk over here,” I ordered him and he slowly shuffled my way. Twice during the fifty foot shuffle over to me, he glanced at the guardians building. Finally, I’d had enough of his foot dragging.

  “There’s no point in looking for him. He’s not going to be coming to help you anytime soon.” I told him.

  “Oh, how do you knows that? Did Tommy do that?” he asked. I ignored his question about my face and mimicked him in responding to his other inquiry.

  “I knows ‘cause I did it. Now, I need some information and if you provide it, I’ll let you live.”

  “I talks to you, they might kill me.”

  “Who might kill you?”

  “You don’t know who I work for?” The dealer asked.

  “Nope. Don’t care. Not my concern,” I stated.

  “You be crazy. They will kill you just because you hassling me. If you really did take care of Tommy, they kill your ass for sure.”

  “Oh wow, I guess I should be scared. So who is it you work for again?” I asked
despite knowing already.

  “I works for Smith and Jones.”

  “Smith and Jones? Never heard of them. They sound like gay dancers. They perform out to The Wild Rose, don’t they?” I teased the dealer a bit. “That’s close enough.” I stated when the kid got within fifteen feet.

  “You got a death wish or something?” the dealer asked, as he stopped.

  I held out the picture Doctor Anne gave me. “Does he buy his crap from you?”

  “Never seen him,” He stated without really looking.

  “That’s too bad. Cause if you’ve never seen him then my information is no good and I’ll have to rethink how I’m going about this. You’ll then be a loose end that I can’t afford, so I’ll have to eliminate you to ensure there won’t be a problem.” I said as coldly as I could.

  “Maybe I should looks a little closer at that picture.” The dealer said, as he held out his hand for the picture. I handed it to him and he looked at it this time. “Yeah, I knows him, but he ain’t been around in while.”

  “Oh, really. When was the last time you saw him?”

  “Hell, I don’t know. He just don’t come around no more is all I know.” The dealer snapped giving me attitude.

  I held up the gun, gave him a look that said I will kill you and then I looked over at his guardian angel’s last known perch. He got the message and got cooperative again.

  “Smith and Jones aren’t going to like me talking to you. If they see us together, they likely to kill me.” He stated as he looked around as if Smith and Jones would be hanging out here in the ghetto at one thirty in the morning.

  “You said that already. And I said, they may kill you, if they find out about you talking to me, but I will kill you, if you don’t start talking to me right now.” I held the gun straight out, pointing it at him. “When was the last time you saw this guy and where can I find him?” I politely asked.

  “I don’t know for sure. He was living over on Gertrude. It’s a yellow two story tenement that was supposed to be torn down a few years ago. He was on the second floor in the back. A real shit hole of a place. He had no water, no power, just a mattress on the floor and a blanket. He and some other guy were living there. Why you want him? He’s a total crack head. All he’s doing is killing himself with crack.” The dealer shared what little he knew and his personal assessment of the person.

  “Gertrude and what? I asked.

  “Shit, I don’t knows. Do I look like Ran McNally to you?” There was that attitude again, so I held the gun up right in his face and cocked it for effect. “That’d be Jackson. Gertrude and Jackson. Right side of the street, when you goes south from the interstate.” The dealer suddenly became very helpful once again.

  “How far away is it?” I asked.

  “Two blocks. That way.” The dealer pointed towards the east. “Just take Magnolia to Gertrude turn right. Building will be on your right hand side just before Jackson. I swear, I haven’t seen him in a couple of months.” The dealer seemed sincere for the most part.

  “What’s his name?” I asked just trying to discern if the dealer was being honest, when he said he knew him and where he lived.

  “I think he said it was Danny or Daniel something like that.”

  “That’s good. See it wasn’t that hard to talk with me, now was it. Thank you for all your help. Now for future reference, it is Rand with a ‘D’ at the end, not ran, like someone ran away. It’s Rand McNally.” I shared with him, keeping in the spirit of sharing information. “Okay, I think you’re done working for the night. Give me everything in your pockets.”

  “Wha…what?” The dealer acted as though he didn’t understand me.

  “Give me everything in your pockets.” I ordered a second time and when he hesitated, I barked loudly at him. “Do it now! Give me everything you have.”

  “Aw, hell no!” He shouted. “They’ll kill me.”

  “And if you don’t, I’ll kill you,” I barked loudly. The dealer jumped at my response and suddenly slapped at the gun. He then turned and ran for the buildings next to us. I simply turned to follow him with the gun and fired once, it was too easy. There was a loud bang, I figured no one would bother to look or call the police. It was after all, just another night in the ghetto and gunfire was typical, common place. I hit the dealer in the thigh of his right leg and down he went. He’d made it as far as the sidewalk in front of the store.

  “Damn you, you shot me! You shot me, man!” The dealer cried out, as I walked up to him. I knelt down a few feet away and pointed the gun at his forehead. That had the desired effect, the guy got real quiet, real fast.

  “Now give me everything in your pockets.” I stated quietly yet firmly. This time, he did as he was told. He had a switch blade, six hundred and twenty dollars, thirty-six packets of crack, a prepaid phone card, a cell phone and a business card for Michael Nolan. Okay, I might be getting somewhere here. Nolan was not only the biker’s club president, he was a lawyer that apparently represented the drug dealer’s and their boss’s interests in court or he was one of them.

  “Don’t move, ‘til I’m gone or you’re dead. You got that?” I snarled, as I walked away. I drove directly over to Gertrude and Jackson. The yellow two story tenement was there on the right hand side of the street. The place was dark. I decided to wait until day light to check it out and called it a night.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Smith and Jones were called to the home of their Lieutenant Jamal Brown at six a.m.. It wasn’t a social call.

  “What the fuck happened last night?” Smith screeched at the dealer who was still bleeding lightly from the gunshot wound to his leg.

  “The guy was just there, after I‘s turns around from dealing with a drunk guy and his bitch, in a Mercedes.” Lionel the dealer offered.

  “Where was Tommy when this was going down, he wasn’t off getting laid again was he? Don’t lie to me Lionel or I will kill your ass.” Kelly stated curtly and stood glaring at him.

  “Tommy had just made a pickup and had gone back into the building to watch over things. Then the Mercedes rolls up with the drunks in it and they be stumbling around like fools. I looked over for the sign from Tommy, You know to tell them to get lost, but no sign came.” Kelly cut him off at this point and asked.

  “What’s the sign?”

  “Tommy flashes his lighter three times, if I’m to pass on the customer. Tommy didn’t make any sign, so I waited for them to get out of the car before I waited on them. There weren’t nobody else around, so it didn’t cost nothin’ to wait.”

  “Did you go looking for Tommy?” Kelly turned and asked Jamal.

  “As soon as Lionel limped in, I went out looking for Tommy. I found him in the building where he was to watch Lionel from. He was in rough shape. Someone bashed his head in. They took all the money and his weapons too. I brought him back here, called the Doc and he’s fixing him now. He’s in the back room.” Jamal explained and then pointed towards the closed door on the back wall.

  “You ain’t lying and keeping the cash for yourself are you, Jamal?”

  Washington asked.

  “No sir, you and Mr. Smith treat me real well. I’d be a fool to steal from you.” Jamal quickly replied.

  “That it would be and just so you know when we find out who did this, if you’re involved, your family dies, right down to the baby.” Washington snarled.

  “Now why you gotta threaten me? I’m a good employee for you. I watch your backs and I do whatever you ask. I ain’t no fool who’d steal from the hand that feed me. I know what you and Smith do to people who don’t respect you and I do respect you and I fear for my life, too.” Jamal tried to put Washington’s concerns to rest. Kelly could see this was going nowhere and interjected, but Jamal had to ask him right to his face.

  “Why’s he got to threaten me? I’m your best man.”

  “Enough already, Jamal. I believe you. Now, I want two guardian angels with each dealer until I say go back to one. I want you to put the w
ord out that there’s a ten grand reward for anyone who can tell us who did this.” Just then the doctor a small, oriental man stepped out of the back room and Kelly turned and addressed him.

  “So, how is Tommy?”

  “He’s in rough shape but he’ll live. He just needs lots and lots of rest. He’ll be in bed for the next three to four weeks and then doing minimal activity for the next three or four.”

  “Thanks, Doc.” Kelly then looked at Washington and nodded. Washington stepped into the back room and closed the door. Everyone turned and looked at the door for the minute or two Washington was inside. When Washington opened the door and stepped out, the group held it breathe collectively until finally Washington shook his head and said, “I’m afraid the patient didn’t make it.”

  Kelly quickly followed Washington’s comments with one of his own.

  “Gee what a shame. Doc, you better get slicing and dicing, we need some organs to auction.” The Doc just stood there staring at Kelly until Kelly stated, “What?”

  “The man was in no danger of dying.”

  “Now that is where your wrong, Doc. You see, if you’re so stupid that you let someone steal ten to fifteen thousand of my money, you don’t deserve to live. Now get slicing, time is money.”

  “You are one cold Bastard.” The Doctor snarled as he started for the backroom.

  “Freezing Doc, freezing,” Washington quipped.

  Washington then turned to Jamal asked, “Are you sure you didn’t help yourself to anything in his pockets?”

  “I didn’t do nothin’, I brought him back just as I saw him.”

  “Okay, after the doc is done, keep the body here until tonight, then go dump it in the blast furnace at the cement plant.” Kelly ordered. Jamal nodded. Kelly then turned to address Lionel.

  “So, Lionel,” Kelly began, “what happened to the cash that you had?”