Devil's Dance

by Daniel Depp

  Araz took out a knife and flicked it open. He started to cut the front of Pookie’s bra. Leo lunged forward but Araz moved the knife to Pookie’s throat and Leo stopped.

  ‘I will kill her,’ said Araz. ‘You tell me what I need to know and you both walk away. Why were you looking for him?’

  ‘His wife hired us to find him. She’s worried. She knows you guys are after him.’

  Araz nodded.

  ‘How did you know where he was?’

  ‘We got a tip. Somebody spotted him in the casino.’

  Somebody is playing a fucking game, thought Araz.

  ‘Where is he going?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  Araz put the fine edge of the knife underneath the bra between Pookie’s breasts.

  ‘I will throw her down and fuck her while you watch,’ said Araz, ‘and then I will have to kill you both.’

  Leo looked desperately at Pookie. She shook her head. Leo said to her,

  ‘It’s not fucking worth it, Pook. Not with you.’

  To Araz he said,

  ‘He’s got a girlfriend up here, in Mountain View. He’s probably with her.’

  ‘Ah,’ said Araz.

  And while Araz did not actually see God smile, Araz thought he did see the corners of God’s mouth rise just a little.

  FIFTY-EIGHT

  ‘I think I have shit on myself,’ said Tavit.

  ‘What do you expect,’ said Araz. ‘You eat like a fucking pig, you shit like one.’

  ‘It’s her fault,’ said Tavit. ‘What do I do?’

  ‘Put something under your ass,’ said Araz, ‘and shut up.’

  Crystal Ellerbee lived in the suburbs. It was a nice small house that looked just like everybody else’s. Charlie had parked down the street, as if nobody would notice.

  ‘He’s not,’ Araz said to Leo and Pookie, ‘exactly a fucking genius, your boy.’

  ‘What are you going to do to him?’ Pookie asked.

  ‘I am going to take all his money,’ said Araz, ‘and then I’m going to rearrange most of his internal organs. Whether he dies or not is going to be up to him. All I really care about is the money. To me,’ added Araz, ‘he’s just meat.’

  ‘He was losing again when we found him,’ said Leo. ‘I don’t think he has much.’

  ‘Just what I needed to hear,’ said Araz. ‘You can do this?’ he said to Tavit.

  ‘Yeah, I’m okay.’

  ‘Stop shitting.’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘They move,’ Araz said to Tavit but looking at Leo, ‘you kill the girl first.’

  Araz walked up to the house and onto the porch. The door was unlocked. Araz walked in. Charlie and Crystal were sitting at the dining-room table having coffee.

  Charlie, as expected, saw him and took off into the back of the house.

  The fucking woman jumped up and got in Araz’s way. She was tall and the years had put on a few pounds. Araz wrestled with her. True fucking love. He hit her and threw her across an ottoman and kicked open the bedroom door to find Charlie going out the window. Araz grabbed Charlie’s leg and was trying to pull him back in. That’s when he felt the sharp pain between his shoulder blades and turned round to see Crystal staring in horror at her own handiwork. She wasn’t so much looking at Araz as at the three-inch steak knife standing up in his back. Araz glanced in the bedroom mirror. He tried to reach the knife but couldn’t and he didn’t honestly expect any help from her. The knife hadn’t gone in very far but shuddered when he moved and sent lightning bolts of agony through his body.

  Araz walked quickly out of the house with the knife wobbling every step. Charlie was hotfooting it down the street to his car, coming up past the van. Araz yelled at Tavit to stop him. Tavit got out of the van, still wobbly on his pins, and stepped in front of Charlie. Charlie, the high-school football star, lowered his shoulder and in passing knocked Tavit on his ass in the middle of the street. Araz did a sort of Quasimodo jog to Charlie’s car and was beating rather half-heartedly on Charlie’s window as Charlie tried to start the thing again. Araz was blind with pain and could feel the blood seeping down his back into his waistband. Much of whatever enthusiasm he might have had was now gone. Charlie got the car going and ran over Araz’s right foot.

  He watched the car drive away, just stood there bleeding and watching it go. Then he turned and did his humpbacked limp back to the van, where Tavit and Leo and Pookie all stood watching him.

  ‘Would you mind?’ he said to Pookie, turning his back to her. She pulled out the knife with a brief jerk. ‘Thank you,’ he said. It vaguely dawned on him that the girl had managed to free herself but hadn’t run off. She took the steak knife and cut the tape on her partner’s hands.

  The van’s passenger door was open and Araz sat down in it wearily.

  ‘Things are going very ugly for me,’ Araz said to her.

  ‘I can see that,’ said Pookie.

  ‘What do we do now?’ asked Tavit. ‘Should I kill them?’

  ‘No,’ said Araz. ‘Let them go. It doesn’t matter now.’

  ‘He was never going to kill us,’ Pookie explained to Tavit.

  ‘Really?’ Tavit said, looking at Araz.

  Araz nodded.

  ‘Too many witnesses,’ Pookie said to Tavit. ‘Would you mind please standing just a little downwind?’

  Tavit moved.

  ‘He almost raped you,’ said Leo.

  ‘But he didn’t, did he? Look, anything happens to us and the whole world knows exactly who did it. It was all a bluff.’

  ‘You can’t be sure.’

  ‘Of course I’m sure,’ said Pookie, though she wasn’t.

  ‘We’re fucked, aren’t we?’ Tavit said to Araz.

  ‘Yes, we are,’ said Araz. To Pookie he said, ‘Why don’t you go. You’ve caused enough trouble. I’m fucked. Everything is fucked.’

  ‘Atom is going to kill you,’ said Tavit. ‘He thinks you’re a fucking Jonah, is what he says. He’s going to turn everything over to Savan.’

  ‘Yes, that’s right, Atom is going to kill me but I’m fucking well going to make sure I take your shit-stained ass along with me.’ Araz took the gun away from him. ‘In fact I think I might kill you myself. I’ve got nothing to lose. Why are you still here?’ he said to Pookie.

  ‘I can help you,’ said Pookie.

  ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ Leo said to her.

  ‘Remember what David told us, about the uncle? David wanted to make contact with him anyway. That’s one reason he wanted us out of it. David has some kind of plan. I can’t help you,’ she said to Araz, ‘but I think our boss can. I need to make a phone call. Unfortunately my phone has been misplaced.’

  Araz made the effort to stand up. He dug into his trousers pocket and pulled out his cell phone, handed it to her. What the hell, it couldn’t get worse.

  Pookie took the phone, said thank you, then kicked Araz in the balls. Araz doubled and sat back down.

  ‘That,’ said Pookie, ‘is for my one of a kind pink Moroccan leather and diamond-encrusted phone,’ and made the call.

  FIFTY-NINE

  Salvatore Locatelli was having a bite in his Thousand Oaks restaurant when Spandau showed up. Two of Locatelli’s bodyguards stopped Spandau at the door.

  ‘Let me see him,’ Spandau said.

  ‘Let him come,’ Locatelli called from his booth in the back of the room.

  The two men frisked Spandau and then let him through.

  ‘Exactly what sort of fucking game are you playing at?’ Spandau asked him. ‘You tipped off both me and Atom about Charlie being up north. I just got a call from my people and it’s goddamned lucky for everybody nothing happened to them. Especially goddamned lucky for you.’

  Locatelli wiped his mouth with the crisp cloth napkin. He took his time. Then he leaned back and looked Spandau in the eyes.

  ‘First of all, you don’t want to raise your voice to me, it makes all these people around me very nervous and some
body is liable to shoot you just because you make them jumpy. The other thing is that you never threaten me especially when it’s a bullshit threat you and I both know you can’t back up. It makes us both look stupid and it puts me in the position of having to make you eat your words. This, as it happens, I would prefer not to do. Not yet anyway. You want to sit down?’

  ‘No.’

  Locatelli shrugged.

  ‘I’m sorry about your friends. I admit I made a bad call on that one, I thought you were the one who’d be going after him. I didn’t figure on your labor-management skills. I thought it was a good chance for you and Araz to meet. Who ended up with him?’

  ‘Charlie skipped again—’

  ‘He’s like a fucking ferret, that one, isn’t he?’

  ‘But Araz and my people are on their way back down here together.’

  ‘Ah,’ said Locatelli. ‘That’s interesting. So it worked out well after all. Very good.’

  ‘As well as a near-bloodbath can ever be. And Charlie is still loose.’

  ‘Charlie has never been my problem,’ said Locatelli, ‘and he really isn’t yours either. There are far bigger fish we need to be frying. Sit down, Texas, have a glass of wine.’

  ‘No,’ said Spandau again.

  ‘Perhaps you are misreading my body language,’ Locatelli said. ‘I’m not asking you.’

  Spandau sat. Locatelli motioned and one of the men brought over a glass and a bottle of Chianti. He filled the glass for Spandau and backed away.

  ‘Somehow you always wind up in the extremely fortunate position of doing me a favor,’ said Locatelli. ‘I don’t know how you manage this. Lots of people tell me I should have killed you a long time ago but I am inclined to think we share a guardian angel. Before you head swells let me assure you that if the guardian angel has to make a choice it’s going to be my ass over yours. This is where theology and common sense part company.’

  Locatelli took a sip of wine. He stared at Spandau until Spandau picked up his glass and took a drink as well.

  ‘Early this morning while you were having your cornflakes somebody found the body of Araz’s cousin in the trunk of his car down in Topanga. His head was bashed in and his arms and legs broken. Somebody is trying to make it look like we did it, which we did not, but you, me, and everybody on the planet knows this is how Uncle Atom is going to see it. Like I told you before, Atom has become a great source of irritation to me and this thing has happened at the worst possible time.’

  ‘How is Atom reacting?’

  ‘I don’t think he knows about it yet. My police contact told me and they’re holding the information back from the press. The point is that when Atom does find out all hell is going to break loose. Atom is crazy and he’s going to come after me and mine to make a point. Once he does that there is no talking anymore and the shit, as they say, will fly. I am going to have to kill half the Armenians in Los Angeles. It will look like that fucking Turkish thing all over again. I would like to avoid this.’

  ‘You know who did kill the cousin?’

  ‘Oh sure,’ said Locatelli. ‘I can’t prove it but it’s got to be Araz. Savan, the dead one, was nosing around asking questions about Araz, about who he saw, about his sex life. He was ambitious, more like Atom than Araz ever will be. Thank god the fucker is dead, because he was jockeying to push Araz out and set himself up to take over after Atom kacks. Atom is not one of your more liberal thinkers and if he found out his next in line was light in the loafers he wouldn’t hesitate to bury him somewhere. In a surprising bit of ruthlessness I think Araz whacked him. It’s all kind of biblical really. I have to say I’m a little proud of him. This means he’s somebody I can deal with.’

  ‘What do you want me to do?’

  ‘You are going to set up a meeting.’

  ‘No,’ said Spandau.

  ‘Give this some thought, Texas. Araz is the key to all our problems and right now he’s got his tit caught in the wringer and needs help. I need to neutralize Uncle Atom or LA is going to look like fucking Rwanda for a while. Atom will surely find out about Savan and about Araz’s sexual preferences and either one of these is enough for Atom to snuff him. Araz gets dead and both your pals, Charlie, and that loon Margashack are still up shit creek. There is no other way. I’ve been telling you this from the beginning.’

  Spandau thought. He downed the glass of wine. Locatelli motioned for the bottle. Spandau drank another one. Said,

  ‘How is this supposed to work.’

  Locatelli told him.

  SIXTY

  They were in a motel in Camarillo. When Spandau got there Leo and Tavit were playing gin rummy and Pookie was changing the dressing on Araz’s knife wound. Leo kept watching Pookie. Savan was a big, good-looking guy. Watching Pookie touch Savan’s naked back did not make him happy.

  Spandau introduced himself, they shook hands. Spandau said to Pookie and Leo,

  ‘Why don’t the three of you get something to eat. There’s a restaurant down the road.’

  ‘I’m not hungry,’ said Tavit.

  ‘Come on,’ said Pookie. ‘There might be something cool in the Happy Meal.’

  ‘Go on,’ Savan said to Tavit. ‘It’s okay.’

  They left.

  ‘You want a drink?’

  Araz nodded. Spandau went over to the minibar, opened it, looked.

  ‘Scotch, bourbon, what?’ said Spandau.

  ‘Any vodka?’ asked Araz.

  ‘Vodka it is.’

  Spandau poured vodka and scotch into paper cups. Handed the vodka to Araz, pulled up a chair, sat across from him.

  ‘You are in trouble,’ Spandau said to him.

  ‘No kidding,’ said Araz, taking a drink. ‘The good thing is that it can’t get much worse.’

  ‘This is where you’re wrong,’ said Spandau. ‘They found Savan’s body this morning and it doesn’t take Perry Mason to figure out that you did it.’

  ‘Prove it,’ said Araz.

  ‘I don’t have to prove anything. The fact is that sooner or later Atom will find out about your boyfriend and that Savan was trying to out you. This is the conclusion that Atom is going to make and Atom is going to come after you.’

  ‘Okay, fuck it,’ said Araz. ‘I’ve been thinking about this. The only chance I’ve got is to turn myself in and go state’s evidence. Nobody gives a shit about Savan and if I can help shut down Atom maybe I can even walk, go witness protection or something. Nobody can prove I had anything to do with Savan and they aren’t going to want to if I give them what they need.’

  ‘It doesn’t have to go that far. First of all, what’s going to happen with Charlie?’

  ‘Once Atom finds out he got away again, his patience is going to be at an end. This asshole is just making everybody look bad, and the awful part is that he’s not that smart. He’s just stupid lucky, is all. But Atom is going to take him out before he creates any more embarrassment. With Locatelli breathing down his neck he can’t afford to look weak. That’s really what all this is about.’

  ‘What if we can fix this.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘By getting rid of Atom. By putting you in his place, where you belong.’

  Araz thought. Drank his vodka. Held up his empty cup. Spandau went back over to the fridge and brought back a vodka shooter, opened it, poured it. All the time Araz watched him carefully.

  ‘You work for Locatelli,’ said Araz.

  ‘Does it make any difference?’

  ‘Not really,’ said Araz. ‘What is all this going to cost me?’

  ‘A spirit of détente,’ said Spandau. ‘A new and better world for all of us, an atmosphere of trust and cooperation. Something your Uncle Atom is shitty at. The hope is that you have more sense.’

  ‘He’s a crazy bastard okay,’ said Araz.

  ‘And you call the dogs off Jerry Margashack and Charlie Marston. They’re off the hook, the accounts are reset to zero.’

  Araz shrugged. ‘Sure. I’m just anxious to see what sor
t of moves you think you’ve got. Atom isn’t stupid, and he’s like a fucking wild animal with his nose in the wind. Anything you try he’s going to smell a mile off.’

  ‘I want you to meet with him.’

  ‘Oh sure,’ said Araz. ‘That’s going to fly.’

  ‘The police haven’t released the information on Savan yet. We’ve got maybe twenty-four hours hopefully before Atom hears about it. Then he’s going to start putting things together. If we do this fast it might work.’

  ‘What am I supposed to do?’

  ‘Call him. Tell him you fucked up, you want to come home but you’re scared. You want to talk to him, somewhere neutral. You want to be reassured.’

  ‘Why would he go for this? What the fuck does he care if I come back at all?’

  ‘Savan is missing, Tavit is with you. Atom’s lost his three top guys and he’s worried about throwing down with Locatelli. Right now he’s got nobody in charge on the streets and every operation he’s got is a sitting duck. He may not trust you but he needs you. For the time being, anyway.’

  ‘You don’t think he’s going to worry about a setup?’

  ‘Sure, but he’s only worried about you setting it up. I hate to say this but your uncle doesn’t have a shitload of respect for your talents. Whatever you might have up your sleeve he isn’t going to worry much about it.’

  ‘Ha,’ said Araz, smiling. ‘You’ve done your homework.’

  ‘He underestimates you. That’s what we’re counting on, that’s his weakness. And he’ll be curious. He needs to have you where he can see you.’

  ‘You’ve got it all planned out,’ said Araz, ‘and I don’t really have anything to lose, do I?’

  ‘What about Tavit? Where does he stand in all this?’

  ‘I can control him. He doesn’t want to face Atom any more than I do. He’ll do what I tell him to do.’

  ‘Suggest a place to meet. He’ll want you to come to the butchery but he’ll expect you to say no. You suggest someplace else and then he’ll say no. Haggle a little but let him select the place. If it doesn’t work for us we’ll change it. He’ll expect that.’

  ‘We set this up and it works, what happens to Atom?’