Rick Cantelli, P.I. (Rick Cantelli, P.I. Detectives Book 1)

by Bernard DeLeo

  “There’s my bitch,” Lois whispered. Staley dropped back to see who we were looking at.

  Staley led the way over to the table. “Excuse me, Ma’am. May I see your ID please?”

  The woman glanced at Staley with a strange mixture of fear and arrogance. Her voice reflected it. “I already showed the other officers my ID.”

  Staley showed her his gold badge and ID. “I’m sorry, but that wasn’t a request.”

  “Fine!” She rifled through a small black evening purse, and handed Bill a New York driver’s license with the name Elaine Basque on it.

  “Mean anything to you, Rick,” Bill asked, holding it so Lois and I could get a look.

  “No, but it means something to these two.” I pointed at Elaine’s companions, who were now looking down at the table. “Help us out here, boys. You two aren’t out on the town with Elaine. You’re body-guarding her. Why?”

  They stayed silent. The kind of silent that makes detectives like Bill Staley get a hard on.

  “Well, okay, anal exam at the precinct,” Bill declared. “On your feet, folks. Let’s go down to the station where we can have you three mingle with the getaway car driver and pictures of our recently deceased gunmen.”

  Elaine stood, but gestured for her companions to remain seated. Her face bore a resigned look. “I’m Neil Garibaldi’s wife. You probably recognize the name. He’s Cheech Garibaldi’s consigliore and brother. I want out of the marriage, and figured to ask Cantelli here how to do it without getting killed. I read how he and his partner took Neil down, and I figured his firm might have an idea how I could live through a divorce.”

  “You mean to tell me that whoring idiot got off?” Lois had pushed through so she could face off with Bill. “He tried to kill us, Bill. We had him dead to rights. How in hell could he have walked on that? We figured to be testifying at his trial soon.”

  “Easy, Lo.” Staley motioned with his hands in a calming fashion. “I don’t know the details. Some judge let Garibaldi skate on a technicality. His case was just thrown out yesterday. I didn’t hear about it until today. I know you two had it out with him, so I put two men on Garibaldi until he flew back East. He’s staying at the Hilton near the airport.”

  “This isn’t your fault, Bill. I have to admit I never thought Neil Garibaldi could escape prison time for ambushing people in San Diego. May I suggest an investigation of that judge?”

  “You can suggest, Rick, but unless I get a politician interested, you can forget about it. Ms. Basque, do you think your husband capable of something like this?”

  Elaine waved her hand angrily. “He threatens me all the time. This latest bust with a prostitute was the last straw for me. I flew out here to the coast because this is the first time anyone has faced down that sack of shit husband of mine. I’m all in this time. Neil will kill me. He’d be arrogant enough to think he can snatch me right here in a crowded restaurant. The way he did it is just his style to send me a message.”

  Lois nodded. “Yeah. I can see him thinking he could pull off something like this. Thanks to that idiot judge, Garibaldi thinks he’s not only above the law, he believes he is the law. We’re not the main target, Rick, but we’re on his wish list. You can bet on it.”

  “Lo is right, Bill. On top of that, you need to take these two with you to the precinct along with the femme fatale here.”

  Staley shrugged. “I will, Rick, but it doesn’t solve anything. You two do know there will be extreme pressure on me to keep you two out of it.”

  “We wouldn’t think about impeding your investigation, Detective Staley,” Lois stated. “Rick and I are not in the loop. We understand that.”

  “What the hell?” Elaine didn’t care for Lois’s cavalier response. “I figured you and your partner could untangle me from this mess. I kept everything on the sly so I could talk to you after your gig here. I guess you two are just as helpless as everyone else.”

  Lois jutted forward to grip Elaine’s chin in a vice like grip, eliciting a frightened yelp from Elaine. “You don’t know Rick and me very well, but if you want help, you better watch that mouth of yours. I’ll bitch slap your pouty little face before you can blink dear. You feel me?”

  Elaine’s eyes were as big as saucers looking into Lois’s no nonsense mean girl promise of instant violence. “Yes!”

  Lo released her, patting her cheek. “Don’t ever shoot out words from your pie-hole about Rick and I unless you want some amateur facial reconstruction. You don’t know shit about us. Your asshole husband has us on his short list. That means we’ll have a stake in this until it ends. Unless you’re brain dead, you already know Rick kept you from being on the side of a milk carton tonight.”

  “I…I’m sorry. I’m scared. I know I’m a bitch, but I’m a scared bitch! Neil owns me!” Elaine broke down and started sobbing. It takes a real mean girl sometimes.

  Lois gripped her chin again. “That’s what I wanted to hear, kid. We’ll help you. I needed to make sure you didn’t think you could treat us like a couple of clueless dolts. Play it straight with us, and we’ll stay on this to find out what’s going on.”

  Elaine nodded as Lois released her. “We’ll come to the station and do whatever you need us to do.”

  “Hey,” one of the guys at the table exclaimed. “I didn’t sign up to take on the Cheech Garibaldi mob. I don’t know anything about them.”

  Now we’re getting somewhere. “You seem to know enough just hearing Cheech’s name. You and your partner need to help us out here with every detail you do know. Let’s let all these people get back to their lives, Bill. I’m sure you’ll be able to make some plans after hearing the details in a more secure setting.”

  Bill smiled because it was obvious he liked the way our inadvertent interrogation had gone. “Good idea, Rick. I’ve got this now, and I have you and Lo on speed dial. Go calm down your entourage. I can tell this won’t be ending any time soon.”

  “Okay, Bill, but Lois and I haven’t any choice in this.”

  Staley nodded. “Yeah, I know. I can’t play it like that as both of you know. Let’s drop this for now. I’ll take these three and get the details with the driver’s input.”

  “That’s good enough for us, as long as you know we ain’t backing away. That judge screwed us and you know it,” Lois said. “I’m not sure how pure the princess is here. If she was looking for us, and we get attacked in our newly purchased restaurant with her in it, then coincidence is a fool’s shield. This would be something Garibaldi would do. He’s sitting around right now thinking the restaurant is in a shambles, Rick and I are probably dead, and cupcake here is on her way to him. That means we play good old fashioned hardball. You pursue this the way you have to, Bill. We’ll pursue it with the objective of surviving, and we’re really good at it.”

  “Don’t make me have to arrest you two.”

  “If it’s possible to hand this to you on a silver platter, we’ll do it, Bill,” I replied.

  “That’s just mean, Rick. Go on. Get out of here. Can you take my wife home, Lo?”

  “Sure, pal, but after I get done framing this case for you with her, you’ll be on the couch tonight.”

  We all got a laugh out of that send up. Adjourning to our table, I noted I was getting the fisheye from everyone on the way there. Some looks were the type you project when six or seven guards roll a guy around with his body strapped to a dolly, and his mouth muzzled like that guy in the ‘Silence of the Lambs’ movie. The other looks from a few of the women either meant we were nearing the zombie apocalypse or there is such a thing as a death pheromone. When we reached our table, I received more normal looks of confusion and uneasiness. I can live with that.

  “Welcome to the Cantelli Twilight Zone. I’m sorry the ride was not as we planned. You’ve all signed on for it, so there will be no refunds. I believe if what Detective Staley said is true, you will all be free to go. I will be adjourning to the bar and see if I can throw down a couple of Bushmills while I mull over
my past transgressions. Anyone trying to follow me has to go through my partner. Good luck.”

  I didn’t wait because I knew Lois had my back. The chances of anyone following me made a snowball in hell a sure bet. Jerry was still standing behind the bar with a stunned look on his face. I sat down with a smile and calming gesture.

  “Easy Jer, it’s all over. Can I have a Bushmill’s double?”

  “You bet, Rick.” Jerry hustled around and in seconds I had my double. “Good Lord in heaven that was scary. Do you think that’s going to happen often on Casablanca nights?”

  Good question. “I don’t think so, but your guess is as good as mine.”

  I took a long sip of the double Bushmills Jerry served with relish. “Oh yeah. Much better. I’m not looking back. How’s Lois doing with crowd control following me?”

  Jerry smirked as he looked toward my table. “No worries there, Rick. Lois has everyone corralled and heading toward the exit. Does this mean the rest of us get to go home?”

  “Everyone but you pal.” I finished off the double and pushed it in his direction. “Fill ‘er up.”

  Jerry laughed, and refilled my double. “I admit I’d read the articles detailing what you’ve done over the past couple months, and what they’ve put out about your time as a Seal sniper, but it’s… you know… hard to reconcile it with reality. I saw you ace those two guys with masks and guns. You ever need a refill anywhere – I’m your man. I’ll deliver. I figured I’d be face-down in the backroom waiting for a shot to the back of my head. Thank you.”

  Jerry held out his hand and I shook it.

  “Don’t get maudlin on me, Jer. I’m planning on getting seven sheets into the wind. Sign on or leave the bottle, my friend. It won’t take long… maybe fifteen minutes tops.”

  Jerry laughed. “I’m here to the end, Rick. Enjoy.”

  “Will do.” I knew I should be doing back traces and a million other things but frankly, I just didn’t give a damn. I was ready to take on the mantle of hardboiled detective. “Don’t worry about the driving. I’ll take a cab.”

  Chapter 11: Last Play

  I sat there sipping, logically inserting the pieces I had of this fiasco. We were ahead of the curve. Lois and I should have killed that idiot Neil when we had self defense as a motive. I couldn’t imagine Cheech Garibaldi allowing his brother to run loose like this. Neil proved tonight he lived in his own private make believe world where if you’re Neil Garibaldi you can send gunmen into a crowded restaurant to kidnap an ex-wife. I knew Staley would not back away from this one. Bill knows the Mayor and city council would be doing cartwheels in front of the media promising everything under the sun when news hits about the attempted armed assault on our restaurant. I sipped the last of my second double and the hovering Jerry filled it again. This would be the last one. I needed to put the pieces together tomorrow. Then I felt someone slip onto the barstool next to me. It was Jadie.

  “You should be home by now, kid.”

  “Apparently your eyesight’s failing if you think I’m a kid, gumshoe.” Jadie moved in close to me. “I bought this dress just to make your eyeballs pop out, not make you think I need a babysitter.”

  I sipped. The view was breathtaking. “Mission accomplished. How’d you get back in here through the police throng? I know they’re only allowing people out, not in. Once Lois had your shapely butt out in the parking lot, you shouldn’t have been able to march back in.”

  “I’m an owner. Besides, the police cordon would have let me in just to watch me walk inside. They’re not playing hard to get.”

  Jadie is beginning to annoy me. She’s hotter than a blast furnace, and every time I see her, I remember the first night in her office when she traipsed in naked trying to seduce me. With two doubles down the hatch, and a third halfway there, I’m annoyed that I can’t remember the moralistic geezer code I have about not bedding down women half my age. I stood away from the bar.

  “Thanks for the great service, Jer.” I shook hands with him. “We’ll try and make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”

  Jerry chuckled. “That’s all I ask, Rick. Goodnight. Nice seeing you, Ms. Wentworth.”

  “Goodnight, Jerry,” Jadie replied, encircling her arm inside mine. “Let me give you a ride home, Rick. I know you won’t be driving.”

  “Thanks, but I’d rather get a cab.” I take out my iPhone, but Jadie puts a restraining hand over it.

  “Let me give you a ride home. What the hell are you so afraid of?”

  I looked around at the room where people were milling back and forth, getting ready to leave or talking to police officers. More than a few had shifted their attention to Jadie and I. Some were taking pictures with their damn camera phones. “We’re being filmed already, kid. The fallout from the two deaths tonight on top of that meth lab bust and fatality is going to be all over the media from here to New York, especially with a movie star like Karen involved. We don’t need to add more exposure from me being filmed getting into your car.”

  Jadie scanned the room, realizing I was right. Her lips pursed into an agitated frown. “I don’t give a shit, Rick. Grow a pair for God’s sake. I’m only giving you a ride home. Let them all think what they like.”

  Funny how I can go from ‘Killer’ Cantelli to ‘Grow a Pair’ Cantelli in the space of an hour. I laughed and shrugged. “Okay, princess, give me a ride home. We’ll let the media have their field day tomorrow.”

  Jadie turned bright red. “Sorry, Rick. That wasn’t right and I know it.”

  I took her arm, escorting her toward the exit. “No need to haul it out again. Lo gives me a daily dose of my shortcomings. I’m afraid with the way things have been happening recently, Karma is riding me hard. On the bright side, the workout tonight in your class really helped my back. On the downside, I’m going for the all time record kills by a civilian in a six month stretch of time. I know it’s hard to believe, but Madigan and Cantelli Security and Investigations has had very little to do with dead bodies. As Lois will be happy to tell you, it dates back to my old high school girlfriend’s arrival. It turned the cosmic balance upside down.”

  We passed through the police throng, from whom I received uneasy smiles and waves of acknowledgement. This was their way of silently saying ‘dead man walking’.

  “I don’t know what the hell it is about you, Rick.” Jadie shook my arm peevishly. “I can’t stop thinking about you. Half the reason I bought into the restaurant partnership was so I could see you more often than workout class. You’re making me mental!”

  “Lois tells me the same thing every ten minutes we’re together. You can have any guy you want. Why waste your time with a gnarly old geezer like me. I know you’re not goofy enough to think I plan on starting a family. C’mon, I have to stop by my GMC and get something.”

  “Staley took your gun, and you have a spare, right?”

  Perceptive. I’ll give her that. “Correcto. With my luck lately, we’ll be hijacked on the way to my house.”

  I opened the back of my GMC, and retrieved a .45 caliber auto from the small safe I built under the floor cover along with the extra clip. We headed toward Jadie’s Lexus next after I stuck the auto into my Ruger holster – not a great fit, but it won’t be there long.

  “You like old movies. Have you ever seen the movie ‘Breezy’ with William Holden and Kay Lenz?”

  We reached her Lexus while I was still pondering whether to get into make believe with her. I decided it wasn’t going to get me in any deeper than I already was. It might illustrate a point I had until now been unable to get across. I opened her door for her after she beeped the unlock signal. She slipped inside, smiling smugly at me as if she had already scored a win when I didn’t answer. Jadie also decided to give me a peak with legs spreading and dress lifting into Cantelli no-no land. Damn it!

  After I shut her door and strode around to the passenger seat, I noticed she had not straightened her dress out. I entered with my heart in my throat, and lust
tearing the crap out of my better sense. I buckled my seatbelt and looked out the window. “I’m not speaking to you until your dress is fixed, Ms. Wentworth.”

  The rustle of clothing accompanied by disgusted clucking noises heralded a slightly more modest situation. “Well? Did you see the movie?”

  I straightened around again. “I saw it. A woman wrote the script, Clint Eastwood directed it, and William Holden said it was the most uncomfortable part he ever played.”

  “Leave it to you to recite the only downer attached to the damn movie. I’ll bet Kay Lenz loved the role and the movie. It made her a star.”

  “So you think I can make you a star, huh?”

  “That’s not what I meant, Rick, and you know it. I loved that movie. Remember what she tells William Holden when he comes back for her?”

  “Five good years. Yeah, I remember. That’s not the way it works in real life. I remember how simple everything seemed at your age. I’ve done things between that age and this that would make you piss your panties.”

  Jadie started the Lexus. “You’d be surprised at what makes me wet my panties big boy. You and I could be real friends, Rick.”

  “I thought we were real friends, kid. We’re partners in a lucrative business. I work out at your fitness joint, and you try to make me into a child predator at every opportunity.”

  “Prick!”

  I’ll give her a little credit. “I liked the movie, mostly because William Holden was incredible as a real life guy not wanting to get involved with a young woman thirty years his junior. Sure, in make believe land, Holden and Lenz could walk off into the sunset with the dog and visions of five years of a beautiful affair. Holden was playing a real estate agent. I’ve been a P.I. for a long time, kid. It doesn’t work like that, and I’d have to be in the midst of dementia to forget how things really happen.”