by Mike Faricy
Swindle pulled into a parking place, scraping the side of someone’s car in the process. An alarm sounded on the car and she backed out of the spot then hurriedly pulled into another spot a row over. I was pretty sure she’d been talking to Bulldog. At least I thought it was probably a safe guess once I saw her black eye.
“Swindle,” I called and then hurried to cut her off before she made it to the ‘Employee’s Only’ door. The car alarm continued to chirp.
She attempted to dodge me and go around the far side of another car, but I was too fast and caught up to her.
“Hold on, Swindle, I just wanted to talk to you for a moment.”
“Not really interested, sweetheart,” she said then looked at me and said, “Hey, I know you, don’t I? How’d you know my name?”
“Yeah, Swindle, it’s me, Dev Haskell. I was buying you some shots the other night, hoping to get a little more personal, but it didn’t quite work out.”
“There’s always tonight, Denny.”
“What’s with the eye?” I asked.
“Oh nothing, a little misunderstanding is all, someone thinking wrong, or just not thinking at all.”
“Your friend Bulldog?”
“That son-of-a-bitch better watch it if he knows what’s good for him. Accusing me of stealing. I got no idea what in the hell he’s even talking about.”
“I heard he’s been shaking down a lot of folks.”
“Not you, too. Why is everyone suddenly interested in Bulldog? First it was Tubby, then that young fool that was the bouncer.”
“Fat Freddy?”
“That’s the one. Why all the sudden interest in Bulldog? Ungrateful is what he is, he ain’t getting’ anymore from me after the other night, that’s for damn sure. He’s cut off as far as I’m concerned. Not that he was any good at gettin’ it up, anyway. Look, we should maybe link up after, I’ll give you a discount, but I’m on in a couple of minutes. All them suits just can’t seem to get enough of old Cougar. What’d you say your name was again?”
“Dev.”
“I’ll remember that and I’ll be looking for you in there, Des. You just remember to tip me real nice now, hear?”
“Yeah, Swindle, I’ll do that.”
She headed toward the ‘Employee’s Only’ door, unbuttoning her blouse along the way. She punched in a code on the key pad and by the time she had the door open the blouse was hanging over her arm. She’d just begun to undo her belt when the door closed behind her.
As I walked back to my car I thought, ‘Well, there was my answer, Bulldog was still looking.’ The car she scraped was chirping intermittently now. I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go so I headed down to The Spot.
Chapter Forty-Five
I hadn’t been at the bar for very long and for all practical purposes I’d been behaving myself. Mike was bartending and I was content to sip and just think. Casey was due back in town tomorrow and after seeing Swindle sporting a black eye I had fresh concerns. I had just signaled Mike for another when my phone rang.
“Haskell Investigations.”
“Dev?”
It was Heidi and she sounded frightened. I really didn’t feel like dealing with another mouse. “Yeah, Heidi, what’s up?”
A rough voice snarled across the phone, “You better get your ass over here if you ever want to enjoy your little friend, again.”
The juke box was playing. People were talking and laughing. Mike was sliding a fresh pint across the bar to me. I was unaware of everything except Bulldog on the other end of the phone.
“I’m coming, so help me, you touch her and I’ll kill you.”
“Sure you will,” Bulldog laughed. “Better hurry or we’re gonna start without you,” he said then hung up.
I left Mike holding the beer with a shocked look on his face and ran to my car. I pulled a U-turn across Randolph and blasted through the red light on the corner. I was climbing the hill, doing about sixty on the city street and picking up speed. At the Lexington stoplight I veered into the right turn only lane, gave a quick look then shot through another red light. I figured Bulldog heard me from a block away as I skidded around the corner then screeched to a stop halfway up the block in front of Heidi’s house. There was a long green Jaguar parked across the street. I was pretty sure it was the same vehicle Fat Freddy slit the tire on the other day after he stole Bulldog’s protection money.
I hurried out of my car and ran across the front lawn pulling the pistol out of my belt as I went. The front door was wide open and all the lights in the house were off. I jumped up the front steps, stepped inside and then waited. My heart was pounding so loudly I couldn’t hear anything else. My eyes began to grow accustomed to the dark and I could begin to make out the shapes of living room furniture.
“Maybe just set the piece on that table against the wall,” a voice growled from a far corner. I could just barely make out two figures, it looked like Bulldog had Heidi on his lap.
“Are you okay, Heidi?”
“Just do like I said or the bitch is going to get it.”
“Let her go, Bulldog. She can’t help you with whatever it is you want.”
“This is the last time I’m telling you, dumb shit. Put that gun down or your girlfriend is going to have a great big hole in her pretty little head.”
“It’s down, Bulldog, I’m putting it down,” I said and set the pistol on the small table then I turned to face Bulldog and raised my hands.
“Move away from that table,” he said.
“Are you okay, Heidi?”
“She might be coming with me, Haskell. I kind of like the way we seem to fit together,” he laughed then bounced her on his lap and grabbed her chest.
A slight sound seemed to escape from her lips.
“I’m looking for something I lost, Haskell. Your name keeps coming up.”
“If you mean that protection money, I heard that was Fat Freddy. I didn’t have anything to do with that.”
“Except drive the truck, I seen ya, you were there helping him. You think I’m stupid? We’ll get to that money later. Right now, I think you know what the hell I’m talking about.”
“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“Oh really, maybe this’ll refresh your memory,” he said then hit Heidi across the back of her head. She fell off his lap with a groan, he quickly reached down and pulled her head up by the hair and then held on.
“I’m really running out of patience here, Haskell. I could use a little cooperation from you right about now,” he said then yanked Heidi again by her hair.
“I already told you, I got no idea what in the hell you’re talking about.”
“Oh, really? Funny, ain’t it? Everyone I talked to so far said pretty much the same thing. The difference was they were so scared to death they were shitting themselves. You on the other hand, I got a feeling you know. You’re just such a stupid son-of-a-bitch you think you can play me.”
“If I knew what you wanted I’d give it to you, honest. But I don’t know, I don’t.” I made my voice sound pleading hoping he’d buy it.
“Bullshit, you know what I’m talking about, it was in a nylon bag. And I’m through playing games with you. You think you’re so fucking smart? Someone tried to be cute and sent Tubby a currency band in the mail. So I asked myself, now, who in the hell would know to send that to Tubby? Most of the folks I talked to can’t see much past their next drink or score. They only read about Tubby in the papers, they’ve never seen him, wouldn’t know a hell of a lot about him and certainly wouldn’t know that Jackie Van Dorn was his attorney. What sort of asshole do you think would know that sort of thing?”
“I was talking to Van Dorn about a real estate matter. That’s all. Its common knowledge the only client he has is Tubby. Hell, I got that information from the cops.”
“A real estate matter. Hear that, baby doll?” he said then yanked Heidi’s hair again and she gave a sort of yelp.
“Just let her go, I
’ll do anything you want.”
“You know what I want, Haskell, that bag, get it.”
“Let her go, Bulldog I don’t know anything about a bag.”
“When I get what’s mine, then you get her back. Until then, we’re just gonna sit back and party, aren’t we, baby?” he said then ran a pistol along the side of Heidi’s face and kissed her on the top of the head.
Heidi let out a small groan.
“You got till noon tomorrow then all bets are off. You can just contact me on your little fuck-buddies phone. You or anyone else shows up here unannounced and you can kiss her nice firm ass goodbye. Now get out of here before I change my mind.”
“Bulldog, I don’t…”
“You heard me, get the hell out of here,” he shouted.
I turned to go then slowly began to reach for the pistol I placed on the table.
“Leave it and get out of here now or so help me.”
“Just go, Dev, and do whatever he wants, please.” Heidi cried.
“You heard the lady, dumb ass, get moving.”
Chapter Forty-Six
I walked out to my car and drove off. I parked two blocks away then ran back down the alley to Heidi’s. There was a light on in one of the guest rooms on the second floor, but other than that the house was dark. I crept through the neighbor’s garden to the front of the house, the door had been closed.
Even if I had a key I wouldn’t be able to get in and surprise him, and then there was the matter of Heidi’s safety. I planned to be at the bank in the morning as soon as they opened up.
I was pretty sure I was safe from Bulldog for the rest of the night so I attempted to sleep at Casey’s. Attempted is the operative word, I didn’t sleep a wink. At just before sunrise I went down to the office and pulled the .38 and the blue nylon bag out of my desk drawer. Then I set about cutting reams of paper into the size of twenty dollar bills. I placed a twenty on the top and bottom of each stack and ran a length of blue masking tape Casey’s contractor had left behind around each bundle. When it was finished it looked sort of convincing, maybe, if you didn’t look too closely. I took the remaining bundle of twenties from my pocket and ran a length of tape around it then hauled everything including the corrugated wine box out to my car.
I phoned Bulldog on Heidi’s phone about 9:30.
“Haskell?” he answered.
“Let me speak to Heidi, I want to make sure she’s all right.”
“She’s fine, can’t wipe the smile off her face after all the fun we had last night. Didn’t we have a good time, sweetheart? Too bad you couldn’t join us, Haskell,” he laughed.
“Let me talk to her or you won’t see a cent of this money.”
That seemed to get his attention, because suddenly she was on the line. “Dev?”
“Are you okay, Heidi?”
“Yeah,” she said, but she sounded like she was ready to burst into tears.
“There, happy, asshole?” Bulldog said.
“Here’s what we’re going to do, Bulldog. I want you…”
“I’m the one telling you how this is gonna go down, you piece of shit.”
“No, I don’t think so, I’m the guy with your money. When I pull up I want you to let her go. She can get in her car and drive away. I’ll stay in her place.”
“I said…”
“And I said all you’re interested in is your money. So shut up and you’ll get it. I just want her out of there. I’ll call you when I’m out in front,” I said and hung up. Then I waited for two very long minutes staring at my phone to see if it would ring. It didn’t.
I pulled in behind Bulldog’s Jaguar fifteen minutes later. I got out, opened the back door, took out the blue nylon bag and placed it on the roof of my car. I walked around the side of the house to Heidi’s back door and called her phone.
“I seen ya pull up, what the hell are you doing in back?”
“I told you before, I want you to let her go.”
“Get your ass to the front and we’ll talk about it.”
“No, I want her at the back door, she can leave and you got me to beat up or kill or whatever makes you happy. But just let her go or you get nothing. I’m only going to wait one minute. Then I’m leaving.”
“I’ll blow your God damn brains out,” he screamed into the phone.
“Go ahead, but then you may not get your money, fifty-fifty shot, Bulldog, after waiting all this time are you willing to gamble?” I said then hung up.
I heard the front door open and thought ‘Oh no, he didn’t go for it.’ But then, just as he was coming down the steps a vehicle pulled in front of the house across the street and Bulldog quickly walked around the side toward me. He was grasping Heidi firmly by the arm and holding a pistol against her rib cage. She had a wild look on her face.
“Just let her go, Bulldog. Just let her walk out the back gate.”
“You go get that bag and bring it up here, then we’ll see.”
“Nope. I’ve learned the hard way I can’t trust you. I got something for you, though. Just to show you I’m on the level. It’s in my front pocket, I’m gonna take it out so don’t shoot me.”
“What the hell is it?”
“Can I get in my pocket? Just watch, I promise no tricks,” I said then reached in carefully and slowly pulled out the bundle of twenties with the blue masking tape around it.
At first he just stared, but then his eyes brightened as I held the bundle of cash out toward him.
“Just to show you it’s all for real, Bulldog. Now, just let her go. This is the bundle I took the band from and sent to Tubby. The rest of the cash is in that bag, so just let her go.”
Bulldog looked at me and attempted to smile then snatched the cash out of my hand and stuffed it in his pocket. He grabbed onto Heidi again before either one of us realized what he’d done. “I gotta say, you really are one stupid, dumb son-of-a-bitch. Now I got the both of you and I got the gun. You so much as blink and she get’s it first.”
“But, I thought we had a deal.”
“Shut the fuck up and lets go down and see what’s in that bag. You first, dumb shit.” Then he motioned with his pistol toward my car. I was trying to come up with an escape plan and failing miserably. Heidi shot a look at me that was a combination of fear and the promise she would kill me as soon as she got the chance.
For the first time, I noticed the vehicle parked across the street was a shiny black pickup with chrome letters just behind the front wheel that said F-350, 4 x 4. It had dual rear wheels and very large mud flaps.
“That’s far enough,” Bulldog said as I crossed the sidewalk. We were all standing on the boulevard, gathered around my car like we were just saying a friendly little goodbye. “Get that thing off the roof of your car and open it up,” he said then half motioned with his pistol again, not that I needed a reminder.
I pulled the bag off the roof of the car and unzipped it. If he looked closely at the bundles he was liable to shoot the both of us. I dropped the bag on the boulevard and took half a step back.
“Oh, my God,” Heidi said.
Bulldog motioned with the pistol for me to step back further, he chuckled as he stared down at the bag and growled, “It’s about God damn time.” Then he reached down to fan one of the bundles and I knew we were screwed.
“Wait a minute what the hell is…”
But he never finished, the rear door flew open, catching Bulldog across the top of his skull with a dull thunk and sending him backwards onto the sidewalk, unconscious.
Fat Freddy pried himself out of my back seat holding a pistol. “Woo-hoo-hoo. You guys see that? I got him. How’s it feel, Bulldog? Happy?” he said then kicked Bulldog on the chin, picked up his pistol and shoved it into his belt. “God, does that ever feel good.”
“Freddy where in the hell did you come from?”
“You kidding, I been following you for almost three days. I thought she was maybe Bulldog’s main squeeze or something, but I guess I was wrong on tha
t.”
Heidi looked ready to kill.
Bulldog started to move his head back and forth and Freddy handed me a pistol then ran across the street to the truck. He came back with a pair of handcuffs and quickly rolled Bulldog half over and cuffed his hands behind his back. Bulldog growled as he began to regain consciousness.
“Maybe you could help me get him in the back of the truck here would you, Dev?”
“Will he stay back there, is it safe?” I asked as we hoisted Bulldog up onto his feet and began to walk him across the street. He was still groggy from the blow to his head and he staggered.
Freddy lowered the rear gate on the truck and we threw Bulldog up onto the bed like so much dead weight. Then Freddy climbed up, grabbed Bulldog by the collar and dragged him toward the front of the truck. He took a chain attached to the back of cab and wrapped it around Bulldog’s neck three or four times. “There, that should hold him,” he said.
“Will he be able to breathe?”
“Really not my problem, pal. You mind following me, just in case?”
“Yeah, I guess I can do that.” I glanced across the street at Heidi who looked like she was about to have steam come out of her ears. I figured maybe some distance until she cooled down wouldn’t be too bad an idea.
Freddy waddled back across the street and grabbed the blue nylon bag. “Sorry, Dev, but finder’s keepers,” he said then touched the pistol crammed into his belt suggesting ‘Don’t even think of trying anything.’
“Are you a policeman?” Heidi asked.
“Yeah, can’t you tell by the handcuffs? We’re going to take him down to the station, now, aren’t we, Haskell,” Freddy said.
“Give me half a minute here, Freddy.” I said hoping to diffuse the potential eruption from Heidi.
“Are you okay, Heidi?”
“You complete and utter bastard. You got me mixed up in this, this insane situation. Thank God that cop had enough sense to know sooner or later you’d have things all screwed up. Just get the hell out of my sight and don’t you ever, never, ever contact me again. Do you hear me?” she screamed as I backed up and quickly made my way into my car. I locked the doors sensing Heidi might want to be left alone, which, being a caring sensitive guy I understood.