by Ali Vali
Cain put her bag on the table. “Funny, she scares the shit out of me at times. You were right, he isn’t very smart.”
“More like an asshole who’s made a living as a leech,” Remi said to Cain, then turned to Bob. “Before we begin let me ask you something. Are you right- or left- handed?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Bob was getting louder and his speech was getting faster.
“Because I can start with your dominant hand or not. The choice is yours.”
“Right-handed.”
“See, that wasn’t too hard, was it? What we’re going to play tonight is like a version of twenty questions my father taught me. It’s a little messy but it gets results, and that’s what we’re here for. I’m going to ask you questions, and if you’re lying or you get it wrong then,” she paused and clipped off the tip of the cigar in her hand with the golden clippers for emphasis, “I’m going to start cutting your fingers off at each joint until you tell the truth or get it right. Any questions before we begin?”
“You’re kidding me, right? I’m not falling for that bluff,” Bob told her with a nervous laugh.
“Remi never bluffs,” Cain said. “It’s what makes her such a good gambler.”
“Ready to play?” Remi asked without any humor. “Don’t worry. I’m going to save your right hand for last so you can sign the papers Cain mentioned. Last chance, Bob. I’m not fucking around. We can skip all this if you sign.”
“You don’t listen very well, do you? This is what I’m going to do. As soon as I leave here, I’m going to drive to the closest rag and give them an exclusive on the past life of one Dallas Montgomery, aka Katie Moores. I’m sure her mug shot from when she got caught shoplifting will make a wonderful cover, and the skin flick she was in won’t make ET, but the copies I own will be worth a fortune.” Before he could continue, Cain placed the mug shot and a copy of the video on the table in front of Remi.
“Is this what you’re talking about?”
“Those are mine. Give them back,” he yelled, sounding like a small child whose favorite toy had been taken away. He moved to grab the stuff, but Cain was quicker. She stood and yanked him back by the hair, but it was the knife biting into his neck that stopped him cold. “If you try that again I’m going to gut you like a fish. Do you understand me?” Cain asked. He nodded his head, apparently too afraid to speak.
“Bob, I’m going to repay you every unkindness you ever heaped on Dallas, and so you know, I’m going to enjoy every moment of it. Are there any other documents I need to collect from you?” Remi asked.
“Yes, bitch, and I’m never going to tell you where they are.” He watched her pick up the clippers and slip her fingers into the appropriate holes. “You don’t have the guts to carry this out.”
“What makes us better than the animals, Dickey?”
“Our ability to forgive and forget.”
“Funny, who knew you had a sense of humor, but sadly that’s a wrong answer. I did warn you what would happen if you answered untruthfully or wrong, didn’t I? The right answer would be opposable thumbs, Dickey.” With that said, she squeezed the blade shut. Just as quickly the agonizing scream that pierced the silence of the ancient swamp scared the sleeping white egrets off the branches overhead with loud squawks.
“Wait,” Bob said, his voice raspy as Remi moved the clippers to his index finger. He seemed to be the only one horrified that his left thumb was sitting on the table. “Just wait.”
“It’s simple, like I said. Give me the information I want and this ends,” Remi said, squeezing the clippers enough to touch the first segment of his finger.
“Why don’t you leave me and Dallas alone? We were fine until you came along.” He screamed just as loud when the tip of his finger landed on the table. “You won’t get away with this.”
Cain grabbed his hand as he tried to pull it back and slammed it back in front of Remi. “Do you think that’s what Dallas would say if she were here?” Cain asked. “That she was fine working to hand over the lion’s share to you? Because from what my people found in your house, that’s exactly what’s happened. She’s worked her ass off and owns nothing in her name, but that can’t be said of you, can it?”
“She wanted it that way. Dallas wanted me to look out for her and her money.” The next segment of his finger came off as he finished, leaving only the nub up from the knuckle.
“That one might be a guess on my part, but I don’t think you were telling the truth,” Remi said as she moved the clippers up close to his palm. “Did you set up anything else for Dallas that I need to know about? Think long and hard, because you have only so many chances to get it right before we move on to the next body part that’ll fit in this hole.” She squeezed the clippers a bit to make him realize what she was talking about. “Like I said, we’ll leave that right hand for last, but the rest is on the chopping block, as it were.”
A few hours later the group took a much slower boat ride with a now-whimpering Bob in tow. Heading out into the blackness of the swamp and into the hunting grounds Emil used, Remi had him finally cut the engines. She slapped Bob on the face a couple of times to focus his attention and have her last conversation with him. “Wakey, wakey, Bob.”
“What? Leave me alone. I told you everything you wanted to know, now leave me alone.”
“One more question.” He was already covered in sweat and started shaking at the question. “Can you swim?”
“Yes,” he answered quickly, since stalling only caused instant pain even if the answer was correct.
“Good, since we had an agreement. I’m not going to kill you, but this is where we part ways. If you make it back to shore you’re free to go, and I’ll let you keep the money you have in the bank. But if you so much as look in Dallas’s direction again I’ll make you pray to die. Do we understand each other?”
“Yes, ma’am, we do.”
“Good. Then strip down.”
“You want me naked?”
“It’ll help you stay afloat, trust me.” Bob stood up, holding his hands to his chest, and jumped off the front of the boat.
Emil revved up the motor again but kept it slow enough that Nick could keep up in the mud boat he was steering. At Remi’s feet was the bag with the remnants of a sad little girl born to a sadist. Katie Moores and her sister Sue Lee would finally disappear into the smoke of Dallas’s fireplace as soon as she got back. Cain had put a copy of Dallas’s first acting job on her back in the bag, but she had destroyed the other five hundred copies she found at Bob’s place.
“Remind me never to piss you off,” Cain said in a loud-enough voice to be heard over the engine.
“He got what he deserved.”
“True. He’ll be meeting some of Emil’s future boot material before he has a chance to get his hair wet.”
The marina came into view and Emil slowed down so he could back into his slip. Cain got out first and helped Remi onto the dock. “Give Dallas my best, and if there’s anything else having to do with this business that’ll bury it once and for all, make me your first call.”
“You’re a good friend,” Remi said, putting her arms around Cain as best she could.
“One who cares about you, so keep your head down while your father and I finish our expedition. Jorge took Nunzio’s money, so he’ll keep coming until he finishes the job. Next time he’ll probably vary from his usual shot and make it through the head. I don’t want that on mine, so stay at Dallas’s until we take care of that.”
Remi followed her to the cars, the click of her and Emil’s boots echoing. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help?”
“Stay inside and start on Marianna’s grandchildren,” Cain said with a smile. “That’s it. If I see you out, I’ll kick your ass myself.”
“That sounds like a hardship, but okay. What are you going to be doing?”
Cain opened the passenger door of the truck Lou had driven down and leaned against it. “I have the edges of my p
uzzle put together. Now I have to fill in the middle.”
“Sounds interesting.”
“You can’t see the whole picture until you fill in the middle. Once I do, it’ll make tonight appear tame.”
Remi shook hands with her and closed the door once Cain was seated. As Lou pulled away slowly, something her father had always told her about Cain came to mind. Cain’s word was as good as a signed contract. That was why Ramon had done business with her. So Remi wondered what was in store for Juan Luis and Nunzio Luca.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure they’d pick hungry alligators over it.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
“Are you sure he’s not in there?” Muriel asked for the fifth time.
Katlin was working the lock, but stopped when Muriel asked again. “If you want, you can wait for me in the car. He’s not here, and after driving around with you for the last three hours, I can tell you a certain cute FBI agent isn’t waiting outside to cuff you and take you in.”
“Is it a crime to want to be sure?”
The door opened and Katlin laughed softly. “No, but if you step through there it is. From crack lawyer to someone breaking and entering. My, how far you’ve come, Muriel.”
The apartment was dark and smelled musty, as if Anthony Curtis hadn’t been there in weeks. Though the place was small, Muriel could tell right off where he did like to spend time when he was home. A cleared space on the couch faced the television that was far too big for the space, and five beer bottles were lined up on the desk shoved into the corner.
“Okay, we’re in. What are we looking for?” Katlin asked.
“I’ll do the searching and you make sure no one’s coming.”
“Should I practice my birdcalls as a warning?”
Muriel closed the door and glared at Katlin. “That’s not funny. Go through the bedroom and see if you can find anything having to do with Cain, the family, or Anthony’s new friends, the Luis family.”
“I’m sorry.” Katlin squeezed her shoulder in comfort. “Just relax and we’ll be out of here faster.”
Muriel scanned the room to see if anything jumped out at her, but all she noticed was that Anthony was a slob, no matter how neat he appeared in public. The man in the pressed suits and shiny shoes didn’t quite fit with the condition of this place. She sat at his desk and tried to go through the drawers without moving too much around, but they were so overfilled he’d probably never suspect anyone had been there.
It wasn’t until she called Katlin to unlock the top right-hand drawer that Muriel found any order to the madness that was Anthony’s life. There in neat files was what she was looking for. His bank records, retirement funds, and investments were in color-coded binders, and at the back were his social security number and birth certificate. For someone in law enforcement to have such sensitive information all in one place was crazy, but very considerate since that’s what she was after.
Carefully holding a pen light in her mouth, she copied the numbers she needed in order, so she could put the pages back as she’d found them. When she got to the last folder, she fell back in the chair and was tempted to turn on the light to fully appreciate what she’d found. She rifled through pictures and meticulous notes of Cain and her schedule whenever he’d tailed her, all dated. The follow-up notes revealed different patterns he was working out regarding Cain. Most of them were from when Anthony was still with Shelby and her team, but the last ones had come after his supposed suspension.
“Find something?” Katlin asked.
Muriel held up the last picture in the file—of Cain the night she’d had dinner with Remi and Dallas at the Steak Knife. Cain was laughing at something Emma had probably told her, and Anthony had drawn a red circle with an x through her head.
“What do you think this means?” Muriel asked.
“Our boy’s got a bigger crush than we thought. What other pictures did you find?”
Muriel took the file from the drawer and let Katlin flip through it. He must have collected most of the stuff when he was off duty, which could only mean that his hate ran deep. Katlin stopped when she got to a photo of Emma alone, or as alone as Emma ever was. She was standing outside Mr. B’s restaurant in the French Quarter, and she and Merrick were waiting for the car to be brought out. Emma had just finished having lunch with Marianna Jatibon, since the two served on a committee to raise money for Children’s Hospital.
“Cain, I understand, but why this one?” Katlin asked.
“The ones of Cain feed his appetite, but Emma has to do with his new boss. This one was recent, though, and Juan’s supposedly gone.”
A car door slammed outside, and Katlin quickly handed the file back to Muriel and stepped to the window. Anthony lived on the third floor of an old building uptown, which gave them the amount of time it would take him to climb the steps to get out, since he was heading in quickly.
“Put the file back exactly where you found it,” Katlin ordered, then set out to lock the drawer. That one had been easy, but the ancient deadbolt on the door had been another matter. “Wait a floor up for me,” she told Muriel, “and don’t come down no matter what.”
She had unscrewed the light on the second-floor landing and heard his footsteps slow down, but still the damn lock wouldn’t turn. “Great, it’s like some Hitchcock movie,” she muttered to herself as she turned the picks trying to catch the locking device until finally feeling the satisfying click.
With her fingers to her lips, she stared at Muriel and stood just at the top of the steps leading to the fourth floor. If Anthony glanced up, he couldn’t miss them.
She stood still as Anthony stopped but didn’t hear the sound of the key going into his lock. His breathing, though, was hard to miss. He was puffing so hard he sounded like he had run a mile as fast as he could instead of having climbed several flights of stairs. Then he slammed his hand into the doorjamb and laughed.
Slowly, as if Anthony could hear the sound of fabric rubbing on fabric, Katlin raised her hand and stuck it in her jacket, resting it on the butt of her gun. The last thing she wanted was to shoot him, but she wanted to be prepared. When he finally unlocked the door and went inside, she brought it down just as slowly. It didn’t take long for the muffled noise of the television to filter out to the hall.
Katlin turned to leave, but Muriel put her hand on her collar. “Wait.”
“For what?” Katlin asked.
“If he finds anything out of place, he’ll do it in the next five minutes.”
After a while, Muriel pushed on Katlin a little, and they passed the doorway of Anthony’s place just as quietly as they made it down the stairs. If he did notice anything, he was biding his time and not running out to see if the trespassers were still close.
“Are you going to the house, or home?” Muriel asked once they were on the street and walking toward their car parked three blocks away.
“I moved Merrick to your place until this is over, so we’re going in the same direction, don’t worry. I want to wait until tomorrow to tell Cain. It’s late and I’m sure she’s in for the night. This will hold until the morning.”
“But not much longer than that.”
*
Cain entered the house and stood by the back door waiting for her eyes to adjust to the low lighting. She’d skipped dinner when Katlin had gotten back from Bob’s place and showed her what she’d found after an extensive search that had included his attic. That’s where she’d found the boxes of VHS tapes of Dallas’s short stint in the skin-flick business. Sitting on top was the master tape Cain figured Bob had stolen to protect his interests. She’d given it all to Remi when she’d gone to meet her.
“His cash cow was too lucrative to throw to the wolves that prowl the entertainment business,” she said softly as she opened the fridge. Bob and his dirty secrets were gone, making Cain wish she could solve all her problems so easily.
“I made you a sandwich,” Emma said, turning on the light over the stove. “Have a seat and I
’ll get it for you.”
“No hello kiss?”
She set the plate down with a glass of milk and pulled Cain’s chair out for her. “I’d love to, but I just finished throwing up and don’t want to gross you out.”
“What’s wrong?” Cain put her hand to her forehead instantly. “Do you need a doctor?”
“Hannah came home from preschool today feeling queasy, so I’m sure it’s whatever bug she caught there.” Emma kissed her chin and pointed to the chair. “Sit and eat.”
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m fine, but I feel horrible for Carmen. She made her mother’s chicken recipe and thinks that’s what did it.”
They sat together and Emma watched her eat as they talked about their day. As they climbed to the second floor someone walked in and lingered in the foyer.
“Problem, Muriel?” Cain asked, her arm around Emma. She couldn’t see who it was, but guessed it had to be Muriel.
“Just working late.”
“I’m not buying that. Spill it and get up here where I can see you.” Cain kissed Emma on the temple and patted her on the butt to get her moving toward the bedroom. “I’ll be in as soon as I’m done.”
Face to face it didn’t take long for Muriel to tell her story. Cain was grateful she’d sent Emma to their room before Muriel told her about the pictures she’d found. “You didn’t discover anything that’d lead us to Juan?”
“Not yet, but I got everything else you asked for, and someone to carry it out.”
“Who?” Cain asked as she pulled her shirttail from her pants simply to have something to do with her hands.
“Nick. He’s young enough and has the same physical characteristics. In an out-of-the-way location he’ll pass, and he’s not taking away anything. If he was, that might be more of a problem.”
“Tell him to be ready tomorrow.”
Muriel nodded. “He wants a more permanent job close to you.”
“Nick’s a good kid. I’ll talk to him and have him work with Lou whenever possible, but he’s not ready for a spot in our immediate crew yet.”