by Matt Abraham
Monday swallowed. “I’ll ride with her myself.” He turned away.
But I grabbed his shoulder. “Tell them to go slow,” I said. “She always loved to drive.”
Chapter 53
The sun was shining bright and strong the day I buried Doodle. But a soft ocean breeze kept it cool. You could smell cut grass, and the birds were singing in almost every tree.
It was that kind of a day.
I had her laid to rest in Ayers Cemetery. Not on the hill, but next to family, beside my brother, Raymond. And she had a stone right from the start. It was big and white, and inscribed on its face was no black cape handle, but her real name.
Jamie Beatrice Curse.
According to her birth certificate that wasn’t her official title, but it was my call, so I made it.
There were no mourners. No priest. It was just me. And the whole service… You know, I don’t have the words.
After, I stopped at Henchmen’s. Lee was alone, behind the bar. She said, “You look like you need a drink.”
I tossed my hat on the bar and plunked down on a stool. “Octane. Three fingers.”
“Think I’ll join you.” She grabbed two glasses and the half full black bottle, and poured one for us both. Then she reached below the bar and pulled a copy of The Chronicle from a few days back. “Here. Thought you might not’ve picked up a copy with everything that happened and all.” She shook her head. “You see that headline? Hero Cop Saves Coconut. Can you believe it? He got all the credit.”
I looked at the front page. It was a shot of Monday, coming through Crush’s demolished wall, with thick streams of smoke rising all around him, and my daughter and the Coconut in his arms.
It was a nice picture. He looked heroic.
“Says he’ll get a medal, and a promotion to the SPECs,” Lee said. “Apparently he’s the first cop to do that.”
“He deserves it. He’s a good man.”
“Well, we all know who the real hero is. Dane Curse. Killer of Scourge and Gunmetal Gray. The man who beat Al Mighty in a straight up scrap. The PI who never turned rat and always closes the case. I’ll tell you kid, your business is going to be booming.” Lee lifted her glass up. “To the Dane Curse Detective Agency.”
I lifted mine. “To Doodle.”
“And to Doodle.” Lee took a sip of her Octane and pulled a face.
I just looked at my shot. “I got one question, Lee.”
“Is it why we drink this stuff, because I don’t have the answer.”
“No,” I said. “It’s how?”
She looked at me with those grandma eyes. “How what?”
“How are you going to sit there, smiling at me for the next few years, knowing you set my kid up to catch a slug in her neck without ever feeling nothing?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t. There were photos of me at that holed-up house. From my first day on the case. And the only people who knew I was working it that soon were Widow,” I said, “and you.”
Lee’s face slid an inch. She put her drink down. And dropped both hands to her sides.
I whipped out Lois. And pointed her at Lee, real threatening like. “You don’t want to try anything, moms. I’m not in one of those live and let moods.”
She looked down my pistol’s gullet. “So it’s like that?”
“Oh yeah.” With my glare I bore two holes through her face. “It’s exactly like that.”
She sighed. “Kid. That rock. It’s like I said before, sparkle struck. You know I’ve always wanted it. Finally the urge got the best of me.”
“So when Bundy got out of prison you had him put together a team.”
“All he needed to get it going was more dough. And my inside intel on Wentorf Hall. All of it of course, not just the parts I told you.”
“Yeah, but he also needed Dread Division out of the way,” I said. “So Scourge would return, and put your intel to work.”
She couldn’t look me in the eye. “Yeah.”
“Was it your idea to set them up?”
“No, I wouldn’t-”
“Don’t.” I clicked on Lois. She glowed an angry green, and wrapped herself around my arm like a cobra. “You’re about to be singing with angels or screaming with demons, and neither one likes lies.”
“It wasn’t my idea. I swear. But he said we needed Scourge so I went along with it. It was easy enough. One night Subatomic comes in and I sat him down, told him he couldn’t trust his usual fence. Then I vouched for Bundy who paid out the dough the cops provided.”
“And that’s why you shot him. So he wouldn’t implicate you.”
“Yeah.” She stared at her feet, probably trying to imagine what hell was like.
“And what about Doodle?”
“Damn your ex. We had the diamond free and clear. Vector was supposed to make the handoff to Scourge and Bundy outside Wetlands so they could stash it up at North Point. Only I’m guessing Tera figured out what we had, then she and your kid stole it before blowing the place up, and setting this whole thing off.” Lee looked up at me. There were tears. “But I promise you, I never wanted any of this to happen. I tried to warn you off, and-”
“You were like a mother to me. You know that? I loved you.”
She stood dumb. And nodded slow. “So what now? You going to kill me?”
I thought of everyone I’d lost the last few days. I thought of those I’d lose soon. And still I wanted to. So bad. But even though I can lift seven tons on any day that ends with y, there are some things you just can’t carry. So I holstered my iron. “No.”
She sighed and relaxed. “So what now?”
I stood up and drank my shot. “Now you sell this bar.”
“What?” Her eyes nearly leapt out of her skull. “Why would I-”
“You’re going to sell this bar and leave town. Today.”
“But where will I go?”
“Don’t care. Go to Saint Luthor’s. Go to Australia. It doesn’t matter. But you don’t get to stay planted in this burg. You’re a turn cape, Lee. You set up Dread Division, killed Widow’s brother, and ripped my daughter from my arms when I almost had them around her again. So yeah, you got to go. And wherever you choose you won’t be coming back.”
“What if I do? Come back I mean.”
I seized her Octane, drank it, and slammed it on the bar. The glass shattered and Lee flinched.
“If you set foot back in this town I’ll find you and kill you. And if you doubt it, just ask Scourge. Ask Swamp. Ask the feared and fearsome Gunmetal Gray.” I grabbed my hat and walked towards the exit.
“Dane,” Lee called out. “They’re all dead.”
The red curtains in front of me slid open. I stopped. Put on my hat. And said, “You’re God damn right.”
#
When I arrived at my office building I plodded up the steps, prepared for the worst. I got the impression that before we made peace Monday had my place hollowed out and stacked neat in the evidence locker at precinct one-seven-who-cares. And I didn’t want to see it that way. I’d never wanted to see what Carl built that way.
So when I got to the fourth floor I trudged down the hall in no big hurry. But when I stepped through the hologram, my office lights were on. Inside were the unfamiliar clicks of fast work on a keyboard. I pushed the door open and stepped inside. “Oh my God,” I said. “It’s you.”
Widow was at the reception desk. Gone were her black threads, replaced with a yellow suit. And all four hands were on two keyboards, doing the busy fidget. “It is. And I have to say that detective work is right up your alley if you can figure that out with a single glance.”
I closed the door and hung up my coat and hat. “I solved your case by the way. Sorry I haven’t gotten back with the details sooner. It’s just that I had a lot of-”
“It’s ok. I know. Everybody knows,” she said. “And thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Yeah.” I thought about the last few days. And what it cost me. But I shoo
k those thoughts from my head and looked down at her. “So what’re you doing here?”
“When I stopped by to drop off the vial of anti-venom I ran into Mrs. West. And we talked.”
“So?”
Widow stopped typing and looked up at me. “She made this post sound not half bad. Especially compared to what I’ve been dealing with. So when she offered it, I accepted.”
“What about the Spinnerettes?”
“I know.” Widow leaned back and tapped her chin. “What about them?”
For the first time in days I laughed. “Ok. But you’re overqualified.”
Widow shrugged all four of her shoulders. “I need a job, and you got a vacancy. Now are we going to do this or are you going to give me trouble?”
I opened my mouth to say something, but I had no idea what, so I closed it and nodded. “Fine by me. But I’m betting you’ll be bored in-”
The phone rang. Widow held up a finger and snatched the receiver. “Hello, you’ve reached the Dane Curse Detective Agency. Yes, that’s correct, he’s the one. May I ask who’s calling? And what’s this in reference to? Thanks so much, hold one moment please.” She turned to me. “It’s a woman, says she’s Landslide’s girlfriend and wants you to find his killer. Says she needs help. What should I tell her?”
I looked at the door. The glass read the same way she answered the phone, Dane Curse Detective Agency. Carl’s name was gone. Now it was my turn to show this town who I was, and what was important to me.
I turned to Widow. “Tell her if she needs help to come right in. Tell her that’s exactly what we do.”
- The End -
Dear Reader,
Thanks so much for taking this trip with me and the denizens of Gold Coast City, I hope you enjoyed the ride. Before you leave though, I’m afraid I have to ask for a favor. Indie authors like me rely heavily on reviews from readers like you. If they’re positive it helps drive sales, if they’re critical it offers an opportunity to improve the next book, but mostly this feedback lets others know if the story’s right for them. So please, however you felt about your time with Dane, I would appreciate it if you’d share your opinion on Amazon.com, and thanks again. We hope to see you back in Gold Coast City soon.
Other Black Cape Case Files
Dane Curse
Old Iron
Grace Killer
Gangland