by I N Foggarty
“That’ll do for starters,” the man said, pocketing the coins. “Let’s go somewhere more private.”
Matt followed the man back to Anna’s street where he watched in disbelief as he withdrew a key to Anna’s apartment block and ushered him inside. Like all his previous trips into the building, he walked up two flights to the second floor. Only instead of going to the apartment on the left, the man directed him to the door on the right.
“You live in an apartment yet you asked me for a change!” Matt exclaimed in annoyance. The man beckoned him to come inside.
The door slammed behind him. “Change comes in handy.”
The hallway was unlit but Matt guessed that the apartment’s layout would be a mirror of Anna’s. The not-so-homeless bum wandered past him down the hall and into a room that Matt correctly guessed as being the living room. At least it would have been a correct guess if the room in question could have reasonably been described as such. For nothing about the space suggested that it should have been lived in.
The floorboards were exposed and rubbish lay scattered all around; most of it empty bottles. Two of the walls were uncovered and showing the masonry, while the others had dirty, peeling wallpaper hanging off them. In fact, Matt would not have been surprised if the wallpaper from the first two walls lurked somewhere underneath all the other debris. The furniture was also sparse and unsightly. A pair of unmatched and poorly cut wooden chairs sat on either side of a lopsided coffee table. While an old television sat on a TV tray against one of the walls.
The man sat down and indicated the other chair. “Have a seat.”
When Matt sat down he couldn’t help but remember the stranger danger lessons he had been taught in elementary school. He had absolutely no idea whose company he was in or what they were capable of. Regardless, he’d already crossed the threshold and might as well find out if the man had seen Anna on Friday or not.
“So did you see Anna on Friday?” Matt quickly blurted out.
The man said nothing and Matt watched him pick up a bottle from the table, unscrew the cap and then take a swig. “I’ve seen more than one Anna on a lot more than one Friday night, Kid. Yer gonna have to be more specific.”
Matt cursed internally on hearing the man’s words. Something about the way he had spoken reminded him eerily of Mark and he didn’t like it one bit. Why did he always end up speaking to either the genuinely pedantic people or those that found it fun to play at it? “Did you see Anna, who lives across the hall from you, last Friday?”
The man shrugged his shoulders. “Might have. Course you might want to take anything I say with a bucket of salt.”
“Why?” Matt asked without thinking. His head had started to hurt again and this seemed to be going nowhere.
The man looked him in the eye and took another drink from the bottle. “If you need me to tell you that we’re not gonna get very far here are we.”
He gritted his teeth, great. I’m talking to a self-confessed alcoholic about things that happened three days ago. Maybe I should cut my losses and just leave. Even as the thought filled his mind he found himself responding to this apparent revelation.
“Ok, so your memory might not be perfect….” The man snorted and Matt could not be sure whether it was in derision or agreement. “Tell me when and where you think you saw Anna…” He stopped himself for a moment. Mark had caught him out many a time with something like this. “…who lives across the hall from you, last Friday?”
“Well…” the man began, draining the last of the bottle’s contents and letting it fall to the floor. “…I was lying amongst the garbage outside the strip club on the other side of the street Thursday night and by the time I woke up I ended up just staying there. I like to say hello to those nice ladies before they start work…”
“I don’t care about you leering over strippers,” Matt interjected angrily.
“Let me finish now, Kid.” The man raised his empty hand and looked at it slightly puzzled. “I was lying there waiting for the lovely ladies to show up when I saw your lady friend walk down the street and leave the vicinity.”
“Is that it?” Matt exclaimed in disbelief and got to his feet. Before he had a chance to do or say anything else the man interrupted him.
“I already told you to let me finish. Now while you’re on your feet pass me that bottle of bourbon will you.”
He pointed to a bottle containing a burnt orange liquid on Matt’s side of the table. Grudgingly and against his better judgement he picked it up and handed it over. The man pulled the cork out with his teeth and spat it onto the floor.
“Now as I was saying, I was lying there and sure enough the ladies arrived and I said my piece to them.” Matt watched him take a drink. “Anyway so opening time rolls around and the barman has the audacity to tell me ta piss off. I would have argued with him but he’s mighty handy with that pool cue of his...”
Matt sighed. By the sounds of it, the drunk probably deserved to be chased by a man wielding a pool cue, or perhaps a hockey stick.
“… So after I go for a wander to get some grub I end up down some back alley a couple of blocks away. Now it turned out that there was this nice old sofa cushion just lying there by the dump, so I sat down to have a nice quiet Friday night drink. Eventually, I hear some shouting from out in the street. It’s nothing to do with me so I ignore it and go back to my bottle. Only to find that some bloody cats showed up and is pissing all over the place...”
Matt rolled his eyes. At this rate, there would be nothing left of Monday before the man got to the end of last Friday.
“…so I kicked the bastard right in the fanny and it runs off. But the f’in seat’s all covered in piss so I get up and decides to move on. But as I walk up the alleyway I catch a glimpse of a van across the street, and here’s this thick headed lout manhandling your lady friend into the back of it…”
“WHAT!” Matt exclaimed, leaping to his feet so quickly that he inadvertently toppled his chair. “Are you sure? What happened then? Tell me!”
“The unfortunate bastard climbed in after her and it drove off like nothing had happened.”
Matt couldn’t believe what he had just heard. If what this man said was true then he had been right about Anna. It had to be more than just coincidence that Anna had been missing since Friday and that her neighbour claimed to have seen her ‘manhandled’ into the back of a van on the exact same night. He had to tell Janine.
“Ok this is huge,” Matt said, trying to calm himself down. “My sister… she’s a police officer. Just let me go get her and you can tell her what you’ve just told me.”
The man took a large drink then wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “I ain’t talking to no cops’, Kid.”
“But you have to,” Matt said in defiance. He hadn’t expected the man to sound so hostile about the idea. “Anna’s been kidnapped and you’re a witness to that. Look just stay here and I’ll be back shortly.”
Matt didn’t wait for an answer as he headed for the door. Practically sprinting down the hallway he heard the man repeat his refusal but ignored it. All he cared about was that he had been right about Anna and had somehow, by sheer luck, found evidence to prove it. Once he told Janine everything, she would come in and take charge of the whole situation.
##
It took Matt an hour to make the round trip to home and back. Though he had given the hobo all his change there had still been enough money in his wallet to jump a bus, such was his rush to find Janine and return. Conveniently he had found both her and dinner around the same table. After having wolfed it down he had practically dragged his elder sister upstairs, where he had promptly blurted out everything he thought he now knew about Anna and her disappearance.
Inside his sister's car, he had been made to repeat everything at a pace normal people could understand. Naturally, she had scolded him for ignoring stranger danger. However, though sceptical, she had agreed to pay a visit to Anna’s neighbour.
As his sister par
ked the car outside Anna’s apartment building Matt hastily unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed out.
“Anna lives here?” Janine asked quizzically when she climbed out of the car.
“It’s a long story,” Matt replied and gave her a look that said he would rather she didn’t ask.
She joined him on the sidewalk. “If you say so, Bro.”
Without anymore talk, the pair made their way up the steps. At the top Matt glanced at the buzzer panel and ran his finger down it. His sister smiled at him as the door buzzed and they entered. She had taught him that trick when he was eight. Climbing the stairs to the second floor he drew up outside the man’s apartment. He took a deep breath and knocked. No reply. After about a minute he tried again.
“He must have gone out,” Matt said glumly when it became evident that no one was going to answer. His heart sank slightly. It had taken a bit of convincing to get Janine here and if the man truly wasn’t home she might not waste her time on a second visit.
With nothing to lose and his sister looking pointedly at him, Matt tried his luck with the handle and to his surprise found the door unlocked. Janine gave him a mixed look. “As a cop, I find your actions morally questionable, Matthew.”
Matt grinned at her. “And as my sister?”
“As your sister, I’d wonder if you had stolen my old lockpicks.” She smiled at him and pushed the door open with one hand, while the other withdrew her sidearm.
“Do you really have to do that?” Matt asked sharply, glancing down at the semi-automatic pistol in his sister’s hand.
“I don’t know what I’m going to find inside and in this neighbourhood, I’m not taking my chances.”
Sighing, Matt followed his sister inside.
“Hello,” Janine called out as she glanced into the rooms on either side of the hallway. “This is Officer Taylor of the CPD. I just want to ask you a few questions about your neighbour.” At the end of the hallway, Matt breathed a sigh of relief when Janine lowered her weapon and stepped into the garbage-filled ‘living’ room. “Are you ok, Sir?”
Matt craned his head around his sister and saw the man lying face down amidst the rubbish. “Matt, stay back,” she ordered. Cautiously she bent down and rolled the man over.
“Hurgh,” Matt heard the man grunt and his sister stepped away from him.
“Are you ok, Sir?” Janine reiterated as the man sat up and looked around haphazardly.
“Your’ a honey aren't cha,” he asked with a sleazy grin
“Sir, I am Officer Taylor of the CPD. If you don’t mind I would like to ask you some questions about your next-door neighbour,” Janine repeated. Hearing his sisters work voice felt strange, for it held no hint of the playful tone he was used to.
“Hurgh... Questions? Hurgh…” When the man spoke again Matt realised that there was something wrong. “Why don’cha have a seat in my lap first?” The man stretched his arms out in Janine’s direction and keeled over onto the floorboards with a thud.
His sister looked at him sternly and Matt knew he would not like what she had to say. “Matt, this man is completely drunk. And by the looks of this place,” She indicated the multitude of empty liquor bottles with her hand. “This is probably his default state. How could you possibly have let him lead you here, believed anything he said and then ask me to come and question him?”
“THERE’S A YELLOW ROSE IN TEXAS…” the man suddenly blurted out in an off-key caterwaul.
Matt and Janine turned to look at him as he staggered towards the lopsided coffee table. “He wasn’t like this before!” Matt protested, even though he knew it would do nothing to convince his sister.
She holstered her gun and turned to leave. “Just save it, Matt.”
“Thanks for nothing!” Matt yelled at the man when he turned towards the door.
“I said no cop’s, Kid,” the man replied in a gruff coherent voice that made Matt turn around. He stood perfectly still beside the coffee table and shook a bottle of burnt orange liquid. Matt glanced at him and then back to the bottle. The same one he himself had passed to him earlier that evening and it was practically full. “Now are you gonna sit and listen to the rest of what I was gonna say before you ran off to get that nice piece of ass.”
“Janine wait!” Matt shouted out quickly. “He’s not…”
“AND IF I EVER FIND HER, I’ll SCREW HER IN HER PART.”
Matt stared at him and hissed, “what are you doing?”
“I said no cop’s, Kid,” the man repeated firmly. “Though I’d like to ogle her ass some more I ain’t talking to no friggin cops.”
Matt glanced at the door then back at the man. Did he really have more to say? Or had he made the entire thing up? There was only one way for him to find out.
“Ok I won’t go get my sister back,” he said reluctantly. He knew that he didn’t have long before his sister's anger subsided and she realised he had not followed her back into the car. Then she would come looking for him. “What else do you know about Anna’s disappearance? And please be quick we don’t have long.”
The man smiled and held the bottle up, “I got the number plate of the van.”
“Great!” Matt exclaimed eagerly. “We can use it to find out who the van is registered too.”
The man laughed. “No kidnapper worth his salt’s gonna pick up someone in a legally licenced motor.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Means it’s a fake plate.” Matt looked at him blankly so he elaborated. “Means it can’t be tracked through the DMV.”
“What good is that?” Matt spat angrily.
“Cos it can be tracked if you happen to know someone who’s in the know.”
Matt glanced over his shoulder to ensure Janine had not reappeared. “Where can I find such a person?”
“Bring me a bottle of Bourbon by eleven thirty and I’ll take you to meet him.”
“Done,” Matt replied without hesitation as he ran to the door.
“And, Kid,” the man called after him, and Matt turned his head to glance in his direction. “Bring that nice ass with you and you can forget everything I’ve told you. Understood?”
Matt took one last look at the man before he left. “Understood.”
Leaving the apartment he ran down the stairs and back outside to where Janine stood waiting by the car. She had her arms folded and did not look impressed. “What the hell took you so long?”
For once he had been prepared. “I stopped to knock on Anna’s door, just in case.”
His sister shook her head and said nothing more to him for the entire time it took them to get home. When they got out the car at the other end he apologised again before heading up to his room. Once inside he shut the door and lay down on his bed. He played the encounters with the man over in his head. He still had no way of knowing if anything the man had said had been true. The only concrete facts he had were that Anna was missing and that this man had either known about it before meeting Matt or had taken a very lucky guess. Regardless, his only options were to wait and see if Anna turned up before Friday, after which the police might take an interest but by which point it could be too late, or to trust some hobo who may be playing him for whatever he could get; namely a handful of small change and a bottle of Bourbon. Mulling it all over he managed to discern at least one more fact from the events. Whatever he was going to do, he only had a few hours in which to decide.
A request refused
“I would be rather interested in meeting the young lady with the red hair, whom you are keeping in the next room.”
The words echoed inside Ramone’s head and his jaw dropped open. A glance over at Roca told him that he too was clueless. Although that did not constitute a new concept. Ramone looked back at the visitor, who stood with a slight smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
“What did you just say?” he eventually asked. Hoping that he had simply misheard him.
The visitor sighed and the smile vanished. “I believe I said
that I would very much like to be introduced to the young lady with the red hair that you are currently keeping in the next room.”
Ramone cursed internally, the penny finally dropping. He had been so preoccupied with keeping an eye on the man’s henchmen and then by Roca’s rough undressing of the girl that he had failed to notice that the later had not thought to turn off the CCTV screen. “She’s not for sale.”
“That is… unfortunate.” For an instant, Ramone’s only thought was to reach for his gun. His eyes darted between the men and he waited with baited breath. “No matter.” He breathed a sigh of relief. “If she does become available I would certainly be interested in taking a closer look.”
In a flourish, the visitor procured a notebook from his pocket and quickly jotted something down. “Here is the number for the place I am currently residing,” he said calmly and placed the small sheet of paper down on the coffee table. “If the situation changes over the next few days perhaps you will think of me. I am certain I could better any offer you may receive.” He looked at each of his men in turn. “Gentlemen. It is time we took our leave.”
As the two guards filled in beside their employer Ramone walked past his comrade and the still shaking girl towards the door. When he turned the knob Roca spoke up. “Much is one of these girls worth to you?”
Ramone looked back towards the visitor and saw the corner of his lips twitch ever so slightly. “That depends on a few different aspects, my good man.”
Roca grunted, “Like wot?”
“To start with I would take the current base rate for a girl in her age category. I would then add or subtract an appropriate amount depending on several factors.” Ramone looked at the man and then at the terrified girl that still stood in her birthday suit. Pirelli had not discriminated with the group he had been presented with. Agreeing on a flat fee per head like he had been buying tins of beans at the supermarket. This man, on the other hand, sounded more like an antique collector.
“Wot sort of factors,” Roca then asked. Since when was he so interested in work-related business?