Bombshell (Devlin Haskell 4)

by Faricy, Mike

Once the final buzzer sounded and the lights came up Destiny said, “Let me go get something and I’ll like, give you a hand. Be a good idea if we wait ‘til everyone is just about out of here, anyway.”

  “God, I really appreciate your help, Destiny, thanks,” I said. Then pulled a twenty out of my pocket and handed it to her.

  “Oh wow, thanks man, I mean Mister Haskell.”

  “Please, under the circumstances call me Dev,” I said, then glanced down at Heidi still snoring.

  “It’s okay we’ve all got stories of rich bitches getting shit faced around here. This is nothing you should see some of the concert action. Once there was a couple going at it right in the middle of an Ozzie Osborn concert.”

  “Ozzie never seemed to have that effect on me.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Destiny said then shrugged.

  She left shortly after that with the promise of returning in fifteen minutes. The teams were still in the center of the arena, talking back and forth. I sipped my Grain Belt and watched as the crowd thinned out. There seemed to be a heavier than usual police presence down on the arena floor, but I chalked it up to security for the teams under the circumstances. A few minutes later the teams left the center of the arena and made their way to the lower level entrance and the locker rooms. They were flanked by four uniformed police officers.

  A few minutes after that, a number of officers were running across the arena floor toward the lower level entrance, looking excited and talking into their radios. Just after that a paramedic team scampered across and headed down to the lower level. My guess was the Hustlers had found Sergeant Wayne.

  It was closer to forty-five minutes before Destiny returned. The lights were on in the arena, the crowd was completely gone and cleaning crews were sweeping the aisles and hauling away wrappers, beer cups and cardboard food trays. Out in the center of the arena a crew in red shirts had begun to disassemble the banked track.

  “God, really sorry it took so long, Dev. It’s crazy out there,” she said. She rolled in a red, two wheeled dolly in front of her like it was an every night occurrence.

  “Problem?” I said, staring at the dolly.

  “Oh. My. God! I’m not sure, everyone is totally freaked, something about a guy breaking into one of the locker rooms. Then the security jerk was involved, the cops, they had to call the paramedics. I don’t know, some reactionary, anyway, they weren’t letting anyone back up here. The entire place was like, under super lockdown.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, guess they’re looking for someone. I told them I had to move some stuff.”

  “Not far from the truth,” I said, hoping they weren’t looking for me, specifically. “How are we going to get her out of here?” I motioned toward snore queen Heidi, in the corner.

  “Well, if she can’t walk…”

  “I’ve been her before, believe me, it’s best to not wake her and just let her sleep, she gets sort of violent and then real sick.”

  “You mean like pukey?” she said, wrinkling her nose.

  I nodded.

  “Okay, well here’s what we do, we put her on this,” she said.

  “The dolly?” I didn’t mean to sound so surprised.

  “Yeah, its like got a belt and everything. You can just wheel her onto the handicap elevator hardly anyone uses it, leads you right out a private side door. I’ll go with you guys, case they try and hassle you or anything.”

  “Gee, Destiny can’t thank you enough. Hey, you party after work?”

  “You a cop?” she asked and looked at me warily.

  “No, no nothing like that. I was thinking once we get out of here, you should come back and empty out that fridge, it’s on my corporate card. It seems the least I could do for all your help.”

  “You mean it?”

  “Sure, help yourself. Take it all, happy to help the cause.”

  “That is so cool,” she smiled.

  “Well, I suppose,” I said.

  Destiny expertly rolled the two wheeled dolly into position. I had the feeling she may have done this a time or two before. I picked Heidi up, other then snorting a few times she had no reaction and I dragged her in front of the dolly.

  “Okay, just hold her up, yeah that’s right,” Destiny said positioning the dolly. “Now tip her forward, a little more, okay, a little more. Perfect, okay, now tip her back,” she said. Once Heidi tipped back onto the dolly her head lolled to one side.

  “God, she’s really out,” I said stepping back.

  “Yeah, she’s way beyond shit faced.” Destiny said, then wrapped a red nylon belt around Heidi, clipped it at the side and ratcheted the belt to hold her snuggly in place. Heidi’s arms looked to be strapped to her sides.

  “Here, you drive. Oh, and better grab her shoes, they look like they’re worth a few bucks.” Destiny said.

  I stuffed the toe of both shoes into my trouser pockets, the stiletto heels hung out like little jets pointing behind me. Destiny led us down some back hallway I never knew existed, then took out a key and unlocked a security elevator.

  “This is for wheel chairs and stuff?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” she glanced at the key in her hand, “not exactly handicap access, is it?”

  I wheeled Heidi on, her head lolled left and right a few times, but other than that she didn’t move. She seemed to be busy reestablishing her snoring pattern. Two levels down and the door opened onto a dim, empty hallway.

  “The exit’s right back here,” Destiny said.

  We walked down the hallway, only every third florescent ceiling light was on, casting everything in a sort of murky, flickering light. We rounded a corner and the door was maybe twenty feet away. A police officer was leaning against the wall, looking like he wished he was anywhere else. He straightened up as we approached.

  “Here you are sir, I hope she’ll be alright, sorry it took so long,” Destiny said, then looked at the officer. “Epileptic seizure,” she said and smiled.

  Heidi took this opportunity to mumble something completely unintelligible.

  The officer nodded knowingly then held the door open for us.

  “Good night sir, and thank you,” Destiny called, then turned just before the door closed.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  I found myself with Heidi strapped and snoring on the two wheeled dolly. We were on a dark sidewalk that ran between the back of the Veterans Auditorium and whatever building was next to it. Six stories of brick walls on either side hadn’t let sunlight penetrate down to ground level for the past fifty years. The only illumination came from the glow off a light a half block away out on the street.

  I watched as a guy’s silhouette pissed against the brick wall just a few feet from the street. He looked back in our direction as he stood there, but it was so dark he couldn’t see us. After a minute he zipped up and ran to rejoin his friends waiting out on the street.

  As I wheeled Heidi toward the street she snorted once or twice, adjusted in a futile attempt to get more comfortable, and then seemed to settle down.

  “Find some bird taking the piss and you plan to assault her later on?” A female voice came out of the dark, not at all friendly.

  I jumped.

  “Don’t,” she said and then jammed something hard into my ribs. “It wouldn’t bother me at all to blow what little brains you’ve got all over this walkway. You douche nozzle, I thought they had you locked up?”

  “Emma, lovely performance tonight,” I said.

  “Shut up ya tosser, you just keep walking ‘til we’re well away from this place.”

  “What the hell are you doing back here?”

  “What part of shut your gob don’t you understand?”

  “Just about all of it,” I said, but the pistol she jammed into my ribs made her message clear.

  “I’m walking, I’m walking,” I said, wheeling Heidi out onto Kellogg Boulevard. The event crowd had pretty much disappeared into the surrounding pubs or cars driving home. I glanced down at Emm
a, she was barefoot and wore what looked like a large raincoat, very large.

  “Just keep walking, where’s your car?” she said, looking around nervously and then noticed my black eyes. “She do that to you? Can’t say that I blame her.

  “Bad luck for you, Emma, car’s at home. We taxied down. I could get a cab, I suppose, if you can find one in St. Paul.”

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you, another witness, that it?”

  “No, just trying to get you out of here,” I said, not adding, and away from Heidi and me.

  We walked beneath a street light, I suppose we looked like any normal couple if you discounted Emma, barefoot, holding a gun to my ribs, and swimming in a raincoat large enough for the two of us. Well and then there was Heidi, strapped to the two wheeled dolly and snoring soundly.

  “What’s that in your pocket, a shoe?” Emma said, indicating my side pocket.

  “Yeah, my date didn’t want to wear them while she was riding on this…”

  “Give them to me you fucking plonker.”

  I stopped pushing Heidi, pulled the shoes out of my pocket one at a time and tossed them on the sidewalk, switching hands to keep the dolly and Heidi upright.

  Emma slipped first one foot and then the other into Heidi’s shoes, rising up about six inches when she did so.

  “Whoa, fucking hell,” she said taking the first step and grabbing me for a moment’s support. “Okay, just keep moving,” jamming the pistol back against my ribs for renewed emphasis.

  “You know you really don’t have to do that. Not like I can really run anywhere,” I indicted Heidi with my head.

  “You just keep moving,” Emma said, but a few paces later she pulled the pistol away and said, “Slow down, I can’t keep up in these things.”

  I slowed down my pace and Emma walked alongside maybe a step or two behind me.

  “You think of doing anything I’ll shoot your bird first, and then I’ll blow your bollocks off.”

  “No thanks,” I said.

  “Zip it and keep moving, gobshite,” she said.

  We continued on for another block and a half until we came to the hotel.

  “Well gee, can’t thank you enough for your time,” I said and headed toward the hotel door.

  “What the hell are you on about?”

  It was almost midnight, but there was still a guy in a green top hat with a gold hat band out on the curb. He wore a matching green coat, with wide gold trim along the lapels. The coat was cut like a tux with tails. He looked like the Mad Hatter and acted the consummate professional, didn’t even blink looking at the three of us.

  “Good evening sir, joining us tonight?” he said, then opened one of the large doors and smiled.

  “This is where we’re staying,” I said to Emma, hoping she’d take Heidi’s shoes and just keep going.

  “In with you then,” she raised her chin to indicate the door, and followed behind me with her hand holding the pistol in the pocket of the raincoat.

  “Enjoy, sir,” the doorman said with a smile.

  The young woman at the front desk smiled and nodded, but didn’t react beyond that, as if wheeling a woman through the lobby on a two wheeled dolly was an every other night occurrence.

  The elevator door opened before I could even push the button and I wheeled Heidi inside, Emma followed behind me.

  “Don’t bother turning around, what floor is it?”

  “Penthouse.”

  “Posh bastard,” she said, pushing the button. The doors closed and we rose up fifteen floors toward the penthouse. A bell chimed softly just before the doors opened onto the private penthouse hallway. Emma stepped off the elevator. She kept the pistol in the pocket of the rain coat, but clearly pointed toward Heidi and me.

  “Get out here, you try anything I’ll shoot her, I swear.”

  Heidi gave a slight moan and snorted a little as I wheeled her off the elevator, backward.

  Emma was looking left and right, the penthouse suite was the only thing on the short hallway. The doors slowly closed behind us and the elevator descended back to the main lobby.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  “You want to hold on here for a moment while I open the door?” I said, indicating Heidi and the dolly.

  “Fuck no,” Emma snapped. She had just kicked Heidi’s shoes off against the hallway wall and was standing a few feet away from me, decidedly shorter.

  I kept one hand on the dolly and fumbled with the credit card affair trying to open the penthouse suite door.

  “Give me that thing, you fuckwit,” she said, indicating the card. “Wheel her back over against that far wall.” She had the pistol out of her coat pocket and waved the thing to direct me.

  “Just be careful with that damn shooter,” I said.

  “Then do as I tell ya, leave the card by the door, move your arse over there,” she waved the pistol again.

  Once she slipped the card in it only took a half second before the locks clicked and she pushed the penthouse door open. She stepped inside and motioned again with the pistol to follow as she held the door open.

  “What do you want me to do with her?” I asked, wheeling Heidi into the center room. Emma moved around to the far side of the large table, keeping it between the two of us, there was no way I could get to her. She stole quick glances around the suite taking in the opulence.

  “How’s a knacker the likes of you rate this?” She waved the pistol around, indicating the suite.

  I saw no point in explaining it was at city expense, due in no small part to her behind-the—scenes activity.

  “Do you mind if I just put her on the bed? I’m afraid if she stays strapped to this thing much longer she might…”

  “I couldn’t give a toss what you do with her, but I’m gong to watch, you try anything funny, the bird gets it first then…”

  “Yeah, I remember, you’ll shoot me bollocks off, right?”

  “Exactly.”

  I wheeled Heidi up to the bed, it was a king-sized four—poster. The posts were some sort of dark wood, mahogany maybe and elegantly carved from top to bottom. Heavy burgundy curtains embroidered in a gold pattern were tied back against the carved posts.

  I hung on to Heidi, kept her upright while I carefully unhooked the strap. Then tilted the dolly slightly, Heidi fell forward and made a sort of “uff” sound as she belly flopped onto the bed, arms limp at her side. I moved the dolly aside and lifted Heidi’s feet onto the bed, sort of swung her around as I did so to position her.

  “That’s good enough for the likes of her,” Emma said. “Untie them cords,” she commanded, waiving the damn pistol around, again.

  While I pulled the cords from around the bed curtains I thought of a half dozen wise ass comment I could make. The little voice in my head said, ‘don’t, just shut up, you idiot’. Oddly, this time I listened.

  Heidi had sort of crawled into a half fetal position, face forward, head and shoulders on the bed, ass up in the air, skirt gathered somewhere above her waist. She was unconsciously smacking her lips. Under any other circumstances I would have enjoyed myself.

  “Emma, if you want to leave, just go, I give you my word I won’t call the police, I promise.”

  “Won’t call the police? Have you any idea how badly you’ve fucked up the party? I thought that finger in with all your bits and pieces and paint cans would have sealed it, but you managed to make a right proper bollocks of that, you and that straight arsed bastard, Jimmy McNaughton. The two of you got each and every one of those stupid cows turned against me. Didn’t you?’

  As she talked her eyes took on a particular glint that I didn’t find all that comforting. She was back to waving the pistol around, again. She seemed to be getting more agitated, breathing heavily, her face rising in color. She wiped some spittle from her lips with the sleeve of the rain coat.

  “Just go, I give you my word, I won’t call anyone. Honest.”

  “Your word, bloody hell, your fecking word. Oh, that’s rich,�
� she laughed.

  I wasn’t finding anything funny.

  “Climb up on that bed, next to Miss Perfect Bum, there” she waved the pistol, a little more forcefully than before, “fucking move, you plonker,” she screamed.

  I climbed up onto the bed alongside Heidi.

  “Wrap one of those cords around your legs, come on move, do it,” she yelled.

  Heidi, smacked her lips, turned her head and gave a little sigh.

  I quickly began to wrap the cord around my ankles.

  “You better make it tight, so help me, you don’t and the bird gets it. I’m not fooling you,” she said, then ran her pistol over the curve of Heidi’s rear, never taking her eyes off me.

  Heidi moved, swayed slightly from side to side, then moaned softly.

  I concentrated on wrapping the cord tightly around my ankles, glanced for half a second at Emma, then began to pull the ends tight and tie a knot.

  “For God’s sake, she even likes it,” Emma said, as Heidi gave another moan. She stepped back, pointed the pistol at me then slapped Heidi hard, very hard, across her exposed rear. The unmistakable sound of skin slapping skin cracked through the air.

  Heidi exploded, screamed, spun round on the bed and in one fluid motion smashed a crashing fist into Emma, catching her just beneath the chin.

  Emma’s lower jaw snapped closed with an audible clack of her teeth, her eyes rolled up into her head and she dropped like a lead weight to the floor.

  Heidi sat still for a moment, not really seeing anything as she lurched from side to side, then she lay back down, curled into a fetal position and began to snore.

  I quickly rolled over her and dropped to the floor. Emma was out cold, a trickle of blood was just beginning to seep out from the corner of her mouth. I picked her gun off the floor and hopped on top of her. I sat on her, pinning her down while I untied the drapery cord.

  She moved a leg, half raised her knee. Her head lolled slightly from side to side and her right arm sort of fluttered. I pulled the cord off my ankles and quickly wrapped it around Emma’s, tying it securely. I took a second cord, grabbed her by the collar of her rain coat and dragged her across the carpet over to a bedpost. I pulled her wrists behind her back, tightly wrapped the cord round and secured them to the carved bedpost. She was still groggy, but coming to.