Whitney’s mouth started to go dry and she wasn’t sure what to say. She couldn’t believe this was actually happening. Everything had seemed so simple in her head, but now the reality swung down like a sledgehammer. She was trying to shake down a gangster.
“I’m the one who sent you that picture. I hope you found a nice frame for it.”
Whitney wasn’t sure where the confidence had come from as the man responded, “Oh, a lady wit balls. So what do you want?”
“I want to talk to you, but we should do it in person. I don’t want to do this over this phone.”
“You do know what I do to people that I think are being dishonest to me, don’t cha?” Joey asked.
“I know what you do and I’m not scared. No one will be with me, but I will be watched. You might be able to get me, but I’ll advise my backup to kill you on sight. Where should we meet?”
“You sound like a tough broad, I can’t wait to see what your tits look like. I bet they’re big ole floppy ones that you could nail to the wall, you know, you sounding like one of those lesbos and all. Under the 32nd Street overpass where it intersects wit’ South Prince Road. You’re gonna get in my car and if you’re wearing a wire, oh, no, no, no, no, no. You don’t want to be wearing a wire,” Joey warned in a serious tone.
“What time?”
“Be there in a half-hour,” Joey said and hung the phone up.
Whitney threw the phone down, checked the exact time and went back to panic mode. She couldn’t believe that she had just talked tough to one of the biggest gangsters in the city. Her body started shaking again, but she had to steady herself to get to the meeting.
She looked at the badge that Bo had given her and doubt crept into her mind. It had looked so much better back at Bo’s house for some reason. With indecision racing through her head, she put the car in reverse and then got on the highway. She made it to Bo’s house and exchanged vehicles with him to look more like an undercover agent.
Whitney was scared and rightfully so, but this was her case to solve. She knew that it was up to her because of the ghosts’ clues and warnings. She began to hyperventilate as she pulled into the seedy underpass. She squeezed the steering wheel and tried to relax.
In classic fashion, Joey sat in a long, red Cadillac. He wore tinted glasses, a black suit with a white shirt and a red tie. Whitney took a deep breath and got out of her car. She slowly walked over to Joey’s gas guzzler and her knees threatened to give out as she neared. She attempted to open the back door to get in but it was locked.
She heard the clicking sound and saw Joey giving a thumbs-up. Whitney opened the door and the heavy scent of terrible cologne attacked her nose. She slipped into the back seat on the driver’s side.
“Sit in the middle. I need to see you in the rear view mirror,” Joey told her.
Whitney shifted over and waited for him to ask for her badge. She didn’t want him to get a good look at the fake. She tried to fight off the trepidation and get to the bottom of this case. She pushed down with her right hand to make her leg stop shaking.
“Open your blouse,” Joey said.
“Excuse me?”
“I need to see that you aint wearin’ a wire. And if I get to see those tits, then it’s a nice bonus,” he said with a snickering laugh.
“Are you intentionally trying to talk like Joe Pesci? It’s really stereotypical you know.”
“And what the fuck do you know about it. Open your shirt before I shoot you in the face,” Joey ordered as his face started getting red.
Whitney opened her shirt and closed it when she heard Joey say, “Not bad. Couple a nice little puppies you got there.”
“What do you know about the Susan Foley murder?” Whitney got right down to business.
“Jeez lady. You go straight for the jugular, don’t cha? You ever heard of the phrase wine and dine?” he asked with a chuckle. Joey ended every statement with a laugh.
“I sure have. Have you ever heard the phrase life in prison or even better, the death penalty? Those are a few of my favorites. First date’s over, now let’s talk about Susan.”
“That whore’s gonna be the one to bring all this down. Who woulda thunk that? Some chick is fucking up our whole thing. I hope you got a pen and pad on ya cuz I’m ready to talk,” Joey offered.
“Before you start, I have to ask, why are you willing to talk? And before you answer, I also need to know if you will be willing to do this when it matters, under oath.”
“Yes and yes. That’s something you probably wasn’t expecting. Nah, the whole game aint what it used to be. People are getting whacked for no reason now. The boss goes on a killing spree because of his stupid gumar, not his wife, his fucking gumar. There are rules to this game, you know,” he nonchalantly said without a chuckle.
“I’m somewhat familiar with the rules, but please continue.”
“Everyone knows the rules. You break em and you gotta face the consequences. They was well defined and they even read them to you at a certain little welcoming ceremony. When two of the top guys get cut down because they was having sex with the boss’ gumar, it’s getting outta hand,” Joey said.
“Isn’t it against the rules to have sex with the boss’ girlfriend?” Whitney asked.
“No, not in this family. Them ones is pretty much there for the taking. Wives now, wives are completely off limits obviously. Goin after the boss’ side action can be looked at as disrespectful, but nothing that should get you shot up, especially when the chick is chasing after you. This problem has been going on for years but it was mostly among the bottom feeders and underlings. Now it’s coming straight from the top and none of us is safe,” Joey revealed.
“We can keep you safe. We can get you out of here but you are going to have to give me much, much more detail into the Susan Foley case, among others, for me to do that.”
“Susan Foley has been hanging around us for a bunch of years now. She was passed around a lot until she finally landed on Mr. Dante’s lap. She’s always been a gold digger, banging anyone with money so she could run to the track and lose it. She was one awful gambler, awful, I tell you. It got real bad with Mr. Dante. She was losing close to ten thousand some days, but that old son of a bitch just kept giving her more and more money,” Joey said.
Another car pulled into the lot and Joey waited until he made sure everything was alright.
“The boss finally got sick of her losing all his money and cut her off. So she runs off to Alonzo and Larry. Both them dumbasses fell for the bait too. They kept givin her money until Mr. Dante found out about it. Needless to say, he was none too happy. He called her a whore and demanded that she pay him back all the money he gave her,” Joey told her.
“So that’s when he gave her son a chance to throw the basketball game?”
“How the fuck you know about that?”
Whitney laughed. “We know everything, remember that. I just need you to verify it.”
“Yeah, well anyway, her son’s a lot more honest than his mother. You already know he didn’t do it and then accidentally tripped and fell out a window,” Joey said and laughed more heartily than usual after this statement.
“Yes, it’s crazy how that stuff can happen. You’ll excuse me if I don’t take enjoyment in the bodily harm of others.”
“Whatever lady, the kid’s still alive, so who gives a shit? After that, Mr. Dante started to go crazy. I’m no doctor but it looks like early onset dementia to me. I seen it with my uncle and my own father and it aint pretty to see. He called for all the murders. Alonzo was ordered to kill Susan right after Larry got killed. He should’ve known something was going on, that stupid fuck,” Joey said, shaking his head.
“So who killed Larry Laramie and Alonzo Ichrab?”
“Far as I can tell, someone low did Larry cuz it was a sloppy job. They killed him, but Larry almost got away. And as for Alonzo, let’s just say I follow the rules and orders that are given to me even if I don’t agree with them. It’s eith
er them or me. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.”
“So you killed Alonzo? Could that have been right after you made the money drop off to Daniel Elders?” Whitney took a guess.
“Whoa, you know way too much, lady. I’m surprised they aint got to you yet. You better be on the lookout. Look, I didn’t agree wit it, but when you spill that blood and take an oath, the boss’ orders need to be followed. I knew it would be my last job. Refusing would ruffle too many feathers and might’ve got me killed. I had to do it and, really, I just been waiting for one of you to come my way. People are gonna say, he should have just killed the boss and taken over the family,” he revealed.
“I was going to ask the same thing.”
“Alright, let’s say I kill him and take over. How did I just take over? So who’s to say someone isn’t going to kill me as boss to take over the organization? I used to think I was invincible and as long as I kept earning for the family, all would end well. Like I said, now you can get whacked for just pissing off the man in charge. I’m not waiting around to let that happen from someone above or below me. I aint that dumb,” Joey told her.
“I’m glad you finally came to your senses. You do realize that this isn’t the end of anything. In reality, this is just the beginning and I want to make sure you are aware of a few matters. First, my colleagues are going to ask you a vast amount of questions about other cases and issues.”
“I understand that,” Joey confirmed.
“Good. You also need to know that if you lie about any matter from any case, your immunity will dissolve into thin air, which is more than I can say for your disgusting man perfume. One tiny little lie about the stupidest thing is all it will take to have you heading off to jail, instead of an unmarked plane.”
“I get it. As long as I can get relocated near a city and not in east bumblefuck, I’ll be alright,” Joey said.
“I’ll make no geographic promises as to where you may end up. I will text you the phone number of a fellow law enforcement agent. You need to call him and tell him that you are ready to talk and he will set up a meeting to get the process started.”
“I gotta tell you lady, you’re one tough brod. I thought they was going to send out a normal field stooge, but I could tell right away that you meant business. Never thought it would ever come to this. I always took pleasure in killing rats, not becoming one of them. But I guess a live rat is better than a dead man,” Joey chuckled.
“You might want to stop about bragging about past murders. You also need to know that if your stories aren’t corroborated by anyone, immunity will go away and you will be on your own. That doesn’t mean that they need to be backed up by another witness. It can mean that we already know that information and your confirmation will be the corroboration of that statement.”
“I got no reason to lie and I might say some stuff that nobody else knows nothin’ about. You knew too much about the Susan Foley issue for me to be brazen enough to make shit up. I was hoping they would send a pushover that I could just feed some lies to and go on my way,” Joey said.
“That’s not happening. You picked a pretty good time to come clean though. We were closing in on you with a ton of RICO evidence. The money-washing laundromat is officially closed for business. The men that you work with would be wise to follow your precedent. Organized crime in Pennsburgh as a whole is about to be slapped upside the head.”
“Shit, you’re talkin’ more like a piledriver there, Miss Ladybitch. You know, I like you lady. Maybe you could move away wit me when it’s time to go,” Joey said and flashed a smile in the mirror.
“I’ll have to get back to you on that one. It is an extremely tempting offer but I need to check my calendar. Watch for that number so you can get yourself out of this mess while you still can. I just have to ask one last question; is the nickname true?”
“Is what nickname true?” Joey sounded confused.
“Your nickname. Are the rumors true about how you obtained your nickname?”
He looked into the mirror and right into the eyes of Whitney. Joey Left Shoe said, “Fuckin’ right. Don’t forget to send that number now.”
Whitney nodded her head and got out of the car and walked away.
She rushed over to Bo’s to get her car and brag for a minute before leaving. She drove over to Trent’s and came to a skidding halt in her car. She ran up and pounded on the door. Trent could barely get the frame open as Whitney rushed in with a huge smile on her face.
“I just figured out the Susan Foley case and I convinced someone to turn on Benno Dante. He’s willing to testify about it for immunity and relocation.”
Trent looked confused and said, “Slow down there. What…what are you talking about?”
“I just had a meeting with Joey Left Shoe from the Dante Crime Family. He’s ready to talk in exchange for a few promises. I told him to call you to set everything up legally, but I did it. I solved the case.”
“Are you sure you can trust him? How do you know if it all checks out or not? What did he tell you?” Trent asked.
“He told me that Larry and Alonzo were involved. He said that Alonzo got the order from Benno Dante to murder Susan Foley. Larry was killed off at the command of Mr. Dante for sleeping with Susan.”
“I’m not sure I believe all that. Who killed Alonzo?” Trent wanted to know.
“This is why I believe him. He confessed that he carried out the murder of Alonzo. If he was lying about anything, he would never implicate himself in that way. I made it clear that he has to come with enough testimony to take down Mr. Dante or he would be rotting in a cell for that murder for the rest of his life.”
“I can’t believe you met with someone that dangerous. Who was watching your back in case anything happened?” Trent asked.
“Nobody. I can handle myself just fine. Looking back on it, maybe I should have had someone around, but everything worked out. I could have just taken down the biggest crime syndicate in Pennsburgh. I thought you would be happy for me. For us.”
“No, I am, it’s just that you could have been easily killed. Did you even have a gun on you?” Trent asked.
“I had a replica filled with blanks.”
“So what was your plan? Were you going to blast out his eardrums and hope that it killed him? I’m proud of you, I am. It’s just, I don’t even do stuff that reckless when it involves those kind of guys. I love you and I don’t want anything to happen to you,” Trent said as he pulled in Whitney for a soft kiss.
“All we need to do is see if this story checks out because he could call you at any time.”
“I know that his story checks out, at least we know he killed Alonzo. That’s why I asked. I knew that if he lied about that part, we couldn’t believe him,” Trent told her.
“Just don’t forget me when you are getting all the glory for taking down the mob in Pennsburgh.”
“Please. You are going to get all the credit, I promise. I am going to let everyone know how I came to the point we are at now in the case. You solved a case that six different agencies couldn’t figure out for the past twenty years. So to say that I am proud of you would be the understatement of the century,” Trent opined.
“Don’t say anything to my parents yet either. I want to tell them when I am ready and I’m not sure how my mom will react to all of this. She doesn’t really believe in the supernatural, but she does love a good murder mystery.”
“I’m not so sure I believe that you got help from any ghosts. I think you figured out everything on your own. I think you are just being humble,” Trent said with a laugh.
Chapter 13
Whitney kept tossing and turning in her sleep. She finally sat up in Trent’s bed and got that strange feeling again. She had experienced the same intuition when she had gone to the library and, subsequently, the other world last time. She couldn’t explain what was driving her, but it wouldn’t stop dominating her thoughts.
She quietly slipped out of bed without disturbing
Trent, and started to get dressed. She knew she had to go to the magical bookshelf. She grabbed her purse and didn’t want to wake Trent to tell him that she was leaving, but an odd feeling hit her. Inexplicably, her mind locked in on a new message and something told her that she needed to take her man.
Nobody had joined her on the previous visits and she was fine with that. However, the unknown forces within her body made her wake up Trent. The groggy man slowly opened his eyes and yawned.
“What’s going on? What time is it?” Trent asked.
“I don’t know. What I do know is that I have to go back to the bookshelf and I think you need to come with me.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked again.
“It’s hard to explain, but if you trust me, you will come with me.”
“Alright, give me a minute to put something on,” Trent told her.
Whitney paced around the room as she waited and wondered if this was the right move. Trent came out of his bedroom and they drove over to the library. The sun still hadn’t risen as they snuck into the dark library. Whitney tried to use the least amount of lighting to avoid attracting attention and get to the back corner of the library.
Trent grabbed her hand when they saw the brilliant light shining from behind the shelf. She sensed that he was nervous about the situation. Whitney confidently strode up to the light and the shelf shook and moved away from the wall.
Whitney went through and pulled Trent’s hand to drag him into the strange room. A streak of light had come from the crack in the wall but once they were inside, darkness reigned supreme. Whitney couldn’t understand where the light had come from and she didn’t see Richard who was always in this room to greet her.
“Richard?”
Whitney waited for her friend to show up as she slowly walked around the room with Trent. She was trying to find a door or opening so they could get to the vortex to see the ghosts. She grew impatient and didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of Trent.
Maybe I am the only one who can go through the vortex. Why did I feel certain that Trent was supposed to come with me? I know this really happened but now Trent will never believe me.
Whispers From Another World: Whintey Powers Paranormal Adventure #1 (Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventures) Page 11