Deadly Deception

by Gilbert, Morris

  “I’ve got to go into town for the day,” she told Frank later that morning. “Since Ben’s not here, you’d better get some more security in the house.”

  “Not trouble, is it?” he asked, concern on his face.

  “No. I just need a break,” she answered. “Will you stay close to Rosemary and the children tonight?”

  He studied her, perplexed. Then he grinned. “Sure. I’ve gotten hooked on Monopoly. Matt’s three games up on me—but Rosemary always helps him. I caught her slipping money under the table to him last night.”

  “I think that’s sweet!” Dani smiled. Then she sobered, adding, “It’s changed things, Frank, the way you’ve given yourself to them. They’ve all responded.”

  “I’ve learned a lot, Dani.” He nodded. Then, with some alarm, he demanded, “You’re not running out on us for good, are you?”

  “No, I’ll be back late tonight. Got a date with the fuzz,” she added humorously. “Luke Sixkiller. Don’t let your boys give him any static when he brings me home. He might bust the whole Lanza family.”

  “He’s just about tough enough to try it,” Frank agreed. “Say, that shortage you found? We had a good accountant look at it. He says the same as you. Pop and I had a meeting with Eddy and Max last night.” He frowned and looked as though he tasted something unpleasant. “Turned out to be a real brawl. Everybody accusing everybody else. Could turn out to be a real family feud.”

  “Probably not.” Dani shrugged. “Things like that happen all the time. My guess is somebody will find it under a wrong number somewhere.”

  She left, and the thoughts of getting away from the Lanza kingdom lightened her spirits. She found herself whistling as she showered, and when she dried off, she laid out a new outfit. It was an ivory cotton jacquard coat-dress, double-breasted with covered buttons and hip pockets. There was no chance of wearing the .38, for the dress clung to her too closely. She slipped into it and admired the fit of it in her full-length mirror.

  “You look far too nice for a flatfoot like Luke Sixkiller!” she told her reflection. But as she made her way downstairs she felt excited about her date. The doorbell rang just as she reached the foyer, and she opened the door to find Sixkiller leaning against the door frame.

  “You going to come quietly?” he asked. “Or do I have to use force?”

  “Oh, officer,” she responded in a tiny voice. “Don’t I have any civil rights?”

  “In that dress, you’ll need all you can get.” He grinned. “Let’s go party.” He led her down the steps, and she stopped when she saw his car. It was a new Porsche, a gleaming silver color, that looked as if it was going ninety-five miles an hour, standing still.

  “My!” Dani breathed in admiration as she slipped in on the maroon leather seats. “I didn’t know you were so well off, Lieutenant!”

  He closed her door, walked around, and slid in beside her. “I like to make everybody think I’m on the take,” he told her. “I just got the thing last week.” He started the engine and tooled away from the house and down the driveway, steering with his left wrist. “Woke up one morning and realized I’d always wanted one of these little numbers. Then I thought, If I get wiped out today, I’ll die without having one. So I cashed in all my stocks and bought it.” Then he grinned at her, his white teeth gleaming against his bronze skin. “Well, to tell you the truth, I really bought it to impress you broads. Are you impressed?”

  “Oh, Mr. Sixkiller!” she breathed and leaned back away from him. “I didn’t think you’d bother with a girl like me!”

  They carried on a light conversation all the way to the gate. When they left, Sixkiller called out, “Hey, leave a light on for us, Legs!” Then he turned and asked, “What’s your pleasure, Miss Ross?”

  “I need to go by the office for a few minutes.”

  “Sure.” He drove with the same careless skill with which he did everything else, and soon he questioned, “What’s going on, Dani? We got zilch on the shooting. Same on the bomb. Don’t think we’ll nail anyone for either of those little numbers.”

  Dani hesitated, then decided not to tell Luke about Ben’s idea. It alerted her to the fact that she had become part of the Lanza structure. Instead she told him of Rosemary’s improvement and how she and Frank seemed to be doing better. He listened, then warned, “Frank’s always been the oddball in the family. The rest of them have been pretty tough. But Ring’s not finished. Guys like him only stop when they get a bullet in the brain.”

  Dani agreed, but turned the talk to lighter things. They stopped at the office and found her father there. He brightened at the sight of her, then looked at her escort. “Are you two together?” he asked with a gleam of humor in his gray eyes.

  “She chased me so long I had to break down and take her out,” Sixkiller teased evenly. “I thought we’d take in the display of Etruscan pottery down at the museum.”

  “It certainly sounds exciting, Lieutenant,” Mr. Ross agreed smoothly. “Dani’s always been into Etruscan pottery.”

  “Makes my heart pound.” Dani nodded. Then she took her father’s arm and said firmly, “Let’s go out for coffee. Luke, you stay here. And don’t get fresh with the help.”

  “Oh, I don’t mind, Miss Ross!” Angie Park turned her blue eyes from her typewriter to Sixkiller and commented sweetly, “I always liked the strong, silent type.” She nodded at the policeman, adding, “Just sit right there, Officer, and you can tell me about your arrest record.”

  Dani spent an enjoyable hour with her father. Almost at once he asked, “How much longer are you and Ben going to be on the Lanza case?”

  “I don’t know, Dad,” she confessed. “Ben’s got something he’s working on. If it works, we could wind it up very soon.” She patted his arm. “Do you miss me?”

  “Yes, and so does the rest of the family,” he observed grumpily. He spent the rest of the hour bringing her up-to-date on new cases and old, and when she left he warned, “Be sure you don’t break any laws. It would be bad publicity for the firm.”

  “I’ve got the law on my side.” She waved at him. “Bye, Dad!”

  “He’s a nice guy, your old man,” Sixkiller mused as they drove away. “I guess about the only straight private eye in New Orleans. Present company excepted.” He took her to the Farmer’s Market, and for a couple of hours they walked around, taking in the sights.

  Right in the shadow of St. Louis Cathedral, they sat down, and Dani said, “Look, Luke, all the fortune-tellers!”

  He followed her gesture, noting a line of small tables, each manned by a mystic. Some of them read tarot cards, others were looking intently into the palms of gullible clients. “Want to find out what’s in your future, Dani?” Luke grinned.

  “No. I don’t like that sort of thing,” she pronounced. Looking up at the beautiful church building, she shook her head. “People are so foolish! Thinking that they can direct their lives by astrology or palmistry! It makes me sad.”

  He took in her expression, then shrugged. “People are like that, Dani. Think of the poor schmoes buying lottery tickets, thinking they’re going to hit it big. But they never do. I guess those people are trying to find out if something good’s going to happen to them. Which it probably won’t.”

  “It may, to some of them,” Dani argued. “But they’re looking in the wrong place.” She got up, saying, “I’m hungry, Luke.”

  “Well, I’ve got big plans for tonight,” he promised. “But we can get a muffuletta—the best in the world—right down the street.” He led her to Central Grocery, where they sat right across from two tourists wearing cameras and sunglasses. It was a crowded place, half grocery and half restaurant. They had to push their way through customers standing in lines to buy the Italian foods, and Sixkiller sardonically remarked, “All the best Mafia folks buy here.” They ate the muffulettas, and she licked her fingers.

  “You got no class, Ross,” Luke complained. “Use your handkerchief!”

  Then they walked around the Quarte
r, and Dani was struck by the panhandlers and beggars. “I guess the Quarter has the classiest beggars in the world,” she commented. They stopped and watched a man who could touch his tongue to his nose. He wore a stocking cap, three days of beard, and a drab olive jumpsuit. First, he did a mock strip, with a slow teasing roll of his nylon socks, taking advantage of raucous music from a nearby club. Then he threw his head back like a sword swallower and did the tongue act. Women squealed, and he passed a hat.

  “His overhead is low,” Sixkiller pointed out as they moved on. They stopped in front of a man in a purple and gold baroque outfit and a powdered wig. He stood on a blank pedestal in front of a government building. He changed poses, and whenever anyone put a bill in a box labeled THIS ISN’T EASY, he bowed.

  Dani liked the musicians best. “There must be a law that says they all have to play ‘When the Saints Go Marching In,’” she murmured, holding on to Luke’s arm. She liked the woman on a corner, playing “Tin Roof Blues” on a clarinet. She wore a neat flowered dress, its puffed sleeves starched and Sunday-school proper. Dani put a ten-dollar bill in the box in front of her, and the woman smiled.

  Finally she suggested, “Let’s go.” Luke took her to the car, and they got in. “Little early for our real late date,” he said. “Let’s just cruise around.” He took her through the streets of New Orleans, beginning with St. Charles Street, and then they rode on the ferry, giving them a good look at the skyline.

  They talked a little, and it was an enjoyable time for Dani. Finally he took her to a fine restaurant, where they had lobsters, which they picked out of a glass aquarium. There was a string quartet, and Dani found herself relaxing. They left about ten, and he drove around some more. She leaned over against him once, when he was circling the city, and dozed off. When she woke up, “Where are we, Luke?” she questioned him.

  “In Dom Lanza’s backyard,” he uttered laconically.

  Dani straightened up and saw that they were moving slowly along a broken street faced by crumbling buildings. It was very dark, and the yellow glow of street lights gave the scene a twilight atmosphere. From decaying buildings, dim, shadowy figures flitted to and fro. Dani felt the uncleanness of it all and unconsciously moved closer to Sixkiller. “This doesn’t really belong to Dom, does it, Luke?”

  “Maybe he doesn’t own the houses,” Luke allowed. “But it’s his turf. See that guy over there?” Dani saw a huge black man standing in front of a building that had cardboard in the place of window glass. “That’s one of Dom’s higher-class employees.”

  Dani stared at the man. “Him? What does he do?”

  Sixkiller gave her a strange look, then pulled over to the curb. “Come on. I’d like you to meet him. After all, you both work for the same man.”

  Dani felt a strong aversion to getting out, but when Sixkiller opened her door, she had little choice. Darkness swallowed them now, and the street light, she noticed, was shattered. Three men came out of nowhere, appearing in front of them. They all wore some sort of gang uniform, she realized.

  One of them said, “Hey, looky, what we got here, man?” He was wearing a pair of jeans, a feather in a headband, and a black-leather vest with no shirt. The three spread out, but Sixkiller interjected, “Hello, Ace. You going to shake me down?”

  The tall black man’s head bobbed, he leaned forward, and then took a step backward. “Hey, it’s the Lieutenant, dudes! How you doin’, man?”

  “Doing fine, Ace,” Luke responded easily. “Anything you need?”

  “No, suh!” The man called Ace was frightened, and he called out, “Come on, you dudes!” They disappeared into the darkness as silently as predatory fish slide into an opening in a reef.

  Dani was trembling, but Sixkiller took her arm. The large man they had seen first had watched the scene. Now he politely greeted Luke, “Hello, Lieutenant.”

  “Hello, Jake. How’s business?”

  The question seemed to trouble the man. He stood there, mountainlike, his broad face expressionless. Finally he admitted, “I’m doing very well, thank you.”

  “Dani, this is Jake Potter. He’s a pusher for Dom Lanza.” Sixkiller added, “This is Miss Ross, Jake. She works for Dom, too.”

  Potter stood as still as a statue. His large eyes flickered to Dani, but went back to the policeman at once. He could have crushed Sixkiller with one blow of his hamlike fist, but he stood very still. Finally he asked quietly, “Is this a bust, Lieutenant?”

  “A bust? Why, Jake, you know me better than that! If it was a bust, would you be standing there with your nose not broken? With your head not split?” Sixkiller sounded hurt, and he turned to Dani. “You see how it is, Miss Ross? We policemen have an unhappy life. Here Jake and I have known each other for five years, and he still doesn’t trust me! Is that fair, I ask you?”

  Dani didn’t understand what was happening, but one thing was clear: The huge black man was deathly afraid of Sixkiller. She had heard that Luke was a hard man, but seeing this terror in a man who was obviously not afraid of many convinced her.

  Just then a thin, yellow woman dressed in a leather miniskirt and high boots came up. She had on a low-cut blouse and was obviously in poor condition. She lurched suddenly, falling against Jake Potter. “Here’s the money, Jake,” she cried, and the hand that held some bills trembled violently.

  “I don’t know you!” Potter objected instantly, pushing her hand away. He gave Sixkiller a wild look, and added, “She’s just a chippy, Lieutenant.”

  The woman stared at him and then began to weep. “Jake, you tole me, if I got the money, you’d give me—”

  Potter’s huge hand shut off her words. He cuffed her and whirled her around. “Git away, woman! I don’t know you!”

  Sixkiller apologized, “Didn’t mean to interrupt your business, Jake. Come along, Miss Ross.”

  Dani followed him back to the car, and when he drove away, she let go with the anger that had built up in her. “Why did you bring me to this place, Luke?”

  He didn’t answer for a moment, then admitted, “I wanted you to see what pays for those nice meals you’ve been having at the Lanza place, Dani. That poor woman crying for a fix, she pays for it.” He drove out of the ghetto and finally spoke, “Sorry, Dani. But I think you’ve been kidding yourself about some things. Sure, the kids are sweet, and you like Mrs. Lanza. Dom can be real cultured. Frank looks like a three-piece-suit guy working for a stock broker. But what you’ve just seen—that’s the Lanza business.”

  Dani responded quietly, “I think you’d better take me home, Luke.”

  “You mean back to the Lanza place?” he asked.

  “You know what I mean!”

  He shrugged and, without another word, drove through the night. When they got to the gate, Legs opened it immediately, and Sixkiller brought her to the front of the house. She got out, and he went with her to the front door. “Good night,” she said abruptly.

  Then he pulled her around. “Dani, why do you think I took you to the ghetto?” he asked. His dark eyes glowed, reflecting the brass lights over the entrance. He was a powerful man, physically and in other ways, and she could not pull away from him. “You think I didn’t know it would hurt you? That I’m just a dumb flatfoot?”

  “Oh, Luke, I don’t think that!” she corrected quickly. Then she nodded and softly stated, “You’re afraid I’m getting too involved with the Lanzas. That I’ve lost my sense of right and wrong.”

  He nodded. “That’s right, Dani. And you wouldn’t be the first. Money can do that—a lot of money. But with you it’s not money. You like the old guy. He’s dying, and you’re sorry for him. But I wanted you to see what’s underneath the Lanza empire. So I pulled back a rock and let you see some of the crawly things underneath.” He hesitated, then added, “It was pretty noble of me, Dani. Here I wanted to show you what a great prospect I am, and I shove your face in the garbage can.”

  Dani realized that he was speaking the truth. She looked into his expressionless face, and spok
e appreciatively, “I think you’re noble, Luke. Thanks for looking out for the girl detective.” Then she put her arms around his neck and pulled his head down. He was, for once, caught off guard, and by the time he tried to hold her, she was moving back. “There.” She smiled at him. “That makes two of us noble people around here. Good night, Luke—and thanks!”

  “Hey!” he protested as she closed the door, “I didn’t mean to be that noble, Dani!”

  “Call me again, Luke,” she invited through the slit in the door. Then she went to her room and got ready for bed. After she had showered and put on her gown, she sat down in the chair and began to read the Bible, but it seemed so remote from what had happened. Closing the Bible, she slipped into bed and tried to pray, but her mind was cluttered with too many thoughts.

  Finally she said aloud, “O God, I can’t pray! Take care of Ben. Take care of Rosemary and Frank and the kids! Soften Dom’s heart!” She finally drifted off to sleep, and for the first time since the shooting, slept all night without a bad dream.

  15

  A Trip to the Dentist

  * * *

  On Tuesday evening, Frank came to Dani’s room. “We’re having a meeting about the books. Like to have you sit in on it, if you’re not too tired.”

  Dani wanted to refuse, but since she had been the one who had initiated the problem, she agreed, “Of course, Frank.” When they got to the large meeting room, she was surprised to find the entire family there, especially Dom, who was obviously in pain.

  As soon as Dani sat down, Eddy angrily attacked her, “Listen, I hear you’ve been spouting off about how somebody’s been nibbling at the till. Well, I take that personal, Miss Ross! I’ve never taken a dime that wasn’t mine from this operation!”