by RA Chandler
“Calgo Crum, he checked in whilst you were out.”
“Okay, but make sure you keep on top of these things, we don’t want guest burning to death without anyone yearning for them.”
“We all pine for something Garvey.”
“You know that one day I’m going to come around that counter fix you.”
“I’ll be waiting,” she said as I went to the bank of elevators.
The inside off all the elevators had was a mixture of real wood finishing and chrome metalwork. I put the special code for the penthouse suites and glided up the building towards the most expensive rooms in the hotel. The lobby area for the suites only had four doors, the best carpet and a filtration system that left the air purer than anything above Mount Everest. Each door was black with a gold number with a half wreath around it. I walked over to Saffron’s room and put my ear to it, I didn’t hear anything not even the soft puppy like snore I expected her to have. I imagined she must be asleep or showering in the bathroom with its rainforest setting cascading water down her naked body over those supple breasts. Given my reprimand of Sebastian it was probably better if I moved away from his door. I went to the suite with a big number two on the door and repeated the ear to the door routine. This time it was different. There was a sound; a man coughed. I couldn’t hear another person respond; it was a lonely cough. I pressed the doorbell and waited.
I could hear steps, but they weren’t hurried, they weren’t panicked. A voice came from the other side, it was deep and gravely. I didn’t answer; if he looked through the spyhole he’d see my uniform and identification tag. Once again he repeated a question that was muffled by the thick door. Perhaps a little cynically I pressed the bell again.
Mr. Calgo Crum should now be pissed and open the door to hurl a torrent of abuse at the deaf security guard that had decided to interrupt his evening for several hundred dollars a night. But he didn’t, instead there was a silence that fell like a sudden avalanche. I put my ear to the door again and silence muttered nothing to me.
I took my master keycard out and pushed it into the slot, the light went green, I turned the handle and began to ease the door open. Then I waited.
“All right,” the voice said excitedly. “I’m a blow you back through that fucking door.”
It was dark inside the room; I took out my gun, held it at my side, crouched and pushed the door open with my shoulder. He knew the room well and where he was threatening from there was a couch in between. The light from the lobby hit him like a spotlight. He was tall, his hair shorn close to the scalp; he had a strong prominent jaw and deep set eyes that looked vacant against his tawny skin. He couldn’t see me and was squinting towards the door.
“Mr. Crum?”
“Yeah, what of it? Speak quick or I'm fittin to light up that doorway,” he said in accent that sounded some way south of the Mason-Dixie.
“I’m head of security.”
“You're killing me,” he said as if I was trying to beat him down on the price of car.
I stood and turned on the light on, he was handsome and looked like DJ Khaled might if he spent a lot of time training for a marathon. I put away my gun.
“So you were saying you're security? I’ve been in this place an hour and I get a visit from the head of security. Check the bathroom and under the bed if you want but the only woman I'm going to see today left with a nice tip already.”
“You expecting to see anymore women?”
“Why?”
“You haven’t seen her yet then?”
“Who?”
“Saffron!”
He swallowed, put the gun on the coffee table and dropped himself into the couch like man defeated by the weight of life. “I only got here an hour ago, had to bang a hooker for my nerves you know. I didn’t see her car in the underground car park so I thought she’d left. She’s got a little red Porsche Boxster I bought for her before I went down.”
“She’s still here. It’s been five days since she first arrived, living off room service and daytime television. She hasn’t left the hotel once.”
He looked like he was talking to himself or muttering an incantation or some kind, then he smiled in a manner that said ‘she still loves me’.
“I got delayed in Buffalo, Lake Erie is always beautiful, I got a few friends up there. I must say you seem to know a bit of my business.”
“True Mr. Fratp.”
The sound of his own name startled him and he dived for the gun on the coffee table, ready to roll and fire when he had possession of it. I kicked it off the table before he could reach it and complete his action pose. He lay on the floor looking forlorn and a little silly stretching at nothing in his dress shirt.
“Man, women talk too much,” he said.
“It wasn’t a woman that told me,” I returned.
“What?”
“I said it wasn’t a woman.”
“Who then?”
“Some gangster twins pissed at you for something.”
He was silent as the clockwork of his brain processed what I had just said; it straightened him slowly as he rose to his feet. For a dark man his face had lost a lot of color very suddenly, his eyes were haunted like someone who had just experienced an encounter with some kind the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow.
“Those guys with their high and mighty act, straight crooks,” he said and licked his lips like a man who’d walked through the most arid of desert.
“So you know them?”
“All day every day, they think their old school. You hear stories about how they don’t like to be crossed, only kill bad people, it’s all bullshit. They robbers and murderers trying to look legit like the government. But if you don’t do what they want they twist your cap back without hesitation.”
“I’m surprised you're taking it so well.”
“The news isn’t new to me, just a different measure. I got out early, that’s why they didn’t top me off and I owe some boys money for protection inside. Where is she?”
“Next door.”
“You're shitting me,” he spluttered.
He walked to the wall uninterested in getting his gun back; studying it like a new found hieroglyphic tablet he ran his hands against it to smooth it out. He put his ear to the wall like someone would listen for the heartbeat of someone they loved who had taken ill. I'm not sure what he heard but he nodded and moved back, I thought he was going to run through it but he spoke.
“I’ve got some money, enough to get us settled and avoid the hustler for a while, Saf sent me some dough and I added to it, got in on a couple of ball games, helped some players make money and I made money. Nothing heavy, just a couple of scores, fouls, you know. Anyway the twins are after me because I used their own cheating schemes against them, I figured out they had a few tables with mechanisms that could be manipulated; I’ve always been good with electronics. They think I took them for fifty grand, but that was just one casino. I did my research and found a few they had under umbrella companies and visited them and increased my take.”
“So you got the money they think you took?”
“Course I have.”
“Why not just pay up?”
“That’s not how these things work, you don’t reason with these people, you run, die or take them out. Besides she’s holding the cash for me, wouldn’t want to have to explain myself to the authorities if I get stopped.”
“Can you ride?”
“Sure.”
“I got a bike and helmet.”
“Yeah.”
“Well the twins found Saffron and wanted to use her to bait you.”
“Why you care?”
We talked, I figured she needs a break, everyone deserves a break now and again.”
“You talked?”
“I don’t sleep with married women.”
“What if I don’t want to give her a break?”
“I think you will,” I said.
“Why?”
“Because a guy I know paid me a visi
t and told me people were coming for her, you might have missed that earlier. He didn’t have to tell me and he knew that I would try and get her out. She’s got a Range Rover Evoke in the basement, moneys probably in the trunk. I can get you the keys and you can head north or get a false passport take a cruise liner and stay in the presidential suite until you reach England.”
“You got this figured out huh?”
“Used to work with the D.A, sometimes you turn a blind eye for the greater good, besides you don’t trust her.”
“You're a funny man.”
“I can make the call, money and new broads, sounds good to me.”
“I could take her with me.”
“You could.”
“But I like what you suggested, it’s your funeral if they find out you crossed them.”
“They won’t know.”
He poured himself a drink and knocked it back, ” I should see her before I go, maybe get one for the road, next door right?”
“And you have no key, don’t waste my time handsome or I’ll change my mind. Get the money out the trunk, take my bike and leave New York.”
“How I know you ain’t working for the twins.”
“I’d shoot you in the leg, gag you, put you in a bag and make a delivery if I was.”
He went to the bedroom and came back out with a leather jacket with a fur collar like mustang pilots used to wear. He was carrying a leather holdall and car keys, he threw me the keys.
“BMW 4 series, silver, it’s been tuned, couple of NOS tanks, pinks slips in the glove box.”
“My bikes a Triumph Speed R, the parking guy will give you the helmet.”
He nodded and as he walked past me I slipped his gun into his hand, he didn’t acknowledge the fact I had past him back his weapon. I called the garage attendant and directed him to give the escapee what he wanted. I gave him five minutes before I got the lift back into the desolate lobby; Veronica was doing her university work at the desk.
“You done tucking everyone into bed?” she said with a smile.
I looked at her ill-fitting uniform with her breasts straining to get free as she leaned forward, the top two buttons on her blouse open.
“You know I’ve learnt a lot of things over the last few years,” I said walking over to the main doors and locking them.
“Like what?” she responded, her hand slipping under the counter and switching off the lobby CCTV cameras.
“Patients and only denying yourself when you have a reason,” I said sliding behind the reception desk and her ass. I kissed her neck.
“Good to know and about fucking time,” she said pulling up her skirt.
I kissed her again and as she allowed my hands to slide up her thick legs and clasped her butt, pulling her up against my hardness. She wrapped her arms around the back of my neck and began to grind herself against my now rock hardness.
I opened her blouse, all the time kissing her neck and grinding, and slid it off her shoulders. Then I pulled her breasts out of her lace bra so that they hung like ripe melons ready to be eaten. She moved a hand down to my trousers and started to stroke my shaft. With only one hand she slid me out of my trousers and pulled me back and forth as I massaged her chest. I pulled her panties to the side and slid my fingers across her wetness.
"You know I’ve wanted you from the first day you started right?" I asked her like a hungry lion presented with a fresh gazelle carcass to devour.
"Yep,” she replied, “but I've dreamed about you taking me just like this.”
I pushed her forward so that her breasts rested on the counter.
"Put your leg on the counter," I commanded.
She hesitated for a moment before lifting her thigh onto the desk. I took a Trojan out of my pocket and slipped it on.
I reached under knee and spread her legs further apart, all the time my other hand squeezing her ample ass. Taking the full length of my shaft and balls out of my trousers I plunged in, my shaft sliding into her effortlessly until it ran out of room. She moaned in a mixture of pain and pleasure, but I was past caring because I wasn’t going to be at this place tomorrow. I started to pump slowly at first easing more of myself inside her with every thrust of my pneumatic drill.
"Oh fuck this is good," she groaned.
She began to buck under me and whisper obscenities as she began to climax.
“Harder,” she demanded.
I obliged her with gusto, smashing into her until my pelvis bone with hitting hers.
And then I stopped.
I pulled out of her, pulled her leg down, turned her, placed a pillow from her chair on the desk and leaned her back in to as I lifted her legs. All the time she stared at me with admiration.
Holding her legs over my shoulders I entered her with no hands and started press my affection into her. I leant forward and we kissed, salt wet tongues, all the time I pounded her like I was trying to break ground and lay foundations for a new hotel.
Somewhere between blasphemy and calling on the Lord’s help we finished with as much passion and lust as we had started. I put the CCTV back on.
I could hear the music on again in the relaxation room. I walked in and found the lithe Miss Cormount stretched out on a couch on her front singing along to Undercover Lover by Smooth.
“You finished your business?” she said as I entered. “You know I couldn’t sleep a dime.”
She had changed into a tiny tennis dress, it was the only item of clothing she had on.
“Sure,” I said.
She stretched like a cat and her butt in the air; the dress rode up a little.
I smiled at her ass, “you okay?”
“Waiting is so hard,” she complained and turned to face me.
“I guess.”
“I like you, you're a sweet guy.”
I took a deep breath and dismissed the devil on my shoulder whispering indecencies into my ear.
“Everybody can be sweet,” I said.
“The men I’ve met usually turn out to be only sweet until they get what they want.”
That sounded like all men.
“I guess some people can pretend.”
“Sit with me a little,” she said yawning.
I sat on the opposite couch and watched as she fell asleep swiftly with the kind if stillness you attribute to deep water. I went over to her and thought about it. Then I took off my blazer and covered her with it.
I walked back to the lobby where Veronica was present and correctly attired. I walked over to her and kissed her, the look in her eyes said she wanted more, wanted us to do it again soon. But I knew that you don’t get perfect moments twice and I’d probably never see her again. I’d be the indiscretion she told her daughter about one day in the future when her husband wasn’t listening. I went into the security office and got changed into my Timberlands, Levis and Averix jacket.
As though trying to avoid a final farewell Veronica wasn’t at her station when I came out dressed like hip hop artist on a coffee break. I walked down to the garage; there were a few nice motors down there. I had a feeling that a Bentley GT that had been down there a month but kept spotless was being readied for a speedy exit after some great crime. Joe came out of his booth to great me. He was big and burly, he had a record but wasn’t dishonest and protected each car as though it were his own.
“Garvey,” he said.
“The guy I send down leave okay?”
“Yeah, about half an hour ago, but he didn’t take the bike. Said he was taking the Range Rover and you’d be cool with that. I do okay?”
”Yeah, let’s keep it between us though,” I said and gave him thirty bucks.
I found the BMW M4 convertible parked and cleaned in a bay; Joe watched me as I opened it up and unfolded the hard top roof. It was brand new, less than 100 miles on the clock and fresh smelling Nero black leather.
I was on Linden Boulevard heading back to my place by Prospect Park thinking about a detour to the Hamptons, a slow cruise through Centr
al Park or pop over to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. I’d seen they were offering 12 months lease for the price of 9 months with advance payments, I had more than enough saved to start my detective business.
My phone rang.
I pulled off into Ruby Street next to the 24 hour McDonalds, I’d have to sort out the Bluetooth because I didn’t like pulling over unprepared.
“The caller ID said it was ‘Barabbas’, how did he get my number and what was it doing in my phone.
“Is that Garvey, Fields Garvey?” said a voice I didn’t know. He sounded official like the chairman of the board or a press officer.
“Yeah.”
“I have a message from Barabbas.”
“Go head.”
“We intercepted Mr. Fratp trying to leave the location, Barabbas had a hunch you’d smoke him out. We tailed him out of New York before we pulled him over, he didn’t stop for the lights so we went in for a hard stop.”
I held the phone to my ear tightly, “go on, I'm guessing there’s more.”
“There were some shots fired and Barabbas to a hit, he told us to say goodbye just in case.”
“Thanks.”
“That will be all,” he said and hung up the phone.
The air was full of early morning chill and confusion. If he’d taken the bike he’d have gotten away, but he probably wanted to take all the money. And somehow in all of this he’d got the attention of an alphabet agency.
I thought about getting a double cheese burger and a strawberry milkshake when I saw the young man with a red scarf around his face.
“What you saying big hommie,” he said like someone casually asking me where to find a Starbucks. He had a hunting knife pointed at me.
I didn’t answer him, I couldn’t be bothered, and the night had been too long.
“Why don’t you get on and up out the beamer?” he said more earnestly getting into his role. It was stupid of me to park up with the roof down, but he was stupid to pull this alone.
“You asked me what I'm doing,” I said.
“Yeah fool, what’s up?”
His eyes widened as he realized my Dueller was pointed at his chest, guns are quicker than knives where I'm from.
“Well big hommie, I'm just chillin,” I said.