“Thanks. That was very thoughtful,” was all I could think of to say.
“Listen, I wouldn’t take it too hard, if I were you. It sounds like the guy’s gene pool needed to be discontinued anyway,” Vinnie added consolingly. Then he took a closer gander at Running. “Hey, lookee here! Whadda ya know? I even get to meet a real, live Indian!”
I could always count on Vinnie to be socially suave.
“Vinnie Bertucci, meet Matthew Running, tribal game officer for the Blackfeet reservation. Matthew, this is Vinnie, an old friend of mine.” Introductions over, I brought the subject back to the matter at hand. “So, Vinnie, what’s going on? Why do you have Benny tied up?”
“Oh, I see you even know his real name.” Vinnie carefully plucked a piece of lint from off his honest-to-God blue satin shirt. “I’ve been trying to persuade him real nice to give me back the money he owes. But we haven’t had a meeting of the minds yet.”
“I already told you, I don’t have it anymore!” Benny irritably snapped.
“And I told you to shut the hell up with that crap!” Vinnie glowered.
He shook a massive fist in Benny’s face and the Bopper immediately quieted down. It wasn’t hard to understand why—Vinnie was the size of Godzilla, while the Bopper couldn’t have taken on Pepe Le Pew.
“All right, that’s enough. I say we cut this guy loose.” Matthew made a move toward Gugliani’s chair.
“Hold it right there, Tonto. You ain’t on the reservation and this ain’t your problem.”
Running turned to me in disbelief. “How the hell do you know this guy?”
“Vinnie, do you mind if I take my friend into the dining room and explain it to him?”
“Sure. Just check all knives, guns, and other artillery with me before you do. I don’t need to deal with some Wagon Train style ambush.”
“Like hell I will,” Matt began.
“It’s okay. Just do it,” I advised.
Matthew stared at me as though I were crazy.
“I trusted you on how to handle the bear the other day. Well, think of Vinnie as my grizzly. You’re going to have to go with me on this one.”
We both handed over our guns, and I produced my Speideco knife.
“Very nice,” Vinnie approved. “I like a woman with good taste in weapons.” Then he patted us down just to double check. “Hey, bring me back one of those cannolis from in there when you’re through.”
Matthew followed me into the dining room. Vinnie was right; there was some great-looking pastry on the table. Cannolis, Napoleons, even chocolate éclairs. I almost reached for one, hoping there would be custard inside.
“Now do you want to tell me what’s going on here?” Matthew demanded.
“I met Vinnie during a case I worked on in New Orleans. The thing is, he’s got ties to the mob.”
“Thanks for the hot tip. I’d gathered that already,” Running dryly replied.
“It all goes back to this Medicare scam I’ve been telling you about. Apparently Benny ran off with a chunk of the money. Vinnie’s here to get it back. But we just might be able to make this thing work for us.”
“How so?”
“Vinnie’s got a lot of bark and not so much bite—at least, that’s what I’m hoping. I don’t believe he really plans to hurt the guy, especially since I know about it. I’m going to promise Vinnie that I’ll help him get his money back if, in return, he persuades Benny to talk to me.”
“Rachel, you can’t be serious! You can’t trust either one of those goons. We need to get out of here and turn them in immediately,” Running protested.
I wasn’t willing to give up. “You know what Benny did with all that money? He invested it in a business proposition with the United Christian Patriots. I’m telling you, he’s our key to what’s taking place on the rez!”
“I still don’t like it,” Matthew resisted.
“Then I’m sure Santou and Dixon will be more than happy to take this off our hands, as well. Who else do you think is going to end up working the case?”
“Okay, you win,” Matthew grudgingly relented. “We’ll try playing it your way for now. But the moment the situation begins to spin out of control, I’m bringing it to a stop. Is that clear?”
“Absolutely. Whatever you say.”
Matthew was temporarily mollified. Whatever you say—isn’t it amazing how men always fall for that line? I grabbed a cannoli, along with an éclair, and we walked back into the living room.
“Hey, Vinnie. Can I talk to you in private for a minute?”
“Sure,” he said, looking like Viva Zapata! Vinnie had stuck our guns in the waistband of his pants, which were already stretched to their limit. “But I ain’t leavin’ this room. We can gab in the corner. What’s up?”
“I’m going to be honest with you. I’ve also been trying to get information out of Benny. But he hasn’t been very forthcoming with me, either. What say we help each other out on this?”
Vinnie took a delicate bite of his cannoli, and then daintily licked each finger. I shoved half the éclair into my mouth.
“Keep talkin’. I’m listening.”
“Maybe you could give Benny a nudge and suggest it’s in his best interest to tell me what I want to know. In return, I’ll help you get your money back.”
“You’d be willing to do that?” Vinnie asked guardedly.
“Sure. It’s got nothing to do with the issues in which I’m involved. I believe I can retrieve the money for you. The only thing is, I need to solve my case first. Also, you can’t hurt Benny. Have we got a deal?”
Vinnie dislodged a piece of cannoli from a rear molar with the tip of his pinkie. “Yeah, what the hell. I’ll give it a shot.” He grinned. “Metaphorically speaking, of course.”
“Let me have a minute with Benny before you start.” Then I approached the Italian Davy Crockett. “So how’s it going, Benny?”
“How’s it going? How the hell do you think it’s going?” he retorted, wriggling like a worm on a hook. “You know I can’t get hold of that money right now. It’s all invested in the catalogue and the upcoming IPO! But try getting that big lug to listen to reason. Now what am I supposed to do?”
“Funny you should ask. I go way back with Vinnie, and might be able to help you out of this jam.”
“You’d do that for me?” Benny’s eyes grew misty with gratitude. “Any favor you want is yours! Go ahead, name it.”
“Terrific. How about giving me that information I requested?”
“Okay, okay. That’s doable. The problem is, I haven’t been able to get to it yet,” he hedged. “It’s not that I don’t plan to, believe me! But as you can see, I’ve been a little tied up.”
“Then you’ll just have to tell me what you already know.” His nickname should have been Benny the Weasel.
Vinnie now approached with a canvas duffel bag in his hand. Opening it, he pulled out a length of piano wire, and methodically began to wrap each end around a ham-sized fist.
“Hey, Bopper. Where can I find a coupla steel buckets in this place?”
“Whadda ya want those for?” Benny asked nervously.
“For mixing concrete, of course. What else?”
It was as if a cattle prod had suddenly zapped the Bopper’s ass. Benny began to talk a mile a minute.
“All right, all right! I seem to remember something.”
I just bet he did.
“The militia wacks and Hutchins have tapped into some kinda unlimited resource on the rez that’s bringing in big bucks. Hutchins is their main man on the project, being that he works there.”
“What kind of resource are you talking about?” Matthew pressed.
“How the hell should I know? Maybe they struck oil.”
I was almost tempted to let Vinnie have his way with him. No question, I needed to start dealing with a better class of criminal. That thought triggered my memory back to the distinguished-looking gentleman I’d spotted at Nearly Paradise.
“Then maybe you can tell me this. I saw Rafe Lungren with a man that I’m curious about. He’s tall, dignified, well dressed, and flew out of the compound on a private plane. Do you have any idea who he might be?”
Benny perked up to the very end of his coon tail.
“Ooh, ooh! The guy’s got one of those prissy little goatees that makes him look like Freud, right?”
I nodded encouragingly.
“Bingo! That’s some hotshot doctor who’s always flying in and outta the place. He lives somewhere on the other side of Glacier National Park.”
“That’s a start, but I need more specifics.”
“Yeah? Well, maybe I’d think better if you loosened these ropes.”
Vinnie approached with the piano wire taut in his hands.
“Okay, for chrissakes! Hold it a second, it’s beginning to come back to me!” Benny squirmed in his seat. “Let’s see. He lives in a fancy-schmancy town with a name that sounds like some sorta food your tribe eats for breakfast.”
Oy veh. I began to run down the grocery list. “Bagels?”
“No.”
“Lox?”
“Uh-uh.”
“Sturgeon?”
“Nah. Doesn’t sound right.”
“Whitefish?”
“Yeah, that’s it! And the guy’s name is Robert Zarem.”
Benny slumped as if he’d just finished running the New York City marathon.
I walked out of range of the Bopper’s earshot.
“So, whadda ya think? Should I put this around his neck and see what else you can get?” Vinnie asked, eagerly stretching the wire.
“No, that’s probably all he knows. Will you give me a few days to solve the case?”
“What about my money?” Vinnie flashed a dark look that clearly stated, Business is business.
“I promise to get it to you with interest.” I did my best to ignore the sight of Matthew rolling his eyes.
Vinnie finally nodded. “Sure, what the hell. This ain’t such a bad place to hang out for a while. Besides, I got myself some free entertainment.”
I was about to ask what that might be when a one-of-a-kind voice sailed through the hallway.
“Oh, Vinnie honey! I just designed a mountain girl costume. Whadda ya think of this for dancing at the bar?”
Cherry Jubilee pranced down the stairs in a bikini top and loincloth fashioned out of black bear fur. The two swatches over her breasts swayed as she walked. A quick double take revealed them to be the critter’s paws, hanging from a string around her neck. The device allowed each paw to be separately lifted, in an inspired design for exposing her breasts. By the satisfied smile on her face, she’d apparently rebounded quite well from Kyle’s recent death.
Oops! I guess I’d been wrong. One glimpse of me, and her expression changed into pure hatred. Cherry lunged through space with outstretched claws.
“What the hell is that murdering bitch doing here? I’ll kill her myself unless someone beats me to it!” she screeched.
Vinnie quickly wrapped a massive arm around her chest and pulled her back against him. The bear paws flew up in the air in surprise. It wasn’t the sight of her bare breasts that lassoed my attention; rather, it was the telltale mark on one paw’s inner hide. A dingy loop circled the skin, mirroring the stain on the bear rug under Rafe Lungren’s desk.
A piece of the puzzle fell into place, and I knew that Rafe Lungren was likewise involved. He’d said it himself—he still enjoyed catching a bear every now and then. Those marks could only have been made by trapped bears struggling to escape a snare. The wire had pinched the skin, forming a pool of blood. The result was a stain that never went away.
“Please don’t ask any questions right now,” I whispered to Running. “Just go along with whatever I say.”
Then I turned to face Cherry. “The fact is, Kyle was responsible for his own death. However, I do have proof that he wasn’t the only one involved in the bear gallbladder trade. There’s enough evidence to implicate all the others who are part of the ring. Kyle wasn’t as smart as everyone thought.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Cherry furiously hissed.
“Sorry, but it’s confidential information,” Matthew chimed in. “I’m afraid we can’t tell you anything else.”
We deliberately turned away, yet remained close enough for Cherry to overhear our conversation.
“Speaking of which, we need to get that evidence out of your office. Orders are to ship it to Billings ASAP.” I glanced at my watch. “Damn! It’s too late to do that today. We’ll have to leave the material at your place overnight and send it first thing tomorrow morning. Just make sure it’s locked up safe. It’s dynamite information that’s too important to lose.”
Benny bounced his chair over toward us. “Hey, what’s going on? Is this something I should know about?”
I gave him my sweetest smile. “We’re saying that Rafe Lungren is looking at his last few nights of freedom. We’ve got enough physical evidence to lock him away behind bars for a long time, thanks to Kyle.”
“Whadda ya talking about? You can’t do that! What about my business deal?” Benny demanded frantically.
Matt turned the Bopper’s cap around, homeboy style. “That’s your problem, hotshot. Rafe Lungren is going down.”
“You gonna believe a dirty Indian and that bitch? They’re bullshitting you. They’ve got nothing. Don’t listen to them!” Cherry insisted.
“I guess you’ll just have to wait and find out. Oh, and by the way—don’t pack your bags and plan to go anywhere,” I advised Miss Jubilee.
I figured we’d laid enough bait to do the trick. I had no doubt that Cherry would call Lungren and warn him. Odds were that he’d be paying a visit to Matthew’s office later on tonight. I promised Vinnie to stay in touch and, reclaiming our weapons, we took our leave.
“Do you want to clue me in about that game back there?” Matthew asked as we drove away in his pickup.
“I’m betting that Hutchins and Rafe Lungren are both involved in the gallbladder trade. Our little ruse should lure Lungren out of hiding.”
Matthew smiled and my heart instantly flip-flopped. “Very clever. But what’s your interest with this Zarem fellow?”
“He’s most likely the next link in a highly organized pipeline. What better cover can you think of than for a doctor to ship bear galls overseas in packages marked medical supplies?”
Running finally seemed to be convinced. “Okay. I’ve got a contact in Whitefish. I’ll ask him to track Zarem down and get what information he can.”
“Great. In the meantime, why don’t we plan to rendezvous near your office around eight o’clock tonight? That should give us plenty of time to set up surveillance.”
Running pulled next to where my Ford was parked in the FBI lot, when his cell phone rang. Call it idle curiosity or downright nosiness, but I stayed put, determined to listen.
“Hey, Bearhead. What’s up?”
Matthew’s face abruptly turned ashen. “Don’t worry. I’ll get on it right away,” he promised and hung up.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“It’s Elizabeth Come-By-Night. She’s missing again.”
Oh dear God. “Did she have any appointments after school today?” I asked, knowing it was a stupid question. Bearhead would have been sure to check that out right away after the last incident.
“No, nothing.”
“Maybe she went to a girlfriend’s house?” I suggested.
But Running didn’t respond. Each moment felt heavy as lead until he finally spoke.
“I keep thinking about those goddamn snares up in the mountains, hidden like a bunch of land mines. There are probably still plenty of them set and waiting to go off. Anyone roaming around in the woods could get caught in one.”
I instantly pictured Bearhead’s little girl trapped and frightened, in pain and all alone.
“I’m going to help Bearhead look for her, but I’ll be back by
eight o’clock tonight.”
“I’m coming along,” I said, only to have Running cut me cold.
“No, you’re not. This has nothing to do with you. It’s Indian business.”
His words hit hard. So this was how it felt to be an outsider.
“Then what can I do to help?” I asked, not wanting to show that my feelings were hurt.
“Go to Sally’s and stay out of trouble.”
I closed the passenger door behind me without a word. Running took off as I stood there, having never felt more useless.
Stop being such a baby! I reprimanded myself.
But I was also worried about the girl. I couldn’t help but imagine Elizabeth locked in a grizzly’s jaws.
I got into my Ford and drove off, unsure of what to do next. I hadn’t gone far when my thoughts were interrupted by a car flashing its lights behind me. A glance in the rearview mirror revealed that Santou was my pursuer. He caught my eye and motioned for me to pull off the road, where I sat waiting like an errant motorist as he stormed over.
“All right, chère. I thought you were going straight to your friend’s house. Where in hell have you been?” he demanded.
I gritted my teeth to keep from biting his head off. Next time around, I fully intended to be born a man.
“Why are you checking up on me?” I retorted. “I told you before, there are other cases that I’m working on.”
Jake walked around, opened the passenger door, and slid onto the seat beside me. I turned, ready to lay into him, only to be caught off-guard as his hand lightly touched my cheek.
“You really don’t get it, do you? I care about you, Rachel. I always have and I always will. That’s why I can’t just sit around while you willingly throw yourself in harm’s way. You’re not playing with poachers in the bayou. Nor are you wired and protected like you were in Delta country. This is hard-core crazy militia. They have one agenda and one agenda only—to overthrow the government using any means possible. The bear gallbladder trade is no more than chump change for the United Christian Patriots. What they’re involved in is something far more dangerous.”
A Killing Season Page 20