by Rick Reed
Jack said, “You don’t mind me calling you Bigfoot.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything but now that you bring it up, I can’t sleep some nights,” Liddell said. Swenson chuckled.
“Igor” came back from the coroner’s vehicle with the bag.
“Are you going to introduce us to your intern?” Jack asked. He still didn’t believe Little Casket.
Lilly said, “Igor, this is Jack Murphy. The other one is Bigfoot. The little guy with the cab driver’s hat is Captain Swenson.”
“Ivan Ivansky,” the giant said. “Glad to meet you.”
“Pleased to meet you, Ivan,” Jack said.
“She calls me Igor,” Ivan said. “You can too if you want. I don’t mind. She’s nice.”
Lilly walked away, saying, “You can share recipes later.”
Chapter 21
Mindy shrugged out of her winter coat, pulled on a coffee-colored cable-knit sweater and opened a bottle of Rombauer Chardonnay. She filled a Big Joe wineglass, lit a cigarette and plopped down on the sofa, splashing the wine onto her Talbots wool slacks and the bottom of her sweater.
“Shit! Shit!” She jumped up and cast around for something to wipe at the stains. She threw the glass of wine at the fireplace, and the cigarette after it. Her hands pulled into fists of rage and she screamed, “Goddam it!”
“Why don’t you just open a bottle and pour it on yourself. Save you some time,” Sully said from the doorway.
“Screw you, Sully.”
“I thought you’d never ask.” He took her by her wrists, pulled her close and held her until she could feel the hardness of him.
“No, Sully,” she said in a soft voice.
His eyebrows rose, and he released her.
She put her palms against his chest and lay her head against him. “Not here,” she said. She could feel her heart beating and her eyes softened as she pressed herself against him. He stooped and cupped her buttocks in his large hands, lifting her from her feet. A soft moan escaped her lips as she wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist.
“I need you, Sully.”
“That’s why I came,” he said.
“Won’t be the last time you came.” She loosened his tie, pulled it off, and unbuttoned his shirt.
* * * *
Later, as she lay satiated and holding the sheet beneath her ample breasts, she watched Sully dressing. She turned the sheet down, waggled her bosom at him, and said in a pout, “No round two?”
Sully buttoned his shirt and pulled the tie over his head. “Mindy, I told you we have to go. We’ve been here way longer than I wanted. Get dressed.” He slipped on his suit jacket.
“Just like you to come and go,” she said teasingly.
Sully pulled his tie into place. “Sonny’s gone, Mindy. Do you understand what that means?”
She patted the mattress beside her. “Yeah. We’re all alone.”
Sully said, “Unbelievable.”
“No, Sully. I don’t know what that means. What does it mean?”
He rummaged through the scattered clothes she’d left on the floor. She would never be confused with a housekeeper. He dug around until he found a pair of her jeans. He opened a dresser drawer and pulled out a clean wool sweater—one that wasn’t stained with red wine. He tossed them on the bed. “Get dressed.”
Mindy got up, knocking the clothes onto the floor. She stood, naked. “I’m not leaving, Sully. I finally got a house I like. I got friends. I got a life, ya know. I loved Sonny, but what happened to him’s got nothing to do with me.”
He said as if to a child, “Your boobs are big, Mindy, but your brain’s the size of a pea.”
She grabbed a brush from the bedside table and threw it at him. “You bastard! You wasn’t complaining a minute ago. If Sonny was here he’d kill you for what you done.”
“What we’ve done,” Sully corrected her. “And Sonny’s not here.”
He looked down at the clothes he’d given her. “Put those on and don’t back talk me again.”
Mindy reluctantly bent down and picked the clothing off the floor under Sully’s scrutiny.
He said, “I took the liberty of leaving a letter with the coroner telling them the body will be cremated. I’ve made arrangements for it. You don’t need to be there. I signed the papers for you, and witnessed as your attorney. As soon as the coroner releases Sonny’s body, he’ll be a box of ashes.”
“I got to give him a proper funeral, Sully. You should be there, too.”
“Don’t you get it?” Sully asked. “Whoever killed Sonny won’t stop at him. There are things you don’t know. Sonny was my friend and he’d want me to get you somewhere safe. I’m doing this for him—and you—and risking a lot.”
Mindy’s jaw clamped tight. She sat on the edge of the mattress sans underwear and pulled the tight jeans up over her legs. She bounced and squeezed into them and slipped on the too-tight sweater. “What am I supposed to do with the house? We got bank accounts. Cars. The boat. The stuff in the safe? I’m not losing it all, Sully. I’m not. Give me some time to think.”
“I’ll do the thinking,” Sully said, and lifted a wooden blind to see the front of the house.
“What, Sully? Is someone here?”
He watched for a moment longer and let the blind drop. “It’s nothing. I thought I heard something.”
“I’d better go see,” she said. “Maybe those detectives are back.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He opened the walk-in closet. One entire wall at the back was filled with shelf after shelf of women’s shoes.
“Here,” he said, and threw a pair of serviceable flats to her. He selected a carry-on size bag and brought it to the bed. “Take only what you need for tonight. Nothing else. Understand?”
“But what about my things, Sully?”
Sully said, “We’ll get new things.”
Mindy walked into her closet as if in a trance. She touched sweaters, evening wear, and stood in front of the wall of shoes biting her bottom lip.
Sully made a disgusted sound, shooed Mindy out of the closet and grabbed a pair of jeans, another sweater, and one pair of tennis shoes. He stuffed the clothing into the bag. “Get some underthings. Only whatever crap you need for tonight.”
She stood motionless in the middle of the room, arms hanging limply by her sides with tears streaming down her face. “It ain’t crap, Sully. It’s my life.”
He put an arm around her and pulled her head against his chest. “I know this is hard for you. It’s a big change. But you’ve been in worse shape. Right?”
She dabbed tears away with the back of a finger.
“I just don’t understand why I have to go. I don’t mind talking to the cops. They were Sonny’s friends. I don’t know anything, Sully. I ain’t done nothing to make anyone come after me.”
He led her to the bed, sat her down and sat beside her. “I’m going to tell you some stuff you may or may not want to know, but listen closely. You need to understand some things. Sonny was working for Big Bobby. You might think you’re safe here, but distance doesn’t mean anything to these people. They have a long memory and a longer reach. Sonny’s being a cop only meant one thing. He was a resource. The cops here were Sonny’s friends, but they don’t know what he was doing. They’ll come after you just like the mob is going to do. Only the mob will get to you first.”
Mindy started to say something and Sully stopped her. “Yeah, Sonny was busting drug dealers,” he said in a singsong voice. “But he was dirty. The drug busts were competitors of Big Bobby’s. How do you think Sonny got all his information? Made all those busts?”
Mindy’s eyes had widened at the mention of Big Bobby. “Sonny wasn’t working for him!” she said. “Just that one time in Boston. That’s why we had to move. Sonny promised me nothing like that would happen again. He took
me away from all that. Got us this house. Sonny was a good man.”
Sully said patiently, “Do you remember the trip you and Sonny made to Atlantic City two years ago?”
“I remember.”
“Sonny was meeting with Big Bobby,” Sully said.
“No he wasn’t. He was gambling. He won a bunch of money that night.”
“He was paid a bunch of money,” Sully said. “Do you remember what we were doing while Sonny was in that meeting?”
Mindy said, “I remember you giving me a tour of the casino while Sonny was playing roulette.” She also remembered Sully had given her a tour of an unoccupied suite. It wasn’t the first time, either. She had dated Sully first. He had introduced her to Sonny.
Sully always took her to upscale places. But he was a slam-bam-no-thank-you-ma’am kind of guy. Sometimes she had that kind of need. But sometimes she needed to feel wanted. Sonny was solid, dependable. He knew what he wanted out of life. And what Sonny wanted was her. But now Sonny was dead. She was alone. Vulnerable. She needed someone. For a little while at least.
She brushed her thigh against Sully’s. “Those were some good times, wasn’t they?”
“Good times,” Sully agreed.
“What am I going to do now, Sully? I don’t have any friends. I don’t have no one.”
Sully said, “Friends? You’re worrying about friends? You’ve got real problems, Mindy. If I didn’t like you I wouldn’t be here. I’ve always been there for you. Right?”
Mindy said nothing. She’d been passed from man to man before Sonny came along. She didn’t want to go back to that kind of life.
“Don’t lie to me, Sully. You’re just after one thing. Well, two, and you already got one of them,” she said. “What you want is in the safe and I don’t know how to get in it. Sonny never showed me. I didn’t want the money.” But she did. It was her ticket to a new life.
Sully stood and gripped her shoulder until it hurt. “If it wasn’t for me you’d still be living in that shitty, roach-infested walk-up in Boston. I know a lie when I hear one and you, Mindy, are lying your pretty little ass off.” He let go of her shoulder.
She stood and moved away from him, rubbed her shoulder and said, “Big Bobby didn’t have nothin’ to do with the money. Sonny had his severance pay. His 401K and some other stuff. He made good money. I’m his beneficiary.”
Sully said, “Show me the safe, Mindy.”
Mindy pointed to the walk-in closet. “It’s in there. But you can’t get in it, I told you.”
Sully said, “Stay right there.” He walked into the closet and pushed clothes around, stomped on the floor listening for a difference in sound. Nothing.
“Mindy,” Sully said.
“I don’t know the combination anyways, Sully. Honest to God.”
He forced her into the closet and towered over her. “Where is it?”
“It’s behind the shoes.”
Sully pulled at the shelf and felt for a switch. He knocked shoes onto the floor from several shelves. “There’s nothing there, you dumb bitch!”
“Don’t you dare call me names, Vincent Sullis,” Mindy said, finding her nerve. She flipped the light switch and the switch next to it into the On position. There was a click and the wall of shoes swung open. Sully pulled it further open, revealing a six foot by three foot steel safe. In place of a combination lock or keypad was a box with two LCD screens.
“Sonny always went for high tech,” Sully said. “Open it.”
“I told you I don’t have the combination, Sully,” Mindy whined.
“It’s not a combination, Mindy. It’s biometric. Put your thumb on it.”
“What are you expecting to find, Sully? You can’t take Sonny’s stuff. It’s not right.”
Sully took her hand and held her thumb on the screen. Nothing. “What’s wrong with the damn thing?”
Mindy put her thumb on the other LCD screen and gears could be heard. Sully turned the handle and pulled the door open. Inside the safe were shelves and drawers and a gun rack. In the rack were a Colt AR-15 with laser sights, and an old Winchester 30-30. A Czech Skorpion 9mm machine pistol lay on one of the shelves with two extra 20-round magazines, loaded. The Skorpion had a folded wire stock that could open up into a compact rifle. Sully picked it up, folded out the stock and lifted the weapon to his shoulder. Sonny had shown Sully the gun when they were on BPD and told him it was a trophy Sonny’s old man brought back from Vietnam.
From behind, Mindy said, “Sonny loved his guns. Said it was part of history.”
Sully’s expression hardened. “Now Sonny’s a part of history.”
Several shoeboxes were stacked on the floor. Sully opened one of these. It was full of stacks of one-hundred-dollar bills still in bank wrappers. He lifted the lid on the other boxes and they were likewise full of cash.
“I seen the guns, but I ain’t never seen any of that,” Mindy said, and reached for one of the stacks of money.
Sully pushed her hand away. “This doesn’t belong to you. Or me, for that matter,” he said. “This is why I came.”
Sully found a small duffel bag rolled in the closet and dumped the money inside. He saw some jewelers’ trays stacked on another shelf, filled with gold and diamond jewelry, bracelets and precious stones.
“Where did he get this stuff?” he asked Mindy.
“They’re presents from Sonny. He gave them to me. I need to take them.”
Sully left the trays and shut the safe door without waiting to see if it locked.
“Sully, that’s my jewelry in there.”
Sully shoved her out of the closet and shut the door. He poured the contents of the duffel bag on the mattress and counted.
“Screw me!” he muttered, and shoved the money back in the duffel.
“What’s the matter, Sully?”
“It’s not all here,” he said. “Shit!”
“Can I get my jewelry first?”
“No! We’ve got to go. When they send someone, they’ll find the jewelry and guns and take them. They’ll think Sonny laundered the money or hid it somewhere else. You don’t want to be here when that happens. These guys don’t ask questions.”
“Why would they take my jewelry? I don’t understand any of this, Sully.”
Sully said, “Oh for Christ’s sake, Mindy! We don’t have time for this.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on,” Mindy said.
Sully’s hands clenched into fists, relaxed, and his shoulders slumped. He sat on the mattress beside her. “Sonny isn’t the only one working for Big Bobby. We both had to resign from the police in Boston, but that wasn’t enough. We knew things we shouldn’t have, but we were smart enough that we put some evidence away. Insurance. If either of us got hurt or disappeared, the other would tell where the evidence was.”
Mindy’s hand went to her mouth. “Is that why Sonny told me to call that number if he didn’t make it home?”
Sully said, “I’m glad you didn’t call. Do you remember the number?”
“I forgot it. Sully, you’re scaring me.”
“You’re lying again. But it doesn’t matter now. I’m protected. But this house, everything you have is because of Big Bobby. As far as he’s concerned, he owns it. Sonny forgot that. He tried to cheat Big Bobby.”
Sully said as if to himself, “Big Bobby’s kid was killed last week and he thinks either we were behind it, or it was because of someone coming after us. Either way, we are now loose ends. The money in that bag is Big Bobby’s money. He knew Sonny scored half a mil two weeks ago and, well, never mind the rest.”
“He wants to kill me?” Mindy said. “I ain’t never done nothin’ to him. I wouldn’t know him if I saw him, Sully.”
“Maybe he wouldn’t kill you. Maybe he’d put you in one of his whorehouses and make y
ou work off what you and Sonny owe him.” Sully peeked out of the blinds again. He let them close and said, “Don’t give me any more shit, or I’ll leave you here.”
* * * *
A plume blew from the dual exhaust pipes of the white Jeep backed into a wooded area. Marty Crispino wore the heavy wool overcoat, scarf and gloves. Even with the heater blasting on his feet and face he was cold. In Boston it was colder than this. Icier too. But cold was cold. He hated it. He hoped the next job was in Florida.
He had gone off-road with the Jeep to get around the first gate. He hoped the surveillance camera wasn’t recorded anywhere. He watched Sully’s sedan drive away and leave Sonny’s gate open. Crispino couldn’t see faces but there were two people in front. The sedan was definitely Sully’s car with vanity Massachusetts plates that said SO SU ME.
He let them drive away. They wouldn’t get far before he was done here, thanks to a couple of gizmos he’d brought with him. One was a real-time GPS tracking device that he had synced with his iPhone. Another was a GPS counter-surveillance device. He’d put the tracking device under Sully’s back bumper. He’d use the counter-surveillance device to make sure he didn’t have a tracker on his Jeep. The Jeep was a rental, but you could never be too cautious.
He knew Murphy didn’t believe him about why he was really here. He just hoped Murphy didn’t figure everything out too quickly. Marty had known a lot of killers in his time. Murphy had a badge, but he was the real deal.
When Sully’s car was out of sight, Marty drove through the gates Sully left open and parked in front of the house. It didn’t matter if anyone was home, but he rang the doorbell just to be sure. Maybe Sonny had a housekeeper. Most likely not. From what he’d gleaned from those who knew her, Mindy wasn’t much good at anything except screwing and drinking.
There was no answer. He took out his tools and set to work. The lock popped and then something behind his eyes popped.
Chapter 22
Jack and Liddell stood in muck up to their ankles. The back wall of the cabin was made of heavy split logs and had partially survived, but the part over the carport had collapsed and partially buried a small convertible car. The ragtop of the car was burned down to the metal frame; all that was left inside were naked springs and steel and hot coal. The trunk of the car was open and the charred remains of a body could plainly be seen.