by Bill WENHAM
When I’d finished the guy looking out at me from the mirror at least looked a little more familiar, still ugly as hell, but familiar.
As I went back out into the kitchen there was a knock on the door.
It was Mary Ward, bearing another large tray with two full egg, bacon, pancake, grits and orange juice breakfasts.
“Figured you young folks didn’t want to be bothered with cooking this morning,” she said brightly, as she set the tray down on the kitchen table.
We thanked her warmly as she picked up last night’s empty tray and left us to it. Luckily Ellie had washed up all last night’s dishes before we had turned in.
“They are such nice, considerate people, aren’t they, Hon?” Ellie said after Mary had left.
In actual fact, they weren’t that considerate at all, as they told us when we left them later in the day. Apparently they didn’t carry any insurance of any kind for accidents occurring on their property and they were just about scared shitless that, as a Yankee, I was going to sue them for everything they had for what had happened.
“Do you own that property where the snake was,” I asked Tom.
“Nope, son, but yer stayin’ with us, ain’tcha?” he said.
Nothing was further from my mind and there’d been no real harm done anyway I assured them, and we told them we were very grateful for all their help and kindness. In spite of my words, they both looked a bit dubious as we said our goodbyes and drove off. It would be my guess, I told Ellie, those two nice people would be watching their mail box anxiously for some time to come, before they finally believed me that there were no nasty Yankee lawyer’s letters coming.
When we got back to the hotel in Jacksonville, there was a new message from the Butler waiting for us when we went to the front desk for our key. It was brief and to the point. It said;
‘Round one to you. Next stop Biloxi. Be there. Butler’
Tara was back on the desk as we went in and had handed me the message.
“How did this come in, Tara?” I asked.
“It was phoned in just now, Mr. Spicer, no more than a few minutes ago,” she said. “I took it down myself.”
“Where is this Biloxi? Do you know it?” Ellie asked.
“Oh, sure I do, dear. It’s over in Mississippi,” she said. “Casinos popping up all over the place over there now. Be a regular Las Vegas one of these days, I’ll bet. It’s right on the Mississippi Sound. I took a package deal by plane over there myself last year. I do like a little flutter on the slots.”
“Well, Tara, I guess we’ve been summoned to go there, so would you mind making up our bill while we go up and pack, please?” I said.
“Certainly, dear, and I’m sure you’ll love it. I know I did,” she said.
I didn’t need to tell her we’d have a hell of a lot more than slot machines awaiting us to keep us busy.
Ellie thanked her and we headed for the elevator. The Butler must have called almost the moment we’d pulled into the parking lot. How the hell could he have known we were back here if he was in Mississippi, I wondered? About a half an hour later, after checking our maps, we headed out ourselves for Biloxi.
We realized, as soon as we checked our maps, it was a straight run of about five hundred and fifty miles on Hwy 10, cutting through the bottom end of Alabama and on into Biloxi.
We decided to make the long run to Mobile, Alabama on the first day, spend the next day enjoying some real Southern hospitality and sightseeing and then carry on to Biloxi early the next morning.
We also decided, once we arrived in Biloxi, any of the casino hotels was probably as good as any other, with good rates and excellent buffet meals.
Although we’d been fully expecting it, we were still a little shocked when our room phone rang within fifteen minutes of us arriving in it.
It was the Butler welcoming us to Biloxi, naturally. That was all, short and sweet. No instructions, just his phony words of welcome and then he hung up.
I looked at Ellie, who’d taken the call, and was surprised to see there were no tears this time. She obviously knew what I was thinking and she shrugged.
“The call in Jacksonville was a shock, Hon, but this one was expected, even necessary, if we’re going to be able to stay in touch, right? I wonder where else he’ll be leading us though, huh? I’m just scared of a trap.”
“You know something, El, after that thing with the rattler; I’ve got a very different take on things now. I think we should take everything as it comes and whoever wins, wins, okay? I’m not going to just assume it’ll be them though.”
“Yes, Hon, you’re right but I desperately want it to be us who wins, in spite of everything that creep says,” Ellie said.
“It will be us, Sweetie, believe me,” I told her.
“I do believe you, Sandy, and I also love you and trust you. I just want to survive this, that’s all.”
“Hey, Babe,” I said, grinning at her, “If I can survive a rattler bite and your cooking all in one day, I can survive anything.”
“You can, but how about me,” she replied seriously.
“Hey, little lady, you’ve got the smarts enough for ten people and no harm’s going to come to you, I guarantee it,” I said.
“Promise?”
“Promise,” I said, “But we’ll have to stay real close, okay?”
She came over to me and wrapped her arms around my neck.
“Is this close enough?” she whispered softly in my ear.
“Not really,” I whispered back.
“What are we standing here for then?” she demanded, as she unclasped her hands from around my neck and sashayed over to the bed, shedding clothing in all directions as she went.
I thought happily, whatever else happened here in Biloxi, at least the start of our stay here was beginning very well indeed.
“They’ve arrived,” the Butler said as he hung up the phone.
“Quite a coincidence, don’t you think?” his brother answered.
“Very much so and it should prove to be an excellent test for us too, shouldn’t it?”
Raphael was referring to the fact that, out of several available hotels on the Biloxi waterfront, Spicer had chosen the same one to stay in they themselves were in. From now on though, it wouldn’t be wise for the two of them to be seen as obviously together.
The test Emilio was referring to was, knowing that the two cops were staying in the same hotel, whether the brothers’ newly changed appearances would hold up and for how long.
They now looked nothing at all like they had when the Butler had arrived at Jacksonville airport, nor did they look like the two grungy bums at the beach either.
Emilio now sported a dirty blonde brush cut, with his normally dark complexion looking more like suntan against the blonde of his hair. He also wore a fairly narrow and completely artificial sandy colored moustache.
His brother had a moustache too, also a fake, but a long, black and drooping one. It matched and suited the long black haired wig he wore, tied back in a pony tail. He also wore small ‘John Lennon’ style glasses with round lenses. Both men were smartly but casually dressed.
They looked didn’t look in the least bit alike and certainly didn’t look or act as if they were related. Even if they were seen together, it was very doubtful if either one of them would be recognized by Spicer, the woman or anyone else for that matter.
In fact, in order to prove themselves, they’d made a point of both playing at the same roulette table, when they’d spotted Spicer playing at it.
Later, when they’d seen Ellie playing the slots, they’d both contrived at different times during the evening, to sit at a slot machine next to her. They’d even exchanged pleasantries with her, but neither she nor Spicer appeared to have any idea who they were.
Chapter Twenty One
“Well, Lover, we’re here and I guess we can safely assume the bastard brothers are here as well can’t we? So now what?” Ellie said.
“Okay, E
l, and speaking of assumptions in general, we know these guys can change their appearances very easily, don’t we? In fact they’re experts at it, right?”
“Right,” Ellie agreed.
“Then let’s just take a moment or two, just to look at the kinds of things they can’t change, things they could change, but with difficulty, and things that would be very easy for them to change. We should categorize them,” I said.
“Right,” Ellie agreed again, “So what do you reckon it is that they can’t change then?”
“Not can’t change, I suppose, El. We should never say can’t with these guys. I think that ‘can’t’ is perhaps a word they’ve never heard of. Let’s just say highly unlikely,” I said.
“Like what?” she asked.
“Like their height, for instance. We both know, from seeing them on the stage both of them are fairly tall, above average I would say, and both are slim. Slim is easy enough to change though. It would be a fairly safe assumption, therefore, that we’re not looking for two short fat guys.” I said.
“Don’t say ‘therefore’ and please don’t lecture me, Sandy. I’m not a goddamned child and I’m not stupid either. I’d already worked that much out for myself, believe it or not,” she retorted angrily.
“Whoa, Babe, cool it down. I’m sorry,” I said hurriedly.
“Okay then, carry on with what you were thinking but you don’t have to spell it out for me in single syllables,” she said very, very coolly.
Whoops, I thought, careful, Spicer. I didn’t realize I’d said anything untoward but whatever it was had really gotten her knickers in a knot. This was the first time she’d ever come back at me so angrily like that since I’d known her. I realized that, although I thought of my lady as a soft little pussycat, I’d just gotten a quick glimpse of the tiger she could be. I’d be wise to learn from it and watch my step. I’d already stepped on a rattlesnake and I didn’t need to pull on a tiger’s tail as well, did I?
“Sorry, El,” I said, “The next things though, as I see it, would be to eliminate obvious ethnic or racial characteristics as in Afro-American, Oriental, Australian Aboriginal or North American Indian. Still possible for them to do, I suppose, but also still possible for us to spot as well, even with makeup, right?”
“Yes,” she said, and started to smile again thankfully. I don’t like to have my favorite lady mad at me. “Like Charlie Chan, the world’s most famous movie Chinese detective and Warner Oland wasn’t even Oriental, was he?”
“That’s what I mean, Babe, close but not quite close enough. That’s what we need to look for. I think we can safely assume they won’t be seen together any more too.”
“That’s going to make it a whole lot tougher, but I think you’re right enough,” Ellie said.
“We should be looking for fairly obvious quick dye jobs, hair pieces, and maybe not too obvious makeup. That’ll be your department,” I said. I thought I’d throw that bit in as a peace offering, to appease her a bit.
“Sandy, there are hundreds of people here, not just two bums on a beach. The only two bums on that beach, too, I might add. How are we going to pick them out and isolate just the two of them? Especially if you reckon they won’t be together. It seems like a completely impossible task to me, even for my own personal Mr. Wonderful.”
“Ellie, my pet, if we don’t do it or can’t do it, I think our survival in one piece may be an even more impossible task,” I said seriously.
That time, she didn’t smile.
“Okay, then, Lover, how do you reckon we should go about it,” she asked.
“I am perhaps making a huge assumption here, El, but I think somehow, somewhere, it will be them seeking us out. They may even flaunt the fact that we can’t recognize them as well. So for starters, I think we should go down to the casino, and then later on, to the buffet,” I said.
“Oh, boy, don’t tell me you’re starving again. I know what that led to last time,” she said, smiling.
I gave her an exasperated look and she just said, “It’s true.”
“Hear me out, El, please,” I said. “I think we need to play this thing really cool. Remember, they know exactly what you and I look like. We haven’t changed and they won’t be looking for any changes. So, as I said, my guess is they’ll zero in on us. Not to kill us, so don’t worry yourself about that. They could’ve done that at any time if they’d wanted to. I think their game has got a long way to go before it reaches that point.”
“And you guarantee that, I suppose,” she said, with a skeptical raise of her eyebrows.
“I guarantee it, absolutely,” I said.
“Yeah, right, but it’s nice to know you feel confident we might both live a little longer.”
“As I said, El, I think one or the other of them will be somewhere in our vicinity. Maybe not tonight, but you never know. To show we’re rank amateurs at this casino business, I think we should change our area of play frequently. Poker, Black Jack, Roulette, Craps and so on and then watch for the same faces to show up elsewhere. Especially, for instance, if a guy you saw playing at the Craps table shows up playing nickel slots.”
Ellie nodded, agreeing with what I was saying, thank God.
“That’s dead giveaway, El. Real players don’t usually do that. They’re either Craps players, Poker players, Roulette players or high stakes Slots. They don’t usually mix and match much. They certainly wouldn’t go from high stakes Roulette to nickel Slots. Not as a general rule,” I said.
“And if I get what I think is a possible make on one of them, then what?” she asked.
“Don’t let it show, Babe, be cool. If by chance one of them talks to you be civil, brief and get on with your game. Be polite but also totally disinterested. Like you would be to any guy you thought was trying to make an unwelcome move on you, Hon, okay?”
“Okay, Lover, I get it,” she said, grinning. “The next time you try to make a move on me, you want me to be disinterested, right?”
“Come on, El, be serious,” I said, giving her another exasperated look. “I don’t think they’ll change their personas again unless they believe they’ve been rumbled.
“Notice them, barely, and then totally ignore them. No surreptitious glances, no fluttering of the eyelashes then.”
“No,” I said. “You’ve got the idea but don’t expect a hit tonight. Even so, stay alert though, we may get lucky. One other thought, El, and this is important. If you think you’ve got either one or both of them made, make a point of still looking at some totally different guys. They know we’ll be looking for them and it would seem odd if we didn’t appear to be trying, okay?”
“Will you stay close by, Lover,” she asked, a little anxiously.
“No, Ellie, but I won’t leave the casino without you for any reason, I promise. To begin with, you play the nickel slots. I’ll play the Craps and Roulette tables. Then we’ll both meet up again at the entrance to the buffet at eight o’clock sharp, okay?”
“You’re sure about this, Lover,” she asked.
“No, El, of course I’m not sure. How can I be, but it seems as good a way to go as any. So, let’s get on down there and find those bastards. Are you ready?”
“Ready, Boss,” she said, with her usual grin firmly back in place.
I realized that she hadn’t called me ‘Boss’ since we had been back in the Precinct.
“That’s my girl. Let’s go get ‘em, Babe,” I said.
The two brothers had booked themselves into separate rooms on different floors. They conversed and compared notes by cell phone, but otherwise had no direct contact with each other.
Apart from testing their disguises by playing at the same Roulette table at the same time Spicer was there, they made a point of staying well away from each other. They ate their meals at different times and always alone. In a phone call to each other, they gloated about having sat next to the Todd woman, but also at different times.
They’d both even spoken to her as well but there’d not
been even one iota of interest, concern or recognition from her. The same had applied to Spicer at the Roulette table. The dumb cop had even congratulated the Butler on a good win. Emilio had been sorely tempted to tell him he always won, but he felt that might be pushing his luck a little too far.
He wanted to taunt Spicer, to confuse and frustrate him but not to kill him just yet. The woman must die first and die right in front him, just as the other one at the wedding had done. When the time came, he would first terrify him and then he would kill him, very, very slowly. But the scene had to be timed and set perfectly and he would direct the course of the action himself.
The Butler was very pleased. Their cover had held up beautifully and Spicer had no idea who they were. He was now back in control of the game.
Early the next morning, knowing Spicer and his woman were in the same hotel as he and his brother, the Butler put the next part of his plan into action. He’d booked a third room, in a different and completely false name after seeing Spicer in the casino. He’d explained to the front desk clerk that he was tired and a little worse for wear after spending too much time in the bar and needed to be able to sleep. He said he’d appreciate a room on the top floor to get away from the noise and to be able to sleep it off. He would pay cash and would send a friend over to pay in advance and pick up his key, if that would be acceptable. Of course it was, sir, the front desk clerk assured him.
That done, he phoned his brother on the cell phone and asked him to pick up the key. Raphael went into one of the stalls in one of the casino’s washrooms, where he removed his droopy moustache and black wig and stuffed them in his pocket. He stayed in the toilet stall long enough to be certain anyone who’d been in the washroom when he went in, would be long gone when he came out
As he left the casino he went into the souvenir shop and bought a Biloxi ball cap, which he put on his head. He immediately pulled the peak around to the back of his head and assumed a slouch as he left the shop.