by Gary Land
“Five million dollars. Cash,” Wagner added.
He had expected Junior to protest the amount, but instead the line remained silent for several seconds.
“Well worth the price,” Junior said. “When can I take delivery?”
“Tomorrow morning at your place--have the cash ready.”
Chapter 34
Wagner sent Finnegan out to make final collection calls on all those who owed him their markers. He gave Finnegan explicit orders to take whatever cash he could and move on. It served the dual purpose of collecting needed money, and also keeping Finnegan away while he delivered Kacy to van Leesle.
Wagner took side roads to Junior’s mansion as he drove Kacy to her next adventure. She lay in the back seat, hands tied behind her back with duct tape. Wagner kept running events through his head wondering how things had fallen apart so fast. He wanted to know who killed Joey Trainor. That one event had started things spinning out of control. It should have been a slam-dunk. Joey skims money from the casino, pays off his debt and splits the three million. It was a done deal--Joey had done it, and then someone shut it down. Why?
“Where are you taking me?” Kacy asked.
Wagner ignored her. Las Vegas was his town--a town run on games of chance where gambling is a way of life. He had seen an opportunity with Joey, and bet it all on one roll of the dice. He lost that bet, and now the fates forced him to gather up his belongings and get out of town. But like the sad sack that puts his last quarter in a machine on the way out the door and wins a jackpot, Wagner hit it big selling Kacy. It was a new chance to regroup and start over in some other town, some other country.
Kacy asked him again, “Where are you taking me?”
“To the winning bidder,” Wagner laughed. “Some nut is buying you for five million dollars--can you believe that?”
No, she couldn’t.
“W-Why?” she stammered.
“Well, it seems the daughter of Noly Boots is a hot commodity.”
“He’s buying me because...” Kacy started laughing. “He’s not really my father, I just made that up.”
Wagner swung the car over to the curb and slammed on the brakes. Kacy flew into the back of the passenger seat, and fell to the floor in an awkward position. Wagner pulled open the back door, propped Kacy up on the back seat, and fitted some duct tape over her mouth. He then shoved her down in the back seat, and told her to stay put.
Wagner got back into the driver’s seat and proceeded on his way to Juniors. “I don’t know if you’re lying now, or you were lying before, so I think it’s probably better if you just keep your mouth shut...don’t you?”
Kacy replied with an angry sound like “mmmfa” then closed her eyes and thought of Sarah and Noly. If she didn’t make it, they would both be devastated. At least she hoped they would. She pictured them, on the ground, next to her grave, crying, and screaming, “why, why...” over and over. She chuckled to herself. It wasn’t funny, but she supposed the humor was a way for her to come to terms with how this would end up. Suddenly, she knew, with great clarity, that she would die.
Wagner identified himself at Junior’s doublewide wrought-iron gate, there was a soft click, and the gates pulled back on well-oiled wheels. Soldered to the top of each gate were two fabricated steel automobiles. The one on the left had the name “Otto” in the body of the car, while the one on the right had “van Leesle.”
A maid answered the door, raised her eyebrows at the sight of Kacy with tape over her mouth and hands tied behind her back, but said nothing. She pointed towards the stairs and told Wagner that Junior was in the library at the end of the hall.
Wagner walked her into Junior’s library and sat her down in a chair.
“Here she is. I don’t recommend removing the duct tape. She’s quite a handful.”
“Well, surely, we can remove the one from her mouth. I would like to speak with her.”
“Hey, knock yourself out,” Wagner said. He walked over to Kacy, gently pulled the tape away, and threw it on the floor. “Where’s my money?”
With a flourish of his hand, Junior pointed to the large, burgundy luggage standing beside the door. It sat on four wheels, and had a handle extended from the base.
“Is it all there?” Wagner asked.
“If by all you mean five million dollars, then...no, it’s not,” Junior replied.
Wagner went to the bag and zipped it open. “Don’t dick around with me--Otto. How much is here?”
Calling him Otto had the desired affect on Junior. He scowled, and said, “Don’t call me that name.” If you check all the various compartments, you should find one and a half million.”
“Dammit...our deal...”
“I know what the deal was, and I will give you your money, but you honestly didn’t expect me to have that much cash sitting around here, did you?”
“Where’s the rest of it,” Wagner demanded.
“Give me your bank account number and I’ll wire transfer it to you immediately,” Junior said.
Wagner stood glaring at Junior, but then his shoulders slumped as he realized he didn’t have much choice. He had told Boots that he only would deal in cash, and now he was forced to take an electronic transfer after all. Maybe he should have accepted Boots offer. Maybe. But it wasn’t realistic--he couldn’t live in the same town as Boots and his family, not without repercussions. Maybe if he ratted out Finnegan, set him up for the fall, set him up for all of it. The kidnapping, the murders.
He gave Junior his account and watched him call his bank, transferring three and half million dollars.
“It will take about an hour,” Junior told Wagner. He turned towards Kacy and smiled. “So, the famous Kacy Benson,” he said. “I’ve heard so much about you. You are indeed as lovely as they say.”
Kacy didn’t move. She tried to process everything that had happened. Why was Wagner doing this? She looked at him as he sat in a chair pouting. At least she was away from Finnegan--that had to be a good thing, right?
“You are probably wondering who I am. Please call me Junior. I will be your temporary host. You will soon be taking a long trip--a trip out of this country. Alas, never to return...would you care for a soft drink?”
Kacy felt her heart flutter. This man scared her. Maybe more than Finnegan. Finnegan was a bully; his was a physical fear. This man, Junior, was crazy. That made him capable of anything.
“Speak up, my dear. The daughter of the famous Noly Boots would not be so frightened.”
“I’m not,” she started, then remembered Wagner’s warning and gave him a look. He shook his head in warning. “How do you know he’s my father?” Kacy asked Junior.
“I pay very well to collect vast amounts of information.”
She was going to tell him he was wrong, but Kacy knew it didn’t matter whether she corrected him or not. He would believe what he wanted to. “Do you know who he is?”
“Oh, Noel Butowski and I are very familiar with each other. Did you know he killed my father?”
Kacy showed no surprise. She did wonder how it happened. She knew the kind of work that Noly used to do; they talked about it together, although Noly always skipped the R-rated details. Now it started making sense to Kacy. This man wanted revenge against Noly. She wondered if he was planning on killing Noly himself or maybe hire someone to do it. Maybe he planned to kill her too.
“No comment? You didn’t know, did you? I suppose that isn’t exactly dinner conversation with the wife and daughter. What do you think now, now that you know your father is a murderer?”
Kacy scowled at Junior. “He’s not a murderer. If your father was as crazy as you are, then he deserved it.”
The smile left Junior’s face.
“If you hurt me, he’ll kill you too,” Kacy said.
“It’s not you I want to hurt, it’s him. And I will hurt him. I have already started the process. You, my dear, will be the icing on the cake.”
Kacy looked around the library. There was
only one entrance, and she wouldn’t get very far with her hands tied behind her back. She couldn’t believe this latest turn of events. She shook her head wondering how she got booked on this tour of Nutsville, U.S.A.
“Of course, I suppose you might get hurt where I’m sending you. Well, yes, now that I think about it, you’re probably going to be hurt. I don’t think you’ll have much fun.”
Kacy swallowed, but her mouth went dry. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of asking where she was going. What difference did it really make?
Wagner, skeptical to the end, verified funds in his account, thanked Junior, and turned to leave. “Well, good luck kid.” Wagner looked truly upset. “Sorry you got caught up in all this.”
Wagner grabbed the luggage handle and left the library, pausing at the door as if rethinking his decision. Many considered him a monster, a gangster running dirty businesses that dealt with dirty people. But they were all adults. Involving children left a sour taste in his mouth. He almost turned back and took Kacy with him, but events had spun out of control too fast. He needed the money and he needed to get out of town. He took one last look at Kacy, shook his head, and closed the door.
Junior watched the door close and then turned towards his guest.
“Would you like something to eat? I’m a chef you know. A very good one, in fact. When was the last time you ate?”
Kacy tried to remember. She was so hungry, her stomach had given up growling and complaining several hours ago. It resigned itself to its sad fate--no food.
“I don’t want anything,” Kacy said. She couldn’t trust him, so she couldn’t eat any food or drink anything. She had heard about people putting drugs in someone’s glass. This guy was certainly capable of that.
Junior left her alone locked in the library for a half-hour, while he went downstairs and cooked breakfast for himself. She could smell the bacon. That got her stomach going. It screamed at her to feed it--now. To get her mind off her hunger, she instead leveraged herself out of the chair, arms still taped behind her back. Surprisingly, her arms didn’t hurt that much, although it definitely wasn’t very comfortable. Wagner could have twisted her arms back in a much worse position. A small kindness on his part. The duct tape was the real thing though--Kacy couldn’t budge it.
She walked over to the desk looking for two things--a phone, and a letter opener. She found neither. Junior hadn’t taken anything with him when he left the room so she was left wondering whether he had planned ahead, or those items were never here to begin with. The smells from the kitchen were even stronger now and Kacy realized they were coming from the air-conditioning vent in the room. It smelled wonderful. Kacy took a deep breath and sighed.
She found an intercom system on the desk and turned it on by backing into it and feeling around with her fingers. She faced the desk, saw a small television screen light up, and come into focus on the outside driveway gate. She turned around again and tried pushing several buttons, but nothing seemed to change. She wanted to tell Junior that she changed her mind and would have some food after all.
Kacy sat down in Junior’s oversize leather chair and kicked the heavy oak desk. It felt good and she kicked it again. As she pulled her knees to her chest ready to let loose a double kick, her breath caught in her throat and she started coughing. There on the screen was the white van and behind the wheel was Finnegan.
Kacy scrambled from the chair and yelled at the intercom. “Don’t let him in!” She hurried to the door and kicked it. “Please don’t let him in.”
The door opened and Junior walked in carrying a tray of food. He smiled, and said, “I brought you some breakfast, because...”
“Don’t let him in,” Kacy interrupted. “At the gate, that’s Wagner’s man, Finnegan.” She could hear him honking the horn now.
Junior put the tray down, went to the desk, and looked at the monitor. Kacy followed him; she shook her head back and forth. “He’s a bad guy--don’t let him in.”
Junior pushed a button, and asked, “Yes?”
“Wagner sent me over,” Finnegan said.
“Why? Our business is concluded.”
On screen, Kacy watched as Finnegan seemed to be thinking of an answer, then suddenly blurted out, “Oh, fuck it.” He shifted gears and reversed back into the street until he hit a car parked across the mansion. He slammed the gear back down and floored it. Kacy and Junior stood in shock as Finnegan rammed the gate. It buckled; Finnegan reversed and rammed it again. Steam poured out of the van’s grill as the radiator spewed forth its contents. On his third try, Finnegan made it through and sped up the driveway.
“That’s....that’s outrageous,” Junior sputtered. He stormed towards the door.
“What are you doing? Untie me--we have to get out of here. Call the police.”
Junior ignored Kacy. He continued to mutter to himself as Kacy followed him into the hallway. When they reached the top of the stairway, Kacy saw the maid standing in front of the open door. In the next second, the maid fell to the floor, her uniform sprouting two red dots that grew at an alarming rate. Kacy screamed as Finnegan burst through the door. He looked up at the stairs and shot Junior in mid-rant.
Junior tumbled spectacularly down the stairs. Kacy watched in horror as he bounced off the landing and into the wall. When he stopped, he stared at Kacy with eyes that would never see again. She turned back and found Finnegan smiling at her. He lifted his gun and pointed it at her head. Kacy took a step back and hit the wall--she had no where to go.
Then he fired.
Several shots hit the wall on either side of Kacy. On the first shot, she yelped and was immediately mad at herself for showing weakness. She couldn’t stop closing her eyes tight, but then remained surprisingly calm. Intuitively, she realized that Finnegan wouldn’t kill her--not now. He wasn’t done playing with her yet. She would have to stall as long as she could, long enough for Noly to find her. All she had to do was stay alive.
Chapter 35
Noly was already waiting outside Mountain Meadows. Collins screeched to a halt in his unmarked Crown Vic, police lights flashing red.
“Wagner’s dead.” He saw the look of dread on Noly’s face and knew it wasn’t for Wagner. Collins quickly added, “Kacy’s not there.”
“Where is he?” Noly asked
“The strip club.”
“We were just there--why would he go back?”
“I don’t know, maybe because he knew we were done with it. The best place to hide is the last place we looked for him. I’m headed back over now--coming?”
Collins drove over with lights and siren. They found Wagner in his office behind his desk. His head rested on the blotter, face pointing to the left, eyes open and surprised. There were several cops already there, uniforms, detectives, forensics. The lead Detective was Robert Schayes who looked like Harry Morgan when he was on Dragnet with Jack Webb.
“Hi, Bob--what have you got?” Collins asked.
“Jim. One shot to the chest. Probably a .45--we’ll let you know when we get the slug out.”
“Witnesses?”
“Yeah, that woman over there.” Schayes pointed to a girl waiting in the corner. “She made a positive ID on Wagner’s muscle--guy named Finnegan.”
“What’s her name,” Noly asked.
“Debbie Miller.”
“How did it go down?” Collins asked.
Schayes checked his notes. “They were arguing over someone named Kacy. Finnegan demanded to know where she was. Guess Wagner didn’t tell him.”
“Maybe he did and Finnegan didn’t care.”
Noly moved towards the girl, leaving Collins to finish with the technical details. She had a nose too pointed and lips that were too thin, but Noly thought most men would still find her attractive. She was too young to work at this place.
“Hi, I’m Noly Boots,” he told her.
“Oh, I’ve heard about you...I’m Debbie,” she said smiling.
“Did you see Kacy?” Noly asked Debbie.
“Um, no, not really, she...they kept them in a separate room while they were here. Her and her mom.”
“When did you last hear about her?”
“I don’t know...couple of days ago, maybe. Mandy was the only one allowed to talk to them. She brought them food and water, you know.”
“Did you know Mandy--did she tell you anything about them, or about Wagner--what he was planning, maybe?”
She smiled when he mentioned Mandy’s name. “Mandy’s my roommate, but she didn’t tell me much. Mr. Wagner told her not to talk about it.”
There was no reason to tell this girl that Mandy was dead. She would learn of it soon enough and she would probably be devastated. Maybe it would convince her to leave this “business” she chose for herself.
“Did you see Finnegan arguing with Wagner or just hear them?”
“I don’t like him.”
“Finnegan?”
“Yeah, none of the girls do; he’s creepy. I wasn’t surprised he finally went off the deep end, you know?”
“Did you see him shoot Wagner?”
“No, I heard it. I was in the bathroom,” she said, pointing to an open door at the other end of the office.
“You were here when it happened?” Noly asked.
“Well, yeah, in there. I just, um, you know, finished with Mr. Wagner, and I went into the bathroom to clean up.”
“Okay, did you hear anything about Kacy that could help us find her?”
“Mr. Wagner said he sold her...”
“SOLD?” Noly yelled.
Debbie let out a cry and her left knee buckled as she looked into what she would later tell her friends was the face of death. She stumbled backwards into the arms of Jim Collins who ran over when he heard Noly yell.
“It’s Debbie, right?” Collins asked.
She nodded her head, but kept her eyes on Noly.
“I didn’t believe the stuff I heard about you, but...shit,” Debbie said to Noly.
“Yeah, he has that affect on people,” Collins agreed. “Tell me what happened. Wagner sold Kacy to someone?”