OUR STORY SO FAR: Detective Claudia DeLa Cruz is on a deadline to build a case against Leo McCarthy, the unofficial king of Vice in the City, and is meeting with her informer, a stripper named Judy July. What Claudia doesn't know is that Judy is pregnant with Leo's child. Meanwhile, Jimmy Vaughn has been flown into San Francisco by McCarthy to find and punish whoever stole from him in his own crew. Within twenty four hours Vaughn has narrowed his search down to one man, Bill "The Croat" Rodasavitch.
Based on true events.
Claudia reached their regular meeting place in Golden Gate Park a little after eight in the morning. She tried to sit down on the bench but the cold forced her up, pacing. A few joggers made their way by, their eyes frosted in place, their lungs contracting and taking in the cold painful air. The bench overlooked the field where the buffalo were kept but Claudia she saw no sign of the long mangy coats, the beasts hidden from the freezing morning with more sense then the people that passed through the park.
She checked her watch six times before Judy appeared. The girl had a black hood on with a crimson bubble goose jacket and Claudia thought of Little Red Riding Hood, traveling through the forest.
Judy sat down on the bench without saying anything, hands shoved in the pockets of her jacket.
“Golden Duck is a bar,” Claudia said.
“I thought it was in a hotel,” the girl replied.
“Why is that?”
“They’re are always talking about rooms. What they make in this room and that room. It sounds like a hotel.”
“Do you know what happened there?”
“One of the girls came by when I was getting off. She had to get paid because Golden Duck was dead, so Murph paid her out. She said Leo’s nephew came in with some guy.”
“Was it the guy you saw the other day?”
“I don’t know.”
“What were they doing?” Claudia said.
“She didn’t know really. She said one of the other girls said the place got robbed.”
“By gunpoint?”
“I don’t know. The girl said that she was hanging out after a game and two of the guys were talking about it, saying that all the money got kept in one room a week and somebody came in and took it.”
“How much?”
“A lot I guess.”
“How would somebody know the money’s there?” Claudia wondered.
“I guess that’s why everybody is all freaked out. It’s like an inside job.”
“By one of the girls?”
Judy looked at her funny and it annoyed Claudia.
“I doubt it,” Judy said. “Why would they know where it is?”
“So it’s one of Leo’s people? One of his men?”
Judy stomped her feet on the ground. Claudia looked off at the buffalo field, her mind stretching out and the mug shots from the case file clicking through one by one.
“Do you know any of those guys that work at Golden Duck or at the clubs that might be willing to talk to me Judy? Separate from you.”
Judy shook her head.
“They don’t talk to nobody except themselves.”
“Have you heard that any of them get upset or angry? Maybe at Leo or at one of the other guys?”
“They don’t look angry when I see them.”
“But have you heard anything?”
“They look bored. To be honest, if there’s anything going on then it’s those guys that do it. Leo probably doesn’t even know about it.”
Claudia narrowed her eyes. She was about to speak when a man with a dog jogged by and looked both women both up and down before nodding at them.
“I hate guys like that,” Judy said.
“What do you mean Leo probably doesn’t even know about it?” Claudia demanded.
“I mean Leo’s a business man. He’s probably a decent guy. All this other stuff you talk about is those other guys: White Charlie and Dick and them.”
“What are you talking about? Those guys are bad and they work for a bad man.”
“We don’t even know though. If you knew him you would see that he’s not even…..able to do the things you think he’s done.”
“You don’t know him either. The guy says hi to you and smiles and you think he’s decent. What the hell is wrong with you?”
Judy shut her mouth, pushing her hands deeper into the pockets of her jacket.
“He exploits women,” Claudia explained in a flat voice. “He exploits you.”
Judy looked up, her face a resentful blank.
“How does he exploit me? I’ve been dancing since I was sixteen. It’s just dancing. It’s a job.”
“What about the other girls? The one’s that prostitute themselves?”
“That’s their choice!”
“Don’t give me that shit. You know it’s not always their choice.”
“It’s not Leo who makes them.”
“Who then?” Claudia demanded.
“Marvin. The junkie prick pervert.”
“And who does Marvin work for?”
Judy looked away. They both had taken their hands out of their pockets, having warmed up in the exchange.
“I don’t fucking care either way. I just don’t think you got the right information sometime,” Judy said.
“Then get us the right information. Go to work and keep your ears and eyes open and get us what we need to take Leo McCarthy off the street.”
“What if I can’t? Why can’t you just go in and get these other guys. Lock up Dick and Marvin and the rest of them.”
“Leo is the head Judy. You cut off the head.”
“Are you even sure he knows what’s going on with these guys?”
“Who do you think was behind what happened to Alex Martinez?”
Judy had gone silent. She sat at the bench, staring down at the grass with the hood pulled lower over her face.
“Do you remember Alex Martinez?” Claudia asked.
“I didn’t know him.”
“I know that. Do you remember what I told you?”
“You told me a lot of stuff.”
Claudia felt her face heating up. She looked back towards the buffalo field, trying to smother her temper. She almost wished Dan was there.
“For the next few days keep your ears and eyes open. If you find out that any of Leo’s guys are bad mouthing him or there’s some sort of beef or anything like that, I want you to contact me right away.”
There was no response. She bent down close to Judy’s hooded skull, fighting the urge to rip the hood back and force the face towards her so she could look into the girl’s eyes.
“Did you hear what I said?” she growled.
“I heard you,” the voice replied through the hood.
Claudia stood for a moment with her arms crossed; looking down at who she had thought would be an asset but was turning more and more into the liability. In the back of her mind she had probably known it would turn out this way. It wasn’t really Judy’s fault; it was her own fault for putting too much into one witness. When she had found Judy’s file and traced her back to the Catnip she had seen a break that seemed bigger than it really was.
Then again, maybe the girl was smarter than Claudia had ever given her credit for. Maybe she really could see the danger they had been putting her in for the last few months, dragging her feet in an unconscious effort to stay clear of Leo McCarthy. Whatever the reason their case needed another card to play and Claudia was determined to find it.
“If you hear anything about who may have robbed this place Golden Duck you let me know right away too. Me and Dan will need to get to that person before these guys do.”
Judy kept her head down and didn’t reply. Claudia gave her one more glance and then walked off into the park, leaving Little Red Riding Hood alone on the bench.
He was running. It was a jungle or forest or something, the branches and leaves of trees swinging at him, almost hitting him in the face. He tried to look back and see his pursuer but there wasn’t time because he had to keep his eyes forward to make sure he didn’t run into something. He could feel whoever was chasing him getting closer. He knew he was either slowing down or they were getting faster and the panic swelled up inside him.
He heard a shot come from behind and then his right leg gave out. He was on the ground, except it wasn’t the ground, it was the floor of the warehouse in Richmond. He held his leg where he had been shot, trying to spot his pursuer. The warehouse was empty, he was alone until he saw the garbage bags sitting off to his right. He knew they were the bags they had put Alex Martinez in. He wanted to get away from them, then a phone was ringing. It was coming from somewhere in the warehouse. He looked around in the dim light, trying to pinpoint the sound, until he realized the ringing was coming from inside one of the bags.
Oscar woke up in the bed with a start, sucking down breath to get his bearings. The sheets below him were drenched with sweat. He threw them off and picked up his cell phone which continued to ring on the floor next to the bed.
“Hello?”
“You go to my mother’s house you mother fucker?! You go to her house?! I’m going to kill you!”
The Croat’s voice from the other end was hoarse, the words slurred.
“Calm down. I just went there trying to find you,” Oscar said.
“Bullshit. I swear to fucking God I’m going to kill you.”
“I would never hurt her. What do you think I am?”
“Why are you hunting me?”
It sounded like the Croat was sobbing but Oscar wasn’t sure.
“We’re not. It’s this guy from out of town. Leo brought him out to find out who robbed the Duck.”
“Somebody robbed the Duck?”
“Yes.”
“And you told him I did!”
“No.”
“That’s not what I heard you fucking liar! I hear everybody is looking for me.”
“They are now because you disappeared. You know how that looks?”
“I was sick! And then Javy calls and tells me that you and this guy are looking for me and this psychopath got a gun for me.”
Oscar turned his body so his feet were on the floor.
“Listen to me: the best thing you can do is get out of town for now. You understand me? Just get out until this thing blows over.”
“How the am I supposed to do that? I got nothing. And where the fuck am I supposed to go?”
“Anywhere.”
“With what money?”
Oscar looked over at the clock on the bedside table, seven thirty four. There was already light coming through the blinds.
“I’ll give you some money. Enough to get you out of here,” he said.
“You’ll give me the money?”
The Croat was calm now, the tone of his voice lower.
“Let’s meet up in an hour or so. I’ll get you out of here for at least a month. Where can you meet?”
Oscar listened to the sounds of breathing on the other end, then silence as the line went dead. He looked down at the phone and checked the number, it started with 510. The Croat was calling from somewhere over the bridge and hopefully the idiot would stay there.
Oscar pushed himself up from the bed and made his way through the door and over to the kitchen. He poured some water into a glass from the faucet, drank it, then reached up for the whisky bottle, filling the glass half way with that. He drank and the dream went through his mind, the memory of it already breaking up into pieces. He thought Bill may call back, the Croat was just scared, paranoid, and he had every reason to be. If he didn’t call Oscar would need to figure out the girl he was hiding with. The Croat was going to let him help him whether he liked it or not.
He put the glass down on the counter abruptly when he heard the knocks on the door. He stepped over to the couch and snatched the gun from his jacket, then paused. It wasn’t even eight o’clock yet. The only people that came knocking that early were the cops. Oscar pulled one of the couch cushions up, shoving the P32 into the back and replacing the cushion.
He went over to the door, opened it slightly, and found Vaughn standing alone in the hallway.
“Let’s go,” the man said.
Vaughn put on his glasses and Oscar went back to the bedroom to get dressed.
There it was, clear as day. The paint was chipped away on the wall but it still clearly read “Golden Duck”. It was right on the corner, blending into the street, and Claudia had never noticed it before in the thousands of times she had driven up and down Columbus. She picked up the camera from the seat, taking a picture through the driver side window. She snapped the sign and the door and the one dark window that faced her. It was barely eight thirty, the place probably didn’t open until the afternoon, especially if it was just a front.
She had driven there right after leaving the park. The whole ride she had thought about Judy and had become more and more uneasy. There was something going on with the girl, she knew it. Judy had become closed off, much more guarded in the last few weeks. The idea that she might be using again had occurred to Claudia but there was no physical evidence to back it up. The girl was hiding something, that was certain.
Claudia got out of the car and walked along the sidewalk, stealing glances over at the bar. She came to the corner of Columbus and Pacific and studied the building from that angle. It was an odd little place, shoved right into the corner of the intersection with one entrance on the Columbus side. What kind of brothel or gambling den or whatever it was could the McCarthy mob possibly run out of a place like that?
The light turned green and Claudia crossed the street, keeping an eye on the bar. She didn’t stop as she made her way by the entrance and on to Pacific but she glanced close enough to see the small plastic bubble that held a camera inserted into the overhang above the door. It was possible a place like that would have a security camera but c’mon, the set up looked top of the line.
She walked along Pacific, passed a small bodega and a Chinese restaurant. There was an alley following the restaurant and she peered in at a few of cooks and waiters smoking cigarettes, sitting on crates. The building west of the alley seemed to be abandoned. It was old, made of brick, and the windows were all frosted. She studied it as she walked along the street and saw a sign that had a number for a real estate company. She typed that into her phone.
She took the corner and made her way along Grant. After the vacant building she found an entrance to an under ground garage that had a steel pull down gate closing it off. She crossed the street, made out like she was looking in the window of a café, and took a good glance at the garage. She spotted another plastic bubble hanging above the garage exit. She walked along Grant and took in the entire building. It looked to be four stories all together and while the bottom three stories of windows were frosted the top floor windows were tinted.
She walked back across Pacific Avenue, continuing to scan the building. She came parallel to the alley and saw the men had vacated. She reached Beckett Street and turned around, peering into the alley. It took a moment but she finally spotted two more camera bubbles built into both sides of the brick wall.
She took out her phone, miming texting while taking a picture, when a girl came out of one of the doors in the alley. The girl walked out of the alley quickly, making her way up Pacific in high heels. Claudia snuck a glance at her and snapped a picture. The girl’s hair was partly braided and she walked stiffly in a long coat that covered her entire body. Claudia followed for a moment until she sensed someone coming out of the alley behind them and looked back. It was a man wearing a derby cap and an old leather jacket, walking with a limp.
Claudia quit the girl and turned back, following the man from the other side street. Even with the limp the man walked quickly, it took a moment for Claudia to catch up to him without drawing attention. She was finally parallel to him and when she could see his profile clearly, recognizing Marvin Rollins, the manager of the Catnip and a long time McCarthy associate.
Rollins got to Columbus and crossed to Kearney. He continued across Kearney and Claudia followed a half a block behind him. It was still not nine o’clock but foot traffic was picking up. Claudia tried to watch Rollins from the corner of her eye in case he looked back at her. He reached a Mercedes parked on the street and began to rifle through his pockets for the keys. Claudia immediately turned around, walking back towards Columbus. When she was around the corner she broke into a run towards her car and unlocked the door. As she shoved the keys into the ignition she glanced into the rearview and caught sight of the Mercedes turning right onto Columbus. She pulled out of the parking spot and flipped a u turn, cutting off two cabs, their horns blared. The Mercedes was gone until she took the slight right onto Montgomery towards downtown and caught sight of it again.
To be continued 04-18-12
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