6: Crime SuspenStory

OUR STORY SO FAR: Detective Claudia DeLa Cruz has twenty four hours to find another witness to help build her case against Leo McCarthy and his vast San Francisco vice empire. Meanwhile, two of McCarthy's bagmen, Oscar Rayne and Pat McCarthy, drink their way through a brief break from their duties, which include finding Bill Rodasavitch, their comrade and the chief suspect in the recent robbery of one of McCarthy's gambling dens.
Based on true events.
Rollins spent over an hour inside the Catnip Club and then drove over to a dry cleaner. He emerged holding a few hangers with the clothes wrapped in plastic, flapping in the breeze. Claudia followed in her car almost a half block behind as he drove to Potrero Hill and parked. She continued around the block, only to find his car vacant when she came back around. She circled the block again but there was no sign of him. When she came around the third time she found an open spot six or seven cars behind the Mercedes and parked.
She sat for four hours, taking one break to sneak over to a café two blocks down for a coffee and to pee. She kept the radio on, switching to different talk radio stations until she was too annoyed and switched it off all together. Some kids were playing catch in front of an apartment house across the street and a man was working on a car in his open garage next to them. They didn’t seem to notice the Ford sitting on the block with the same woman in it for most of the day.
Claudia began to get the same feeling she had picked up on in other tails and stake outs; the irrepressible sensation that she was no longer a person with a life but a being whose whole existence was based on another person. There was a concentrated irritation that bubbled inside her from the fact that the person she had to base her time and every move on was a certified low life; in this case a probable pimp, drug dealer, scum.
But amongst the irritation lingered a sense of comfort and familiarity to sitting in the car with the low winter heat beating through the windshield, the world carrying on beyond her. The work had taken all the energy and time she could give it, blanketing all corners of her life. It had been almost two years since Keegan had moved out, and while there was still regret lingering in the empty apartment when she came home it was also a comfort that the work still filled her hours and balanced her out in a way that Keegan or any other man probably never would. The work protected her from all the other life that she sometimes found tiresome and too confusing, and she let it continue to protect her without looking too deeply into it.
Her phone rang and she saw it was Dan. She knew speaking to him would only irritate her more. She ignored the call, letting it go to voice mail. It rang again. She let it go until it rang a third time and she decided to answer with the hope of good news.
“Yeah?”
“I’ve been thinking-“
Dan paused there, allowing for the confession that he had been “thinking” to sink in.
“And?” Claudia asked.
“Why don’t we just go with these raids? If we ask they probably would have us lead on it. We are the primaries on this.”
“Are you kidding me?”
Claudia’s tone had gone cold.
“Don’t react like that. I knew you were gonna do that,” Dan said.
“Do what?”
“Freak out if I brought this up.”
Claudia took a deep breath and closed her eyes, it helped a little bit.
“Then why even suggest it? Why would we flush all that work down the drain?”
“How is it flushing it down the drain? They say Ferris is going to be the front runner this year. If we offer up what we have someone is sure to look out for us.”
“What the does that have to do with the work we’ve done?”
“Everything. It means it didn’t all go to waste,” he said.
“If Leo McCarthy slips out of it then it all did go to waste.”
“Jesus Claudia. It’s time to get realistic about this thing. Schonberg said that without another witness they were sure to go ahead with the raids. We might as well get on board.”
“I’m not giving up that easy,” she said.
“We have one day to get a witness.”
“I’m working on it.”
“I knew you met the girl this morning. Where are you now?”
“Potrero Hill. I’m on Marvin Rollins.”
“With the intention of…?
“I don’t know yet.”
“Jesus Claudia. It’s our day off.”
“This is what I like to do in my spare time Dan. Are you going to be around if I need you?”
“To do what?”
“Like I said, I don’t know yet.”
“I’m going to pick Sarah up from school and take her to her swimming because Jeannie is doing her class. That’s in an hour then I was thinking-“
Rollins came out of an entrance to one of the flats smoking a cigarette, the derby cap pulled low on his head. He made his way across the street towards the Mercedes.
“I’ve got to go,” Claudia interrupted.
“What happened?”
“He’s on the move. Keep your phone close.”
She hung up and turned the car on, watching Rollins steer the Mercedes out on to the street and down to the intersection before pulling out herself and following.

****

Pat and Oscar had a few drinks in Paradise Isle until Shari showed up and berated Pat into leaving. They made their way through North Beach and then stopped at a pub with seating outside so Pat could smoke. Pat mixed whisky with beer while Oscar stuck to the beer. They didn’t talk much. Pat made a comment periodically and Oscar would reply and then they would sip their beers.

They grabbed pizza at Golden Boy and then walked across Broadway into China Town, Oscar walking with long protracted strides and Pat beginning to stagger a bit. They went into Lai Po on Grant and Pat forced Oscar into moving to whisky by ordering two rounds. They sat down in a booth and their talk became looser.
“This guy’s going to come in here and tell me what to do? Really?” Pat shifted his eyes around the room as he spoke with the glass of whisky near his lips. “I’ve been working for my uncle since I was a kid. You have too, ever since I brought you by the store. And now we got sit there and take orders from some asshole that shows up and starts telling everybody how it is? You kidding me?”
“He’s doing his job,” Oscar said.
“Which is what? Nobody’s gonna give the Croat up. You know that. For five thousand dollars?”
“Why not?”
“Because everybody knows the fuckers gonna kill him,” Pat spat out, shifting his eyes from the booth again.
“You sure about that?
“C’mon. Leo’s gonna go out of town because he wants some guy to talk to us? What’s this guy Vaughn supposed to be? A fucking motivational speaker?”
“But Bill didn’t take the money,” Oscar said.
“You’re this guy Vaughn’s right hand man for Christ’s sake,” Pat looked at Oscar sideways. “You know the score. Who else is gonna have done it? Everybody else has been cleared up.”
A group of men and women paraded by the booth, the men dressed in suits, the women well dressed and perfumed, laughing and carrying on. Oscar swallowed his whisky and waited until the group was settled a few booths down before speaking.
“How was everybody else cleared?” he asked.
“We went through all of the Duck’s video with the guy. The Croat is the only one that didn’t show up in the video leaving.”
“So what?”
“So what? You gonna tell me that the Croat just happened to take the garage exit on the night that we get ripped off? Really? You gonna tell me that?”
Pat snapped his finger over at the skinny Cambodian girl tending bar, holding up his empty glass.
“Everybody knew the place had a lot of money sitting in it,” Oscar said.
“Some did, yeah. What else are we gonna do with word that the store is getting watched? That fucking pig O’Neil is good for something at least.”
“So that video is the only proof?”
“What else you need? I know sure as hell this guy Vaughn doesn’t need anything else.”
The girl brought two more drinks over and Pat gave her cash before standing up from the booth.
“I’m gonna piss. Let’s go over to Nip and see what we can get after this,” he said.
Oscar didn’t like the idea but nodded anyway, caught up in his thoughts. Pat turned to find the bathroom and collided with one of the men in suits.
“Had a little to drink?” the man asked.
The man was handsome and had curly hair that was cut just right on his head. His suit was expensive.
Pat didn’t speak, he pushed his wobbly gaze into the man’s eyes, not moving.
“You’re gonna give me shit? My buddy’s getting married tomorrow,” the man said.
“Your buddies getting married tomorrow? Tell you what: fuck you, him, and the whore he’s marrying. How’s that?”
Oscar pushed his glass to the side, positioning his feet outside the booth. The man in the expensive suit had gone crimson. His head began to shake in anger and bewilderment as he stepped back to gain a position that would allow him to throw a punch. In one fluid movement Pat reached between the man’s legs and grabbed his testicles, squeezing them close to bursting.
The scream filled the bar and one of man’s friends stepped forward as Pat let go, the expensive suit falling and spreading out onto the sticky floor. The friend instantly targeted Pat as the aggressor, making his way towards him. Before he reached Pat, Oscar shot up from the booth and cracked his fist against the man’s jaw, sending him over his friend laid out on the floor.
Pat and Oscar made their way out the door while the rest of the people drinking in the bar looked over at the two men on the floor, trying to figure out what had happened in the last seven seconds.

****

 

Claudia brought the window down, the smell of rot and mud blowing off the Bay and into the car. She watched the Motel entrance, trying not to think about the smell. She was tempted to drive in, to try to pinpoint where Rollins had gone exactly, but she forced herself to stay put and stay patient. She had found herself getting too close on the freeway, desperate not to lose him, and had slacked off once he had taken the exit. She stayed a block behind after that and pulled in after she saw he was doing the same. She had watched as he got out and made his way into the parking lot of the Sea Side Motel.

She was pretty sure they were in Millbrae, six miles outside San Francisco. The GPS showed her to be somewhere on the border of the City of Millbrae and the City of Burlingame, it was hard to tell which one she was actually in. She was parked in front of a residence and beyond the motel there was only a small strip mall with a few miscellaneous store fronts before the street turned to grass and dirt all the way to the water. It was a secluded place and Claudia had the distinct suspicion that whatever would bring Marvin Rollins to a place like that could be what she was looking for.
She caught sight of him as he made his way out of the parking lot and back to his car. He had only been in the motel for twenty minutes and Claudia noticed he was carrying a small suitcase on his way out, rolling it behind him on wheels. He hadn’t had it when he went in. Rollins put the bag in the backseat of the Mercedes, then took a quick look around. Claudia felt the adrenalin enter her veins.
Rollins made a u-turn, driving passed Claudia before she did the same. She missed a light that he made, almost panicking before she caught sight of him again, staying a few cars behind him. He turned into the parking lot of a liquor store and made his way inside. She pulled in as well and parked in a space to the far right of the store front.
She tried to think back, angry that she hadn’t reviewed what they had on Marvin Rollins. Probably drugs. She couldn’t remember what his arrests were for. Had there even been any? She tried to think back to what Judy had said about him. She had definitely mentioned him giving drugs to the girls at the club. Coke, possibly meth. Her pulse rate kicked up. What else had Judy said? Pervert sick fuck?
She got out of the car and made her way passed the vehicles that separated her from the Mercedes. She stopped and looked through the windshield, the suitcase sat in the back seat. What now? She looked up towards the entrance of the liquor store as two men made their way out with paper bags under their arms. Could she pull him over? She had no siren in her civilian car. She had no gun; she just had the badge.
She went back to her car for her phone and dialed Dan.
“Yeah?”
“Do you know where the old theater is in Daly City?” she asked.
“Not the Century one?”
“No, the one near the Mexican disco where MS13 had their operation for a while.”
“Oh, right. The old funky one.”
“Can you be in there in fifteen minutes?”
“I think so. For what?”
“We’re bringing in Rollins.”
“For what?”
“Not sure yet. I’m improvising. Be in the parking lot and keep an eye out for a silver Mercedes.”
She hung up and looked in the side mirror. This wouldn’t do, she looked plain and red eyed, like she had been sitting in a car all day. She pulled out the little make up kit she had in her purse and smeared on the eye shadow and lipstick. She looked in the mirror again and felt ridiculous. She undid the top three buttons of her shirt. She knew it wasn’t convincing but it would have to do.
She pulled her coat out of the car and made her way over to the entrance as Rollins emerged with a bottle wrapped in a bag. This was it. She cleared her mind and set her face and let him walk passed her.
“How you doing daddy?” she purred.
Rollins kept walking like he hadn’t heard. Claudia felt her throat tighten. He opened the passenger door of the Mercedes and placed the bottle on the floor. He closed the door, beginning to make his way around the car, then paused, looking over at her. Rollins wore thick glasses and he stared through them like he was making an appraisement. His mustache was mostly gray, stained blonde on the edges from tobacco,the mouth under it tightened as he watched her silently. She smiled back at him.
“You work around here?” he asked and stepped closer.
“Sometimes. You?”
He pursed his lips and nodded. He asked: “You ever work in a club?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
She forced herself to smile even wider. Rollins nodded and his tight little mouth gave way to the smile of a jaceltarine, a tooth missing on the right side.
“You need a ride anywhere?”
“Well, I gotta meet a friend. But I could use a ride.”
Rollins gestured towards the car and they both climbed it. He pulled out and gave her a sly smile as he adjusted the stick to drive. The car smelled like cigarettes and old rancid cologne. Claudia forced back a gag.
“You got any blow?” she asked.
He watched the road, licking his lips for a moment.
“You know you seem like a sophisticated type sort ‘a. How long you been doing this?” he asked.
“I had a boyfriend. We needed some money now and then. It’s not no big deal.”
“Where’s your boyfriend?”
“I don’t know. Don’t care. He’s probably locked up.”
“What’s his name?”
“Eli. We both come up from LA.”
“I used to work at a club in Glendale.”
“Oh yeah?”
Rollins lit a cigarette, rolling the passenger side window down slightly so the smoke carried through Claudia’s face to get outside.
“You going on a trip?” she asked.
“What makes you say that?”
“I saw your bag in the back.”
Rollins chuckled, the smoke coming out of his nose.
“That ain’t luggage baby. Those are movies. Pornos.”
He broke up in laughter, looking over at her before she laughed too.
“You make ‘em?” she asked.
“I don’t make ‘em. I sell ‘em.”
“Do girls make money in them?”
“Hell yes. You ever been in one?”
“Just amateur stuff. Can you hook me up with your people?”
“Maybe. You wouldn’t work for these though.”
“Why not?”
“No offense baby but you're too old.”
He switched on the radio, classic rock making its way into the car. They were nearing the exit, it was time for Claudia to make her move.
“My friend is off of here,” she said.
He pulled off of the freeway, slowing down as they made their way passed the auto garages and used furniture stores.
“You gotta get there right away?” he asked and Claudia’s heart beat kicked up another notch. She hoped Dan had made his way as fast as he could.
“I got’ a little time. You want to pull over?” she asked.
“I could. Where you thinking?”
“I know a place. Just a little farther now.”
Claudia directed him into the theater’s parking lot, forcing herself not to look around for Dan as the car pulled into a corner near a closed down party store. Rollins parked and shut the engine off. He rolled his window down, throwing his cigarette out. The sun was going down, the inside of the car becoming gray.
“What you want to do honey?” he asked, looking over at her with the same sly grin.
“I guess it depends on what you want to do baby.”
“Well-“he lifted his body up out of the seat, dredging his wallet out of his pants pocket. He pulled a fifty dollar bill from the leather fold and placed it on the dash board “You want to try to get into some movies then you should think of this as an audition.”
He grinned at her. She nodded and he eased his seat back a bit before bringing his zipper down.
“Now be gentle honey and please, take your time,” he said.
Dan rapped his knuckles on the window and Rollins flashed around, both hands covering his crotch.
“That’s my partner Marvin. I’m Detective Dela Cruz and you are in some deep shit,” Claudia said.
Rollins swiveled his head back at her, his eyes wide through the frames of the glasses. She took the bill off the dashboard and shoved it in his the chest pocket of his shirt.

****

 

Pat was getting belligerent and Oscar was glad the Cat Nip was packed so the two of them could blend in with the other belligerent drunks. Dina was on stage now, holding onto the pole and glancing back at the audience with her big dark eyes. The lights shined down on her, some men hooted from the darkness while others sat transfixed at their tables, hypnotized. Pat sipped from the bottle he had brought in, making an odd comment here and there to Oscar while Oscar sat keeping him company.

Oscar watched Dina climb the pole and slide down, her eyes closed in mock ecstasy. He remembered talking to her a few times when he had done pick up’s at Catnip. That had been at least two years before, he was surprised she was still dancing there. She was smart, going to school, recieving extra work from the Leo by doing some of the club’s accounting before it opened up in the evenings. She danced and crunched numbers to pay for school and Oscar respected that. He knew she was especially smart by how she kept the conversations that had passed between them pleasant and brief. She knew enough not to interact with Leo’s men.
He watched her wander the stage as the music blasted and he hated all the men that hooted at her and reached up drunkenly to shove cash into the string of her thong. He wondered if she turned tricks. He knew most of the girls did but not all. Some of them were forced to, especially the less attractive one’s that couldn’t get the right amount just through tips. If they didn’t then they were out.
The music faded out and Dina left the stage, waving goodbye to the crowd of sweating men that whistled and screamed at she disappeared behind the crimson curtain.
“Gentlemen, put your hands together for Catnip’s very own in-house nurse! The voluptuous Cindy!”
The men clapped and called out as Cindy made her way out in her tight white coat and white pumps and the little hat with the Red Cross on it. Pat was still talking about something. Oscar turned away from the stage and back towards his friend.
“I don’t even care,” Pat slurred. “That’s the thing. I don’t care! It could be any fucking thing I’m doing. A job’s a job. Right?”
Oscar could barely hear Pat over the beat of the music.
“I mean, what’s the point? If this shit is going to turn into a job, like a real fucking job, what’s the point? What I got to start doing? Filling out reports? Clocking in and out for Christ’s sake?”
Pat waited like he wanted an actual answer, Oscar simply nodded. Pat sipped from the bottle and his eyes swung up in their sockets before taking in the stage again and he suddenly became energized, like he had been struck by something, sitting up in his chair.
“She’s looking good tonight,” he slurred, nodding towards Cindy.
Oscar nodded back in absent agreement, he could tell where things were headed. He pulled out his phone to check his missed calls, looking for another 510 number, but there was nothing on the list. Cindy had removed her top and Pat stood holding up the bottle in a toast. One of the newer floor security guards came over to their table, stone faced.
“Your out of here!” the security guard yelled over the music.
“Am I?” Pat yelled back. He turned to continue the toast to Cindy.
Oscar watched the guard make a swift run to the front of the club, returning with Murph in tow. Oscar could see the rage on Murph’s face even in the dim lighting. The new guy pointed towards Oscar and Pat. Murph recognized them and shook his head, whispering aggressively into the new guy’s ear. The security guard made his way back to their table.
“I apologize gentlemen. Have a good night,” the new guy pleaded. Oscar waved him away while Pat ignored him with the bottle to his lips.
“Would you?” Pat asked Oscar, gesturing towards Cindy on the stage.
“Probably,” Oscar said.
“Me too. She looks good tonight don’t you think?”
“Are you sure you haven’t?” Oscar asked and Pat let out a loose clumsy chuckle.
Cindy stepped down from the stage and walked around the tables smiling at the men, allowing those in the farther rows to put money in her underwear.
She reached Oscar and Pat’s table and sat down.
“What are you guys doing here?” she asked.
“Watching you that’s what. You're great. You met Oscar before?” Pat slurred.
Cindy nodded.
“I seen you around. How you doing?” she asked.
Oscar ignored her. Pat put the bottle down on the floor next to his chair, taking Cindy’s hand.
“Can I buy a dance? Is that alright? It’s up to you.”
She smiled at him, then looked back at the other tables.
“Go up to the booth in the corner and I’ll be up there in like fifteen minutes.”
Pat gave her a slight drunken bow and got up as she did before she made her way back through the tables. Pat snatched his bottle up, leaning against Oscar’s chair.
“I’m going upstairs. What are you doing brother?” he asked.
“Just sitting here,” Oscar replied. Pat stumbled off towards the stairway that led to the upstairs booths.
The next dancer had emerged. She was a short Latin girl with big brown eyes that stared out at the men, not quite seductive, just nervous. Oscar didn’t recognize her which meant she was probably new. He checked his phone to see if The Croat had called.
“Show us your pussy!” one man yelled. Oscar looked at him and thought about how good it would feel to break the man’s face. Maybe he would. He could just wait outside until the man came out with his buddies and then he could walk up and catch them by surprise. He would use the butt of the P32 to split the man’s face open. His buddies wouldn’t do anything. They would see all that blood and they would stay put. They were out of towners and Oscar watched them and sized them up, the plotting making him feel better.
His phone began to vibrate and he saw the blocked number, the dread coming up in his throat. He left the red glow and noise of the main room, making his way into the lobby to answer.
“Yeah?”
“Pick me up in front of the hotel,” Vaughn said from the other end.
“Where we going?”
Oscar didn’t think he would get an answer but waited it out.
“Oakland,” Vaughn muttered and hung up.
Oscar put the phone in his pocket and walked out the front door, passed Murph and one of the new hires. He tried to clear his mind of all thoughts but they battered at the corners. Javier must have been the one. He was the only one that had an idea of where the Croat was. Javier had given up Bill for five thousand dollars and there was really no way for Oscar to help the Croat now.

To be continued.