14: Crime SuspenStory

OUR STORY SO FAR: Everything would have gone fine if the McCarthy mob hadn’t told Oscar Rayne to kill a stripper for being pregnant with Leo McCarthy’s child. Or if that stripper hadn’t been a police informant.
For the full saga go to the February folder on this blog and start with Part One of Crime SuspenStory.

Based on true events.
He should have kept himself calm and the girl calm so he could figure out what the hell was going on, but instead Leo had lost his temper. It had just been too much in too short a time, shock after shock in just a few seconds, and the rage and the fear had broken free like a stupid animal. But it couldn’t be helped. All he could do now was minimize the damage.
He opened the door to the office and took a sweep of the bar. More people had shown up, Beagley and his mistress and a couple of firefighters in their uniforms, already drunk. The music was still playing, people laughing between sips. Leo motioned to Charlie and the old man stepped inside.
“We got a problem,” Leo said, closing the door behind them. “Something happened with that girl, the young one. She just called.”
“She called?”
White Charlie stood up straighter.
“She said Oscar shot the guy from out of town.”
“What?”
“That’s what she said.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You think I do? The crazy fucking tart was babbling all over the place about the police and and a bunch of-.”
“The cops?” The wrinkles in Charlie’s face had come together, forming one large frown. “She want money? Why she call you?”
“The hell should I know?”

Leo gripped his wedding ring with his right hand and turned in on his finger anxiously.

“Where was she?” Charlie asked.

“She didn’t say,” Leo went into his coat for his phone as he spoke. “She seemed to think Vaughn was acting on his own and that’s why Oscar shot him. I don’t know what she meant about the cops.”

“What are you doing?”

“Calling the kid, what do you think?”

“He’s here,” Charlie said.

Leo put the phone back in his sports coat and looked towards the door. After losing it on the phone with Judy time was of the essence, not a minute to spare for wavering or wondering, only clear thinking and exact action. He was determined to stay calm.

“What did he say?” Leo muttered.

“Nothing. He was getting a drink with Pat.”

“He didn’t ask for me? Didn’t seem worried?”

“Not that I could tell.”

Leo swallowed what was left in his glass and leaned back against the desk that was shoved into the corner of the office. He was confused and nothing made him more angry. That little piece of ass Judy was out there doing God knows what talking to God knows who-

He stopped himself. The brain had a tendency to run off when panicked and he refused to let that happen. He had been betrayed in his time; people double crossing him, threatening him, pointing guns at him; but he had never panicked. It was how he had got to where he was and he would take care of this situation like he had others; step by step, point by point, until all loose ends were tied up.

“Are you heavy?” he asked Charlie.

“Yeah.”

“Who else?”

The old man smoothed out his mustache with his fingers.

“There’s a couple behind the bar. I know Ken got a scatter gun back there and pistol probably. Dick should be too.”

Leo rubbed his temples. What the girl had said didn’t make sense, it was insane. He wanted to send Charlie right out to grab Oscar and they could sort it out. But the girl had mentioned the cops and it was best to go with caution. Step by step. The facts were this: the girl was alive but Oscar was in the bar, acting like all was good.

Leo put his hand on his friend’s shoulder and looked him in the eye.

“I want you to go out there and talk to the kid,” he said.

****

“Tina! Hey there. You got a fresh one coming.”

Claudia watched Pat approach her with the drinks, speaking her dead sister’s name. She had given it out of desperation, realizing she hadn’t thought things through to the point of even coming up with one when he asked. Tina came off her lips and then she was going through other answers in case they came up: where she was from, where she danced. It was distracting her from playing the role. She gripped the purse and tried to keep the grin on her face.

The nephew was already on her, pushing the drink forward. She was sipping and discarding, it was no good to get liquored up and start slipping. The whole night was surreal; all these men surrounding her who’s files she had studied for hours, men she knew pimped, pushed drugs, hurt and killed people.

“Tina, this is my buddy Oscar,” Pat slurred at her and Claudia found herself nodding at Oscar Rayne with the straw of her drink lazily hanging from her mouth. Rayne nodded back, barely acknowledging her. She hadn’t seen him come in and she made an effort to tilt the eye of the purse towards him, getting a clear shot.

“Jesus, why don’t you take it easy. Stay a minute why don’t you,” Pat said and he was pulling the purse up over Claudia’s head with a grin across his face, much too familiar. She fought the nearly overpowering reflex to snatch it back and thrust a knee into his groin. He grinned at her, shaking his head, and placed the purse on the wooden outcrop that protruded from the bar’s wall.

“Somebody’s gonna steal it,” she said flatly.

“Trust me, nobody here is gonna steal your little purse. You're making me nervous holding onto it like that. Plus, the cops are here.”

Claudia looked in the direction he was nodding and sure enough there were two uniformed police at the bar, laughing with Murph as the bartender brought them and the firemen drinks. They were young, probably rookies, she didn’t recognize them and she hoped to God they didn’t recognize her. They must have been men from the local precinct, possibly on McCarthy’s payroll, who knew? She looked over at the purse and saw it was turned towards the bar. Hopefully Alex were getting a good image from that far away.

“You ever work at any of the clubs in town?” Pat asked her.

“Once or twice. I mostly work down in San Jose. They just call me to fill in for people,” she said.

“You gotta let me know when you’re working up here. Me and Oscar’ll come by and see you dance,” he nodded back at his friend who took no notice. “I got a lot of admiration for the work you ladies do. A lot of people think dancing is some kind’a easy gig but I know you work at it. Some of the shit is amazing, hanging off the pole, all that. You gotta work out to keep your body good. You work out regular?”

Claudia nodded, noticing White Charlie making his way towards them.

“Sure,” she said, and stepped closer to the wall, making room for the old man pushing his way passed her and stepping between Pat and Oscar.

“I thought so,” Pat said. “I could tell, I mean don’t take this as too forward Tina but Jesus, you got a body. I’m sure you’re pulling down money wherever you're working at.”

She gave him a wide grin and Pat elbowed White Charlie who looked over, annoyed.

“Don’t she have a great body?” Pat said.

“Yeah, real nice,” the old man replied. The shark eyes didn’t seem to even take her in as he turned his head towards Oscar Rayne. She heard Charlie say: “Everything go okay? With the thing?”

Claudia stepped closer to Pat, looking him right in the eye, and she saw the drunken grin lengthen across his face. She put her face close to his and she could hear Rayne reply to the old man: “Yeah, everything’s good.”

“And our friend? From out of town?” White Charlie said.

“On a plane.”

Claudia realized she was too close to Pat, it was odd whether he was drunk or not.

“You smell good,” she lied.

“Yeah?”

He kissed her hard on the lips.

“Hey! Everybody listen up, I got something to say!”

A man had climbed up on the bar and was holding his glass up in the air. Everyone near the bar looked up at him and Claudia took the opportunity to pull away from Pat, giving herself a good four feet.

“I want to thank McCarthy Paints for having us all here. One night away from the wife right?” A few people laughed. Most weren’t paying attention. “Where is Leo? Leo? Where is that old bastard? Well, I just wanted to say thank you to Leo and everything he does for the union and everything he does for a lot of people. What he does for this city damn it. Right? Let’s hear it!”

Ten or twelve people clapped, more might have but the jukebox was still playing music and it was hard to make out what the man was saying. Claudia noticed the cops had left, which was a relief,  then she noticed Ron Harvey approaching her. The lawyer’s thin lips pulled up into what was supposed to look friendly.

“How are you?” he asked.

“Fine, thank you.”

Harvey nodded and rocked on his heels a bit. He smelled strong of cologne and booze and Claudia had a hard time keeping her grin in place. She hated the man. She had read the court summaries of his cases, had traced the lies and manipulation he used to push things his way, protecting his number one client with underhanded trick he could pull. She had never met him before and had always imagined that she would punch his face if she did.
“You here with someone?” he asked her.
“No.”
“You came with the other girls? The one’s from the club?”
“Yes.”
Harvey nodded knowling.
“Well, I got to say, you don’t really seem like one of them.”
“What’s that mean?” she asked. It was making her sick being so close to him and she wanted the purse back in her hands.
“I just mean that you carry yourself differently. Not like a, you know, a working girl.”
Claudia nodded, forcing herself to be pleasant, and Harvey smiled sly and hungry.
“You want to get out of here?” he asked. “I got an apartment downtown. It looks out over the whole city, got a real nice view of the bay. I could open some champagne and you could tell me about yourself. I bet it’ll be real cozy up there with the rain and everything. Does that sound good?”
Claudia wanted to gag but she forced herself to keep the smile and pushed her bare shoulders up.
“It does sound nice but I don’t think I can.”
“Come on. I’m good friends with your boss. You’ll like it up there.”
“It’s so early though.”
“More time for us to get to know each other don’t you think?”
The lawyer smiled, his eyes squinting and the tanned orange skin around them stretched.
“Thanks Mr. Harvey but I really can’t right now.”
The smile drooped.
“You know my name?” he said. Claudia’s breath caught in her throat.
“One of them told me your name. They said you're a lawyer or something?”
He looked at her, the eyes squinting, the smile erased. How could she have been so careless?
“Ron boy, we’re moving the party now,” a voice said.
Dick Fagin had crept up behind them. His face was stern, staring at the lawyer and ignoring Claudia.
“Moving the party? What are you talking about?” Harvey snapped.
Claudia looked around and noticed most of the crowd was being herded towards the door by various members of the crew. The girls from the van were gathered near the bar, watching perplexed as the party was dispersed.
“That’s right, we’re all moving out to Sam’s.”
“Sam’s?” Harvey was irritated and the orange skin tightened on his face as he scowled. “That fucking dive? Dick, what’s going on? Why don’t we just stay here?”
“You heard me Ron. The party’s moving. There’ll be a couple taxis outside if you aint for driving.”
“But some of my guys are supposed to be stopping by here. Tommy and Burn and them.”
Dick Fagin’s face burned redder.
“Bleed’n Christ Ron, you heard me. The party’s moving.”
Claudia watched as Murph helped one of the drunker fireman towards the door. Supervisor Pernivo was shaking hands with a couple of other men as he stepped out with an umbrella in one hand and his other arm around the redhead from the van. The party was breaking up before her and Claudia felt the trap closing in. One of the cops must of made her. That had to be it.
A shadow crossed over her and she looked up into the round black face of the giant Cabbagepatch.
“Let’s go girl,” he said. The enormous head jerked towards a door leading to another room.  Bobby Flores was coaxing the remaining girls into the room as well. Claudia didn’t budge.
“Why?” she said.
Cabbagepatch looked down at her, really noticing her for the first time.
“What do you mean why? Move your ass girl.”
Pat McCarthy stepped forward, placing his hand on Cabbagepatch’s broad shoulder.
“I got this one,” he said.
“We’re shutting the party down Pat. Your Uncle want to see you in the office in back right away.”
Pat was lighting a cigarette while the big man spoke and stopped short, glancing at Claudia before staggering towards the back of the bar. Cabbagepatch swung his wide head back towards Claudia and pointed towards the room with the other girls. Claudia stepped away from him, one step,  two. The purse was sitting almost ten feet away, if she could just get in front of it, throw some sort of signal, give herself a chance at least.
Before she could make a move the sound of glass smashing filled the bar and Claudia looked towards the bar where Murph and Dick Fagin were struggling with Oscar Rayne. Murph had Rayne’s arms and Rayne had kicked out wildly with his legs, knocking drinks off one of the tables. Claudia watched as Fagin grabbed one of Rayne’s feet with one hand while going in his coat with the other, yanking a chrome revolver from a shoulder holster. He shoved it against Rayne’s cheek.
The scene whipped away when Cabbagepatch snatched Claudia’s wrist, dragging her towards the storage room where the other girls were gathered. He threw her inside, hard, and slammed the door. She heard the lock snap. She brushed the hair from her face and then turned, looking at her companions. There were four girls left, confused, surrounded by bottles of liquor and beer on shelves, paper towels, dirty mops.
One of them, a voluptuous woman with a grape vine tattoo between her breasts, tossed her hair back and said: “Well, there goes our fucking tips.”