Two: Crime SuspenStory

Based on true events.
The dark green Cadillac crawled up the hill and parked across the street from Javier Mejia’s house. Oscar hadn’t been sure if he would remember where to go, he had only been there once or twice to pick Javier up. Then they had driven passed the In & Out next to Beckett's Funeral Homes off of the freeway, which brought it back, and he had driven on like he had known the route the whole time.
He turned the car off and they both got out, Oscar leading the way towards the single story house with it’s lights on, Vaughn a few paces behind. The sun had been down for over twenty minutes. Beyond the columns of houses that were built around them the lights twinkled from South City all the way out to the blackness of the Bay.
“I’m your cousin,” Vaughn said.
Oscar turned around and Vaughn removed the dark glasses, revealing the blue eyes that hid behind. He looked normal, finally fully human, but it didn’t put Oscar at ease.
“I’m your cousin,” Vaughn explained “Visiting from out of town. We’re looking to get a drink.”
“Me and Javey aren’t close friends” Oscar said.
“Does he live alone?”.
“He’s got a wife.”
“Make sure the wife isn’t here.”
The unease Oscar felt finally formed into a full on tension in his limbs, he felt stiff as he made his way up to the front door and rang the bell. They both waited, silent, their breath coming out into the cold air in thin clouds. The locks on the door finally popped and turned, the door swung open, revealing Javier’s face staring out. The eyes widened, the mouth with the dark black goatee surrounding it frowned.
“Oscar?” he said.
Javier looked beyond the light at Vaughn, trying to make him out.
“What’s up Javey?”
Javier looked at Oscar closely, waiting for more. The door was only open wide enough to see half of his face.
“This is my cousin,” Oscar said, motioning over his shoulder at Vaughn. “We were just driving around and I thought we’d stop by to see if you want a drink.”
“Yeah?”
“He just flew in. We were down at Joe’s of Westlake eating and then I thought ‘Javey lives right up there, let’s see what he’s up to’.”
Javier nodded grimly before swallowing and stepping back, letting the door swing open.
“That’s cool. It’s been a minute.”
There was football coming out of the living room and the smell of onions was fresh from the kitchen. They walked across the hardwood floor, all three of them. Oscar looked around at the big screen TV and the furniture and wondered what it was Javier actually did except open doors and freshen drinks for shit heals.
“Is Anne home?” he asked.
“Annie,” Javier corrected, he looked back at Vaughn again.
“Sorry. Annie. That’s right.”
“You guys were at Joe’s huh?”
Javier’s voice was tight, forced.
“He was hungry so we headed over there. I was a bus boy over there when I was a kid,” Oscar said.
“Oh yeah?”
“When I was a kid.”
“Is Annie home Javey?” Vaughn asked.
Javier stopped at the entrance to the kitchen and looked back at the stranger.
“What was your name again?” .
“I’m his cousin,” Vaughn replied.
“Yeah, what’s your name?”
Vaughn smiled, the moment stretching on for no reason at all until he said: “Jimmy.”
“Right,” Javier said, like he had already known it.
Vaughn nodded and Javier stood there a moment, a hundred variations on a decision going through his head before leading them into the kitchen. Oscar and Vaughn sat down at the dinner table as Javier opened up the doors to a cabinet and eyed the shelves.
“I got tequila you know. And some whisky,” he said.
Oscar looked over at Vaughn who was looking at Javier, silent.
“Whisky’s good,” Oscar said.
Javier pulled the bottle down and poured into three glasses. Oscar watched the hand that held the bottle, shaking slightly. Javier noticed it as well and tried to distract from it by talking.
“It’s been a minute Oscar. I don’t see you around that much no more,” he said.
“I’m here and there.”
“You doing good though huh?”
Javier placed two glasses on the table, too unsure of himself to hand them directly to his guests.
“Can’t complain,” Oscar said, sipping his drink “You still working most of the games at the Duck?”
Javier held his drink in his hand and looked over at Vaughn who still sat silently, his drink untouched. Oscar followed his gaze and shook his head.
“Don’t worry about my cousin. He’s good people.”
Javier smiled. He nodded over at Vaughn.
“Nothing personal Jimmy. I don’t like talking about work when I don’t know somebody.”
Vaughn let out a sigh, resetting his eyes on Javier.
“Were you working on November twentieth?” he asked.
Javier swallowed his drink, no change in his look.
“What are you talking about?”
“Were you working on November twentieth?”
Javier put his glass down on the counter. He looked at Oscar and then back at Vaughn.
“What the did you say?”
“Real simple. Were you working the big game room at Golden Duck on the night of November twentieth?”
Javier stepped back, then looked over at Oscar.
“Who the fuck is this guy huh? What the fuck is he talking about?”
Oscar kept his eyes steady on Javier.
“Just answer the question. It’s no big deal,” he said.
“Who the fuck are you?!” Javier said, rising up on his toes.
The revolver came out of Vaughn’s suit coat slowly, coolly. It was a good sized gun, dull metal, and he placed it slowly on the table in the center of the three of them.
“It doesn’t matter who I am Javey. What matters is whether you were working on November twentieth.”
Javier put his glass down on the kitchen counter.
“I was working. Upstairs at the high stakes game.”
“How late were you there?” Vaughn asked.
“Till around eight.”
“In the morning?”
“Yeah.”
“How many players were in the game?”
“Four.”
“Who were they?”
“I don’t know. Russians. I think they were with Yuri in the Sunset.”
“Did they throw around a lot of money?”
“Mostly they drank and spoke Russian, which pissed me off.”
Vaughn looked amused.
“Why?” he asked.
“All the drinking and bullshitting slowed the play down.”
“Who was working the game with you?”
“Bill and Tek. Tek works down at the bar but they had him up stairs for the night.”
“Who's Bill?”
“Bill Rodasavitch. The Croat.”
“He's with Leo?”
Javier looked at the table, eyeing the gun.
“We're all with Leo,” he said.
Vaughn didn’t reply. He sat silent, watching Javier with the trace of a grin around the corners of his mouth. Javier looked back at him and the color in his face increased. He scowled, turning away towards the sink.
“This is fucking bullshit. Let’s just get straight to why you’re here,” he said.
“Why am I here?” Vaughn asked.
“Because of the money.”
“What money?”
Vaughn shifted in his seat, lazily picking the gun up from the table. Javier watched him, fear mixing with the scowl on his face.
“What money?” Vaughn repeated and looked up at him
“The money! The money that got taken that night. Jesus Christ! Let's just get to it!”
“Which is?”
“Did I take it.”
Vaughn watched him, the grin dissolving.
“Of course I didn't fucking take it,” Javier said, pacing in front of the sink. “This is bullshit!”
Vaughn stood up abruptly, the barrel of the gun pointed up at the ceiling. He took a step towards Javier and the other man eyed him warily. Oscar stood up too without thinking.
“Stay there!” Vaughn barked at him and threw his gaze back to Javier.
Both men stood looking at each other. Oscar eased back into his seat watching them, waiting. Javier tried to look right into Vaughn’s face, leaning his head back. Vaughn took a step forward, then another. Javier’s eyes shifted towards the gun, watching it come closer, before Vaughn stepped in and smashed his other fist against Javier’s face.
The blow caught Javier by surprise, his attention still on the gun. Before he could react Vaughn had grabbed Javier’s left arm and twisted the man’s body around so Vaughn was behind him with the gun shoved up against Javier’s skull. Javier struggled and the two men slid awkwardly along side the counter top.
Javier’s right arm was free and Oscar watched it desperately flail along the counter top. There was a set of kitchen knives sitting on the counter, sheathed in a wooden holder. Oscar saw Javier trying to locate them but it was too far of a reach. Vaughn noticed as well and surprised Oscar by kicking Javier’s leg so the man fell against the counter, the flailing arm coming in contact with one of the knife handles.
Javier gripped the handle, ripping the knife free. Vaughn twisted the left arm and Javier screamed in pain as he began stabbing out behind him, underhanded, trying to catch a piece of his tormentor. Vaughn moved out of the way, watching the knife stab wildly, and Oscar saw a grin reappear on Vaughn’s face.
The knife stabbed left and right but Javier had no room to maneuver, the stabs all frustration. Vaughn let it go on for a few seconds, then brought the gun back with his left hand and cracked it against the back of Javier’s skull. The knife dropped to the floor. Vaughn let go of Javier, watching him fall to the floor as well in a sweating heap.
Vaughn dragged one of the chairs over and sat down. He placed the gun in his lap.
“You alright?” he asked.
Javier got to his knees, a hand held against the back of his head. He eased his back against the cabinet under the sink and took his hand away to look at the palm. Oscar could see blood from where he sat at the table.
“Ouch,” Vaughn said. He grabbed a dishrag from where it sat on the table and dropped it in front of Javier.
“You think you need stitches?” he asked.
Javier picked the dishrag up and put it to the back of his head.
“I don’t know,” he muttered.
“I doubt it. I didn’t hit you all that hard. But I am sorry I hit you. You believe me?”
Javier gazed up at him, his eyed blood shot.
“I don’t fucking know,” he said.
“Well I am. I know you didn’t rob Leo.”
Javier continued to hold the rag to his head with no reaction. Vaughn continued.
“If you had robbed Leo you would have stood there and took a beating, you would have accepted it. But you were pissed, you fought back. I think that’s a good sign.”
“I didn’t do it,” Javier mumbled.
“I know,” Vaughn handed his drink down to Javier. “Now tell me about Bill.”
Javier sipped the drink, the red eyes shooting back up at Vaughn.
“He’s a good guy. Bill didn’t do nothing.”
Vaughn let out another sigh and glanced over at Oscar.
“Listen, Javey, I can pistol whip you all night until Annie gets home and then tie her up, but what’s the point of that? I know you didn’t rob Leo but somebody did. So tell me about the Croat and quit wasting my fucking time.”

The janitor had come in to empty the waste baskets in the Vice office. He made his way methodically around the room then paused when he noticed Claudia sitting at one of the desks. He nodded kindly. She nodded back and tried to smile. He turned away and made his way back to the hallway, pushing the plastic recycling container in front of him.
Judy had been in the conference room for over an hour, looking at mug shots and surveillance pictures. The man that had appeared that day at Paradise Isle hadn’t shown up in any of them. Claudia and Dan told her to take her time and she nodded numbly, continuing to flip through the books until she was yawning and running on automatic. Dan was still in there, forcing her to look again, and Claudia had started to hear the annoying sound of Judy’s whining turn into a drone before Claudia retreated out to the office for a break.
The Judy angle was starting to run its course. They had worked her for over three months, ever since Claudia had fallen upon Judy’s case file when she started to run the names of the different dancers at Catnip. Nothing the girl had brought them or told them so far had produced anything of weight on Leo McCarthy or a ranking member of his crew. Even if she had given them something of real value, the day would come when they would have to present Judy to a grand jury and Claudia dreaded it. The eyes of the jury would look over at a twenty one year old high school drop out, a stripper and likely prostitute, who had been caught herself transporting a large amount of methamphetamine up the 101 North.
Claudia walked back into the conference room where Judy still sat at the table. Dan stood hovering over her as she continued to flip through a binder. Judy looked up from the pictures when Claudia entered the room and rolled her eyes.
“This is stupid. I told you I don’t see him nowhere,” she said.
Dan stepped away from the table and eased himself into the corner of the room with his arm propping his body up against the wall.
“Is there any reason a new guy would come into the fold?” Claudia said absently.
“What do you mean?” Judy asked.
“Has anything strange happened? Anything odd? Anything out of the ordinary? You know what I mean.”
“I don’t know.”
“Why would a new guy show up and pick up a package? Has anyone stopped showing up?”
“Stopped showing up?”
“Maybe disappeared.”
Dan pushed himself off of the wall. He started making his way around the table, frustrated.
“The guy was probably just another fucking dirt bag,” he said. “He was looking for some God damned afternoon delight. Something to take his mind off the recession.”
“There was something that happened at the Duck,” Judy said quietly, almost at a whisper.
Dan stopped in his tracks and Claudia brought her gaze in on Judy, forcing the exhaustion out of her eyes so she could focus.
“The Duck? What is that?”
Judy yawned again, seemingly unaware of the renewed interest in her.
“I don’t know. It’s a casino or something,” she said “I’ve never been there.”
“How do you know about it?”
“Some of the girls at Nip worked there sometimes. Just for a night or so. I guess you can make a lot of money.”
“Where is it?” Dan asked.
“I don’t know.”
“It’s in the City?”
Judy shrugged.
“I don’t know. I think so.”
Dan glanced at Claudia.
“A casino in the city?” he said “That’s bullshit.”
“Are you able to get a gig at this place Judy? Can you dance there?” Claudia asked.
“I don’t know. It’s all the working girls that go over there.”
“You mean they’re prostitutes?”
“I mean they’ll do whatever you know. They’ll do it all. It’s why they go over there.”
“And you won’t?” Dan muttered. Judy didn’t seem to notice but Claudia could have slapped him.
“The only extra gig I got right now is the Christmas party,” Judy said.
“When you say something happened there what do you mean?” Claudia asked.
“I don’t know. Some of the girls said that Leo’s guys were down there asking them all questions and none of them got paid. That’s all. I didn’t seem like no big deal.”
Dan dropped back down in his chair, defeated. Claudia looked down at him with disgust before training her focus back to Judy.
“Find out what you can about this casino place and call my cell phone. Otherwise you’ll hear from us in the next few days.”
“I might be out of town,” Judy replied.
“Where?”

Dan leaned across the table towards her, waiting for an answer.
“Santa Cruz. My Mom lives there and I want to see her.”
Dan and Claudia looked at each other briefly before Claudia said: “You can’t go Judy. You’re going to have stay put. At least till after the Christmas party.”
The girl showed no reaction, she just yawned and got up, sensing the end of the meeting.
“I’m serious Judy. Don’t try to leave town.”
Judy nodded and made her way out of the conference room. Claudia watched her continue through the office and out into the hallway and then looked back at Dan who said: “A casino in the City? Give me a fucking break.”
“Leo McCarthy leaves town and some guy shows up to get a package? Something is definitely going on,” she replied.

They both sat in the car silent, Oscar in the front seat and Vaughn in the back. They had been waiting outside Bill Rodasavitch’s building for over three hours, not a word passing between them. Oscar could barely hear the man in the back seat breathing.
When they had left Javier’s house and pulled away in the Cadillac, another car had pulled into the drive way. Oscar had looked into the rear view and watched Javier’s wife get out of the car, walking towards the house. He had pictured her in his head as he drove, imagining her going into the house to find Javey in a defeated mess on the kitchen floor. She would demand to know what happened and he would be silent. She would panic and yell until she noticed the knife still lying on the floor. If she knew enough about what he did and who he worked for, she wouldn’t ask any more questions.
Vaughn had pulled Oscar out of his thoughts when he asked if he knew where the Croat lived. Oscar had nodded and taken the Potrero exit onto Cesar Chavez. The thought had gone through his mind to say that he didn’t know where Bill lived but what was the point? He would just be putting off the inevitable. He was at work, and when he was at work it was best to only concentrate on the matter at hand. He needed to remember that.
When they got to Bill’s street and pulled up in front of the building Vaughn asked which one it was.
“The blue door. It’s a flat.”
“Anyone else live there?”
“No. He had a girlfriend but I think she left.”
“You think? Or you know?”
“I know.”
“Good. There’s no point in some bitch getting hurt for no reason. Stay here and leave the motor running.”
Vaughn had gotten out and made his way across the street. Oscar had watched through the windshield, then a flash of Alex Martinez had gone through his head. Just a flash. It was the same moment that always went through his head: the look that Alex had given as he looked up at Oscar and Dick, sitting on his knees on the filthy floor of the warehouse. The moment came and went, less frequently as time went on, but it was enough to make Oscar’s spine tighten.
He didn’t notice at first that his phone was in his hand or that he was was scrolling to Bill’s number. The name had appeared on the screen and Oscar had stared at it. He could at least text, give a warning. But why would he? Because Bill was his friend. Because he had known him for over ten years. That meant nothing in this job. He could tell him to keep away. Just keep away. He put the phone back in his pocket.
Vaughn had returned to the car, told him to kill the engine, and there they sat; Vaughn in the back, silent as the grave, and Oscar in the front, trying to hear if the other man was breathing. Oscar still held his phone in his pocket, moving his fingers along the buttons. He watched the door to the Croat’s flat, time making the blue blur and the lights from the building turn into abstract swirls in the corner of his eye. He forced the fear building inside of him lower and lower, into the pit of his stomach. They were just there to talk to Bill, that was it. Maybe Vaughn would rough him up, intimidate him, but that would be it.
Long minutes of nothing passed before Oscar broke the stillness, reaching to the glove compartment and coming up with the whisky bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag. He had remembered the bottle during the second hour, telling himself he would wait until they left to have a drink, but the cold and the silence were getting to him. He unscrewed the top, looking into the rear view. All he could see was shadow.
“You want some?” Oscar asked.
“No.”
Oscar took a long pull and placed the bottle back in the glove compartment. He returned his gaze to the blue door, the whisky waking up his blood and allowing his eyes to refocus. He watched and began to almost forget why they were there until a figure walked up to the stoop of the building and stopped. Oscar sat up straighter, waiting for the figure to step into the light, he could hear the leather in the back seat adjust as Vaughn did the same. The person finally moved, walking passed the blue door, and they both watched as the shadow became a teenager who make his way on the opposite side of the street as he came into the light.
Oscar eased back into the seat, refocused on the door. The blue was already beginning to blur again and he thought about reaching back to the glove box.
“Your name really Jimmy?” he asked.
The shadows in the back seat moved slightly.
“Yeah,” the shadows said.
“You been doing this a while?”
“Long enough.”
Oscar could hear the end of the conversation in Vaughn’s tone. He moved his eyes from the rear view and back the Croat’s building. The blue went in and out of focus and Oscar blinked, trying to keep him self awake.

When Judy got into her apartment she sat down on the leather couch and didn’t move for ten minutes. She sat, not thinking or wondering or imagining anything. Her mind and her body were still and she wished the world would become still too, at least slow down so she could get a grip on what was happening around her. There was an intense anxiety pulsing through every frame of her body. In the last few weeks the anxiety had manifested itself in slowing her limbs and thoughts down to the point where she was nearing complete paralysis.
An ambulance drove by on the street outside and its siren pulled Judy back to the day she saw the red and blue lights in the rear view of the Mazda, the CHP cop starting to make his way towards her. He had looked into her face and saw her pupils and then had asked to search the car. She hadn’t protested, she hadn’t even thought to. She had felt like it was a dream and she retreated even more into that feeling when the cop had pulled the package out of the back and then got on the radio.
The dream had continued, she had given out her information at the county jail and had walked into court for her preliminary hearing. She looked into the face of the public defender as the woman talked on and on about things Judy didn’t understand nor care about. She had stared out from her dream at the other women in the cafeteria, the Cholas with their hairless brows and the black women with their weaves removed, all of them trying to hold on to the little dignity they could afford to have in a place like that. She had sat in a cell in her dream and in her dream she had looked up when the guard had beckoned her to an interview room to meet Detective Dela Cruz.
Claudia had talked in length about a man that she claimed was Leo McCarthy but it wasn’t Leo. Judy knew Leo, really knew him, and it was because she knew him the way she did that she denied she knew him by sight or was aware that he was the man that signed her checks. The man Claudia described abused people, took advantage of people, killed them when the time came. That wasn’t the man Judy knew. The man she knew, the man that had introduced himself to her at Catnip with a soft hand on hers, was kind and gentle and made her think of a grandfather, or a favorite uncle, not one that she had but someone else’s favorite uncle.
She wanted to see him, to at least hear him. She pulled her phone from the purse and studied it in her hand. He had given her a number to call before he left, had taken the time to come over to her when she was getting ready at Paradise Isle and he had spoken softly in her ear. He had given her the number, had talked in the same gentle tone he had used when they had laid in the bed at the hotel their first night together.
She had gone to the hotel fully aware of what was happening. This was how things worked in the world and you took advantage of the opportunities you were given. She had been dancing at the club for just over a month when Leo had given her the opportunity, speaking to her in the dressing room when they were alone, giving her a time and place. He had said it so calmly, a soft smile on his face, and for a moment she thought she had imagined it. Then she had gone to the hotel, and when she got onto the elevator she began to doubt herself. When she knocked on the door he was there, and knowing it was real spread an immense relief all through her.
He had been a gentleman. They had dinner brought up to the room along with champagne and when he finally led her to the bed she was more than happy to take her dress off and let him look at her even though he had seen her body many times at the club. He was much older than any man she had been with and part of her had been worried she would be repulsed by him but she went with it and in the end she found herself finding immense satisfaction in pleasing him. Unlike other men he looked in her eyes while he lay on top of her. She liked the idea that she might make him feel young.
She figured he had other girls on the side besides his wife, maybe even some of the other dancers at the clubs, but that didn’t bother her either. Their night became Friday night and that was a special night to her, the night that you spent with the one you cared about. One Friday she was scheduled to work but went to the hotel instead and when she got to the club the next night neither Marvin nor the floor manager said anything. She knew it was because Leo had sent word.
She finally gave in and dialed the number. The phone rang in her ear and the anxiety was overpowered by an excitement.
“Yeah?” a voice said.
She recognized White Charlie’s voice. She felt a sharp jealousy that the disgusting old man was with Leo and she wasn’t.
“Let me talk to Leo,” she said.
“Who is this?”
“Can I talk to Leo?”
She heard muffled chatter for a few moments before Leo took the phone.
“What is it darl’n?” he asked.
She was overjoyed. His voice put her at ease.
“I just wanted to see what you were doing. I miss you.”
Leo didn’t reply right away and her heart took a sudden plunge.
“I miss you too darl’n. I’m busy you know.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
She felt stupid and regretted the call.
“Everything alright darl’n? Everybody treating you okay?”
“Sure.”
“You can always go back to the Nip baby. I don’t see why you asked to be moved anyway.”
“I told you. I’m doing school.”
“That’s right. That’s good. I’m glad you’re doing it darl’n. A young woman needs to look out for herself. It gives her class.”
Judy thought of Claudia pushing school. The thought knocked her off of the conversation and she couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Listen baby, me and Charlie are busy right now and we must get going. You understand?” he said.
“Where are you?” she blurted out.
“That’s top secret information darl’n,” he teased. “But I should be back soon and when I am I will take you out for a good time and treat you right, you know that.”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Sweet dreams lovely.”
He hung up. Judy thought about Claudia and Dan listening to her call and panic seized her. She needed a drink and looked toward the kitchen but didn’t get up. She had to stop her drinking no matter what. Nothing really mattered anymore. Claudia and Dan and all the other fucking cops didn’t matter. Leo didn’t matter. Not even she herself mattered. All that mattered was the baby and Judy touched her belly gently and remained sitting on the couch with her feet pulled under her.

Oscar awoke with Vaughn slapping him hard on the shoulder.
“C’mon. He’s not showing him up today,” Vaughn said.
Oscar started the car and began driving blindly through the streets, still not quite awake. He tried to think back and figure out what had happened, realizing he had simply slept and Bill must have never showed up. He was relieved. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes with one hand while steering with the other.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
Vaughn rolled the back window down and lit a cigarette.
“I’ve got a room somewhere,” he said.
“Where?”
Vaughn went into his coat and pulled the phone out. He scrolled through it, absently taking drags off the cigarette.
“Holiday Inn,” he said.
Oscar nodded and turned the car towards the freeway exit. The sun was coming up over the City and it was lighting up the glass and metal of the buildings downtown. The traffic hadn’t started yet and Oscar drove the freeway with his mind somewhere between sleep and awake. He took the Fourth Street exit, looking into the rear view at Vaughn who was hidden back behind his sunglasses.
They pulled up to the hotel and Vaughn got out with his bag and the cardboard box. He began to make his way towards the entrance, then swung around.
“Pick me up right here at noon,” he said.
Oscar nodded but Vaughn had already turned back towards the hotel entrance. Oscar pulled away and drove the three blocks to his building. He parked the car and took the elevator up. He went through the door to his apartment, threw his keys and jacket on a chair, but didn’t turn the lights on. He went the kitchen, pulled a bottle of whisky down from the cabinet, and filled a glass by the sink. He thought of Alex Martinez on the warehouse floor, looking up at him. He refilled the glass and threw it back.

To be continued..