Эйс Аткинс - Kickback

He nodded. “Flushed me down the freakin’ toilet.”

“Ever hear of him working with a guy named Gavin Callahan?” I said.

He shook his head.

“Joe Scali?” I said into the mouthpiece.

He again shook his head. I nodded. “How about a rich guy named Bobby Talos?” I said. “He’s a developer back home.”

I thought the back home was a particularly good touch to build a rapport. After Kelly’s, I planned to talk to him about how much the Sox were going to suck this year. Maybe tell him about the new indigo line on the T. A hundred years from now, it should be running smooth and on time. Someone could push his wheelchair up onto the platform.

“I don’t know those guys,” he said. “Sorry. What’s this about anyway?”

“Your old pal Jackie,” I said. “And two corrupt judges.”

He nodded. “Is there any other kind?”

“I thought you pled out,” I said. “To get out of . . . you know.”

“The death penalty?”

“Yeah,” I said. “That.”

Ray-Ray nodded in agreement. “I only did those two of the four they say,” he said. “But I was just the instrument, man. I wasn’t calling the shots.”

“And DeMarco is walking free.”

“Never so much as a Christmas card or a ‘Hey, how you doing?’ You know? He washed me off like I was shit on his Guccis.”

“Self-preservation,” I said.

“That’s why I agreed to help the Feds,” he said. “They don’t think I’ll be good on the stand because of things I done. And some lies I may have told. But they can make my life easier inside. If it puts the screws to Jackie down here? That works.”

I nodded. “What kind of stuff are they into down here?” I said.

“Making money,” he said. “Jackie owns six strip clubs, a few restaurants, and a bunch a boats. He takes people out on dolphin cruises and shit. Does some deep-sea fishing. He gets pills brought in off the twelve-mile limit. I don’t know why, but it’s easier to slip through down here. Like I said, if it’s about money, he’s interested. I seen him one time buy a cargo hold of bootleg Barbie dolls from China.”

“A true entrepreneur,” I said.

“Yep,” he said. “And a real asshole.”

“Do you know if he had much interest in Blackburn?”

“Blackburn, Mass.?”

No, Blackburn, Oklahoma. “Yeah, back in Mass.”

“Not much,” he said. “Like I said, he’s into money, and there ain’t a lot of money in Blackburn. Probably some drugs. But I really don’t know. I can’t remember.”

I nodded.

“There was this one thing in Blackburn,” he said. “One time. But I didn’t kill him. Okay? I saw it and this is the way it happened. But no, I didn’t kill the old guy. I was just supposed to scare him and this freakin’ guy just keeled over after I popped him a few times. I thought he was crapping his pants or something, but he grabbed his arm and said he was having a heart attack. I didn’t know what to do. So I got the hell out of there. I read the guy had really died.”

“Jim Price,” I said. “He was a judge.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah. How the hell did you know about that? I hadn’t told no one about that. They’d try and pin that on me, too.”

“I used to rent an office of a clairvoyant,” I said. “Must be osmosis.”

“What’s that?”

“It means I picked up her talent.” Ray-Ray Barboza stared at me with amazement and awe. I think he believed I might just pull a Playboy Bunny from my Red Sox cap. “How many did you kill for DeMarco?”

He shook his head. “Whitehead knows,” he said. “But that’s between me and him. I was told to help you. Not tell my life story.”

“Fair enough,” I said. “Ever hear anything about DeMarco making money by building prisons?”

“That’s a laugh,” he said. “Why would Jackie build a prison?”

“For kids.”

He shook his head. “Nah,” he said. “I don’t believe that.”

“Did Jackie say why he wanted to scare Judge Price?”

“I figured it was a favor to someone,” Ray-Ray said. “He didn’t seem to know a lot about the guy. He just told me to screw with him a little. Gave me an address and said go slap him around until he shut his mouth.”

“And it worked,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said. “Sometimes you get lucky.”

I folded my arms across my chest. Ray-Ray turned his head behind him to check the time. He shuffled a little in his chair. I wondered what kind of omelet Hawk had at brunch. I wondered if it was poolside or bedside. I checked my watch and nodded to Ray-Ray.

“And you worked with Ziggy?”

“The freakin’ Jew lawyer?” Ray-Ray said. “That piece of shit. He’d sell out his own mother for Jackie. But Jackie never trusted him.”

I shifted in my seat, crossed my left foot over my right knee. I wiggled my foot a little and waited. “How do you know?”

“’Cause he talked to me about it,” Ray-Ray said. “He had a plan in place for Ziggy before I got popped.”

I leaned toward the glass. I smiled. “I have time, Ray-Ray. How about you?”

43

Did you get what you need?” Hawk said.

“Did you?”

“And then some, babe,” Hawk said. “And then some.”

“Oh, hell,” I said. “I’m more interested in your breakfast. But you missed a real class character today. He had two different-color eyes.”

“A damn shame.”

“And a mullet,” I said. “Of course, I think it was a mullet. He had it pulled into a ponytail.”

“Classy.”

We were at the poolside bar at the Vinoy, enjoying some poolside beverages. I broke the beer streak for a margarita in honor of Susan. Hawk drank ice water with lemon. A nice breeze lifted off the water, shaking the leaves of the palms and sprawling banyan trees. Many sailboats had left their moorings for some sport out in the bay. A lot of dazzling colors and activity out in the big empty sea.

“What’d that convict say?”

“He told me he’d kill for a roast beef sandwich from Kelly’s in Revere.”

“Man works for cheap,” Hawk said.

“Indeed,” I said. “He also told me he’d put the screws to a judge named Jim Price before being thrown in the clink. Jackie DeMarco had sent this guy to Blackburn to scare him to death. And the good judge ended up having a heart attack.”

“Your judge?”

“My dead judge,” I said. “The one wishing reform for the kids.”

“You really believe he died of fright?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m surprised you hadn’t heard of him. Ray-Ray Barboza.”

“Ain’t no union for what we do, man.”

I nodded. I left it at that. I never liked to know more about Hawk’s work than necessary.

“Ray-Ray told me that he’d taken the fall for a couple jobs DeMarco pulled himself,” I said. “And two that DeMarco ordered.”

Hawk nodded. In the center of the pool, the woman he’d met yesterday lay chest-down on a float. Her bikini top had been untied, but I noted she now wore red bottoms. Her back was very tan and she had one long arm trailing along in the water. She wore enormous sunglasses and I couldn’t tell if she was awake. Suddenly a hand shot up and she waved to Hawk.

Hawk waved back. In truth it was more of a salute.

“Before I left Coleman, Ray-Ray confided his last job concerned our pal Ziggy Swatek.”

“On,” Hawk said. “Or for?”

“DeMarco thought Ziggy’s associate, Sydney, might have turned. Apparently Sydney had raised an army of red flags about what they were doing for the DeMarcos. Zig told her to take a walk. But she stayed. DeMarco thought she might have been working for the Feds.”

“Is she?”

“Maybe,” I said. “Might be worth mentioning to Agent Whitehead.”