Elmore Leonard - Mr. Paradise

"Jackie says he's clean. She might go to Puerto Rico with him."

"You're kidding me."

"It's what she said."

"Who you running off with, Kelly Barr?"

"I'm thinking about it."

"Dreaming," Harris said.

Eleanor Marsh came back with a LEIN printout for Carl Fontana, his home address and phone number. "It's the one I called," Eleanor said. "You want me to follow up?"

Delsa looked at the sheet. County time for assault, sixty days, ninety days, several warnings for Domestic Disturbance; forty-two months state time in Jackson for Man One with a deer rifle. Released almost two years ago. Time enough to get ready to shoot black drug dealers and Mr. Paradiso.

He said to Eleanor, "No, what I'd like you to do, find out who represented him on the manslaughter."

She surprised him. She said, "Why?"

And he had to stop and think.

He said, "I don't know, but I'm curious." He said, "Would you find that out for me, please?" and handed her Fontana's printout.

Eleanor left and a few minutes later Manny Reyes, with Violent Crimes, came in. Manny spent a few minutes talking to Harris, and brought Harris with him when he stepped over to see Delsa, Manny saying, "Hey, is nice out, I think winter's over, man."

Saying, "You right about the triple at Orlando's. The guy chainsawed is called Zorro, all three of them with the Cash Flow Posse. Orlando's girlfriend Tenisha tole you it was a Mexican came to the motel that night? It was a guy from a different posse called Dorados. They want to put Cash Flow out of business but, man, that wasn' the way to do it."

Manny saying, "I spoke to Chino, the boss of the guys that were killed. I tole him, 'You don't want to do nothing dumb, man. There're boosters driving around watching you.' He says don't worry about it, is taken care of. See, I already talked to some of his guys at different places in the neighborhood drinking. Nobody wants to tell me anything, they scared of Chino. This guy I went to Holy Redeemer with is shaking his head and drinking, man, getting drunk. So when the place closes I say, 'Lemme take you home.' I get the guy in the car, start asking him questions about Chino, what he's up to. He tells me Chino took two guys from the Dorados, this small posse that wants to get bigger? Has the two guys held down with their heads sticking out over the curb, face up looking at Chino, as he asks the first one who it was cut up Zorro and killed his three guys. The guy says he doesn't know. Chino stomps down on the guy's face with his foot, once. The guy telling me says you hear this crack. The other guy said the Dorados made Orlando do it, saying they'd give him a good price on the weed. Orlando didn't want to, but they made him."

Delsa said, "What happened to this guy, who told him?"

"Chino stomped on his face."

"They're both dead?"

Manny shrugged. "They're disappeared."

Harris said, "No body, no case."

Manny said, "I talk to Chino again. I said, 'Man, you don't want to go after Orlando.' He said what he tole me before, 'Is already taken care of.'"

"Meaning:?" Harris said.

"He has somebody to take out Orlando."

"Hired somebody?" Delsa said.

"That could be, sure, why not? There's also that reward."

"You want to get some guys?" Delsa said. "We're gonna need backup."

"Sure, where you going?"

"See if we can pick up Carl Fontana."

Carl asked for Montez Taylor's room number. The clerk behind the sheet of bulletproof glass checked and said there didn't seem to be no one of that name staying with them. Carl said to Art, "You hear that?"

Art was facing the University Inn's L-shaped area in front, Carl's Tahoe and a few cars parked out there. Art turned saying, "Fuckin smoke." The clerk, a black guy with size, asked if he was speaking to him. Art said, "No, Sambo, I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to my partner."

The two walked out, drove up Woodward Avenue to the river and over Jefferson east to the Paradiso residence on Iroquois. Carl pulled into the drive and stopped by the front doors.

"They haven't replaced the glass yet," Art said. "Take 'em five fuckin minutes."

"Maybe that color glass," Carl said, "is hard to get and they have to order it. You know, that shade of pink." He said, "You feel funny about going in there?"

"In the house?" Art said. "I don't feel one way or the other."

Lloyd opened the door wearing the white dress shirt that was a couple of sizes too large, space showing around the collar. He knew right away who these two mutts were and it surprised him, the shooters coming back to the scene? He said, "Yes:?"

The one he believed was Carl Fontana, the short one, said, "Where's Montez?"

"He could be in his room," Lloyd said, "you want me to see?" Stepping aside and they came in. The other one, with the grayish hair slicked back, would be Art Krupa. Lloyd had known all kinds of guys like these two at Jackson, where they learned to be criminals if they weren't already. Avern, drinking martinis, had told him about these two, his guinea and his polack; and Montez, drinking Remy and doing lines, had told him their names. It was amazing what criminals talked about and then were surprised when they got busted.

Carl Fontana said, "Yeah, get him," and they followed Lloyd out to the kitchen where he used the wall phone to call. Lloyd saying to Montez, "They's two gentlemen here to see you."

Montez said shit, and wanted to know if they were cops. Lloyd put his hand over the phone and said to Carl, "He wants to know are you the police."

"Tell him," Carl said, "we're the pissed-off guys he was supposed to meet, at the motel."

Lloyd said into the phone, "No, they the guys you was suppose to meet. Now they angry." Lloyd heard Montez say shit, tell 'em I'll be right there. Lloyd replaced the phone on the wall saying, "He's coming. He's sorry he missed you, he fell asleep." Lloyd frowning now, saying, "He's taking it hard, what happened to Mr. Paradise. I 'magine you saw it on the news?"

Art Krupa said, "Where is he?" sounding impatient.

"At his place, over the garage."

Art turned to the table in the alcove of windows that showed the garage in the backyard, three doors on it.

Lloyd said, "It's finally turning nice out, huh?"

Carl said, "You know who we are?"

"I guess you friends of Montez."

"And you're a friend of Avern Cohn."

"The lawyer? Yeah, I know him."

"You took some falls he defended?"

"A long time ago."

"What'd you do?"

"Jes some stickups."

"You ever shoot anybody?"

Look at him sneaking up on it, dying to tell who he was. The man sounding like he had something in mind.

Lloyd said, "No, I never had the opportunity. I guess there was nobody I wanted to shoot bad enough. Except one."

"But you did time."

"Nine years straight up."

Art, at the alcove of windows, said, "Is he coming or not, goddamn it."

Carl said, "Avern had you watching Montez, huh?"

"Watching him?"

"Telling Avern what he's up to."

"Mr. Cohn told you that?"

Art said, "Well, he's finally decided to come," and went over to open the door.

Carl said to Lloyd, "I wouldn't be surprised we aren't both on the same side."

Montez came in the kitchen wearing a heavy white designer turtleneck that came down over his butt, some of Montez' new look, getting away from the business suit image. Came in and the first thing he said was, "Lloyd, leave us, man."

That was the last thing he heard from the room. Montez shut the door and got ready to do his act. Lloyd believed nothing would happen. They wanted to be paid. Montez didn't have it, but had the thing that could get it for him. Picked it up this morning, the stock certificate. Getting Kelly to sell it would be the trick.