Jeff Abbott - Cut and Run

‘Where did she want you to go?’

‘She wanted to meet me at the Neiman’s at the Galleria. At five.’ It was already past seven.

‘Where you been this afternoon? What the hell were these errands?’

‘I went over to the Platinum Club. They got new dancers, girls we ought to have.’

‘You spent the afternoon ogling tits while your girlfriend stole five million from me,’ Paul said, giving the finger a little twist. Wondering if the snapping bone would sound like a twig or louder, like a pencil.

‘Uhhh,’ Frank moaned. ‘Jason, the bartender at Platinum… he’ll tell you I was there. And I talked to two of the girls that we want to recruit for Topaz. Ginger and Anita. They’ll vouch for me.’

Paul let go of his hand, turned to a muscular man with dyed-blond hair standing near the door. ‘Gary, call the Platinum. See if his story checks out.’ Gary stepped out of the office.

‘I need that cash, Frank,’ Paul said. ‘We got a deal going down late tonight, and now I got to call them and postpone. How do you think that looks to a man like Kiko?’ He glanced over at Bucks. ‘Get a couple of guys over to Neiman’s, have them walk the Galleria. And keep a guy watching Eve and Frank’s place.’

‘I’ll take care of that,’ Bucks said. ‘Personally.’

Paul cocked his head. ‘Frank here could be right and you’re lying to me.’

Bucks blinked. ‘I’m not. I’m here, Eve isn’t. This isn’t complicated.’

‘You tried to strangle her and nearly pulled a gun on her last night,’ Frank said. ‘She’s given her life to this family and you dare to touch her…’

‘She tried to call off the exchange, Frank,’ Bucks said. ‘Told Paul there were cops watching. Well, that was a lie. There weren’t any cops there.’

Frank swallowed. Bucks gave him a thin trap of a smile.

‘Where else would she go, Frank?’ Paul went to the wall of Frank’s office. He ran a finger along the three platinum records: ‘Baby, You’re My Groove’; ‘Boogie City’; ‘When You Walk Away.’ He took down ‘Baby’ and shattered the framed record on the corner of Frank’s desk.

‘Oh, God, not my disks!’ Frank stood in horror.

Paul picked up a jagged shard and turned back to Frank. ‘Tell me where she is, Frank.’

‘Jesus, Paul!’ Frank screamed. ‘This is me, please!’

‘This is you between me and five million,’ Paul said. ‘Where would she go?’

Frank swallowed. ‘Not to our house. She won’t come to the club or any of our hangouts.’

‘She got a place she goes when she’s stressed?’

‘What, you think she went for a spa treatment?’ Bucks said. Paul shot him a look and he went silent.

‘If she took the money,’ Frank said slowly, ‘she won’t be staying in town. If he’s framed her’ – he nodded toward Bucks – ‘she’s probably gonna go back to Detroit. Where people have sense.’

‘Be very careful, old man,’ Bucks said.

‘Paul. Get real. You think Eve took that money? Seriously?’ Frank pleaded.

‘You been skimming club money from me, way more than’s acceptable. I know you have.’

Bucks said, ‘Hasn’t there been a big outbreak of initiative around here?’

‘So,’ Paul said, ‘it’s not a big jump to Eve deciding to take a lump payment and retire.’

‘She would have taken me with her. She didn’t,’ Frank said.

‘So you say. She’s been bitching about the way I fart ever since Dad got hurt. She doesn’t like how I’m running things. She knows she’s gonna be retired. You’ve screwed the pooch big time, Frank. So she takes the money and runs.’ Paul leaned down close to his face, ran the tip of the jagged vinyl along Frank’s eyebrows. ‘Where’s the money you took?’

‘I stashed it in an account in a bank in Katy,’ Frank said. Katy was a distant suburb west of Houston, a nice quiet town, known for good schools, football, and big malls.

‘All ninety thousand?’

‘I haven’t spent it. It was a loan I was gonna pay back in a few months. With interest.’

Paul shook his head. ‘Loan? Do I look like an ATM, Frank? You see any fucking buttons on my front?’

‘No.’

‘Why did you want a loan?’

Frank worked his mouth. ‘I wanted to cut a new record…’

Bucks laughed, short and sharp.

‘I’m gonna cut you a new record,’ Paul said. ‘Right after I cut off your fingers and your balls and your ears.’

‘Please, Paul…’ Frank’s voice broke. ‘I’ll do whatever you want to make it right…’

Paul let go of Frank’s shirt, took a step back. ‘That ninety thousand, it’s not so bad. Not nearly as bad as what Eve did to me. I tell you what. You get her and the five mil for me, you can keep the ninety thou.’

‘Paul, you’re gonna let him get away with that?’ Bucks said.

‘You shut up,’ Paul said. ‘You find Eve, Bucks, you can have the ninety thou.’

Bucks shut up.

‘I’m not trusting either of you too much at the moment,’ Paul said. ‘That’s why you both got to prove your loyalty. Bring her to me. Think of it as a modified contract. You two boys are the only bidders.’ He glared at Frank. ‘You give me your Katy account info and I’m moving that money back where it belongs.’

‘Sure, Paul,’ Frank said.

‘You steal one more cent from this club, and I’m going to kill you. With this broken record. An inch at a time.’

‘I understand, Paul.’

‘Not an inch. I’m going fucking metric. A centimeter at a time.’

‘I understand, Paul.’

‘I don’t think you do, Frank,’ Paul said, and he reached out, grabbed Frank’s hand, turned the palm skyward, and with one swipe of the shard laid the flesh open. Blood spurted. Frank screamed. Paul shoved him to the floor. Frank clutched the torn hand to his chest.

‘Next time, I’m slicing your dick,’ Paul said. ‘Now call Doc Brewer and get yourself sewed up.’

Frank staggered toward the phone. ‘You go downstairs and call the doctor. Get out of my sight. You get blood on the carpet I’m cutting the other hand,’ Paul said.

Frank tucked his hand inside his suit jacket and fled from the room.

‘He’s lying,’ Bucks said. ‘He knows where she is.’

‘Nah,’ Paul said. ‘No way he’d come back here if he knew.’ Paul gave him a smirk. ‘He’s an old guy and a has-been. He was stupid. You’re not stupid, are you, Bucks?’

‘No.’

‘Good. Because I got a couple of soldiers searching your crib right now. They’re not going to find five mil in cash there, are they?’

‘No. I told you I don’t have it. Thanks for the vote of confidence, man.’ Bucks stood, squared his shoulders. ‘You brought me into this business, Paul. I owe you everything. I’m not going to betray you. We both know that.’

‘You had the same opportunity as Eve.’

‘You hired me,’ Bucks said. ‘But you inherited her.’

‘Tell me again what you saw.’

Bucks took a breath. ‘I was running late getting to the exchange

…’

‘Why?’

‘Fender bender on 1-10. Two lanes closed for about fifteen minutes, traffic sucked.’ Bucks shrugged.

‘Then what?’

‘I get to Alvarez. Door’s open. I go in, find Doyle and this guy dead. Bodies still warm. No sign of the money.’ He paused. ‘I check Doyle’s pockets. His wallet, his ID’s gone. The man doesn’t have ID on him. The smell of gunfire is still fresh. There’s even a casing on the floor. I pick it up, pocket it. Then I get the hell out, being sure I’m not leaving prints.’ He tented his fingers. ‘I pull the Jag across the street, start to call you, and then here I see Eve tearing back into the lot. She goes inside. I wait to see what happens, then she comes tearing out before the cops show.’