Jeff Abbott - Cut and Run

Jose patted her cheek. ‘Sweet lady, you’re exactly what we need to destroy the worst people in this country.’

‘I said, I can’t.’

‘You got a choice,’ he said. ‘Help us, give us what we want, crack open the vaults for the major dealers in this country, or watch Whit Mosley die. Slowly. Painfully.’

Tears of anger, frustration, welled up in her eyes. ‘But Whit’s not a drug dealer, he’s not Kiko or Paul.’

‘Definitely. He’s a judge, a justice of the peace down on the coast,’ Tasha said.

Eve gave a sharp little laugh. ‘A judge.’

‘I had a chance to kill him when I killed Paul, and I didn’t,’ Tasha said. ‘You owe me one. Don’t forget it.’

‘I don’t consider your partner a good guy,’ Jose said. ‘He’s a guy who could cause us a lot of trouble. And if you want him to keep breathing, you do what you’re told.’

‘Eve,’ Tasha said. ‘I kissed Paul, slept with him, listened to him cry about his dad. Then I killed him. We won’t show Whit one moment of mercy if you don’t help us.’

‘Don’t hurt him,’ Eve pleaded. ‘I’ll do whatever you want.’

They left her alone in the room, an old office at one end of the warehouse, walked to the other end of the warehouse.

‘You think she’ll cooperate?’ Jose said. ‘With what she knows, she could accelerate our schedules.’

‘No,’ Tasha said. ‘We need her son. Whit.’

‘Son?’

‘Look at him, look at her, Jose. It’s obvious. If he was just her business partner she wouldn’t plead for him like that.’ Tasha shook her head. ‘She’s been in the business for thirty years and was never caught. She’s forgotten more than most people know. She could lead us down blind alley after blind alley, slow us down without us even knowing. We need Whit where she can see him hurt. Hear him scream.’ Tasha touched Jose’s shoulder. ‘Weigh his life against all the lives we save doing this. The innocents. The kids. He’s nothing compared to them. He’s the guarantee she’ll work her best.’

‘But the police are looking for me. I don’t know if I can hunt him around Houston. We don’t even know if he’s in town.’ Frustration in his voice.

‘You want him as bait to get her to deliver what we need,’ Tasha said. God, men could be dense at times. She already had a plan. ‘It works both ways. Use her as bait to get him.’

‘Only works if we can find him to have a conversation,’ Jose said. ‘Eve won’t want to get him anywhere close to us. She won’t talk.’

Tasha frowned at this hard, unappealing truth. ‘Try Frank Polo,’ she said. ‘He’s dumb as a stump but maybe he knows how to find Eve’s son. His number’s on my cell phone.’

‘Just call him up and ask him where Whit is?’

‘Make it worth his while. He’s gonna be signing autographs on the unemployment line with Paul dead. Or maybe tell him he gets Eve back if he helps us.’ Tasha went back in to feed Eve, make sure she ate. When she came out of the office, Jose was clicking off her cell phone and smiling as though he’d won the lottery.

‘I just had me,’ Jose said, ‘one brilliant idea to kill two birds with one stone.’

Monday afternoon thin rain fell from the sky, clouds wandering in from the Gulf, and the wet lot of Club Topaz, closed, was empty. But it was where Robin agreed to meet Claudia. Robin sat in Claudia’s passenger seat. Claudia handed her a coffee, one of those cinnamontoffee-mocha latte creations that was sweeter than a box of candy.

‘Her name is Tasha Strong,’ Robin Melvin said. ‘Tasha dances here. Nice girl but a little uppity. Paul was all crazy about her.’

‘Have you seen her since Paul died?’ Claudia asked.

‘No. She’s probably scared to death. I sure am,’ Robin said.

‘These aren’t good people, Robin. I know you have feelings for Greg Buckman-’

‘No. I had hopes.’ She said the word like it left a bitter taste in her mouth. ‘I knew he wasn’t the nicest guy on the planet but I thought, if he and I could get away from these people, he would be better. All that goal stuff he says. He wants to be better. But I’m not sticking around for the home improvement anymore.’

‘Can’t change ’em, Robin,’ Claudia said. Tried not to think of Whit.

‘Clearly not.’ Robin poked at her puffy lip. ‘I never, ever, had a guy hit me. Not once. I swore I would never put up with that Lifetime-movie shit. And he did it, and I was so surprised I acted a fool. I’m sorry.’

‘It’s okay, don’t apologize.’

‘But I want to help. I don’t know anything about any illegal stuff, okay? I told the police that about a dozen times. They don’t believe me, they think Bucks must have talked plenty on the pillow.’ She lowered her voice. ‘He never did. But Bucks wanted me to watch Tasha. So I’m guessing she knew bad shit about him and Paul. I searched her changing room, where she keeps her stuff. Nothing odd. A few pictures.’

‘Pictures.’

‘In a drawer. Of a boy. From being a baby to teenage years. Kind of looked like her, maybe was a brother. But the pictures were old, creased with handling. Not new.’ Robin cleared her throat. ‘Funny thing for a girl to keep, family pictures, in the place where she takes her clothes off. Most girls don’t.’ She sipped at the hypersweetened coffee. ‘I love my mom, we’re close, but she thinks I’m a cocktail waitress. I wouldn’t have her picture around in the changing room. Like she was looking at me in my getups.’

‘Was there a name or date on the back of any of the photos?’

Robin closed her eyes. ‘Yeah. Darius. On one of the baby pictures.’ She opened her eyes, looked at Claudia. ‘If Tasha doesn’t know anything I don’t want the cops crowding her. Cops keep wanting me to make a deal, like I’m holding back info to annoy them. Bucks wanted me to watch her because she was close to Paul, and he didn’t like that. But since she was closer to Paul, she might be able to help the cops. And then they’d leave me alone.’

‘Describe her to me, tell me where she lives,’ Claudia said, ‘and I’ll have a talk with her.’

‘Would you?’ Robin said. ‘We weren’t real close, so I don’t have her contact info, but Frank would.’

‘Frank Polo, right?’ His name had cropped up before, the singer turned nightclub manager. Eve Michaels’ boyfriend.

‘I’m not ashamed to say I love disco,’ Robin said. ‘Bucks hated it. But it’s happy music. And Frank’s really a good singer.’

‘Tell me about Eve Michaels.’

Robin shrugged. ‘Eve? She’s a bookkeeper for Paul, I think. Nice but distant. Tasha liked her, seemed interested in Eve’s work. Tasha wanted to get off stage, move into the business side of the club. But Paul never would have let her, you have to see her. She’s gorgeous.’

‘Did you like Eve? Is she nice?’ It suddenly and oddly mattered to her, if this was Whit’s mother, that she have at least one redeeming feature.

‘Nice as long as you didn’t get in her way. Cross her, you’d be missing a liver and she’d be licking her lips. I was a little afraid of her.’

‘You have her and Frank’s address? My sister was always a big fan of Frank Polo’s,’ Claudia said. ‘I’d like to get an autograph before I leave town.’

Whit said, ‘It’s time we reported Eve as officially missing.’ He hadn’t slept much in the past two nights and he rubbed at his unshaven face.

He and Frank Polo sat in a little diner off Shepherd, not far from Rice University, themed for fifties nostalgia. The jukebox played a mournful tune, appropriate for a nearly empty restaurant after the lunch rush. Frank didn’t respond to his suggestion as the waitress approached them. They both ordered omelettes.