JACKS ARE WILD Page 21

  “The Mancinis are headed there.”

  “How do you know?” Once again, they spoke at the same time.

  “That’s creepy. Stop it.” Replacement glared at Kiku.

  Jack raised an eyebrow, and his smirk disappeared. “Paolo worked on Shawn for a while. Shawn must have told him all about Marisa. I figure they would have tossed her apartment first, so they would go to Arber’s next.”

  “I don’t think she dated him long—” Replacement started to say, but Kiku cut her off.

  “So how would Shawn know?”

  “When I first met Marisa, I came to her shop and Shawn called back to her the ‘French guy’ was here. He must have thought I was Arber. Marisa came out and looked like she was going to kill him. I took it to mean she’d been seeing some French guy before me. Everyone has a past.”

  “But you still remembered that?” Replacement made a face.

  “I can be a jealous guy. Yeah, I remember that.”

  “The lights are off,” Kiku noted as they approached Arber’s house.

  “Do you think he’s out?” Replacement sat up.

  “No. The garden lights are out, too.” Jack gritted his teeth and pulled in the driveway. “I think someone cut the power to disable the alarm.”

  The house was dark, and there wasn’t another car in sight.

  “Stay in the car,” Jack ordered, and both women got out.

  That worked.

  “Fine. I’m going in the front.”

  “I’ll go in the back through the slider in the walkout basement.” Kiku nodded and slid up next to the house.

  Jack and Replacement headed for the front door. Jack knocked and waited. He rang the bell and beat on the door.

  Nothing.

  He shrugged and looked to Replacement. She looked back to the street and then nodded. Jack tried the door, and it opened. The alarm panel’s lights were off.

  No power.

  Jack could see pieces of something that must have been large and ceramic but now lay shattered on the floor. He drew his pistol and motioned Replacement behind him.

  “Mr. de Lorme, this is the police. We are entering the premises,” Jack called out.

  Silence greeted him.

  He moved left and through a huge study to an even bigger kitchen. Everything looked new and expensive but also empty. Jack held up his hand, and Replacement bumped into him.

  Jack turned and glared.

  She mouthed, “sorry” and moved against the wall.

  They stepped into the hallway, and Jack saw a doorknob turning. He reached back and put one hand on Replacement’s chest and then held his finger up to his lips. The door opened, and Kiku appeared. She motioned them over.

  “He’s in the basement.” She stepped in front of Replacement and turned to Jack. “It’s bad.”

  I wonder what her definition of bad is?

  “Is he alive?”

  “Sort of.”

  Sort of?

  Jack started to follow her down the stairs and glanced back at Replacement. Jack held out his hand. Her eyes blazed.

  “Listen, kid. I need you up here to tell me if anyone comes in the house. There may not be an exit down there.”

  “Kiku said there was a slider in the basement,” Replacement pointed out.

  “Fine. The truth is I don’t want some hideous image burned into your head,” Jack whispered, but it was still a growl. “I have so many in mine, one more doesn’t matter to me. Don’t argue.”

  Jack turned and headed down the steps.

  He was glad he had Replacement stay upstairs. Arber lay in a bloody heap on the floor. Bats and chains splattered with blood lay scattered around him. Jack could only recognize Arber by his hair and build. The man was still breathing, and Jack heard him groan.

  He looked at Kiku, who stood next to a laundry rack. The rack was fixed to a section of wall that could be pulled out.

  There’s a hidden room behind the wall.

  Kiku walked over to Jack. “It’s a recording room. He has cameras through all of the house but mostly in the bedrooms and bathrooms. They’re not for security.”

  “Are they on now?”

  Kiku shook her head. “No. Today’s tape is gone, too. I removed the tape of the day we visited.”

  Anger suddenly coursed through him, his pulse raced, and his teeth ground together.

  Marisa would have come here.

  “Live or die?” Kiku asked.

  “What?” Jack looked at her.

  Kiku looked puzzled. “Should I finish him off, or should we go?”

  Replacement thundered down the stairs and stopped halfway when she saw Arber. “We don’t kill people.” Jack saw her gagging, but as he moved toward her, she held up a hand.

  Kiku nodded to the back room. “The TV in there is paused on a scene of him with an unconscious girl.”

  “Paolo found out he dated Marisa and came here. I’m surprised.” Jack stared down at the bloody man.

  Kiku’s eyes hardened. “You’re surprised that Paolo would do this to him?”

  Jack stared back at her, and his eyes were cold. “I’m surprised Paolo let him live.” They headed quickly back upstairs.

  Kiku shook her head. “He may not make it. Besides, it looks like Arber won’t be hurting any more girls. Paolo must have used that bazooka he carries when he shot Arbor in the groin.”

  Jack winced.

  Replacement looked at the kitchen phone and then to Jack.

  He walked over and picked it up. He pressed the talk button, dialed 911, and then wiped it down. He waited until he heard the operator come on and he motioned for them to go.

  “Did you touch anything?”

  Replacement shook her head. All of the color had left her face. They hurried for the car. Jack wiped down the door handle before they left.

  He jumped in the car and flew out of the driveway. Kiku now sat in the backseat, and Replacement was in the front, looking out the window.

  They were just pulling away when Jack saw the flashing lights ahead and heard the sirens.

  “Cops,” Kiku whispered.

  “Ambulance,” Jack corrected.

  With its sirens blaring, an ambulance rounded the corner in front of them and sped by and into Arber’s driveway.

  Jack frowned.

  “What’s wrong?” Kiku asked.

  “That’s way too fast for a response time. Someone else must have called them.”

  Jack angled his head and looked down as a police cruiser raced by them. They didn’t slow and kept going.

  Jack reached out for Replacement’s shoulder. She was getting even whiter, and he was starting to worry about her getting carsick. “You okay, kid?”

  She nodded. “Do you think that guy did something to Marisa?”

  “No. Paolo left him alive. If he had done something to her, Paolo would have skinned him.”

  Replacement’s throat tightened, and she held up a hand. “Didn’t need that.”

  “Sorry.”

  “What’s our next move?” Kiku sat up between them and squeezed Replacement’s shoulder with one hand.

  “Regroup. I have to think. Let’s go back to my apartment.”

  Kiku nodded, and they both looked at Replacement. She closed her eyes and put her head against the window.

  Normally it just hurts like hell

  Jack parked the Impala and hopped out. As they walked toward his apartment, he noticed Ilario in a car across the street.

  “Don’t look at me.” Jack’s voice was clear and clipped. “Head in.”

  Kiku took Replacement by the elbow and started to speak animatedly to her as they walked up the steps of the building.

  Jack crossed the street and got into the passenger seat of Ilario’s car.

  “How’d you find me?” Jack closed the door.

  “Paolo looked you up. He said some cop said your name. You’re the only one named Jack in the sheriff’s department.”

  Thanks again, Donald.

&
nbsp; “Did you get anything?”

  He looked up at Ilario, and his chest tightened.

  The kid’s a mess.

  Deep circles stood out under Ilario’s red eyes. His skin was pale, and his hand trembled as he shook Jack’s hand.

  Ilario slumped in the seat. “I called. Paolo’s been… He’s been…looking.”

  He hasn’t seen this side of the family business.

  “You were with him at the tattoo parlor.”

  Ilario nodded.

  “Did Shawn say anything?”

  Tears formed in his eyes, and his lips trembled. “Is that his name? Is he okay?”

  Jack stopped himself from merely saying yes. “I’ll check.”

  “Paolo—I’ve seen him mad but…” He suddenly looked up. “I don’t have much time. Shawn didn’t do it. He, he talked back and Paolo got mad. Shawn told us about you and another guy.”

  “Arber.”

  Ilario nodded.

  “We went there next, and Arber slammed the door in Paolo’s face. My uncle didn’t care for that. They started asking Arber questions, and Paolo kept looking at this mirror. All of a sudden he grabs the guy and just smashes his head into it.” He swallowed. “There was a camera behind the mirror. I don’t know how Paolo knew, but he went crazy. The guy had this room—”

  “Did Paolo find a tape?”

  “Lots of them.” Ilario’s voice seemed distant. “Girls. Arber told us everything. He’d get them drunk and then drug them.”

  Jack tried to push down the rage that churned inside him.

  “Arber said he never touched Angelica. He said she didn’t like him. They only dated a couple of times, and Angelica dumped him.”

  “Paolo believed that?”

  “Yeah. After what they did to Arber, I do, too.”

  “Did Arber say anything else? Anything about her paintings?”

  Ilario nodded. “He said he buys her paintings. Gives her top dollar. Paolo broke his hands then. He said a scumbag like him wouldn’t do that. Arber admitted going to her apartment to try to talk to her about a new one she did but he said she wasn’t there.”

  “Did he say he went into her apartment?”

  “He went on and on. He was begging. I think he thought if he told the truth they’d let him live. He told Paolo he wanted to steal her painting and used a key he took from her to get in but the painting wasn’t there.”

  That must have been when he took the business card back. Dead end. Nothing.

  “Paolo shot him in the groin and left him to die.” He shook his head. “I just…”

  “You called the ambulance?” Jack asked.

  Ilario nodded.

  “Did you use a burner phone?”

  He nodded again. “No matter what someone’s done, I just couldn’t leave him like that.”

  “Have you heard anything else?”

  He shook his head. “My father’s going crazy. He’s getting more men, and he’s going after the Yakuza.”

  “Ilario, I don’t think they had anything to do with it.”

  “Do you know?” He grabbed the steering wheel and glared at Jack.

  “I’ll find her. They’re going to contact you. You have to let me know the minute you hear anything, okay?”

  He nodded. “I saw the pictures she’s drawn of you in her apartment. Angelica trusts you. You have to find her.”

  “Ilario, look at me.” He turned his head. “Angelica’s counting on us. They’re going to call soon. When they call, you have to let me know.”

  He nodded. “I have to get back.”

  Jack got out of the car, and Ilario sped off into the night. Jack looked up at his apartment and saw Replacement and Kiku looking down at him.

  He shook his head, and Replacement turned away.

  **********

  Jack paced the floor of the apartment and listened to the police scanner. It was a constant stream of police officers’ voices as they radioed in their positions. Detectives were now at Arber’s house, and Collins must have called out half the force.

  “Well, we can rule out the two people who may have had a local angle to grab her.” Jack stopped pacing.

  “You suspected Arber and Shawn?” Replacement typed away at the computer.

  “I didn’t rule them out. Shawn wanted to buy her business, and Arber was a scumbag ex-boyfriend.”

  “We can rule out the Yakuza and the Mancinis,” Kiku said, not looking away from the window as she stared off into the night. She held a cup of tea with both hands.

  Jack was silent.

  Kiku turned around and lifted an eyebrow.

  Jack’s lips pressed together.

  “You still distrust me, Officer?”

  “You checked in with Takeo.”

  The wolf-like smile spread across her lips.

  “You rat us out and now you’re smiling?” Replacement’s chair tipped over and crashed onto the ground.

  Jack saw Kiku go rigid, and he tensed.

  “I didn’t tell him anything not already known,” Kiku sighed, “but I had to check in.”

  “What did you tell him?” Jack asked.

  “Why did you even have to talk to him?” Replacement demanded.

  Kiku looked from her to Jack and back again. She turned and leaned up against the window frame, peering back out into the darkness before she spoke. “If I didn’t call him, he would send more men, and I would face repercussions.”

  “What did you tell him?” Jack asked again.

  “That we have heard nothing. I let him know that I am following you…closely.”

  “Did he say anything?”

  She looked down into her teacup. “He is going to send men if there is not progress soon. He would rather fight a war someplace other than his front steps.”

  “Anything else?”

  “He wanted to know if Angelica lived someplace else before coming here.”

  “Why?” Replacement asked.

  “If we did not take her, it must be someone else,” Kiku explained. “He has men looking at our enemies, but that has not been fruitful.”

  “So you’re going to say you’re being framed?” Replacement sneered.

  Kiku glared.

  “Anything else?” Jack asked again.

  Kiku looked back at him, and her lips pressed together. “I did not inform him of your suspension…yet.”

  Jack’s heart sped up, but he nodded and forced his face to remain expressionless.

  Replacement turned around to look at him, and Jack could see the fear growing in her eyes as she realized what Kiku was saying.

  Smart kid. She figured it out.

  Jack smiled.

  Replacement spun around to face Kiku. “Because Jack’s a cop, Takeo was hesitant to kill him.”

  Jack could see Replacement’s shoulders rise and fall as the speed of her breathing increased. He took a step closer to her.

  Kiku nodded.

  Replacement connected the last dot and lunged at Kiku. Jack caught her around the waist and groaned as he tried to hold her back. A string of profanities poured out of her mouth as she tried to get to Kiku.

  Kiku continued to lean against the window but kept her eyes on the struggle.

  After a moment, Replacement stopped fighting and stood panting with Jack’s arms around her waist.

  “So if you tell Takeo Jack is suspended—” Replacement surged forward again, and Jack lifted her off the ground.

  “Alice, sto—” Jack groaned as her flailing leg connected with his thigh, and he dropped her.

  She landed on her butt, and he fell to one knee.

  “Sorry,” she blurted out and spun to face him. “Is it your bad leg?”

  Of course.

  He grimaced and nodded as he worked to stand. The pain shot deep into the muscle and rippled up his side as he put weight on it.

  “Do you want ice?”

  Jack shook his head. “Are you good?”

  The concern vanished from Replacement’s face as she n
odded, and then stared coldly back at Kiku.

  Jack moved between them.

  Replacement’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll do more than take your pinky if you even think about hurting Jack.”

  Kiku folded her arms across her chest. “I’ve been nothing but honest. Would you like me to lie?”

  “I’d like you to die.” Replacement grabbed the pen off the desk.

  “Alice.” Jack grabbed her arm.

  “Seriously, Jack?” Replacement spun around and pushed him. “She’s sent to kill you, and you go on like it’s nothing. You let her sleep here. We still don’t know she’s not the one who took Marisa and is just pulling the strings behind the scene.”

  “She didn’t.”

  “No.” Replacement shook her head. “You have to give me more than your BS detector on this one. Give me a fact. It’s your life. How do we know she didn’t come and take Marisa?”

  Jack froze.

  She glared up at him and tapped her foot. “Answer me, Jack.”

  Jack walked past her to Kiku. “You followed me here?”

  Kiku shrugged. “What? You brought me here.”

  Replacement stepped forward. “But you knew where our apartment was.”

  Jack shook his head. “After the restaurant. Think. Did Takeo tell you to come here, or did you follow me?”

  “I told you. Takeo sent me, and two men, to follow you. They lost you when you changed in the store, but I did not.”

  Jack cracked his neck. “The Mancinis didn’t come until they got the phone call.”

  Kiku and Replacement exchanged a look to see whether the other understood what he was saying.

  “And you said Takeo asked if Marisa lived someplace else.” Jack walked to the kitchen.

  “Can you clue me in?” Replacement threw her arms up.

  Jack exhaled. “Neither group knew where Marisa was. Do you know that program you wrote?”

  “The one for the cars at the tollbooth?”

  He nodded. “I need—”

  The police scanner snapped on. “All available units. 10-31 on West and Newton. 10-31 Handle’s parking lot.”

  Jack ran for the door; Kiku and Replacement scrambled after him.

  “Shots fired. Two blocks away,” Jack explained as he pulled on his jacket.

  They raced down the stairs, and the Impala’s tires were spinning in seconds.

  “Handle’s Liquors.” Jack tried to picture the storefront as the Impala slid around the corner and he punched it. “Large parking lot. Small apartment building next door. Three floors. There’s a restaurant next door.”