Better Off Dead

She led me to the chair recently occupied by Benny. I sat down gratefully and she walked away from me, out of my door and out of my life. I was in the middle of feeling sorry for myself when she walked back through the door and back into my life. The angel of mercy had returned with two paper cups of coffee. She walked past me into my office to return a moment later with the flask that I kept in my top drawer for special occasions. "Take a sip."

"Yes Ma'am." I obeyed and she topped my cup up with whisky from the flask. I decided I liked this person more and more.

She put the flask on the reception desk and sat on the arm of my chair. "Wow! That's a huge lump you have on your head, it's no wonder you thought you'd been hit by a truck. Who did this to you?"

"It was a truck called Nigel."

"Nigel? Now that has really smashed my preconceptions. All of the Nigel's that I have met have had difficulty holding their hands straight because they have had no real strength in their wrists."

"This particular Nigel is around six feet twenty, two hundred and fifty pounds and an intelligence that wouldn't bother the scorer at an IQ test. Now the important question; who are you and what were you doing walking past my door?"

"My name is Lucy Jones. My mother, Laura Lee Jones, hired you to find my father. I was actually looking for you and the reason I walked past your door was because it was open and I didn't see the sign on it the first time. It was only when I came back that I saw you on the floor and when I came in I saw the sign. You could at least have it rewritten instead of just taping some paper over the other name on it."

I must admit to some confusion here; Laura Lee didn't look old enough to have a daughter Lucy's age, although the lighting when I met her could have confused me, and Lucy looked far too old to be Laura Lee's daughter, unless she was the result of Statutory Rape or the Bible Belt breeding cycle. "What do you know about your father's disappearance?"

"I knew that he had financial problems, there was nothing particularly new in that. Ever since I went to college he would ring me asking for money, Mom wouldn't give him any more so he figured he could tap me for some of the allowance that Mom gave me. If I could I would help but a couple of weeks ago I couldn't and he sounded really desperate. He begged me to see if I could get an advance on my allowance but I couldn't do that because my next allowance was already committed to books and tuition."

"So you told him 'no'?"

"He sounded as if he was crying over the phone. I couldn't tell if he was genuine or it was just an act, but I was really tired of him ringing me begging for money so I got my room-mate to answer it for me and tell him I wasn't there so he couldn't do it anymore. The last time I spoke to Mom I asked for an advance. She wasn't happy when I told her why, I couldn't lie to her because she was always able to see through my attempts at lying to her so I gave up."

"You're close to your mother aren't you?"

"Yes, we are very much alike and I admire her for what she has achieved with her life. She has really had to struggle you know. She was married young and I believe that it was because of me that she married, unless of course I was six months premature. No, she didn't tell me that but I came across her marriage certificate among some papers I was looking through and I can do basic Math."

"She worked hard to make ends meet because my father was always broke, he didn't work much, he couldn't keep a job for long, so he began gambling to try to make money but more often than not he lost it. Mom got a job working in the bar and she ended up running the business and doing it so well that when the owner retired he sold it to her for a very reasonable price. Pop accused Mom of having an affair with him but I knew that couldn't be true, Mom wasn't like that."

"Did your Father work there too?"

"If what he did could be called work. He used to strut around behind the bar serving drinks but he probably gave more away than he sold, especially to the women. At nights when Mom needed him most he would disappear for hours at a time. Mom eventually caught him having sex with one of the regulars out back in the alley so she threw him out."

"Which just about brings us up to now?"

"Yes. Do you think that you can find him?"

"It looks highly unlikely that I will ever find him alive. The person who dealt the cowardly blow to the back of my head is a goon who works for one of the bookies your father owed money to and Benny, that's the bookie, all but admitted that he was behind your father's disappearance. If that's the case, well let's put it this way, when Benny makes people disappear they stay disappeared."

"Are you satisfied that Benny had my father killed?"

"Why do you ask?"

"What if he is taking credit for the hit just to bolster his reputation?"

"Well then I sure as Hell wouldn't want to tell him he's lying."

"Can you think of anyone else who wanted him dead?"

"The line forms on the right Babe, you can take your pick. If I didn't know better I should even include your Mother, she wouldn't lose too much sleep if he turned up dead."

"Where do we go from here?"

"What do you mean 'we' white girl?"

"I want to help, I want to be there when the answer is found, whatever that is."

"It could get nasty, we're not dealing with the organizers of a Sunday School picnic here."

"I'm a big girl, I'll take my chances."

"Speaking of big; just how old are you?"

"I'm twenty, I'll be twenty-one next month."

"How old is Laura Lee, I wouldn't have put her much past forty?"

"Good guess, she has only just turned forty although I wouldn't mention that to her, she's a little sensitive about that milestone."

"What are you like at rustling up some more coffee?"

"When I said help I meant the real thing, not just running errands."

"Okay, you stay here and I'll get the coffee, how do you like yours?"

"I'm sorry. I'll get the coffee. How do you like yours?"

"Black, strong with three sugars. Actually if you get from the delicatessen downstairs just tell them it's for me, they know how I like it."

When she returned, it had taken longer than I thought it would, she had this strange look on her face. "I've been having an interesting conversation with the people downstairs. You've had a hard time of it of late haven't you?"

"You can't believe everything that you're told, especially not from those gossip mongers."

"Your partner left and took your wife with him, that must have hurt?"

"Yeah it did, now can we drop the subject."

"All right consider it dropped. Now what do we do, are we going out to rough someone up to get him to talk?"

"You've been reading too many dime store novels for your own good. It doesn't work that way, it's usually just a lot of boring foot slogging."

"Okay then, let's go."

"Yeah Boss, right Boss, anything you say Boss, just how high would you like me to jump, Boss?'

"Sorry, that's what comes from being my Mother's daughter."

I took my coffee and walked into my office and sat down. By the time Lucy had thought about it and followed me in I had taken a note pad from my top drawer and was making a list.

"What's that?" Lucy asked pointing to the list.

"My grocery shopping for the week. No, it's a list of what I know, what I suspect and what I need to confirm before I venture forth."

"Oh. What do you know for sure?"

"Monday two weeks ago your mother caught your father in a compromising position with the 'beautiful' Sadie and decided that she'd had enough of him so she threw him out. This was just after she had a visit from a couple of Benny's thugs demanding money with menaces. Since then nothing has been known of his whereabouts or whether he is in fact still with us."

"I know that he is, in all probability, dead, and if that is the case I know who it was that would have carried out the dastardly deed. What I don't know is; where the body is, that is if there is one, who ordered the hit, although our friend Benny is the prime suspect for that, and just how he met his untimely demise."

"What I need to confirm is the identity of the person who ordered the hit, where the body is if there is one, if not where the elusive Andy is now. It could be that he is lying low with one of his lady friends. In fact that would be a good place to start. A trip to see Laura Lee for some directions, I think."

I locked the door behind us and we walked down to the stairs. "Why don't we use the elevator?"

"This way is quicker."

Once on the pavement I began looking for a cab. One thing that is certain in this world is that when you need a cab to get somewhere there is never one around and by the time I saw one cruising towards us it would have been a waste of time hailing, it we were that close to our destination.

"Don't you have a vehicle of your own?"

"No. They are too much trouble in this part of town, you can never find a park when you need one, and even if you do you would be very lucky to find your wheels still on it when you returned." The bar was open so we went inside. There was a layer of smoke drifting through the room, it hadn't quite filled the space between floor and ceiling. Give it time.

"What are you doing here?" I was just about to come up with some sort of witty riposte when I realized that the question was directed at Lucy. "Why aren't you at college?"

"I had to come and see what was happening. Pop hadn't called asking for money in over a week and then you tell me that he is missing but you didn't seem concerned about him. I found out that Gerry was helping out so I went to see if I could help in any way. It was just as well, I found him unconscious on his floor. Someone had taken a dislike to him."

"I'm not paying good money for your tuition to have you drop out of college."

"Don't worry. I'm up to date with my assignments so I can take some time off."

"What have you found out?"

My turn to speak. "I can safely say that Benny knows more about this than he cares to admit. If he is responsible I know that my former partner is somehow involved and I can't wait to pin something on him. Apart from that, I can't prove anything at this stage so I just keep looking. I don't suppose you know the address, or where I can find his friend Sadie do you?"

"There's a rooming house just around the corner that she uses during the day, they rent rooms by the hour but she has a long term deal probably involving favors to the caretaker, so she stays there full time."

I wasn't looking forward to this but I went anyway. There was an alleged man who answered my knock on the door marked 'Caretaker' in the foyer. "Go easy on the door will ya."

"I'm looking for Sadie."

"Aren't they all, room six upstairs."

I wasn't depressed when I got here but I was by the time I reached her door. I hesitated for a couple of minutes before knocking. I could hear a shuffling noise from the other side, it was getting closer. There must have been at least four locks on the door and eventually it opened a couple of inches. "What do you want?"

"I want to ask you a few questions, can I come in?"

The door opened up fully in answer to my request and I followed her into her room. There was a double bed against the wall and it looked as if the bed linen hadn't had the benefit of soap and water for some time. Over by the window there was a table and two chairs. On the table was a pile of dirty dishes, several glasses with the remains of drinks in the bottom, an ash tray overflowing with ash and dog ends of cigarettes. To complete the picture the room had a smell about it that turned my stomach. How anyone could contemplate any involvement with this person in this place was beyond me and believe me I had seen some pretty disgusting places in my time.

"You know Andy Jones don't you?"

"Who?"

"Andy Jones. From the bar around the corner where you were drinking last night."

"I don't remember last night."

"You got caught by his wife screwing in the back alley a couple of weeks ago."

"Shit, I would have screwed dozens of men since then, you don't expect me to remember that far back."

"If you do happen to see him or remember anything about him or where he is at let Laura Lee know at the bar, she can get a message to me." I was going to give her my business card but decided that it would be a waste of time, she'd probably lose it, beside which the nearest pay phone was further away than the bar.

I walked back to the bar. I was almost going to go back to the office but figured that this would upset Lucy and it would be good to have assistance with this investigation. Mother and daughter had overcome the tension of their meeting and were both working behind the bar.

I had hardly slid onto the stool when they both descended on me. Laura Lee pausing just long enough to pour both of us a double from the bottle of good stuff under the bar. She slid mine across to me. "Where's mine?" Lucy asked.

"You're too young to drink."

"I've drunk before."

"In this place you will not be served a drink until you're twenty-one, do you think I want to lose my license?"

"Lucy, how did you know that I was looking for your father?"

"I went to the police and spoke with Lieutenant Callaway and he told me that you had been in asking questions this morning and he told me where your office was. By the way he said to tell you that your ex-partner isn't happy with you after they impounded his car."

"Boo hoo to him. I'm not about to lose sleep over him."

Chapter 3

There was a meet at the local tack today so I thought that I could kill several birds with the one stone by attending. I also thought that it would do my reputation no harm at all to be seen with a gorgeous young thing called Lucy, so I invited her along. "Where are we going and what are we going to do?"

"We're going to the track where all of the self respecting bookies hang out. We will wend our way to the mounting yard where they congregate to check out the horses before the off."

The track was crowded for a mid-week meeting and we had to force our way though the punters to get to the mounting yard. We stopped just inside the entrance and I pointed out the bookies to her. "That guy in the dark pinstripe and the snappy hat is 'Four-finger Freddie'. He had a disagreement with a pair of bolt-cutters wielded by a goon working for the man over there in the camel hair overcoat, one Miklos Theodopolous aka Mickey the Greek. Over there hiding behind my new best friend Nigel is Benny, don't let his size fool you, he is one mean son-of-a-bitch, it doesn't pay to cross him, just ask your father if we ever find him alive." Benny was deep in conversation with his trainer. "He's probably discussing whether to pull his horse to get better odds next time up or let it run on its merits today."

"Are you trying to tell me that the races are fixed?"

"You got it, and that is why the mug punters don't win, they don't stand a chance."

"But isn't that cheating?"

"It's called tilting the odds in your favor. Now there's someone we should have a chat to," I said, pointing to a well dressed woman casting a knowing eye over the runners. "That lady is Sophie Lawrence, her husband is one of the top trainers but she is the brains of the team. She can spot a horse that's performance has been chemically enhanced one way or the other. I wouldn't go as far as to suggest that her husband educated her in the finer points of equine pharmacology, but what she doesn't know about doping isn't worth knowing. I think a chat is called for." I led the way to where Sophie was watching the last minute preparations. "Hiya Sophie, which horse should I stay right away from?"

"Gerry Pretty, long time no see, I thought that you were smarter than to hang around the track, it's a sucker's game."

"I know. Don't worry I'm not here to lose what little money I have on the roulette wheel of equine endeavor, I just thought that I should come over and pass the time with the most important person here."

"Get to the point Gerry, what do you want from me?"

"You keep your ear to the ground, I'm looking for Andy Jones who, it appears, owes several of our bookmaking fraternity large sums of money. I'm tossing up whether he has gone to ground somewhere or he's currently shark bait. Have you heard anything?"

"Sorry lover, I can't help you. If I was him and in his position I would have been long gone, Mexico has a certain attraction for those who don't want to be found. Just a suggestion, but you never heard it from me. Hmm, I hope the connections of Black Prince have paid the stewards to test yesterday's sample because any taken after he wins will show positive, and you never heard that from me either. See ya Gerry." She gave me peck on the cheek and walked off.

"You seem very friendly with her." Lucy was watching Sophie's back looking for a place to put the knife.

"You're not jealous are you? We've known each other less than a day."

"I'm not jealous! I'm just making sure that you keep your mind on the job. Now, are we going to place a bet on Black Prince?"

"If I want to eat tonight I guess that I'd better." So we joined the queue, just making it in time before the off to get my fortune on Black Prince to win. We walked outside and made our way to the finish line. My money finished a good ten lengths in front of the next horse.

"Where are you taking me tonight?" Lucy was hanging off my arm as if I was the Shah of Persia. I hadn't even counted the notes before I shoved them into my pocket.

As we left the track I checked to make sure that my packet had remained un-picked and headed for the office, stopping for coffee at the downstairs delicatessen. "Good to see that you're not mortally injured Mister Pretty." Maurie Schwartz the owner greeted me as we entered, "I was certain that you would have been in hospital for some time when this beautiful young lady told us that you had been badly assaulted."

"I guess I've just got a hard head Maurie, it comes in handy in my line of work." Lucy was looking over the pastries in the display counter.

"She is a very beautiful girl, no?"

"She is a very beautiful girl, yes. She is also very much too young for me to even think about."

"Mister Pretty, you should never stop thinking about such things, touching is another matter."

"Please, may I have a couple of these pastries?" Lucy was pointing at some pastries that would send my blood sugar levels through the roof.

"Certainly my Dear, are they just for you or do you want enough for Mister Pretty as well?"

"Sufficient for both of us."

"Then four it should be." He picked four from the display and placed them in a bag. I noticed that Lucy made no attempt to pay him so I had to peel off some more money from my winnings.

"When are we going to Mexico?" Lucy was sitting on my desk, her stocking clad legs dangerously close to my hands, fingering cream from the side of her mouth and sucking it off her finger. The way that she sucked her finger had me disturbed, this was not something taught in the best schools.

"Who said we were going to Mexico?"

"I thought that the lady at the track, who you forgot to introduce me to by the way, as much as told you that that was where Dad was hiding."

"She was just saying that if he was smart, and someone who owes bookies as much as he does hardly qualifies as smart, that would be where he could possibly be hiding. It was a long way from telling me that he was definitely there."

"But you will try to find him won't you?"

"Look Lucy, Mexico is a big place full of people who don't speak English and call us Gringos, what makes you think that they would help us find him?"

"We could start by going to the race tracks to see if he was there."