Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #1: Books 1-4 (A Dead Cold Box Set), Blake Banner [classic children's novels txt] 📗

“People like you. Answer the question. How did you know we were here?”

“Guys like me, you know, we hear things. You don’t always remember who told you what. Sometimes it’s one person, sometimes it’s another. Somebody said to me, ‘Hey! You know what? Stone is over in Shamrock!’ I said to myself, ‘What is a guy of Stone’s qualities and abilities doing in a two-bit town like Shamrock?’ So I thought I’d come over and see how you was getting on.” He gave me the dead eye for five seconds and asked, “Did you find the motherfucker or not?”

I shook my head, but before I could say anything he was talking again.

“I know you found something, because you been out all fuckin’ day. I know you weren’t admiring the fuckin’ view, ’cause there ain’t one. So what are you doing here, Stone? We had a deal, remember?”

It was Dehan who answered, which seemed to irritate Pro. “You don’t listen, do you, Morry? You got this crazy thing going on in your head, babbling away, and that’s all you hear. So when a cop tells you, ‘we ain’t going to hand over a suspect to you or provide you with information about him,’ that doesn’t fit with your head babble, so you don’t hear it.”

I smiled. She’d nailed it. Pro looked at her a moment, turned to me, and said, “So you have found something?”

“What do you expect us to find, Pro?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Did you find anything?”

“Here’s what I don’t understand, Pro. I’ll tell you what. We’ll do a trade. You explain this to me, to my satisfaction, and I will share what I have found with you.”

I saw Dehan glance at me and frown, but I ignored her. Pro shrugged and said, “Shoot.”

“When we came to visit you in Port Lavaca, you said to me that all I had to do was, and I quote, ‘report to the relevant authorities’ and you would do the rest. From which I understood that you and Vincenzo would be duly informed of what I discovered about Mick.” He grunted. I went on. “But I step outside of New York and in twenty-four hours you’re here like a fly on shit. You’re not sitting by the pool waiting for a call from Mick’s replacement. You’re here, asking me why I am here. Explain that to me, and I will tell you what I have learned.”

He was silent for a long while. He looked sour and the dark rings under his eyes seemed to grow darker. He glanced at me a couple of times, like he was going to say something, but then looked away again. Dehan was watching him like a cat watching a mouse trying to make up its mind whether to go for the cheese. Suddenly he erupted.

“You know what? You’re a suspicious son of a bitch. It’s just, it just never crossed my mind he might have come out here, is all! But I saw the name, Shamrock—Mick was all about being fuckin’ Irish—so I thought maybe you had something. Maybe Mick had moved out here, and I guess I wanted to see the motherfucker before you carted him off to wherever. That’s all.”

“That’s all.”

“Yeah! That’s all.” He looked wounded. “You know? I’m on the right side of the law now. I cooperate with you guys. It would be nice if you would cooperate with me sometimes, instead of always being so fuckin’ suspicious.”

Dehan snorted. “Vincenzo on the right side of the law too?”

“Listen, young lady.” He wagged a finger at her. “You got a big mouth, you know that? You got a fuckin’ habit of talking when you ain’t being spoken to.”

Her eyes were hooded, and for a moment she looked dangerous. She spoke quietly. “You wave that finger at me again, Pro, I’m going to tear it off and shove it up your ass.”

“Keep talking, sister, and I’ll tell you what I’m gonna shove up your pretty little…”

“Watch your mouth!” I snarled.

His eyes swiveled to me, then back to Dehan and back to me again. He leered. “Oh, that the way it is? I didn’t mean no disrespect, Stone.”

“Is that your story? That you just wanted to see if Mick was here?”

He shrugged and spread his hands. “What else?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“So share. It’s your turn.”

“Sure.” I smiled. “The beer isn’t green. I can recommend it. Close the door on your way out.”

“You don’t want to do this, Stone.”

“You got something to tell me, Pro, tell me. Otherwise get the fuck out of my room.”

He waited a moment, then stood. He was real tall and lanky and stooping, with huge hands. With the light from the window behind him, he looked for a moment like a monster from a B movie. He turned and moved to the door. When he was there, he stopped and looked back at me. “You are going to regret this, Stone.”

I pointed at him. “I’m being patient, Pro. Right now I am respecting the status quo. But cross the line and I am coming after you and whoever is supplying you with information. Get back in your box, or the whole house of cards comes down.”

He stepped out and closed the door. After a moment we heard the sound of his Audi pulling out of the lot and fading into the distance. Dehan stared at the bedcover a moment. Then she said, “Get back in your box or the whole house of cards comes down?”

I smiled. “Nobody’s perfect.”

“Isn’t that what they call a mixed metaphor?”

“Yes. And a bad one.”

“Bad? Bad would be, I smell a rat, but I will nip it in the bud. Or, it’s time to bite the bullet and throw in the towel. But, get back in your box or the whole