THE TIMING, JOE PARENTE [ereader ebook .txt] 📗

he was using me for information. For what reason, I didn’t know. There was something that they were hiding and Frank and Rhortec were right in the middle of it.

The front door opened and there stood Judy. She looked worried. She explained that her brother Jeff had not shown up yet. Her father had not heard from him either. I reached over to give her a kiss to try to console her. “Judy, we may be getting closer to an answer to this thing and I feel that Jeff’s disappearance is connected to it.” I told her how I found out that Frank was in the next room and that he was trying to get information about what I knew. I suggested to her that we contact her father to have him put a hold on moving forward on the Rhortec deal.

We accomplished all this while one of us kept an ear to the door. I knew that somehow we would find some answers.

She ordered room service as I stayed out of sight during its delivery. We were attempting to make things appear as normal as possible. All the time we were fishing for conversation from next door. I learned long ago, to eaves drop, you place the bottom of a drinking glass to your ear and the other end to the wall or door, a person could hear just about anyone talking in the next room.

The telephone rang in the other room. Judy gestured for me to listen. I could hear Frank’s voice. “No, I know he doesn’t know anything.” -Pause- “I don’t know.” -Pause. “Willhelm told me to take care of it. When are you coming here?” -Pause. “Well I’m not sure, that Baetacom kid is probably wandering around in the city. You know how the imagination works.” -Pause “Just as long as there is enough time lapse so the deal will go through.” -Pause. “Yeah, I know.” He laughed. -Pause. “I’ll see you soon; we have to discuss what we want to do with him yet.” -Pause. “Hurry.” He hung up.

I felt as though we hit the jackpot. There were things we still needed to know. At least we knew that Jeff’s disappearance was because of Rhortec’s tactics.
The telephone rang again. We were so busy talking that we almost missed it. “Shhh!” I said, motioning with exaggerated arm movements for Judy to pick up the drinking glass. “Listen,” I whispered.

“Hello Mister Rhorem.” Frank answered. Pause. “I’ll take care of it.” -Pause. “But” -Pause. “He called to cancel?” -Pause. “I don’t know where he is sir.” - Pause. “Yes sir, I will.” -Pause. “Jules sir.” -Pause. “Hello—hello. Shit! We heard a slamming of the telephone and more cussing.

At least, I wasn’t the only person that the Old Man commanded. It made me feel good that Frank was getting the treatment. “Sounds like Frank just got reamed.” I said to Judy.

She asked, “what did he mean by saying Jules; I believe that he was the limo driver that picked up Jeff at the office.”

“I’m pretty sure that”—

Judy put her finger to her lips, and then pointed to the glass. “Wait.”

We could hear Frank’s voice again. “I want you to find him. The deal is going sour.” -Pause. “That is an order from Rhorem! -Pause. This is not good you idiot! -Pause “Don’t fuck this up too!” The telephone slammed.

I looked at Judy. “Honey, I feel that I got you into all this and its time to fix it.” She could tell that I was getting mad. “Here is what I think we should do, I am going to run and get a cab and try to follow Jules. I need to find your brother and I need to find him fast. We can learn a lot about this whole thing by discovering where Jules will go.” I placed both hands on each side of her face. “What I want you to do is to wait here and listen through this wall. We can find out even more from the person that comes to visit. I have got to go now because I don’t want to miss Jules’s exit from the hotel.”
I got up and gave her a kiss. “I want you to be careful but most of all quiet. We do not want them to discover that we are listening from this room.

“Okay,” she said, nervously.

“Get on the phone and have a cab meet me in front; ask for Alphonso and make sure you use my name. Also, put a pillow over the telephone. That way you can hear it but if I try to call and it will draw less attention if it rings.” I pointed by jabbing my finger towards the next room.

“Okay,” She frowned, “be careful, please.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can, you have the cell number. I love you.” I told her this as I left the room. The hallway was clear as I rushed to the stairwell.

My thoughts of her were quickly dashed as the urgency of what I was about to do filled my mind.


THE TIMING Joe Parente

Chapter 10


I jumped into Alphonso’s taxi. He greeted me warmly. “Hi Mister Brad, where to?”

“Alfo, do you know the Bellman named Jules? He works at The Walton.”

He looked at me in the mirror. “Sure do boss, why do you axe?”

“He is going to come out that door.” I indicated the heavy glass doors at the hotel. “I would like you to follow him, sort of on the QT.” I held up a fifty- dollar bill and he took it with a smile.

“You the man! I’ll pull around the corner sos' he can’t see me first.”

I had the feeling that he had been dreaming about this moment. No one had ever asked him to do that. Come to think of it, I have never asked a cab driver to do it.

“Just like in the flicks,” he said.

We both saw him at the same time. He was driving a black limousine that came up from the basement garage. “That’s him, Alfo, go to work but don’t let him see you.

He looked back in the mirror and winked. “Don’t you worry with this heavy traffic and my drivin’, he won’t have a chance.”

Jules started out going towards the Baetacom office. He then took a right and went two blocks. We followed with a car between us as he slowed. He looked as though he was looking to the left and then right as if he was watching a tennis match. He stopped a few times; double- parked and got out to search some narrow alleys.

We stayed well enough back so that we would not be noticed as he continued the search. He drove past some large buildings on the next block then stopped and parked. Stepping out of the limo, we could see him run towards a newspaper stand. With a handshake that seemed to take an hour, his head was nodding while he asked some questions. The newspaper guy was pointing to what appeared to be the next block. With all the people that were blocking the sidewalk, it was hard to tell where the guy was pointing.

Jules did a U-turn that any sprint car driver would be proud of, especially in that big limousine.
I looked at Alphonso and we knew that if we followed in that fashion, we would be seen. We were close to a corner so my driver had decided to go around the block. This was probably a good move. Who could lose a giant limo in one block?

Unfortunately, we did. By the time we were able to get around the block, that big monster was gone.

Alphonso pulled into a cabby stop and pounded the steering wheel. “Shit, man he gone.” He looked dejected. His first chance at a car chase and he blew it. To make it worse the car chase was a very slow one.

“Just stay where you are, you look down the street and I’ll look up. He’ll show. He couldn’t hide that thing that quick.” I turned around to watch out the back window.

What a city! I was amazed at all the life, the noises, the smells, everything and all we had to do was to find a black limo that stood out like an inflatable balloon at a Macys’s parade. We were parked in a cabby's spot massed in a cluster of moving human flesh. A squad car with blasting sirens and flashing lights rushed past us at two miles an hour. I would hate to be in trouble during a rush hour in this town. Time would definitely be your enemy. Soon there was another emergency vehicle, trying to make its way to the intersection that was so plugged up that I doubted if you could shove a dollar bill in a crack.

“This is really jammed up; does this always look this way during this time of day?” I asked.

“Nah, sometimes I seen it worse. There must be an accident up ahead. Man you kinda’ gotta’ go with the flow; you know what I’m sayin?” Alphonso said as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. It was as if he was playing the bongo drums.

“You know I started to think of where that limousine went. What if it’s parked in an alley and we can’t see it from here?” I asked.

“Yeah, you might have a point boss.” He turned to me, stroking his chin.

“It looks as though we will be stuck here for a while, can you loan me your hat, I want to take a look around. I’ll be right back. Ok? I don’t want to be recognized.”

Alphonso handed over his hat. “You can use it but I want it back, ‘sides it don’t go with your color.” He burst out laughing.

I pulled the cap down tight to cover my eyebrows and started to search the alleys. I finally spotted it. The monstrous black beauty was trying to get out into the street. The tinted windows did not allow me to see inside, so I walked closer to the front of the car where Jules was screaming at someone in the street through a rolled down window.

I caught a glimpse of a figure slumped in the corner of the back seat. The person looked as though he had been beat up. From what I could see, it was Jeff and