5 Tutti Frutti (11 page)

“Come on, can these bastards do this? What the fuck? Do something, now!” Tommy screamed and attempted to push Louie forward.

“Yes, they can do this Mister D’Angelo. We’ll have to wa
it and see what the charges are then post bail.”

“Tommy?” Gino called as one of th
e uniforms slapped a pair of handcuffs on behind his back.

“You don’t gotta do that, asshole. It’ll be okay
, Gino, don’t sweat it. We’ll have ya out for the party tonight. Then we’re gonna sue their asses off,” Tommy said, pointing his finger at Aaron.

“Can they do this
, Tommy?” Swindle asked.

“Shut up.” Tommy shouted. “You’ll be okay
, Gino, we’re gonna follow you down to the station, get you out right away. You two get this moving, I don’t want him in there over night,” Tommy said to Cazzo and Louie.

Swindle suddenly moved forward and tried to scratch Manning’s face. He blocked her and pushed her back
.

“Get him out of here,” Manning said to the uniformed cops then looked at Tommy. “Don’t make this any worse or we’ll haul everyone in.” He held Tommy in a wild eyed stare for a long moment.

Swindle started to take a tenuous step toward Manning again.

“Don’t
, bitch,” Tommy shouted and she froze.

The officers were
on either side of Gino holding him by the arms. They led him over to the bank of elevators. Manning and Aaron walked backward keeping an eye on the group glaring at them.

“We’re going to process your brother at the main station. I want you to remain on this floor for the next five minutes to avoid an incident that will
do nothing but make things worse,” Aaron said.

“Tommy?” Gino called
, sounding like he was ready to cry.

They moved as one onto the elevator. Just as the
brass doors closed Gino called out a final time.

“
Tommy don’t let…”

“God damn it, you two
better figure something out and fast,” Tommy screamed at Louie and Cazzo. “Come on let’s go,” he said then stepped over and began hitting the down button for the elevator a dozen times. “What the hell is taking this thing so damn long. Come on, damn it.”

Tommy looked around wildly. He
didn’t seem to notice me at first and just glanced past. He returned his gaze to where I was standing and glared. “Who the hell are you?”

“That
’s the guy I told you about, Haskins the P.I., he’s been checking out Rockett, right?” Cazzo said.

I nodded at Tommy.
“Dev Haskell, nice to meet you, Mister D’Angelo.”

He seemed to be thinking for a
long moment then turned to Cazzo and Louie and said, “I want you two to post bail as soon as possible. Medical reasons, he’s crazy, right?” he nodded at Cazzo.

“We’ll head to my office, I’ve got
it all laid out from last time,” Cazzo said then pulled out his cell, pushed a button, and waited.

Louie nodded pretending
he knew what was going on.

The elevator door open
ed and they began to file in. “No, not you,” Tommy said to Swindle then pointed at me, “You watch her,” he said. Then he barked at Swindle, “Stick with him, do whatever he wants.” He stepped onto the elevator, turned, and stood in the doorway looking very pissed off as the brass doors closed.

Swindle sort of s
agged and turned round to face me. “Oh shit,” she said.

I smelled alcohol on her breath.

“Hey, is your car here? I’ll drive,” I offered.

Chapter Twenty-Two

We’d been
sitting in
a back booth at The Spot. Swindle had been attempting to impress me with her entertainment career, at least as she knew it. In between sips from her current Brandy Manhattan she continued to list off the various films she’d been in.

“
I did
“Girls, Girls, Girls”
one thru seven. Had a supporting role in “
Babes in Toyland”
three and four. I played an elf and a toy tester. I was the girl on the bar in “
Drunk and Disorderly.”
Did you see it?”

“No, I guess I missed that one, too.”

She shook her head like she couldn’t believe it. “Well, what do you do for fun? Do you ever have any? Fun, I mean.”

“Once in a while, I guess.”

“I guess,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “Kind of a drag if you ask me.”

“Hey
, Swindle, you sure you don’t know anything about Gino and Dudley Rockett?” It was the third or fourth time I’d asked her.

“I’ve been with a lot of guys, most of ‘
em I never even knew their name,” she said then drained her glass.

“
You remember Gino? The cops arrested him in the courthouse today. You were there. They said he attempted to kill Dudley Rockett. Remember him? He was your agent.”

“
Charging Gino? Not my problem then is it?” She signaled Jimmy behind the bar with a slight wave of her empty glass.

“Hold on
, Jimmy,” I called. “Hey, no offense, Swindle, but I don’t want to bring you back to the party tonight so drunk you can’t enjoy yourself.”

“I’ve never been that drunk,” she said and signaled Jimmy with her glass again.

“No doubt, but I’m sure Tommy wouldn’t be too happy.”

“Tommy’
s never happy,” she said then slid her purse off the table, snapped it open, and pulled out a package of cigarettes. She stabbed one into the corner of her mouth then flicked her lighter and lit up.

“Sorry
, no smoking in here. It’s been the law for about the past decade.”

“The law,” she scoff
ed then shook her blonde hair back over her shoulder and blew smoke across the table in my direction.

“Come on, we can go outside if you’re gonna smoke,” I said and slid out of the booth.

Swindle stared up at me with bloodshot eyes then took a long drag and blew her smoke at me. I thought of Candi describing her as a real pain in the hole. That was turning out to be a fairly accurate assessment.

“Hey look, Swindle. I’m sorry you can’t be down at the police station sitting around. I’m sorry you have to sit
here drinking Brandy Manhattans at my expense. I’m sure you have a very productive life, and there are things you should be accomplishing right now. But Tommy told me to keep an eye on you. You’re not happy about that. Neither am I. So let’s just try and get along, maybe make the best of it.”

She seemed t
o think about that for a moment. She took another long drag, blew the smoke toward the ceiling, and tossed her cigarette into her empty drink glass. It sizzled on the ice cubes and slowly began to extinguish.

“Ye
ah sure, whatever. Look I gotta pee,” she said and slid out of the booth.

I handed Ji
mmy a twenty while Swindle staggered into the ladies room.

“Where’
d you pick her up?” Jimmy asked.

“I didn’t
, she’s a client.”

“Business that bad?”

“I didn’t think so this morning, but I’m beginning to wonder,” I said.

A couple of heads i
n the mid-day drinking crowd turned to appraise her once she exited the ladies room taking itty-bitty steps in her heels toward the door.

“I better drive. G
ive me your keys, and I’ll lock up your car. I’m parked just across the street in front of my office.”

Thankfully s
he didn’t argue. She fished her keys out of her purse and called after me. “Grab another pack of cigarettes out of my glove compartment and that lipstick case in there, too.”

I had parked
Swindle’s purple Miata convertible behind The Spot. Based on the smashed front end, the scrape along the passenger side door, and the groaning muffler I’d say she didn’t drive it very well. I had a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t lipstick in the silver tube with the gold top stuck in the corner of her glove compartment, but I grabbed the thing anyway.

We weren’t due at the Tutti Frutti for another couple of hours
, and I thought it might be a good idea to get some food in her. I held the door to the Fleetwood as she slipped unlady-like into the front seat.

By that time
I climbed behind the wheel Swindle had reclined the passenger seat and was lounging back suggestively, sniffling and rubbing her nose.

“You missed some,” I said
, indicating the remnants of white powder around the base of her nostrils.

She sat up and twisted the rear view mirror so she could examine herself. She wiped
up the remnants of powder with her finger then rubbed her finger tip across her gums and slouched back.

“Happy?” she sneered.

“Not by a long shot,” I said and readjusted the mirror.

She seemed to sulk for a moment then reached in
to her purse and pulled out an iPhone housed in a sort of sequined leopard skin case. She punched in a number, listened for maybe thirty seconds then growled, “Shit,” and tossed the phone back into her purse.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“What do
you feel
like eating?” I asked.

“Are you kidding
me? I don’t care, just order something for me, nothing fatty,” she groaned, slinking down in her seat and giving off an attitude.

I had a comment on the tip of my to
ngue, but decided to keep quiet; the night was going to be long enough as it was. I figured the dollar menu would serve us just fine.

“Three
McChicken sandwiches, two small fries, two medium cokes,” I said into the screen.

“Will there be anything else?” a voice replied.

“No.”

“Thank you, your total is seven
dollars and thirty-seven cents. Please pull ahead to the first window.”

I drove ahead to the window.

“Seven dollars thirty-seven cents,” the girl said.

I handed her a ten.

“Three sixty-three is your change. Thank you. Please pull ahead to the next window.”

I pu
lled ahead to the next window. A hand thrust out a moment later holding a bag with our food. I took the bag and handed it over to Swindle, who didn’t react. She was either asleep or passed out, so I gently set the bag on her lap. I took the two cokes and placed them in the console tray and drove away.

The thought never crossed my mind to wake her. I cautiously lifted the bag of
food off her lap and set it on mine. Then quietly began to eat as I drove onto the Interstate. I proceeded to drive along the beltline encircling the Twin Cities for the next couple of hours while Swindle softly snored in the passenger seat, and I ate all the food.

I pulled up in front of the
Tutti Frutti a little later that evening and parked on the street about fifteen feet from the front door. As I turned the Fleetwood off Swindle groaned in the passenger seat and half rolled toward the door.

“Swindle, hey
, Swindle, we’re here,” I said, shaking her gently on her hip.

“Don’t touch me,” she groaned.

“Come on, we’re at the Tutti Frutti, Tommy’s waiting for you.”

“I said don’t touch me,” she shouted and slapped my hand away.

I spanked her once across her hip, hard and shouted, “Come on, get the hell out of my car.”

“Ouch! Hey
, what do think you’re doing?”

“Get out
, Swindle, you pain, we’re at the Tutti Frutti.”

“What?
Already?” she asked, sitting up, twisting my rear view mirror again, and staring into it. “Oh God, look at me, I look like shit.”

I
couldn’t argue with her. Her makeup had left deep dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. Her hair was a mess and sort of pressed off to one side in a very bad case of bed-head. The red lipstick had rubbed off her lips and somehow found its way onto her front teeth.

“You can duck into the ladies room in the Tutti Frutti,” I suggested.

“Oh God, I need to pee,” she groaned. It seemed to be turning into a regular theme. She grimaced then fluttered her feet rustling the fast food wrappers I had tossed down onto the floor suggesting she didn’t have a lot of time to wait.

“The ladies room would probably be the best place, come on.”

Chapte
r Twenty-Four

“
Don’t touch me, Biker,
I gotta pee,” Swindle half shouted as we entered the Tutti Frutti. She seemed to have a slight stagger to her step and her leather skirt had shifted about four inches off center. She blasted past Biker and made a beeline for the restroom.

Biker
didn’t even blink at Swindle’s disheveled state. He stared at me trying to place my face.