5 Tutti Frutti (16 page)

“Hello
, Heidi, did we get disconnected? Hello.”

That hadn’t
exactly gone my way. I checked my contact list; fortunately I’d been enough on the ball to put Swindle’s number in there, so I phoned her.

“The subscriber you have contacted is unable to accept calls at this time.” Meaning idiot Swindle hadn’t paid her phone bill.
I phoned Candi.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Candi, Dev.”

There was a long pause but at least she wasn’t screaming
when she said, “Sounds like you’ve been a busy boy.”

“Let’s just say it hasn’t been my best day.
You working?”

“Yeah,
been here for a while; I guess I just missed the police hauling Swindle away.”

“
What did you hear?” I asked.

“Well
, knowing Swindle, I’m sure she didn’t go quietly. Anyway she went down to the police station and apparently filed charges against you.”

“That’s just a big misunderstanding,
” I said.

“A
ll I know is she filed charges. After that the thing apparently takes on a life of its own.”

“I’ll say. N
o good deed goes unpunished,” I said.

“You mean your
three-way?”

“There was no
three-way, Candi. Nothing happened, honest. I just took her to a friend’s house. I couldn’t leave her passed out on the street. I didn’t want her at my place in case she got the wrong idea. I couldn’t find you, so I took her to the safest place I could think of. God, I should have just dropped her at some flea bag hotel that rents by the hour.”

“Wou
ldn’t be the first time for her,” Candi laughed.

“Is
Swindle back there at the Tutti Frutti?”

“I think so, I saw her about a half hour ago.”

“Can you keep her there for fifteen minutes? I want to talk with her.”

“I’ll try, but I can’t ever promise anything where she’s concerned.”

“I’m on my way,” I said and hurried over to my car.

Chapter Thirty-Two

On the way
to
catch Swindle at the Tutti Frutti, I drove past The Spot. The only sign of her purple Miata was the oil slick that had dripped onto the pavement where I’d parked. I could only hope she found her keys and picked the thing up.

Swindle
was sitting at the bar as I came in the front door. She was basically in the same spot as the last time I saw her except now she was on the customer side of the bar. Our eyes met at the same moment and she waved me over looking all happy to see me.

“Hi
, Dev, get you a drink?” she smiled and shrugged in a little girl sort of way.

“No thanks, Swindle. H
ey look, no offense but what the hell is going on? You filed charges against me? I told you nothing happened between us. Not a damn thing happened with you or me or Heidi.”

“Yeah
, I kinda figured that out.”

“You figured it out? Then why
in God’s name are you filing rape charges against us?”

“Five
hundred bucks, that’s my price. I was there for the taking. It’s certainly not my fault if you didn’t take advantage of the situation. You took me to bed, I’d say I certainly put in the time.”

“
You were passed out. We all were. See, we were actually doing a good deed. We took you there so you’d be safe and you pretty much abused our kindness.”

“
Look, Dev, did you sleep with me? Did what’s her name, the chick that kept freaking out, did she sleep with me?”

“
Her name is Heidi, but that’s not the point, see…”

“Actually, it’s exactly the point. You slept with me right
, both of you.”

“Yeah, I
suppose technically we slept.”

“There you go, five hundred bucks
.”

I didn’t know what to say. I remembered Louie’s gentle advice;
“Figure it out, douche nozzle. If this charge remains, me or someone else unfortunate enough to represent you is gonna ream your ass for a good fifteen hundred to deal with this, and that’s just for starters.”

“Could I write you a check?”

“You got a credit card?”

“
You take credit cards, Swindle?”

“No, but there’s an ATM back by the restrooms
, and I do take cash. Let me buy you a beer while you’re back there getting things organized.”

“And you’ll drop all the charges?”

“You bet, lover boy.”

“The other
thing, Swindle, in light of all this, of course, I’m going to resign from your Dudley Rockett case. Obviously, it doesn’t make any sense for me to continue now.”

“Whatever,” she said then sipped and shrugged like she couldn’t have cared less.

On my way to the ATM I ran into Candi.

“Hi
, Dev, did you see Swindle? I told her to wait for you. She was up by the front of the bar.”

“Yeah, believe me I saw her.”

“Everything okay?”

“It will be in
about five hundred dollars.”

“Five hundred, whoa, must have been some night.”

“Don’t even go there, Candi, nothing happened, and it wasn’t supposed to happen. She lost her keys, passed out, and I couldn’t just leave her.”

“I would have.”

“I should have. Anyway, she’ll drop the charges for five hundred bucks.”

“She’s your client, right?”

“She was. I just told her I resigned.”

“Do I
feel some additional expenses coming her way on your final invoice?”

“To tell the truth
, I’m not even going to invoice her. I just want to get as far away as possible from that whole crowd.”

“Look
, I’m off in an hour, free tonight?” she asked.

“
Free? No, but I’ll charge you five hundred.”

“I could probably
get Swindle to join us,” she said.

“Don’t.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

I was up, showered,
dressed, and about to head home when I heard the news on the flat screen in Candi’s kitchen. A story described as “evolving” had a reporter standing with neighbors behind a half dozen squad cars. They were all parked outside a grey looking rambler. The place had a faded and unkempt look about it. Someone had been found dead in the home in the background, and the police were treating the circumstances as questionable.

The reporter went on to say, “An anonymous source
said the deceased was found drowned in the bathtub, amazingly, this house has gone into foreclosure and has been unoccupied for a number of months.”

“Dev
, quit pacing and sit down for God’s sake, let me make you breakfast.”

She was
leaning against the granite counter top sipping coffee and wearing a white Terrycloth robe that she hadn’t bothered to tie. As enjoyable as the breakfast view was, I wanted to get to the office and Louie. I was sure Manning wasn’t finished gunning for me, and I wanted to be prepared. Then there was the other problem.

“I can’t sit.”

“Oh, will you just calm down.”

“No
, it’s not that,” I said, nodding toward the flat screen mounted on the wall. “It was last night.”

“Last night? Oh
, you mean your little spanking? God, I really enjoyed that.”

“
Little? Yeah, you must have enjoyed yourself, but I was the guy on the receiving end.”

“I didn’
t hear any complaints.”

“
Candi, you had me gagged and handcuffed.”

“
Don’t forget the five or six Jameson’s you had. You were more like passed out. You slept like the proverbial baby except for the snoring. Like I said, I didn’t hear any complaints. I’d say things seemed to work out all right for you over the course of the night.”

“
Yeah, they did, thanks for that. Sorry to pass out, get spanked, and run, but I better meet with my lawyer. There’s probably going to be more questions.”

“You sure?
” she said then opened her robe a little wider and stood there smiling at me.

“I gotta go.
”

“Can’t keep up, can you?
”

“That too.”

It was more than a little uncomfortable driving to the office. I’d checked myself out earlier in Candi’s bathroom mirror. The bruising on my butt looked like someone had applied zebra stripes. I noticed a pink rectangle over my mouth where Candi must have applied the duct tape. Not pretty.

***

“Man, thanks for doing that and thanks for these, too,” Louie said then licked the chocolate off his finger tips.

I’d
shown up with chocolate doughnuts as instructed and had just finished telling him about my payment in full to Swindle and my resignation from her case.

“Like I said yesterday
, it’s your cheapest option. Believe me, Dev, I know nothing happened, but it’ll cost you an arm and a leg to prove it. Not to mention you’d have your pal Heidi going after your scalp.”

“Yeah
, that’s another problem I’m going to have to deal with.”

“Well, charming as that may be your
bigger headache is going to be Dudley Rockett.”

“
I just told you, I resigned from Swindle’s case last night. I’m not going to go to the guy’s house, or follow him, or anything. I’m done with it, it’s just better for everyone this way.”

“Dev, didn’t you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“They found him drowned in the bathtub of some abandoned house
early this morning.”

“Rockett?”

“Yeah, and with that restraining order you can count on Manning fingering you as his main suspect numero uno.”

“
I was worried about that hit and run.”

“
Gary what’s-his-name? Yeah maybe, but with Rockett washing up on shore dead I think you are really going to have Manning’s undivided attention.”

“
Why does that guy have such an in for me?”

“May
be because it’s logical and you seem to figure prominently into both circumstances. Does this ring a bell? You were with the hit and run guy’s wife. What, you were just holding hands? And Rockett filed a restraining order and now he’s suddenly drowned in a bath tub. In both cases you’re sort of floating out there not too far from the edge. Anyone with any brains would have to wonder, and even though you may not like the guy, Manning is no one’s fool. By the way, I’ve got a call into him, Manning, but I haven’t heard back.”

“This is too weird, he’s found drowned in an abandoned house. How did they even know he was in there if the place was empty?”

“I’m gonna guess the old anonymous tip,” Louie said and licked another finger tip.

“You know what the common denominator in all this is?”

“Yeah, I just told you, you.”

“No, well yeah, but I m
ean the real common denominator behind the scenes sort of, Swindle Lawless.”

“Swindle? God
, Dev, she’s so pickled and fried most of the time she’s incapable of remembering her own name on any given day let alone doing any of this.”

“Think about it
. Rockett was jacking her around and now he’s dead. And Ruggles was killed in a hit and run and Swindle’s car is all smashed up.”

“Her car? That’s what
you’re going to hang you hat on? Her car? Given that leap of faith you should be nailed as a pimp or a pusher for tooling around in that bomb you drive. And will you please sit down, you’re driving me nuts standing there.”

“I’m more comfortable standing right now
. I think I did something to my back.”

Louie looked at me for a half moment
.

“And what’s with your face
? Either a new razor or it’s time to get one. You’re all pink around your mouth. You having an allergic reaction to your new love interest?”

“No just shaved a little too cl
ose. No big deal.”

Louie gave me a look like he didn’t buy my excuse then
just shook his head. “Anyway, I want us to get to Manning first, offer to go down there and talk with him. At the very least you’re a person of interest. Let’s show him you’ve got nothing to hide and it’s all just a bit of unfortunate coincidence.”

With that Louie’
s phone played the theme song from the movie “Jaws.”

“Manning?” I asked.

Louie put his finger on his lips to silence me then answered. “This is Louis Laufen, I’m unable to take your call. Please leave a message and I’ll get back to you just as soon as possible.” Then he made a sort of beep sound, frowned, and set the phone down.