DEAD MAN'S JUSTICE - A Place of Evil (Stone & McLeish Thriller Series of Stories Book 2) (12 page)

Chapter 26

Maloof had grown increasingly frustrated with Ramirez’s inability to keep Stone in custody for the murder of Guy Randall. Ramirez had promised him that he had things
‘under control’
and armed with the damming fax from the Police Chief in Trinidad and means at his disposal to smooth through the arraignment he had still failed, so Maloof decided to pay him a surprise visit.

With Scarface on tracking duty Maloof had his other driver and bodyguard, Fawaz Khaled, take him over to the 113th precinct. Khaled parked up the Escalade and Maloof called Ramirez. Ramirez saw who was calling and broke out into a sweat. He was told to take five to meet with Maloof out in the parking lot. When he got out to the vehicle the mirrored side window buzzed down an inch or two and a voice ordered Ramirez to
‘Get in’
, he walked around to the other side and climbed into the back seat alongside Maloof. 

Maloof was smoking his usual brand of Cuban cigar and kept his head looking forward not even acknowledging Ramirez as he sat quivering beside him. He was dressed immaculately and he oozed demonic authority. There were no pleasantries; Maloof was not a pleasant person, especially when he couldn’t get his way.

‘You failed,’ he said to Ramirez. The tone of his voice and obvious icy detachment served to intensify the fear building up inside Ramirez’s chest. He found it difficult to breathe. All he could think about was his wife Maria and his daughter Conchita. Despite years of dealing with gangsters and hardened criminals the threat held over his head against his family was reducing Ramirez to a nervous wreck. He’d tried everything he could think of to snare Stone and everything was working fine until the lawyer Bloom showed up.

‘I’m sorry Mr. Maloof, I’m still on the case…I’m going to…’

‘Twice you had him Ramirez, and twice you let him walk. Remember what I told you I’d do if you failed Ramirez. You said you could fix it.’

‘I, I, will, I will…’

‘It’s too late. I’ll do the job myself.’ Maloof showed no emotion whatsoever and as far as he was concerned Ramirez was dispensed with. He hadn’t made his mind up yet how to punish him.

‘Forgive me Maloof, you won’t do anything to my family will you?’

‘Goodbye Mr Ramirez.’

‘But but please, tell me you won’t…’

‘Goodbye.’

Ramirez was a shell, he didn’t know what to do next, he made no move to leave the car, he thought he could somehow talk it out with Maloof.  Maloof’s patience ran out.

‘Khaled,’ he called to his driver. The driver started to get out of the vehicle. Ramirez realized what it meant so he opened his door and crawled slowly out. Khaled closed his door again. Maloof signaled Khaled to start the engine. Ramirez stood unable to move, rooted to the spot with fear.

He watched vacantly as the Escalade left the parking lot.

Chapter 27

Stone had decided to take the train to
Bridgeport in Connecticut, his ex-wife would collect him from the station, she said. Mac could then take the Porsche and do some investigations to find out where Shadow’s office was. As they neared the destination Stone ran over a few details with Mac. ‘I’ll just stay overnight. I can go back up after we’ve found Shadow and dealt with him. He’s by far the biggest threat to us all at the moment. Once we have him I’m sure that will lead us to Rachel,’ he said. ‘I don’t trust that Bloom guy. I get bad vibes, you know what I mean?’

‘Yeah, me too,’ said Mac.

‘Have you any ideas where you're going to start looking?’

‘I’m gonna pay Jennifer a visit. She was close to Guy Randall. She might know something, anything.’

Mac swung the Porsche into the station entrance and pulled to the side to let Stone out.

‘Watch your back buddy, and keep your cell on 24/7 okay? You staying at the hotel tonight?’

‘Yeah, what time should I pick you up tomorrow?’

‘I’d say around eleven? I’ll call you. We’ll check out of the hotel and take a look at the Deli apartment in the afternoon. That should give us time to meet up with Bloom at the bank by say four. See you later buddy.’

‘Later mate.’

Stone closed the door and knocked on the roof. Mac sped away south back to town. Stone was just in time for the train to
Bridgeport.

Out of paranoia, that was the only thing he could put it down to, he checked around the station lobby for any familiar faces as he strode over to the ticket counter. He’d been shot at already and knew what Shadow and Rachel were capable of. It was a public place, he didn’t think he was in any particular danger but needed to make sure he wasn’t followed. The last place he wanted trouble was at Laura’s. Then things would get serious, he thought.

He paid for the ticket, grabbed a sandwich and a coffee from the forecourt kiosk and boarded the train. He decided to stand by the door until the train departed. He leant his head out of the window and scoured the platform up and down. He was one of the last passengers to board. The last doors were being closed and the guardsman blew his whistle, he waved his flag and they were on their way.

Snow was falling, cute little flakes at first, dotting the ground and there were still a few flakes on Stone’s overcoat as he found a seat and sat down. He watched them thaw, twinkling in the light, growing smaller in the heat of the carriage. The train was only around half full of shoppers returning home after a day wielding plastic and school kids hopping to the next village after wielding pencils. No one seemed remotely interested in an out of breath, paranoid father on his way to see his daughter.

The snow was falling thickly now and as the train gathered speed the snow seemed to accelerate too, like TV interference, white lines of thick snowflakes slanting diagonally almost blotting out the view through the window. Stone sat back and relaxed feeling confident that he hadn’t been followed. 

The same couldn’t be said for Mac.   

Chapter 28

Rachel and Rebecca spoke little on the way back to the apartment, they sat together like Siamese twins in the middle of the backseat of the limousine not daring to let go of each other’s arms.

Maloof had called Rachel to cancel their seven p.m. dinner appointment saying that something had come up which needed his immediate attention; he omitted to say it was about Ramirez and Stone. It was becoming an obsession with him, he wanted Stone out of the way, away from Rachel who he was sure still harbored feelings for him. This suited Rachel fine, she had years of gossip and life to catch up on with Rebecca.

She’d thought about taking her to a hotel but was worried that she might be susceptible to all manner of temptations. No, she needed her where she could be supervised closely, she thought, she had already called an agency that dealt with private nursing care and the first carer was due to start early the next morning. Rachel would take care of her until then. Besides, she needed her to herself.

Rachel settled Rebecca into one of the guestrooms in the apartment, she gave her some of her own clothes - she had an identical figure after all – and stayed with her whilst she bathed and changed. She called out for dinner to be delivered and they sat cozily in the living room on the leather suite, looking out across central park and at the snow falling against the night sky.

There was too much to talk about for one evening, they both avoided the painful issues regarding their mother and father’s divorce and the subsequent move to
New York and trod gingerly around the circumstances of their mother’s passing. Rachel now knew the truth about how she had died and didn’t need to ask the sad and painful details. Rebecca asked about Randy and eventually asked about their father but neither dwelt on him but Rachel could see she was nervously inquisitive and she thought, overall, they had started quite well to catch up on each other’s lives and past.

Rachel cleared away the dinner dishes and made some coffee and they sat close to each other, snuggled together for warmth, the years of separation were melting away as the hours passed. They began to realize just how much they’d missed one another. The cruel exile had affected them in different but equally devastating ways. Rachel had sought comfort and attention of the wrong kind. She had been abandoned and felt worthless, eschewing education and bereft of parental guidance, she learned the ways of the street.

Rebecca initially adjusted well; she still had her mother’s love and counsel. She was troubled at first but settled into a new life and achieved good grades at school. After her mother’s death it was a different matter. She was looked after by an aunt and slipped into deviant ways, first dabbling in alcohol and from there it was a short step to drugs. Her dabbling soon became proficiency and in her vulnerable state she exposed herself to danger and abuse. One such episode of abuse, which came from a close source, sent her spiraling into total dependency and despite alternating periods of rehabilitation and reintegration, the time spent in rehab lengthened and Rebecca had been living permanently at Claremont for the past year.

Rachel purposely skirted around the recent past of her own life, she told Rebecca that she had lived in
New York for several months and she explained how she had come to find her after visiting their mother’s grave back in the autumn. She carefully filtered out the precise facts of her associations and ex-colleagues but let slip that she had learnt that she had an uncle for the first time. Rebecca sat listening to Rachel and something in what she had said made her recoil and tense up her body.

‘Whatever is the matter?’ said Rachel.

Rebecca was trying hard not to think about
him
and began to wring her hands nervously.

‘What did I say Becky? Please, please tell me, you’ve gone quite pale.’

‘I can’t. I – I can’t talk about…him,’ said Rebecca.’ When she said the word
him
it was stabbed out like she was spitting out venom.

‘Who?’

‘Him,
’ Rebecca spat again. ‘
Loman.’

Rachel knew immediately of course who she was talking about but wondered what it could be that had somehow possessed Rebecca with such fear and with such ferocity. It was clear that Rebecca was still harboring feelings of hate for Shadow regarding the tragic events surrounding their mother’s death but that was seven years ago. It was also clear to Rachel that it was a contributing factor in Rebecca’s substance dependency.

‘Shadow
you mean?’ Rachel absent-mindedly referred to their uncle as
Shadow
and not Chad Loman and then realized what she had said, she wanted to suck the words back in but it was too late, the mention of his name seemed to send Rebecca into convulsions of tears.

‘Rebecca…baby…whatever is it?’ She held Rebecca as closely and as tightly as she could. Her body was trembling in her arms like a wounded bird.

‘He raped me sis…’ Rebecca sobbed uncontrollably, ‘...Shadow raped me.’ 

Chapter 29

The remainder of the train journey to Bridgeport lasted just over an hour and it was a welcome break for Stone from the torrid time he had had since his arrival in New York. He jumped into a yellow cab from the station forecourt and the fifteen-minute journey to Weston barely gave Stone time to think about what he was going to say to Laura as an excuse for being a day late.

The truth was just not an option. Nothing of the last three months either in
Trinidad or New York would ever be discussed. It was in the past and had to remain in the past. This wasn’t lying, he convinced himself, but a necessary protective measure, he decided on the spur of the moment to say that he had run into an old friend and was persuaded to catch up on old times over dinner.

Stone called ahead as he got in the taxi and sure enough when the taxi turned into his street he could see Laura waiting for him at the front door of the house, pacing expectantly up and down the porch and when she saw the taxi pull up at the curb she ran down the path. Stone just about had enough time to get out and close the taxi door before she jumped up and flung her arms around his neck shouting
‘Daddy Daddy,’
and smothered him in kisses. He walked up the path to the house with his daughter suspended around his neck and he hugged her tightly to try to make up for all the days he’d missed seeing Laura grow up.

Stone walked through the open door and kicked it closed behind him with his heel.

‘You look so beautiful Laura, more beautiful every time I see you, you're growing up so fast,’ he said finally lifting her down and standing back to look at her. Laura was dressed specially to welcome him in a new outfit she’d bought at the mall at the weekend, the latest designer fashion jeans and a new white cotton top with the logo SEXY in big black letters set vertically down the right side. Her blond hair was now just below her shoulders and she wore ankle length booties and looked ten years older since his last visit. He wasn’t too sure about the logo though; he guessed times were changing faster than he was. Laura saw a frown instead of a smile and thought she’d done something wrong. Children will never understand a parent’s expression when they’re feeling pride and regret all at the same time, as Stone felt that very second. They expect a smile but a smile is too easy, all kinds of other emotions can sometimes smother basic happiness.

Happiness is a given.

‘What’s wrong Daddy?’ said Laura.

‘Nothing princess, nothing, I’m just admiring you, you're all grown up and I’ve…nothing baby, come here and give me another hug.’

Laura squeezed her father around the middle and grabbed his hand to pull him to the sofa to sit with her.

‘Where’s Eleanor, I mean your mother?’ said Stone.

‘She’ll be back any moment; she went out to get some wine for dinner.’

‘How is she?’

‘She’s fine, she’s always busy with this campaign or that committee, and she’s still trying to change the world.’

‘Tell me about it.’

Stone still blamed the demise of their marriage on his being away working on the other side of the world so much but the truth was they had also grown apart. His head was full of business and contracts; hers was increasingly taken up with local politics and green issues. Her latest campaign, that she had emailed to tell him about, was to canvas for the local Republican candidate for this year’s elections, something that Stone felt far removed from in his life away in the Caribbean.

Stone took off his overcoat and wandered around the house familiarizing himself with where he used to live. He threw his jacket over the banister and had completely forgotten about the gunshot wound. He still had a bandage wrapped around his upper arm and there was a small trace of blood that must have seeped through from the wound.

Laura saw it straight away and quizzed him mercilessly.

‘What’s that Daddy? And don’t tell me you ran into a door.’

‘What that? It’s nothing it’s just…’ said Stone lifting up his arm to look at the bandage.

‘You're hurt aren’t you? Tell me exactly what happened.’ Laura anticipated her father’s attempt to make light of the injury and wouldn’t let him off the hook. Is that why you're a day late?’

‘No. I.  I got into a little fight at the hotel bar. This, this drunken guy was annoying his girlfriend and he started to hit her, so, so I pulled him away and put him outside. That’s it.’

‘And he stabbed you or something?’

‘No he tried to hit me with a bottle and caught me, it’s just a scratch.’

‘Doesn’t look like a scratch to me. Anyway thank you for telling me the truth and not some phony story you usually come up with. I was waiting for the monstrous fib like some gangster shot at you and you managed to dodge the bullet. Why do you always have to be the hero? You're my Dad and I need you in one piece, you get it?’

Stone laughed it off and pointed to his chest and made the most innocent face he could get away with. ‘Who me? I’d never lie to my princess. Now, tell me how you're doing at school? Unless they’ve sent you to university early due to your amazing maturity and intelligence…’

‘D-a-d-d-d-d stop…actually there is something I have to tell you.’

‘I knew it, they’ve made you principal and…’

‘I won a prize in a writing competition…our school was awarded top place in the New York State Schools Literary contest and my poem was first prize.’ Laura held her hands around her back and was swinging her body from side to side. Modesty was never one of Laura’s strong points, just like her father.

‘Princess I’m so proud of you, why didn’t you tell me before?’

‘I wanted it to be a surprise Daddy, besides seeing you was more important than winning that prize.’ Laura ran up to her father and threw her arms around him again and this time she didn’t let go.

‘This calls for a celebration, a Stone family special,’ he said. ‘We’ll go out for dinner, you can choose, when your mother gets home we’ll get ready and paint the town red.’

Laura didn’t know what that meant but she was just happy that her father was home.

Things were different when he was around.