DEAD MAN'S JUSTICE - A Place of Evil (Stone & McLeish Thriller Series of Stories Book 2) (18 page)

Chapter 41

‘I need to see you.’ She wasn’t interested in having a conversation. She had only one thing on her mind.

‘Sure babe. Hey thanks again for the heads up, I got the money.’

‘Where?’

‘Where what? Oh. Best we meet at my office – you know where it is?’

She fingered the card in her pocket, brought it out and stared at the address. ‘I got your call card, remember?’

‘Yeah you do. I’ll be there ‘bout eleven, okay? Maybe we can get some lunch or...’

‘Just be there at eleven.’

The line went dead and Shadow realized that he was listening to the dial tone.

Stone and Mac left the deli apartment through the back entrance. Alfredo was busy in the kitchen and discussing something with his sous-chef so they both waved hands and Stone mouthed
‘See you later.’

‘Who’s driving?’

‘We’ll take it in turns, you drove over here last night so I’ll get this,’ said Mac. He punched the address into the SatNav and pointed the car towards the Queens, Shadow’s office had to be over in that direction somewhere.

She made a last check in the mirror before leaving the apartment; the limousine was waiting for her downstairs. Her hair was brushed and loose and curly down around her shoulders. She had picked out a pair of designers jeans, and a pink cashmere jumper which she wore over a white collarless blouse. She pulled on a knee length winter coat to shield against the cold weather and wrapped a black woolen scarf around her neck.

‘Good morning ma’am. Where to today ma’am?’ said the driver holding open the door of the limousine for her as she strode across the forecourt to the car.

‘Queens,’ is all she said. The driver was wondering what business she could possibly have in Queens, but his job wasn’t to question his employer.

The snow had almost gone from the sidewalks along Central Park West. The temperature overnight had risen a degree or two and the sun’s early morning rays were warming up the roofs and canopies. Drops of glistening water dripped from the gutters and awnings at the entrance to the apartment. Across the road, in central park, there were still piles of dirty snow strewn around at random from where the park workers had scraped and shoveled the footpaths clear, but these too were melting and becoming smaller by the hour.

On the drive over, which took about an hour, she could think of nothing else but the pain and sorrow that the man had brought her and her family. Memories of her mother’s touch, her mother’s smile crowded her thoughts. There were tears streaming down her face, she turned and dabbed her eyes with a tissue so that the driver couldn't see her in the mirror. Then she recalled her beloved sister’s words and what she had said, they echoed over and over like sound bites from a movie.

She knew what she had to do.

Mac figured that they were no more than five minutes away from Shadow’s office so they ran through the MO.

‘It’s Saturday, there should be no one around, if there is, I’m looking for the owner of Loman’s Import Export ‘cos he said he’d meet me here at eleven-ish, okay?’

‘Once you're inside it’s too late, check to see if he’s in before you break into his office.’

‘Obviously,’ said Stone.

‘You're looking for the money, a bag or perhaps another attaché case, that’s all you’re there for, got it.’

Stone decided to give Mac an
‘of course stupid’
face rather than another
‘obviously’
.

‘We’re here Ma’am; we’re at the address you gave me.’

She looked around and hadn’t realized they’d arrived. She told the driver not to wait. She would call him when she was ready.

He left her standing in the car park, looking up at the building name on a sign board just below the first floor office windows. At ground floor there were shops and cafes with people scurrying around in and out of the stores. She started to cross to the sidewalk and heard a horn blasting out, a large grey van slammed on its brakes and screeched to a halt a few yards from her feet.
‘Watch it lady I almost killed ya.’
shouted the driver. She was still in a trance. People stopped and stared, she felt embarrassed and walked on, keeping her head down, saying nothing. The entrance to the office was on the left of the building, next to a book store. She reached the lobby and tried the main doors. They were locked. On the wall to the right was a set of names and buzzers, she scanned down from the top with her finger until she saw ‘LOMAN’S IMPORT EXPORT’. She closed her eyes, drew in a breath and said
‘this is it,’
to herself and pressed the buzzer. She turned around to see if anyone was watching.

Nobody took any notice of her at all.

They were too busy flitting from store to store dragging their kids around with them. The sound of a voice jolted her back to look at the speaker in the center of the entry panel.

‘Is that you?’ said the deep gravelly voice. It was exactly as she remembered it. It made her flesh crawl.

‘Who else?’ she said.

‘Take the elevator to the eighth; turn right, it’s the fifth door on your left.’

The latch clicked and she pushed the door and stepped into the inner lobby. The lobby was dark; the grimy magnolia walls were bare and looked as if they hadn’t been painted for years. The steel doors of the elevator were scratched and rusting from graffiti and the call button was so worn and dented. She tentatively stretched out a finger to press it. A bell dinged and the doors squeaked and rattled open. Could she trust it not to break down? She thought about taking the stairs but relented and walked inside. The overhead light flickered on and off and the stench of urine seeped from the peeling and cracked linoleum floor. It was so strong she could taste it.

She found the eighth floor button and touched it as quickly as she could. The elevator jerked into action and took forever to climb from floor to floor. She watched the lights jump from button to button and was relieved when it eventually reached the eighth level. For a split second she though the lift car was stuck but suddenly the doors sprang open and she ran out before they could close again.

Mac parked the rental in a space facing the building. They both looked at the name sign and Stone got out of the car. Mac told him to be careful and not to take any chances, Stone told him not to worry, the first sign of Shadow and he’d clear straight out, he said.

When Stone reached the lobby doors he found them open, just an inch, and looked around nervously expecting someone to stop him. His luck was in and he continued to the elevator.

She remembered to turn right. Light was emanating from a doorway roughly halfway down the corridor. All the other offices were dark; they appeared to be closed up for the weekend. As she walked the only sound she heard was her own footsteps on the tiled floor but as she grew nearer, she heard hip-hop music through an open door. That must be his office, she thought.

The beat of her heart seemed to fill her whole chest and she could feel it throbbing in her neck. The voices inside her head pushed her on towards the open door; she kept her right hand in her pocket, her sweaty fingers clutching, twitching and ready.

The music stopped. She had arrived at the door and Shadow called out. ‘Rachel? Rachel is that you?’

She didn’t answer, her mouth was too dry. She knocked on the door out of reflex but walked straight in.

Shadow was sitting behind a desk looking directly at her, she had never seen Shadow without his shades, his eyes were smiling, he was talking to her but the words were muffled, they didn’t register.

She was in an unreachable zone.

As she pulled out the Berretta Tomcat from her pocket, faces appeared before her eyes, her mother’s, her sister’s and they faded as she squeezed the trigger. She’d never fired a gun before, her hands were shaking. She raised her left hand to steady her aim and pointed the barrel at Shadow’s chest. He stood up and was shouting something and he held out his hands but it didn’t matter, nothing mattered. She heard a loud bang and her hands were pushed back.

Shadow’s body was thrown backwards the he dropped down into his chair, his cries were the first sounds she heard clearly.

‘Rachel...whyyyyy.’

The job was done.

Chapter 42

Stone boarded the elevator, one hand pushed the floor indicator button, his other covered his nose and mouth against the foul air which nearly made him retch. The lift bumped into life and he watched the lights as they ascended from one to eight.

Heat and pain ripped through Shadow’s body, his lungs exploded and he could taste blood rising in his throat, he couldn't breathe or speak anymore. He stretched out his right hand towards his desk drawer. He always kept his Glock there, loaded and ready.

She had already turned to walk towards the door and as she reached it she glanced back to take one more look at him, but what she saw was Shadow’s outstretched arm aiming a gun directly at her. It was over before she knew, the bullet hit her in the back with the force of a sledge hammer, her legs felt paralyzed, she held onto the door. Blood splattered onto the frame and dripped onto the floor. From the moment he’d been shot to pulling the trigger to shoot her, was no more than five seconds.

His return shot was pure reflex, the gun fell out of his hand, he slumped forward into a heap, a pool of blood spread across his desk.

Shadow was dead.

Struggling for breath, she tried to walk normally, wondering why her legs would not move, she stumbled against the corridor wall, sliding her body along inch by inch. Her vision was fading in and out. She reached a restroom door. She leant against it, it opened too quickly and, despite grabbing the washbasin, she fell, face down onto the cold tiled floor.

The elevator pinged as it reached the eighth floor and Stone stepped out into a dim, dank corridor. He looked at the room numbers on the office doors. They alternated, even one side, odd on the other. He was looking for number nine and counted down to the fifth door on the left.

The light was on and the door was ajar.

It was the only office that was lit up.

Was he in there?
‘I’ve come this far,’
he thought, he decided to check it out anyway. He crept along the corridor and stopped outside the office of LOMAN’S IMPORT EXPORT and listened at the door. He could hear nothing. If someone was in there, there would be some sound, he thought.

He called out, ‘Hello?’ No one answered. He stretched out his hand towards the doorknob and froze in shock when he heard someone shouting. His right foot moved forward and his shoe covered the small pool of blood by the door.

‘Hey. Mister. There’s no one in there. Nobody’s in at all ‘cept me.’ A janitor at the end of the corridor - a young man with spiky hair, a mop in his hand, and an mp3 player wired in to his ears – shouted out to Stone. ‘Say. How’d you get in?’ he asked, before Stone had a chance to speak. The young guy removed his ear buds.

‘The door down in the lobby...was open, hadn’t clicked shut. So I...’

‘Yeah...I’ve told maintenance ‘bout that a dozen times at least.’

‘Anyway don’t worry, I’m just leaving.’

He couldn’t check out the room now, not with Spiky so close by, he made out that he was leaving.

‘Okay Mister...so long now.’

Stone made his way back to the elevator irked at not getting into Shadow’s room. He left the building, walked across the parking lot and got back into the car. Mac was listening to a radio report, Stone caught the end of it as he slid into the front seat, ‘...the young girl, fourteen years old, an African-American, has been missing for several hours and her parents have said ‘This is not like her at all.’ Police are doing all they can...’

‘What’s that all about?’ referring to the radio report.

‘A missing girl. She’ll turn up. Teenagers are always pushing the boundaries.’ Mac was trying to make light of the report.

‘Since when were you an expert on teenage girls?’

He didn’t answer, he changed the subject.

‘You were quick, what happened? I know you didn’t get the money cos I don't see it.’

‘Nothing, and you're right I didn’t get a chance to. Got right to the door and some janitor saw me and I had to leave it.’

‘We could come back after dark. He won’t be around then surely?’

‘We’ll do that. I didn’t see any security. Plenty of cameras though right above the entrance.’

Stone and Mac exited the car park.

‘I’d say it was about time for lunch,’ said Mac.

‘It’s always lunch time to you.’

They stopped by a sports bar on the way back where they could eat and catch up on the latest games.

Tomasz Bielinski, the janitor, pushed the ear buds back into his ears and went back to work. He was swinging the mop back and forth across the corridor and singing along in time with the music. He saw something red out of the corner of his eye, but it was too late. Tomasz stopped, leant his arm on the mop and scratched his head; he had no idea what it was.

He had just wiped away someone’s blood.