2015 April A-Z Challenge ~~ The ABC’s of Death ~ E

I’m not going to list each preceding chapter every day. It would get much too long.  If you haven’t read previous chapters I have a category listing on the side with the title 2015 April A-Z challenge. You can find all the chapters there. Thanks for reading!

Excitement

The morning comes full of bright sunshine. Tee and I had a good nights sleep and now he was dancing in front of the door.

“Hang on buddy. Let me grab a shower first.”

I take a quick shower and dress. I put Tee in his leather bag and head downstairs. My thoughts are on the new case as Tee makes a few visits to nearby bushes. We found a nice small park near the hotel, deserted this time of the morning. Tee is enjoying some freedom from the hotel room. So am I.

While Tee is sniffing every bush and tree in the park, my mind is going over what I know about this case so far. Which is damn little. I need to talk to Tony’s daughter. I also need to have a look inside Tony’s house. If the cops weren’t looking at anything but suicide, there might be something of interest inside. I want to pay a visit to the club Tony was playing at too. Talk to a few people. See if they knew of anyone that had it in for Tony Baloney.

I pull out my phone and punch in Angela’s number. I need the daughters address.

“Hey, Angela.”

“Dee. I’m waiting for the cab so I can pick up my car. I should be there in about fifteen minutes.”

“Bring the number for Cynthia when you come. I want to pay her a visit today.”

“Here’s the cab. I got the number and her address for you. See you soon.”

I hang up thinking Angela sounds more like herself this morning. Efficient. I whistle for Tee and head back to the hotel.

I reach the hotel parking lot just as I see Angela get out of the cab. Tee and I are still on the other side of the parking lot when I spot a man walk up to Angela. Something didn’t feel right to me, even from here. I trust my gut feelings. I speed up to a quick walk, almost a jog, when I see the guy grab Angela’s arm. I hear their raised voices, his angry, her’s scared.

This jerk raises his other hand and slaps Angela. Just as I reach them I hear him say, “Leave things alone lady, or you’ll get hurt.”

There are two things I hate more than anything, one is a person abusing an animal, the other is a bully. This guy was a bully. You could see it in his lidded eyes and thin-lipped sneer.

“Hey, asshole! Get your hands off her!” I get his attention.

“Keep moving lady. This ain’t none of your business.” He still has a large hand grasped around Angela’s arm.

I move right up on them. I grab one finger of the hand that’s on Angela and pull back. Surprise I was taught is sometimes your biggest ally. The idiot yells as I pull that finger back some more.

“You bitch! I’ll kill ya!”

“Who are you working for?” I ask him because guys like this are never the brains. They are just dumb muscle.

“Fuck off!” He yells. Yeah, not very original.

“I would suggest that for yourself,” I tell him as I let him go. I knew he wouldn’t take his own advice.

He reaches behind his back and pulls out a gun.

“I hate guns,” I tell him as I kick him. I didn’t tell him I had a black belt in jujitsu. I didn’t want to spoil the surprise.

I step into him and hit his arm off to the side. I stomp his foot and having on my biker boots I know it hurts like hell. I know jujitsu, but I also fight dirty. If someone is going to draw a gun on me, they are going to get hurt. Better him than me. As I toss him over my shoulder and he hits the pavement I grab his throat. My thumb is on his jugular. I know it hurts. I’ve been on the receiving end of it in training.

This guy is out of shape. Lazy. If you are going to be muscle, at least have some. I put more pressure on his jugular.

“Lay still.” I tell him. He quiets down. His eyes are looking at me and they are telling me that I’m dead if he can figure out a way to do it. I’m not worried.

“You tell your boss to lay off Angela. You also tell him that I’ll be around for a while. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’ll find out. You got that?”

He blinks a few times. I take that as a yes and let up. I grab his gun off the ground and stick it in the back of my jeans. I’ll get rid of it later. One less gun off the streets.

Dumb ass is gasping for breath as he gets up. He’s holding his sore throat. Drunkenly he lurches toward the back of the hotel. I’m thinking he has a car back there. I let him go. I want word to get to his boss. Because something is up and Angela has got her pretty blonde self smack in the middle of it.

I look at her. “What the hell did he want?”

She’s holding Tee and hiding her face in his fur. “Angela!”

She jerks her head up and looks at me. I see the red mark on her cheek from when Stupid slapped her but see no tears. I walk up to her.

“What is going on Angela? What did he want?”

“He asked me where the deed was.”

“What deed? To what?”

“The old Wenner estate. Tony and I bought it together a few months ago. It was up for auction for back taxes. It’s run down from decades of neglect, but it sits on some good acreage. We had plans to fix the mansion up into a small exclusive hotel, spa, and nightclub.”

“Doesn’t sound like something to kill over.”

As the words are coming out of my mouth, Angela gives me a strange look. “What aren’t you telling me?” I demand.

“There are rumors that old man Wenner, back in the twenties, hid some gold bullion somewhere on the estate. Tony and I didn’t believe it as people have been trespassing and looking for this gold for years and not finding a thing! Can that be what they want?”

An old estate. An eccentric old man. A gold bullion legend. A thug who talks and looks like a Mafia wannabe?

Add one possible murder and the attack on Angela. What have I got?

Oh, crap.

I always enjoy comments and/or constructive criticism. Or, you could just say hi! Thanks!