“Is that it? That one,” I pointed.
“That’s it, boss. That one there,” he pointed at the same building I had. “The one with the green and white metal awning over the window.”
“Thanks, guys.” I started to turn.
“That’s where you got worked over?”
“Yep. That’s the place.”
“That can’t be no coincidence. Appears like Eddie’s the man behind you getting snatched.”
“That would be one explanation. Still, that building is owned by the general so Eddie could be looking at it in relation to some use for it. He might plan to sell or lease it out. Remember, he expects he’ll soon be inheriting the general’s assets which will include that building.”
“Do you want we should keep the tail on him?”
“Absolutely. Now, you boys should be beating it over to the golf course so you can pick Eddie back up. Buddha, nice to meet you, I appreciate you helping us out, also teaching Axel how to drive. When he gets his license and can drive himself, my life will get easier.”
“My pleasure, Mr. Kile. Anything else?”
“Yes. Axel, you need to get with Ms. Clara Birnbaum down the hall from you. She needs you to go to the store for her. She’s going to bake us a banana cream pie, but only if she gets the fixings. If you don’t get it done for her, she expects me to go.”
“I already went for her the other day. I’ll take care of Clara. She may have our banana cream ready some time today.”
*
Two hours later, I had a plan. It hadn’t taken full shape, but it had a clear overall theme. I called Axel and told him to get a hold of his graveyard man and give him the night off. “I want you and Buddha to stay with him and call me every hour tonight starting at eight to let me know Eddie’s location. I expect to be relieving you myself.”
Chapter 31
Axel called at eight to say he and Buddha were sitting outside Michael’s, the Italian restaurant on east Second Street in the Naples area.
“Eddie went in with some doll. They’ve been in there long enough to know they’re having dinner or doing some serious drinking.”
“Okay, Axel. I’m heading your way. Oh, yeah, I’m driving Mackie’s unmarked white van. Let me know if they leave before you hear from me. When I’m there, you and Buddha can take the rest of the night off. I’ll fill you in later.”
“Why you driving Mackie’s van?”
“No time for questions.”
“Okay, boss. Call me when you’re in position. You sure you don’t want to tell me what you’re up to?”
“After it plays out and I’ve got something to tell.”
The drive to the Naples area of Long Beach took me a hustling twenty minutes, without consideration of my rib cage. When I got near, I called Axel. They had a parking spot which gave them a good view of Eddie’s car. I had Axel and Buddha pull out of their space and I pulled in. I took out my binoculars and settled back, watching the block leading up to the four-door black Lexus Eddie was driving tonight.
At nine-fifteen I recognized Eddie coming toward his car with a young lady with blond shoulder length hair walking to his inside, away from the roadway. She wore platform heels, and walked with her hand a tentacle around Eddie’s bicep. She was what I once heard Axel call a one-and-a-quarter dame. Which Axel describes as a gal with one quarter too much makeup, one quarter too much jewelry, and one quarter too fancy a hairdo. She was attractive, but she fit Axel’s definition.
I followed them back to some apartments off Wardlow where Eddie parked on a side street. She used a card key to get them through a side gate. With my binoculars I could see them walk down a center corridor through a landscaped area and around a building to the right. I slipped into Ernest Podkin’s black leather jacket and his gray cap. I would have preferred the cap have a bigger front bill, but it didn’t. I also had an extra-large shirt on with a small couch pillow under the shirt, inside the zipped up jacket. This closely compared to Podkin’s build. In my hand I held a half a dozen cotton balls.
I waited.
At eleven, Eddie came around the corner of the building at the far right side of the landscaped courtyard area. I had turned the dome light off in Mackie’s van. I shut the door gently and hurriedly walked toward the bushes to the side of the gate Eddie would come through to get back to where he had parked.
By the time I got in position, I had Poddy’s hat pulled down partway on my forehead and the cotton balls lining my jawline between my teeth and my cheeks.
Eddie opened the metal gate, and closed it gently. I appreciated his having shut the gate quietly. With what I had in mind I didn’t need to attract the attention of any apartment dwellers who might be up late. As he stepped away from the gate, he had his back to me. I took one step from the shadow and pressed the barrel of a fake gun into his back. He froze.
“Turn easy,” I said with my voice deeper than natural.
“What do you want? Is this a robbery?”
“Not exactly. I’m going to keep this gun in my pocket so as to not attract attention, but my finger remains on the trigger. Get me?”
I sensed him going rigid. “What do you want?”
“Fifty thousand dollars.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t happen to have that much on me.”
“You’re a real smartass, Mr. Whittaker. Yeah. I know who you are and I know what you’re gonna inherit. So let me tell you why I’m in your face.”
He worked his hands down into his pants’ front pockets. I had watched him walk. He had no gun. I stayed inside the shadow where the building blocked the floodlight.
“You can tell from my gang colors, I’m a buddy of Ernie Podkin. A few nights ago I come by his place, late. I see you coming out his door. No lights are on inside and Poddy ain’t at the door seeing you off. I get suspicious and follow along behind you. From your license plate I learn your name. You’re that big shot general’s kid.”
“Grandson.”
“Pardon me, big shit. You’re the general’s grandkid. Anyways, I go back to Poddy’s and wake ‘im. He tells me some dude he couldn’t see had coughed up a grand with a promise of more to do a job. He claims he didn’t know the man, and I haven’t told Poddy how I found out. Later, I tailed Poddy and see him snatch this guy out behind Russell’s over on Atlantic. I made a note of the dude’s license plate. I see Poddy shove the guy into a building on 22nd Street in Pedro. By midnight they ain’t come out, neither one of ‘em.”
Eddie tries to say something; I stopped him.
“Shut up, Whittaker. You ain’t heard nothin’ yet. Later, I check the dude’s license plate and learn he’s some author by the name of Matthew Kile. To me, that adds up to some kind of ransom caper, but that don’t check. No one else goes in the building where Poddy took Kile. No one comes out and Poddy wouldn’t call for the ransom from the place he was holding the guy. The next day, I see a cop I know by reputation go in. Few minutes later, Poddy comes out, gets in his van and hauls ass. The cop comes out with this Kile guy who ain’t walking all that well. I use my glasses and see Kile had been worked over. Poddy’s pretty good at that. I figure that hooks you into a kidnapping and assault and battery. A little Google work tells me you had been arrested by that same cop a long time back about the murder of your fiancee. Now I figure all this ties. Okay. So, my silence will cost you fifty big ones. Now you can talk.”
“You got nothing. You’re stringing a lot of unrelated stuff together.”
“Then don’t pay me. I figure the papers will pay a nice fee for what I got. Complete with pictures. They’re always interested in stuff about the general. And I got a little hassle with the fuzz that I can bargain off with the part I don’t give the papers. I also read that your grandfather is close to croaking so he could get upset enough that it might mess up your inheritance. If he suspected you might have really offed your fiancee who the papers said was carrying the general’s great grandson. Well, that’s some nasty business, Mr. Whittaker, shame on you.”