No Good Deed... Part VI

[Robbie C.]

Hector Rendozo looked down at the shot glass of tequila and snorted. He’d been out almost three months, and the thrill of booze was already gone. Still, he knocked the shot back and waved a finger for another. He had to keep up appearances, after all.

His feet hurt from the damned cowboy boots. Like wearing high heels, and I ain’t no damned bitch. But it was required these days, just like the tuxedos had been back before he went away. A man had to look the part, fit the role, or no one took him seriously. He’d learned that years ago, and was grateful to Jangles for bringing him up to speed on what had changed since he’d been away.

Jangles, known to his mother and one or two sisters as Juan, downed his own tequila shot and grinned. “It is good to drink on a day like this. Don’t you agree?”

“Any day is a good day for tequila, my friend.” Hector let the lie slide easily off his tongue. If he had to drink he preferred rum. But the price of the deal was often high. “But I’m tired of waiting. When is this friend of yours supposed to arrive?”

“He should have been here fifteen minutes ago.” Jangles shrugged. “But what can you do?”

“Find another woman. That’s what I can do.” Hector’s smile was genuine. He still wasn’t tired of women. Not after almost ten years behind bars.

“But will those women lead you to Burnett? Or the other one?”

Hector turned, feeling the tequila fanning his anger. “You weren’t the one who went down for that buy, Jangles.”

“No. I know. But it’s not easy finding Burnett these days. No word for over a year. It’s likely he either finally got killed or changed his name and bought some island somewhere. Are you sure he’s the only way?”

“Even in prison I never found anyone else who did business with Cooper. At least not more than once.” Hector stared down at his tequila. “At first I thought Burnett might be a cop, but there’s no way he could be. Not with everything he did. No cop would have been allowed to take down the Carrera organization like he did.”

“You know about that?”

“Word travels, my friend. Even in prison. No…there’s too much blood on Burnett for him to be a cop. But the other one…that Cooper. Him I wonder about.”

“And now you can ask.” Jangles nodded toward the club door. “About time you showed up, Ramon.”

In prison Hector would have wondered what gang had turned out Ramon, but out here he was learning what they seemed to call the metro-sexual look went over well with the ladies these days. Ramon’s clothes were just too tight for comfort, and he might even have been wearing eyeshadow. But he had a grin like a shark when he saw Jangles. “Juan! Long time no see, pal. Bartender, get me a Cosmo.”

“Ramon, this is Hector. He’s the one I told you about.”

Hector’s smile was thin. “A pleasure. Did Juan here tell you what I was after?”

“Information.” Ramon’s face pinched as he tasted the drink. “Tastes like piss, but you can’t expect much in a dump like this. Let’s grab a table and talk.”

Once they were seated and more drinks ordered from the strung-out waitress, Hector leaned across the table. “I don’t have time for games. Do you know Sonny Burnett?”

“Burnett. Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in over a year. One mean son of a bitch, let me tell you. How else could he have taken apart two cartels? I also heard some talk he had a hand in blowing away those South American nutcases who tried to set up some kind of protection racket two years ago.”

“So you got a hard-on for the guy. Is he still around?”

“Look, Hector. I worked for him when he ran the Carrera organization. So while you were in prison writing home for more soap on a rope I was hauling loads for the man. Forty key loads. Twice a week, sometimes more.” Ramon leaned across the table, his eyes suddenly dangerous. “Don’t mistake the clothes for the man, amigo. It might be the last mistake you make.”

Hector raised his hands. Shit. I gotta get this game down again. “My mistake, mano. Juan didn’t say you worked with Burnett. Only that you knew him.”

“You think I’d tell Jangles shit like that?” Ramon laughed. “Some of the old-timers have long memories. And Burnett did leave one or two enemies alive.”

“So what happened to him?”

“Why do you care?”

“It’s not Burnett I’m after. Not really.” Hector took a deep breath. He hated it, but he couldn’t see any other way forward. “It’s a guy he ran for from time to time. Before the Carrera and Manolo business, anyhow. Black guy from New York. Called himself Cooper.”

“Why Cooper?”

“I think he set me up to be busted. Hell, I think he might have been a cop.”

Ramon grinned and sat back. “You know, Burnett thought the same thing. I was part of a crew he took to meet some dude at an old lighthouse. Black guy like you said, but he was posing as some kind of Island hotshot. Burnett took a shot at him and said he was a cop.”

“The guy I dealt with was New York. No mistaking that. But I didn’t meet him and Burnett at the same time.”

“So how…”

Hector shrugged. “I had some weight I needed to unload. I knew Burnett from a load I’d run for the Mendozas and met up with him. He said he wasn’t into that side of the business, but that he’d heard of a guy who could handle the weight I had. Guy he’d moved weight for once or twice. Out of town guy named Cooper. It was fifty keys and the Mendozas weren’t buying. I needed to get rid of it fast, so I didn’t look too close at Cooper. Just called the number.”

Now it was Ramon’s turn to shrug. “Might not be the same guy. Cooper’s not a rare name. But Burnett never forgot a face. If he dealt with your Cooper, he’ll know where to find him. And if he’s a cop, I’ll bet he’d like to help you even the score.”

“So does that mean you can get in touch with him after all this damned dancing?”

“I don’t know. I’ll make some calls, put the word out. But he ain’t been active for over a year as far as I can tell. That only happens when guys get out of the game, either on their own or because someone took them out.” Ramon grinned, and when he blinked Hector was sure he was wearing eyeshadow. “Meet back here in two days. With or without Jangles. I’ll know more then.”

“And what will you want for this favor?”

“Nothing, man. If Burnett’s still in the game I’ll be looking for a job. I made damned good money running for him, and that was even at the lower level. And if he’s out, at least I’ll know that for sure and move on. Maybe hire on with you, Hector. I heard about you. You’re a climber and no mistake.”

Hector just nodded, waiting for Ramon to leave the table. After a minute the kid got up and headed over toward the bar.

Jangles let out a long breath. “Man…I didn’t think the kid had gotten that weird.”

“So far he’s the best lead we’ve got, so I’ll tolerate him for now. But you can bet I don’t trust that puto as far as my arm.” Hector finished his shot and glared at the empty glass. “You can stay here if you like. I’m gonna go get me a woman. Maybe two.” What the hell is this coming to? Bad enough I have to dress like a damned cowboy, but I’ll be fucked if I’m gonna dress like some cell block punk. Tossing a twenty on the table he got to his feet and headed for the door. The strip club they’d passed on the way to the bar was as good a place to start as any.

 

Narrow daggers of sunlight coming through open portholes stabbed into Sonny Crockett’s eyes, waking him better than any buzzing alarm clock. They’d dropped anchor just off the coast, and he could feel the gentle motion of Tranquility as she moved with the waves. Jenny was still sprawled partway on him, her soft hair fanned out over his face. She whimpered as he shifted, sliding her hand over his chest before settling back down again as he eased out of the big king-sized berth. He didn’t want to wake her just yet.

He made a cup of instant coffee in the galley, letting the smell fill his nose before taking the mug to the Memory Room and sinking into the sideboard couch. The night hadn’t been restful, and he looked at the pictures on the mahogany walls. Trying to find the peace that had eluded him in the darkness.

The picture of Hector had churned up memories. Things he’d hoped he’d left behind when he dropped his papers. He hadn’t mentioned the man to Jenny, not wanting to worry her more than she already was. Whatever vibe she was getting had her good and spooked, and he didn’t want to add to the load she was already carrying.

He wasn’t surprised someone would be looking for Burnett. It had been more common about a year ago, but players change and names fade. Especially as the drug trade spiraled into more and more violent cycles. Yesterday’s punk was today’s kingpin and tomorrow’s corpse of the day. What bothered him was the why of it. Hector had been in prison. Guys like that when they got out tended to have revenge on their minds. Or maybe the guy was looking to get back in the action. Rico was right…it had been his bust, not Sonny’s.

Still, the idiot had started the slide show in his head. Starting with the dead eyes of the crazed Columbian Tommy Lowe had sent after Caitlin that first night on the water. Then the shocked disbelief in Hackman’s eyes when he saw the truth and knew Sonny was going to kill him. There were others, too…nameless faces from his time with Manolo and the Carreras. Once he would have reached for the Jack Daniel’s bottle when the dreams stopped, but now he knew better.

“I knew you’d be up here.” Jenny’s long blonde hair draped over her shoulders, just touching the tops of her high breasts. “You had a bad night.”

“Yeah. Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I felt you leave.” She settled down next to him, her naked skin smooth and soft against him. “It was that man, wasn’t it? The one Robbie told you about?”

“Yes and no.” Sonny took a sip of coffee. “He just kinda got things started.”

“Who is he?”

“Guy named Hector. That’s all I know.” He touched her thigh. “Seriously. That’s about all I know about him. He came to Burnett back in ’89 or so with some coke and I passed him off to Rico to make the bust. Burnett wasn’t a big dealer back then, and there was no way I could have him front the cash the deal needed.” He shook his head. “It wasn’t a big bust even back then. Hell, I barely remembered it until Rico said he took the guy down.”

“So he’s not looking to get even?”

“I doubt it, darlin’. More likely he’s tryin’ to get back in the game after he did his time and my name’s one of the few he knows.” He let his gaze slide to the picture of the Task Force. “We didn’t leave too many of the old ones out there.”

“I know. But he’s not the only reason you had a bad night.”

“No. He started it, and it just went from there. Too many faces and too many memories.” He touched her thigh again. “Like I said, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Which ones are the worst?”

“The ones I don’t know. Most of ‘em from my…when I was Burnett. They’re mostly just faces. No names with ‘em. No idea what they did. Just that I shot them.” He looked away from the picture, his eyes seeing nothing. “There aren’t many, really. Not as many as you’d think with the reputation Burnett has. But enough.”

“They were all bad men.” There was no question in her voice. “Burnett is still you, Sonny. You don’t hurt people who aren’t bad.”

“Yeah.” An image of Gordon Cavis, the kid he’d shot during the Monroe Jackson case, floated through his head. The kid had been part of a Chicago street gang, and given what he’d learned after looking at his juvenile record Sonny had no doubt the kid would have shot him without blinking an eye. But had he been born bad, or did someone make him that way? He’d visited Gordon in the hospital a few times, but a crush of cases and then Caitlin took priority. By the time the dust settled, including what Tubbs liked to call ‘the Burnett Incident,’ the kid was gone. Checked out of the hospital and vanished. Sonny liked to tell himself the parents had come down from Wisconsin and taken their son home, but his cop side know different. In all likelihood the streets, either those in Miami or back in Chicago, had swallowed him up.

“We’re all surrounded by ghosts, Sonny. Sometimes they visit, other times they just watch.” She touched his arm. “But they don’t control you. Say hello and let them go.” She looked past him at the narrow porthole. “We should weigh anchor and get moving if we want to make that meeting this morning.”

He smiled, knowing she was right. About everything. “Yeah. I’ll head up and get started. You might want to at least put some shorts on first.” He raised his hand. “I know there’s no one but me out here to see, but I remember what you said about rope burns…”

She giggled, tossing her head so her hair floated behind her back like a golden cloak. “And we don’t want any of those. One last look and I’ll see you topside.”

They made good time, tying up at dock at Caitlin’s House with almost half an hour to spare. Once they were ashore, Jenny stretched up and kissed Sonny lightly on the lips. “Go find Rico. I need to talk to Gina and then maybe Mindy.”

He nodded, running his hand down her back to her backside. “I’ll be seeing you in a bit, darlin’. Don’t cook up any big plans with those two.”

He found Rico sitting in his office, his attention split between the computer screen and a file open on his desk. His old partner smiled when he sauntered in. “Well, well. I’d say look what the gator dragged in but we know Elvis was always too damned lazy to drag his food.”

“Yeah. He was. Gotta give the old boy credit where it’s due.” Sonny chuckled and set himself flop into a chair on the other side of the desk. “I wonder if he’s still around.” He paused, searching Rico’s eyes. “Out with it, partner. You’re still thinking about him, too, aren’t you?”

“Hector? Yeah.” Rico shrugged. “Just when you think you got the Job behind you it comes up and bites you in the ass.”

“He was your bust, not mine. Remember anything special about him?”

“Naw. I didn’t even remember him until last night. Stared at that damned picture for almost an hour until it came to me. Just your average coke chump trying to push his way up in the game. Maybe a bit nastier than some, but not in the big leagues. I didn’t think he was due to be released for a couple years yet.”

“You know how good behavior works, Rico.” Sonny chuckled. “I went through it all last night, and I don’t think I’d heard squat about the guy before that deal, and not a peep after he got busted.”

“Same here. Hell, he was probably lookin’ for Burnett because he’s lookin’ for work.”

“Same thing I settled on.” Sonny shrugged, stuffing Hector into his mental locker. “What’s going on today that couldn’t wait?”

“It’s more of an in-house update.” Rico closed the folder and leaned across the desk. “Mindy and Trudy got started on the Post and that reporter. Mindy won’t tell me what they found, but she said they already got some interesting stuff.”

“Not married two years yet and she’s already keeping secrets?” Sonny grinned. “Not lookin’ good, partner.”

“Oh, she’s lookin’ fine as always.” Rico chuckled. “Let’s get up there so you can see for yourself.”

Settling into his chair at the head of the table, Sonny’s mind went back to those meetings on the tenth floor with the Task Force. Rico sat to his right, Gina and Mindy to his left. The biggest difference was Jenny, sitting just off to one side like she didn’t belong. When he motioned for her to move to the table, she shook her head. “It’s business now. Different business.”

Nodding, he turned back to the table. “Ok. What do we have?”

Mindy shuffled some papers and cleared her throat. “The Post was in trouble until about three years ago, when they were bought out by an LLC registered in Luxembourg.”

“Seriously?”

She nodded. “Trudy and I managed to trace some of the LLC’s holdings back through Panama before we lost the trail. We don’t have the resources we used to, and public records are pretty theoretical once you hit some parts of the world. But the profile fits one of the bigger narco syndicates.”

“I get them needing to launder money, and given how much they rake in they gotta aim big. But a paper?”

Gina nodded. “It makes sense, Sonny. What better way to distract the public during a big case than to run topless celebrity photos? Or a nice, juicy piece hinting at some kind of wrongdoing on the part of the prosecution or cops involved? The Post was always big on innuendo and low on proof.”

Mindy smiled. “And they can send ‘reporters’ sniffing around places without a second glance.”

“How much control does this LLC actually have?”

“They own the operation, but don’t seem to have made any major personnel changes. Some in the accounting department, but other than that…”

“They wouldn’t need to.” Rico chuckled. “Just encourage some of the chumps already working there and you’re good to go.”

“That’s what we think they did.” Mindy flipped through her notes. “Which brings us to Jimmy Campbell. He thinks he’s Woodward and Bernstein rolled into one, but he’s really not much more than a hack. Got fired by all the major papers in the metro area before the Post took him in.”

“I put in a couple of calls to some of my new friends,” Gina said. “Funny how nice the press can be now that I’m not a cop and have a position with a rehab facility. Anyhow, none of them would go on the record but they all said little Jimmy was let go because he was loose with the truth in most of his stories. Fact-checkers hated him. One guy said the staff took to calling his stories toilet paper because that was all they were good for. But they also said he had a knack for headlines and lurid crap that would get people to look at his stories.”

“So he’s a dream date for the Post.”

“Something like that. But none of my sources had any idea why he’d be so hot for us.”

“Whatever it is, it’s gotta be big.” Rico leaned back. “Chump don’t seem to care about breakin’ the law.”

“Did he have any special beat before the Post? Hell, even with the Post?” Sonny looked at Gina and Mindy. “Maybe he’s got a thing for hookers and we reformed his favorite girl.”

“He did crime for the Tribune and was in the news pool for the Sun Times. What we could find of his by-lines didn’t look too impressive. A couple of ‘exposes’ that were just lurid hooker tales with the Tribune, and one of them got him fired. Seems a city councilman didn’t care for his daughter being mis-identified as a hooker.”

“It’s obvious someone’s got his back, though. With that microphone and all. Chump must be selling a damned good package to someone at the Post.”

“Good work. Keep on it. We need to stay ahead of this and not end up playing catch up.” Sonny looked around the table. “If this was the old days I’d have Stan and Lester lay in wiretaps. But we can’t do that any more. So I want extra security on the perimeter. Rico, have those two sweep the phones daily now. Just because we play by the rules doesn’t mean Campbell or the Post will. In fact, I’d lay odds they don’t. See if Stan thinks there’s areas we’re missing, and if so have him plug the gaps. Those two have forgotten more about surveillance than we’ll ever know.”

“You got it, boss.” Mindy smiled as she lapsed back into old Task Force language. “Sorry, but it feels kinda like…”

“We’re back on the job. Yeah, I know. In some ways I guess we are. Just stay sharp, people. Mindy, let Trudy know what’s up when she comes in. I’m guessing she’ll check in with you first before she meets with Gina.” He looked around. “Did anyone have anything else? Even if it’s just general?”

It was half an hour before Sonny found himself out on the familiar deck looking out over the yard. Memories flooded over him as he watched the green grass shifting like water in the light breeze. Most of them circled back to the afternoon when he and Cait had agreed to try to make it work…and when he’d decided to leave Metro-Dade to be with her. “Just a few cases to wrap up,” he whispered to the humid air. “That’s all it was. And we were so close…”

“When did you want to head back?” Jenny’s soft voice snapped him back to the present like a kick to the head.

“We can do now, darlin’. I was just taking a moment. Always did like how the yard looked from here.”

She smiled, taking his hand. “I know what this spot means to you, Sonny. It’s ok. But we need to be here, not. Not there, then.”

“I know.” He paused. “I think we might have to stay at the marina for a few days. Those contracts should be ready and the renovations are gonna start. I don’t want to be too far away when that happens.”

“Neither do I. I can help with the sailing program.” She smiled, but he could see the sadness in her eyes. “Some of those girls have never even been on a boat before.”

“You’ll be great, darlin’. Just like Trudy is.”

“We should go see Martin. He must be lonely with her working here.”

Sonny smiled. Jenny never called Castillo ‘Marty.’ It was always his full name. Like he’s her older brother. But they’re both so in tune with whatever it is they hear they could be brother and sister. “Yeah, I expect he is. He’d never admit it, though. We can drive out there tomorrow afternoon. I’ve got to go over and hopefully sign those contracts in the morning, but we’ll be done by noon.”