I went back to Shuster’s office and decide to have a look around. The desk turned out to be a bust, except for the drugs and gun. I have no idea what I was looking for but continued to search anyway. I found nothing in the office of any interest. I went into his private washroom and open a small locker. Toilet paper, liquid soap, and towels. I feel dirty after handling a dead man so I take a container of soap and a towel out of the locker. Behind the stack of towels I notice a box. I tried to pick it up but realized it was attached to the wall. There is a key lock on the front. This was an odd place for a strong box, but now my curiosity is peaked. I have no idea how to open a metal strongbox, but decide a key was my best option. I return to his desk and search. In the top center draw was a small keychain with 4 keys on it. This would be too easy. I go back and tried them one at a time. The third try was the charm. The lock opened and I opened the top. The box was around a one foot cube shape. The first thing I saw was a stack of banded bills. These guys had money hanging all over the place. There were several large envelopes. A couple had negotiable securities and I had I no need for them. The last envelope I opened contained a set of pictures similar to the ones in Allen’s bedroom, except instead of Allen naked in the picture it was Shuster. As if I needed more proof here it was. There were several other pictures that I didn’t recognize immediately. I took a large towel and put the money and the unidentifiable pictures in it. I tied them up similar to a hobo pack. I replace everything else, locked the box, and returned the key to the desk draw.
I took out my cell phone and called Buckle. He had given me his cellular number to report when the job was complete, and he answered. “It’s Carr, the job is complete. But I think you should have a look in your office. You see, your partner is no longer around. So if you call the cops and turn the tape over to them you will need to explain what happened to him.” I was grabbing at straws. He chuckled, “You are full of shit Carr.
I laughed, “I may be full of shit, but do you really want to take the chance. You should really check.” I knew he had to check.
I was sitting in the outer office waiting room reading an old copy of Home and Garden when he came in. I thought he was going to crap his pants when he saw me. He probably thought he was dead. I should have killed him, I could only serve one life sentence, but I didn’t. He went immediately to Shuster’s office. I stayed sitting and waiting. He returned, now I thought he was going to kill me. He sat opposite “You are smarter than you look, so you figured it out.” I smiled, “Yep, I take that as a compliment.”
We sat there like a couple of fools for a few minutes. He shook his head and looked at me, “What do you want, what do we do now?”. The truth was I didn’t know what I wanted. Sooner or later Shuster’s body would be found and many questions would be asked. Here I was, the men who had been responsible for my wife’s murder were dead. I had $200,000 plus the money from Shuster’s safe, minus expenses, and a small pension. I was lonely, my wife was gone, and my family was gone, I was basically alone. This man sitting across from me hadn’t made me a killer, I had done that myself. He didn’t kill my wife, Allen and Shuster had. I didn’t hate him. At that point I made a decision. I looked at him, “We need to come up with a story, and make sure it’s believable.” He nodded and agreed, then I hit him with the punch line. “So now you have a new partner, me.”
Chapter 10
When I arrived home I opened the towel, counted the money and stashed it with all the rest in my small home safe. My safe was now stuffed with cash. I had over one quarter million dollars in my possession.
I grabbed a beer and sat down to look at the pictures from Shuster's safe. Some were the rape pictures but others were surveillance type of pictures. They were obviously taken from a distance and without the subject knowing. It would have been hard to determine who the subject in the photos was, but Shuster made it easy, he had circled one person in all the photos. The pictures were all taken from a long distance on a street crowded with pedestrians. The circled individual was a female with short dark hair. She was thin and dressed in a very short skirt and high boots. I grabbed a magnifying glass and studied the girl and the location. There was a vague familiarity in the girls face but nothing I could put my finger on. I was able to see one sign in one of the pictures. The name was The Nest. I turned the pictures over and found the date on them. They had all been taken 2 days before I had killed Allen. I grabbed a local phone book and looked up the name. The Nest turned out to be a bar in the 400 block of Decatur Street in the French Quarter. I had no clue what any of this had to do with Shuster, but I was determined to find out.
Chapter 11
I am almost fifty years old and I had never been arrested. I’ve had a few speeding tickets and did some hubcap stealing when I was a kid, but now I had murdered three men and planned on going into the drug business. The sad part was this didn’t even bother me. My philosophy on drugs had always been, the real problem was the people who took them. They knew the danger and they did it anyway. If there wasn’t a market there wouldn’t be a profit. The men I had murdered had to die, they were bad men, and at least that is what I told myself.
One month later on a Monday night, I met Buckle at Harry’s Hideaway. Shuster’s body had been found in a landfill. Buckle had shown the proper amount of sorrow over the loss of his partner. Shuster had a large case load and it was assumed one of his less than satisfied clients was to blame. Good luck with that. He defended more scumbags than they could count. Since Allen had disappeared and he was tied to Shuster it was assumed he was involved, and I guess in a way, he was. The police had searched Allen’s house and found the woman’s underwear. The place had been tossed before they arrived. They assumed Allen and Shuster had some sort of falling out and Shuster had searched Allen’s house looking for something. They knew Allen was the killer of the women, but no one had ever come to see me. I thought I would be number one on their list. Allen’s family was laying low, they didn’t want to be dragged into a rape murder investigation. Shuster’s wife collected her one million dollar life insurance policy, she wasn’t making waves. Buckle hadn’t been in his office, so he was in the clear. But still, no one came to see me.
Buckle and I shared an expensive scotch, this time I bought. I had purchased a duffel bag, put the drugs in it, it was in my car. He looked at me, “That product needs to be delivered. Normally Allen would do that, but since he is no longer available, you get the picture.” This time I did have a small recording device in my top pocket, but he never checked. He was about to give me the location of the drug exchange, but I stopped him. “Hold it, before we go into details we need to come to an agreement. What is my cut of this?” He took a sip of scotch, “Allen got 25%. You’re taking his place, so that is your cut.” I laughed, “Bullshit, you three assholes split this three ways. Now there is only two of us, so it’s an even split.” This didn’t sit well with him. “Don’t forget, my connections are what get those drugs into this country. An even split is way out of line.” I shook my head, “Go fuck yourself, an even split or we both go to jail.” He sighed, “You drive a hard bargain, but half of something is better than all of nothing. It’s a deal.” I had gotten what I wanted anyway. I had him telling me, on tape, his connection brought in the drugs. Checkmate.
We ordered another scotch, he looked at me and said quietly. “You make the delivery to the Calliope Projects on Wednesday night. They take the drugs and you get a key to a locker in the bus terminal. The locker will have five hundred thousand in it. That load cost two hundred thousand, so we make a profit of three hundred thousand.” I nodded like I had a clue, which I didn’t. He continued, “Once the buyer in the Calliope gets those drugs he will step on them several times and repackage them. They will bring him one point five million. A tidy profit for his trouble.” Holy shit, I tried not to look too excited. I had struggled along making thirty thousand a year and these dirt bags were hauling in millions. My plan had been to take the tape recording to the police. Turn myself in, im
plicate Allen and Shuster in murder and drugs, and make sure Buckle went down. Now I was having second thoughts. My cut of this would be one hundred fifty thousand dollars. I now understood the magical draw of drug money. I agreed to make the exchange.
Before we departed I had one more detail to work out. “OK, now I got one more thing I need to clear up.” I took the recorder out of my pocket. “This little recorder just caught every word you said. You just implicated yourself in a major drug operation. So if your plan included the Calliope delivery being my last, you might want to reconsider. This little beauty goes in a safe deposit box with a letter. I don’t need to tell you what that letter say.” It looked like someone has shoved a hot poker up his ass. His expression was priceless. I finished my scotch, thanked my new partner, and left the bar.
When I left Harry’s bar I decided to see what The Nest had to do with any of this. I parked in a lot on Decatur Street and walked the three blocks to the bar. I entered and discovered about what I expected. A small dump of a bar mostly locals and druggies. I sat at the bar, which was long and located across the entire rear of the building. I ordered a beer and tried to scan the small crowd of patrons. The light was poor but I was able to make out the usual mix of men and women. Some dressed in suits and others in jeans. I drained my first beer and ordered another. A few people left and a few arrived, but nothing of any notice.
I was draining my second beer when the door opened and the skinny dark haired girl entered. She was dressed very much like she had been in the photos, very short dress and high boot with high heels. Hooker wears if I ever saw any. She took a seat at the end of the bar and the bartender brought her a drink without ordering. She was obviously a regular. I signaled the bartender for another beer and when he brought it I asked “What’s her story?” He smiled and said “That’s one of Sugar’s girls, comes in here between tricks. Poor kid, looks even more fucked up every time I see her. She likes ginger ale, never drinks anything else.” He served me my beer while I studied the girl. I knew she was definitely the one in Shuster’s pictures but there was something else familiar about her, I just couldn’t put my finger on. She was tall and thin, her hair was dark black and cut shout. Actually cut wasn’t an accurate description, more like chopped. I decided to get closer. I moved to the end of the bar “Hi, can I buy you a drink?” She looked at me and smiled but her eyes were vacant. They were a beautiful green and I though, how odd for a dark haired woman to have green eyes. Then it hit me, green eyes and red hair. That’s what I had been I was missing. The drivers license I had from Allen’s wallet had a red-haired woman, Jasmine Simmons. I tried to make small talk. “What’s you name pretty lady?” She smiled, one of those automatic smiles when you don’t really mean it. “I’m Simone.” Close enough to Simmons as far as I was concerned. She asked “Would you have a good time with me?” I smiled back “Maybe, depends on what a good time is.” I had to keep her talking and try to get more information. As I was looking at her she glanced toward the door and her expression changed completely. Fear took over and she immediately looked down, not wanting to make eye contact again. I turned and look in the direction she had looked in. A very large black man was slowly walking in our direction. He was huge, dressed in a purple suit and white hat. The clown had pimp written all over him.
He walked up to Simone and wrapped one huge arm around her shoulders. He looked at me and winked. He looked at Simone and said “What you got fo me bitch”. She reached into a small shoulder bag and handed him a small wad of bills. “Fuck bitch, you gotta do better than this shit”. He stuffed the money in his top pocket and looked at me, “And what the fuck do you want?” I looked at this animal and wasn’t sure how to answer. What I knew was I needed to talk with this girl and he was in my way. I figured money was the universal language and I had plenty of that. “I was just admiring your beautiful lady here.” He smiled a mouth full of gold teeth, “Yea, ain’t she sumptin.” I was on untested ground here, I had no idea how to talk to this clown or get some time alone. But he smelled money and took the lead. “Well dude, my gal here likes white boys, but I was planning on spendin some time wit her mysef.” He looked at me and grinned, a shit eating grin. I could have smashed every gold tooth out of his mouth right then and there, but he probably would have killed me. I was a killer, but in my view anyway, this was the scum of the earth. Time to get down to business.“I’m not in town for long and would really like to spend some time with Simone. Is there any way I could do that?” He figured he had me at that point and was ready to deal, “Well what you had in mind to do with Simone. I means take her to dinner, have a few drinks, what exactly”.
He was trying to find out if I was a cop, cops can’t offer any sex act for money. They need the girl to say exactly what she would do and for how much. My move, if he was an undercover cop I was getting ready to go to jail, but I had to take that chance. “Man, I ain’t had no pussy in awhile and she looks good. I want to take your girl to my hotel and screw the shit out of her”. He laughed a deep guttural laugh that made my skin crawl. “Well, that might be possible, how much you offering for a little time with my girl” I needed to buy as much time with her as possible so I said, “Look man, I need it bad, and I want this gal for all night. I’m at the Royal Orleans and we could just have a really nice night there, I got $1000 on me.” His expression hardly changed, “Fuck dude, $1000 buys you one hour with this beautiful piece.” I knew he was full of shit. I was willing to bet she didn’t get more than $100 for a trick, but he was going to get all he could. I didn’t really care what it cost, but I couldn’t give in to easily he might become suspicious. I had to make a move, time was against me. “OK man look, I got money and I leave town tomorrow, I need this woman tonight. I’ll give you all I got, $3000 that’s it man, I got no more”. His expression said I had hit pay dirt, $3000 was a lot of money for one girl, especially a street hooker. The really high class ones might get that much, but no pimped street whores ever would. “OK dude, I feel sorry for your horny white ass, 3K you get the night. But you better not put a mark on my girl here, she be special.” I dug in my pocket and gave him the cash I had put there earlier just in case. It was a little over $3000 but I could have cared less. He counted it and pretended it was exactly the right amount. “Dude you is some horny ain’t you?” Laughing as he said it. I had already paid for the drinks so I was square with the bar and totally broke. I hoped the parking lot took credit cards. I looked at Simone and took her hand, “Hi Simone, I’m Jim, come with me I’ll treat you nice.” She nodded her head but never made eye contact with me. She was scared to death, and I don’t think it was me that frightened her. I led her out the door under the watchful eye of her pimp. As I was about to leave with her he said “Don’t forget muther fucker, no marks on my girl and bring her here in the morning. What room yous in, just in case I needs to pays you a visit?” I didn’t hesitate and made up a quick number, apparently he was satisfied and nodded. “Hey my name is Sugar Bear and don’t fuck wit me man. You ask anyone, no body fuck with the Sugar.” I nodded my head in agreement and quickly opened the door and led Simone outside.
We walked in the general direction of the Royal Orleans Hotel and I kept checking behind me. I had no idea if he would follow us. After two blocks I sidetracked in the direction of the parking lot. She didn’t even blink. She was so accustomed to doing what a john wanted she just blindly followed. We got to my car and she suddenly realized my plan was to take her somewhere. She pulled away weakly. I grabbed her arm “Simone, I’m not going to hurt you, I wouldn’t do that.” She was frightened but sat in passenger seat without further resistance. I looked around and said a silent prayer that Sugar Bear wasn’t watching. All seemed clear, I jumped in the driver’s seat and headed out. Luck was on my side and the parking lot let me put the $12 fee on my credit card. I drove toward home.
Chapter 12
At home Simone seemed confused but got out the car when I opened the passenger door. I took her inside and sat her on the c
ouch. “Simone, can I get you something to drink?” She seemed to relax a little. “Can I have a ginger ale?” I didn’t have any but she accepted a Coke instead. My mind was running in circles trying to figure out how to find out any information she might have.
I sat down next to her and asked if I could get her anything else to make her comfortable. She was genuinely confused. This wasn’t her normal activity when with a man. I told her “Relax Simone, I won’t hurt you, I just want to talk.” I didn’t really know how to approach this so I took the direct approach. I pulled the driver license from my wallet and handed it to her. Her expression showed me I was on the right track. A mixture of confusion and fear spread across her face. She dropped the license and tried to get up. I put my hand on her arm “Simone, it’s OK, just relax.” She suddenly began to cry, more of a sob. I had touched some nerve or memory that had been buried deep inside her. I reached over and drew her close and tried to calm her. I looked at her neck and noticed a strange scar. I moved her collar and saw the scar encircled the entire neck. This was made by someone straggling her with some sort of rope or wire. I pushed her back and looked in her eyes. “Simone, how did you get that mark on you neck?” She turned her head and sobbed even more. I turned her to face me now and my eyes are drawn to the top of her blouse. I saw something that disturbed me and it wasn’t her breast. I noticed small scars just above her breast. I reached over and unbuttoned her top button. She was wearing a dirty lacy red bra but what got my attention was the amount of scaring on her chest. I was stunned. I unbuttoned the rest of the buttons and opened her blouse. The scars weren’t just above her breast, she had small scars all over her torso. Most were healed but some were recent additions. She was sitting and giving no resistance. I stood and removed her blouse completely. Her entire back was covered in cuts in various stages of healing; some were very recent and getting infected.