Monsters
By
Karen Singer
Chapter 9 – Monster Questions – Part 2 of 2
“They sounded like mercenaries,”
Brandy noted once they were heading back toward the hotel.
“Without a doubt. It would explain a lot,” Carol agreed.
“The one who took the shot was good,”
Brandy said. “Forehead, with no
hesitation.”
“Professional.”
“Yeah. So where to?”
“Good question,” Carol
replied. “I figure that someone else had
to have seen something. If every mob
boss out here has had someone killed, then someone else had to have either seen
it happen or at least noticed something.”
“So where do we start?”
“I don’t know. Romo said two of his men were killed with a
knife. But the one we just talked to
said guns were used. Morrow said his men
were shot. It doesn’t jive.”
“No. But it does if whoever is behind this has
someone who prefers to work with a knife instead of a gun.”
“Yeah. That’s what’s most likely going on. Which means at least three of them are
running around killing people.”
“Three mercenaries.”
“For sure.”
“Let me call Romo,” Brandy
offered. “Let’s see if he can hook us up
with someone who was there when his men were killed.”
“Good idea. Ask if we can meet them where it happened
too.”
Brandy pulled her phone out and
called Romo’s office. She talked for a few
minutes then hung up. “He gave me the
name of a casino to meet them in front of.
One hour though.”
“That will do. It’ll give us a chance to look around first.”
Brandy gave the taxi driver the new
destination. Ten minutes later, Brandy
lowered her mask again and they got out of the car.
“Are you going to wear your mask
here too?” Carol asked.
“This is Vegas,” Brandy
replied. “Anything goes.”
“Yeah. Even Ralphie!” Both women chuckled.
Speaking of Ralphie,” Brandy
said. She pulled out her phone and
checked for a text message from him. She
found it and looked at the picture he had sent. She passed the phone over to
Carol. “His new nail color.”
“Soft baby pink, just like you
asked for,” Carol noted. “It doesn’t
stand out much, but it’s pretty.”
“In a few days, I’ll have him
change it again for something else.” She
put her phone away and glanced around.
“Where do we start?”
“Let’s split up and talk to
people. See if anyone saw the murders. Are you going to be okay doing that with that
mask?”
“Didn’t I mention that this was
Vegas?”
Carol chuckled and headed away from
her, trying to find someone who looked like they would be out on the street
there often. She stopped a few people
and asked if they had been around during the past month when the murders had
taken place. Everyone she asked either
looked at her strangely, or told her they didn’t remember any murders in the
area. Judging by the number of people
walking along the sidewalk, Carol wasn’t surprised.
Everyone Brandy walked up to
commented one way or another about her mask.
A few asked if she was going to rob them. Brandy assured them that the mask was simply
part of her outfit for the day. One
woman liked the idea enough that she asked where Brandy got her mask. Brandy told her she had several in different
colors and that they were custom made.
Unfortunately, the woman had no knowledge of any murders in the area.
Fifteen minutes later, Brandy and
Carol met in front of the casino again.
“Either we’re in the wrong place, or there’s no one here on the street
who’s a regular enough to have seen it,” Carol told Brandy.
“Or maybe it happened inside the
casino,” Brandy suggested.
“I’m thinking you must be
right. Or, we’re in the wrong place
entirely.”
“Do you want to go in or wait here
for Romo…or whoever he sends?”
Carol looked at Brandy’s mask. “Maybe we better wait out here.” The two women stood near the entrance to the
casino for a few minutes. “I wonder what
Raphie is up to,” Carol asked.
Brandy chuckled and pulled out her
cell phone. She sent a text. A minute later, she got a reply. She handed her phone over to Carol and showed
her a picture of endless stacks of adult diapers.
“Does he always do exactly what you
tell him to?” Carol asked.
“He better. It’s been a while since I’ve had to punish
him now, but he knows whenever I do, I tend to be overly cruel about it.”
“I have no doubt,” Carol replied.
“Hey!”
Carol and Brandy turned at the
voice. A man was standing in the doorway
to the casino. He headed toward them,
but his eyes seemed to be only on Brandy.
“You!” the man said angrily. “I know you.
I remember you! The only reason
I’m not pulling out my gun right now and shooting you dead is because Mr.
Geovelli himself called and asked me to talk to you. But try anything, and trust me, for a long
time now I’ve wanted to put a bullet in your head, then two more in your foul black heart, and
then shoot every bullet I’ve got left into everywhere else on your miserable
body.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a fan,”
Carol said sarcastically.
Brandy ignored her and faced down
the man. “If I see you reaching for any
kind of weapon, I can guarantee that I’ll have no trouble killing you on the
spot. Is that clear?”
The man looked at her. “Just so we each understand each other.”
“You said you remember me? From what?”
“I’ve got a damn brand burned into
my ass thanks to you! I’d like to take a
damn branding iron to every damn part of your body and see how you like it.”
“You’re one of the ones she
branded?” Carol asked, totally interested.
“Yes!”
“I’d pay good money to see it. Will you show me?”
The man looked at Carol. “Hell no!”
“Even for money? I can pay.
According to my mother, I’m very rich.”
“Go to hell lady!”
“Okay. Just asking.”
She turned to Brandy. “Touchy
isn’t he.”
“Yeah. Just so long as he doesn’t try anything, he’s
safe from me.”
“But how about from me?” Carol
asked.
“Lady,” the man said, “I don’t know
you. I got no beef with you. But her…she just scares the bejeezus out of
me.”
Carol laughed. “Evidently, nobody told you about me, did
they.”
“I only need to know about
her. She’s a holy terror!”
“Yeah.
I’ve seen her in action. I
suggest you be on your best behavior towards her, even though I can’t wait to
see her in action again.”
The man looked back and forth
between the two of them. “Follow
me.” He led the way into the
casino. “You had different hair when you
were here last,” he said to Brandy as he walked. “Blonde.
And a yellow mask.”
“Blonde?” Carol asked.
“It was a phase. I like changing my hair once in a while.”
“Who doesn’t?”
The man led them straight to a door
at the side of the building, through a security checkpoint, then further into
the building. Both Carol and Brandy
automatically noticed the security cameras.
“Romo’s not coming?” Brandy asked.
“Not that I know of,” the man
replied. “He phoned and asked me to give
you whatever you need.”
“Nice of him,” Carol noted.
The man finally walked into a small
office. “Now what can I do for you?” he
asked.
“We’re trying to find someone who
either saw Romo’s men get murdered, or who was close by when it happened,”
Brandy told him.
“Saw it? Nobody actually saw it happen. And as to anyone being around. I was probably the closest.”
“What did you see?”
“Me? Nothing.
When it happened, I was either back here at my desk or out in the
security office watching the TV screens.”
“How about the security videos?”
Carol asked. “Didn’t they show
anything?”
“The cameras back there aren’t
always in operation. “They were broken
that night.”
“Convenient,” Brandy noted.
The man said nothing to that. Brandy realized that they probably turned
those cameras on and off whenever it suited them. “Who found the bodies?” she asked.
“Bodies? I only found one of them. I can’t tell you anything about the others.”
“Can you show us where it
happened?”
“Yeah, but only because Mr.
Geovelli himself said to help you.”
He led the way out of his
office. Down a hallway. Down another hallway, and almost to a door
that had an exit sign on it. “Here,” he
told them as he stopped about ten feet from that door. “I found Myers right here. The door there goes out behind the
building. We sometimes use it for stuff
coming into the club or for shipping stuff out.
Myers usually oversaw whatever went in or out.”
“Kind of like a supervisor?” Carol
asked.
The guy shrugged. “Maybe.
I wouldn’t have put him in that category, but he was in charge of
security back here.”
“Security?” Brandy asked. “Was anything stolen that night or were there
any other problems?”
“None. Nothing.
Just his dead body. And lady, it
was a mess!”
“A mess?”
“His throat was cut. Ear to ear.
There was blood all over the place.”
“Do you have any idea how long he
might have been dead before you found him?”
“No. Not really.
I only found him because I was going to head out back for a smoke.”
“What did you do?”
“Me? I reported it.”
“To the police?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
“What did Geovelli say?”
“I haven’t a clue. Today on the phone was the first time I ever
talked to him.”
“Any chance we can go back to his
throat being slit?” Carol asked.
“What do you mean?” the guy asked.
“Did you see his throat
clearly? Can you describe how the cut
looked?”
“I’m not sure. There was a ton of blood and I didn’t get
that close.”
“But you did see that his throat
was slit.”
“Lady, I couldn’t miss it!”
“Did the cut look jagged at all, or
was it clean?” Carol asked.
“Uh…I guess clean. Why?”
“Could you tell if the front of his
throat was cut deeper than at the sides?”
“Uh…not really,” he replied. What would that have to do with it?”
“I’m trying to figure out if it was
done with a knife, or a sword, or something else,” Carol told him.
“A sword?”
“It’s possible. I’ve used one or even a machete to kill men
many times.”
The guy’s jaw dropped. “You?”
“Ret over here and I are very much
alike,” Carol told him. “We’re pretty
much in the same business. She was
amused by his reaction to that. “So,
knife, or sword?”
“Uh…like I said, I’m not sure. I just remember a lot of blood all over everything.”
“Carol nodded. Throat slits are always messy.”
“Anything else?” the man asked,
more interested now in just getting away from the two women.
“Only one thing,” Carol
replied. “Are you sure you won’t take a
thousand dollars right now, just to show me your brand?”
The man looked nervously back and
forth between them. “And if I say no?”
“I could make him,” Brandy
suggested.
“No. Don’t bother.
If you branded that many men, I have no doubt we’ll come across a few
others before we finish.”
The man looked relieved.
“Two thousand?” Carol asked.
Once they were back out on the
sidewalk, Brandy started looking around for another taxi.
“You said you ride motorcycles,”
Carol said.
“I’ve ridden a few times. But not much.”
“Would you have any objections to me
having one of mine brought up for you to use?
This business of getting around by taxi all the time stinks.”
“We can rent a car.”
“But a bike can get through the
traffic easier and they’re easier to park.”
“I know how to ride,” Brandy
replied. “Like I said, I’ve done it a
few times, but I don’t have a license for it.”
“Huh! No problem.
I can have Susan whip you up a license in no time. And then we can spend a little time getting
you used to the bike. So what do you
think?”
“You have more than one bike?”
“I’ve got a number of them stashed
at different borders all over the world.
I’ve got about half a dozen stashed for the United States alone. I can either have one brought up from Juarez
or I’ve got a few out in California.
Would you mind?”
“No. Just as long as you give me a little practice
with it. The places I go, I don’t
usually need anything like that. Even
here, I would think about a car first.”
“I think I’m just more used to
riding bikes. Plus, my riding suit has
come in handy a few times. And all my
bikes have some kind of riding suit stashed with them.”
“Like one with pockets…for a gun?”
“At the minimum,” Carol replied.
“I’m in.”
“So where to next?” Carol asked.
“Do you have that last report with
you that your people came up with?”
“No. It’s back in the room.”
“I noticed that the organization
that lost the most men so far is the one under Miguel Lozano.”
“The Mexican?”
“Yeah. His organization is smaller than all the
others, but so far, he’s also lost the most men. To me, that looked significant.”
“Okay. So you figure since he’s lost the most men,
someone there should have seen something?”
“I’m thinking it’s a good place to
start.”
“Are you going to call Morrow first
and see if he can smooth the way for us?”
“Maybe I better.”
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