Retribution Is Mine! Read online

  Ellen glanced at me, and I nodded. “Sure.”

  “Oh goodie.” The gazelle clapped her hands and bounced so much, I thought her falsies would fall off.

  We moved over to a table with five other males and their model escorts. Every joker dripped money. After a round of cheap booze with an expensive price tag, one of the gang decided we should all move to the next level.

  The models knew where they were going and guided us out of the bar and down the street. Drunks were passed out on the sidewalk, and we had to skirt a bar brawl before we came to the Black Lodge Inn. Half the windows were boarded up, and the place looked like it would collapse at any time. Inside was another story. The place was clean, decorated with tables made to look old and worn.

  We left our coats and hats with the old goat staffing the cloak room. I went to the bar while Ellen talked to coworkers who saw her and came over to say hello. The place was long and narrow with a door at the rear that refused to stay closed because of all the customers in tuxes and gowns tromping through.

  Ellen managed to pull away from the group and came up next to me. “This is just the front. Everyone’s going to the back.”

  I nodded and downed my drink.

  The door led to a hallway and soundproofed door. Beyond that, everything was new and upscale. The lights were low, and an elk was on stage, singing her heart out. Along the walls were signed pictures of models. Some of them were personalized with love to a male named Bruce.

  Around midnight, the males were getting restless again. A quick word to a waiter who nodded toward a curtained alcove had us moving again with a herd mentality.

  Ellen scowled in confusion, so I leaned down to explain. “The gambling tables are in another room. We’ll have to go through a similar routine like we did with the first room.”

  I started thinking about Wells and if he’d been here. Was the five-grand to pay off a gambling debt? Why bother when you could drop the dime to any police station and solve your money problems with a raid on the place? Of course, there was always the possibility someone was getting paid to overlook the place.

  Halfway to the alcove, Ellen’s gazelle friend waved a hand and screeched, “Hello, Bruce.” Her voice cut through the noise of the place, and a tuxedoed wolf at the bar waved back.

  Again, I leaned down and spoke in Ellen’s ear. “Go on through, I’ll see you in a bit.”

  I walked over to Bruce. “Nice place you got here, Pinky.”

  Bruce was talking to a businessman and probably would have kept talking if the groundhog hadn’t taken one look at me and skedaddled. “What are you doing here, Wrench?” asked Bruce.

  “Likewise, Pinky. Last time I saw you was in a courtroom. This place is nice. A far cry from jail. Guess you haven’t been driving any getaway cars lately.”

  “Get out of here, Wrench.” Bruce growled but kept his tail still along with his ears.

  “Not before I’ve satisfied my curiosity.” With that, I blew cigarette smoke in his face and walked off to the alcove were Ellen disappeared. I looked back to see Bruce, also known as Lenard Pinky, pick up the house phone at the end of the bar. It was time to have some real fun.

  The door located behind a curtain was locked, so I gave it a knock. A panel in the door slid back, and a pair of eyes peeked through. When the door opened, I was on high alert and just missed my head getting caved in. The ox had a billy club and knew how to use it. I was faster and had him on the floor by kicking his knee from a direction it didn’t bend. The big lummox went down with a scream, and I wrenched the club out of his hand and tapped him with it hard enough to knock him out. It was less messy than using my claws, and I didn’t get my suit bloody when I propped him up against the wall like he’d fallen asleep.

  Not knowing what to do with the club, I shoved it in my empty holster. From there, I entered the gambling hall.

  The lights were so bright, it took a minute for my eyes to adjust. Ellen hurried over and asked, “Where have you been?” From the worry in her voice, I could tell she knew something had happened.

  “You’re not the only one who knows people here. Don’t worry, everything is fine for now.” The skunk gave me a hard stare and let the subject drop.

  The room we were in could have come from a Las Vegas casino given all the gaming tables jammed into the room. Laughter and screams of joy at every win accompanied groans of loss. All the while, liquor flowed and people spent. Only the models took it to a whole new level. In trying to take in all the eye candy, you missed out on a dozen more.

  “How? In the middle of the Bowery?”

  Ellen took me by the arm. “Like I said, it’s a fad. Others will soon notice, and the trend setters will move on. What surprises me is that this place has hung on as long as it has.”

  “Duke would love to raid this place.” Part of me wondered if Wells would have enjoyed it here. He was alone in the city.

  “Maybe he will. Come on.”

  We managed to weave our way through the crowd, and I stopped dead when I saw Viola Graves sitting at the bar.

  “Viola’s beautiful, isn’t she,” said Ellen.

  I could feel the heat of my blush crawling up my face.

  Ellen laughed and flicked her tail. “Don’t be embarrassed, Viola makes everyone look like skeletons.” She ran a finger along my jaw. “All the males drool over her.”

  “Yes. Truth be told, she has me tongue tied just looking at her. If she gave me an order, I’d follow it without question. But for some reason I can’t explain, I absolutely loath her.”

  The skunk reached into my jacket pocket, took a cigarette, and lit it. “Interesting. Do you want to be alone for a while?”

  “Sure.”

  Ellen sauntered off, and I headed for the bar. Allen Dales was sitting next to Viola.

  “Hello, Mr. Wrench.” Viola held out a hand in welcome, while Dales nodded but kept ahold of his drink.

  “Hello, yourself.” My eyes slid over her body. Again, she was dressed head to toe in an outfit that covered all but advertised everything.

  I ordered a drink, and Viola shifted closer. “I found your female.”

  “And?” My hand tightened on the glass in front of me.

  “Absolutely nothing. Your friend was a gentleman.” She ran her finger along my arm. “Though if you want to talk to her yourself, and I suppose you do, her name is Linda Chevy. She has a place at the Tesco Hotel.”

  “Thanks,” I said with a growl.

  “Is it really that bad?” When I didn’t answer, she asked, “Will I see you tomorrow?”

  I nodded and went off to find Ellen. She was standing at the roulette wheel waiting for the ball to drop. I asked, “How are you feeling.”

  “More sloshed than I thought. Do you want to go home?”

  “Sure.” I offered my arm, and she held on as we made our way back to the entrance.

  The ox was gone from the hallway, but two large grouchy looking bears replaced him. “So, you’re Wrench. You’re supposed to be some tough guy.”

  “You could say that.”

  Wondering how I was going to get Ellen out of this situation, I was about to try bluffing that I had more in my holster than a club, when she said, “Oh how fun, does this mean I get a chance to defend your honor?”

  Her wicked smile combined with the irritated flash of her tail was enough warning for both bears to let us pass. Neither wanted to risk upsetting a drunken skunk in a small space. I know, I didn’t.

  The sideshow changed from singers to strippers, but every table was filled. Pinky wasn’t there, but he was sitting at the bar in the first room next to a lynx. It was hell keeping the smug smile on my face as I walked past him, who looked like he’d just downed a case of lemons.

  The lynx was Velvet.

  CHAPTER 5

  When Velvet came through the office door, she wore a smart suit that really set off her legs. Why is it we don’t see what’s right in front of us until we get slapped in the face with it?

 
Velvet dropped her purse on the desk and sat in my old chair while I lounged in the other. “Your leg worked looked very nice last night.”

  “Can’t say the same for your escort.”

  “Jealous?”

  “Are you?” Her lips didn’t answer, but her eyes did.

  The chair she was sitting in had casters, and I reached over and pulled her close. I ran my fingers through her fur and kissed the tip of her nose. Instead of saying what I intended, I ended up kissing her. It was the sweetest thing I’d ever tasted.

  “Don’t treat me like one of your females, Kaiser.”

  I pulled away and tried disguising my shaking hands by lighting a cigarette. “Didn’t expect to see you in the Bowery.”

  “Seeing you there was a bit of a surprise as well. Would you like to share information?”

  “You first.”

  Velvet leaned back in her chair. “The newspapers didn’t have much, so I hopped a plane to Dayton. Both the family and his associates say he was a great guy. Business was doing well. When out of town, he called his wife often. This time he sent two picture postcards. One of them happened to be postmarked from the Bowery and mentioned the Black Lodge Inn. The other card mentioned meeting an old school chum of his daughter’s who just had her twenty-third birthday. Finding out your dad’s dead is one hell of a birthday present.”

  “They didn’t.”

  “The call came right before the candles were blown out.”

  I shifted in my chair and took another drag on my cigarette. “Poor cub. Now I really want to get the bastard.”

  “So do I.”

  We sat in silence for a moment before I asked, “The business was doing well?”

  “Very.”

  “Then why did Enrico Price say his business was on the rocks?”

  “Who’s Enrico Price?”

  “A lying little mouse. What else did you find?”

  “The same place you did. Bruce Bixler doesn’t like you much.”

  “Never did. And his real name is Lenard Pinky.”

  “Really? Well, Bruce wants to see me again.”

  I was out of my chair and roaring before I could think, and Velvet slugged me a good one right on the nose.

  “You do not have the right to be jealous. Besides, Bruce is work, not pleasure.”

  After I calmed down and curled back into the chair, Velvet gave me a smug look and asked, “This Bruce guy is important, isn’t he?”

  “Yes. If it wasn’t for Pinky, I would have thought it a waste of time. But Pinky puts a new light on everything. You might want to leave your license and gun at home in case he gets wise.”

  “You’re thinking Wells got in trouble there?”

  “With one of the models from the agency that attended a dinner? Possibly. It doesn’t have to be the one I thought it was, but she could have been lying.”

  “Busy day.” Velvet did a very distracting full body stretch and headed for the door. “Anything else?”

  “I just want to call Duke.” Velvet nodded and left.

  Duke wasn’t in his office, so I told the switchboard to have him meet me at the spaghetti joint and hung up. By the time I drove my car over and parked, Duke was already there with a Danish on the table.

  “How’s everything going?” I asked and sat down.

  “Smoothly for a change.”

  After the waitress poured my coffee, I dug into the Danish. In about five minutes, Duke’s ears were both vertical with irritation. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on or not?”

  “Are you going to listen before you bark?”

  Duke showed his teeth.

  “First, I’m getting my license back. Second, Aloysius Wells was murdered. Third, I’m going to find his killer.”

  The German shepherd’s ears lifted and his teeth disappeared. “I know he was murdered, but the D.A. and medical examiner say suicide. My hands are tied.”

  I must have had a dumbfounded look on my face because Duke laughed. “I’ve known you long enough to know that when you say murder, it’s a sucker’s bet to go against you.”

  “So that bird doesn’t like you either?”

  Duke rolled his eyes and drank his coffee.

  “I’ll keep you in the loop. Right now, I need some information on a cobra named Dagger.”

  “Cobra? Aren’t all the lizards hibernating? Or gone south.”

  “Not if they’re wearing a mink coat.”

  The disgusted look on Duke’s face mirrored mine. The thought of wearing someone else’s skin was just creepy.

  “Last time I knew he was calling himself a fight promoter. Has a place in the Bowery.”

  “This is getting better and better.”

  Duke’s ears rotated forward. “Anything I want to know?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Fine. I had someone else do a check on Wells’ body. They said the marks attributed to him being drunk could have been caused by a struggle. As for the slug, you did drop it and the casing in the hall, didn’t you?”

  “No. Someone had a hole in their pocket.”

  “I’ll check the hotel again. I’m not expecting much. That hotel has solid walls and most of the guests were either deaf or sound asleep when the gun went off. Do you think the killer was a resident or guest?”

  “That’s possible.”

  Duke grabbed the check, and we said goodbye.

  Fifteen minutes later, I was entering the Tesco Hotel. The female at the desk didn’t even bat one of her cow eyes when I asked for Linda Chevy.

  “Room 334. Mind the stairs, they squeak.”

  I had to knock a couple of times before Linda Chevy answered. The little ferret wore curlers in her fur and a frilly pink nighty.

  “Mrs. Chevy? Viola Graves said to talk to you.”

  “Oh, sorry I must look a mess. Give me a minute.” Linda let me in and rushed to the bedroom. True to her word, Linda was back in the room in under sixty seconds. Curlers gone and wearing a powder blue suit. “That’s better. How can I help, Mr…?”

  “Wrench. Did Mrs. Graves mention me?”

  “Yes, I told her everything.”

  “Why don’t you tell me.”

  Linda grabbed a cigarette from the side table and lit it. “I had a little too much to drink, and Mr. Wells was so nice. I don’t remember much after getting in the cab, and I woke up fully clothed in my own bed. Later, I learned of his suicide. That was really upsetting.”

  I studied Linda. She struck me as a party female ready to give a male a good time. Maybe ferrets didn’t work for Wells. “Tell me about the show.”

  “Viola handled that one. She’s more of a people person than Dales and brings in a lot of business. We had to pick up our dresses from Caldwell Merchandising and have them fitted. That was about two hours. Then there was dinner and the speeches. We left to get dressed, did our thing, and got back into our street clothes. Another round of drinks and oops, I’m a little tipsy.”

  “How’d you meet Wells?”

  “In the elevator. He helped me into the cab. I wasn’t walking too straight.”

  Linda Chevy wasn’t much help, so I said my goodbyes and decided to drive to the Bronx.

  This time I knocked on Enrico Price’s door. It was answered by a prickly little hedgehog in a maid’s outfit.

  “Mr. Price doesn’t wish to be disturbed.”

  “Tell Price he will be disturbed by Kaiser Wrench. If he can mess with a cobra named Dagger, he can deal with me.”

  The hedgehog didn’t object but went scurrying down the hall. A few minutes later she was back and showed me into the study.

  Price’s bulk didn’t fill the chair in which he sat, but the effect did make him look rounder.

  I placed both hands on his desk and growled, “You lied, Price.”

  “How dare—”

  “What did Dagger promise you? A beating, gunshot, or a front-row seat down his gullet?”

  “Wha…What are—”

  “That two-bit hood convin
ced you to lie to the police about Aloysius Wells. I want to know why. Why did you lie about a cheetah who got murdered?”

  Enrico Price was so scared he lost control of his bladder before he fainted. I waited until the little blimp came around and asked. “Did you know Aloysius Wells?”

  “No,” squeaked Enrico.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  He shook his head in the negative.

  “Guess I’ll have to find out what Dagger promised you the hard way.”

  Price fainted again. This time, I left before he woke up.

  CHAPTER 6

  Snow is pretty when you can view it from a nice warm apartment, but not when you have to trudge through it while freezing wind bites at your nose. When I saw the flakes hit the windshield, I shivered. This was not going to be a light dusting.

  I parked my car in the first lot I could find, handed over my keys, and took a cab to the Allen Dales Agency. This time, the receptionist didn’t say a word when I asked to see Mrs. Graves. She didn’t fumble with the intercom box either.

  Mrs. Graves came out of her office and met me with a smile. She wore another one of her dresses that cover everything and kept a male’s imagination going. When I shook her hand, I got the same odd feeling that crept up my spine every time I saw her. For a minute, I thought I caught the scent of a male in the perfume scented offices, but it was only an errand boy delivering mail.

  The single emerald pendent she wore sparkled in the light as Viola flirted with me. For a brief second, the light hit her fur just right, and I knew what was wrong. Sylvia didn’t want to stay dead. I’d shot the female before she could kill me and at the same time avenged a good friend. Now she was back to haunt me.

  “Kaiser?”

  The voice was Viola’s, and the spell broke. She handed me her coat, and I helped her into it. “Can I assume you’re taking me out to lunch?”

  “You may.”

  Viola gave me a curious look and asked, “What were you thinking?”

  “Nothing.” I looked away and refused to meet her eyes.