Chapter Three: W****s, Homos, and the Ginger

Manns finds out some details from the man sent to kill him.

Manns smoked his cigarette calmly as he inspected the fiend's face. After taking a beating from Regina's Gorilla's, he was finally ready to sit down on the cold, steel chair and cough up the names of who had sent him to do the job. ´I know how this works. You don't get much details, just who and why I'm supposed to die. It was in who's best interest I croaked tonight pal?´. Manns had kneeled so as to be face to face with the beaten man. In a town this crooked, he could be working for anybody. God knew half the town´s underworld had reasons to come after him. But he had a hunch that this wasn't just a grudge, that someone wanted him out of the picture and fast.

 ´I´m sure you've heard of the good cop bad cop routine in your day. So you know how this is gonna work. Except I´m not a cop. And these boys aren't either. Now from what I can tell, your an idiot, following the standard two car rule so as to evade suspicioun while following me. You wear a two thousand dollar suit but you aren't part of the mob or any other one of the big fishes for that matter. So you stick out like a sore thumb. Pretty stupid. Now Regina here runs a successful business and she knows how to take care of meddlers´. Regina approached the beaten man, and took Mann's cigarette out of his hand. She made a gesture with her head and signalled her guards to grab the killer and make him stick out his tongue. With an elegance a drug addicted madame seldom had, she gracefully put out the cigarette in the man's tongue. As he screamed, she smiled and said. ´Already shoutin´? boy I hope you don't talk anytime soon, I wanna have some fun tonight´. 

The goon then turned over to Manns, with a pitiful look in his eyes. He was a balding ginger,with a round face and crooked teeth. ´This isn't worth the chump change I'm getting paid, fine fine, I'll tell you!´.Mann lit another cigarette. He inhaled the toxic but ever so soothing fumes of the old coffin nail and sat down, now  in the spot directly in front of him. ´Talk to me´. The ginger was trapped in between a rock and a hard spot. He knew that he had no way out, and that he would perish in that w***e house if he didn't tell these people what they wanted to know. ´Someone close to Eyes and his crew told me that Eyes was talking about some stuff he shouldn't have been. And to some cop. Since this guy I know used to hang with me and Eyes sometimes, I figured he was telling me because he was blabbing about us.´ Manns looked at him sternly. ´And who is this guy, who told you I was a cop and that Eyes´s lips were a little to loose?´. Manns smoked calmly. He bummed a smoke to Regina and soon enough, the entire room was covered by a grey cloud. 

´Just some idiot from Belvedere. A spick we used to buy weed off of. Rojas. At first I couldn't believe it when this b*****d offered me eight hundred dollars for the hit, He's usually stoned out of his mind. But he looked real clean, wearing a suit and drinking expensive liquor. And he gave me the details, where and when Eyes was gonna meet you. Then, I was supposed to follow you to some secret place where you'd find a dress. That's when I was supposed to pop you, and take it back to Rojas´. Manns smoked with utmost tranquility, letting the new information sink in. ´Get this idiot out of my sight´, said Manns. Both guards grabbed him as he began to wail and shout, claiming he had told them everything he knew. And Manns didn't doubt it. ´You think that scumbag was telling the truth? I know his type, they'd sell their own mother if it meant they could drink another beer or screw another girl´. ´I'm pretty sure Regina. This guy squealed faster than a little piggy. Say, your boys aren't gonna send this guy to the bottom of the river are they?´, inquired Manns a little worried. Regina laughed.

 ´It's alright my little boyscout. I only hire homos as guards nowadays, more efficient since they don't fool around with the girls working here. All I can say, is that silk suited b*****d's gonna wake up tomorrow with a behind sorer than my girls'´. Manns chuckled as he finished off his smoke. ´Y'know your a gem Regina. Me and you could've made quite a good pair if we hadn't met on the opposite sides of life. Me a cop, you with your job. And now that I'm not a cop anymore, and you ain't walking the streets either, we're to old and cynical to even think about romance´. Regina looked into Manns eyes. ´You couldn't handle me stud. And I´ll never forget how you protected this young gal from the horrid old perverts of this town for so long. You were my guardian angel´.

 She gave Manns a peck on the cheek. ´Always a pleasure Regina. And thank you for this. Now at least I know who's trying to kill me this time around´. Manns finished his smoke and left. ´Stay safe hon. Things are bad nowadays...´ Avoiding the exotic dancers and prostitutes in the hallway that lead to the front entrance, Manns headed towards the street. Where his old black stallion of a car awaited. He got in and braced himself, to find whatever surpirse lurked within Eyes old apartment in Belvedere.