Case of the Wandering Star - chapter 3

Case hots up... Pete cracks up a little.. the horror.. the horror.. and goes near feral......

So there it was so far… I had a name, a house somewhere near a railroad track.. and now a train time…and a broad in trouble somewhere that I couldn’t reach… and it started ta get to me, like always, outta nowhere..I just couldn’t get there to where she needed me….I felt like when Joe went missing in the Argonne that night an’ I couldn’t get to him…an’ the same when Cynthia…  the clouds in my head started ta come back again….felt ‘em surging up like a sudden summer storm…

 

I shoved ‘em aside, and grabbed my bottle outta my desk drawer, poured a good one….  I hate it when it starts ta get all teary like that… took me years ta get past doin’ it in fronta people who always thought I was kinda crazy or something… an’ I had it all bottled up until that time with Cynthia…………I froze inside…. had to to survive the impact….

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I felt the seconds last like hours and somehow my whole head seemed to spread out into the room and take up all the space… I grabbed that bottle again… and belted one down… it was no good….. an’ I knew it was on me again.. like an octopus hooked onto my back and pulling me down again, and dragging the pain outta me… all over again….I hadda get up an’ do something…anything…

 

I banged the desk with my hand until it hurt, and fought back the tears…not gonna let go now…never!  Not gonna give in…..I dragged a deep breath in… then another… and another…. and felt solid enough to fill my glass up again, and drink slowly and carefully…just putting the liquor down in a steady controlled and measured way until I was able to let go…

 

I dunno what they’re gonna call that in the years to come, but I knew a lotta guys from the Marines who got this….like a waking nightmare…. an’ I wasn’t gonna think about it or them….not right now… later maybe…later…

 

I stood up and walked around the room, and watched the afternoon light falling through the window, still kinda frozen between living and dead inside, and not sure what to do but just stay that way, too scared to go one way or the other… one way and I’d be screaming and dreaming the Argonne all over again while I wasn’t even asleep… the other an’ I’d just sit in that chair and fall apart until there was nothing left of me…better to stay this way …not feeling nothin’ until it all went away again….

 

Yeah.. I could do it now…now that I was running in sort of neutral to stay afloat… and I said it out loud though I could feel my heart tear inside me.. Cynthia.. Cynthia..oh, Cynthia….  ah, doll, I miss you so sometimes, and God I wish you were here right now to hold me and keep the dark away… just one more time…..just one….

 

I put my face against the cold glass of the window and the tears started for real then, just little ones, and I went back to the desk and poured another…sat back and sipped it …..an’ just let ‘em run a little down my cheeks before I got out my handkerchief an’ wiped ‘em away..

 

Yeah - I’m a tough guy all right.. sure I am….. an’ getting drunk fast…

 

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The phone rang…an’ I picked my head up off my desk, picked it the handset …and there she was again… Miz Alexia…

 

I hadda think straight and fast.. remember what the hell I was doin’ here…shook my head….maybe it was time to cut down a little on the booze…

 

“Yeah, I’m here, babe.  What’s goin’ on?”

 

“Mr Grappler, I still don’t know what’s going on.  Please, can you do something fast?”

 

That kinda woke me up,

 

“Sure, now I’ve got some info - how far apart or those trains running?  Can you give me times?”

 

“About every hour, I still have my watch.”….

 

“Miz Ringwald.. you still there?”

 

“I gotta go..”

 

She put the phone down, but not before  I heard a noise and a man’s voice..angry……..

 

I could hear the sound of a struggle, then the phone went quiet……….. I was already outta my chair with nowhere ta go, and nothin’ I could do, but I was suddenly clear as a bell… yeah.. the other side of the Argonne had just kicked in and I was as cold as ice…. that b*****d was going to pay for this… and not long enough to breathe more than ten times after I found him….

 

I grabbed the phone again, rang Armand, and let him know that Jimmy was coming for a little chat in the back room… tore off my tie, and grabbed my coat.. getting cool outside, not as cold as I was inside right now and thinking like an ice cold stream running down a narrow gorge..  and snatched a look at the clock.

 

6.30 pm… Luigi’s fer Jimmy Kincaid, and THAT b*****d was gonna give me some help.. or I was gonna beat the s**t outta him, cop or no cop!

 

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Jimmy musta seen the look on my face when I came in that door, and I woulda killed a bear with my hands if he’d so much as sneezed, but even if he did, it didn’t matter, ‘cause Jimmy had his own thing to lay on the table, right there….. which he did….

 

“Let’s grab a rock, Pete”

 

“Pete?  So it’s Pete now, is it?  Ye must want something real bad, Kincaid!”

 

Jimmy held up his hands in a gesture for peace, so I sat down,

 

“Le’ me have it!”

 

“OK.  I called ya ‘cause I wantcha to do something.. now don’t go getting’ all riled on  me, Grappler - it ain’t for me.  Well it is, but not straight up, you know what I mean?  If you’ll just let me lay it all out for ya!  OK?”

 

Jimmy looked pretty honest about this, so I figured I could at least give him a chance to lay it all out,

 

“OK. I’m listenin’!  Put it on the table!”

 

“I told ya I had a little problem with my superiors over this dame… and’ that I couldn’t do nuthin’ about that lady ya put on ta me, OK?”

 

I nodded,

 

“I’m hearin’ ya! Go on!”

 

“Look, I’m a straight-up guy, I know ya hate my guts an’ all, but that’s jus’ parta the job, an’ I live with it.  I don’t have ta like it, but I get by!  Ain’t no way am I just gonna sit back and let some lowlife do crap wit’ a lady here, ya know, but there’s nothin’ I can do!  I’ll tell ya what ya wanna know, and leave it wit’ ya - s’ best I can do here.”

 

I could see how Jimmy might be in a bit of a pickle here, and that he was doin’ his best ta be a straight-up guy, but it still didn’t wash too good… no man worth his salt’d sit back while a lady was getting’ it in the chops…..I held on to that one, but my eyes kinda told the story…

 

“Awright, awright, Grappler, I can see ye still hate me, f**k it!  Look, this guy is named Parker Dansby, and he’s in tight with the f*****g mayor, you know?  I could get deep-sixed for this if he ever found out.  This guy, and the Mayor I think, are tied into some smuggling thing - with girls, not stuff, you know.  They catch onto these babes with no strong ties an’ just get ‘em in, and before they know it, they’re set up as floozies for some gangster or just makin’ money on the side, or on their backs, for some loser like this f****n’ Dansby.”

 

“You f**k, Kincaid!  An’ you sit in my office here, an’ tell me this crap, and ya do nothin’ about it?  What kinda fucken man are you?  I shoulda shot you in the fucken’ back in France, you fucken a*****e!”

 

“Awright, Grappler!  I’m doin’ all I can here”.

 

I went cold as ice,

 

“Jimmy, if you weren’t about to spill your guts about every fucken’ thing you know about this a*****e and his buddies, I’d spill yer guts for sure, right on the fucken’ floor right here, an’ I wouldn’t give a f**k if they give me the chair for it.  Ye’re a fucken’ disgrace to humanity an’ even to that fucken’ force o yours.  Now talk, or so help me...……”

 

“OK, OK … I told ya I was here ta make this right, Grappler.  I’m nearly done!”

 

“I ain’t offerin’ ya no drink, Jimmy.  Get on with it!”

 

“This is all tied in with a coupla the big boys, down by the railroad yards… ya know the type….  Slimey Blanschek an’ Poodles Ratzenburg, the Dutchman, ya know.  They run the trains and stuff for these girls, an’ set ‘em up for business, ya know? An’ that’s all I got for ya.  I’m askin’ ya to put this right, ‘cause I can’t, on my mother’s life, an’ I mean that!!  I do this thing cop-style like a real straight-up fella, an’ they’ll kill my fucken’ family, Grappler, so I can’t do any more.  OK… that’s as close ta beggin’ as I can go for ya, Grappler… OK, I’m beggin’ ya to do something here!”

 

Fucken’ Jimmy was nearly in tears here… OK, I could see he was workin’ from the heart here, what heart he had since I never knew he had one, and wantin’ ta do right,

 

“OK, Jimmy, take it easy.  I see whatcha sayin’, and I’m on the case.  Let’s have that drink and let me get out there an’ see what I can do!  Just keep yer fucken’ coppers off my back while I’m don’ this, ya hear?  I don’t want nobody askin’ questions!  If this is gonna be a private matter, I want it kept like that!”

 

Jimmy nodded and I poured us both a stiff one, and took only a sip o’ mine.. hadda keep a straight head tonight.  This was serious…. a man could get killed easy doin’ this crap and I wasn’t ready to check out just yet..not until I found Miz Alexia an’ all them other girls..…

 

Jimmy was a shaken man, an’ I showed him out the back door after checkin’ the alley way for stray assassins that might be lurkin’ there.. an’ went back into Armand’s office and sat down and started thinkin’.

 

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Hymie ‘Slimey’ Blanschek an’ Poodles ‘The Dutchman’ Ratzenburg.  Now there was a coupla guys I’d love ta see leadin’ a parade down Main Street any time… as long as they were leading from inside a long black car, that is, all decked out with flowers…. an’ maybe I could just arrange a little parade for’em an’ mighty soon… I put it on top o’ my list o’ things ta do…

 

Armand knocked, I said come in, an’ he appeared with a fresh pot o’ coffee.  That guy just hadda be psychic or somethin’.. he always knew what the hell was goin’ on an’ always put in an appearance at the right moment….

 

“Only two cups, Armand?  What about Jimmy?”

 

“Ah, Mr Pete, Jimmy was observed to leave a short time ago, and I was made aware of this event.”

 

I didn’t ask….Armand sure had his ways o’ keepin’ a finger on the pulse o’ things…

 

“Well, pull up a chair, Armand, and lemme tell ya what’s going’ down here… it’s a real nasty story if ya got the time”…..

 

“I have the time, Mr Pete.  Petro is again caring for Luigi’s and soon I think will be working every night as the managing man.  Your story interests me.”

 

“That’s great, Armand, ‘cause I need somebody to talk to about this crap before it splits my head wide open..”

 

I laid it all out for Armand, names an’ all with nothin’ left out, what I knew so far, an’ finished up by sayin’ if it was was at all possible, I could maybe use a little help on this one.  It was a big chew even for Pete Grappler.

 

Armand sat back, a thoughtful look on his face, and steepled his hands,

 

“This sounds a very dangerous venture, Mr Pete.  I think it may be possible that I may find some friends who will lend a hand.  They do not require very much as payment.  This is almost a family matter, Mr Pete, for you, so if you will leave it with me tonight, I am sure I can find some small help from among my contacts.”

 

“Yeah, that’d be great, Armand.  I’m just not sure how long this damned thing is gonna take ta sort out, an’ I’m real worried about this Miz Ringwald right now… them b******s.. pardon my French.. those guys got her locked up tight somewhere, an’ it didn’t sound so good! I reckon I gotta settle this tonight or tomorra, if not sooner!”

 

“If you will let me know where you will be tonight, Mr Pete… what you will be doing… I am sure that someone will be able to assist you.  Can you wait for perhaps fifteen minutes before you leave?”

 

“Sure thing, Armand.”

 

I looked at my drink left in the glass from Jimmy’s visit,

 

“An’ I guess I better ditch this an’ drink a coupla cups o’ that coffee.”

 

Armand got up to leave an’ sort out his business with his friends.. yeah.. I knew those friends, an’ they were not people you’d cross.. glad ta have ‘em on my side in a tight spot, an’ I said as he reached the door,

 

“Thanks again, Armand!  You are a good man, an’ a great friend!”

 

Armand smiled,

 

“As are you, Mr Pete.  As are you!”

 

He closed the door quietly an’ I drank my coffee….

 

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