Lost(16)

I didn’t make an arrest. I couldn’t risk tipping them off to Miss Hazel. Besides, it was fun watching those two punish each other more than any judge would have. And I never forgot what I owed her. I always came when she called.

I stepped into the comfortable interview room. Miss Hazel, who wore a simple, dignified dress, as she always did, looked up and said, “Hello, Thomas. Would you explain to this young man that I don’t need trouble with any of the local gangs?”

I sat down in the chair across from the elderly woman. “Miss Hazel, he’s just trying to figure out who killed that young man in front of your apartment. I know you said you heard the gunfire, but do you know what time? Did you happen to glance at the clock?”

“Thomas, if I looked at the clock every time I heard gunfire in my neighborhood, I’d never get any sleep.”

I tried not to laugh—I didn’t even know if she was trying to be funny—but I couldn’t help it; the detective and I both broke up. After some casual chatting, I finally got something worthwhile from Miss Hazel. I asked, “Do you have any idea who shot him?”

She smiled slyly. “Now, that’s a good question. The youngest Gratny boy shot him.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I heard him tell Bean Pole, who lives in the apartment next to me.”

I glanced up at the detective to see if he knew who Bean Pole was. He nodded, looked at Miss Hazel, and said, “Why didn’t you say that at the beginning of our interview?”

She said, “I don’t know you from the pope. But I know Thomas. He won’t tell anyone what I told you. And he wouldn’t have asked the question in front of you if he thought you’d tell anyone.”

Now the homicide detective owed me a big favor.





CHAPTER 20





THAT EVENING, LILA slipped out again with some friends, this time to go dancing in Fort Lauderdale. Looking after both my mom and the kids that day had sapped my last bit of strength.

Which was why I was sleeping so hard when Lila called in the middle of the night.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked.

“I am great, big brother,” she slurred. “Come down to the beach and join me. That way you can give me a ride home when I’m done.”

“It sounds like you’re already done. How much have you had to drink?”

“Just a few vodka-and-cranberries and some champagne.”

I heard someone say something behind her and caught snatches of music. I figured she was in the ladies’ room or maybe outside one of the clubs.

Lila added, “Oh, and we had a few shots too.”

Ever since men started realizing my little sister was a beauty, I’d told her that if she had too much to drink she should call me and I’d come pick her up, no questions asked. I didn’t mind missing a little sleep if it meant my sister didn’t accept a ride from a stranger.

I said, “Where are you?”

“Beach Rockets, between Sunrise Boulevard and Las Olas.”

“Isn’t that the new place for spring-breakers? I thought it had a young crowd.”

“I’m only twenty-four! Just because I act like an old person around you and Mom doesn’t mean I’m not young. It’s a fun dance club and tonight was ladies’ night.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

I slipped through the house quietly. There were kids sleeping on couches and air mattresses everywhere. At least, that’s how it felt. I checked to make sure my mom was asleep.

I was a little nervous about leaving, but I had no choice. I didn’t want to wake up six kids and drive them twenty minutes to wait outside a bar. Everyone had my phone number, and they all knew how to use the house phone. Kids in the U.S. might not know what a landline was, but these kids did.

When I pulled up to trendy Beach Rockets, I could feel the music pulsing through the walls even from my car. The bright colors and decorative rockets near the door covered up the fact that the place had been a dive bar six months ago. Of course Lila wasn’t waiting outside for me, and she wasn’t answering her phone. I could hear the beat of the bass through the thick concrete walls, so there was no way she could hear her phone inside the club.

It’d been a while since I’d had to pass a bouncer and a uniformed cop working the door to get into a dance club in Fort Lauderdale. Or anywhere else, for that matter.

The place wasn’t all that big, but I didn’t see Lila. I stood there for a few minutes, hoping she’d walk by. Then someone said, “Are you waiting for your sister?”

I was about to say yes, but then I turned and saw who had asked me the question: Rostoff’s man Billy. Billy the Blade. His blue goatee seemed to make his teeth glow in the low light of the club. And standing at the bar right behind him, wearing a goofy smile, was Tibor, the tall Russian I’d smacked. Even in the dark, I saw the flowering tattoo running up to his face.





CHAPTER 21





I STARED AT the two Russians casually drinking Budweisers at the end of the bar. My right hand involuntarily moved toward the department-issued Glock that was stuck in my waistband with my shirt hanging over it.

It was one of the few times I was at a complete loss for words. I wanted to just pull my pistol and put a bullet in the face of each of these lowlifes.