"So does that mean you are going to give me his number for the agreed amount?"
The young man smiled and calmly replied
"What I learnt from my experience is that to fight you have to have all of the tools"
He slid me his phone number
Present day
9:00
"There was something off with Morty he could no longer be on the case as we investigated"
I grabbed a cup from the dispenser and placed it into the coffee machine.
"The first question to ask is what kind of relationship had he formed with Walter and The Association?"
"So how does this help us get Walter?"
I heard the beep of the machine. I cupped the bottom of the cup and calmly stated
"It shows that he is looking for an edge, and he thinks that Morty can give it to him."
"Didn't he?"
I took a sip
"Morty can only get information to Walter which he knows. If he is not on the case; Walter doesn't know anything"
"That is part of the chess-game"
The phone rang; it was the ME
"They found the body down at the Hudson"
"Care to go on a road-trip"
The Hudson
Fog blanketed The Hudson; with only the tops of the pillars of the bridge visible. The lights of our squad car cast elegant shadows on the water. I heard the car door squeal open as I stepped onto the bank. A couple of ducks were already on the water. After a couple of hours; the first of the boats broke off from the pack and came to the bank; on board was a black, body-bag.
I un-zipped the bag and saw large, scratch-marks; running from her rib-cage curving to the top of her belly-button. I gently asked
"In your opinion does this seem surgical?"
The ME moved in close; and dragged his hand along the scar
"Could be; it is not deep maybe a couple of inches, but it looks like it is not a part of the attack; this looks like an old wound. "
"Kidney Surgery?"
The ME shook his head
"No. The scaring is too large. For an operation like that, the scaring would not reach her belly-button; more likely than not it was caused by a scratch or a cut"
The ME; ran his hand along the top of the neck, and noticed the large dots
"We found another one of Walters Girls"
"Any way of narrowing down which one" My partner coyly asked
The ME nodded
"Feel this"
I knelt down; and felt the bottom of her breast
"They are fake?"
"Yes; which means that if they are still intact I can use the tracking number to figure out where she got them? From there I can call a couple of friends."
"Do you want a drink; I think I know someone who can speed this process up"
The Minx Night-club
Into the mystic, Van Morrison
The lights of the club dimmed; my ex-girlfriend and I were left alone. The record needle bounded back; and silence filled the air. She grabbed a couple of beers from the top-shelf and placed them on the counter.
I felt her manicured hand slowly wrap around the top of my bludging stomach. She leaned in close, and tenderly whispered
"You have gotten fatter ever since you took over the bar"
I kissed her
"You know this is stressful; just last week William tried to buy the place"
"Who"
I grabbed my phone out of my pocket; and saw the terror in her eyes. A long haired whale of a man with a blue, blue-tooth speaker attached to his ear, and a red tie stared lifelessly back at her
"William is a property-developer among other things. He saw potential in the place and wanted to buy it. But I told him it wasn't for sale"
"I am guessing he didn't take it very well"
"Saying no to the Whale is almost suicidal. The whale has hooks everywhere."
"Did he threaten you?"
I wiped the tears from her eyes before grabbing another beer
"That is all The Whale can do; threaten. Ever since his wife's miscarriage and the death of his father his weight has ballooned"
"Didn't he kill a sitting senator?"
I leaned in close and replied
"No, he planned it, but his doctor pulled the trigger."
Run Through The Jungle Credence Clearwater Revival
"So how do we solve this problem?"
I coldly stated
"Walter and his pal came to my friend yesterday looking for me to get back into the game"
"Are you going to?"
"That was my old life; I am too old to be playing hit-man. And when I meet with them that is the story that I will tell them"
The Hotel
"You are here about the tattoo aren't you?"
I smiled
"Your powers of deductions always astound me"
His booming laugh quaked
"When you have your ear to the ground; sometimes you pick up scraps of information"
"Don't be modest William; we both know you supplied the girls"
The room fell silent. William pointed to the assistant who slowly pulled his blankets off of him. He grabbed a walker and wheeled it to his bedside. The floor shook as he lent on his walker. His feet thundered as he moved closer
"Officer; you and I are old friends aren't we?"
I nodded
"I have no interest in women for that purpose. The only function of women is to feed me more. They are vessels for my survival."
"No William they are killing you slowly"
His whispery laugh struck fear into my partner's eyes
"I like them feeding me. I get a kick out of watching; as their bodies move over mine. "
"You know you are sick"
He ushered me closer
"I may be sick; but when I die I will be more famous then the both of you put together"
"And that is worth your health"
"That is the reason why I am successful! Without my enormous figure; I would be nothing more than a fat man lying in his coffin"
He waddled back to his bed; and placed the breathing tube back on. His breathing heavied as he continued
"This is my life; and I love it"
"Tell me about the tattoo"
"All of the girls have that tattoo but this is different; only three girls have this tattoo, Ramona; who was his favourite; a girl called Anna and a girl called Stephanie"
"We also found our girl had implants"
"The only girl with implants was Ramona"
"Thank you for your help"
"For a friend; anything"
The Minx Night-club
"I am sorry to say; I am not the guy you are searching for"
The young man mumbled something under his breath before gently asking
"That is not the impression I got when I met your friend last week. He told me that you were still up for the job"
I grabbed a couple of whiskey glasses from the rack, and placed them on the table. I saw the bottle of 1999 blue label single malt whiskey on the top shelf. The seal had never been opened. I dusted off the bottle and placed it down on the counter.
I gently asked
"Do you want a drink?"
He coyly smiled
"Marty I know what Walter wants; he wants the killer from ten years ago. He wants the cold-hearted killer who can stare down the rifle and pop someone; and then go to the bar for drinks and dinner. But he is gone"
Marty took a sip, before asking the question he had been afraid to ask for the whole interview
"What happened to him?"
I pointed to the ring
"She happened. I met her on the job. I was down in L.A, my target was Tony Transton. Tony was a local comedian who had been slowly making his way up the ranks. He was playing at a local comedy club called Last Laugh. The bar was the place. It had opened in the 1970's and was a hot-bed for young talent. It is where people like Robin Williams, Martin Short and Steve Martin made their marks before staring in television shows and movies.
But Tony had a problem; he had large gambling debts. Ever since joining those ranks he would spend his pay-check down at the M.G.M grand. As he got more famous so did the amount of money he got paid, and so did the debt. "
I took a sip and continued
" Tony 's debt reached 1.5 million, and with the comedian making double that in movie and TV shows; the MGM decided that they needed to see some of that money, so they sent me
Tony was a man who stuck to the same routine before every show; he would go to The Four Bridges Hotel in West Hollywood, he would then go to Billy Joel in Madison Square Garden and he would end the night with dinner with his girlfriend."
"Do you want another drink?"
Marty pointed to his car keys
"No; I have to drive home"
"Tony's usual waiter had come down with the flu, and so they had to get someone else in. I stepped in. I drugged his drink, and escorted him into the ally-way where i shot him. I buried his body in a skip-bin next door. In and out in a couple of minutes; but what i didn't count on was his girlfriend seeing me.
The way I look at it, I had two options
I could kill her; get rid of any witnesses, it was become the perfect crime Pay her off and get away with it, without having to kill anyone
Marty gently said
"I guess you chose option 2"
"I was not going to kill my women. Sam had been expecting. She never told Tony mainly because he was not the father. Sam had been seeing me on the side. She organised the hit for us to be together without Tony taking revenge.
A couple of months later, she gave birth to my son, and I got out of the game and created this bar."