In Your Name, page 14
‘I was clinically depressed and got prescribed a shit load of meds which helped. But it was pretty bleak.’
‘What changed?’ asked Harper.
‘I felt a little better and decided to enrol on a recovery camp. It’s one of those places where people with serious life-changing injuries go to get their confidence back. It encourages you to do things which ordinarily you can’t do, or rather you don’t believe you can do, like abseiling, scuba diving, climbing, living in the wild, that type of thing. It’s about challenging yourself mentally as well as physically, making you realise what you can achieve rather than focusing on what you can’t.’
‘So these physical challenges gave you back your self-belief and motivation,’ Lucas said eventually.
‘Fuck no. Turns out the women there were more interested in trying out the Italian love stick. I’d completely gone off the boil but those three weeks certainly got the motor running hot again.’
‘You pulled women on the course?’ Lucas asked.
‘Yup.’
‘But you weren’t exactly in working order, you were still recovering? I mean your arm and your face?’ Harper chipped in.
‘Turns out women like a bit of imperfection.’
‘Bit of imperfection!’ Harper choked again on his soda. ‘You have one arm and a face Peter Cushing would run from.’
‘Correction, I have one and a half arms, my face is on the mend, but there’s nothing wrong with the pork sword.’ Bassano smiled broadly and grasped his crotch with his good hand.
‘Let me get this straight. You went to a retreat and women with similar conditions hit on you?’ Harper obviously needed further clarification.
‘Not exclusively. The able-bodied chicks fancied a go as well.’
‘I don’t believe this.’ Harper thought of his monthly expenditure on hookers and wondered if he would save money if he chopped his arm off.
‘Anyway it did the trick?’ Lucas was keen to bring this lurid conversation to an end.
‘Yes, sure did. Three weeks of screwing myself to a standstill was exactly what the doctor ordered. As I said, I feel ready to get back in the game. So I lifted Jo.’
‘What’s next in your plan?’ asked Harper.
‘This is it. Snatch Jo and find you guys.’
‘That’s it!’ Lucas was beginning to remember some of the more frustrating elements about working with Bassano.
‘Yup. I figured you guys were working along the same lines. So I saved you the trouble of taking her.’
‘We need to move fast or this will quickly unravel.’ Lucas’s head shifted into cop mode. ‘We’ve arranged for Jo to spend some time at a nursing home in Victorville. It’s a hell of a drive but we need to ensure she’s out of Mechanic’s reach. We have to get her there before she runs into health complications. Harper, you go to the motel with Bassano, pick her up and drive her there.’
Harper nodded.
‘You want me to go along too?’ asked Bassano.
‘No. You need to go back to the Huxton place and tell the mother to call Jess and let her know her sister has been collected safely. When you’re there, give her a letter to pass on to Mechanic. Tell Jenny-Jay it’s the paperwork which you should have dropped off earlier. It contains a newspaper advertisement for Mechanic, I’ll explain later.’
‘What about you?’ asked Harper.
‘I’ll contact the paper and place our second ad. It needs to be in before two thirty to make tomorrow’s run.’
‘What’s it gonna say?’
‘Not sure yet.’
They sat in silence each one racking their brains for something suitable.
Bassano chipped in.
‘How about, “You’re a dead woman”.’
32
Mechanic was riding on a permanent high. Silverton had the look of a teenage boy thumbing through a porn mag when she showed him the photographs from the hit. He flicked back and forth through the images on the camera.
‘Hell girl, when you say you’re gonna to do a job, you sure as hell do a job. This will piss on their picnic.’ He slapped his thigh and crowed like a banshee.
‘Have you had any contact with the other gang leaders?’ asked Mechanic.
‘No, complete radio silence. Though I figure after this latest little incident my boys will get a call.’
He opened a desk drawer, pulled out a plain paper bag and tossed it to Mechanic. She didn’t bother opening it. From the look and feel she knew it was another fifteen thousand bucks cash deposit for the top of her wardrobe.
‘Where do we go next, Mr Silverton?’
‘The Wild Crew. They run the central east side in the Winchester township of Vegas. They’re the oldest gang around and consider themselves part of the establishment. They have some top-ranking officials in their pocket and so tend to get away with murder. Often literally I might add.’
‘Any particular reason why they’re next?’
‘Yes, I don’t fucking like them.’ He handed Mechanic a large envelope.
‘Thanks. I’ll do some additional surveillance this time if that’s okay, Mr Silverton. The intel and photos you provide are fine but it’s no substitute for eyes on.’
‘Yup, play it as you wish. Keep me posted and let me know when it’s going down. I want to be sure my team are fully occupied.’ She got up and left the room a much richer woman.
Forty minutes later Mechanic was opening the front door to her house. She crossed the hallway into the kitchen and flicked on the coffee maker. The answerphone message blinked red requiring attention. She hit the play button.
‘Hi Jessica, this is Jenny-Jay.’ Mechanic smiled and busied herself making coffee. ‘It’s a quick call to let you know Jo got picked up safely this morning. She was so excited about going on her mini-break she wouldn’t shut up about it. Anyway talk to you soon, bye for now. Oh, before I forget, they left paperwork for you. You can pick it up on your next visit. See you soon. Byeee!’
Mechanic froze.
She held a cup in one hand and a carton of milk in the other. Very slowly she returned the cup back in the cupboard and again pushed play. Mrs Huxton’s voice was light and airy, unaware of the cataclysmic shock she was creating at the other end. Mechanic replaced the milk in the fridge, hit play once more and steadied herself with both hands on the worktop. The message played a third time. She could feel the fury boiling through her body. She began to shake.
Mechanic forced herself to move, she opened the compartment on the phone, removed the cassette tape and shoved it in her pocket. She ran to the bedroom, rammed the brown paper bag into the wardrobe and picked up the black rucksack, holstering her weapon. Fifty minutes later she stood outside the Huxtons’ front door and knocked, not sure what was about to happen next.
The shaking was gone, replaced by cold, hard aggression. She was cool and calm. Completely focused and prepared for anything.
Mrs Huxton opened the door.
‘Hello, Jessica, this is a nice surprise. I didn’t expect to see you so soon. Come in, come in. Look Mary-Jay, Jessica has come to see us, isn’t that great?’
‘Is there anyone else here, Jenny-Jay?’ asked Mechanic.
‘No it’s only the two of us, Jeb is at work. We are so pleased to see you.’ She stepped away from the door allowing Mechanic into the house.
‘I got your message, Jenny-Jay,’ Mechanic said.
‘Oh, that’s okay. No worries. Do you want coffee? We were settling down for a nice game of cards. Do you want to join us?’
‘Coffee would be good thanks, but I’ll pass on the cards.’
‘Coffee it is then. Look Mary-Jay, look who’s come to visit.’ She fussed around her daughter and then disappeared into the kitchen. Mechanic followed her.
‘So, Jo got picked up okay then, Mrs Huxton?’ Mechanic asked casually.
‘Please, Jessica, it’s Jenny-Jay,’ she scolded her playfully. ‘Yes she was collected this morning for her break at Forever Young. I think it’s a great idea, she’ll really enjoy herself there. I know a little about the place, it’s lovely.’
‘Yes, well I thought it was a good choice. When did they pick her up?’
‘Called at around half nine, I guess. Then what do you think happened?’
‘What?’
‘The other men turned up. That was a bit of a mix up.’ She slapped the worktop to emphasise the pantomime nature of the muddle.
‘Mix up?’ asked Mechanic.
‘The Forever Young guy turned up first, then before you knew it two other men from Sunny Village nursing home in Clover Heights were standing on my doorstep. They looked extremely put out when I told them Jo wasn’t here.’
‘Yes, that is a mix up. I spoke to a number of homes and I suppose it all got a little confused. I’m sorry about that.’
Jenny-Jay pushed a coffee and the sugar bowl in front of Mechanic.
‘That’s fine, my dear, no harm done. The Forever Young chap left you this.’ She handed over the envelope. Mechanic was not about to open it in front of Jenny-Jay.
‘Did I hear Mary-Jay then?’ Mechanic said looking over her shoulder.
‘Maybe. She’s been acting up since Jo went on her little break. She misses her I think.’ Jenny-Jay scurried off into the living room.
Mechanic ripped open the envelope and removed the contents. She opened up the torn newspaper page, one of the adverts was ringed in thick red pen. It read:
YOUR PRECIOUS POSSESSION IS SAFE
IT WILL BE RETURNED IN EXCHANGE FOR YOU
BUY THIS PAPER AND AWAIT INSTRUCTION
She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.
Her head raced with possibilities.
Was this revenge for hitting the drug teams? Was it Silverton giving himself an insurance policy? Who would want to take Jo? And who in hell’s name knew she was here? Mechanic’s thoughts spun in ever-decreasing circles.
Whoever took Jo must have looked genuine or Huxton would have called the police. Mechanic had to play for time, she had no choice but to go along with the charade. This was not good. Not good at all.
Jenny-Jay came back and Mechanic stuffed the paper into the envelope. She put three spoonsful of sugar into the cup and stirred vigorously.
Jenny-Jay was waxing lyrical about how her daughter was being sassy and answering back. Mechanic wasn’t listening. Her head was running amok with scenarios and possibilities. She snapped back to reality.
‘I want to thank the guys for picking up Jo. Did you get any names?’ she asked.
‘No, I didn’t.’
‘What sort of vehicles did they have?’
‘Oh I don’t pay no heed to things like that,’ Jenny-Jay replied pouring herself a coffee. ‘Good idea for you to talk to them though because those people at Forever Young could do with some constructive feedback.’
‘In what way?’
‘They sent a young man to collect her who only had one arm. I had to help load her into the van. It wasn’t right to be honest.’
‘One arm?’
‘Yes, he was a tall dark-haired chap with a lot of scarring on his face. And he only had one arm. I think it’s great that they’re helping people back into work but to be honest it wasn’t right.’
‘What about the other two?’
‘Older gentlemen, both in their fifties. The one was very charming and the other looked a bit sour-faced.’
‘These guys were from Sunny Village?’
‘Yes that’s right. The nice man was black and the miserable one was white.’ Jenny-Jay sipped from her cup.
‘Did they leave anything for me?’
‘No nothing. They went on their way looking very confused. Fancy a top-up?’
Mechanic looked at her cup, it was full to the brim. ‘No thanks, Jenny-Jay. I have to go unfortunately.’ She tapped her watch.
‘Please let us know how Jo is getting on, Mary-Jay is dying to know what she’s up to.’ Jenny-Jay rose from the table to see her out. Mechanic said her goodbyes and headed back to her car.
She needed to get to a phone fast.
Back at home Mechanic called all the nursing homes around the Vegas area, starting with the two Huxton told her about. Predictably, they both came up blank. She worked her way through the directory and got the same response each time. Mechanic looked at her watch, she’d been on the phone for two hours.
She was dialling the next number when she jumped up, snatching the envelope which Jenny-Jay had given her from the table. She spread the torn page flat on the surface.
‘Shit!’ she said racing out the front door.
It was dated the previous day.
Mechanic needed to buy a newspaper.
33
Mechanic sat in her car tearing through the classified ads section of the Bulletin. There were hundreds of them. She turned the pages one by one tracing her finger down the printed columns.
‘Damn it,’ she exploded and grabbed the torn one from the envelope. Mechanic tried to collect herself and breathe deeply. The red-ringed ad was in the personal section, page twenty-two. She flipped through the pages and tried again.
There, on page twenty-four, was what she was looking for:
MECHANIC WANTED IN EXCHANGE FOR PRECIOUS POSSESSION
REFUSAL WILL REDUCE THE QUALITY OF THE POSSESSION
ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT
Mechanic shut her eyes and banged her head against the steering wheel. Tears rolled down her face and onto the paper. She stared blurry eyed out of the windshield.
‘Who the hell would do this?’ she yelled.
Then she laughed and rubbed her eyes. It was a dumb-ass question, the list of candidates for that honour was too long to count.
Mechanic stared at the ad and for the next thirty minutes sat in her car, running through every possibility in her head.
Then it all fell into place.
A charming black guy and a sour-faced white man.
A tall dark-haired guy with one arm. Not sure how the guy is even alive, but it all makes sense.
Piece by piece the picture came together.
There was only one set of people who matched those criteria and who wanted to inflict damage on her and Jo. The option posed a morass of unanswered questions for sure, and it was a long shot, but the jigsaw fitted together perfectly.
She knew who she was up against and if she was right it changed the game completely.
The time for emotional indulgence was over.
It was time to go to work.
34
Mechanic needed to buy herself time and find a way to somehow hit the brakes. It was a high-risk strategy but if both she and Jo were to survive she had to slow things down. Twenty-four hours would do it.
She knew Lucas would be hellbent on ratcheting up the pressure and accelerating the pace. It was crucial for him to maintain the upper hand and do everything he could to dominate the timescale and events. If she allowed that to happen she was a dead woman for sure.
Mechanic was taking an enormous gamble – that Lucas would not harm Jo.
She surmised he probably had her at a nursing home or hospital, or was supplying the nursing support himself, but that was unlikely.
Lucas would have done a thorough job placing Jo well out of harm’s way and Mechanic could spend days on the phone and never find her. She needed a different tack and for that she needed time.
It always amazed Mechanic the number of favours she could call on when needed. It struck her that for a sadistic serial killer she must come over as quite a nice person. By five thirty she had what she needed. She phoned Silverton and requested a meeting.
They met at his suite at the Hacienda.
Mechanic held three pictures in her hand and waved them at Silverton.
‘I have a strong suspicion these are the men who carried out the hit on your operation.’
‘Who are they? Do I know the bastards?’
‘Unlikely. The reason why you couldn’t turn anything up was that you were looking in the wrong place. These boys are not from a gang or a drug cartel, they think of themselves as what you might term Good Samaritans.’
‘I don’t get it.’
‘Your men are looking for a new crew or a gang with an axe to grind. These guys are neither. They come from Florida and share one thing in common.’
‘What?’
‘They’ve all lost someone close to them because of drugs and they all used to be cops.’
Mechanic spread the mug shots on the table. The faces of Lucas, Harper and Bassano stared out of the photographs.
‘Cops? Why us and why here?’ Silverton was not expecting this.
‘Why anywhere, I suppose, Mr Silverton. These people roam around the country hitting drug gangs. They have nothing against you or your operation other than the fact you distribute and sell narcotics.’
Silverton picked up the pictures and stared at each one.
‘How did you find them?’
‘Now that I can’t say.’
‘What do you mean, you can’t say?’
‘Do you trust me, Mr Silverton?’
‘I pay you well enough, don’t I?’
‘I agree, but do you trust me?’
‘I trust you with my life and my business, what more can I say?’
‘Then you need to trust me when I say these are the ones. They took out your team and I want to deal with them my way. These are not your normal meatheads, they are sharp and very dangerous and if they get the slightest inclination you are moving in, they’ll be gone.’
‘I want these jerks hanging from fucking spikes.’
‘And you will, but only if we do things my way.’
‘So what do we do?’
‘Circulate the mugshots to your boys on the ground, someone must have seen them. When they’re found I want complete hands-off from your team, that’s the only way this will work. I want the order to come direct from you. If anyone spots them and makes a move, I will fucking blow their heads off. Is that clear?’
‘Do you have previous with these guys? Because this sounds personal.’
