Bombshell (Devlin Haskell 4) (29 page)

Heidi took this opportunity to mumble something completely unintelligible.

The officer nodded knowingly then held the door open for us.

“Good night sir, and thank you,” Destiny called, then turned just before the door closed.

I
found myself
with
Heidi strapped and snoring on the two wheeled dolly. We were
on a
dark sidewalk t
hat ran between the back of the
Veterans A
uditorium and
whatever
building
was
next to it.
Six stories of brick walls on either side hadn’t let sunlight penetrate
down to ground level for the past fif
ty years.
The only illumination came from the glow off a light a half block away out on the street
.

I watched as a
guy
’s
silhouette pissed
against the
brick wall just a few feet from
the street.
He looked back in our direction as he stood there, but it was so dark he couldn’t see us. After a minute he zipped up and ran to rejoin his friends waiting out on the street.

As I wheeled Heidi toward the street she snorted once or twice
, adjusted in a futile attempt to get more
comfortable,
and
then seemed to settle down.

“Find some bird taking the piss
and you
plan to assault her later on?” A
female voice came out of the dark, not at all friendly.

I jumped.

“Don’t,” she said and then jammed something hard into my ribs. “It wouldn’t
bother me at all
to blow what little brains you’ve got all over
this walk
way.
You douche nozzle, I t
hought they had you locked up?
”

“Emma, lovely
performance tonight
,
”
I said.

“Shut up ya tosser, you just keep walking ‘til we’re well away from this place.”

“What the hell are you doing back here?”

“What part of shut you
r gob
don’t you understand?”

“Just about all of it,” I said, but the pistol she jammed into my ribs made her message clear.

“I’m walking, I’m walking,
”
I said, wheel
ing
Heidi
out onto
Kellogg Boulevard
. The
event
crowd
had pretty much disappeared into the surrounding
pubs or cars driving home. I glanced down at Emma, she was barefoot and wore what looked like a large raincoat, very large.

“Just keep walking, where’s your car?” she
said, looking around nervously and then noticed my black eyes. “She do that to you? Can’t say that I blame her.

“
Bad luck
for you, Emma, car
’
s at home. We taxied down. I could get a cab, I suppose, if you can find one
in
St. Paul
.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, another witness, that it?”

“No, just trying to get you out of here,” I said, not adding,
and away from
Heidi
and
me
.

We walked beneath a street light, I suppose we looked like any normal couple if you discounted Emma, barefoot, holding a gun to my ribs, and swimming in a raincoat large enough for the two of us.
Well
and then there was Heidi
,
strapped to the two wheeled dolly
and
snoring soundly.

“
What’s
that
in your pocket
, a shoe?” Emma said, indicating my side pocket.

“Ye
ah, my date didn’t want to wear
them while she was riding on this…”

“Give them to me you fucking plonker.”

I
stopped pushing Heidi, pulled the shoes out of my pocket one at a time and tossed them on the sidewalk, switching hands to keep
the dolly and
Heidi upright.

Emma slipped first one foot and then
the other into Heidi’s shoes, r
ising up about six inches when she did so.

“Whoa, fucking hell,” she said taking the first step and grabbing me for a moment
’
s support. “Okay, just keep moving
,
” jamming the pistol
back
against my ribs for renewed emphasis.

“You know you really don’t have to do that. Not like I can really run anywhere,” I indicted Heidi with my head.

“You just keep moving,” Emma said, but a few paces later she pulled the pistol a
way and said, “Slow down,
I can’t keep up in these things.”

I slowed
down
my pace and Emma walked alongside
maybe a step or two behind me.

“You think of doing anything I’ll shoot your bird first,
and
then I’ll blow your bollocks off.”

“No thanks,” I said.

“Zip it and keep moving,
gobshite,” she said.

We continued on for another block and a half until we came to the hotel.

“Well gee, can’t thank you enough for your time,” I said and headed toward the hotel door.

“What the hell
are
you on about?”

It was almost midnight, but there was still a guy in a green top hat with a gold hat band out on the curb. He wore a matching green coat, with
wide gold trim along the lapels.
T
he coat was cut like a tux with tails. He looked like the Mad Hatter and acted t
he consummate
professional,
didn’
t even blink looking at
the three of us.

“Good evening sir, join
ing
us tonight?” he said, then opened one of the large doors and smiled.

“This is where we’re staying,” I said to Emma, hoping she’d take Heidi’s shoes and just keep going.

“In with you then,” she raised her chin to indicate the door,
and
followed behind me with her hand
holding the pistol
in the pocket of the raincoat.

“Enjoy, sir,” the doorman said with a smile.

The young woman at the front desk smiled and nodded
,
but
didn’t react beyond that
, as if wheeling a woman through the lobby on a
two wheeled
dolly was an every other night occurrence.

The elevator door opened before I could even push the button and I wheeled Heidi inside, Emma followed behind me.

“Don’t bother turning around, what floor is it?”

“Penthouse.”

“Posh bastard,” she said,
pushing the button. T
he doors closed
and we ros
e up fifteen floors toward the p
enthouse. A bell chimed softly just before the
doors opened onto the private p
enthouse hallway. Emma stepped off the elevator
. She
kept the pistol
in the pocket of the rain coat, but clearly pointed toward Heidi and me
.

“Get out here, you try anything I’ll shoot her, I swear.”

Heidi gave a slight moan and snorted a little as I wheeled
her off the elevator, backward
.

Emm
a was looking left and right,
the p
enthouse suite was t
he only thing
on the short hallway.
The
door
s
slowly
clo
sed behind us and the elevator descended back to the main lobby.

“You want to hold
on here
for a moment while I open the door
?
” I said
,
indicating
Heidi and
the dolly.

“Fuck no,
” Emma
snapped. She had
just
kicked
Heidi’s shoes
off
against the
hallway
wall and was
standing a few feet
away from me,
decidedly shorter.

I kept one hand on the dolly and fumbled with the credit card affair trying to open the
penthouse s
uite
door.

“Give me that thing
, you fuckwit,” she said
,
indicating the card. “Wheel her
back over against that far wall.” S
he had the pistol out
of her
coat pocket
and waved the thing to direct me.

“Just be careful with that damn shooter,” I said.

“Then do as I tell ya, leave the card by the door, move your arse over there,”
she waved the pistol
again.

Once she slipped the card in it only took
a
half second before
the lo
cks
click
ed
and she push
ed the p
enthouse door open. She stepped inside and
motioned
again with the pistol to follow
as
she held the door open.

“What do you want me to do with her?” I asked
,
wheeling Heid
i into the center room. Emma
moved
around
to the far side of the large table
, keeping it between
the two of
us
,
there was no way I could get to her.
She stole quick glances around the suite taking in the opulence.

“How’s a knacker the likes of you rate this?” She waved the pistol around, indicating the suite.

I saw no
point in explaining it was at city expense, due
in no small part to her behind-the—
scene
s
activity.

“Do you min
d if I just put her on the bed?
I’m afraid if she stays strapped to this thing much longer she might…”

“I couldn’t give a toss what you do with
her
, but I’m gong to watch, you try anything funny, the bird gets it first then…”

“Yeah, I remember
,
you
’ll
shoot me bollocks off, right?”

“E
xactly.”

I wheel
ed Hei
di up to the bed, it was a king-sized four—
poster. The posts were some
sort of dark wood, mahogany maybe and
elegantly carved
from top to bottom. Heavy burgundy curtains embroidered in a gold pattern were tied back against the carved posts.

I hung on to Heidi, kept her upright while I
carefully
unhooked the strap. Then
tilted the dolly slightly
, Heidi fell forward
and
made a sort of “uff”
sound as she belly flopped
on
to
the bed
, arms
limp at her side
. I moved the dolly aside and l
ifted Heidi’s feet onto the bed, sort of swung her around as I did so to position her.

“That’s good enough for the likes of her,” Emma said. “Untie the
m
cords,” she commanded
, waiving the damn pistol around, again.

While
I pulled the cor
ds from around the bed curtains I t
hought of a half dozen wise ass comment I could make. The little voice in my head said,
‘
don’t, just shut up, you idiot
’
.
Oddly, this time I listened.

Heidi had
sort of
crawled into a half fetal position,
face forward,
head and shoulders on the bed,
ass up in the air, skirt gathered
somewhere above
her waist. She was unconsciously smacking her lips. Under any other circumstances I would have enjoyed myself.

“Emma, if you want to leave
,
just go, I give you
my word I won’t call the police, I promise.
”

“Won’t call the police? Have you any idea how badly you’ve fucked up the party? I
thought that
finger in with all
your
bits and pieces and paint cans would have sealed it, but you managed to make
a right proper bollocks of that, y
ou and that
straight arsed bastard
,
Jimmy McNaughton. The two of you g
ot each and every
one of those
stupid
cow
s turned against m
e. Didn’t you?
’