Dead Money Run (4 page)

Chapter
10

I
waited while Hilary took her jacket off, shook it clean and walked down to the lake to clean up. While she was gone, I went through her purse. Hilary Kelly was her real name, but she was no student. In her purse there was a thirty-eight Smith and Wesson Airweight and a badge holder that indicated she was a private investigator. After taking the shells out I put the pistol and badge back in her purse. In about twenty minutes, she returned and stopped before me.

“Okay. I worked with your sister as a hooker. She told me the whole story and I figured I could cut myself in som
ewhere along the line.”

“I see.
”

After finding her PI badge, I didn’t believe her, but there
was no reason to get into a catfight about it so I just said, “Okay, let’s go.”

“What do I tell my friend?”

“Nothing more than what I had just said. Now let’s get going.”

Twenty minutes later we were
driving north on I-95 heading toward Savannah in the Mustang. The only difference being, I was doing the driving.

“I thought you said you couldn't drive?”

“Yeah, I did,” I said. “Then again, I lied. Lot of that going

a
round.”

Right now I was feeling pretty good
about things. I had stuffed a handful of bills in my pocket and the rest of the five hundred grand was in the trunk in the duffle bag. I was about to step up to some new wheels and some other things I figured I was going to need.

“Where are we going?”

“Savannah,” I said.

“I got that, but where in Savannah?”

“I’m not sure yet,” I said. “There have been a lot of changes since I was there last.”

At this point,
I wasn’t going to tell Hilary a whole lot of anything. With Hilary being a PI, I had to make a slight change in plans.

Once I reached Savannah,
I had intended to leave Hilary with her friend’s car and some money to drive back to Jacksonville. That plan was now out. For the time being, I had to keep her with me. I thought about killing her, but then, killing a person who had nothing to do with my problems would, in my mind, be murder for sure. Besides, I was starting to like her and, being who she was, presented a challenge. The other thing, even more important, was finding out who she worked for. I suspected I knew the ‘why’, but not the ‘who’.

Driving through Savannah,
I was looking for a place called Carlyle’s on the east side of town. From the street it was a place that had that junkyard look. Once you got beyond the front gate and inside the big brick building, the place took on a life of its own.

Being somewhat of a family enterprise,
Eddie Carlyle now owned the yard and, like his father, ran it as a chop shop and other things. If it had an engine, Eddie could tear it down and build it back better than the original manufacturer. In addition to his fencing operation, Eddie’s brother was one of the best forgers in the country.

After driving around for about forty minutes, I finally found it.

“Okay, we are here.”

Turning into the parking area, Hilary
started in with her questions.

“Got something you want to get off your chest
,” I said.

“You mean
, besides a bra?”

“
If you have a question, let’s have it,” I said.

“Place looks like a junk
yard,” she said.

“
You have been blessed with a keen set of eyes.”

“Why are we here?”

“I already told you,” I said.

“Yeah, I know what you said, but why here? You really don’t need me anymore. Why not leave me in Savannah and I will find my way back home on my own
?”

“I’ll give that some thought
,” I said. “Any more questions?”

“How do I know you aren’t going to kill me?”

“You don’t. You’re just going to have to trust me.”

Chapter 11

Afte
r
parking the Mustang, I got out and walked around to the passenger side and motioned for Hilary to get out.

“What do you need me for?” she said.

“Insurance, if I leave you out here by yourself, someone might steal you and we wouldn't want that, would we?”

Swinging her legs out, she got out of th
e car and walked in front of me toward the side door of the garage. I had to hand it to her, she had some real stones.

Inside, I saw Eddie talking to one of
his men. When he saw me, he waved and walked over.

“Lou, you finally made it out. How long
were you in? Fifteen big ones, wasn't it?”

“You always had a way with numbers
, Eddie,” I said. “But, I’m not here to talk over old times. I need a new car and some new ID. What can you do for me?”

Looking past my
shoulder, Eddie saw Hilary and asked, “You get married while you were in the house?”

“No, she’s just riding wi
th me. Besides, she’s hot and I have to keep her around for a while.”

“Who
’s she with?”

“She’s private, but I don
’t know how she fits in yet,” I said.

Eddie raised and lowered his
eyebrows a few times and said, “Interesting combination with you having snatched that money. What are you going to do with her?”

“Not sure, but I’m not here
to talk about her. I need a new car and new ID. What have you got for me as far as wheels and new papers?”

“Follow me,” said Eddie.

Walking me around to the other side of the garage, Eddie pointed to a new Chrysler 300.

“Looks like something my Granddad would drive
,” I said.

“
Hardly,” said Eddie. “Nothing your Granddad drove had an engine like this baby. Zero to sixty under four seconds with a top end of better than one eighty. Make a state cop drool.”

“
How much?” I said.

“You bringing that
Mustang to me?”

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s the plan.”

“With the ID’s, sixty thousand.”

“Make it two sets of ID
’s. One set for me and one for her.”

“
Add another five grand for her set,” said Eddie.

“When can
I make the pickup,” I said.

“Tomorrow after nine o’clock
,” said Eddie. “What do you want in the way of ID?”

“Driver’s license for both Georgia and Florida, social s
ecurity cards for both of us, two credit cards, one American Express and the other, either MasterCard or VISA. We’ll both need passports.”

“What, no
Discover? I hear you can get five percent off everything you buy.”

I told Eddie that I would get the car and the rest of the stuff from him in the morning and for him to take the five percent off on his end.

“What name should I use?” he said.

“Use your best
judgment as long as it’s something that I can spell,” I said.

“How about John Addams, with two ‘d’s’?”

“Sounds good,” I said.

Once we got back in the
Mustang I waited for Hilary to ask more questions, but she never said a word.

Pulling
out of Eddie’s, I decided we needed some new clothes.

“
We passed a mall on our way into town,” I said. “I need to get something better to wear and from the looks of it, you could use a few things too.”

“What? You don’t like the off the rack hippy look?”

“I’m okay with it. I’m just trying to win you over to my side of things,” I said.

“And what side are you on
, Lou. You just killed two men. Your side looks a little fuzzy from here.”

I had nothing to add. I was tired and needed some sleep.
I told her what we were doing and told her she could make what she wanted of it.

“So
, Lou, what’s the plan? I think I have a right to know.”

“Not really
. But since you asked, here it is.

“In the morning we are going back to Eddie’s to
pick up a car and get our new ID and credit cards for when we leave home.”

“Why do I need new ID
’s?” she asked.

“In case you
get lost,” I said.

“Okay, then what?”

“What’s this with the twenty questions,” I said. “You should be happy you’re still looking down at the grass and not up.”

“You’re a funny man. I just want to know
where we are going so I can be prepared when they arrest us.”

“Nobody is going to arrest us,” I said. “We haven’t done anything yet to get arrested.”

“No, I suppose those two dead bodies back at the pond were just part of a video game.”

“
They’re just collateral damage. Now we’re two hundred points up,” I said.

“After we get thi
s car in the morning, are we headed back to Jacksonville?”

“
I think you are on to something,” I said.

“What about my friend’s car.?”

“I’m going to give you five grand to give to her and that’s tax free. The car wasn’t worth more than five hundred bucks, assuming she could find someone dumb enough to buy it from her. Then we are headed to Jacksonville Beach to meet Lockman. I want to hear what he has to say. If he is cooperative, he will live to see another day. If he isn't, well…that will be another matter.”

“Another killing
you mean?”

“I wouldn't think along those lines,” I said. “My sister was killed for a reason. I think I was
part of that reason. It was either to get information from her that she didn't have or to put pressure on me to cough up what I knew about the money or Lockman killed her to get the money for himself. Either way he’s dirty.

“So that’s it.
Once we get to a hotel I suggest you take a shower and get cleaned up. After that, well…we’ll see.”

The mall was bigger than I thought
. It had two big anchor stores called Parisian’s and Dillard’s. I hadn’t bought new clothes in fifteen years and I wasn't sure of my size. I asked Hilary if she would come with me first and then we would get what she needed. The salesman that waited on us was helpful, but suspicious. He asked a lot of questions that I didn’t give him answers to. I told him my name and that we were new to the area. He had his name tag pinned on a store blazer over his left pocket. It reminded me of a dog tag. The tag said his name was Stanley. He probably practiced the name routine each day before heading to work.

“Where have you been buying your clothes
, Mister Addams?” he asked.

Hilary was quick to the answer, “We are from Tennessee
, Sweetie, and up in the hills we don’t have to get too fancy, but Junior here is going in for a new job at the port and he wants to look nice.”

“Yes, I can understand,” said Stanley. “I mean
, it’s not every day I see clothes like what Junior has on. They look like something someone would get from a prison.”

“Prison,” said Hilary. “What the Sam Hill you talking about
, Boy? You saying we’re convicts?”

“
No, no,” said Stanley. “I just meant the clothes are coarse like. I mean, home spun.”

It was my turn now.

“Look Bud, just get me a couple of shirts, some socks, underwear, shoes with no holes in the bottoms, jeans with no suspenders and a belt. I need a belt.” Looking over Stanley’s head I saw a coat that made a perfect hide for the Glock-17.

“I’ll take that coat over yonder
,” I said.

Looking
in the direction I was pointing with my chin, Stanley said, “Good choice. We just got those in. A hundred percent chamois. I think you are an extra-large. What color?”

“He’ll take that dark brown one,” said Hilary. “Junior
, you look good in brown. Remember how good you looked after that hog wrestling contest back at Daddy’s place. You were covered head to foot in pig shit.”

Hilary
had a big smile on her face and Stanley wanted us out of there.

“I’ll take one of the blue ones. Always wanted a
blue coat,” I said.

Hilary started laughing.
People were starting to gather around and stare like we were a couple of barnyard animals.

In an hour,
we had everything we needed. Hilary bought some things she never thought she would buy. When we got back to the car, we put everything in the trunk of the Mustang and drove around looking for a hotel. Driving back toward downtown, I found a hotel called the Tower River Inn in the downtown area of Savannah. It was near the Savannah River made famous by Johnny Mercer’s song ‘Moon River’ in the movie,
Breakfast at Tiffany's
. Hilary hummed the song as we drove.

“I wonder why there is so much hate in the
world, Lou.”

“I don’t know
. Greed probably,” I said.

“The song
‘Moon River’ is so beautiful. I remember seeing the movie four times. I wanted to be like Audrey Hepburn.”

“For some reason
, the name, Holly Golightly, doesn’t seem to fit you,” I said.