Lady Justice and the Ghostly Treasure (6 page)

    We headed to the south wing and discovered a room that was like an Odd Fellows museum. There were artifacts in glass cases that had been found on the property by the new owners.

    One grisly exhibit was a complete human skeleton.

    A card next to the exhibit said that this was ‘George,’ and his bones were used in several of the Odd Fellows secret rituals. I made a mental note to ask the Professor about these strange goings-on.

    In another glass case on the wall, were a half-dozen primitive sketches. The note next to this exhibit explained that during remodeling, these drawings were found hidden in the walls of the orphanage. I couldn’t help but wonder why little children felt it necessary to hide away their art work.

    I pointed them out to Mary.

    “Oh yeah, I can see that. They was real strict around here. Martha and me were just kids, but they made us work in the garden every day. They’d tell us that idle hands were the devil’s workshop. If they found us foolin’ around or drawing pictures, we’d get extra work.”

    “Sounds pretty harsh.”

    “It does now, but back then it was all we knew. It was a roof over our heads and food on the table. After Daddy died, it could have been a lot worse.”

    We headed back to the tasting room.

    No one was there but the young lady behind the bar.

    “How about a sample?” she asked, waving us inside.

    Mary was all for it, but me, not so much.

    I’m not much of a drinker. If we go to a Mexican restaurant, I’ll have a margarita, but just one. If I have two, Maggie has to drive home.

    I’m seventy-three, and I’ve never even tasted beer. As a youth, I spent a lot of time on my grandfather’s farm. I always thought that beer had an uncanny resemblance to the puddles grandpa’s cows left in the pasture.

    I’ve tried various wines, but to my friend’s and family’s amusement, the only wine I really like is Arbor Mist. My favorite used to be Peach Chardonnay, but I recently found Island Fruits, and it’s now my vintage of choice.

    The young lady placed laminated cards in front of us. “We have red, white, and specialty wines. What would you like to try?”

    I looked at the laminated page.

    Chardonnel

    Our Chardonel combines crisp pear & apple aromas with light oak to create an exquisite full bodied dry white wine with a steely finish.

    “Hmmmm, just what I was looking for, a steely finish.”

    Plumeria

    With a rich floral nose, this fresh white wine delivers a hint of sweetness & a crisp, subtle finish with a carefully crafted blend of Seyval, Traminette, & Vignole grapes.

    The image of a floral nose on a glass of wine popped into my mind, but I quickly dismissed it.

    There were six others listed, but I stopped reading with the floral nose.

    Mary was in seventh heaven. “I’ll try ‘em all,” she replied enthusiastically.

    “Sure,” the barista replied. “Let’s start with the whites.”

    “How about you, Sir,” she asked, handing the first glass to Mary.

    “Uhhh, do you have one that tastes like Arbor Mist --- Island Fruits?”

    I could tell she’d never been asked that before. “I --- I really couldn’t say, but probably not.”

    “That’s okay then. I’ll just watch my friend drink. I’m driving.”

    After her eighth sample, I could see Mary was feeling a little tipsy. “Misser Walt! Diss is good stuff. Could we get us a bottle --- you know --- to take home?”

    I figured it was the least I could do, since Mary had tried them all.

    “Which one would you like?”

    “Don’t matter ---
hick
--- dey’s all good. You pick!”

    One of them was named Lucky Pierre. I wondered how lucky Mr. Pierre would feel after Mary had her way with him.

    “Lucky Pierre,” I said, pulling out my wallet.

    “Good choice,” she beamed enthusiastically. “That will be $15.99.”

    I nearly fell off my stool. At $3.89 each, I could have bought four bottles of Arbor Mist.

    With Lucky Pierre under one arm and Mary clinging to the other, we headed outside. Directly to the north were the three other buildings the Professor had described.

    The first one was the nursing home, the second, the old folk’s home, and the third was the hospital.

    All three were in ruins. Grass and brush surrounded each, windows were broken and boarded, and ‘Keep Out’ signs were everywhere.

    When we reached the hospital, I could feel Mary shudder.

    “I remember going in there with Momma. It was real scary. People were moaning and crying and it smelled awful. I don’t know how she could stand to work there. It finally killed her.”

    She tugged at my arm. “Let’s go, Mr. Walt. I got a bad feeling about that place.”

    By the time we reached the car, Mary was starting to come around.

    “Before we go, could we stop by the cemetery?”

    “Sure. Where is it?”

    “Just behind the building and over the hill. We can drive there.”

    I followed Mary’s directions, and sure enough, the cemetery was right where she said.

    I remembered reading that 600 people were interred there.

    Mary stood at the entrance a moment and I could see her struggling to remember.

    “Over there,” she said, heading across the grounds.

    I followed her and found her standing and staring at a grave.

    The inscription read, ‘Marie Carpenter, Loving Wife and Mother.’

    “Momma,” she muttered, kneeling down and touching the headstone. “I missed you so much.”

    I put my hand on her shoulder.

    “You know, Mr. Walt, reading Momma’s diary is like she’s right there talkin’ to me.”

    As she spoke, a gentle breeze rustled the leaves on the trees and the tufts of grass, and I would have sworn I heard the words, ‘I missed you too’ in the whispering wind.

CHAPTER 5

    Randy had just finished cleaning his .380 when Dominick walked in.

    “Well, did you find the little creep?”

    “Yeah, I got him. He’s holed up at some dumpy flop house on Linwood.”

    “Can we get to him?”

    “Shouldn’t be a problem. Nobody there but a bunch of old dudes and a few day workers. The place is run by an old woman. Piece of cake.”

    “Then let’s do it. Ever since Walker rabbited on us, Sammy’s been on our butts to find him and shake him down.”

    “Let’s watch a few minutes and see who comes and goes,” Dominick said as they pulled up in front of the old hotel.

    Ten minutes later, an old guy with a cane hobbled down the front steps and headed toward the convenience store on the corner.

    “I see what you mean,” Randy said. “If that’s the typical tenant, no one’s going to bother us. I say let’s go.”

     At the top of the stairs, Randy asked, “Okay, which room?”

    “Hell, I don’t know. I didn’t follow him up here for chrissakes!”

    “There must be twenty rooms,” Randy moaned. “We can’t just bust our way into all of them.”

    At that moment, the door to the hall bath opened and an old gent strolled out into the hall.

    “You there!” Randy said, grabbing the old man by the arm. “Do you know --- Oh my God! --- what is that smell?”

    Right behind him, Dominick was coughing and gagging. “Holy crap, Randy. I’m gonna puke!”

    Randy pulled the man down the hall next to an open window.

    “Phew! That’s better. Now, a new guy moved in yesterday. Which room?”

    The old guy pointed a shaky finger down the hall. “Number 6, down at the far end.”

    “Thanks, now beat it.”

    As the two walked away, Feeney noticed the tell-tale bulge under the shirt of the man that accosted him, and high-tailed it to Mary’s apartment.

    “Mary! Open up!” he shouted, banging on her door.

    “What now, Feeney?” Mary asked, obviously perturbed. “Don’t tell me you stopped up the crapper again. I’m not in the mood.”

    “No! No! Nothing like that. Two guys are upstairs looking for the new fellow in #6. I think one of them has a gun!”

    “Great! Just great!” Mary muttered, grabbing her ball bat. She dialed and handed Feeney the phone. “Tell Mr. Walt what’s going on and tell him to get over here --- fast. I’m heading upstairs.”

    Randy and Dominick paused beside the door to #6.

    “I’ll handle this,” Randy said, tapping gently. “Maintenance. Just checking to see if you need anything.”

    “No, I’m fine,” James replied opening the door. “Thanks for ---- Hey! What the hell?”

    Randy shoved James onto the bed, brandishing his .380.

    “You can run but you can’t hide,” Dominick said. “Sammy’s real pissed, you takin’ off like that. He wants his money --- NOW!”

    “I --- I don’t have it, but I’ll get it. I promise. I wasn’t trying to skip out. I know I owe the money. I just had to move somewhere cheaper so I could save up.”

    “Likely story. Sammy said if we found you, to send you a message he means business. What do you think, Randy? Maybe a pinkie off at the first knuckle?”

    “Sounds about right to me.”

    “Come on, guys,” James pleaded. “You don’t have to do this. Tell Sammy I’ll pay. I promise.”

    “Oh, we’ll tell him all right, but if we don’t bring back some proof we delivered the message, our butts will be in a sling. We can’t have that, now can we?”

    Dominick pulled a pair of nippers out of his pocket. “Give me your hand, James. I’ll make this nice and quick and we’ll be outta here.”

    “BACK OFF, ASSHOLE!” Mary roared, bringing her Louisville Slugger down on Dominick’s wrist.

    “Owww! Holy crap!” he muttered grabbing his arm.

    Randy swung the .380 in her direction, but her second swing caught him on the arm and the gun skittered across the floor.

    Seeing James grab the gun, Randy shouted, “Dominick! Let’s get the hell outta here!”

    Pushing Mary aside, the two ran for the exit at the far end of the hall.

    Mary grabbed the gun from James. “I’ll teach those creeps a thing or two.”

    Mr. Barnes stepped out into the hall to see what the commotion was all about just as Mary fired off two shots.

    “Geez Louise!” he shouted. “Now
I’ve
wet myself!”

    The slugs crashed into the door frame above Randy and Dominick.

    “Mark my words, Walker,” Randy shouted as they slipped out the door, “Get Sammy his money or next time it won’t just be a piece of pinkie.”

    My brother-in-law and partner in Walt Williams Investigations, Kevin McBride, and I were in my home office discussing a case when the phone rang.

    “Mr. Walt! Two guys came lookin’ for the new fellow and Mary’s gone after ‘em with her bat!”

    “Whoa! Slow down. Mr. Feeney?”

    “Yeah, it’s me. Mary said to get you over here, pronto!”

    “Okay, start from the beginning. What’s going on?”

    After several aborted attempts, I finally got the straight story.

    “Tell Mary I’m on my way and not to do anything stupid.”

   “Crimeny! It might be too late. I think I just heard shots upstairs.”

    I hung up and grabbed Kevin. “Let’s go. It sounds like there’s a gunfight at the hotel.”

    On the way, I gave Kevin the details.

    Needless to say, he was stunned. “So you’re telling me that this stranger, who turned out to be her nephew, just showed up on Mary’s doorstep and told her about her long-lost sister, and now two goons are after the guy?”

    “That’s about it.”

    “Good Lord, I haven’t seen you for two days and I’m out of the loop. When were you planning to fill me in on all this?”

    “Give me a break. You just got there a few minutes before the phone rang.”

    When we pulled up in front of the hotel, once again the lawn was full of tenants.

    Mr. Feeney grabbed my arm. “They’re upstairs, Mr. Walt. Mary and the new guy. Everyone’s okay, I think.”

    “Easy for you to say, Feeney,” Mr. Barnes muttered. “You wasn’t the one nearly got his head blowed off.”

    As we walked by, I noticed the dark stain on the front of his trousers.

    We found Mary and James sitting on the bed in his room.

    “Are you two okay?”

    “Yeah, we are now,” Mary replied, obviously agitated. “Can’t say the same for those other two. James, tell Mr. Walt what you was tellin’ me.”

    James took a deep breath and hung his head. “It’s all my fault. I was stupid. The two goons were Randy and Dominick. They work for Sammy ‘the Shark’ Saldano. I owe him a lot of money and they came to collect. When I told them I couldn’t pay, they were going to cut off my pinkie. Aunt Mary got here just in time.”

    Kevin gave a low whistle. “Sammy the Shark. He’s one mean dude. Somewhere out there is a very long list of people with broken kneecaps who owed money but couldn’t pay.”

    “What on earth possessed you to borrow money from that creep?” I asked.

    “Like I said, I was stupid. When I put Mom in the nursing home, I knew I only had enough money for a month or two. I was feeling lucky and thought maybe I could go to the casino and win enough to take care of her for a while. I lost it all. I should have just cut my losses and moved on, but I didn’t. I borrowed money from Saldano. I figured my luck would have to change, and it did. From bad to worse. I lost that too.”

    “So how much do you owe?”

    “Ten grand.”

    “Oh, Lord!” Kevin moaned. “You are in deep doodoo.”

    “Thanks for your encouragement,” Mary said, sarcastically. “So what are we gonna do? We can’t have these guys disfiguring my nephew.”

    “So what happened here?” I asked.

    “They were about to cut off my finger when Aunt Mary showed up with her bat. She whacked the guy with the nippers, then knocked the gun from the other guy’s hand. I grabbed the gun and they took off. Mary got off two shots as they were running down the hall, but missed.”

    “I guess that explains the puddle outside Mr. Barnes door.”

    “I promised I would pay,” James said, “but I don’t think they believe me.”

    “Even if they did,” Kevin replied, “Sammy isn’t usually interested in long term loans. He wants his money now.”

    “Tell you what,” I said. “I may have an idea. Mary, you get everyone calmed down and restore order. James, try to stay out of trouble. I’ll get back to you both, hopefully with some good news.”

    When we were back in the car, Kevin said, “I hope you’re not planning to pay Sammy the Shark a personal visit. He may be pissed enough he’ll take it out on anyone connected to James.”

    “Nope, I’m going over his head. From what I’ve heard, loan sharking is run by the mob, and I’m betting Sammy works for Carmine Marchetti. Maybe the Godfather can buy us a little time.”

    “I thought you and the don were all squared away. You really want to get back in bed with him?”

    “Not really, but I don’t want to see Mary’s nephew crippled or worse. You got any better ideas?”

    He didn’t.