Night and Day (Book 2): Bleeding Sky (25 page)

Eddie
Gabriel. French-Canadian grifter who took up residence here fifteen or
twenty years ago. I’d known him for more than ten of those years. After I
transferred from patrol at the Tremont Avenue station into Robbery-Homicide
plainclothes at 83
^th
Street, I’d had my first encounters with
him.

By
then, Eddie had shortened his name from Gabrielle to Gabriel, and gone from
running cons to running dope and whores. He was a regular fixture on the
streets of eastside and occasionally in the 86
^th
Street holding
cells.

More
recently, he’d helped me connect some of the dots when I was investigating
Joshua’s murder. Under duress, of course, but he’d still been
helpful.

I
watched him try to find a comfortable position in one of the chairs in front
of my desk. “You know, that wouldn’t be such a problem if you’d put down the
fork now and then, Eddie,” I said.

He
finally found a position he liked and looked up at me. “You knew me before
my feet went bad, Welles. You remember back that far, when I was
svelte?”

I
never remembered him as svelte. He’d always been on the chubby side. But I
nodded.

“After
my feet went bad, I don’t get around as good as I used to. And I’m in pain,
all the time, even when I’m not walking. So I spend most days sitting behind
my desk and eating. It don’t make my feet feel any better, but it makes me
happy. You have a problem with that?”

I
shook my head. “Whatever works for you, Eddie.”

“Yeah,
so lay off the fat jokes.”

“Sure,
didn’t mean to touch a nerve.” It was a lie, but a little one.

He
was looking around the office, his eyes resting on Martinez before moving
on. “So they gave ya an office this time and an assistant to go with it. Not
bad, even if she does look like she didn’t make it to the end of the first
round.” He looked over his shoulder at Martinez. “No offense, honey. Even
the best fighters get hit sometimes.”

He
turned back to me. “So, you got that fancy card in your pocket
again?”

“Comes
with the territory,” I said. He’d been fascinated with my Area Government ID
card the last time I’d seen him. He’d wanted to either buy it from me or
borrow it to make copies.

He
nodded. “So, what do the bloodsuckers have you doing now?”

I
spread my arms. “This,” I said. “Running security for the ambassador.” I
paused. “I understand that you want to see him.”

“Yeah,
that’s right. Thought I’d pay my respects.”

“Why
would he want to talk to a mobster?”

“Hey,”
he said. “I’m more than that. I’m like the mayor of downtown. I make things
happen for people.”

“But
not always good things,” I said. “What’s your angle on this,
Eddie?”

“I
ain’t got no angle, Charlie. The kraut is in town, thought I’d stop by. Word
on the street is he wanted to talk to everybody.”

“I’m
not sure you’re part of the everybody he had in mind.”

“I’m
a human, ain’t I? I’m a citizen. I got just as much right to talk to him as
any of those other citizens out there waiting in line.”

“You’re
a special kind of citizen, Eddie,” I said. “You’re a criminal citizen, and
you get to see Dr. Heymann only if I say you can.”

“Yeah?
Who died and made you God?”

I
laughed. “Nobody had to die. All it took was signing my contract with the
Area Governor’s Office.”

He
sighed. “What do you want?”

“I
want you to answer my question,” I said. “Why do you want to talk to the
ambassador? What’s in it for you?”

“I
told you, there ain’t nothing in it for me. I just want to talk to the
man.”

“I’m
not buying it,” I said. “And if you don’t make the sale, Angelo pushes you back
to your office. You can shake hands with your constituents along the
way.”

“Okay,
how about we do some business then,” Gabriel said. “I give you some helpful
information, you let me see the man.”

“What
information?”

“Do
we have a deal?”

“No
deals until I know what you’re putting on the table. Then I decide if it has
any value to me.”

“It
will,” he said, sitting forward. “Trust me on that.”

“Eddie,
I wouldn’t trust you as far as I could throw you. And we both know how far
that would be.”

“Again
with the fat jokes,” he muttered. “Look, Welles, it’s real simple. The
ambassador’s safety is your job. I got information that might have something
to do with that, right? Good information. Information you’d normally have to
pay for. But I’m a stand-up guy and I’m willing to let it go in return for
you allowing me to do what every other goddamn citizen in this city is
allowed to do.”

“Give
me the information,” I said. “I’ll decide if it’s worth letting you get in
line.”

“I
don’t trust you, Welles,” he said after a moment. “What if I give it to you
and you send me on my way.”

“It’s
a chance you’ll have to take,” I said flatly. “You’re not interested, that’s
fine. Martinez will escort you out. Maybe that cop will even bring back your
wheelchair.”

“You’re
a rat prick bastard,” he said. “You know that?”

I
nodded. “Yeah, I do. So what do you have for me?”

He
sighed. “Okay, ya prick. Here’s what I got.” He paused. “You know I got
people out on the street around the neighborhood all the time,
right?”

“Hookers,
drug dealers, thieves. I know all about your community outreach,
Eddie.”

“Whatever,”
he said with a scowl. “Anyhow, in addition to doing what I have them out
there doing, they keep their eyes open. I mean, I like to know what’s going
on in my own neighborhood, right?”

“Wouldn’t
want somebody putting their hands on your turf, that kind of thing,
sure.”

Gabriel
scowled again. “Enough with the comments, Welles,” he said. “You want this
or not?”

“I’m
listening.”

“So
I got eyes everywhere. And yesterday morning, I hear about some people
moving into an apartment on Grand Street, just off First.”

“That’s
real news, Eddie!” I said, coming to my feet. “Damn, people moving into an
apartment on Grand. Please, let carry you into the ambassador myself.” I
paused. “Take him out of here, Martinez.”

“Yes,
sir,” she said, coming to her feet.

“You
done with the comedy, Charlie?”

I
looked down at him. “Are you?”

“They
moved in two nights ago,” he said. “After sundown. Four or five of them. All
guys. Ain’t been seen since.”

“Vampires?”
I asked as I sat.

“Don’t
know. My gal didn’t get close enough to smell their breath.”

“Address?”

“2173
Grand,” he said. “It’s on the south side of the street. First floor
walk-up.”

“And
you were going to tell us about this when?” I asked, jotting down the
address.

“When
it seemed like the right time,” he said. “Probably after I talked to the
ambassador.” He smiled. “I was gonna tell Captain Mutz, cause I knew it
would bust his balls for me to give him information.”

I
leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling. It could be something.
It could be nothing. Even after more than two years, there were a lot of
vacant apartments in town, plenty of them downtown. People who died in the
war. People who didn’t come back from the internment camps.

You
find a nice, unoccupied apartment, you move in. Whoever lived there before
probably won’t show up to complain.

And
it wasn’t even unusual to move in at night at this time of year. The heat
can be a killer during the day. Wait till the sun goes down, you get a
little relief, and you also avoid the disapproving stares of neighbors who
remember Mrs. Chavitz, the nice old lady who used to live in 4B.

I
straightened up in the chair and looked at him. “Well, it’s not exactly
earthshaking information, Eddie.”

“It’s
what I got,” he said. “Just trying to do my part to keep the ambassador
safe.” He paused. “So, I can go see him now?”

“Maybe,”
I said. “Why do you want to see him?”

“Hey,
we had a deal...”

I
shook my head. “No, you had a deal. I just agreed to hear you out. Answer
the question or get out of my office.”

“It’s
personal,” he said.

“Send
him a card with a heart on the envelope. Draw it yourself.”

Gabriel
sighed and shook his head slowly. “Fine, whatever. I wanted to see if he
could get a message to ma mère.”

“Your
mare?”

“My
mother,” he said. “In Canada. I ain’t been able to contact her since the
bloodsuckers came.” He paused. “She gettin’ up in years, ya know, and I’m
her only boy. I thought it would be nice for her to hear that I’m doing
okay, and I figured he could send her a letter or call her or something once
he got out of the country.”

I
stared at him silently. It could be just a sob story that he made up on the
spot. But looking at his face, I could see that it wasn’t.

“Martinez,”
I said.

“Sir?”

“Help
Mr. Gabriel out of the trailer, round up that cop with the wheelchair, and
get him in line to see Dr. Heymann.” I glanced at my watch. “And have them
move him to the front of the line. Visiting hours are almost over, and I
don’t think he needs to come back tomorrow. With his bad feet and
all.”

Gabriel
stared at me, then smiled. “We both know you’re still a rat prick bastard,
Charlie.”

I
nodded. “Yeah. And we both know you’re a momma’s boy, Eddie.” I paused. “I
hope Heymann’s able to help you.”

He
nodded and pulled himself up, using my desk as leverage. “I’ll see you
around, Welles.”

“Yeah,
see you around, Eddie.”

Martinez
took his arm to steady him and led him out of the office.

I
waited till he was gone, then jotted down some notes on what he’d told me.
It was something to look into. Maybe Resistance or Shuster’s Special
Collections pals. Or maybe just some guys moving into an apartment, vacant
or honestly rented.

But
with the ambassador going for his walk in less than half an hour, I didn’t
have the time or the manpower to check it out immediately. And if it
involved vampires, it was better handled by Takeda’s people and night shift
cops after Heymann was tucked in.

Martinez
came back into the office and sat down at her desk.

“You
get Eddie sorted out?”

She
nodded. “Had him taken to the front of the line, like you ordered. Last I
saw, Captain Clay was pushing him up the ramp.” She paused. “You like him,
don’t you, sir?”

I
laughed. “What makes you say that?”

“Just
the way you talked to him, sir.”

“I
wouldn’t say I like Eddie Gabriel,” I said. “I’m familiar with him. I know
all his tricks, all his scams, all his games. Makes it easy to cut through
the bullshit. And maybe I do like him a little. He’s a criminal, but he’s
not vicious like a lot of them. He does bad things, and the people who work
for him do bad things. But he isn’t a killer. He just likes being the big
man.”

“He
is that,” she said with a smile.

I
spent the next six hours shuttling back and forth between the communications
center and my office. There were no incidents. There weren’t even any
scares.

Heymann
walked around the square, going into shops and restaurants, talking to
people on the sidewalk. I listened to it all as I sat at one of the
unoccupied communications consoles. Chatter between units in the field,
chatter between them and the command trailer. After Heymann went into
Scooter’s for dinner, Jimmy stopped by with roast beef sandwiches from Big
John’s Sandwich Shop. We ate them in my office, listening to the chatter on
his portable.

“What’s
he talking to them about?” I asked around a mouthful of food.

“He
asks them how they’re doing, what their lives are like, what they think
about the Vees. They ask him what’s happening in the rest of the world, and
when the other countries are gonna come rescue us from the vampires.” He
smiled. “Seems kind of pointless to me, but they seem to be glad to see him,
so who am I to judge.”

“Everything
in place for when he leaves the square?”

“I
sure as hell hope so,” Jimmy said. “I have people out in every direction and
I’ll start moving them when he decides where he wants to go.”

“We
should be okay,” I said. “Between your guys and the Security Force, it’s a
losing proposition to try to take him down out there. I don’t think the
opposition is suicidal.”

I
was right. The multiple layers of security surrounding Heymann ensured that
everybody getting within ten feet of the ambassador had passed half a dozen
visual checks. Those that got closer were watched like hawks by the close
protection team.