The Taxman Killeth (23 page)

***

“This is more respectable?” Todd
asked as he watched a buxom cutie drape her panties on the bald pate of a
middle-aged man to the beat of a current rock hit.

“See any cops in here? Believe
me, the only time they come in this place is when they’re out of uniform and
off duty.”

“That makes me feel better.”

“A boiler-maker and a lager,”
Morgan called out to a petite platinum blond who was definitely wearing a
push-up bra. Todd wondered whether it was also inflatable, since one side
seemed far more generously endowed than the other. “I drop by here once in a
blue moon to catch a show. Thanks, hon.” Morgan paid for the drinks. Close up,
Todd could tell the woman was well into her fifties, but he would never have
guessed by the shape her body was in. “You think it’s all real?’

“What?” asked Todd.

“The boobs and the rear end?’

Todd looked over at the naked
woman jouncing around on stage.

“From here I can’t see any
scars, and since she’s in the buff it shouldn’t be hard to spot them.”

“No. I mean Arlene, the woman
behind the bar.”

“Oh, that would be harder to
determine.”

“I kind of got the hots for her.
She’s...” Morgan paused, trying to think of the appropriate word. “dominant.
You should see her in action. She can get this whole room under control, when
she has to.”

“Considering how respectable the
place is, it shouldn’t be hard to do.”

“I’m sorry, did you want to get
closer to the stage?”

At this point, the dancer was
shaking her breasts in the face of a white-haired man who looked as if he were
about to have a heart attack.

“No. I’m fine here, Morgan. The
photograph?”

“Spent the last two days at the
gym working out. Do I look more solid?” he asked, trying to pull in the fatty
tire around his middle. Todd remained silent. “Parts of me ache like you wouldn’t
believe. Look at that.”

Todd turned his head in the
direction Morgan was staring with open mouth. The dancer had bundled herself
into an exotic contortion which Todd would rather have ignored.

“She’s a beauty, ain’t she?” a
guy to the right of Morgan asked. Beer seemed to be dribbling out one side of
his mouth. The rest of his beer was spilling onto his shirt from the mug he
haphazardly held in his hand.

Todd caught a glimpse of silent
flashing lights passing outside the bar’s tinted windows. He breathed a bit
easier.

“Where the cops going?” asked
the same dribbling mouth.

“They’ve been down the street,
probably heading back to the precinct.” Morgan turned to Todd to tell his
story. “While I was in the men’s room I heard this racket. Leo, the clean-up
guy, comes in, interrupts me in mid-stream, and tells me two guys are having at
it with knives. Tells me to stay put, so I did, until right before you came in.
By then the place had quieted down considerably. The guy must have gotten
peeved again when he saw the cops come in. It was probably Walt who called the
cops. He doesn’t know how to handle a crowd, not like Arlene,” he said, nodding
his head in her direction.

“But then, she has charms that
can be used to great effect on certain people, I’m sure,” said Todd.

“She sure could use them on me,”
Morgan said, elbowing Todd.

“I’d like to see the photograph,
if you have it.”

Morgan slugged down the whiskey
and washed his mouth with a gulp of beer.

“What you in such a hurry for? I
thought you might like to hang out here for a while.”

“Even if I did, I’d still like
to see the photograph.” Todd was afraid Morgan might get drunk and disappear
into the growing crowd and vanish with Arlene, who could be going off duty
soon.

There was a loud round of
applause and some whistles and hoots as the current act retreated off stage.
Over a loudspeaker someone thanked Belle Plaisir for her talented performance, then
introduced Nikita Red. At this point an unbelievable redhead with generous
proportions appeared on stage. The crowd went wild, pushing, shoving and
spilling drinks. Todd considered all the money that could be made selling booze
in a place like this, and one would hardly ever have to worry about staggering
drunks, since customers spilled most of the booze either on themselves or on
the floor. Todd grabbed Morgan’s arm and pulled him back away from the stage.

“She’s new,” Morgan protested.

“The photograph. I want to see
it now.”

“I don’t know why you’re getting
so antsy. After all, you’ll probably not know who the hell she is anyway.”
Morgan slammed his mug down on the bar and received a wilting look from Arlene.
“Another shot.” His voice was tremulous.

Todd saw Arlene carefully size
Morgan up. Morgan stood as tall and steady as he could while being ping-ponged
between the crowd and Todd. He smiled without opening his mouth. Todd knew
Morgan was self-conscious about the gaps in between his teeth.

“He’s sober, for now. Give him
another,” Todd told the bartender.

Finally she poured out another
shot.

“Thanks, Todd. Boy, she can
really be mean.”

“You like her that way.”

Morgan snorted.

“I know. I know. The photograph.”
Morgan searched several pockets of his jacket before he pulled the picture from
the hip pocket of his jeans.

“This is the best one he had.
Not bad looking, huh?”

“Dammit!”

Todd bolted the bar and searched
for a cab. He didn’t have much time. She might already be there.

Chapter 25

A Surprise Visit

Trudy was late. It was almost
nine-thirty. But then, Amy reasoned, Trudy was not a punctual person. She had
been given several disciplinary memos at work because of her tardiness. Amy
decided to call Trudy’s apartment if she didn’t show within another half hour.
The doorbell sounded just as Amy opened the oven door to check on the dinner she
was keeping warm.

“Typical Trudy,” she said as she
smiled and opened her apartment door. But the smile disappeared when she saw
the man standing behind her friend.

Trudy calmly pushed her way past
Amy, while her male shadow forced the door open before Amy could lock it.

“What are you doing here?” she
asked.

Michael slammed the door closed
behind him and neatly did up the lock with one hand.

“Call the police, Trudy.”

“Oh my, look at this, Michael,
she’s cooked up a real feast,” Trudy said, peeking under the casserole lids in
the oven.

“We don’t have time to eat, Trud.
Amy’s got to do some fast talking for us.” He smiled at his prey.

“No way I’m going to do without
dinner. You take care of business. Me, I’m going to sample some of this stuff.”
Trudy pulled a plate out of the cupboard then searched the drawers for
utensils. “I’ve been here, what, at least five or six times, and I can never
remember where you keep things. Your mind works so different from mine.”

Amy gawked at her invited guest.
She couldn’t comprehend what Trudy was doing with Jennie’s husband. Suddenly,
what Teddy had said about Trudy dating a married man hit home. Jennie had
complained about Michael seeing another woman. Amy looked back at Michael, who
was wiping the palms of his hands agitatedly against the material covering his
thick, flabby thighs.

“Where are they?”

“Who?”

Michael laughed.

“Hey, Trud, she thinks I’m
ignorant, don’t you? I’ve known who you were from the first day we met. I saw
you a couple of times when Trud and I were working up our plans.”

“What plans?” Amy directed her
question in the direction of Trudy, but her friend was busy serving herself a
meal.

“I approved of her choice. I
knew Todd would jump your bones as soon as he saw you. Given the opportunity,
so would I.”

“Her skinny bones are off limits
to you.”

So Trudy was listening, Amy
realized.

“Why would you want to plan
anything with this disgusting animal? Do you know what he did to his wife?”

Trudy sat down at the counter
and stuffed her face with the food on her plate.

“I want my family back,” Michael
demanded. “I thought they might be here. But it’s too quiet. At least one of my
brats is always whining.”

“Then why would you want them
back?”

“Because they’re my property. I
know they came here. I found that slip of paper you gave her with your
telephone number and address on it. Jen didn’t have many friends except for
that cow, Flora, and she can’t think for herself, never mind tell Jen what to
do. Where are they?”

“I don’t know.”

“For heaven’s sake, Amy, tell
him. Be reasonable. How long do you think you can hold out if he begins
knocking you around? It’s really not worth the bruises or possible scars. Did
you get that desert you were threatening to pick up?”

Trudy didn’t wait for an answer.
She slid off the stool and marched over to the freezer to check its contents.

“Trud’s bright.”

“That why she doesn’t have two
blackened eyes like your wife?”

“Exactly. You’re catching on, babe.”

“Well, you can’t have them. I
took your wife and children to a crisis center, and they didn’t bother to tell
me where they were hiding them. See, I don’t know. It’s been an unpleasant
visit but...” Amy moved in the direction of the front door but was stopped by
the painful contact of a closed fist. Amy fell to the floor semi-conscious and
unable to call out. She slipped into darkness when the same fist contacted her
right temple.

***

“Why can’t you finish her? I don’t
like hanging around here. What if someone comes?”

“I got that gag pushed so far
down her throat, she’s lucky she can breathe.”

He’s right, Amy thought. She was
on her back on the floor, and her wrists were poking into the base of her
spine. She couldn’t separate her hands. Her wrists had been tied together with
some sort of rough cord or rope. Her legs and ankles were unfettered.

“God, you get your jollies from
such twisted activities.”

“We need to make it look bad,
like Joey,” Michael said.

“Yeah, I know, you’re going to
pistol whip her like Joey and leave Todd’s gun behind. Todd gets blamed for
another killing. But do you really think Flora will help you blame Todd for Amy’s
death? Just because she saw Todd threaten you doesn’t mean she’ll jump to that
conclusion. Anyway, I don’t like this. She’s nice. I didn’t particularly care
about Joey, always rubbing his hand across my ass whenever he could.”

Michael laughed, and Amy saw him
rub his palm across the same territory Joey had coveted.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, just get
it over with.” Trudy walked away from Michael.

“Hey, look, she’s awake. You
must have a hard head; I thought you’d be out a hell of a lot longer.” Michael
lifted her to her feet by the shirt she was wearing. She heard the material
rip. “What’s this cheap shit you’re wearing? See this, Trud, she’s got a little
tear on the seam of the shoulder.” Michael shook his head then poked two of his
fingers inside the hole and quickly whipped his hand downward, ripping the
cloth from her right breast. “Nice lacy bra. Do the panties match? That’s a
real turn-on for me, isn’t it Trud?’

“Michael, you said you were
going to beat her up a little and stab her the way you did Joey. That’s all.”

“You aim to deprive me of a
little fun?”

Amy’s head was awhirl with the
knowledge she was slowly grasping. Michael had killed Joey. Trudy had known
Joey. But how did they all tie in together?

“She looks confused.”

“Yeah, you would, too, if
someone had banged you on the head a couple of times,” said Trudy.

“Wonder what it is all about?”
Michael laughed. “You weren’t meant to get any more involved than to be a
distracting dinner date for Todd. He was supposed to wine and dine you while...”

“O God, do we have to go into
long explanations? It won’t matter to her tomorrow morning when they find her
body. Just do it, Michael, and let’s get out of here.”

“The bitch robbed me of my
family. Think I’m going to let her ride out easy?”

“You’ll find them. Besides, what
do you need them for, when you have me?”

“Me and how many other guys have
you?”

“It wouldn’t be that way if you
dropped the hag you’re living with. You promised that once I talked Joey into
blackmailing Stu, you’d be finished with Jennie. Instead, you end up killing
Joey and blaming the death on her brother. Why bother? Is it because you never
intended to dump the little snip and squallers at all? You used me to get Todd
out of your life, but what do I get?”

“You get to walk around in one
piece and you keep your coke pipeline open. How much did you get out of that
small-time lawyer? Zippo. As soon as he was approached for a little bribe to
keep his side operation secret, he confessed everything to the partners. Drugs
is where the money is, Trud, not in mealy-mouthed lawyers. Oh, and let’s not
forget me. I’m an extra bonus that you share with my little Jen.”

Amy watched Michael throw his
chest out like a parading peacock. She wondered why Trudy would get so deeply
involved with him, unless the money was her real priority. Of course! Why share
anything with a wife and three kids when Trudy could have it all? Amy had often
frowned on Trudy’s conniving ways with men. The dentist was one of a long list
of suckers for Trudy. Perhaps Joey was another.

Michael shoved Amy down on the
sofa.

“Trud, check the drawer. See
what this babe has in cutlery.”

“I don’t want my prints on the
knife. You look yourself.”

“Shit, we can wipe the handle
off after we use it.”

“After you use it, you mean.”

“I remember you getting one or
two slices in on Joey.”